Ben Smith in Politico has written an article about how the Republicans may be poised to lose more of the Latino vote and he draws the conclusion that if that does happen the Republicans will truly become a minority party.
All that may be the case. The piece however sounds like the same old same old as far as any solutions to the problem. What the piece doesn’t say tells me more about the problems the Republicans have with any outreach. Below the article is linked. Judge for yourself
-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22586.html
---------------
To reach out, we should be out in the communities translating (figuratively and then literally) how our core values are closer to their own than the Liberal’s are. From what I’ve seen in the construction trades and the people I’ve met in my neighborhood, the average person from the Hispanic Heritage has a stronger sense of the American Dream than most American’s I meet. They are “old school” freedom loving people. They will “do work American won’t do” anymore to get ahead.
Like all broad strokes, I realize the danger. But these are the impressions I have seen.
How many Americans work for or have part of their income derived from the government who exists because of regulation and its fees and taxes etc? How many Americans work for larger corporations that also thrive on the stifling effects of regulation taxes and fees on small business’?
The one chance Immigrants have to get ahead in America now is the same as it was in the past. Small business started on a shoe string. This business model is the quickest response to a need the public has. The overregulation of such efforts, not only takes that chance away from Immigrants but from everyone who has little money but a good idea. Further the public suffers from a lack of options on how to fulfill its needs. We need to ask for help from Hispanics in helping us to return America to it’s Dream.
Look at all the programs out there to help “minorities”. The regulations and infrastructure become so confining that the “prisoner of the system” loses sight of and all the inspiration they originally had for their idea. I posit that the freedom of expression the free enterprise system allows is the “secret ingredient” that allows people to take the gamble to do what others will not.
A bureaucrat will say to that; “Well if they don’t have the energy to go through our hoops and pay the extra money for what we have proven is necessary for their own success, we are actually helping them to avoid the failure. The implied condescension implied by all of this type of thing is what we as a party out to be out there showing and cataloguing and fighting the loudest against. Simple freedom from government oppression is what freedom is all about. We know what we want better than the government. That is what they come here for in the first place. We need their help to remake it into Our Dream.
If we go back to what has made America great and again championed whatever helps make a strong, self reliant, proud and free citizenry; we will not only start to win back Hispanic voters but all who rail against a government that it too oppressive of its people. A place where the rule of law says we have a right to raise my children and protect our families any way we see fit; that is the Dream we all share. That is something worth fighting for. Republicans can represent that if we earn back our credibility. There are a lot of “Democrat Lite” things we all do. The one I hate the most is the, “Do as I Say, Not as I Do” hypocrisy. I know the Liberal Elite does that, I don’t care. I know that we could go a long way towards earning our credibility back if we quit doing that same thing.
If we started doing what we say. What do you think, that would shock everybody. Ya think?
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
We Must Fight To Earn A Compromise
We Must Fight To Earn A Compromise
Which is better for the individual; to get pleasure from sitting in front of a computer all day or going to work all day? I ask this due to my belief that “Individual Freedom” is the #1 vision I strive for. In our lives, at birth till we leave the nest of home, we are weaned in varying degrees away from the idea that seeking individual pleasure is good. Selfish is the term we use to denigrate that which seems so natural to us.
In our lives we find that there is good in sitting in front of the computer and in going to work; just as there is bad found in exclusively doing either one. I used to think that my mind enjoyed patterns found in nature because they replicated the patterns found in the way my mind worked. If I could set up a world with the same patterns as those within the architecture of my brain; I would become thoroughly happy.
That however has proved to not be the case in my life. The chink in that suit of armor is the concept of time. When the fruit of the tree of life was threatened to be eaten after we had partaken of the tree of knowledge; “Someone” said to “Someone else or Themselves”, “Lest they eat of the tree of life and become as one of us” We better kick them out of the Garden; From that point Humankind was saddled with the burden of time. It is the deciding factor in everything we do. EVERYTHING.
----link-----
http://www.icr.org/bible/Genesis/3:22/
-------------
The “Someone” I quoted as saying “as one of us” has to live outside time. Is that possible? Einstein probably would agree as he thought of pure Energy as existing (for lack of a better word) separate of time matter and space. Only when E was constrained by time would it break down into matter and space. In other words when matter attains the speed of light it changes back to pure energy which then destroys the concept of time.
I bring this up to point out the importance of time, not just in physics but in our daily lives. In every decision we make, perhaps in the way the very structure of our mind and down to our very DNA is formed and therefore works.
The example I always use to explain the effect time has on the decisions we make is this. Imagine you were living in eternity. Imagine you had no concept of time that you lived forever, that the word “end” didn’t exist. Next imagine that you decided that you wanted to tie your shoe. You could feel free to spend as much of your effort and thought to do that one mundane thing. If you spent the equivalent of a thousand years learning the best way to tie your shoes what would you have lost? You would still have an eternity left. All of the penalties and rewards on earth as we know it have to do with manipulating time. We are punished by losing our freedom for a certain amount of time. As in being sent to our room or being sent to jail. At the core of every decision is the weighing of whether the time involved makes something worthwhile doing or not.
