He came to town with a message….He said, "We got trouble. We got trouble right here in River City." (The citizens listened.) "The town needs a marching band." Seventy million citizens leaped to their feet...
The difference between our story and the story of The Music Man is that it all turned out well in the end which is exactly the way musicals are supposed to turn out.
Our Music Man and his story is still unfolding. Last night in the State of the Union address I could hear the band tuning up. I could hear the call for the seventy thousand to start lining up for yet another parade.
I realized our music man was right. Now is the time to start the 2012 campaign. I'm sure the drums are already beating.
Michelle Bachmann response to our band leaders speech was a gutsy thing to do. Her 'stand up' reminded me of one of my great heroes Gandhi. After many decades and numerous generations Gandhi is still the icon in my mind of the lone rider on a mission.
Here was a man, living in a country that had few ways to communicate between people or leaders to the people and yet he did. In what I still feel was a stroke of genius. He put an end to England's four hundred year old rule of his country.
He was able to accomplish this by stirring patriotism in the Indian people. After years of flailing around one simple idea emerged that was a tipping point that ended England's rule… Don't pay England's tax on salt...Looking back in history the idea was so simple it is difficult to for us to understand how it had the impact that it did.
We seem to have a group that has control over us not so unlike England had over India. We also have one simple idea that can free us also. We simply vote each person out of office that refuses to represent us, our wishes, our beliefs. This is blindingly simple.
We identify these men and women at the state and federal level and replace them. Not one, not ten, not sixty but every one of them regardless of political party. All the music men and women must be sent home.
The ones that were standing after November feel safe. They intend to keep on keeping on in their Washington stronghold thinking they have fallen off the Tea Party radar. We don't have to look back very far to see why they would think this. They have always been forgiven and reelected both at the state and federal levels. Once elected they have historically been free to do what ever they wanted to do with assurance that they would be reelected. We don't have to do a lot of soul searching to know why they would think that.
One of the new kids on the block, Rand Paul, is standing up. In this bill he is presenting he is clearly walking his talk.
Senator Rand Paul has unveiled his plan to cut $500 billion from the federal budget in a single year — IF FOLLOWED
Paul's budget cuts more than five times as much as House Republican leaders have advocated and faces little chance of winning support, even from within his own party.
His plan would cut in half funding for the Department of Commerce and nearly eliminate the Department of Education. It would eliminate the Department of Energy, which oversees environment regulation and enforcement.
The budget would cut funding for the federal court system and the Agriculture Department by nearly one-third. The Pentagon would see a roughly 6% cut, and the Food and Drug Administration a 62% cut.
"By removing programs that are beyond the constitutional role of the federal government, such as education and housing, we are cutting nearly 40% of our projected deficit and removing the big-government bureaucrats who stand in the way of efficiency in our federal government," Paul said in a statement.
How encouraging…!!!!!!
I wanted to include this because we are beginning to see some of the newly elected congressional leaders begin to reach out to us. We need to reach back with our encouragement and support.
Taxation without representation. Lord, who would do such a thing? How about double and triple taxation without representation? Below is a little tidbit I picked up off the Houston Tea Party site….
Tea Party Houston
Houston City Council is just beginning to figure out how to implement the Prop 1 "rain tax" and it's getting complicated. Take a look at how many times taxpayers will be hit with drainage fees:
1. Property Tax (county - PLUS the county will pay Prop 1 fees on county property
2. Drainage Tax to property owners in COH (Prop 1)
3. School Districts taxed by Prop 1 (where even a small part of the district is in COH)
4. COH water rate increase of 40% (also affects outlying areas getting COH water)
5. Businesses Taxed by Prop 1 (passed on to consumer)
6. Churches Taxed by Prop 1 (reducing tithes and giving that churches can use)
7. METRO Sales Tax (Contains a portion for "mobility" which includes street improvements)
But there's more! President Obama just signed Senate Bill 3481 which requires the federal government to pay drainage fees. You've got it, NASA, all the federal buildings, ALL federal properties will be subject to Prop 1. So now we add:
8. Federal Income Tax (your payroll taxes will now pay the Prop 1 fee to the City of Houston)
EIGHT TIMES you could be paying drainage fees!
Thanks, Tea Party Houston. Good luck in your efforts….
What I realized is we never know how many different ways states and fed's government tax each of us on the same issues. I started to try and figure out how many levels of taxes we have on our cars from the production of the materials, labor, distribution, purchases, yearly fees, gas tax, etc. It is mind boggling.
Slowly the hidden problems in state, counties, and cities are beginning to surface. We see on the news the ones with the biggest problems. Before the news media starts looking there are rating businesses that rate the safety of their debts and one of the largest is Moody. I know everyone knows these companies and I'm sure everyone knows the troubles in California and Illinois but in Moody ranking Mississippi is in the top eight listed high risk.
Moody’s found that the states with the biggest total indebtedness included Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Some readers might like to on Moody site and look at out bond ratings.
The average politician doesn't really look at state debt or city debt or even have a clue as to why it is important to our future any more than the average person.
The point, if there is one, is if we don't know what's wrong we can't tell our elected people to fix the problem. If we don't know how many times and ways we are being taxed or what our debt burden is, these core problems can't be fixed. These hidden problems are destroying the nation and states.
How exactly are we to vet the new folks who want to run for office? These are complex economic issues and we need candidates who understand these are long term issues that do not have short term fixes.
Rand Paul's bill is the start of changing the way we do the peoples business. We need leaders here that will start getting Mississippi out of our poor credit rating.
It would be a good thing if Mississippi could stop borrowing money. Search the Moody site and see what we mostly borrow money for….You'll be surprised..
The more organized and focused we are the greater amount of power to make changes happen. What is our plan for Mississippi? Thankfully some in the Tea Party are beginning to identify the elected folks that aren't listening to us. We also need to know who is listening. Once known, what are we going to do?
2012 elections: 645 day - 5 hours - 53 minutes. Clock is ticking….
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, never regret anything that made you smile!, always forgive your self for short comings, AND while we are at it even liberal Democrats.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Man Up
With all this cold gloomy weather we need a little bit of good news. Below is a article from Boise, Idaho….A state showing true grit….The article needs no explanation. We didn't think any state would use this old rule but nullification has been there as a option each time the federal government has sent unfunded mandates to the states. Because these mandates have come with sticks and carrots the States have said "yessum" and rolled over.
Over time and after so many rollovers the states lost their sense of sovereignty. There are twenty six states and maybe twenty nine now that have joined in a law suite of this health care bill. A clear option for the states is to nullify and just see what power the federal government has to impose this law onto states.
If the unintended consequence of the Obamacare law was to redefine in the states minds and the federal government that the states are sovereign
that would truly be a big win.
Idaho Set to Nullify Obama's Health Care Law•
BOISE, Idaho -- After leading the nation last year in passing a law to sue the federal government over the health care overhaul, Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama's signature bill null and void.
Lawmakers in six other states -- Maine, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming -- are also mulling "nullification" bills, which contend states, not the U.S. Supreme Court, are the ultimate arbiter of when Congress and the president run amok.
It's a concept that's won favor among many tea party adherents who believe Washington, D.C., is out of control.
Though a 1958 U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirmed that federal laws "shall be the supreme law of the land," Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is promoting the idea, too. In his January 10 State of the State speech, he told Idaho residents "we are actively exploring all our options -- including nullification."
Sen. Monty Pearce, an Idaho GOP lawmaker who plans to introduce a nullification bill early next week, wanted to be the first one to give Otter a recently published book on the subject, "Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century."
But Otter beat him to the punch.
"I took that copy and tried to give it to the governor," he said, pointing to a copy on his desk. "He already had a copy."
Sick of just passing largely symbolic resolutions decrying federal encroachment on states' rights, proponents like Pearce say their bills will ratchet up the pressure on the feds: This isn't just some piece of paper to wave about; if it passes -- and there's plenty in Idaho to suggest it will -- this would become the law of the state, Pearce says.
It's been tried before, a long time ago.
Back in 1799, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his "Kentucky Resolution," a response to federal laws passed amid an undeclared naval war against France, that "nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts... is the rightful remedy."
Three decades later, South Carolina Sen. John Calhoun pushed nullification of federal tariffs that many in the South deemed discriminatory toward agricultural slave states. President Andrew Jackson readied the military, before a compromise defused the situation.
In 1854, Wisconsin also sought to nullify the federal Fugitive Slave Act that forced non-slave states to return escapees.
And more recently, Arkansas defied the federal government's order to desegregate public schools after the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.
In a unanimous 1958 ruling rejecting Arkansas' position, the High Court wrote that states were bound by the Constitution's Article VI mandating U.S. laws, when vetted by justices, "shall be the supreme law of the land."
After passing its "Health Care Freedom Act" last year, Idaho is already among 27 states now suing the federal government over the constitutionality of what health-care overhaul foes deride as "Obamacare."
Supreme Court justices haven't yet weighed in on questions like whether residents can be compelled to buy health insurance.
But Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of the 2010 book "Nullification" that Otter and Pearce have in their Idaho Capitol offices, argues states have the final say on the gravest issues, like when the government forces citizens to spend their hard-earned money.
If the U.S. president, Congress, and the Supreme Court get it wrong, Woods said, then Jefferson had it right back in 1799 when he wrote that states, as creators of the federal government, "being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction."
