None of us walk around saying to ourselves that most of what we know about life, loving, and living we learned from stories, if not directly then indirectly. Stories are so much a part of our lives we don't even notice that we are being told or telling stories all the time.
The act of teaching through storytelling goes back to the beginning of man. Storytelling is the most important tool societies have. Stories are the foundation that nations are built upon.
The Bible uses stories to teach morality, man's relationship to others and to God...All of us remember our Sunday school lessons along with stories of 'The Little Engine That Could, A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, and Bambi.' They are such a part of children's lives and integrated so well that as adults we don't often notice they are lessons learned through stories someone told us....No matter the topic of conversation, stories will be woven into the discussion.
Parents shape their children with stories, teachers add to the shaping with stories, society reinforces the lessons in the stories. The most important thing about teaching with stories is that the message must be a consistent. How to be good and how to do good… what is bad and what is good… what we should or should not do…No matter the setting, there is the right story for the context directly or by inference.
The national media understands the importance of consistent storytelling.We can also include politicians. ( The story of the moment or the day.) We know, even when the stories they are telling us are wrong, or we know they are leaving out parts, so they can reshape the story to achieve a certain outcomes, we still listen. We listen because we were all taught to listen when stories were being told and, most importantly, we trust stories. But even when we don't fully buy into one of the liberal media's 'tall tales' many people will begin to question, to some degree, their own beliefs and reality. A story delivered really well, such as the State of the Union address this past week, will change some people's beliefs, ideas, and values.
Stories told by a good teller of tales are mightier than the pen or the sword to the listener. Today, in this election cycle, we find ourselves knee deep in storytelling and are impacted by good storytellers… Think what you will of the man as a leader, but Obama may well be the best deliverer of stories most of us have experienced in our lifetimes.
The task for us in all of this is to keep our focus… For the Tea Party the backbone in this campaign is to 'take our government back,' which is so broad and encompassing anyone, we can hang almost any notion onto it. Politicians know this about our goal and that is why they can dance around the edges giving the impression that 'they' will govern at our consent and that their belief in the governing process is the same as ours.…. This would be somewhat funny and maybe even clever if it hadn't been done over and over in the last twenty or so election cycles. Would-be candidates as well as thread bare incumbents keep telling the same time worn stories we want them to tell, but making the stories convincing is getting harder and harder…. (Romney was the first governor to create a state mandated health care program. Says he is proud of it and says he holds conservative values.) I wonder what part of this the voter can't seem to get?
This brings us back to the saying, "Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice and then the shame falls elsewhere.
There isn't any perceived need for most of our voters to keep up with or to participate in the governing process. They don't feel connected to it… Therefore there is little or no interest. For so many their lives are a pay-check-to-paycheck struggle. It crowds out everything else. For them government is about promises that will make their lives easier but are only understood by media sound bites.
How we think about something leads to preconceived answers and predictable actions. That is what national parties rely on along with the politicians and liberal media. Know that it doesn't matter if we are talking about Republicans or Democrats, incumbent, first time candidate, ABC, CBS, Fox, or CNN. The political establishment encompasses both parties and the news media indebted to and symbiotically entwined. Powerful combo…. How can a relatively small group of demeaned conservative voters hope to take on this powerful combo?
Well it has happened before…. Once upon a time there was a candidate, who was principled, held traditional Christian beliefs, and was able to articulate American conservative values simply and directly. He told the story of America…. Who Americans are… What America is… and what America can be tomorrow…He had a dream of America being the light of the world and the home of free men… In our hearts and minds we believed his story and were part of his dream… many disagreed but all understood… This simply spoken candidate beat an incumbent president worse than any president had been beaten in the history of presidents.
He's gone but we are still here and his dream is still with us in mind and spirit.
Google does its job and presents me with twenty to thirty political articles before my four thirty coffee making. In the years I have been reading these kinds of articles I have never seen so many comments posted by the other readers of these articles. It is a massive and consistent response. I began to see the responses build before the South Carolina voting. Since Gingrich did well at the polls the comments have quadrupled. Gingrich supporters are posting but the majority of the post are simply attacking Gingrich with vicious language. This is happening to such a degree it looks like it's well planned and coordinated. If it is not then woe to the conservative movement. Actually this is not as bothersome as attacks I see on Tea blogs around the country.
