Wo-b-gon

Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

- The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

In Lake Wobgon the adults were responsible, the family was intact, and all the children were above average…. Lake Wobegon is more than an American town created by one really good storyteller. The people in the story town ring true at some level for many of us. It reflects a time and the people's behavior reflects the kind of values that are of value. Their ties with each other are straight forward. Interactions with their community is almost predictable. We look around and know there was a time when these Wobgon citizens walked all the streets in all the small towns that make up this country. Wobegon is gone. It has been lost to the challenge of progress. From time to time and mostly by accident we see or more likely sense that in the cool shadows of tree lined small town streets are vestiges of the social structures that built the town, raised the families, and built the nation. We get a glimpse and quickly it melts back into the shadows.

We, in the Tea Party, realize and accept that yesteryear small town America can't return…. What is not acceptable is the loss of the moral values and beliefs that made it such a powerful social tool. In losing America's Wobgon we lost so many of the things that made us strong as a people and a nation: The historical family unit, the values, the beliefs, and our unique form of government.

Of all the states, I believe, we in Mississippi have struggled to hold on to the Wobgon America. Many outsiders simply smile. Others laugh and speak of Mississippi folk as a little backward, a A little behind the times. Possibly they are right in one way but have completely missed in another. The times they speak of have brought this country to a point of collapse. This time has brought us to economic decay, social regression, greed and envy, and a constant undercurrent of class warfare. Yes, we are behind in this great social change and rather proud of it. As our President preaches his form of progressive controlling government with it unique equality verses inequality interoperations and childhood ideas of what is fair if one group has more than another group... I wonder how did we come to this? What did we in America's Wobgon(s) do or not do that allowed this plague of biblical proportions to fall on our nation.

It is difficult to point to one thing because in fact it was a thousands of small acts, mostly out of our view, by government that got us to where we are today…. Let us look at a small list of these small acts to see just how our government has operated believing they would go unnoticed. Unnoticed by most and ignored by the liberal press but clear examples of the level of their governing. Here is a list of just ten most egregious things the federal government paid for this year:

Reported in the dailycaller.com

10. $764,825 for a study on how college students use cell phones and social media
The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Notre Dame this grant to study the mobile and social media habits of college freshmen. We can tell you exactly how college freshmen use mobile phones and social media: for 3 a.m. texts and phone calls to that girl in American History. We could have saved the government a lot of money. Just ask us.
9. $136,555 for teachers to retrace Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in England
This grant, awarded to teachers from Kent State and Eastern Illinois Universities, allowed Middle English lit fanatics to take the trip outlined in Canterbury Tales. We’re betting £10 that the tour guides just make up half of the landmarks.
8. $55,660 on butter packaging
Kriemhild Dairy Farms received this chunk of change to package their grass-fed cow butter. The funding isn’t the only thing that’s too big: The butter itself is 85 percent fat.
7. $606,000 for a study about online dating
Columbia University researchers received over a half-million dollars to study online dating. Maybe the Ivy League nerds who conducted this study should put down the lab coats and go to a bar — or at least the library.
6. $484,000 for a pizza restaurant
Arlington, Texas has one more beer and pizza joint, thanks to this grant to a private developer. The groovy Mellow Mushroom, a national chain, is known for its hippie theme.
5. $48,700 towards the Second Annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival 
These funds were awarded to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry. The Aloha State is already full of sandy beaches, clear blue water, and sun. Why do they get all the good stuff? (That’s the mayor of Hershey, Pennsylvania on Line 1.)
4. $147,138 to build a magic museum 
Maybe the wizards at the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Mich., can make the federal deficit disappear. The grant was awarded to promote the “history of magic entertainment.”
3. $96,000 on iPads for kindergarteners
One school district in Maine was awarded this grant to buy every kindergarten student the latest Apple gadget. These kids can’t add yet, but thanks to Uncle Sam they’ll never need to.
2. $175,587 for a study on the link between cocaine and the mating habits of quail
The funding for this super-important scientific study is down from its 2010 level of $181,406. But we think the amount is ridiculous for research that proves what the film “Blow” already did: that cocaine is linked to high-risk sexual activity.
1. $130,987 for dragon robots
We think the phrase “dragon robots” sounds pretty cool. But when their purpose is to help develop preschoolers’ vocabulary, that’s when we get a little worried. The National Science Foundation will spend nearly $1 million over four years to determine if the dragon-shaped robot can enhance toddlers’ learning skills — because Elmo and Barney are just so 1990s.

