STARVE THE FEDS

I took the day off the day before the Primary Election for 2010. Back in May 2009, I never thought I’d be in this position. THANK YOU to the Tea Parties for making this all a very real possibility, but most of all, thanks to God. The journey is still a mysterious one, and not one that was orchestrated by myself only. This wasn’t my plan. The journey to elected office may end tomorrow at the end of Primary Election Day, or it may continue on a miracle. No question, it will take a miracle to unseat a 24-year long incumbent, especially when there are two other challengers seeking the same thing.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, there is something very real happening. This is beyond politics and Tea Parties; it involves more of civilization. More people are getting involved. Many are voting for the first time in years. Many understand the subtle differences that would have eluded us in the past. We didn’t wait for someone to educate us, we educated ourselves. As more and more start seeing fallout from the destructive politics that permeated our culture from 9/11/01 until today, we’re becoming more united, even if we don’t know it ourselves.

Granted, destructive politics started way before 2001, but 9/11 was a grand opportunity to take how we all united together and make something special of our country. Instead, we’re doing this as a result of our undoing that started with the bailouts of late 2008. The Tea Parties aren’t going away; in fact, the idea of Tea Parties are appealing to many more people.

This past week there have been attempts to use words from Starve The Feds against me in my campaign, and the attempts have backfired. People smell a rat from a mile away when quotes are taken out of context. Anyone who reads this knows that there is not a single racist statement listed anywhere; in fact, go ahead and try to find one yourself! I will never back down in deference to outside pressure, just as anyone would not allow their minds to be changed forcefully from another person. It seems like conservatives are getting a little sick and tired of being made to feel guilty, or feel pressured, or be intimidated. I won’t let it happen here; especially when everyone has gotten every opportunity to contact me during the campaign. I would have been happy to clarify any ambiguities. If someone who decides to bypass this route and go for the jugular with malicious intent, well I can’t help that.

What I have learned from all this, including the attempts to damage my reputation, is that people will stick together when the cause is noble. People will stick together willingly, when the cause is an unspoken duty and goodwill towards others. Immoral and unethical causes are unified only by force – whether physical (by intimidation), emotional (from having guilt placed on them), or by endurance (where the message is so prevalent, it seems to be not worth fighting against in the public eye anymore).

I am beyond thankful to God, my family, my extremely patient young lady, the Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party organization for not only their endorsement but for their insistence to all that we should vote for the person and not the party. Thanks to those I have talked to along the campaign trail in their living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, front porches, and on the sidewalk. You all have taught me the idea of community is still very alive and well, and while we may not agree on every issue, we are truly all in this together. We definitely surround “them”, and not the other way around.

The path to county office may or may not end tomorrow, but I do know that this journey will not end tomorrow regardless of the election results. I’ve gained so much, and I really wish this on everyone to at least give this a try; to have your thoughts and ideas questioned and challenged; to put ourselves out there to lead instead of follow; to put our names on the line for what is truly right and not what is easy; to know that there are still good people in this world, who try hard, and work their collective tail ends off in order to achieve their goals. I consider myself honored to even be considered as a representative for over 120,000 people, and I will never take for granted the hours and days that many have poured forth of their own time, with or without being asked, so that this campaign still had a good chance for a miracle upset of a longtime incumbent that sorely needs to go. I will sleep tonight with renewed hope. The hope that was promised to us in Election Year 2008 never came from our president. It only comes from ourselves. That is what makes us Americans. We refuse to deteriorate voluntarily. I will definitely sleep with renewed hope. Never give in, never give up. Thank you, all of you.

Maybe you have heard about the mud of politics, how it’s all about “getting in the front lines” and “fighting” without actually going to war.

This is not a fight about strength, it is one of endurance. A political candidacy that starts as an open, pure debate between clashing intellectual minds with opposing views ends up deteriorating into mud slinging, intimidation, and constant defense against lies and manipulation. It’s being ambushed with facts and figures that need checked constantly after the fact in order to even provide an opposing view. It’s a game of name recognition and slinging blame to those who cannot defend themselves in order for the politicians to absolve their own skins.

I saw one of the best in the business engage in political trickery and machinery the other day. From orchestrating where his people sit after studying the acoustics of the forum in order to maximize the chances of applause becoming contagious, to talking 70% of the time (thereby leaving 30% for other candidates), to assigning someone to monopolize the time of the competing candidate after the forum so others are unable to conversate with the candidate.

