STARVE THE FEDS

Do we have reason to fear our ruling class of politicians? Certainly, we do. The attempts to paint the Tea Party movement as racist haven risen in number again. The old news regarding the free pass given to the Philadelphia area Black Panther Party hasn’t been washed away in obscurity. Now it appears that the President is OK with assassinating his enemies with no trial, even if they are U.S. Citizens off the battlefield? Arizona is being sued not only by the federal government in court but also in the scathing and seething opposition it has received in the battle for public opinion. I don’t raise eyebrows for politics as usual anymore, but what about for politics taken to the next level?

Public opinion is pretty much everything. Whether you are a musician trying to make it in the entertainment industry, or a corporation trying to sell a product, or a politician trying to cover himself up, marketing the message is everything. Case in point – when the film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Two Towers” was released in 2002, there were those that objected to the title of the movie due to the 9/11 aftermath sensitivity, despite the fact the book was written a generation earlier. If the media message succeeded in pressuring the filmmakers to change the movie title’s name, it wouldn’t have mattered what anyone else thought. You could have had all the 9/11 families release a statement showing that they weren’t offended by a movie title, and it would have meant nothing in the face of media.

Therefore, in today’s politics, truth takes a backseat to the public message and public opinion nine times out of ten. Marketing isn’t everything (see “Crystal Pepsi”), but public sway can be. It always boils down to the people. Nowadays, it’s whether people want to make the effort to dispute or question what they are being told in media and advertising.

Those who wish the Tea Party to be branded as a bunch of racists have repeatedly attempted to do so since the movement started to have a real impact. The tactics used are deceiving – Michael Moore style propaganda, opinions given by prominent liberal talking heads on national TV (however loosely tied to the fact that opinion may be), or just by flat out lying about how we were on the wrong end of a recreated “civil rights” movement on Capitol Hill during a Tea Party protest. It doesn’t seem to matter that Andrew Breitbart has offered $100,000 to anyone who can prove someone from that Tea Party protest engaged in any racist behavior, and that no one has come forward. The stigma can still dog us and cause us to use our time defending ourselves when we should be on offense exposing politicians for who they truly are.

Conservatives can use the same tactics to strike back at the liberals, or we can take the higher road and hope enough voters will hop on board along with us. As for me, I will use this time and space for defense from my point of view, and then it’s offense from now on. Wasting time deflecting lies will only cause us to lose momentum.

First of all, I can’t stand racists from any side of the spectrum. So when any accusation of racism is used, you better have facts to back it up. If I’m going to take the road of truth rather than slinging mud back at the liars, then the line of truth must be drawn.

First premise – Tea Parties are NOT racist as a group. Big government is the catalyst, not the President’s skin color. As for me, my heart dropped when the big TARP bailout was voted on – McCain, Obama, George W. Bush – they ALL favored it even when the American people were screaming for them to stop. Whites, blacks, Democrats, Republicans, doesn’t matter – the stupid law was passed by all races, creeds, and political party in September 2008. The Tea Party started after we realized that Obama was no different. Many of us paused hoping Obama’s promise of hope and change meant an end to the bailouts and the start of something that made sense, even if we disagreed with his politics. The “Stimulus Plan” that was passed without being read put a stop to that hope, and we reacted quickly. If the problem was caused by people in general, then the reaction is based on the problem caused by the said people in general. I don’t care what the hell color you are.

Second premise – Due to the Tea Party movement’s general lack of national structure, then it is expected that bad things can happen within its ranks. If there is no defined leader to condemn the wrongdoing, then that creates a vulnerabilty; a leadership black hole that allows racists to come out of the woodwork and leech onto the Tea Party to gain some sort of credibility. Possibly, maybe they were hoping the racist accusations made by the lying left were correct, and were trying to stand up for themselves, who knows? The Tea Party certainly varies in viewpoints – for example, those that refuse to allow God versus those who make God the focal point. There are also those who believe in infiltrating the current political parties versus others that want to create a political party of their own. There are also those who are more fringe than others (9/11 conspiracy junkies, militia types, overly judgmental religious zealots of any faith). There is no overall platform, no matter what national tea party organization that tries to seize public media and claim themselves as the voice of the Tea Party attempt to tell you. Therefore, as with any group of people, you’ll have your crazies. I know I denounce racists, as well as millions of others, publicly and privately, so there you have it. If the other side wants to ante up with more propaganda and misinformation, then hopefully that shows Americans who they truly are, and why they have to rely on anything that has nothing to do with honest debate, purposeful and serious quests for serious answers, and trying to unite under some concepts even if they don’t agree on the methodology.

I don’t want war, and fortunately, it’s unnecessary. However, there is no denying the political storm brewing, and I fear for the consequences. I helped welcome my new niece to the world earlier this morning; how would anyone explain our current situation to her? Would she have to learn the hard way at an age too young to fully grasp why things are the way they are? Would she allow herself to be manipulated by mainstream opinion, despite her parents’ attempts to have her think for herself? Political storms are a ticking time bomb. The consequences are deadly when life is completely disregarded. Ditto for the disregard for what is right in favor of what is easy.