It is possible that the meaning of the term "conservative" has changed and I didn't notice. The national Republican Party's candidate does not fit into my notion of what conservative means. I know that some wiser than I can see the difference between Romneycare and Obamacare. If this was the only red flag I would just pass it off as , "Oh well. He slipped up." I personally don't care that he is rich, or that he is a Mormon, or that he's wimpy. I do care that he is saying Obamacare is wrong and he wants to fix it with the idea it would still be a national health plan..I do care that he seems to be without principles. We need a leader. America is not a balance sheet that can be read and modified.
I see Obama in front of a camera and I see Romney in front of a camera and if history tells us anything one is a better teller of stories than the other.That is what moves hearts and minds.
However, I can imagine Newt and Obama in front of cameras having a debate in front of the nation and would be willing bet a 'Big Mac' that the outcome would be very different. But, and it’s a big BUT, can this happen? Will the liberal press let this happen? Given the savage comments posted at these various political articles directed at Newt I wonder…. It is unique to see how 'conservatives' rationalize Romney with his Romneycare, which strikes at the very heart of the conservative beliefs, but Gingrich doesn't get an inch …. Or for any mistakes he has made in his life while in the same moment forgetting how long he has served and all he has accomplished for the country.
There is an adage for the consumer, "You get what you pay for." The American consumer bought Obama and now it seems the conservative consumers are buying Romney.
Seldom do I quote scripture but today John 1: 8-9 is bouncing around in my computer's memory: " If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and forgive us our sins." Biblical teachings point us towards a way to live our lives. Often we come up short even though we know the right thing to do.
David Axelrod, Obama's campaign manager, took his first shot at Romney today… This is starting earlier that most had imagined. Axelrod was raising the question, "Is it right for Romney to have all this money when so many have little to none?" Kennedy beat Romney in the campaign for the Senate seat by focusing of this issue as well as how Romney made his money. Obama was busy yesterday refocusing Gingrich's call on him being the biggest food stamp president by saying, "Its not me but George Bush." I guess the label of 'food stamp president' was seen as a potential negative voter issue. Obama has the pulpit for the next nine months and not the GOP candidate.
In forty eight hours we will know who the Florida voters bet their future on.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Noise of the Democratic Process
This is another of our cold clear winter morning. Since I didn't want to read the myriad of articles waiting for me on the computer rehashing the Florida campaign and yet another 'presidential' debate I swiveled my chair and watched the duck in the pond. One starts to swim away from the group and they all follow…. Then another decides to go to a different part of the pond and they all follow. They don't debate… None resist… They are part of the group and whoever leads they follow. This social structure works for them. There seems to be little hostile behavior even in mating season… Dr. Doolittle wondered why we can't be more like them?
We are like them is many ways…We want social harmony…. We want to be part of the group and we tend to follow whoever is leading.
So, what's not to like?
Our leaders…. Our leaders want to direct us… Our leaders take from us…Our leaders are always manipulating our thinking and our perceptions of what is right or wrong, truth and untruths, and good and bad. Over time our leadership has convinced many that they know how our world should turn and that we do not. This is not so different from what kings and tyrants have done throughout human history.
To find ourselves in 2012 wrestling with the same problems of leaders verses 'the people' says something profound about each of us. This election campaign once again is a reminder of candidates efforts to manipulating our perceptions with campaign advertising and political platitudes. The millions of dollars being spent in Florida each day is for only one purpose and that is to create the perception for us that one guy is bad and the other guy is good or one is not as flawed as the other.
The national media says this political manipulation is what is really- really important while the country is sinking in debt with over fifty million people on government assistance. While, dummy me, wants to know the plan each candidate has to reduce the size of government. WHAT departments will be cut, what spending in what programs will be cut, etc. - because the devil is in these details along with my vote. We don't demand that they tell us. It's amazing and we are then always surprised by what they end up doing when they get elected.
There are many common sense writers in the national media and Mr. Sowell is one of my favorites as most of you know at this point. Below is his today's article...
Thomas Sowell: From TOWNHALL 1/24/2012
Just days before the South Carolina primary, polls showed Mitt Romney leading Newt Gingrich. Then came the debates and the question about Gingrich's private life, which brought a devastating response from the former Speaker of the House -- and a standing ovation from the audience.
Apparently the television audience felt the same way, judging by the huge turnaround in the support for Gingrich. The stunning victory in South Carolina brought Newt's candidacy back to life.