It’s become a game. It’s something involving life vs. death, or job security vs. layoff, or corruption vs. honesty, or good-ole-boy network vs. wiping a dirty slate clean – it all gets tarnished by the desire to be re-elected. It makes one wonder what poison awaits the newly elected candidate that grabs ahold of them, takes over them, and tarnishes them in the eyes of the people afterward. What line is being crossed? In some ways, it’s almost similar to the line of thought that could occur when one ponders losing their virginity – sex can be one of the most beautiful acts of the world in the right situations, yet can cause utter pain at the worst of times. It’s responsibility vs. irresponsibility. It’s crossing a line that can’t be undone once the decision to crossing the line is made. Is getting elected that much like crossing over to some sort of a parallel universe, not unlike the one that was crossed in horror movie Silent Hill?

Corruption finds a home in politics because the ones who are willing to lie, cheat, and steal are the ones that get to go in, for the most part. The dishonesty puts the corrupt at an advantage over the honest, who are unwilling to go the extra dirty mile for the privilege of being the one selected to be deserving of the public trust. Is this much unlike a lions den for the honest and faithful?

An informed public is the only way to defeat this. At the national and state levels, organized Tea Parties using Facebook seems to be the most effective way of distributing information quickly to one another. It’s so effective that I stopped reading traditional news outlets, since all have been tarnished by political biases that credibility and trust have deteriorated over time, and make them not worth reading anymore. The only reason to read them online is to get a general idea of how people respond on the “Comments” portion of articles.

As for a local level, that remains to be seen. I think people are starting to utilize the tools that have been handed to them, and more are willing to try. For the intellectually honest, the new media is a great way to form your own opinions and have them challenged constantly. For the intellectually lazy, it’s just another way to be lazy and vote with their ignorance.

Since it’s easier for good men to do nothing, and let evil progress, does this mean that evil will always outvote the good, because the ignorant and lazy unintentionally align themselves with the evil? Does corruption win nearly every time since the corrupt know the tricks of the trade, instead of calmly demonstrating their record and daring others to challenge them? After being elected and re-elected repeatedly, why is there a need to play political tricks in the first place? Maybe this is why habitual incumbency is nothing short of a disease, and demonstrates why term limits are sorely needed.

We cannot sleep. The evil and corrupt are always moving.

If this doesn’t reek of some sinister slow moving conspiracy, then at what point do we start making the burden of proof be put on those who believe this isn’t an underground nationwide effort rather than putting the burden on us to prove that it is?

In Ohio, we have Ashtabula County, Richland County, and the City of Elyria to show as examples of a sheriff’s department or police department being absolutely gutted. Not just a layoff here and there, but departments almost eliminated entirely. That means no detective squad, minimal sex offender tracking, slow response times (if there’s ANY response). It’s more likely that a domestic violence beating will become a murder. It’s more likely that the inability of law enforcement to follow up will increase the likelihood of cases going unsolved, and increase the reliance on shady witness accounts.

We’re at an age where the idea of the peace being kept is now held in doubt. It’s no longer being taken for granted. Gun sales are still at historically high levels.

We can arm ourselves to the hilt all we want. The reality is that the County Sheriff is the only person that can legally stand between the force of federal government and the county’s citizens. Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Graham County (Arizona) Sheriff Richard Mack have gone a long way towards teaching Americans the true value and power of a county sheriff. It kind of makes me wonder about the timing of all these sheriffs’ deputies layoffs occuring throughout Ohio, if not nationwide.

Of course, this is all happening under the guise of “we’re simply just out of money” and “Ohio does not mandate that the sheriff maintain a road patrol”. Unfortunately, many people are expectedly seeing distorted reports linking sheriff’s departments to excessive spending, as if our law enforcement is fat that needs to be cut. With social services operating under huge surpluses, especially in my home area of Richland County, we’re supposed to be ok with the idea that we don’t need to fund our own protection?

Government is supposed to provide defense and infrastructure, at all levels. Yes, we can arm ourselves; and we can also get training as far as all the “how to’s” that come with that territory. However, there is a big difference between armed citizens and trained professionals. Even the most vigilant armed citizen will not have their guard up at all times; otherwise, we’d be unable to live our lives. Trained professional law enforcement agents make it part of their job, and part of their lives. They are paid to practice at this mindset, just like an accountant is accustomed to Microsoft Excel, and a lumberjack is to cutting wood. It’s the difference between recalling how to react at a moment’s notice, and split second instinctive reaction. There’s no contest.

An armed citizenry is still a good thing, but we need the Sheriff’s Department to lead us because they’ve been there time and time again, while we stand by never hoping to be in a position they’re in for fear of the possibility for traumatizing memories to set in our lives due to witnessing or being part of a tragic situation.

Apparently our county has had some beatings, break-ins, and a stabbing reported last night, the first full day of one car patrolling 500 square miles.

One more reason an armed citizenry is a good thing – there’s an organization called OathKeepers. We may need to lean on them during these interesting times. We shall see.