"What do we do when we don't get proper relief in the court?" Woods told The Associated Press from his home in Auburn, Ala. "We can't just throw up our hands and say, 'We tried.' The creators had to have some way of not having that system destroyed."
For Idaho's Pearce, Obama and the Democratic-led Congress are destroying the American system.
"There are now 27 states that are in on the lawsuit against Obamacare," Pearce said. "What if those 27 states do the same thing we do with nullification? It's a killer."
Judge Napolitano has been yelling on Fox News at the states to nullify for a long time.
Let's all send the Governor of Idaho e-mail thanking him for his courage. Also, please don't forget Idaho's congressmen and senators. They will come under great pressure and every federal department will threaten the state. (Recall when highway funds were cut off to New Mexico to punish their Governor.)
I can only assume our Governor is watching this closely.
Some state had to man up. IF Idaho stands up, others states will follow.
Isn't it just like America for one of the smallest states to be the first to stand up to the 'big guy?"
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Over time and after so many rollovers the states lost their sense of sovereignty. There are twenty six states and maybe twenty nine now that have joined in a law suite of this health care bill. A clear option for the states is to nullify and just see what power the federal government has to impose this law onto states.
If the unintended consequence of the Obamacare law was to redefine in the states minds and the federal government that the states are sovereign
that would truly be a big win.
Idaho Set to Nullify Obama's Health Care Law•
BOISE, Idaho -- After leading the nation last year in passing a law to sue the federal government over the health care overhaul, Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama's signature bill null and void.
Lawmakers in six other states -- Maine, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming -- are also mulling "nullification" bills, which contend states, not the U.S. Supreme Court, are the ultimate arbiter of when Congress and the president run amok.
It's a concept that's won favor among many tea party adherents who believe Washington, D.C., is out of control.
Though a 1958 U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirmed that federal laws "shall be the supreme law of the land," Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is promoting the idea, too. In his January 10 State of the State speech, he told Idaho residents "we are actively exploring all our options -- including nullification."
Sen. Monty Pearce, an Idaho GOP lawmaker who plans to introduce a nullification bill early next week, wanted to be the first one to give Otter a recently published book on the subject, "Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century."
But Otter beat him to the punch.
"I took that copy and tried to give it to the governor," he said, pointing to a copy on his desk. "He already had a copy."
Sick of just passing largely symbolic resolutions decrying federal encroachment on states' rights, proponents like Pearce say their bills will ratchet up the pressure on the feds: This isn't just some piece of paper to wave about; if it passes -- and there's plenty in Idaho to suggest it will -- this would become the law of the state, Pearce says.
It's been tried before, a long time ago.
Back in 1799, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his "Kentucky Resolution," a response to federal laws passed amid an undeclared naval war against France, that "nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts... is the rightful remedy."
Three decades later, South Carolina Sen. John Calhoun pushed nullification of federal tariffs that many in the South deemed discriminatory toward agricultural slave states. President Andrew Jackson readied the military, before a compromise defused the situation.
In 1854, Wisconsin also sought to nullify the federal Fugitive Slave Act that forced non-slave states to return escapees.
And more recently, Arkansas defied the federal government's order to desegregate public schools after the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.
In a unanimous 1958 ruling rejecting Arkansas' position, the High Court wrote that states were bound by the Constitution's Article VI mandating U.S. laws, when vetted by justices, "shall be the supreme law of the land."
After passing its "Health Care Freedom Act" last year, Idaho is already among 27 states now suing the federal government over the constitutionality of what health-care overhaul foes deride as "Obamacare."
Supreme Court justices haven't yet weighed in on questions like whether residents can be compelled to buy health insurance.
But Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of the 2010 book "Nullification" that Otter and Pearce have in their Idaho Capitol offices, argues states have the final say on the gravest issues, like when the government forces citizens to spend their hard-earned money.
If the U.S. president, Congress, and the Supreme Court get it wrong, Woods said, then Jefferson had it right back in 1799 when he wrote that states, as creators of the federal government, "being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction."
"What do we do when we don't get proper relief in the court?" Woods told The Associated Press from his home in Auburn, Ala. "We can't just throw up our hands and say, 'We tried.' The creators had to have some way of not having that system destroyed."
For Idaho's Pearce, Obama and the Democratic-led Congress are destroying the American system.
"There are now 27 states that are in on the lawsuit against Obamacare," Pearce said. "What if those 27 states do the same thing we do with nullification? It's a killer."
Judge Napolitano has been yelling on Fox News at the states to nullify for a long time.
Let's all send the Governor of Idaho e-mail thanking him for his courage. Also, please don't forget Idaho's congressmen and senators. They will come under great pressure and every federal department will threaten the state. (Recall when highway funds were cut off to New Mexico to punish their Governor.)
I can only assume our Governor is watching this closely.
Some state had to man up. IF Idaho stands up, others states will follow.
Isn't it just like America for one of the smallest states to be the first to stand up to the 'big guy?"
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Dangerous Road
The dangerous road is dark and steep
With playing grandchildren at our feet
There is a country that we must keep
With months and days before we sleep
When something bad happens we look for the reason. Why did IT happen to me or why did it happen to someone I love or someone I know. We are always looking for a cause and effect connection. When we can make a connection we feel better. . It gives us a sense that we can do something. Fix it, change it, or just undo it….. For the most part this is so.
What happens if we cannot connect the dots? What happens if there is no rhyme or reason? Tragic events happen throughout our lives to us and to other we know and love. We ask, "Why me? Why them? For the most tragic events there isn't an answer. There is just the event, the loss and the pain but that doesn't stop our asking, "Why me, why them?"
One in six Americans suffer from some form of mental illness. That’s about sixteen people per hundred… Of this sixteen close to half suffer from one of the many forms of schizophrenia. There are the schizophrenias that show up in the teenage years and others that don't surface until the young adult years. More often than not there were symptoms all along that went unnoticed for the most part. A small percentage of this group have violent tendencies. Some direct this violence towards themselves, (i.e. suicides) and some outward towards someone or some thing other than themselves. Suicide primarily impacts close family, get little or no attention, and seldom rises to national attention levels. However, when something like Tucson happens there is a national response…..
Schizophrenia can't be 'cured' but many can be helped for periods of time with medication. That is the good news and the bad news wrapped up in one sentence.
Schizophrenia has been with us from the beginning. The adage that goes back into, at least the fifteen hundreds, says, "Well every village has to have one" referring to the schizophrenia. Some societies even valued them such as many American Indians tribes.
With this tragedy in Tucson something very different happened with the national press starting the fire and then fanning political flames. This group of people and business they work for heap one shame after another on themselves.
Tucson was not about politics. It was murder and mayhem by a sick individual. The response by the political pundits and the national media made it all the more horrible by attempting to morph this individual into the conservative voices in America.
The noise in the press is dying down. The attacks on Sara Palin are subsiding. The funeral have taken place and hopefully everyone who was wounded is getting better. That’s what's being prayed for. Our President has asked that all step from this blaming and finger pointing. Hopefully he will cool it also. I recall how shocked I was, not that long ago, when he referred to the conservatives who opposed his liberal programs as the enemies. I don't know of any President who ever referred to the loyal opposition as the enemies. What our President did in that one act, in that idea, in that pronouncement gave permission to other to do the same. From that moment hardly a day has passed in the past year and a half that someone in some new room, from some blog site, or some nightly talk show hasn't attacked the Tea Party or some conservative candidate as radical racial bigots and worse.
Our President has pitted young against old, minorities against majorities, liberal against conservatives in a ways that has divided the country like never before. This is a tired old Democrat campaign tactic of divide and conquer. Does it work? You bet…but not quite as well as it used to. When the national economy is the table stake and as this trick starts becoming more transparent the tactic becomes not only dangerous to the Dems but to the country.
Deceit, lies and sold votes by our leaders weakens the moral fiber of the country. Weakens our standing in the world. Our President is in the throws of becoming a middle of the roader, like President Clinton did in his second year in office and for the same reason. Both finally sensed which way the wind was blowing. The difference between the two is that Obama believes in his social wealth transferring programs while Clinton was just trying to shore up his Democratic base. (Also, through wealth transferring and centralizing government.) It's interesting that both went directly towards control of medical services in their quest. Wonder why? Wonder what both understood about centralizing that power using health services?
This dog and pony show yesterday of signing his "degree' that all departments should go through their regulations and eliminate the unneeded regulations that inhibit or burden business leads us to believe the adage that, "You can fool some of the people all the time." This is the President along with his staff who has assaulted America's Golden Goose like no other President in history…..(Wonder why, in the fanfare, there was no mention that American businesses are burdened with the world's highest taxes?)
I listened to a speech on the floor of the House last night…..Representative Cohen from Memphis area….Clearly this man is not delusional so I can only assume he was trying to score points with some group…. During his speech (more like a tirade) on the House floor late Tuesday night, Representative Cohen said that Republicans were like Nazis for continuing to call the health care law passed in 2010 as a “government takeover of health care.”
“They say it’s government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing, blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing,” Cohen said.
So we seem to have a President seeing conservatives as enemies and a representative seeing us as Nazis. There must be or at least may be a darker side within this current government that no one wants to consider. I was shocked by the speech. I wonder if the people of the Memphis knew what they were buying with this man?