But the message from South Carolina was about more than a reaction to how Gingrich dealt with a cheap shot question from the media. Nor was it simply the Republican voters' response to Newt's mastery as a debater.
The more fundamental message is that the Republican primary voters do not want Mitt Romney, even if the Republican establishment does -- and it is just a question of which particular conservative alternative the voters prefer.
The successive boomlets for Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain showed the Republican voter's constant search for somebody -- anybody -- as an alternative to Romney. The splintering of the conservative vote among numerous conservative candidates allowed Romney to be the "front-runner," but he never ran far enough in front to get a majority.
Mitt Romney's supposed "electability" -- his acceptability to moderates and independents -- has been his biggest selling point. Moreover, he is just the kind of candidate that the Republican establishment has preferred for years: a nice, bland, moderate who offends nobody.
This is the kind of candidate that is supposed to be the key to victory, no matter how many such candidates have gone down to defeat. If the bland and /inoffensive moderate was in fact the key to victory, Dewey would have won a landslide victory over Truman in 1948, and John McCain would have beaten Barack Obama in 2008.
Whomever the Republicans choose as their candidate is going to have to run against both Barack Obama and the pro-Obama media. Newt Gingrich has shown that he can do that. Romney? Not so much. Mitt Romney's fumbling when trying to answer the simple question of whether he would or would not release his income tax records is the kind of indecisiveness that is not going to cut it in a nationally televised debate with President Obama.
Gingrich is not just a guy who is fast and feisty on his feet. He has a depth of understanding of what issues are crucial, experience in how to deal with them and -- almost equally important -- experience in how to shoot down the petty, irrelevant and "gotcha" distractions of the media.
Does Gingrich have negative qualities? More than most. Wild statements, alienation of colleagues, reckless gambits. His use of the rhetoric of the left in attacking Bain Capital was a recent faux pas, though one that he quickly backed away from.
But if we are serious -- and there has seldom, if ever, been a time in the history of this nation when it was more necessary to be serious -- then we cannot simply add up talking points for or against a candidate. What matters is how that candidate stands on issues that can make or break the future of this country.
Polls show the public as a whole with more negative attitudes toward Gingrich than toward Romney. But negative opinions, like other opinions, are not set in stone.
If the election campaign changes the opinions of a significant minority of the anti-Gingrich voters -- when the alternative is Obama -- it will not matter how much the remainder may hate Newt.
Is this a gamble? The painful reality is that everyone in this year's field of Republican candidates is a gamble. And re-electing Barack Obama is an even bigger gamble.
Whichever candidate the Republican voters finally choose from this year's field, they are bound to have reservations, if not fears. Gingrich's worst could be worse than Romney's worst, both as a candidate and as a president. But Gingrich's best is much better than Romney's best.
Sometimes caution can be carried to the point where it is dangerous. When the Super Bowl is on the line, you don't go with the quarterback who is least likely to throw an interception. You go with the one most likely to throw a touchdown pass.
What do you do when taking risk or not taking risk carries the same danger?
What would this political campaign look like if it were simply framed in the question, "Do we want a man of True Grit as president or not?" All of the TV commercials and all the platitudes would simply fad away.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com
We are like them is many ways…We want social harmony…. We want to be part of the group and we tend to follow whoever is leading.
So, what's not to like?
Our leaders…. Our leaders want to direct us… Our leaders take from us…Our leaders are always manipulating our thinking and our perceptions of what is right or wrong, truth and untruths, and good and bad. Over time our leadership has convinced many that they know how our world should turn and that we do not. This is not so different from what kings and tyrants have done throughout human history.
To find ourselves in 2012 wrestling with the same problems of leaders verses 'the people' says something profound about each of us. This election campaign once again is a reminder of candidates efforts to manipulating our perceptions with campaign advertising and political platitudes. The millions of dollars being spent in Florida each day is for only one purpose and that is to create the perception for us that one guy is bad and the other guy is good or one is not as flawed as the other.
The national media says this political manipulation is what is really- really important while the country is sinking in debt with over fifty million people on government assistance. While, dummy me, wants to know the plan each candidate has to reduce the size of government. WHAT departments will be cut, what spending in what programs will be cut, etc. - because the devil is in these details along with my vote. We don't demand that they tell us. It's amazing and we are then always surprised by what they end up doing when they get elected.