Thomas Sowell in his book “Conflict of Visions” explains two basic constructs he believes form the two basic political thoughts. Mr. Sowell does not claim one is better than the other. They are both valid. Throughout the book he allows one to draw the conclusion that while both are valid neither one alone will succeed. I believe Thomas Sowell makes the case brilliantly for the use of Compromise between the two. I came to understand the differences between our political parties at a deeper level after I read his book.
-----link-----
http://books.google.com/books?id=NwrWDM8FW04C&dq=conflict+of+visions+sowell&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=bH0rrvUB5b&sig=fIgZkizwo1g_cdVjxyQq_KRv_Mo&hl=en&ei=vRkQSuekLqWkNZ222VI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPR10,M1
--------------
This brings me to the reason for writing this blog entry. Should the Republicans return to their principles? Will our party continue disintegrating if we don’t? When I look at the bigger picture I should ask if the Liberals should deviate from their principles also. That brings up the whole idea of the goodness of compromise. Is it proper to compromise one’s principles?
Of course it is, but only to the point that is determined by the constraints “Time” has placed upon us. For example if it is my principle that tells me I should do the very best in whatever I attempt, then in my above example of the role time plays in tying my shoe; I would never get past that effort before I died. Time forces me to compromise with walking around with shoes that are imperfectly tied, or live a shortened life due to starvation. The best compromise I could make would be to invent a better way (Velcro) and set up a money making venture selling it which would give me the wherewithal to prolong my life to further study tying my shoes.
People do that all the time. It’s called doing what one has a passion for.
I often use the saying “You can make a science out of anything” I usually say that in a negative sense when confronted with a bureaucracy run wild. But good can also come of the same type of thing. Look at all the complicated effort we have made out of putting a ball into a hole. We weren’t happy with one either. Think basketball, golf, and if you expand the concept to a ball in a net well you get the drift.
Most know that a vision or a dream of what we want to accomplish is important and even necessary if we want to make progress. We must fight for that vision with all our might, but we must also know at what point to make the compromise that will keep our Vision moving forward, even though the other side gains something too; that is ok. The reason is simple; the clock is ticking.
More than that, within our party we need both the idealist fighting on the barricades and the pragmatist fighting in the halls of power. Neither will win every battle or argument, but the key is for both to have the vision ever present and well defined, to guide our point of compromise and keep it from being a point of surrender.
Dream big, fight hard and the compromises will not be the terms of Surrender. The compromises back in the day, once upon a time turned into the Declaration of Independence and further compromise brought us the Constitution. Both of which the dreamers and pragmatists from both sides were content with. They knew they did their best, and they were definitely feeling the constraint of time from the British. Their compromise was not a defeat or surrender on either side but a moving forward for humankind.
I must now make my own compromise now with the tyranny of Time and sign off and do something to pay the bills. As God has been so freely translated. Time and Tide wait for no one.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.
Which is better for the individual; to get pleasure from sitting in front of a computer all day or going to work all day? I ask this due to my belief that “Individual Freedom” is the #1 vision I strive for. In our lives, at birth till we leave the nest of home, we are weaned in varying degrees away from the idea that seeking individual pleasure is good. Selfish is the term we use to denigrate that which seems so natural to us.
In our lives we find that there is good in sitting in front of the computer and in going to work; just as there is bad found in exclusively doing either one. I used to think that my mind enjoyed patterns found in nature because they replicated the patterns found in the way my mind worked. If I could set up a world with the same patterns as those within the architecture of my brain; I would become thoroughly happy.
That however has proved to not be the case in my life. The chink in that suit of armor is the concept of time. When the fruit of the tree of life was threatened to be eaten after we had partaken of the tree of knowledge; “Someone” said to “Someone else or Themselves”, “Lest they eat of the tree of life and become as one of us” We better kick them out of the Garden; From that point Humankind was saddled with the burden of time. It is the deciding factor in everything we do. EVERYTHING.
----link-----
http://www.icr.org/bible/Genesis/3:22/
-------------
The “Someone” I quoted as saying “as one of us” has to live outside time. Is that possible? Einstein probably would agree as he thought of pure Energy as existing (for lack of a better word) separate of time matter and space. Only when E was constrained by time would it break down into matter and space. In other words when matter attains the speed of light it changes back to pure energy which then destroys the concept of time.
I bring this up to point out the importance of time, not just in physics but in our daily lives. In every decision we make, perhaps in the way the very structure of our mind and down to our very DNA is formed and therefore works.
The example I always use to explain the effect time has on the decisions we make is this. Imagine you were living in eternity. Imagine you had no concept of time that you lived forever, that the word “end” didn’t exist. Next imagine that you decided that you wanted to tie your shoe. You could feel free to spend as much of your effort and thought to do that one mundane thing. If you spent the equivalent of a thousand years learning the best way to tie your shoes what would you have lost? You would still have an eternity left. All of the penalties and rewards on earth as we know it have to do with manipulating time. We are punished by losing our freedom for a certain amount of time. As in being sent to our room or being sent to jail. At the core of every decision is the weighing of whether the time involved makes something worthwhile doing or not.