When the citizens are divided the Government is free to rule…It's not simply divide and conquer. Ruling is only possible when primary power is centralized. Already enough centralizing has taken place in Washington that government is able to use our labor and dictates what we, along with our businesses, can and cannot do. A wonderful example is in Mississippi. The government 'gives' the people a sales tax holiday. GIVES the people…How has this relationship between government and citizens become this distorted?
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http:/theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
With playing grandchildren at our feet
There is a country that we must keep
With months and days before we sleep
When something bad happens we look for the reason. Why did IT happen to me or why did it happen to someone I love or someone I know. We are always looking for a cause and effect connection. When we can make a connection we feel better. . It gives us a sense that we can do something. Fix it, change it, or just undo it….. For the most part this is so.
What happens if we cannot connect the dots? What happens if there is no rhyme or reason? Tragic events happen throughout our lives to us and to other we know and love. We ask, "Why me? Why them? For the most tragic events there isn't an answer. There is just the event, the loss and the pain but that doesn't stop our asking, "Why me, why them?"
One in six Americans suffer from some form of mental illness. That’s about sixteen people per hundred… Of this sixteen close to half suffer from one of the many forms of schizophrenia. There are the schizophrenias that show up in the teenage years and others that don't surface until the young adult years. More often than not there were symptoms all along that went unnoticed for the most part. A small percentage of this group have violent tendencies. Some direct this violence towards themselves, (i.e. suicides) and some outward towards someone or some thing other than themselves. Suicide primarily impacts close family, get little or no attention, and seldom rises to national attention levels. However, when something like Tucson happens there is a national response…..
Schizophrenia can't be 'cured' but many can be helped for periods of time with medication. That is the good news and the bad news wrapped up in one sentence.
Schizophrenia has been with us from the beginning. The adage that goes back into, at least the fifteen hundreds, says, "Well every village has to have one" referring to the schizophrenia. Some societies even valued them such as many American Indians tribes.
With this tragedy in Tucson something very different happened with the national press starting the fire and then fanning political flames. This group of people and business they work for heap one shame after another on themselves.
Tucson was not about politics. It was murder and mayhem by a sick individual. The response by the political pundits and the national media made it all the more horrible by attempting to morph this individual into the conservative voices in America.
The noise in the press is dying down. The attacks on Sara Palin are subsiding. The funeral have taken place and hopefully everyone who was wounded is getting better. That’s what's being prayed for. Our President has asked that all step from this blaming and finger pointing. Hopefully he will cool it also. I recall how shocked I was, not that long ago, when he referred to the conservatives who opposed his liberal programs as the enemies. I don't know of any President who ever referred to the loyal opposition as the enemies. What our President did in that one act, in that idea, in that pronouncement gave permission to other to do the same. From that moment hardly a day has passed in the past year and a half that someone in some new room, from some blog site, or some nightly talk show hasn't attacked the Tea Party or some conservative candidate as radical racial bigots and worse.
Our President has pitted young against old, minorities against majorities, liberal against conservatives in a ways that has divided the country like never before. This is a tired old Democrat campaign tactic of divide and conquer. Does it work? You bet…but not quite as well as it used to. When the national economy is the table stake and as this trick starts becoming more transparent the tactic becomes not only dangerous to the Dems but to the country.
Deceit, lies and sold votes by our leaders weakens the moral fiber of the country. Weakens our standing in the world. Our President is in the throws of becoming a middle of the roader, like President Clinton did in his second year in office and for the same reason. Both finally sensed which way the wind was blowing. The difference between the two is that Obama believes in his social wealth transferring programs while Clinton was just trying to shore up his Democratic base. (Also, through wealth transferring and centralizing government.) It's interesting that both went directly towards control of medical services in their quest. Wonder why? Wonder what both understood about centralizing that power using health services?
This dog and pony show yesterday of signing his "degree' that all departments should go through their regulations and eliminate the unneeded regulations that inhibit or burden business leads us to believe the adage that, "You can fool some of the people all the time." This is the President along with his staff who has assaulted America's Golden Goose like no other President in history…..(Wonder why, in the fanfare, there was no mention that American businesses are burdened with the world's highest taxes?)
I listened to a speech on the floor of the House last night…..Representative Cohen from Memphis area….Clearly this man is not delusional so I can only assume he was trying to score points with some group…. During his speech (more like a tirade) on the House floor late Tuesday night, Representative Cohen said that Republicans were like Nazis for continuing to call the health care law passed in 2010 as a “government takeover of health care.”
“They say it’s government takeover of health care, a big lie just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, and eventually, people believe it. Like blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing, blood libel. That’s the same kind of thing,” Cohen said.
So we seem to have a President seeing conservatives as enemies and a representative seeing us as Nazis. There must be or at least may be a darker side within this current government that no one wants to consider. I was shocked by the speech. I wonder if the people of the Memphis knew what they were buying with this man?
When the citizens are divided the Government is free to rule…It's not simply divide and conquer. Ruling is only possible when primary power is centralized. Already enough centralizing has taken place in Washington that government is able to use our labor and dictates what we, along with our businesses, can and cannot do. A wonderful example is in Mississippi. The government 'gives' the people a sales tax holiday. GIVES the people…How has this relationship between government and citizens become this distorted?
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http:/theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Monday, January 17, 2011
Feet To The Fire
We have suggested in a number of articles over the last few months that it might be a good thing if we could have a state Tea Party for the Tea Party folks, with the idea being to put names to faces and to see if people felt there was someway we could help each other with goals.
The MS Tea Party had a gathering on January 6 to talk to our state officials. They also put forth agenda items. I hope that went well. The folks in Jackson are doing a super job. We got whacked with the flu and were not able to attend.
We try to spend some time throughout the week visiting other Tea Party web sites. Each Tea group seems to have it own level of activity. In some states there is an effort to get the Tea groups together to discuss what they might do within their state. For sure the states are where we need to put our efforts along with the National Republican Party within each state. Like government, institutions, complex organizations of any shape or size, change only happens through participation inside the group. Outsiders are seen as threats, outsiders are treated as unwanted street children, and outsiders have no voice.
So far I have only found Mississippi and the Texas Tea Parties, as groups, meeting with the state officials. I'm sure more Tea Parties will do similar events. These are the feet to the fire events no matter how cordial the meetings.
We wanted to pass this notice from Texas Tea Party Patriots site (not the PAC) out of Austin who put together with other Tea partiers a Q & A sessions with the TX House speaker candidates:
http://houstontps.org/?p=1518 :(Good read.)
In addition, here's what Tea Parties are doing to show a presence in Austin during the legislative session.
1) Many tea parties around the state will be attending an assembly in Austin Saturday to jointly create a list of agenda items to present to the legislature. All the HTPS survey question responses have already been forwarded to the organizers (Thank you, Wharton Tea Party!) and Neal Meyer and Alan Powell will serve as the HTPS delegation to the meeting. We hope to have some great feedback to present next week after the meeting, so stay tuned.
2) Texas Tea Party Patriots has also added a calendar to their site where Legislative Watchdogs can sign up to participate in holding the legislature accountable. If you are interested in participating in conjunction with all the other tea parties involved, click on the link and sign up for your day:
http://www.texasteapartypatriots.org/
3) You can also track legislation as it's introduced:
To monitor bills as they are introduced and move through the legislative process, go to the Texas Legislature Online at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Home.aspx.
Go directly to filed House Bills: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Reports/Report.aspx?LegSess=82R&ID=housefiled
Go directly to filed Senate Bills: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Reports/Report.aspx?LegSess=82R&ID=senatefiled
4) HTPS will be joining in a group effort to bring you important facts and educational opportunities to learn about how the Texas Legislature works. Many of us haven't made time to monitor the state government before, and we'll need to learn much more if we are going to ensure conservative ideas prevail on the state level. We'll have more details as they become available.
Don't forget; your representatives need to hear from you throughout the session, so you can find their phone numbers here:
http://houstontps.org/?page_id=1521
I really like what the MS Tea Party is doing down in Jackson. Its hard for us here in the north to have any sense as to how our state representative think of ussins.
The liberal Dems and their cohorts, the national media, somehow underestimated us badly in November. There isn't a chance they will make that mistake in 2012. (and maybe never again.) Obama's campaign committee is being formed, as we write, in Chicago. The guess is the GOP won't get around to this planning process for another year.
This more or less leaves us on our own which its not a unfamiliar place…If we can get another four or five hundred new conservative folks in the various state houses, with the courage to say 'NO' to Washington, that gets us better than half way to our goals. This will be our building process and the states will be the forts. Which is exactly what they should be.
There is a new chairman of the NRC, Reince Priebus. It shouldn't take long before we know if he/they want us to be a part of what they are doing and we with them. If they don't allows us a voice in the candidate selection process we will be back at square one but we'll see… We should be able know something on the state level very quickly.
It's cold and wet, the mules are tired, the ruts are deep, and its eighteen miles to the gin all up hill. That’s what we're looking at for the next 656 days and 21 hours.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http:/theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
The MS Tea Party had a gathering on January 6 to talk to our state officials. They also put forth agenda items. I hope that went well. The folks in Jackson are doing a super job. We got whacked with the flu and were not able to attend.
We try to spend some time throughout the week visiting other Tea Party web sites. Each Tea group seems to have it own level of activity. In some states there is an effort to get the Tea groups together to discuss what they might do within their state. For sure the states are where we need to put our efforts along with the National Republican Party within each state. Like government, institutions, complex organizations of any shape or size, change only happens through participation inside the group. Outsiders are seen as threats, outsiders are treated as unwanted street children, and outsiders have no voice.