There’s no doubt there’s been a paradigm shift since the Health Care Disaster passed. For a short while, it appeared the media was shifting course ever so slightly by giving the Tea Parties more truthful and representative coverage than they had before, even if they got a certain detail wrong here and there. Now they are back to putting up the dog and pony show of portraying us as racist, bigoted, and severely lacking in compassion. This is the similar playbook that got us the whole “Nazi” themed crap from the August Town Hall era. All it takes is two people to ruin it – one person to engage in unacceptable behavior worthy of news media attention, and one person filming that activity and putting it up on YouTube. Two people is also the minimum requirement for conspiracies and collusion, and that is entirely possible that this is the case again. Too bad the prevalent ignorance wishes to disregard those scenarios.

There’s no doubt the anger is absolutely out there and manifesting itself time and time again. Protests are popping up everywhere and increasing in frequency. In addition to the health care protests, the visit to the congressmen’s offices, the Tax Day Tea Parties coming up, the 2nd Amendment marches, the protest against the work of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner – I can’t keep up with them all. Then come the Democrat’s public relations move of publicizing violence and threats of violence on congressmen who voted for the health bill. You mean to tell me there’s not a single liberal who wished harm on conservatives? Not to defend anyone making threats to people’s lives and families, but this is a fringe affair, regardless of which side they are on. Anyone who thinks this is a one-sided deal is naive, and in this day and age, naivete is what is killing us. Naivete is negligence. Ignorance is negligence.

The political storm has been real and it has been upgraded. It is NOT unprecedented, but it is the most that many of us have experienced, as far as my generation goes (the so called “Generation X”, “Generation Y”, the “Millenials”, etc.). Trouble is brewing, gun ownership is the highest it has ever been; to ignore our political climate is to accept the inherent risk of being caught off guard down the road. Some of us are quick to state our rights but neglect the accompanying responsibilities. The true adults have learned to accept the give-and-take of both, and have learned to take it in our own hands when we know our unrepresentative government won’t do it for us.

The paradigm has shifted. Our country has inched further and further in terms of bigger government stretched out over one  hundred years that most of us hadn’t noticed until we starting thinking in big picture terms. When that happened, I don’t blame anyone for wishing it to STOP, and expressing it as needed. It’s time to back up, and reassess. We made our move – we told government to STOP and reassess. They made their move – by slandering us and pushing their big government initiatives anyway, called it “history”, and reveled in it. When was the last time the government reveled in pushing their will against who they claim to represent?

The time to “meet in the middle” has ended. If the extremes continue to push the envelope further, the middle moves in that direction by default. Any amateur statistician can tell you that. Therefore, “meet in the middle” is exactly the same as moving towards immoral big government, just not as much as liberals would like. From this point on, compromise is dead.

I feel sorry for those who wish compromise as a means of achieving political stability and peace. How can that happen when the pendulum has swung leftward for the last hundred years? How about I use the same logic as those who promote affirmative action? If the affirmative action folks want whites to be inferior for 100 years as reparation payments for the American slave trade era from 1776-1865 (not including the Colonial times and the Civil Rights struggle, back when the struggle was authentic), then let’s have small federal government for the next 100 years in return for the 100 years of Progressivism that we had been getting. How about that? Does that sound fair to you?

Big government is a disease that transmits slowly like mold does on cheese. I don’t mind typical liberalism and taxpayer funded social programs, so much as it is controlled at the state level. Otherwise, why bother even having 50 states? Having 50 different choices for law levels in a “live free or die” society has given way to which party wrestles control over one gargantuan superpower of a country. Power hunger is dangerous. Power hunger is more dangerous than an unethical CEO of the corporations that typical liberals hate so much. Conservatism does not matter in an age of Big Government. Liberals – why not just be happy with enacting your policies in your state and leaving the rest of us alone? Answer – greed and lust for power. Take, take, take, and take some more.

What a poetic concidence that the number of states whose respective Attorney Generals are suing for the rights of their citizens matches the number of original American colonies. Maybe it’s grown greater than 13 by now; I’m not sure, I haven’t kept right up to date since learning that Ohio won’t be one of them. Ohio will never know what Steve Christopher could have done for us, as he lost his battle to even be on the ballot. What a terrible loss and injustice to Ohio citizens. The “best” we can now hope for is anti-gun Mike DeWine, thanks to our joke of a Republican party.