There are many common sense writers in the national media and Mr. Sowell is one of my favorites as most of you know at this point. Below is his today's article...
Thomas Sowell: From TOWNHALL 1/24/2012
Just days before the South Carolina primary, polls showed Mitt Romney leading Newt Gingrich. Then came the debates and the question about Gingrich's private life, which brought a devastating response from the former Speaker of the House -- and a standing ovation from the audience.
Apparently the television audience felt the same way, judging by the huge turnaround in the support for Gingrich. The stunning victory in South Carolina brought Newt's candidacy back to life.
But the message from South Carolina was about more than a reaction to how Gingrich dealt with a cheap shot question from the media. Nor was it simply the Republican voters' response to Newt's mastery as a debater.
The more fundamental message is that the Republican primary voters do not want Mitt Romney, even if the Republican establishment does -- and it is just a question of which particular conservative alternative the voters prefer.
The successive boomlets for Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain showed the Republican voter's constant search for somebody -- anybody -- as an alternative to Romney. The splintering of the conservative vote among numerous conservative candidates allowed Romney to be the "front-runner," but he never ran far enough in front to get a majority.
Mitt Romney's supposed "electability" -- his acceptability to moderates and independents -- has been his biggest selling point. Moreover, he is just the kind of candidate that the Republican establishment has preferred for years: a nice, bland, moderate who offends nobody.
This is the kind of candidate that is supposed to be the key to victory, no matter how many such candidates have gone down to defeat. If the bland and /inoffensive moderate was in fact the key to victory, Dewey would have won a landslide victory over Truman in 1948, and John McCain would have beaten Barack Obama in 2008.
Whomever the Republicans choose as their candidate is going to have to run against both Barack Obama and the pro-Obama media. Newt Gingrich has shown that he can do that. Romney? Not so much. Mitt Romney's fumbling when trying to answer the simple question of whether he would or would not release his income tax records is the kind of indecisiveness that is not going to cut it in a nationally televised debate with President Obama.
Gingrich is not just a guy who is fast and feisty on his feet. He has a depth of understanding of what issues are crucial, experience in how to deal with them and -- almost equally important -- experience in how to shoot down the petty, irrelevant and "gotcha" distractions of the media.
Does Gingrich have negative qualities? More than most. Wild statements, alienation of colleagues, reckless gambits. His use of the rhetoric of the left in attacking Bain Capital was a recent faux pas, though one that he quickly backed away from.
But if we are serious -- and there has seldom, if ever, been a time in the history of this nation when it was more necessary to be serious -- then we cannot simply add up talking points for or against a candidate. What matters is how that candidate stands on issues that can make or break the future of this country.
Polls show the public as a whole with more negative attitudes toward Gingrich than toward Romney. But negative opinions, like other opinions, are not set in stone.
If the election campaign changes the opinions of a significant minority of the anti-Gingrich voters -- when the alternative is Obama -- it will not matter how much the remainder may hate Newt.
Is this a gamble? The painful reality is that everyone in this year's field of Republican candidates is a gamble. And re-electing Barack Obama is an even bigger gamble.
Whichever candidate the Republican voters finally choose from this year's field, they are bound to have reservations, if not fears. Gingrich's worst could be worse than Romney's worst, both as a candidate and as a president. But Gingrich's best is much better than Romney's best.
Sometimes caution can be carried to the point where it is dangerous. When the Super Bowl is on the line, you don't go with the quarterback who is least likely to throw an interception. You go with the one most likely to throw a touchdown pass.
What do you do when taking risk or not taking risk carries the same danger?
What would this political campaign look like if it were simply framed in the question, "Do we want a man of True Grit as president or not?" All of the TV commercials and all the platitudes would simply fad away.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Rubber Meets the Road
I need some help… Try as I might I simply cannot get excited about Mitt Romney being our president. (Of course whether he can beat Obama in the elections is another question.) Out the door in this campaign the Tea Party members, for the most part, haven’t been able to ‘jump on’ his bandwagon….
Romney appears to be the choice of the national GOP..? It seems they see him as a moderate in his politics. (Code word for: Big Government.)
Romney is clearly the liberal media candidate of choice. My thinking is the media, on the whole, are liberal. They want him to run against ‘their incumbent hero’. Obama is their hero. He reflects their desire for large government committed to managing all aspects of our lives.
I don’t see how Romney can beat Obama. Romney can’t even deliver his political platitudes that he has rehearsed well.