July 4th has come and gone; and by virtue of the 4th falling on a Sunday, many of us have Monday, July 5th, off of work in order to recuperate and, hopefully, remember. Despite that the first week of July is usually the hottest and most humid time of year for most of the Midwest, I’m still grateful to be alive and a citizen of the United States of America.

I don’t want to lecture people on how grateful they should be, even if it’s through the same people voluntarily reading this blog site. No matter how much I want to proclaim that it is absolutely crucial for people to possess gratitude, nobody likes being lectured to. I’ll leave that to the lecturers today.

I don’t know how military families do it. Today marks the first day that my family has become a military family by virtue of my brother-in-law’s Army re-enlistment. He just shipped out today to an equivalent of a “refresher boot camp” and is anticipated to be stationed in Georgia for around eight months or so. He will miss the birth of his daughter that is due this month. While the desire to support his family factored into the decision, I don’t see how anyone can say that any decision regarding joining or re-joining the military can be taken lightly. Ditto for firemen and policemen. It’s one thing to respect those in uniform for our protection, it’s another to be directly affected when it’s family. I’m not saying this to “one-up” those who are not in military families; rather, I’m just trying to illustrate the overwhelming feeling that comes with it.

I’m also not factoring in the way our federal government likes to politicize the military to make themselves look good. There’s a reason General McChrystal spilled his guts to Rolling Stone magazine – someone as detail oriented as a military general, I would imagine, would know the consequences of such actions. He didn’t do it for a publicity stunt, he did it to warn us what the hell is going on with our Commander-In-Chief. It’s nothing we probably couldn’t have already guessed, but he risked his career in order to build a case for that assertion. We stand warned.

I don’t go to church often enough. Whether one is a believer or not, there is no denying the presence that God has over this country. The Constitution was designed for a vigilant, moral people. Without the safeguards of morality, the Constitution is worthless. We would already know the answer to the rhetorical question that would follow Benjamin Franklin’s quote: “[We have brought upon you] a Republic, if you can keep it”. Whether one likes it or not, this was a nation based on Judeo-Christian principles that allows the freedom for everyone to worship whoever they please, even if it is Man. The precedents set by the popular interpretation of “Separation of Church and State” have it all wrong. It seems to give history revisionists and anti-Christian activists permission to try and wipe out Christianity.

Which brings me to this – why does it seem that Christianity and the Jewish religions are always under attack (militarily and/or politically) until they are extinct? When was the last time anyone tried to wipe out Muslims or Buddhists? Even with the violent history of Islam, history shows that Islam was never wiped out, just kept in check. Is this the battle between good and evil? Why is it necessarily to try and eliminate religions based on love, even if we tend to wince at some of the messengers and followers taking religion into their own hands as a means to judge others themselves? I am horrified that I let myself be hoodwinked by the anti-Christian propaganda for most of my twenties, even by bands I have loved growing up.

I’ve been unsure on where I want to pour my efforts since I lost the election last May. I’ve considered volunteering for the People’s Constitution Coalition of Ohio in support of their Soveriegnty Amendment. I’ve signed up for various candidates’ campaign information distribution lists. I’m still paying off debt used to fund the campaign (in addition to obligations I’ve had all along). I’ve devoted time planning a (hopefully) beautiful wedding with my bride-to-be. Being on the Republican Central Committee is a good thing, but meetings are limited and I’m too impatient to wait until the next meeting in order to attempt to make an impact. I’m wondering how the leadership will take the idea that I, among many others, refuse to endorse Republican candidates solely because they are Republicans. I’ll tell you something – when Constitutionalist and Libertarian parties are putting out more conservative candidates than the major party that claims to be conservative, I’m going to endorse the conservative candidate, regardless of political party. I have a nagging hunch that political parties are the major cause of the division that followed the unification of the American people as a result of 9/11.

I admire how people like Glenn Beck and various other organizations are studying various books from the Founding Fathers and Progressive Eras in order to shape their opinions as far as how to restore our country back to its original principles. I haven’t done that, and maybe I should. I want to start by re-reading the three basics – The Bible, The Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution. The Bible also doubles for personal reasons as well, as my young lady and I have contemplated loudly more than once about our walk with God and our worship.

As I’ve stated many times before, I’ve been publicly uneasy about approaching any subject when it comes to religion, because I’m not a good example for people to follow. I’m not a religious leader, I’m a sinner. I want to know more and dedicate myself more in order to become a better person, and be part of a bettering the community. I’m fascinated with the lives of missionaries that travel all over the world to spread the word about God. I’m intrigued by the idea that religious principles and political leadership are inseparable, no matter who may try to distort that very fact; because if there is no God to lead our government, than our political leaders become gods themselves. That may be what they set their sights on, but I’m grateful that many of our countrymen feel quite a bit differently. We don’t need dictators and oligarchies here, thank you very much. Independence Day lives on.

You ever notice that most horror movies take place in some rural area in the middle of nowhere? You ever notice that these films are usually written by people who live in the big cities? I never really noticed that until family friends came over to visit and they got freaked out about being here. Every cricket chirp, every tree branch squeak, every squirrel stirring seemed to make our visitors jump. I exaggerate, of course, but not about the pitch darkness and the quiet at night. Every single time, I swear to you, some remark is made about “Children of the Corn”, or that Jason from “Friday the 13th” will come out from the woods and ax murder everyone indiscriminately.