So far I have only found Mississippi and the Texas Tea Parties, as groups, meeting with the state officials. I'm sure more Tea Parties will do similar events. These are the feet to the fire events no matter how cordial the meetings.
We wanted to pass this notice from Texas Tea Party Patriots site (not the PAC) out of Austin who put together with other Tea partiers a Q & A sessions with the TX House speaker candidates:
http://houstontps.org/?p=1518 :(Good read.)
In addition, here's what Tea Parties are doing to show a presence in Austin during the legislative session.
1) Many tea parties around the state will be attending an assembly in Austin Saturday to jointly create a list of agenda items to present to the legislature. All the HTPS survey question responses have already been forwarded to the organizers (Thank you, Wharton Tea Party!) and Neal Meyer and Alan Powell will serve as the HTPS delegation to the meeting. We hope to have some great feedback to present next week after the meeting, so stay tuned.
2) Texas Tea Party Patriots has also added a calendar to their site where Legislative Watchdogs can sign up to participate in holding the legislature accountable. If you are interested in participating in conjunction with all the other tea parties involved, click on the link and sign up for your day:
http://www.texasteapartypatriots.org/
3) You can also track legislation as it's introduced:
To monitor bills as they are introduced and move through the legislative process, go to the Texas Legislature Online at http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Home.aspx.
Go directly to filed House Bills: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Reports/Report.aspx?LegSess=82R&ID=housefiled
Go directly to filed Senate Bills: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/Reports/Report.aspx?LegSess=82R&ID=senatefiled
4) HTPS will be joining in a group effort to bring you important facts and educational opportunities to learn about how the Texas Legislature works. Many of us haven't made time to monitor the state government before, and we'll need to learn much more if we are going to ensure conservative ideas prevail on the state level. We'll have more details as they become available.
Don't forget; your representatives need to hear from you throughout the session, so you can find their phone numbers here:
http://houstontps.org/?page_id=1521
I really like what the MS Tea Party is doing down in Jackson. Its hard for us here in the north to have any sense as to how our state representative think of ussins.
The liberal Dems and their cohorts, the national media, somehow underestimated us badly in November. There isn't a chance they will make that mistake in 2012. (and maybe never again.) Obama's campaign committee is being formed, as we write, in Chicago. The guess is the GOP won't get around to this planning process for another year.
This more or less leaves us on our own which its not a unfamiliar place…If we can get another four or five hundred new conservative folks in the various state houses, with the courage to say 'NO' to Washington, that gets us better than half way to our goals. This will be our building process and the states will be the forts. Which is exactly what they should be.
There is a new chairman of the NRC, Reince Priebus. It shouldn't take long before we know if he/they want us to be a part of what they are doing and we with them. If they don't allows us a voice in the candidate selection process we will be back at square one but we'll see… We should be able know something on the state level very quickly.
It's cold and wet, the mules are tired, the ruts are deep, and its eighteen miles to the gin all up hill. That’s what we're looking at for the next 656 days and 21 hours.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http:/theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Friday, January 14, 2011
First At Bat
The first tax fix bill has been submitted in the new Congress. Below is the outline of the bill. You can clearly see that the bill addresses the key issues that many in the Tea Party see as important.
Michele Bachmann (R-MN) representative, by filing first, is hoping to frame the key issues that the broader congressional members must began to debate as a vote on the new Obama budget approaches the March deadline.
By getting these tax ideas in a form that can be easily seen and understood Representative Bachmann is giving us time to think about what makes sense to us and what changes in the tax code we want to change. This has to happen rather quickly. So we need to read, think, discuss, and communicate to our Congress as quickly as possible. As the vote date get closer they will get busier and busier making it harder to get their ear.
Regardless of the details in her proposed bill or what might or might not come from, her effort The Oxford Tea Party is grateful to Michele Bachmann. She is the lady who organized the Tea Party caucus in the House and I believe she has some thoughts of running for higher office come 2012.
H.R.86 -- End Tax Uncertainty Act of 2011 (Introduced in House - IH)
HR 86 IH
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 86
To prevent pending tax increases, permanently repeal estate and gift taxes, and permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax on individuals, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 5, 2011
Representative Bachmann (for herself and representatives Mr. King and Mr. SCHILLING) introduced the following bill which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
The BILL
To prevent pending tax increases, permanently repeal estate and gift taxes, and permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax on individuals, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `End Tax Uncertainty Act of 2011'.
SEC. 2. EGTRRA AND JGTRRA TAX RELIEF MADE PERMANENT.
(a) Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001- Title IX of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 is hereby repealed.
(b) Income Tax Rates on Dividends and Net Capital Gain- Section 303 of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 is hereby repealed.
(c) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. ESTATE AND GIFT TAX PERMANENTLY REPEALED.
Effective for estates of decedents dying, gifts made, or generation skipping transfers, after December 31, 2010, subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is repealed.
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX ON INDIVIDUALS.
(a) In General- Subsection (a) of section 55 (relating to alternative minimum tax imposed) is amended by adding at the end the following new flush sentence:
`Except in the case of a corporation, no tax shall be imposed by this section for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2007, and the tentative minimum tax of any taxpayer other than a corporation for any such taxable year shall be zero for purposes of this title.'.
(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
SEC. 5. MAXIMUM CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATE REDUCED TO 25 PERCENT.
(a) In General- Paragraph (1) of section 11(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking `but does not exceed $75,000' and all that follows and inserting a period.
(b) Personal Service Corporations- Paragraph (2) of section 11(b) of such Code is amended by striking `35 percent' and inserting `25 percent'.
(c) Conforming Amendments-
(1) Subsection (a) of section 1201 of such Code is amended by striking `35 percent' each place it appears and inserting `25 percent'.
(2) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 1445(e) of such Code are each amended by striking `35 percent' and inserting `25 percent'.
(d) Effective Date- The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
(New Speaker John Boehner, leader of the Republicans says he wants to cut spending and put it in the pledge to America. When he was sworn in last week, he declared: "Our spending has caught up with us. ... No longer can we kick the can down the road." But when NBC anchorman Brian Williams asked him to name a program "we could do without," he said, "I don't think I have one off the top of my head." The Republicans promised they would start the new congress by cutting $100 billion out of the budget. Let's put that in perspective. The budget is close to $4 trillion. So $100 billion is just 2.5 percent and already they are trying to step back from the 2.5. )
If I were to cut 2.5 percent out of our home budget we wouldn't even see a difference. I wonder what the Canadian Parliament would charge us to come down and run our Country for a few years?
To close on a different note. Lebanon's government collapsed today. I know this has nothing to do with what this tax article is about but there is a lesson in the collapse that we need to learn from. Lebanon took in large numbers of Hezbollah refugees over the years and allowed them some form of citizenship. Members of this group ran for office and won seats in their Parliament. There were enough of them and their supporters in Parliament that when they walked out in mass today the government collapsed. If we look around the world at all the countries who have had, more or less open border policies, have paid enormous prices for their good intentions.
( I refer you back to a book entitled 'The Bell Curve" by Murray. A book all the liberal press considers politically incorrect and I am sure this Sheriff in Arizona does also. )
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Michele Bachmann (R-MN) representative, by filing first, is hoping to frame the key issues that the broader congressional members must began to debate as a vote on the new Obama budget approaches the March deadline.
By getting these tax ideas in a form that can be easily seen and understood Representative Bachmann is giving us time to think about what makes sense to us and what changes in the tax code we want to change. This has to happen rather quickly. So we need to read, think, discuss, and communicate to our Congress as quickly as possible. As the vote date get closer they will get busier and busier making it harder to get their ear.
Regardless of the details in her proposed bill or what might or might not come from, her effort The Oxford Tea Party is grateful to Michele Bachmann. She is the lady who organized the Tea Party caucus in the House and I believe she has some thoughts of running for higher office come 2012.
H.R.86 -- End Tax Uncertainty Act of 2011 (Introduced in House - IH)
HR 86 IH
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 86
To prevent pending tax increases, permanently repeal estate and gift taxes, and permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax on individuals, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 5, 2011
Representative Bachmann (for herself and representatives Mr. King and Mr. SCHILLING) introduced the following bill which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
The BILL
To prevent pending tax increases, permanently repeal estate and gift taxes, and permanently repeal the alternative minimum tax on individuals, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `End Tax Uncertainty Act of 2011'.
SEC. 2. EGTRRA AND JGTRRA TAX RELIEF MADE PERMANENT.
(a) Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001- Title IX of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 is hereby repealed.
(b) Income Tax Rates on Dividends and Net Capital Gain- Section 303 of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 is hereby repealed.
(c) Effective Date- The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. ESTATE AND GIFT TAX PERMANENTLY REPEALED.
Effective for estates of decedents dying, gifts made, or generation skipping transfers, after December 31, 2010, subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is repealed.
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX ON INDIVIDUALS.
(a) In General- Subsection (a) of section 55 (relating to alternative minimum tax imposed) is amended by adding at the end the following new flush sentence:
`Except in the case of a corporation, no tax shall be imposed by this section for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 2007, and the tentative minimum tax of any taxpayer other than a corporation for any such taxable year shall be zero for purposes of this title.'.
(b) Effective Date- The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
SEC. 5. MAXIMUM CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATE REDUCED TO 25 PERCENT.