We all love Ron Paul…. Many don’t see why Ron can never be President. If Ron ran against Obama it would be a greater lost than Carter’s loss against Reagan. His ideas about government are attractive…. BUT Ron’s politics simply cannot work in this complex connected world we live in….
IF South Carolina should pick Romney in a decisive way that could well mean he would be our candidate for president. At that point I would need to find some way to support him.
If he were to lose South Carolina, I think he would be much marginalized. He would then only have won New Hampshire. Then what? Who does that leave besides Newt? Many Tea members for very personal reasons don’t really want to get behind Gingrich.
Either of these scenarios would weaken the Tea Party’s passion and confuse the group goals.
I really would like to hear how others are seeing this evolving saga and, in particular what they are seeing in Romney that I can’t identify.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com
Romney appears to be the choice of the national GOP..? It seems they see him as a moderate in his politics. (Code word for: Big Government.)
Romney is clearly the liberal media candidate of choice. My thinking is the media, on the whole, are liberal. They want him to run against ‘their incumbent hero’. Obama is their hero. He reflects their desire for large government committed to managing all aspects of our lives.
I don’t see how Romney can beat Obama. Romney can’t even deliver his political platitudes that he has rehearsed well.
We all love Ron Paul…. Many don’t see why Ron can never be President. If Ron ran against Obama it would be a greater lost than Carter’s loss against Reagan. His ideas about government are attractive…. BUT Ron’s politics simply cannot work in this complex connected world we live in….
IF South Carolina should pick Romney in a decisive way that could well mean he would be our candidate for president. At that point I would need to find some way to support him.
If he were to lose South Carolina, I think he would be much marginalized. He would then only have won New Hampshire. Then what? Who does that leave besides Newt? Many Tea members for very personal reasons don’t really want to get behind Gingrich.
Either of these scenarios would weaken the Tea Party’s passion and confuse the group goals.
I really would like to hear how others are seeing this evolving saga and, in particular what they are seeing in Romney that I can’t identify.
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Reign of Error
Free market capitalism has many enemies -- strangely enough mostly among the intellectual elite, academic elite, political elite, as well as the officers in major corporations driven to control consumer's buying habits. These are people who believe that they have wisdom superior to the Tea folk as well as everyone else. They all have a clear notion that some higher power has ordained them and only they have the 'know' of good and right. ( They may be right because, I for one, know that I am not as wise are as smart as I believed I was in my twenties, thirties, and forties.)
Of course, and because of their ordained wisdom, they are obliged to watch over us and direct our behavior, and generally limit our freedom and rights to protect us from the mischief we are prone to. Such as not budgeting, not saving, over spending, and running up debts we can't pay. I know this group doesn't understand why I'm not grateful for all their help and to some extent I do feel a slight twinge of guilt. They work very hard at controlling what I do…. Allocating what resources I have…. So what's not to like?
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims is the most oppressive. C.S. Lewis
Every tyrant (s) who has ever lived has had what they considered good reason for restricting rights and liberty of their citizens. (Nothing new here.) A tyrant's agenda calls for the attenuation or the elimination of the open market and what is implied by it -- voluntary exchange between people. Tyrants do not trust that people acting voluntarily will do what they should do. So they, over time, replace the free market with economic planning and regulation. ( Think Russia with their seventy years of one great five year plan after another.)
What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done? It's really a silly question, because the answer is so simple its greed. Simple human greed. When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I'm talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves and their families through working hard and being creative… True throughout history, true today, and will be true tomorrow. The adage, I think it started in the forties was, 'Keeping up with the Jones." Along with 'Jones's' idea, this group though they would take that extra money and provide a better like they grew up in. Also, the idea struck them that they would better educate their children and in turn the children and grandchildren could have a better life than their parents had when they were growing. What a goal…..and that's what a little greed got them..!
(Greed - Noun: An overwhelming desire to have more of something such as money than is actually needed for the moment in time. You have to wonder if saving for a rainy day falls into that definition?)
When you tell anyone that they are entitled to something, such as monthly income from the government, they will believe you if you follow through and send them checks. Government (state & federal) have made promises to generations of working and non working families for as long as I can remember. Now many voters in many different states are waking up to the fact that these promises made and then depended on, can't be kept.
Looking into this 'stuff' is worrisome… I don't like doing it but below are two examples of over promising…..