We get these kinds of funded 'programs' through lobbing efforts by small groups and they are supported by congress because it buys them campaign money and votes. OK… I know this is tedious stuff but these ten only represent a small percentages of governments 'feel good -vote buying handouts." These silly costly grants problems can be fixed through simple political will and voter awareness.

The greater problem has been that elected official's willingness to turn over the governing to the various federal departments allows them to write regulations and gives them the power to prosecute and fine citizens and business. Through regulations they limit business and exclude start up companies. I won't give but one recent example. I know that you have heard many others.

In Montana’s Finley Basin there are known tungsten deposits. An Australian company wanted to bring revenue and jobs to the state by developing the resource. While the property was successfully drilled and recognized by Union Carbide in the seventies, it is now about 200 yards inside a road less study area. The Forest Service was willing to offer a conditional drilling permit.

Among the conditions were these requirements:

•          The drill sites must be cleared using hand tools,
•          The drilling equipment and fuel must be transported to the site by a team of pack mules,
•          The mules must be fed certified weed-free hay, and
•          Drill site and trail reclamation must be done using hand tools.

The company gave up. Can anyone blame them…..?

As this year comes to a close we can look back with some pride in the Tea Party's accomplishments. Possibly the most import is the recognition that the citizens in the Tea Party have found their voice and have been accepted as a major player in the state and federal political process. No small accomplishment in such a few years.

Now they see us coming…..So the hill will get steeper and the road rougher for us and any person we choose to support. For many Americans the Tea Party is a fringe group that they sense is dangerous to them, their liberal candidates, and the controlling government. Is their perception of us correct? YES

We feel we are fighting for a way of life and a set of beliefs set forth in the original founding of this country. They feel they are fighting for a way of life and a form of government they believe in and rely on. How can we get through these next ten months without falling into the simplistic media thinking of one group is good and the other bad….? Our President is pushing as hard as he can for the division.

Liberal voters and liberal thinking are not our enemies. It is not our fellow Americans but government and governing as it is practiced today that is the enemy. The governing process has been corrupted by all (not the new folks) of the good ole boys and girls currently in congress… So long as one is left the political system is tainted. This virus is called, ' do anything to get reelected' and will continue to spread to all of the newly elected given time…. How many time have we seen this….? Just count the number of senators we have had in Mississippi over the past century. It's shockingly few.

We are the stewards... Our current elected leaders are incapable of fixing the problems they have created. We need to accept this…. Saying some of them seem OK just confuses the mission of taking our government back. They have all played their parts in this destruction.

Come January One The Oxford Tea Party clock starts it countdown to the next elections as we did last year. When it starts to tick there will be little more than three hundred days till we decided who our new elected employees will be. That isn't much time. We must use it well. Who we like and dislike needs to be set aside quickly and focus on who can beat Obama in the elections and has the ability to lead the nation.

Yeats warning: The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

How is this campaign and the candidates shaping up in your minds? More conservative writers are taking closer looks at who might be the leaders in the conservative presidential candidates. In their articles they are more or less confirming what many of us have been worrying about with our candidate group.

Below is a article by John Hawkins who I read often. He a younger man and conservative to the core….I won't make any comments about what he has to say but what he is saying is being echoed by many other conservative writers.

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/12/27/7_reasons_why_mitt_romneys_electability_is_a_myth/page/full/

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I just have a feeling its going to be a really GOOD new year.

Ron
 
docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/