It’s funny until it hit me why this kept happening. People are afraid of what they don’t know. They assume the worst when they have no prior experience to go by. I find it a little ironic that the stereotypical liberal that comes from a large city or suburb seem to stereotypically remark about how conservative rednecks from the countryside are quick to fear concepts that they don’t understand (like socialism!), yet they display the same fear themselves. I suppose it isn’t fair to overrely on stereotypes, but our fun visitors are guilty of the same crime every time they remark about how rarely come over to my place due to their fear of getting killed.

I don’t live out in the Wild West; I live in rural Ohio. There isn’t forty miles that separate me from my neighbors. It’s not like Wyoming where someone can go missing and no one would have a clue where to go look for the body. Neighbors are within shouting distance. When I went house hunting over four years ago, I found that there were no registered sex offenders within miles of this place, and crime was pretty much non-existent. People are statistically safer here than back where they live, yet they harbored some irrational fear every time they were in the safer place.

If you have fallen for this before, then hopefully you know firsthand how easily the mind is fooled by outside influences. If your environment repeats assertions at various times of your life, and you have no life experiences to contradict those assertions, then many in your situation will assume those assertions to be true. Those same assertions usually get repeated to friends during everyday conversation, in the form of “I heard that such-and-such….”, etc., you get the picture.

Now that we’re living in an age where the first instinct is to distrust the media’s presentation of news if we know what’s good for us, it takes some getting used to when we are apt to just casually make assumptions about what we’ve heard. In the past few years, I’ve been consciously making the effort to rely more on what I see rather than what I hear. Firsthand is better than secondhand, is it not?

Hence actions speak louder than words. Talk is cheap, yet we seem to hang on the words of authority during times of crisis. When we’re too busy or too lazy to do our own research, utilize our logic, and make our own estimates using our math skills, it seems to be the easier route to just accept what we hear; we blindly trust rather than verify. We’re all guilty of this; I don’t want to see any fingerpointing from either side.

It’s all part of the political game. Monopolize the airwaves. Get your message out. If the opposing side’s message makes you look bad, then contradict their message twice as hard, using twice the ammunition, twice the airtime. Lies, truth, it doesn’t seem to matter. Politics, as I’m learning, is the people giving permission to a select few to delegate power to them. That power intoxicates people; tempts them to play God. Are we a nation governed by laws, or a nation governed by men on their God-trip?

To dip our toes in the pool of politics means risk being swallowed by the inevitable whirlpool. Politics is only calm if you go with the flow, and the flow is not always the right path to take. The whirlpool consists of the constant babble of information, true or not, distorted or exaggerated, purposely flooding and confusing our brains to the threshold. At this point, any sane human being would want to opt out of politics, therefore giving in to the establishment. Others may get swallowed up in one particular side, and fight daily against the other side. Those who want to do the right thing sail through the stormy waters regardless. There is a place to go, and whirlpool or not, we need to get there, even if it means stepping on the powerful political parties to get there. Neither side has our interest at heart. The Democrats are floating their usual drivel and driving our country into the ground. The Republicans are talking the good talk; pandering, seizing upon Tea Party momentum to keep going with their country club lifestyle. Actions, words. What you see, what you hear. When I see that Mitt Romney and Jon Kasich come to Mansfield, Ohio, expecting $1,000.00 per ticket just to rub elbows with them, what does that do to what you see versus what you hear? When I receive emails asking for $50.00 “donations” to support a local Republican candidate for judge, what gives?

I’m hoping that the Richland County Republican Party sent a message to the Ohio Republican Party that the usual won’t be tolerated anymore. However, I know better. The Tea Party is not as prominent in Ohio as we would like it to be. We pale in comparison to states that seem to get it, like Arizona, Kentucky, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, and Alaska. To a lesser but still good extent: Montana, Nevada, South Carolina, North Dakota, and parts of California. Ohio is still wishy washy. We’re certainly not liberal New England or metropolitan NY or LA, but we’re not freedom loving enough just yet. 

I’ll say it right now: November is NOT a “gimme” for Republicans. They can still lose elections; not because the Democrats are waking up, because they aren’t. The reason is because there are Libertarian and Constitutionalist candidates that truly get it and are truly superior candidates to those that are more well funded. For every Rob Portman for U.S. Senate (Ohio), there is a breath of fresh air like Eric Deaton. Mr. Deaton will probably not win, but the D vs. R race seems to be close enough to where he can suck away votes from Portman. If that happens, the Republicans lose and they would deserve it. This is why I voted not to endorse Republican candidates in the central committee, because inferior candidates get what they deserve. It’s too bad America doesn’t get what they deserve as a result; but it would take a political party to wake up and become principled instead of pandering to the principled ones. That’s what Democrats do now – pretend to be moderate and conservative in order to pick up votes. It’s going to take time; too much time. Party politics excel; America suffers. We’re due to learn our lesson sooner or later.

Hopefully, sooner.