"Heading into 2011, Illinois faced a budget deficit of over $13 billion and passed a massive tax increase both to personal income and corporate income tax rates. They’re still broke. With a pension system in shambles, Illinois also borrowed massive amounts of money to make this year’s pension payment.
In September, Illinois laid off 1900 state-employees and closed seven state facilities. Also, much to the chagrin of Wisconsinites who drive to or through Illinois, toll rates in the state have increased on average 88%.
Illinois’ budgetary moves failed miserably to solve their problems and the state is still projected to end this fiscal year on June 30th with a budget gap upwards of half a billion dollars and unfunded obligations of up to $8 billion.
As a result, this past week, Moody's lowered Illinois’ credit rating, giving the Prairie State the lowest rating of any state in the nation. Therefore they will pay a higher interest to whoever is willing to loan them money.
Contrast that failure with Wisconsin’s recent successes. Wisconsin’s budgetary reforms have set the state up for growth and prosperity. Heading into 2011, Wisconsin faced a budget deficit of $3.6 billion. Wisconsin boldly passed its now famous Budget Repair Bill that required public employee contributions for healthcare and pensions. Like it or not, the Budget Repair Bill and other measures eliminated Wisconsin’s $3.6 billion deficit without one-time budget fixes or accounting gimmicks.
Perhaps more importantly, the Budget Repair Bill also gave local governments more flexibility to deal with their budget challenges. As a result, property taxes are flat or down across the state of Wisconsin.
Because of real, systemic fiscal reform, Wisconsin did not raise taxes, has its pensions fully funded , and has a solid credit rating. Thanks to the contributions for healthcare and pensions, Wisconsin did not have to lay off public employees.
It is clear that Wisconsin is on the right track, while Illinois is giving Greece a run for their money when it comes to economic calamity. The fiscal roadmap ahead for Illinois actually leads north. Taxpayers in Illinois would do well to push for similar reforms to help grow their economy and pull it back from the brink of disaster.
Matt Batzel is the Executive Director for Wisconsin of American Majority
States must balance their budgets at least on paper…. However, I think if you do a little digging you will find many states consistently use accounting tricks to come to a balance, and voters be damned.
In the mist of presidential campaigns why is this 'budget thing' this being brought up and what's the point? Unless I simply slept through the campaign speeches and missed some candidates showing great interest and detailing how they will go about balancing the national budgets, or reducing debt, or doing any of the mundane things they are responsible for. I assume there is little interest or they have no real plans concerning budgets. Lack of financial responsibility brought us to this brink. I don't see any passion in our candidates to right this ship of state. New jobs will not be created without the president and congress committing themselves to conservative financial goals and balanced budgets… Of course without that action things will get worse. (We are watching the 'mother' countries in Europe sink under the weight of poor financial planning.) This is way past the point of liberal verses conservatives, this candidate verses that candidate…. We and Europe are at the financial tipping edge.
How long has it been since Congress passed a budget? In our house we have a budget and even then we have to adjust it month to month. We do this because its our money on the line. Government doesn't do it because it is our money on the line.
My two cents worth: The Tea Party members in Mississippi would do well to get together and discuss what needs doing. This worked well in Move the House group……Look at the results.
Like it or not the Tea Party is on stage. It is talked about and reviewed by the media and liberal Dems daily….With the elections Saturday in South Carolina we will know better how the election winds are blowing. Everyone will be looking closely at the conservative vote trying to figure out the impact the Tea Party had. (Now conservative voters and Tea Party members are referred to as one and labeled as radical.) Not long ago I took offense to the radical label but you know I'm beginning to realize how radical our group really is. It seems the GOP sees us as dangerous as the Dems do…. Maybe rightly so. (I hope so.) Placating RINO's have played their part along with the liberal Dems in getting us to where we are. My prayer is to replace all of them. We got rid of about seventy In the last go round.
We have a shared destiny. The more cohesive our Tea groups are the more ideas can be shared. There is the power. Whatever we want our destiny to be, it will only be achieved together.
Jefferson said, (I have to paraphrase because I can't remember the full quote)
"When a man lights his candle from my candle he gains and I don't lose anything." What Jefferson did not note was that now there are two lighted candles and twice as much light and neither lost anything.