(a) In General- Paragraph (1) of section 11(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking `but does not exceed $75,000' and all that follows and inserting a period.
(b) Personal Service Corporations- Paragraph (2) of section 11(b) of such Code is amended by striking `35 percent' and inserting `25 percent'.
(c) Conforming Amendments-
(1) Subsection (a) of section 1201 of such Code is amended by striking `35 percent' each place it appears and inserting `25 percent'.
(2) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 1445(e) of such Code are each amended by striking `35 percent' and inserting `25 percent'.
(d) Effective Date- The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010.
(New Speaker John Boehner, leader of the Republicans says he wants to cut spending and put it in the pledge to America. When he was sworn in last week, he declared: "Our spending has caught up with us. ... No longer can we kick the can down the road." But when NBC anchorman Brian Williams asked him to name a program "we could do without," he said, "I don't think I have one off the top of my head." The Republicans promised they would start the new congress by cutting $100 billion out of the budget. Let's put that in perspective. The budget is close to $4 trillion. So $100 billion is just 2.5 percent and already they are trying to step back from the 2.5. )
If I were to cut 2.5 percent out of our home budget we wouldn't even see a difference. I wonder what the Canadian Parliament would charge us to come down and run our Country for a few years?
To close on a different note. Lebanon's government collapsed today. I know this has nothing to do with what this tax article is about but there is a lesson in the collapse that we need to learn from. Lebanon took in large numbers of Hezbollah refugees over the years and allowed them some form of citizenship. Members of this group ran for office and won seats in their Parliament. There were enough of them and their supporters in Parliament that when they walked out in mass today the government collapsed. If we look around the world at all the countries who have had, more or less open border policies, have paid enormous prices for their good intentions.
( I refer you back to a book entitled 'The Bell Curve" by Murray. A book all the liberal press considers politically incorrect and I am sure this Sheriff in Arizona does also. )
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Time is Nigh
Believe the GOP has lost it's direction? Believe the GOP is failing in its mission as the conservative party? Want the GOP to be the conservative party again? Want to have a say? Want to make a difference? Willing to step up to the plate? Willing to invest time?
These are just a few of the questions we need to be asking ourselves. In the last few articles we have been looking at our state and wondering out loud what impact could we have locally and just what we would need to do in order to achieve this goal.
How the National Parties function is a mystery to most. So we at The Oxford Tea Party have been delving into those mysteries. It's not what we might call convoluted or exciting findings. Pretty straight forward stuff really.
Below is a outline of how the Arizona Republicans GOP works. This is more or less how Mississippi's Republican GOP works and for that matter all of the other states. If you would like to read various articles he has written just click on ColdWarrior and that will take you to the RedState site. He is a conservative writer and this is a response to comments he was making in a discussion on a blog site. This picks up in the middle of a discussion.
Conservative? Want to change the outcome of the RNC Chairman election?
ColdWarrior Monday, January 10th at 10:16AM EST RedState
Well, to do that, you had to know who actually votes for the RNC candidates. That means you have to “read the directions.” The Rules of the Republican Party (linked below).
Are you qualified to cast a vote for who becomes the next RNC Chairman? Have you read “the directions?” The Rules of the Republican Party? Your state Republican Party rules/bylaws? Think of what our forbears went through to secure our liberties. The Revolution. The Civil War. WW I. WW II. Etc. Have you even read the RNC Rules? It’s not like they’re hard to find. We have the internet.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Wanna have a vote on who takes Michael Steele’s spot? Then you have to become - you guessed it - a precinct committeeman — at least if you live in AZ
Do you want to replace Michael Steele at the next regularly scheduled vote for the RNC chair? Want to have a vote in that process? Then you’ve got to become a precinct committeemen in your state.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Let’s start with the Rules of the Republican National Committee. Ever read them?
Per Rule 1 (a), the members of the RNC consist of the national committeemen and committeewomen, one of each from each state Republican Party, and the chair of the state Republican Party of each state.
Who is eligible to be a member of the RNC? For that we must look at Rule 5 (a) (1): “A chairman and a co-chairman of the opposite sex . . . shall be elected by the members of the Republican National Committee.” So, if ya wanna vote to replace Michael Steele, you have to become a member of the RNC. (It gets better — bear with me.)
How does one become a member of the RNC? Well, as already explained, you have to either be the chair of a state Republican Party or one of the national committeemen or committeewomen. You have to look at Rule 2, which basically says each state Republican Party can set its own rules for electing the national committeeman and committeewoman and if they don’t have such rules, other rules kick in. And, as already explained, the state Republican Party chairman of each state automatically serves as a member of the RNC.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Gee, wouldn’t it be great if the RNC explained all this? You know, sort of a “how to become a precinct committeeman and why that’s important and how it can actually have an impact on who gets elected to the leadership positions within the Republican Party” online guide? I’ve looked for one on the net. Can’t find one. Can’t even find a layman’s explanation of all this on the http://www.gop.com site.
But I don’t blame THEM. The “powers that be” are protecting their political turf. I’m nothing special. I’m no rocket scientist. If I can figure out how to access this information, anyone can.
I blame YOU. Every conservative who claims to be a “political activist” who’s never even read the bylaws or rules of their county or state Republican Party committees. On Saturday, at our Maricopa County Republican Party Committee Statutory Organizational Meeting, where the elected precinct committeemen elected conservatives to the officer slots by an over 2 to 1 majority, I met a wise man who told me, “You’re not a real political activist unless you’re collecting signatures for some political cause.” In Arizona, to become eligible to become and elected precinct committeeman, you have to collect a few signatures on a nomination form. No more than ten. Any conservative can do that. (You can read about what happened on Saturday in Maricopa County here:
http://seeingredaz.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/re-bout-haney-counter-punches-establishment-candidate-into-the-ropes-1281-575/.)
I live in Arizona. Where do I go to find out the eligibility criteria for becoming either the Arizona Republican Party chairman or a national committeeman?
Hmmm.
Maybe the bylaws of the Arizona Republican Party would be a good place to look.
I looked.
Those bylaws tell me that if I want to get elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party, or as the national committeeman, so I can be a member of the RNC, I first have to be an elected precinct committeeman and then get elected to be a state committeeman.
If I’ve managed to be elected the chairman of a Republican county committee, then I’m automatically a state committee member. Otherwise, each county committee is allotted one state committeeman position for every three elected precinct committeemen.
So, I’m going to have to make sure I get elected to serve as a state committeeman so I can attend the annual state meeting at which the state chairman is elected. (I’ve done that.) That election takes place every two years after the even-number year general elections. If I can manage to get elected as a state committeeman, then I’ll be in a position to run for Arizona Republican Party chairman at that meeting, assuming I can manage to get a majority of state committeemen to vote for me.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Elections of the national committeeman and woman take place when the Arizona Republican Party holds its state convention, which takes place when the national committee issues the call for a national convention. Then the Arizona state chairman issues a “call” for a state convention to be published as provided by the rules adopted by the national committee and the Arizona state bylaws. Precinct committeemen, and only precinct committeemen, elect the delegates to the convention, and only precinct committeemen are eligible to be elected as delegates. Those delegates, at the convention, elect the national committeeman and committeewoman.
So, assuming I can get myself elected state chairman, or elected as a delegate to the next state convention, I’ll be in a position to directly for whom I want to be the next RNC chairman. Because I’ll be in a position to attend the RNC meeting at which the RNC members elect the next RNC chairman. And that meeting, per RNC Rule 5 (b), takes place in January of each odd-numbered year. Which means Michael Steele’s position as RNC Chairman will be up for “change we can believe in.” But it is too late for me to become the Arizona national committeeman, as that election won’t happen again until the next Arizona convention.
Did you know any of this for your state?
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Now here’s the really good part. Did you know that you DON’T have to be a member of the RNC to be elected the RNC chair or co-chair? Yep, Rule 5 (a) (1) also states, “The chairman or co-chairman need not be a member of the Republican National Committee.” In other words, ANYBODY can be elected RNC chairman or co-chairman. I guess I like that flexibility. In case I can’t make it to Arizona Republican Party chairman, I can still throw my hat in the ring!
Hmmmm.
Maybe I should.
RNC Chairman ColdWarrior. I like the sound of that. But, it does not matter if it’s me. What matters is that it’s a real conservative. And for that to happen, real conservatives need to gain a majority within the RNC committee.
Which begs the question: What are YOU going to DO about it?
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
P.S. I said above I’d provide the link to Rules of the Republican Party. Here’s the link to the page at the gop.com site where the Rules appear: http://www.gop.com/index.php/rnc_counsel/.
Well, there are the steps that need to be taken to have a voice in the Mississippi State Republican Party and to have a vote on the candidates they choose to support.
The Tea Parties exist because the national party lost its way. The nation needs a conservative voice and a powerful party who speaks with that voice. I think what happened in November has in some ways lessened their fears of who we are and what we represent. Bite my lip, but we may have pointed a way for them to become relevant once again.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http:/theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
These are just a few of the questions we need to be asking ourselves. In the last few articles we have been looking at our state and wondering out loud what impact could we have locally and just what we would need to do in order to achieve this goal.
How the National Parties function is a mystery to most. So we at The Oxford Tea Party have been delving into those mysteries. It's not what we might call convoluted or exciting findings. Pretty straight forward stuff really.
