The State of Our Country

This morning I received two interesting emails.  The first included a one question survey from the political activists arm of the never ending Obama campaign.  The survey's only question was, What are the most important issues you would like to hear from the President when he makes his State of the Union Speech on Tuesday evening.

I doubt I will hear him discuss my two suggestions the first of which be an announcement that he use the "pen and executive power" that he holds and eliminate as many Federal Agencies as possible until we return to self governing principles which are allowed under the Constitution.  I can't imagine him doing this, but I also don't understand the need for agencies like the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, the EPA, etc...etc...etc...

My other suggestion, which I also do not expect to hear is that he admit to the complete and utter failure of ObamaCare and his longstanding economic policies and as a result he will be using the pen he holds to sign his letter of resignation from the podium.

Yes I know I am dreaming, but if there were a trace of honor or patriotism in the heart of our President, those would be the two points he would be making.

My second email of interest this morning discussed the failures of Speaker Boehner and his leadership of the "Peoples House".  I responded as follows:

Boehner is the defacto leader of the Republican party. As far as I'm concerned, and you know this, the entire Republican party is represented by their leaders and therefore, IMNSHO, the entire Republican party should be annihilated.  We need a real third party, regardless of what the whining naysayers preach about losing to the Dems.  What good does it do to win elections for the Republicans when it results in leadership such as Boehner, McConnell and their ilk?  What good does it do to support the Republican party when their leaders ridicule and minimize the likes of Cruz, Rand Paul, Sarah Palin and anyone else who stands up for the constitution and true conservative American values?  Hell, we already have Obama,  his Sycophants and the fawning media to do this, why should we support the establishment Republican party who does the same and preaches a "go along to get along" mantra when the go along/get along strategy results in increased unemployment, economic morass and an overwhelming debt?  Why shoulod we support a party which accepts an increase in the national debt limit every 6 months so Obama cna use the executive office to increase the size and scope of the Federal government to the point that you can't even buy toilet paper to wipe your ass without it first being approved by the federal government?

The TEA Party stands for TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY.  We are not only overly taxed already, but the Fed is spending well over and above that while the Republican party sits by with their respective thumbs stuck squarely up their backsides complaining about and criticizing the true patriots who are trying to rein in the FED.

SCREW THEM ALL!  I will not give one red cent to support the Republican party or anyone who runs on their ticket.

People, it is time for a real third party of patriotic Americans to rise up and make sure our voices are heard.  It truly is time to band together as a nation and make sure that the government understands that they answer to us, not the other way around.  They need to be given the message that we will not be spied upon, dictated to or regulated to the point that we are unable to operate successful businesses or taxed to the point that we become bankrupt.  If we are unwilling to act quickly to make our voices heard and see that our votes are counted, we will become a nation which kowtows to the bureaucrats sitting in their offices on high in Washington and our country will never again be the land of opportunity leading by example for every other freedom loving citizen of the world.

So, rise up America, make your voices heard, help lead the charge to return America to its self reliant rots before we lose it.

Why I support the TEA Party

Recently I was asked why I don’t go all in with support for the Republican Party and their candidates because this is the party which more closely defines my values and that the TEA Party is not helping the cause.  They stated that the “purpose of political parties is to win elections.  Unless a political party can attract voters, it can not win.  In a multi-racial, and often bi-lingual society, winning usually requires some give and take.  Otherwise, it isn't a choice for governing, but for war”.  This assumes I support either of the established parties.  I don't, however, I truly believed that Mitt Romney was the right man for the Presidency at the right time in our history so I supported him and voted for him.  In 2008, I had no interest in seeing either of the established party candidates sitting in the WH so I didn't vote for either, opting instead for Ralph Nader who actually put up a platform I could support.

There does come a time when one has to stand up and be counted for their beliefs.  Standing up for a candidate just because he is the lesser of two evils is the reason why our two party political system is destroying the country, IMO.  The generational trend of having the government offer subsidies to the citizens in the form of entitlement programs and corporate donors in the form of tax benefits and huge government contracts has created a nation of dependency and it occurs through the acts of both established parties.

Ted Cruz stood up for principle.  The ObamaCare program is a travesty and he was right to stand up against it.  Was it the best way to proceed, I believe that it wasn't because it was an attempt to combine the cost of ObamaCare with the overall budget and the looming debt limit.  There were better ways to address the budgetary issues and not give Obama the upper hand, but at the time, Senator Cruz didn't know just how bad the ObamaCare rollout would be, so he was acting in good faith.

So now let’s address the issue of the TEA Party and it's growing pains.  Certainly there are mistakes being made, some of which have been outlined.  Having a group of idealistic citizens go up against the entrenched parties will always be met with resistance and having those citizens be marginalized is par for the course, in the short term. But I do believe that as the old saying goes, all politics is local and I honestly believe the majority of the citizens when it gets down to the local grassroots level, agree with Senator Cruz and the TEA Party platform.  I see it every day in the local coffee shops,in  the beer halls and at the local barber shops.  I see it with the college students I speak with when I return to my college campus for seminars and business support gatherings.  I witness it when I attend small business development conferences and conventions. Certainly there are naysayers, but when specifics are discussed, the majority agree with what the TEA Party represents.

Additionally, there is one more element which comes into play and is a real threat to the established parties.  This new element is the instantaneous communication afforded by access to the internet.  10 years ago, we could not use the FaceBook or the blogosphere to discuss our discontent, we could not Tweet the whereabouts of a TEA Party meeting in our local communities, we could not mount an instant effort to advise our "representatives" of the fact that we do not support a bill  they are willing to vote in favor of and most importantly, we could not immediately let them know that we were watching when they voted for that bill anyway and that as a result, we will be looking for someone else to support.

As we have seen over the past 3 national election cycles, the TEA Party candidates, although working through the Republican Party, are gaining ground and the quality of the candidates seeking office is showing dramatic improvement while the quality of the upcoming Democratic and incumbent Republican candidates remains incredibly self absorbed and dismal.   We as a nation need more of the self reliant American spirit to reach the surface and the TEA Party members bring the true ideals of the American spirit to the office. It may take some more time and it won't happen without additional scars and/or lost elections, but I do believe the TEA Party will become the dominant political party in our nation or the nation as we knew it will not survive.