For those of you so ignorant enough to accept one side, yet find themselves reading this blog at this particular juncture, understand this – we wish no violence, only to be left alone. We wish no federal power over you, just that the feds respect the wishes of the individual states. We wish no violence to eliminate those who disagree with us, but only the bare minimum necessary to defend ourselves, our liberties, our wealth that we earned and did not TAKE from you, and our rights (and the responsibility that rightfully accompanies those rights). Just as to be sure as hell that you will be shot dead once you break in the confines of our house, we will use whatever is necessary so you can’t take away any more than you have already taken. Guns are defense, not offense. Don’t force the issue to the point to where the best defense is a better offense. We just want our country back to its Federalist origins, where it damn well belongs. We seek not to eliminate liberalism, just at the federal level only.

Your move.

To take a break from everyday local political campaigning in order to reserve time for life feels like I almost needed Moses to part the Red Sea so I can stay dry. The process seems pretty all-consuming, and an empty schedule can be swallowed up in no time flat with very little notice.

However, as I have to reiterate to everyone, I’m not complaining. Despite a low budget and zero political experience, I stand an excellent chance of defeating a 24-year incumbent – an idea that is happening to many in today’s stormy political climate, and would have seemed unheard of even in 2007.

My heart is with all those who are rushing to Washington next week in order to give Congress a piece of their mind about the Health Care Disaster Bill. I suppose even if Washington ignores us and refuses to listen, then that doesn’t mean we can stop applying pressure on them. They need pressure. They haven’t seen pressure. If a “We The People” citizenry is starting to act like it for once, then I am not one to naysay them. Have at it!

I have got to hand it to U.S. Senate candidate Eric Deaton (Ohio) for coming up with even a better idea than term limits, and that is a “term limit”. Serve one term, and then you’re done. There’s no pressure to get re-elected, and provides more people with an opportunity to serve the public. The House of Representatives terms will have to be extended past their current 2-year terms in order to make this idea more feasible, but I like it. This wouldn’t solve all our problems, but it sure would force the federal government to make an honest living instead of a dishonest retirement.

Ohio Attorney General candidate Steve Christopher is getting absolutely railroaded. The Fraud Queen, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has probably topped her previously notable distinction. Any person outside of Ohio will best know Jennifer Brunner for her refusal to investigate over 300,000 questionable voter registration cards before the 2008 election. Barack Obama won the state of Ohio by approximately 250,000 votes. This is not to say that McCain would have won, but the refusal to investigate this situation, especially given ACORN’s predilection for hanging out in Columbus and Ohio State’s main campus, will be embedded in her political resume forever. Supposedly, ACORN is giving up their license and leaving the state of Ohio. Boy, do I feel so much better (at least until the ACORN people reorganize under a different name).

Back to Steve Christopher – I saw with my own eyes, a receipt showing that the candidate turned in over 2,700 petition signatures to the state of Ohio. Now Ms. Fraud Brunner claims that only 700 showed up (out of 1,000 required)? I call “bullshit”, and in essence, so does Steve, but in much classier terms than mine. It was almost a divine miracle that Mr. Christopher even got the signatures in time, since he announced his candidacy so late. For those not in the know, the late announcement was not a fault of Mr. Christopher’s, but a blessing. You see, Dave Yost was going to be the lone Republican Attorney General candidate, until Mr. Gang-of-14 Mike DeWine decides “hey, I want to run for that!”. Subsequently, the Ohio Republican Party, in a closed night meeting, decided to move Yost to State Auditor so DeWine can run for Attorney General. With the decision laying so close to the petition deadline, we were almost presumably stuck. Steve Christopher refused to stay stuck and stuck his neck out and got the petitions signed that he needed signed, and we’re glad we helped him get him there. Now the Railroad Department had to come up with some way to nudge him back out, and this was the best they could come with. Steve Christopher is fighting this, and we too, shall help him.

This is one ugly mess, and we are compelled to clean it up. Please help us candidates continue to see the pressure you exert on elected officials, and please pray that we continue to blaze the trail and set the standard for future candidates to live up to. Ever since the first day where I had the realization that I could win this race, I felt an immediate and borderline overwhelming responsibility to the people. This isn’t about me, this is about them, their lives, and the fact that they are counting on me to stand up for what is right. I think of them when I go to sleep at night. How do our current politicians do the same?

It’s amazing how a near-spontaneous gathering of 500 people not knowing where things were going turned into a march of 1.5 million on Washington, full of people united on telling the government exactly where we wanted to go. I fear the subsequent marches on Washington will dilute the cause, regardless of good intentions, because the whole let’s-march-on-Washington ethic has already been exhausted, and the 9/12 March will never be replicated. I’m all for the FairTax (April 15) and the 2nd Amendment (April 19), but we are not serial Washington marchers. They got the message; they just choose to ignore it. Protesting is now futile. Action is king.

Lest we be tempted to think that raising our voices does no good, we have the luxury of the Tea Party’s one year history to reflect over. This is not to gloat about what we accomplished, but to serve as a guide to us that need encouraged to speak up and let people know you won’t shut up and take what’s given to you. We never go down without a fight. Let’s not choose to refrain from fighting like we have in years past.