(I got a number of comments about something I said in the last article. Let me address it here: In our representative form of democracy congress passes all laws and defines the tax burdens… They are the ones whose votes decide what is or isn't done and hopefully their votes will reflect the will of the people who elected them. In our form of government the people will never run the government. We can suggest, nudge, plead with them to do one thing or another and also can hire and fire them every so often but nothing more. Even the president has only limited powers over congress but not complete power.)
Huntsman dropped out of the race and has thrown his support, what little there is, to Romney…. I think it is fair to say that if Romney should win the presidential elections we will see Huntsman in a major position in the new government. That's a good thing….I like him. Also, after next Saturday's voting I suspect Perry will be gone and this will leave three viable candidates for Florida to jockey with.
I thought the debate last night was one of the best ones. We are beginning to get a better sense of who these men are behind the campaign slogans, ploys, and the drums of the liberal press. We can see from the response of the audience last night what issues and which candidate they are emotionally responding to. All dedicated men and good Americans. I wish they, as a group, would move to Mississippi and run for office. Short of that, whoever becomes 'the' candidate and should he route the current Prez, wouldn't it be really cool if, like Lincoln, puts all of these other candidates in his cabinet?
294 days, 9 hours, and 31 minutes till the polls open in November.
Tea Party folks never have to ask, "For whom the bell tolls."
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
Of course, and because of their ordained wisdom, they are obliged to watch over us and direct our behavior, and generally limit our freedom and rights to protect us from the mischief we are prone to. Such as not budgeting, not saving, over spending, and running up debts we can't pay. I know this group doesn't understand why I'm not grateful for all their help and to some extent I do feel a slight twinge of guilt. They work very hard at controlling what I do…. Allocating what resources I have…. So what's not to like?
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims is the most oppressive. C.S. Lewis
Every tyrant (s) who has ever lived has had what they considered good reason for restricting rights and liberty of their citizens. (Nothing new here.) A tyrant's agenda calls for the attenuation or the elimination of the open market and what is implied by it -- voluntary exchange between people. Tyrants do not trust that people acting voluntarily will do what they should do. So they, over time, replace the free market with economic planning and regulation. ( Think Russia with their seventy years of one great five year plan after another.)
What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done? It's really a silly question, because the answer is so simple its greed. Simple human greed. When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I'm talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves and their families through working hard and being creative… True throughout history, true today, and will be true tomorrow. The adage, I think it started in the forties was, 'Keeping up with the Jones." Along with 'Jones's' idea, this group though they would take that extra money and provide a better like they grew up in. Also, the idea struck them that they would better educate their children and in turn the children and grandchildren could have a better life than their parents had when they were growing. What a goal…..and that's what a little greed got them..!
(Greed - Noun: An overwhelming desire to have more of something such as money than is actually needed for the moment in time. You have to wonder if saving for a rainy day falls into that definition?)
When you tell anyone that they are entitled to something, such as monthly income from the government, they will believe you if you follow through and send them checks. Government (state & federal) have made promises to generations of working and non working families for as long as I can remember. Now many voters in many different states are waking up to the fact that these promises made and then depended on, can't be kept.
Looking into this 'stuff' is worrisome… I don't like doing it but below are two examples of over promising…..
"Heading into 2011, Illinois faced a budget deficit of over $13 billion and passed a massive tax increase both to personal income and corporate income tax rates. They’re still broke. With a pension system in shambles, Illinois also borrowed massive amounts of money to make this year’s pension payment.
In September, Illinois laid off 1900 state-employees and closed seven state facilities. Also, much to the chagrin of Wisconsinites who drive to or through Illinois, toll rates in the state have increased on average 88%.
Illinois’ budgetary moves failed miserably to solve their problems and the state is still projected to end this fiscal year on June 30th with a budget gap upwards of half a billion dollars and unfunded obligations of up to $8 billion.
As a result, this past week, Moody's lowered Illinois’ credit rating, giving the Prairie State the lowest rating of any state in the nation. Therefore they will pay a higher interest to whoever is willing to loan them money.
Contrast that failure with Wisconsin’s recent successes. Wisconsin’s budgetary reforms have set the state up for growth and prosperity. Heading into 2011, Wisconsin faced a budget deficit of $3.6 billion. Wisconsin boldly passed its now famous Budget Repair Bill that required public employee contributions for healthcare and pensions. Like it or not, the Budget Repair Bill and other measures eliminated Wisconsin’s $3.6 billion deficit without one-time budget fixes or accounting gimmicks.