Below is a outline of how the Arizona Republicans GOP works. This is more or less how Mississippi's Republican GOP works and for that matter all of the other states. If you would like to read various articles he has written just click on ColdWarrior and that will take you to the RedState site. He is a conservative writer and this is a response to comments he was making in a discussion on a blog site. This picks up in the middle of a discussion.
Conservative? Want to change the outcome of the RNC Chairman election?
ColdWarrior Monday, January 10th at 10:16AM EST RedState
Well, to do that, you had to know who actually votes for the RNC candidates. That means you have to “read the directions.” The Rules of the Republican Party (linked below).
Are you qualified to cast a vote for who becomes the next RNC Chairman? Have you read “the directions?” The Rules of the Republican Party? Your state Republican Party rules/bylaws? Think of what our forbears went through to secure our liberties. The Revolution. The Civil War. WW I. WW II. Etc. Have you even read the RNC Rules? It’s not like they’re hard to find. We have the internet.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Wanna have a vote on who takes Michael Steele’s spot? Then you have to become - you guessed it - a precinct committeeman — at least if you live in AZ
Do you want to replace Michael Steele at the next regularly scheduled vote for the RNC chair? Want to have a vote in that process? Then you’ve got to become a precinct committeemen in your state.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Let’s start with the Rules of the Republican National Committee. Ever read them?
Per Rule 1 (a), the members of the RNC consist of the national committeemen and committeewomen, one of each from each state Republican Party, and the chair of the state Republican Party of each state.
Who is eligible to be a member of the RNC? For that we must look at Rule 5 (a) (1): “A chairman and a co-chairman of the opposite sex . . . shall be elected by the members of the Republican National Committee.” So, if ya wanna vote to replace Michael Steele, you have to become a member of the RNC. (It gets better — bear with me.)
How does one become a member of the RNC? Well, as already explained, you have to either be the chair of a state Republican Party or one of the national committeemen or committeewomen. You have to look at Rule 2, which basically says each state Republican Party can set its own rules for electing the national committeeman and committeewoman and if they don’t have such rules, other rules kick in. And, as already explained, the state Republican Party chairman of each state automatically serves as a member of the RNC.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Gee, wouldn’t it be great if the RNC explained all this? You know, sort of a “how to become a precinct committeeman and why that’s important and how it can actually have an impact on who gets elected to the leadership positions within the Republican Party” online guide? I’ve looked for one on the net. Can’t find one. Can’t even find a layman’s explanation of all this on the http://www.gop.com site.
But I don’t blame THEM. The “powers that be” are protecting their political turf. I’m nothing special. I’m no rocket scientist. If I can figure out how to access this information, anyone can.
I blame YOU. Every conservative who claims to be a “political activist” who’s never even read the bylaws or rules of their county or state Republican Party committees. On Saturday, at our Maricopa County Republican Party Committee Statutory Organizational Meeting, where the elected precinct committeemen elected conservatives to the officer slots by an over 2 to 1 majority, I met a wise man who told me, “You’re not a real political activist unless you’re collecting signatures for some political cause.” In Arizona, to become eligible to become and elected precinct committeeman, you have to collect a few signatures on a nomination form. No more than ten. Any conservative can do that. (You can read about what happened on Saturday in Maricopa County here:
http://seeingredaz.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/re-bout-haney-counter-punches-establishment-candidate-into-the-ropes-1281-575/.)
I live in Arizona. Where do I go to find out the eligibility criteria for becoming either the Arizona Republican Party chairman or a national committeeman?
Hmmm.
Maybe the bylaws of the Arizona Republican Party would be a good place to look.
I looked.
Those bylaws tell me that if I want to get elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party, or as the national committeeman, so I can be a member of the RNC, I first have to be an elected precinct committeeman and then get elected to be a state committeeman.
If I’ve managed to be elected the chairman of a Republican county committee, then I’m automatically a state committee member. Otherwise, each county committee is allotted one state committeeman position for every three elected precinct committeemen.
So, I’m going to have to make sure I get elected to serve as a state committeeman so I can attend the annual state meeting at which the state chairman is elected. (I’ve done that.) That election takes place every two years after the even-number year general elections. If I can manage to get elected as a state committeeman, then I’ll be in a position to run for Arizona Republican Party chairman at that meeting, assuming I can manage to get a majority of state committeemen to vote for me.
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Elections of the national committeeman and woman take place when the Arizona Republican Party holds its state convention, which takes place when the national committee issues the call for a national convention. Then the Arizona state chairman issues a “call” for a state convention to be published as provided by the rules adopted by the national committee and the Arizona state bylaws. Precinct committeemen, and only precinct committeemen, elect the delegates to the convention, and only precinct committeemen are eligible to be elected as delegates. Those delegates, at the convention, elect the national committeeman and committeewoman.
So, assuming I can get myself elected state chairman, or elected as a delegate to the next state convention, I’ll be in a position to directly for whom I want to be the next RNC chairman. Because I’ll be in a position to attend the RNC meeting at which the RNC members elect the next RNC chairman. And that meeting, per RNC Rule 5 (b), takes place in January of each odd-numbered year. Which means Michael Steele’s position as RNC Chairman will be up for “change we can believe in.” But it is too late for me to become the Arizona national committeeman, as that election won’t happen again until the next Arizona convention.
Did you know any of this for your state?
“When all else fails, read the directions.”
Now here’s the really good part. Did you know that you DON’T have to be a member of the RNC to be elected the RNC chair or co-chair? Yep, Rule 5 (a) (1) also states, “The chairman or co-chairman need not be a member of the Republican National Committee.” In other words, ANYBODY can be elected RNC chairman or co-chairman. I guess I like that flexibility. In case I can’t make it to Arizona Republican Party chairman, I can still throw my hat in the ring!
Hmmmm.
Maybe I should.
RNC Chairman ColdWarrior. I like the sound of that. But, it does not matter if it’s me. What matters is that it’s a real conservative. And for that to happen, real conservatives need to gain a majority within the RNC committee.
Which begs the question: What are YOU going to DO about it?
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
P.S. I said above I’d provide the link to Rules of the Republican Party. Here’s the link to the page at the gop.com site where the Rules appear: http://www.gop.com/index.php/rnc_counsel/.
Well, there are the steps that need to be taken to have a voice in the Mississippi State Republican Party and to have a vote on the candidates they choose to support.
The Tea Parties exist because the national party lost its way. The nation needs a conservative voice and a powerful party who speaks with that voice. I think what happened in November has in some ways lessened their fears of who we are and what we represent. Bite my lip, but we may have pointed a way for them to become relevant once again.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http:/theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Thursday, January 6, 2011
America Is Not An Accident
AND neither is this 112 Congress….. We just watched the swearing in of the new Congress…. It is we, the Tea Party along with other patriots who have reconfigured this congress. We know it. Now they know it…
Each of us has some vision of our shining city. Floating above all the daily fray. A symbol of the people and the nation. A nation of freedom and liberties for all it citizens. Our forefather's mission and our Tea Party mission was/is to build a foundation that supports these awesome ideals. In November 2010 the work crew showed up and the footing got poured. More is needed and more will be done.
At first the Tea Party dreams seemed impossible,,, after a little time they seemed if not impossible at least improbable,,,, from somewhere, not by accident, deep in the hearts and minds of many citizens a realization took place. To lose the shining city was a loss of everything we know, believe in, and value.
The liberals sat through 2010 along with middle ground DEMS, Republicans, and national media, in total denial of the Tea Party so they never had a clue of what was about to happen. Even with us shouting loudly they couldn't hear but other voters began to hear. They joined with us but even our combined voices were not heard. Arrogance of these entrenched group deafened them.
Misleading stopped working, outright lying stopped working, the liberal media was simply preaching to the choirs. Even with the shellacking what happened is the DEMS came right back and started blatantly lying with Nancy once again taking the lead saying the DEMS mantra was reduced spending, lowering the deficit, and job creation and the national press sang her song on the nightly news.
I have no idea what rocks we need to look under or what kind of survey we need to take but 2012 is not in some distant future. Most of the usual suspects are beginning to 'toe the water'. These are the same folks that were beaten early in the last primaries by the candidate who lost the presidential election. I can well understand why the DEMS would want to see these folks run again.
One poor contender, Romney, still is saying his effort to get a State Health Program was a good thing and he would do it again. The reality that is known is Massachusetts is one of the top ten states near bankruptcy and guess what is the state's major burden coming right behind the states workers pensions programs?(Note: Senator Brown (R) voted for the Massachusetts Health Bill and says he would do it again.) What is also known is that almost all of Romney's key staffers and campaign managers are abandoning his ship. They are not showing any confidence in Romney nor do we at The Oxford Tea Party have any confidence in him or Huckabee. The press is being encouraging and accommodating, to each man, with their visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.
If each runs this will be divisive. To fall back on an old adage, "The more things change the more they stay the same."
It's possible the Tea Party has a coat tail bigger and longer than we might imagine. Rep. Charlie Rangel talking about the new GOP Congress on Hardball with Chris Matthews: "The teabaggers set the standard as to what we are going to fund and not fund” in this Congress. There is lots to say about Charlie but for sure we know he knows which way the wind has just blown and it looks as if he is just one of the few. Nancy doesn't seem to know and her followers hopefully will 'do lunch' with Charlie and get some clues…..