Thomas Sowell in his book “Conflict of Visions” explains two basic constructs he believes form the two basic political thoughts. Mr. Sowell does not claim one is better than the other. They are both valid. Throughout the book he allows one to draw the conclusion that while both are valid neither one alone will succeed. I believe Thomas Sowell makes the case brilliantly for the use of Compromise between the two. I came to understand the differences between our political parties at a deeper level after I read his book.
-----link-----
http://books.google.com/books?id=NwrWDM8FW04C&dq=conflict+of+visions+sowell&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=bH0rrvUB5b&sig=fIgZkizwo1g_cdVjxyQq_KRv_Mo&hl=en&ei=vRkQSuekLqWkNZ222VI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPR10,M1
--------------
This brings me to the reason for writing this blog entry. Should the Republicans return to their principles? Will our party continue disintegrating if we don’t? When I look at the bigger picture I should ask if the Liberals should deviate from their principles also. That brings up the whole idea of the goodness of compromise. Is it proper to compromise one’s principles?
Of course it is, but only to the point that is determined by the constraints “Time” has placed upon us. For example if it is my principle that tells me I should do the very best in whatever I attempt, then in my above example of the role time plays in tying my shoe; I would never get past that effort before I died. Time forces me to compromise with walking around with shoes that are imperfectly tied, or live a shortened life due to starvation. The best compromise I could make would be to invent a better way (Velcro) and set up a money making venture selling it which would give me the wherewithal to prolong my life to further study tying my shoes.
People do that all the time. It’s called doing what one has a passion for.
I often use the saying “You can make a science out of anything” I usually say that in a negative sense when confronted with a bureaucracy run wild. But good can also come of the same type of thing. Look at all the complicated effort we have made out of putting a ball into a hole. We weren’t happy with one either. Think basketball, golf, and if you expand the concept to a ball in a net well you get the drift.
Most know that a vision or a dream of what we want to accomplish is important and even necessary if we want to make progress. We must fight for that vision with all our might, but we must also know at what point to make the compromise that will keep our Vision moving forward, even though the other side gains something too; that is ok. The reason is simple; the clock is ticking.
More than that, within our party we need both the idealist fighting on the barricades and the pragmatist fighting in the halls of power. Neither will win every battle or argument, but the key is for both to have the vision ever present and well defined, to guide our point of compromise and keep it from being a point of surrender.
Dream big, fight hard and the compromises will not be the terms of Surrender. The compromises back in the day, once upon a time turned into the Declaration of Independence and further compromise brought us the Constitution. Both of which the dreamers and pragmatists from both sides were content with. They knew they did their best, and they were definitely feeling the constraint of time from the British. Their compromise was not a defeat or surrender on either side but a moving forward for humankind.
I must now make my own compromise now with the tyranny of Time and sign off and do something to pay the bills. As God has been so freely translated. Time and Tide wait for no one.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.
Friday, May 15, 2009
A Civil Right ---- Saving Money.
Hey I’m just a blogger clinging with one hand to the idea of common sense and accountability. Hey I know, but I do have two hands and I can multi task; with the other hand you know what I’m clinging to. If you can’t figure it out, just ask any Liberal.
I'd like to give that "Civil Right" to the Government.Force it on them if need be.
I came up with a platform I would run on if I ran as President of the US, or Governor of my state of Michigan for that matter.
1. The money allocated to a program or Department need not all be spent.
2. I will set up a program rewarding and publicizing those departments and specific individuals that do not spend all their money.
3. I will set up a completely transparent fund in which to place all the money saved.
4. I will reward departments upon results based on actual performance.
5. Those departments and individuals that make the most efficient use of and that save taxpayers money will be singled out and rewarded by promotion, and their departments in the future will be looked upon as worthy of funding. This process will be completely transparent for all with a computer to see. Those individuals and department that can’t won’t be rewarded
.
6. I will fire and trim departments where I can legally and I will stretch that limit to my limits as President, where I can’t I will let attrition and shame do the rest of the job.
7. Every two year election cycle I will put on the ballot an initiative asking voter’s whether that money saved should go to pay off the deficit or be mailed back to the taxpayers.
Well like I said I’m just a blogger. Imagine some elected official in America trying to control an unelected bureaucrat, especially when it comes to spending taxpayer’s money. How naïve I am. I would only be President and we all have seen from Kennedy to Bush that a President can only nudge a Bureaucracy.
I guess I just get tired of funding things like “Airports to almost Nowhere”. Especially for the likes of "Let's Make a Deal" Murtha.
-----link-----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051202679.html
---------------
The new money going to this airport is only $800,000 for repaving an alternative runway. This airport has only 6 incoming and outgoing flights a day. I guess the alternative runway needs repaving through lack of use. Like I said so what it’s only $800,000, but if we read further in the article it points out the $8 million for a new radar and tower given them in 2004 that has never been used, altogether the airport received $150 million.