Perhaps more importantly, the Budget Repair Bill also gave local governments more flexibility to deal with their budget challenges. As a result, property taxes are flat or down across the state of Wisconsin.
Because of real, systemic fiscal reform, Wisconsin did not raise taxes, has its pensions fully funded , and has a solid credit rating. Thanks to the contributions for healthcare and pensions, Wisconsin did not have to lay off public employees.
It is clear that Wisconsin is on the right track, while Illinois is giving Greece a run for their money when it comes to economic calamity. The fiscal roadmap ahead for Illinois actually leads north. Taxpayers in Illinois would do well to push for similar reforms to help grow their economy and pull it back from the brink of disaster.
Matt Batzel is the Executive Director for Wisconsin of American Majority
States must balance their budgets at least on paper…. However, I think if you do a little digging you will find many states consistently use accounting tricks to come to a balance, and voters be damned.
In the mist of presidential campaigns why is this 'budget thing' this being brought up and what's the point? Unless I simply slept through the campaign speeches and missed some candidates showing great interest and detailing how they will go about balancing the national budgets, or reducing debt, or doing any of the mundane things they are responsible for. I assume there is little interest or they have no real plans concerning budgets. Lack of financial responsibility brought us to this brink. I don't see any passion in our candidates to right this ship of state. New jobs will not be created without the president and congress committing themselves to conservative financial goals and balanced budgets… Of course without that action things will get worse. (We are watching the 'mother' countries in Europe sink under the weight of poor financial planning.) This is way past the point of liberal verses conservatives, this candidate verses that candidate…. We and Europe are at the financial tipping edge.
How long has it been since Congress passed a budget? In our house we have a budget and even then we have to adjust it month to month. We do this because its our money on the line. Government doesn't do it because it is our money on the line.
My two cents worth: The Tea Party members in Mississippi would do well to get together and discuss what needs doing. This worked well in Move the House group……Look at the results.
Like it or not the Tea Party is on stage. It is talked about and reviewed by the media and liberal Dems daily….With the elections Saturday in South Carolina we will know better how the election winds are blowing. Everyone will be looking closely at the conservative vote trying to figure out the impact the Tea Party had. (Now conservative voters and Tea Party members are referred to as one and labeled as radical.) Not long ago I took offense to the radical label but you know I'm beginning to realize how radical our group really is. It seems the GOP sees us as dangerous as the Dems do…. Maybe rightly so. (I hope so.) Placating RINO's have played their part along with the liberal Dems in getting us to where we are. My prayer is to replace all of them. We got rid of about seventy In the last go round.
We have a shared destiny. The more cohesive our Tea groups are the more ideas can be shared. There is the power. Whatever we want our destiny to be, it will only be achieved together.
Jefferson said, (I have to paraphrase because I can't remember the full quote)
"When a man lights his candle from my candle he gains and I don't lose anything." What Jefferson did not note was that now there are two lighted candles and twice as much light and neither lost anything.
(I got a number of comments about something I said in the last article. Let me address it here: In our representative form of democracy congress passes all laws and defines the tax burdens… They are the ones whose votes decide what is or isn't done and hopefully their votes will reflect the will of the people who elected them. In our form of government the people will never run the government. We can suggest, nudge, plead with them to do one thing or another and also can hire and fire them every so often but nothing more. Even the president has only limited powers over congress but not complete power.)
Huntsman dropped out of the race and has thrown his support, what little there is, to Romney…. I think it is fair to say that if Romney should win the presidential elections we will see Huntsman in a major position in the new government. That's a good thing….I like him. Also, after next Saturday's voting I suspect Perry will be gone and this will leave three viable candidates for Florida to jockey with.
I thought the debate last night was one of the best ones. We are beginning to get a better sense of who these men are behind the campaign slogans, ploys, and the drums of the liberal press. We can see from the response of the audience last night what issues and which candidate they are emotionally responding to. All dedicated men and good Americans. I wish they, as a group, would move to Mississippi and run for office. Short of that, whoever becomes 'the' candidate and should he route the current Prez, wouldn't it be really cool if, like Lincoln, puts all of these other candidates in his cabinet?
294 days, 9 hours, and 31 minutes till the polls open in November.
Tea Party folks never have to ask, "For whom the bell tolls."
Ron
docnick37@gmail.com
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/
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