Enough of the waxing poetic, let’s just bring up a list of items that the Tea Party movement (and similar movements in like spirit) have had direct or indirect influence on America and the world:

• First and foremost, the health care bill has been STALLED and may be DEAD. We are one legislative trick away form totally killing the totalitarian spirit of our government.
• Although the guy has disappointed us some, the election of Scott Brown gave politicians the spanking they truly needed. We just had to say “Number 41″ and everyone knew what that meant.
• Doug Hoffman gave all our hard work a shining big result to boost our confidence and to show the criticizers that we’re not messing around. Had he just garnered a paltry 1-4% of the vote like most third party candidates do, our movement would have been dead.
• The August 2009 town hall meetings were also Last Stand Battles – again, had we failed, we’d have totalitarian health care without a whimper.
• ACORN and the SEIU are being watched and prodded over incessantly. Before this past year, they just did what they wanted.
• Van Jones had to go underground. He’s still trying to find a way back in, but that bastard will be watched like crazy.
• Mark Levin’s book ”Liberty and Tyranny” was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for countless weeks, and the mainstream media tried to ignore or discredit the book. Of course, this leads to every talking head wanting to write a book (especially Hannity), which will get me tired of this concept real quick. However, Levin showed that people really do want to know conservatism.
• Glenn Beck is probably the only talk show host which makes people willingly get a notepad and pencil and take notes like we’re in history class. And his ratings whip the asses of those other news shows that like cracking teabagging jokes.
• 9/12 groups are holding book club meetings over books such as “The 5000 Year Leap”. Man, I need to stop by Barnes and Noble.
• Sarah Palin has been perfection for a few years now, but not even she can escape legitimate criticism from conservatives. If this doesn’t prove we’re not blind to people, then logic is hopeless with them.
• The government can threaten us with $5,000 fines for not answering intrusive “census” forms that want to know when we leave and get home from work, and we can still refuse to fill them out.
• On a personal note, the movement has inspired me to run for office, learn to shoot at firing ranges, and homeschool our future children.
• The government will not use direct speeches to go over our heads as parents to lecture to our children. They went to a generic “Plan B” speech and will continue to do so, although Organizing For America is trying to get students to be political interns for Obama currently.

There’s much more, of course, but I need to get out and do some campaigning. Don’t stop believing!

I am semi-stunned in disbelief that the Obama administration is deliberately trotting out its embarrassment of a stimulus plan one year after it passes, with some half-assed message about how it saved the economy. I thought by now he’d try to bury it underground and slam his JOBS JOBS JOBS down our throats.

I think one year is enough time to give someone a chance, no? Hence it has been over one year since this disasterpiece passed legislation and signed by our president as some monumental achievement, and many are still saying now what they had been saying then. Unemployment is up, and our confidence is pretty much shot to the point where an imminent collapse has me considering yanking my retirement funds away from the stock market. Our predictions rang true in the general sense, the Obama administration’s predictions have rang false. Scoffing at his remarks is almost becoming the new national pasttime.

Keep in mind, that a February 17, 2009 passage of this bill led to the February 27, 2009 birth of the Tea Party as we know it today. We know Obama’s “Stimulus Plan” as “The Last Straw”; a beginning of a country’s freefall that rendered us helpless, until we took our gumption and decided to fight back – first with words, then with face-to-face confrontation, then us coming to them instead of waiting for them to come to us, and now hitting the polls like a lifelong welfare recipient makes damn sure he picks up his check (except we have direct deposit now, so he or she can sit on his ass 24 hours a day instead of 23).

Let it be known though, that the tried and untrue “stimulus plan” is not the only idea that ceases to work when repeated ad nauseum. I’m tired of Newt Gingrich wanting to do a “Contract With America II” like this is some rehash of the “Republican Revolution” of 1994. You had your chance buddy; now get the hell out of the way. You are NOT going to fuck this up for all of us. The so-called Revolution of 1994 led to the Throw The Dumbasses Out in 2006 and 2008. This was still back in an age when we were still fooled into thinking the “D” and “R” labels still meant something. That’s all gone now. All an “R” means now is that we’ll pick you apart much more closely and ask questions until you collapse so that you might stand a chance of being labeled a true conservative that’s looking to protect our Constitution. Talking the tax cut sweet talk is not enough. If you haven’t learned that now, then sit down as a favor to your country, and let the rest of us handle it.

