Friday, September 24, 2010

We are holding the Hammer

I just read the Republicans "Pledge To America" for the second time…. The second read was because I couldn't believe, given what is going on throughout the country with the elections, the GOP leadership would write, release, and expect to get by with such platitudes as are in this "Pledge." The document shows us just how uncommitted the GOP House members are to addressing the problems in government. While behaving as if they, these elected Republicans, didn't play a major part in creating the catastrophic government debt along with burdensome social programs, hidden taxes, as well as a myriad of the other problems we are now facing. Never acknowledging that their behavior was as arrogant and as dismissive to the voters' interests during their control of government as the last eighteen months with the Dem congress and the current Dem President are with their control of both of our government houses. Never acknowledging that when they had control government grew and the burdening regulations coming from each and all of the federal bureaucrats departments kept pouring into the business community as well as our homes and impacting how we manage our lives and crippling our economy in this highly global competitive market place.

Terms such as , 'fight for', 'cut taxes', 'support the constitution', 'roll back', 'limit government growth', bla, bla, bla, and some etc., thrown in just for good measure to assure us they really, really mean it. Not one, 'This is what we are going to do come January one', can be found anywhere in this Pledge. (In 94 GOP pledge was specific, 'things we will do' and all promises made in the 'Contract with America' in 94 were acted on as soon as the new congress started….Promises made and word kept..)

So what we have with this group of GOPers in this Pledge is 'lack of courage', 'lack of vision', or maybe something much worse… They, as a group, believe they can still fool us, bamboozle us, placate us, trick us, and continue to deal with us as if we are all going to the voting booth in the back of the watermelon wagon.

The only thing smart about this Pledge is that our Republican leadership chose to release it only a few weeks before the election. If they had put this missive out in the spring when voices were calling for, " throw all the bums out" we would have had the summer to look at that side of the isle more closely. The copy of the pledge I read did not have a list of signers. So, we don't know which Republican leaders supported this claptrap. ( I meant to say Pledge.)

This Pledge can be found in it full text on the government web site.. Read it and know just how little leadership is left in this party.

http://www.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/solutions/a-pledge-to-america.pdf

Liberty Central is taking a poll. So far 1200 folks have voted as to how they see this pledge and over 700 have given it a "D" or "F". That is a lot of disappointment. (again) However, about 15% thought the Pledge was just fine. Lord help us.

South Carolina's Republican Senator Jim DeMint's response to the Pledge: "I can't believe what happened yesterday. Just when I thought Republicans in Washington were beginning to get the message, they went back to business as usual." (Jim DeMint is a conservative Senator and IF he is surprised and disappointed then I suppose it OK that I too am surprised and disappointed by their pledge.) I think if we had started looking at some of these ellected GOP folks last spring and created a little 'heat' this Pledge would have told a different story.



Senator DeMint is stepping forward as one of the conservative leaders. We need more.

I have to wonder about myself…. What was I hoping for….? What could I really expect…? Why am I so unwilling to accept President Reagan assurance that "government is the problem." Not one congressman or one senator but as a functioning group, they have become the problem. They work to secure their position and power regardless of costs to the individual, the economy, and the security of the nation. Within six months all of these NEW elected folks, we send to Washington in January, will be fully incorporated into the most elite club in the world and will be schooled in the correct party behavior. (Check out what has happened to the 'brand new Senator Brown' and his quick transition.)

What is the most reasonable things we can hope for? 1) Get rid of most elected officials that we believe are the most threatening to our freedoms and our country….2) Stay organized and start looking to the 2012 elections to finish the job started in this election cycle. Hopefully one of the messages we send this time is that the national parties no longer have the final say in who runs for office. This will go a long way to ending "the always to be reelected good old boy " system. So long as this system is at work there will always be a silent hand directing our government.

Is it really too much to ask these elected folks say to us, the citizens who elected them and for whom they work, "We have made mistakes. We are going to fix these mistakes on January 2, 2011. Here is the list of mistakes that we are going to fix and we are sorry for all the problems we have caused?"

As individuals when we make mistakes, when we hurt someone or some thing, we say we are sorry and we'll never do it again….This way we can learn from our poor behavior….We will make other mistakes in our lives but we don't have to continue repeating the same mistakes over and over. History tell us people in power never do this simple act of contrition. (Fannie May and Freddie Mack are wonderful examples of failed government programs and the elected leaders will keep pouring our money into the programs.)

Good men are corruptible. Arrogance develops over time. Power is addictive. Power corrupts over time.. We have all seen and we know these are true adages but when it come to electing officials, at all levels of government, we vote as if it isn't true. The price we pay as individuals and as a nation are horrendous. Mississippi history had Senators and Congressman that were elected, reelected, reelected, reelected over generations.

One of the most current and glaring examples of this " reelected, reelected," is John Dingell. Congressman Dingell a good man who has served his country. I would assume so but Rep. John Dingell is 84 years old. He is the only sitting member of Congress who was elected when a veteran of the Civil War was still alive. If Dingell wins again in November, it will be his 28th consecutive reelection victory. Dingell and his late father have represented Michigan’s 15th congressional district for over 75 years. It’s more than a little odd that one of Dingell’s campaign ads begins with the narration, “Across America, you can feel it. Change is coming.”

Dingell is in electoral danger for the first time in many years because of a voter backlash against President Obama and Democratic control of both chambers of Congress. Maybe the voters in Michigan's 15th district are waking up and just maybe the conservative, Republican Rob Steele, will unseat him.

If the late Senator, John Stennis was still alive (and we could have selected other late senators also as examples) and wanted to run for the senate again after serving for 41 years would the people of Mississippi vote for him? The answer to this question is at the core of how, we the people, have conducted ourselves while wondering, every election cycle, "What's wrong with our government?"

Why I use a congressman from another state (John Dingell) as a example of national political problems is because when a congressman or senator votes on any bill that bill affects all of us. Not just his or her state or district. ( A really old political saying is, "All politics are local.") It is a old trick with both parties to focus the voters on their immediate district or state because it give the parties more power to control and manipulate voter perceptions and control over who will or will not run in the elections.

The Tea Parties are working locally but taking a national view in this election cycle. They are interacting with the Tea Parties in other states, realizing that who gets elected at the Federal level, no matter where they are from, their vote will impact all citizens in every state. That’s a good thing and hopefully the general voting public will see and understand the important of this connection. Federal politics are not just local.

What to do with what little time is left? At the end of voting day, only one vote at a time is counted. That one vote makes a difference…Where is that vote going to come from? That one vote could be the one that makes it possible for the country get back on some kind of a common sense track. That one vote could be the vote that finally teaches the entrenched elected folks who their bosses are.. Where can we find that one more vote? Where can we look? Who can we talk to that we've not talked to already?

The polls are looking better…. New candidates are gaining confidence. We are also gaining new confidence in the new candidates and that a important thing.

Come November...Come November we are the ones holding the hammer...

(Note: Click below and hear a great Tea Party song.)

Ron

http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/




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