I think if you elect me president and we instituted our fat collector fund, maybe our “Airports to almost Nowhere” and “Bridges for almost no one” wouldn’t cost so much, might even (gasp) be seen as not needed. Imagine the audacity that in America someone would actually be rewarded for spending someone else’s money wisely and even in radically extreme cases returning it. Imagine if John Lennon was still alive, “Imagine” a bureaucracy in charge of saving money.
I’d be shot before the primary was over. Lol Hell, the pork producers would boil me in their excess and feather me with the stuffing of people’s mattresses as they rip them apart trying to find the last of the people's money.
And they wonder why I still cling to you know what.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I'd like to give that "Civil Right" to the Government.Force it on them if need be.
I came up with a platform I would run on if I ran as President of the US, or Governor of my state of Michigan for that matter.
1. The money allocated to a program or Department need not all be spent.
2. I will set up a program rewarding and publicizing those departments and specific individuals that do not spend all their money.
3. I will set up a completely transparent fund in which to place all the money saved.
4. I will reward departments upon results based on actual performance.
5. Those departments and individuals that make the most efficient use of and that save taxpayers money will be singled out and rewarded by promotion, and their departments in the future will be looked upon as worthy of funding. This process will be completely transparent for all with a computer to see. Those individuals and department that can’t won’t be rewarded
.
6. I will fire and trim departments where I can legally and I will stretch that limit to my limits as President, where I can’t I will let attrition and shame do the rest of the job.
7. Every two year election cycle I will put on the ballot an initiative asking voter’s whether that money saved should go to pay off the deficit or be mailed back to the taxpayers.
Well like I said I’m just a blogger. Imagine some elected official in America trying to control an unelected bureaucrat, especially when it comes to spending taxpayer’s money. How naïve I am. I would only be President and we all have seen from Kennedy to Bush that a President can only nudge a Bureaucracy.
I guess I just get tired of funding things like “Airports to almost Nowhere”. Especially for the likes of "Let's Make a Deal" Murtha.
-----link-----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051202679.html
---------------
The new money going to this airport is only $800,000 for repaving an alternative runway. This airport has only 6 incoming and outgoing flights a day. I guess the alternative runway needs repaving through lack of use. Like I said so what it’s only $800,000, but if we read further in the article it points out the $8 million for a new radar and tower given them in 2004 that has never been used, altogether the airport received $150 million.
I think if you elect me president and we instituted our fat collector fund, maybe our “Airports to almost Nowhere” and “Bridges for almost no one” wouldn’t cost so much, might even (gasp) be seen as not needed. Imagine the audacity that in America someone would actually be rewarded for spending someone else’s money wisely and even in radically extreme cases returning it. Imagine if John Lennon was still alive, “Imagine” a bureaucracy in charge of saving money.
I’d be shot before the primary was over. Lol Hell, the pork producers would boil me in their excess and feather me with the stuffing of people’s mattresses as they rip them apart trying to find the last of the people's money.
And they wonder why I still cling to you know what.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Lesson of the Internet
Age of the Internet.
I’ve read all the predictions of what will happen to the GOP in the 2010 elections. They range anywhere from the GOP is dead scenario, to the idea that the GOP will take back the House; and all things in-between. I would like to add a new wrinkle.
The rules have changed.
The way people get their information and the ways ideas are disseminated are entirely different.
We are losing the middleman. In the case of politics, that middleman in need of change is the Party leadership. Until the GOP leadership stops trying to control the grassroots and starts to actually listen to and help when asked, they may very well become totally irrelevant.
Obama knew that and was able to come from outside the Democrat Party Leadership and storm the process with email and the internet. That is not the magic pill as the Republicans think. They have been slowly coming to that conclusion. The Leadership from the National on down to the County have been ceaselessly preaching grass roots, big tents, and setting up web sites and blogs galore to no avail.
The point they should be seeing is that there was a driving force that enabled the new technology of blogs and websites to become useful tool that it was for the Obama election team. That force was not the DNC, or Hillary would of won the primary.That force was an anger; a general anger coming from the general public who sensed they had lost control of the government; that their freedoms were being eroded. That anger was bred from a sense of helplessness which hung over everything like a dark cloud.
They wanted to vote against the status quo. Obama was the perfect storm. The Internet was the perfect medium that people could use to get and send out news and make plans in real time. The internet was a chance for people to become part of the process; it seemed only logical that they picked someone who was a political novice. With that combination a national election was won. During the last election I couldn’t help but think the Republicans were specifically running against this new idea.
Early on I made the connection with what the internet did to the way people could invest in the stock market. I remember getting excited about investing in stocks, but I had very little money. This was before internet trading was allowed. I made an appointment for the following week to see a broker. He was very smart and knowledgeable and therefore unwilling to share such wisdom with the likes of me. He said I couldn’t make anything with the amount of money I had and he was right. The commissions et all would eat up any possible profits. The stock market was for the big boys.