I respect my elders who have paid their dues, but a track record is all we got for the experienced ones, and solid beyond blacksmith principles for us newbies that want our turn. I can NOT trust John McCain as a politician, though if I was military I’d want him on my side any day. I can NOT trust Mitt Romney to step anywhere near Washington as anything but a civilian, because even though he almost singlehandedly saved the Salt Lake City Olympics from reputational ruin, he also allowed Massachusetts universal health care to see the light of day. I do NOT trust Mike DeWine to not Gang-of-14 us into a compromise in which we lose and they win.  Although I love her dearly (politically), I remain skeptical about Sarah Palin’s $100,000 fee for a much-hyped Tea Party Convention, when Neal Boortz charges zero. I forgive her for campaigning for McCain, because I too would have to thank him for bringing her out into the spotlight. Her PAC is lining the pockets of campaign coffers for those like Rob Portman – a decision that may have hastened Tom Ganley’s decision to abandon his U.S. Senate run and try his hand at OH-13 for the House of Representatives.

I respect traditional thinking, but I don’t respect old thinking – especially if the old thinking has already failed us once or twice. As long as we all stay true to our principles individually, regardless of our differences of beliefs – even in the same Tea Party organization – we cannot fail. If we don’t give in, we will not fail. No matter who claims to be for the Tea Party but whistles their own tune when they go back to Washington, our principles and our will are the only concepts we can count on to weed out the pretenders. It is up to ourselves to see that we don’t blow Election Year 2010. This is not our fight to concede.

A closed mouth gathers no feet. It’s better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. It’s better to be seen and not heard.

Yet it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. People don’t respond to gentle nudges anymore; you have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you’ll have their strict attention.

Other than one outlying vociferous yell from conservatives back in 2007 when Congress was considering amnesty for illegal immigrants, we already had been quiet. We were way too quiet. Anyone that accuses us of being too quiet while George W. Bush was wreaking havoc on government spending was one-hundred percent correct. The spending could have been excusable – two wars and 9/11 aren’t exactly on every President’s agenda when they take office – but it was still spending more than could be bought without a plan to pay ahead on debt principal so that we could buy up other countries’ assets like Russia and China are doing now.

I don’t see the logic in being quiet during Obama’s administration in order to equal the quiet we gave Bush just so we give the two “equal treatment”. Ditto for the 2004, 2006, and 2008 Congress. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Even if we’re slow to right the ship, we’re still going to right the damn ship. In fact, waiting too long only justifies moving more quickly to make up for lost time.

First, we called our Congressmen. It worked for Amnesty 2007, surely it would have to work again. We figured all we had to do is give Congress a piece of our mind and that would settle things. Then the big bailouts started. Despite our phone calls pleading with them not to pass the “$700 billion bailout” bill (which was renamed “TARP” afterward), it still passed. I still remember that day as they only day I stayed awake at night with my eyes glued to the C-SPAN channel. My heart dropped that night. Calling didn’t work.

We’ve also written letters and emails. We were lucky to get generic form letters back, especially those that never addressed our concerns. It was almost as if we should have felt so privileged that we should frame the letters on our wall. We didn’t want souvenirs, we wanted answers. Congressmen at that time were like baseball umpires: if you didn’t know their name, they were probably doing a pretty good job. The negative conditional also applied: if you knew your Congressman’s name, it wasn’t because you thought he was a big hot rock star – it’s because he voted against your wishes. This was our first major token of evidence that arrogance hung in the air of Washington, D.C..

We started holding our own protests. Our protests adopted the “Tea Party” name after the CNBC reporter Rick Santelli loudly suggested it on live TV in front of the Chicago Stock Exchange. We marched, even though we didn’t know the first thing about protesting. I know I sure didn’t know a damn thing about it. Protesting was for kooky people who were too dedicated to one cause and ignored others. Protesting was shouting out in the air in hopes that someone outside the protest would appreciate our passion. Protesting was a great release, but felt pretty empty afterward. If we wanted an emotional hangover, we might as well have gotten drunk instead and took the physical hangover as a package deal.

The August town halls were it. Congress was going out of session for the month and were planning on meeting their constituents back home. The health care debacle was on an artificial deadline to be passed, and it didn’t even come close. This was possibly our last opportunity to let our voices be heard, since we were being ignored otherwise.

What wildfire! To hear the proclamations of citizens who had a previous dirty habit of staying quiet too long was beautiful music to behold. To know that many congressmen were locating the nearest emergency exit as though their plane was going to crash was the comedown from arrogance that was much needed. The number one complaint at the time, which I still hear and read to this day on many occasions, is that we were doing too much shouting. We weren’t being civil. We were supposedly shouting down politicians before they could finish their sentences, when in reality, the shouting was of those who could not, and would not take any of their bullshit anymore. It was like a parent cutting off protests from their kids. This time we were the parents, and the Congressmen needed the scolding. I submit that under those conditions, shouting was absolutely necessary. Good on those who did. Not everyone shouted, mind you; there were plenty that wanted to air out their concerns followed by wild applause and cheering. If that’s what it took to get the attention of our elected politicians, then so be it. August 2009 was a banner month, and shouting we did. Quiet doesn’t work here in times like these; not anymore.