Starting today our new congress folks will start walking their talk. Let us send them e-mails letting them know we are going to watch their backs. We are their supports. We will get them what they need to hold the course and if they do we will see that they are reelected. Washington politics is not a game for wimps. Courage, values, beliefs are what is important to us and we will never buy the rational that you have to go along to get along in Congress. That is not why we sent you there….BUT you must show us some true grit... Tell them they must not lose sight of the mission cause, out here in the hinterlands, usins still have our vote.
Lets learn how better to win…. 2012 will be much harder that 2010.
Note: Ideas garnered from RedState
Its time for the Tea Party to take a close look at the GOP. A national party that has lost it way and failed in it's mission. The Party is in debt and individuals fighting over the leadership position seem to lack leadership skills. I'm not sure why that comes as a surprise. Whoever wins this leadership position, we will be stuck with them for a good while. Given RNC's performance I'm hard pressed to see why anyone would send them money. We at The Oxford Tea Party did not and will not. Jim DeMint we felt was a option.
The national GOP is needed but its strength lies way down the food chain at the local precinct. The time for us to invest will never be better than now. Over the next few months, the GOP will begin selecting new officers at the municipal, county, and state levels. Those people will then pick new committeemen for the RNC, etc. The basics are straightforward. Get involved. Call your local or state Republican Party and find out where your precinct meetings will be. They should be later this month or in February.
It is time to participate in your precincts. (Smaller counties may not have precincts. Maybe only a County group.) You show up at your precinct meeting and, more often or not, you will be the only one there. Guess what? In most states that makes you the precinct captain for the GOP. You will then move on to your county party with a vote.
If enough of your Tea Party activist friends do the same thing, guess what? You now have a voice in your local party. And if the Tea Party members from enough other counties have done the same, you will have a larger voice in the state party.
In 2010 the Tea Party movement led from outside of the GOP. This year the Tea Party may be able to help shape the GOP as well. It isn't very easy. The local old guards are pretty entrenched. This won't be a cake walk.
All you need to do is pick up the phone, find out where your precinct meeting will be, and show up with your friends. That begins the process.
A new Rasmussen Survey:
Increased government spending and higher taxes hurt the economy, and right now the voter concerned about the economy is at its highest level in over two years. (82%) expect to be disappointed in congressional Democrats, still in control of the Senate, by the time the next national elections come around. As for taxes, 49% of voters believe they will go up over the next two years. Sixty-four percent (64%) say the federal deficit will go up over the next two years.
Ralph Nader's pronouncement predicts the new 'tea' congressmen will meld into the political system very quickly and all the hoopla will come to an end.
Starting January 1, 2011 one baby boomer will retire every 8 seconds and each will enroll Social Security and Medicare. This is a huge number and ObamaCare, if not overturned, will add another forty million on top of the new boomers.
November 2012 elections are only 667 days, 22 hours, and 22 minutes away. If each of us could add one soldier to the Tea Party mission each week those election would be enough to build all the pilings under the shining city with lots of guards on the gates.
Notes to our new Congress:
1) Mind your own business: 2) Keep you hands out of our pockets: 3) Leave our business alone: 4) Stay home and mind our hearth.
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Each of us has some vision of our shining city. Floating above all the daily fray. A symbol of the people and the nation. A nation of freedom and liberties for all it citizens. Our forefather's mission and our Tea Party mission was/is to build a foundation that supports these awesome ideals. In November 2010 the work crew showed up and the footing got poured. More is needed and more will be done.
At first the Tea Party dreams seemed impossible,,, after a little time they seemed if not impossible at least improbable,,,, from somewhere, not by accident, deep in the hearts and minds of many citizens a realization took place. To lose the shining city was a loss of everything we know, believe in, and value.
The liberals sat through 2010 along with middle ground DEMS, Republicans, and national media, in total denial of the Tea Party so they never had a clue of what was about to happen. Even with us shouting loudly they couldn't hear but other voters began to hear. They joined with us but even our combined voices were not heard. Arrogance of these entrenched group deafened them.
Misleading stopped working, outright lying stopped working, the liberal media was simply preaching to the choirs. Even with the shellacking what happened is the DEMS came right back and started blatantly lying with Nancy once again taking the lead saying the DEMS mantra was reduced spending, lowering the deficit, and job creation and the national press sang her song on the nightly news.
I have no idea what rocks we need to look under or what kind of survey we need to take but 2012 is not in some distant future. Most of the usual suspects are beginning to 'toe the water'. These are the same folks that were beaten early in the last primaries by the candidate who lost the presidential election. I can well understand why the DEMS would want to see these folks run again.
One poor contender, Romney, still is saying his effort to get a State Health Program was a good thing and he would do it again. The reality that is known is Massachusetts is one of the top ten states near bankruptcy and guess what is the state's major burden coming right behind the states workers pensions programs?(Note: Senator Brown (R) voted for the Massachusetts Health Bill and says he would do it again.) What is also known is that almost all of Romney's key staffers and campaign managers are abandoning his ship. They are not showing any confidence in Romney nor do we at The Oxford Tea Party have any confidence in him or Huckabee. The press is being encouraging and accommodating, to each man, with their visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.
If each runs this will be divisive. To fall back on an old adage, "The more things change the more they stay the same."
It's possible the Tea Party has a coat tail bigger and longer than we might imagine. Rep. Charlie Rangel talking about the new GOP Congress on Hardball with Chris Matthews: "The teabaggers set the standard as to what we are going to fund and not fund” in this Congress. There is lots to say about Charlie but for sure we know he knows which way the wind has just blown and it looks as if he is just one of the few. Nancy doesn't seem to know and her followers hopefully will 'do lunch' with Charlie and get some clues…..
Starting today our new congress folks will start walking their talk. Let us send them e-mails letting them know we are going to watch their backs. We are their supports. We will get them what they need to hold the course and if they do we will see that they are reelected. Washington politics is not a game for wimps. Courage, values, beliefs are what is important to us and we will never buy the rational that you have to go along to get along in Congress. That is not why we sent you there….BUT you must show us some true grit... Tell them they must not lose sight of the mission cause, out here in the hinterlands, usins still have our vote.
Lets learn how better to win…. 2012 will be much harder that 2010.
Note: Ideas garnered from RedState
Its time for the Tea Party to take a close look at the GOP. A national party that has lost it way and failed in it's mission. The Party is in debt and individuals fighting over the leadership position seem to lack leadership skills. I'm not sure why that comes as a surprise. Whoever wins this leadership position, we will be stuck with them for a good while. Given RNC's performance I'm hard pressed to see why anyone would send them money. We at The Oxford Tea Party did not and will not. Jim DeMint we felt was a option.
The national GOP is needed but its strength lies way down the food chain at the local precinct. The time for us to invest will never be better than now. Over the next few months, the GOP will begin selecting new officers at the municipal, county, and state levels. Those people will then pick new committeemen for the RNC, etc. The basics are straightforward. Get involved. Call your local or state Republican Party and find out where your precinct meetings will be. They should be later this month or in February.
It is time to participate in your precincts. (Smaller counties may not have precincts. Maybe only a County group.) You show up at your precinct meeting and, more often or not, you will be the only one there. Guess what? In most states that makes you the precinct captain for the GOP. You will then move on to your county party with a vote.
If enough of your Tea Party activist friends do the same thing, guess what? You now have a voice in your local party. And if the Tea Party members from enough other counties have done the same, you will have a larger voice in the state party.
In 2010 the Tea Party movement led from outside of the GOP. This year the Tea Party may be able to help shape the GOP as well. It isn't very easy. The local old guards are pretty entrenched. This won't be a cake walk.
All you need to do is pick up the phone, find out where your precinct meeting will be, and show up with your friends. That begins the process.
A new Rasmussen Survey:
Increased government spending and higher taxes hurt the economy, and right now the voter concerned about the economy is at its highest level in over two years. (82%) expect to be disappointed in congressional Democrats, still in control of the Senate, by the time the next national elections come around. As for taxes, 49% of voters believe they will go up over the next two years. Sixty-four percent (64%) say the federal deficit will go up over the next two years.
Ralph Nader's pronouncement predicts the new 'tea' congressmen will meld into the political system very quickly and all the hoopla will come to an end.
Starting January 1, 2011 one baby boomer will retire every 8 seconds and each will enroll Social Security and Medicare. This is a huge number and ObamaCare, if not overturned, will add another forty million on top of the new boomers.
November 2012 elections are only 667 days, 22 hours, and 22 minutes away. If each of us could add one soldier to the Tea Party mission each week those election would be enough to build all the pilings under the shining city with lots of guards on the gates.
Notes to our new Congress:
1) Mind your own business: 2) Keep you hands out of our pockets: 3) Leave our business alone: 4) Stay home and mind our hearth.
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Today - Yesterday - Tomorrow?
Tomorrow will not be like today. Today is not like yesterday. Change is happening faster than at any point in our history. Faster than most can grasp. The question asked daily is what direction is this profound change taking us. It seems it can't be slowed and seems to have taken on a life of it's own.
This reminds me of a line in an old poem: "Thunder on the mountain, snake in the grass, Satan is a abiding, Lord let him pass." (I would give credit but I can't remember who wrote this poem.)
I am HAPPY to see the end of 2010….Surely this year will be remembered as one of the most stressful in many decades. I hope next year will not be anything like it. (I vaguely remember saying the same thing any number of times as the kids were growing up.) Winning a little here and there in 2010, which we did, helps consoles and as time clouds memories, maybe we will, at some point, look back to the past year as a turning point
We are in a battle with the tradition of power. Mostly power and the people that achieved power are thought of badly. History does not confirm this bias. Not that long ago the strongest guy in the tribe became its leader. He protected the tribe and the tribe survived. As time went forward and the tribe grew they realized they needed a leader who was both strong and smart. Sure enough the tribes did better and survived longer with stronger and smarter leaders. The ground work was laid and the tradition rooted.