Well along came internet trading and I spent a year in the heyday of it making all kinds of money (a relative expression) without leaving my house, and paying commissions so low even I could afford them. The internet stock revolution brought billions of new money into the market. Much like politics joining with the internet once the people with the new money found out how the game was rigged, the bubble burst and people were left to figure out a new way or put their money back under their mattress.
The Republicans have the chance to define a new way, but we need to start doing it at the grassroot level. If we wait for the leadership to provide it, they will keep giving us new gadgets for the same old same old.
I don’t know the magic answer other than the answer lies in the doing and failing and changing and doing and succeeding and failing and doing. It’s called real life and like real life it takes “doing” to get anything out of it. Talking and blogging is needed, BUT it is not “doing”.
We used to be a party of “Can Do”, hard work is good and individual effort. The political class of politicians, consultants and big money non profits including the Government no longer reflect those ideas.
I wish a thousand little conservative groups would start up with a million different ideas. Like a kid it would be unruly but think of what we could learn from the doing even if all the ideas don’t work so what. That’s how kids grow up and mature. Think what we could learn about organizing small groups what works, what doesn’t work. Isn’t it better to learn that when we are young? We could learn how we relate to others (compromise) so a group can work, to actually get something done.
Nothing I can see wrong with that especially when compared to the “common wisdom” and where that is getting us.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I’ve read all the predictions of what will happen to the GOP in the 2010 elections. They range anywhere from the GOP is dead scenario, to the idea that the GOP will take back the House; and all things in-between. I would like to add a new wrinkle.
The rules have changed.
The way people get their information and the ways ideas are disseminated are entirely different.
We are losing the middleman. In the case of politics, that middleman in need of change is the Party leadership. Until the GOP leadership stops trying to control the grassroots and starts to actually listen to and help when asked, they may very well become totally irrelevant.
Obama knew that and was able to come from outside the Democrat Party Leadership and storm the process with email and the internet. That is not the magic pill as the Republicans think. They have been slowly coming to that conclusion. The Leadership from the National on down to the County have been ceaselessly preaching grass roots, big tents, and setting up web sites and blogs galore to no avail.
The point they should be seeing is that there was a driving force that enabled the new technology of blogs and websites to become useful tool that it was for the Obama election team. That force was not the DNC, or Hillary would of won the primary.That force was an anger; a general anger coming from the general public who sensed they had lost control of the government; that their freedoms were being eroded. That anger was bred from a sense of helplessness which hung over everything like a dark cloud.
They wanted to vote against the status quo. Obama was the perfect storm. The Internet was the perfect medium that people could use to get and send out news and make plans in real time. The internet was a chance for people to become part of the process; it seemed only logical that they picked someone who was a political novice. With that combination a national election was won. During the last election I couldn’t help but think the Republicans were specifically running against this new idea.
Early on I made the connection with what the internet did to the way people could invest in the stock market. I remember getting excited about investing in stocks, but I had very little money. This was before internet trading was allowed. I made an appointment for the following week to see a broker. He was very smart and knowledgeable and therefore unwilling to share such wisdom with the likes of me. He said I couldn’t make anything with the amount of money I had and he was right. The commissions et all would eat up any possible profits. The stock market was for the big boys.
Well along came internet trading and I spent a year in the heyday of it making all kinds of money (a relative expression) without leaving my house, and paying commissions so low even I could afford them. The internet stock revolution brought billions of new money into the market. Much like politics joining with the internet once the people with the new money found out how the game was rigged, the bubble burst and people were left to figure out a new way or put their money back under their mattress.
The Republicans have the chance to define a new way, but we need to start doing it at the grassroot level. If we wait for the leadership to provide it, they will keep giving us new gadgets for the same old same old.
I don’t know the magic answer other than the answer lies in the doing and failing and changing and doing and succeeding and failing and doing. It’s called real life and like real life it takes “doing” to get anything out of it. Talking and blogging is needed, BUT it is not “doing”.
We used to be a party of “Can Do”, hard work is good and individual effort. The political class of politicians, consultants and big money non profits including the Government no longer reflect those ideas.
I wish a thousand little conservative groups would start up with a million different ideas. Like a kid it would be unruly but think of what we could learn from the doing even if all the ideas don’t work so what. That’s how kids grow up and mature. Think what we could learn about organizing small groups what works, what doesn’t work. Isn’t it better to learn that when we are young? We could learn how we relate to others (compromise) so a group can work, to actually get something done.
Nothing I can see wrong with that especially when compared to the “common wisdom” and where that is getting us.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Back Seat In Hell
For years I have heard the lament that Democrats know what to do. They wake up and say how can I raise taxes today? How can I make government bigger? Damn the facts full speed ahead. Republicans lament because they feel that they are so much smarter and have to know the facts before they act and therefore have to be more careful in what they suggest. It is the ignorant public that doesn’t understand. Plus they don’t want to make a fool out of themselves by sticking their neck out.
But Why?