And yet, there are those statists that can’t seem to keep quiet to save their lives. Barack Obama is a great example. I’ll never forget his statements about suggesting that someone’s 100-year old grandmother with a zest for life should take a painkiller instead of getting heart surgery, or when blew his load too quickly on the Cambridge police whom he claimed “acted stupidly” when arresting a Harvard professor. Every time that guy mentions the city of Las Vegas, their tourism industry takes such a dip that even Harry Reid is telling him to shut the hell up.

Obama does not realize that every time he or someone else opens their mouth about how they’re going to get health care done, that they are killing jobs just by talking about the health care bill(s). They could plan on not passing this thing all along and just plan to talk about it just set off the illusion that they’re making progress – it doesn’t matter. The absolute uncertainty that the talk creates is enough for companies to hold off on hiring anyone until they see what happens. It’s a similar concept with banks – any bank worth their salt knows to really tighten lending until they see people start paying off loans again instead of defaulting. Any person in position of power just has to utter the words “Health Care”, “Cap and Trade”, and “Card Check” and that’s all a company needs to hold off hiring anyone. Why hire anyone to play the game when the rules are going to change; especially on how much taxes will be placed on the employer for each employee?

Would you buy a car or a house if the government is making noise about charging extra taxes on home and car owners sometime in the future? Maybe you’d buy a car, but only if you absolutely needed one. The auto industry would fall flat, as well as the housing industry. If $8,000 tax credits would persuade people to start buying homes again, then surely any whispers of tax increases would scare people away from buying anything. It’s the same deal with employers and employees. We’ll never see a recovery until we are absolutely certain we won’t be penalized for doing so.

Words from the powerful deceptive types also wreak so much harm on our military. To know that wars are completely politicized is an absolute tragedy. It’s ok to oppose the Iraq war if it helps you get elected, but to have your Vice President take credit for the troop surges and success? I’m all for American success, regardless of the administration. I just couldn’t imagine being part of a military that’s being used for political whims. They keep America safe for the citizens that appreciate them, and for the politicians that take them for granted and use them to make themselves look better.

Someone also once said that he didn’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. He wanted them to get out of the way so he and his people can clean up the mess. If by “cleaning up the mess”, you mean “spending us into communistic oblivion”, well, he may have a point there.

Screw quiet.

I don’t mean literally choke, I mean your ideas. When I say “your” I mean those of you whose ideas totally disregard the cost of such ideas. If we didn’t need cost, we wouldn’t need money or accounting. Therefore, if you hold disregard for cost or money, then you must be willing to work for free.

Do you plan on raising the debt ceiling to further all time highs? Do you even understand the consequences of unfunded liabilities? Do you even know what an unfunded liability is? Are you aware that private companies cannot have unfunded liabilities such as pension plans due to ERISA laws?

What is your plan for paying for all your ideas? Is it a fee per service, or will you raise the taxes of everyone in your district? How much waste are you willing to cut? Are you willing to cut any spending?

If you’re going to raise taxes, why are you against a flat tax or FairTax? Why this progressive tax system? What measures would you enact to stop the wealthy from moving their money away or underground because you’re taxing them to death? Do you even know a progressive tax system disincentivizes working harder and smarter, because people know when they’ll hit the next highest tax bracket? Do you know that a progressive tax system rewards people for poverty and laziness, and punishes those who provide for themselves and their families?

You have to prove to me that taxation does not equate theft. The burden of proof will always be on you, because I will never voluntarily vote in another tax increase on any level until our elected officials demonstrate a track record of not wasting the funds. So far, that list is only limited to my local township trustees. Anyone that is looking to cut the salaries of or considering laying off firefighters and law enforcement shall damn well prove to the people that no money is going to waste if they are considering a cut to the public safety.

Our tax refunds are not enough to keep us quiet. Eliminating the automatic paycheck deductions would be a great start. We should have private options to ugly unfunded liabilities such as Social Security and Medicare. Instead, there’s noise about the government seizing all private retirement funds like Argentina did.

I’m seriously considering keeping my retirement funds at home in the form of precious metals locked away in a safe somewhere. If government spending continues to increase with no plans to pay the debt off, then it’s inevitable that they’ll come after money that isn’t theirs and use the force of law to get it. It’s just like the health care debacle – you can tell me all you want that there will be no death panels, but as soon as it’s time to pay the piper and you are forced to cut costs, someone out there is going to determine who lives and who dies in order to stick to the budget. Whether they embrace that fact or not is irrelevant. If it passes, it will happen. When we run out of money, we must live up to the moral expectation of our conscience to either seek more income and/or cut our spending. When the government runs out of money and simultaneously refuses to cut spending, it’s inevitable – they will come after our money.