This stronger/smarter is the page all retained history has been written on and results were societies and nations grew. However, sooner or later these transitional nations failed and the failure kept repeating itself. What they had in common was their reliance on one key guy. 'The main man' died and the nation/society collapsed often very quickly.
It isn't clear just how or why, but some city states came up with the idea that the people living in those cities should have a say, as a group, in their own leadership and protecting themselves. Some of these city/states went so far as to require every citizen to serve in a leadership council. Bam...Another kind of power tradition got rooted in the idea of citizens ruling themselves.
Over time various forms of this 'citizens rule thing' got tried in different parts of the world. Usually failing in some form of catastrophic disaster, sometimes they lost a war, sometimes they let some charismatic person takeover, but more often than not they simply collapsed because of internal conflicts. (Greed, arrogance, hubris, and complacency.)
Here we, one more citizen form of government, on the first day of 2011 find ourselves with leaders that are unresponsive to the people they were elected to serve. A government that has depleted it coffers, burdened it citizens with debt, centralizing power unto itself, waging wars where the outcome is questionable, destroying our businesses through taxes and regulations, and creating personal wealth for its members. The elected to guard of our nation, our liberty, and our citizens.
We find we are, in so many ways, a mirror of republic's past.
Senator Colburn: The problem that faces our country today, is the fact for the last 30 years we have lived off the future and the bill has come due. The history of republics is they average 200 years of life. And they all fail over fiscal matters. They rot from within before they collapse or are attacked: There has been a lot of speculation this week about why the GOP rolled over in the Senate on virtually every issue. From Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal to START, etc.
The Senate GOP is decidedly mushy on many fronts and unwilling for really tough fights except in odd circumstances. The Senate GOP understands that Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey, and Marco Rubio are headed to the Senate as reinforcements for Jim DeMint. They are deeply worried because of it.
Why should they worry? Because the Senate GOP wants to cut deals with the Senate Democrats and they know that just Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Jim DeMint will be able to force deals much more conservative than the Senate GOP as a whole might want. So Senate Republicans decided to roll over on big issues now knowing that next year they will be forced further right than they might be comfortable.
Senator Graham gives away the political game: He says, “I can understand the Democrats being afraid of the new Republicans; I can understand Republicans being afraid of the new Republicans. The 2010 election was about moving the Senate GOP to the right, not moving the Senate to the GOP. The GOP voting this past week makes my case for me."
Representative John Shadegg (R- Ariz.) (Note: I want to share some of his thoughts and answers to questions in a recent interview.)
SHADEGG: If the Tea Party movement concludes that Election Day was the end, then this is over. The new class will turn and Washington will remain Washington. If the Tea Party movement and conservatives across America understand that election day was day one. Now the election is over, now is when the pressure has to be greater than ever. They have to watch every vote. They have to greet the freshman Congressmen when they’re getting on the plane to go back to Washington and greet them when they’re getting off the plane coming home. And say to them, “Hey, remember us…”
The other thing that happens is it takes a lot of money to get re-elected, and so all the young freshmen say, “I want the speaker to come to my fundraiser,” or, “I want my committee chairman to come to my fundraiser,” or, “I want this committee seat.” So now they’re put into a position where they’re beg and barter. Well, the more they have to ask, the more supplicant they become.
If the Tea Party movement were creating a support mechanism back home, saying, “We’ll help you raise money. We’ll do the grassroots work. We help get you elected. If you keep your promises, we’ll do our part to get you re-elected.”
The freshmen don’t know what pressures they’re up against and in that sense, neither does the Tea Party. So there’s the issue. If the Tea Part doesn't see or know what is about to happen to their freshmen, then they don’t know how they can help them.
Colburn, Graham, and Shadegg have each given us some very good advice in a very clear simple way in their brief political lessons on Washington.. We don't want to lose this new crop of leaders like we did in 94. Does everyone remember how quickly the 94 group succumbed to the old guard leadership?
We might want to start watching, listening to, and talking to representative Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) Looks like he may have the 'right stuff.'
Fire up the computers, get your check books out, it seems we may be in for a bumpy ride in 2011.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?
Only we can grard the guards.
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
This reminds me of a line in an old poem: "Thunder on the mountain, snake in the grass, Satan is a abiding, Lord let him pass." (I would give credit but I can't remember who wrote this poem.)
I am HAPPY to see the end of 2010….Surely this year will be remembered as one of the most stressful in many decades. I hope next year will not be anything like it. (I vaguely remember saying the same thing any number of times as the kids were growing up.) Winning a little here and there in 2010, which we did, helps consoles and as time clouds memories, maybe we will, at some point, look back to the past year as a turning point
We are in a battle with the tradition of power. Mostly power and the people that achieved power are thought of badly. History does not confirm this bias. Not that long ago the strongest guy in the tribe became its leader. He protected the tribe and the tribe survived. As time went forward and the tribe grew they realized they needed a leader who was both strong and smart. Sure enough the tribes did better and survived longer with stronger and smarter leaders. The ground work was laid and the tradition rooted.
This stronger/smarter is the page all retained history has been written on and results were societies and nations grew. However, sooner or later these transitional nations failed and the failure kept repeating itself. What they had in common was their reliance on one key guy. 'The main man' died and the nation/society collapsed often very quickly.
It isn't clear just how or why, but some city states came up with the idea that the people living in those cities should have a say, as a group, in their own leadership and protecting themselves. Some of these city/states went so far as to require every citizen to serve in a leadership council. Bam...Another kind of power tradition got rooted in the idea of citizens ruling themselves.
Over time various forms of this 'citizens rule thing' got tried in different parts of the world. Usually failing in some form of catastrophic disaster, sometimes they lost a war, sometimes they let some charismatic person takeover, but more often than not they simply collapsed because of internal conflicts. (Greed, arrogance, hubris, and complacency.)
Here we, one more citizen form of government, on the first day of 2011 find ourselves with leaders that are unresponsive to the people they were elected to serve. A government that has depleted it coffers, burdened it citizens with debt, centralizing power unto itself, waging wars where the outcome is questionable, destroying our businesses through taxes and regulations, and creating personal wealth for its members. The elected to guard of our nation, our liberty, and our citizens.
We find we are, in so many ways, a mirror of republic's past.
Senator Colburn: The problem that faces our country today, is the fact for the last 30 years we have lived off the future and the bill has come due. The history of republics is they average 200 years of life. And they all fail over fiscal matters. They rot from within before they collapse or are attacked: There has been a lot of speculation this week about why the GOP rolled over in the Senate on virtually every issue. From Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal to START, etc.
The Senate GOP is decidedly mushy on many fronts and unwilling for really tough fights except in odd circumstances. The Senate GOP understands that Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey, and Marco Rubio are headed to the Senate as reinforcements for Jim DeMint. They are deeply worried because of it.
Why should they worry? Because the Senate GOP wants to cut deals with the Senate Democrats and they know that just Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Jim DeMint will be able to force deals much more conservative than the Senate GOP as a whole might want. So Senate Republicans decided to roll over on big issues now knowing that next year they will be forced further right than they might be comfortable.
Senator Graham gives away the political game: He says, “I can understand the Democrats being afraid of the new Republicans; I can understand Republicans being afraid of the new Republicans. The 2010 election was about moving the Senate GOP to the right, not moving the Senate to the GOP. The GOP voting this past week makes my case for me."
Representative John Shadegg (R- Ariz.) (Note: I want to share some of his thoughts and answers to questions in a recent interview.)
SHADEGG: If the Tea Party movement concludes that Election Day was the end, then this is over. The new class will turn and Washington will remain Washington. If the Tea Party movement and conservatives across America understand that election day was day one. Now the election is over, now is when the pressure has to be greater than ever. They have to watch every vote. They have to greet the freshman Congressmen when they’re getting on the plane to go back to Washington and greet them when they’re getting off the plane coming home. And say to them, “Hey, remember us…”
The other thing that happens is it takes a lot of money to get re-elected, and so all the young freshmen say, “I want the speaker to come to my fundraiser,” or, “I want my committee chairman to come to my fundraiser,” or, “I want this committee seat.” So now they’re put into a position where they’re beg and barter. Well, the more they have to ask, the more supplicant they become.
If the Tea Party movement were creating a support mechanism back home, saying, “We’ll help you raise money. We’ll do the grassroots work. We help get you elected. If you keep your promises, we’ll do our part to get you re-elected.”
The freshmen don’t know what pressures they’re up against and in that sense, neither does the Tea Party. So there’s the issue. If the Tea Part doesn't see or know what is about to happen to their freshmen, then they don’t know how they can help them.
Colburn, Graham, and Shadegg have each given us some very good advice in a very clear simple way in their brief political lessons on Washington.. We don't want to lose this new crop of leaders like we did in 94. Does everyone remember how quickly the 94 group succumbed to the old guard leadership?
We might want to start watching, listening to, and talking to representative Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) Looks like he may have the 'right stuff.'
Fire up the computers, get your check books out, it seems we may be in for a bumpy ride in 2011.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?
Only we can grard the guards.
Ron
Docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)