What has our carefulness gotten us? We are in the minority, we have accomplished very little and what little we did we let the Dems confiscate it. The only thing we have to be careful about now is what seat in the back of the bus we are allowed to sit in.
In all their haste and disregard of the facts the Dems have won majorities to the point they control all branches of government. While they may lose every intellectual argument with the lofty Republicans they have won everything else.
Our rallying cry has turned into one that says when the country falls apart, when the bus the country is on runs into the bridge, because we so astutely decided to sit in the back of the bus, we will survive and take control back.
Boy, that’s the ticket alright. No more lamenting about the Dems springing out of bed knowing what to do. We get to sleep in, never mind them. We’ll win in the end. Just keep writing those checks to those who got us here.
So set your alarm clocks all you faithful and undaunted Republicans for half past Armageddon; for it is surely upon us, and we might as well sleep through that too if we can find a comfortable back seat in hell.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
But Why?
What has our carefulness gotten us? We are in the minority, we have accomplished very little and what little we did we let the Dems confiscate it. The only thing we have to be careful about now is what seat in the back of the bus we are allowed to sit in.
In all their haste and disregard of the facts the Dems have won majorities to the point they control all branches of government. While they may lose every intellectual argument with the lofty Republicans they have won everything else.
Our rallying cry has turned into one that says when the country falls apart, when the bus the country is on runs into the bridge, because we so astutely decided to sit in the back of the bus, we will survive and take control back.
Boy, that’s the ticket alright. No more lamenting about the Dems springing out of bed knowing what to do. We get to sleep in, never mind them. We’ll win in the end. Just keep writing those checks to those who got us here.
So set your alarm clocks all you faithful and undaunted Republicans for half past Armageddon; for it is surely upon us, and we might as well sleep through that too if we can find a comfortable back seat in hell.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Word Smiths
Word Smiths
“Never forget there was only one freedom on which this nation was founded; that was freedom from government.” -Barry Goldwater ...
I was reminded of that quote as I was reading Thomas Sowell’s latest article (“Empathy” Versus Law) in Townhall.com.
-----link-----
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/05/05/empathy_versus_law?page=1
--------------
It was the not so subtle language in Mr. Sowell’s article trying to remind us of the reason behind the limiting of governmental power by the Framers of and written into Our Constitution; the use of language is what sparked the brain to do the work of remembering.
To illustrate that, look at the use of the word “damage” in the following quote from his article.
-----quote-----
In the American system of government, presidential term limits restrict how long any given resident of the White House can damage this country directly. But that does not limit how long, or how much, the people he appoints to the Supreme Court can continue to damage this country, for decades after the president who appointed them is long gone.
---------------
Think about it. Dems were as happy to see Bush term limited out as Repubs were to see Clinton term limited out.
As usual Thomas Sowell hits the nail on the head about how much damage unchecked power can lead to. That however is not why I’m writing.
Yet another quote. The use of the word “damage” by Mr. Sowell, dredged out of my head the use of the word “degenerated” used by Peter F. Drucker in 1909. It can be found in his book “The Effective Executive” by Harper Collins, still in print. Newt Gingrich in talking to young Republican Activists said to read that book, said he had, over and over and still does, I did. Below is the quote.
-----quote-----
“Unless a decision has “degenerated into work” it is not a decision; it is at best a good intention” Peter F Drucker, “The Effective Executive” pp114 Harper Collins paperback edition, 2006.
----------------
The only thing the two words, “damage” and “degenerated” have in common is that they both are negative and both are used to highlight or enhance a positive message. The use of the negative by both authors conjured up images in my mind far different than if the words were left out.
Kind of like a left jab setting you up for the Right hook.
Drucker’s Right hook was to make the point that if you want something done you have to get off your butt and do something. Sowell’s Right hook came in the form of an admonition; we reap what we sow. Ie If we don’t pay attention we deserve what we get. Ie We need to get off our butt and do something.
Both authors are word smiths of renown. They both however, through their writing show they understand that the ultimate power derived from the written word is measured in stirring the readers into creative action. Degenerating thoughts into action; to help put in place methods to stop the damage caused by the real world to our fantasies.
This Ying and Yang between reality and fantasy is what makes us as a people work. Ying or Yang alone will lead us to ruin.
Both writers I believe, understand that without the good intentions, life as we know it will disappear, and the bitch is that we have to degenerate those intentions into work in order to survive. I would add that the work based on good intentions is what makes us human and not animal. I would also add that the good intentions are what make the work bearable and indeed sometimes very unlike work.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
“Never forget there was only one freedom on which this nation was founded; that was freedom from government.” -Barry Goldwater ...
I was reminded of that quote as I was reading Thomas Sowell’s latest article (“Empathy” Versus Law) in Townhall.com.
-----link-----
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/05/05/empathy_versus_law?page=1
--------------
It was the not so subtle language in Mr. Sowell’s article trying to remind us of the reason behind the limiting of governmental power by the Framers of and written into Our Constitution; the use of language is what sparked the brain to do the work of remembering.
To illustrate that, look at the use of the word “damage” in the following quote from his article.