I don’t have time for denial anymore. I may avoid the problem from time to time just so I can maintain my sanity and I can live freely and socialize with people without them seeing me go off the deep end, but I cannot allow time for denial. If it’s true that the national debt cannot mathematically be paid off with status quo methodology, then it’s put up or shut up time. Short leash, big stick, speak loudly, be heard. Choose to ignore us, go right ahead, it’s a free country. We’ll be sure to give you more of an opportunity to ignore us from either your couch or from the private sector, because we will not allow you the privilege in serving the public sector ever again, assuming our sanity and reason remains intact.

Money is the ultimate in accountability. Money puts limits of how much of any particular item we can allow ourselves to purchase. Limited capital forces prioritization of items. Except for defense abroad, defense at home, or keeping the peace at home – the rest is incidental. What’s your plan for covering these costs? No plan? If money is no object, then we hope your idea chokes upon implementation. It’s sad that our citizens will have to suffer as a result of purposeful government waste and error. Shame.

I’ve been hanging back. I’ve continued to learn as much as possible, even after hitting the inevitable point to where one may think that they have learned all there is to learn, and the stuff coming out are just recycled versions of recent history.

People, however, are turning around. Mainstream media articles are leaking out some articles here and there that make the administration not look good. No matter how much Obama resists criticism, there’s going to be much more of it, and no amount of executive orders will stop it, no matter how Putin-like he’d like to be.

As much of us already are, we’re becoming the “go to” people I’ve hoped we’d all become. Those that are now seeing the light are turning to us for guidance, and trust our instincts no matter how quietly or loudly they express their gratitude for doing so. It’s nice to see that people can’t be fooled permanently for an indefinite period of time, and although it is tempting not to, I forgive them for not seeing this earlier. Let’s hope this turnaround isn’t too little too late.

Tax season is a great example of this. This may be the first year that the American mainstream is picking up on the idea that the “Earned Income Credit” is just political talk for “Welfare Payment”. It becomes more apparent when my fiancee notices that those who choose not to work for a living are receiving $6,000 tax “refunds” while those who are responsible are lucky to receive $1,000 back from what the government has taken from our paychecks throughout the year.

Yes, I said “fiancee”. I asked her to marry me a couple weekends ago, and she said yes. I must also say that we live in interesting times when a numberphobic person such as she asks me about the income tax consequences of getting married. If that’s not the federal government invading our daily lives, I don’t know what is.

Our president isn’t ignoring what we have to say; he hears it well and is soundly rejecting it. He and Pelosi are still promising the health care debacle. Crap and Trade is included in Obama’s Land of a Thousand Deficits budget proposal, even if it hadn’t passed Congress yet. To be irresponsible with money and accounting in the most powerful leadership position in the world is immoral. To reject fiscal responsibility in the face of reason in order to spite us is absolutely frightening. That’s one step closer to tyranny and enslavement, no matter how one looks at it.

I’ve said it since the big bailout mistakes of 2008 – I’d rather attempt to survive one gigantic economic crash than to wither away over a slow drawn out panic that now stretches over a year long. We’re no closer to recovery, no matter who tries to fool us otherwise. I don’t see hope for any recovery as long as anti-business policies are touted and threaten to take hold, even if the policies end up being defeated. The cloud of business uncertainty is enough to keep businesses from expanding and committing to their home bases. In a country where we bail out banks selectively so they can become even too much bigger to fail, take over automobile companies, set rules for executive pay, propose raising of taxes from every corner, where’s the hope? Who in their right mind would put their money here instead of Switzerland under these circumstances? Who in their right mind would choose penalizing Swiss banks for being the escape route instead of creating a desirable economic base that no one would feel compelled to escape from?

Only a liberal would raise taxes in the United States, and then chide companies who move overseas to lower tax rates as companies who “get tax incentives for moving offshore”. In other words, instead of matching or competing with the other countries’ rates, we berate those who try to breathe some economic sense into their companies. Well, I would move away too.

It’s the same mentality that would punish Texas for cutting taxes and capping malpractice suit awards instead of going with what works.

It’s been over a year since the big bailouts started, and we’re not the better for it. It takes one untimely yank of a thread by a country such as China who may choose not to invest in our debt anymore, or the housing market collapsing further when the tax breaks expire. There’s going to be one straw that breaks this camel’s back, and the ensuing crash would be the crash that should have happened in mid-September 2008. We could be over a year into the recovery from that crash. Instead, we’re still waiting on that crash.