-----quote-----
In the American system of government, presidential term limits restrict how long any given resident of the White House can damage this country directly. But that does not limit how long, or how much, the people he appoints to the Supreme Court can continue to damage this country, for decades after the president who appointed them is long gone.
---------------
Think about it. Dems were as happy to see Bush term limited out as Repubs were to see Clinton term limited out.
As usual Thomas Sowell hits the nail on the head about how much damage unchecked power can lead to. That however is not why I’m writing.
Yet another quote. The use of the word “damage” by Mr. Sowell, dredged out of my head the use of the word “degenerated” used by Peter F. Drucker in 1909. It can be found in his book “The Effective Executive” by Harper Collins, still in print. Newt Gingrich in talking to young Republican Activists said to read that book, said he had, over and over and still does, I did. Below is the quote.
-----quote-----
“Unless a decision has “degenerated into work” it is not a decision; it is at best a good intention” Peter F Drucker, “The Effective Executive” pp114 Harper Collins paperback edition, 2006.
----------------
The only thing the two words, “damage” and “degenerated” have in common is that they both are negative and both are used to highlight or enhance a positive message. The use of the negative by both authors conjured up images in my mind far different than if the words were left out.
Kind of like a left jab setting you up for the Right hook.
Drucker’s Right hook was to make the point that if you want something done you have to get off your butt and do something. Sowell’s Right hook came in the form of an admonition; we reap what we sow. Ie If we don’t pay attention we deserve what we get. Ie We need to get off our butt and do something.
Both authors are word smiths of renown. They both however, through their writing show they understand that the ultimate power derived from the written word is measured in stirring the readers into creative action. Degenerating thoughts into action; to help put in place methods to stop the damage caused by the real world to our fantasies.
This Ying and Yang between reality and fantasy is what makes us as a people work. Ying or Yang alone will lead us to ruin.
Both writers I believe, understand that without the good intentions, life as we know it will disappear, and the bitch is that we have to degenerate those intentions into work in order to survive. I would add that the work based on good intentions is what makes us human and not animal. I would also add that the good intentions are what make the work bearable and indeed sometimes very unlike work.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, May 4, 2009
Helplessness: The Root Of Victory.
Helplessness: The Root Of Victory.
It never ceases to amaze me what is available out in the real world. There is so much that I miss.
Being an Internet junkie I think I have my fingers on everything. I admit to being naieve as hell. Not doing my homework.
Who is Aaron Schock? I probably heard his name as he has made the headlines recently but today was the first time I actually listened. I was in my normal browsing of the news when I read a Newsmax article that said you should look at the videos YAF has put together.
That’s it - no link, nothing. In my state of Helplessness I thought, how dare they not link me to it. Well, after the frustration and anger wore off some I did go back a little later and google it.
Then while waiting on a link, I sat back and remembered that 25 years ago I would have had to go to the library to find out anything at all about the group and - well videos from them - forget about it. Maybe if I had $50 and was willing to wait a month and YAF provided the service, I might have been able to order them. The internet has given a new definition to helplessness at least in my case.
Out of helplessness came frustration then anger then this time action taken, to fight my helplessness. This time it was easy. I mean how hard is it to google?
YAF stands for Young America’s Foundation. They are a national group of young Republicans with a conservative bent. The two videos that I watched were obviously from their convention, which I know nothing about (YET). Be forewarned these two videos or talks are long; about an hour each. There are others too. The first was a speech by Jona Goldberg, and this guy I know. His speech was good and at points funny etc. but it lacked the how to, or the hands on, in the trenches type of information I was after. Goldberg’s conservative credentials are impeccable and his speech was great but it was too academic for my mindset at the time. I listened to about 40 min.
The next one I was captivated by. The speaker was a 20 something speaker who is currently a member of the US Congress, he is an unabashed conservative.
His name is Representative Aaron Schock. He is the textbook example of the old fashioned concept of; if you want something done you have to do something.
I will not recap the hour long speech here, and I will not force you to google it lol. I will put the link below at the bottom of the article. I will ask of you however to set aside an hour to watch it. Be warned again, this is more like a how to workshop and inspirational talk, about how to; not an indepth philosophical piece or a cynical Anne Coulter type of thing. I also ask you to imagine yourself in his position as he worked his way up the ladder then ask yourself what would you have done. I frankly wasn't happy with my answer. But I NEVER forget, today is a new day. We need to ask ourselves what can I do today.
The story Aaron Schock tells is a journey of success after success bourne out of helplessness, frustration and anger; success after success after sucess.
At 19 no one on the schoolboard would listen to him. They were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. He felt helpless, frustrated then angry. He asked the clerk what the qualifications were to run for school board. She told him he had to be 18 and collect 200 signatures. He turned his anger into work, and collected 230 some signatures. Two weeks before the election enough of his signatures were turned down because people had used ditto marks which the board defined as two straight lines thus meaning nothing thus invalidating the signatures. By the way, the members of the board that made that judgement were those he wanted to run against.
Again the same process of helplessness frustration anger then action; but he was learning; he probably only cried over one beer(oops milkshake-21 to drink you know), he was getting quicker at the process. He mounted and won a write in campaign. He won. He was later voted vice chair then chair by the same people that tried to bar him from running.
His comment was to remind the audience which was mostly College students that as in high school if you just show up, do your homework and ask intelligent questions; most of the battle is won. Aaron said he learned the issues, fought to do the hard work and was rewarded by those that didn’t.
Later the same type of process happened in his state house district. My ears perked up as I found out he ran in the 92 district in Illinois. I live in the 92nd in Michigan. But I digress. He decided to try to run in the district. When running the idea of running past the state Party officials they told him he was too young, that there had never ever been a Republican that won the 92nd district. The district was 60% Democrat, 25% African American, of the 40, 000 voters 20,000 were on food stamps and therefore they couldn’t afford to help him unless he could show by poll numbers that he had a chance to win. BTW same in my 92nd, but I digress.
Click -- there went that (by now) almost automatic process. Helplessness, frustration, anger then hard work. I mean knocking on tons of doors, speaking at union halls and everywhere else any right minded Republican knew better than to enter. Did he pander to the left? Did he become Democrat lite? NO This kid translated Core Conservative principles into the issues and solutions for those issuse; into the language the people in his district could relate to. He won by a 200 something vote margin. A really close thing. Does Aaron think volunteers stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors help?
One principle I know he would believe in is that America and our freedom still allows one person to rise if they ae wiling to show up, do their homework and ask intelligent questions. His main thing hanging over all that he suggests is that honesty and integrity in doing all of the above in mandatory.
Aaron Schock then won re-election by 59% of the vote because he proved his honesty and integrity by following through on his promises of showing up, doing his homework and asking intelligent questions of his constituents.
Whenever we get bogged down in helplessness we have a long list of Americans that show us that if we are breathing we are not helpless. From Washington at Valley Forge to Aaron Schock. That chain need not be broken. Time for all of us old foggies to pick up the books and do OUR homework.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
No I didn’t forget, here is the link.
-----link-----
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1250955
--------------
It never ceases to amaze me what is available out in the real world. There is so much that I miss.
Being an Internet junkie I think I have my fingers on everything. I admit to being naieve as hell. Not doing my homework.
Who is Aaron Schock? I probably heard his name as he has made the headlines recently but today was the first time I actually listened. I was in my normal browsing of the news when I read a Newsmax article that said you should look at the videos YAF has put together.
That’s it - no link, nothing. In my state of Helplessness I thought, how dare they not link me to it. Well, after the frustration and anger wore off some I did go back a little later and google it.
Then while waiting on a link, I sat back and remembered that 25 years ago I would have had to go to the library to find out anything at all about the group and - well videos from them - forget about it. Maybe if I had $50 and was willing to wait a month and YAF provided the service, I might have been able to order them. The internet has given a new definition to helplessness at least in my case.
Out of helplessness came frustration then anger then this time action taken, to fight my helplessness. This time it was easy. I mean how hard is it to google?
YAF stands for Young America’s Foundation. They are a national group of young Republicans with a conservative bent. The two videos that I watched were obviously from their convention, which I know nothing about (YET). Be forewarned these two videos or talks are long; about an hour each. There are others too. The first was a speech by Jona Goldberg, and this guy I know. His speech was good and at points funny etc. but it lacked the how to, or the hands on, in the trenches type of information I was after. Goldberg’s conservative credentials are impeccable and his speech was great but it was too academic for my mindset at the time. I listened to about 40 min.
The next one I was captivated by. The speaker was a 20 something speaker who is currently a member of the US Congress, he is an unabashed conservative.
His name is Representative Aaron Schock. He is the textbook example of the old fashioned concept of; if you want something done you have to do something.
I will not recap the hour long speech here, and I will not force you to google it lol. I will put the link below at the bottom of the article. I will ask of you however to set aside an hour to watch it. Be warned again, this is more like a how to workshop and inspirational talk, about how to; not an indepth philosophical piece or a cynical Anne Coulter type of thing. I also ask you to imagine yourself in his position as he worked his way up the ladder then ask yourself what would you have done. I frankly wasn't happy with my answer. But I NEVER forget, today is a new day. We need to ask ourselves what can I do today.
The story Aaron Schock tells is a journey of success after success bourne out of helplessness, frustration and anger; success after success after sucess.
At 19 no one on the schoolboard would listen to him. They were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. He felt helpless, frustrated then angry. He asked the clerk what the qualifications were to run for school board. She told him he had to be 18 and collect 200 signatures. He turned his anger into work, and collected 230 some signatures. Two weeks before the election enough of his signatures were turned down because people had used ditto marks which the board defined as two straight lines thus meaning nothing thus invalidating the signatures. By the way, the members of the board that made that judgement were those he wanted to run against.
Again the same process of helplessness frustration anger then action; but he was learning; he probably only cried over one beer(oops milkshake-21 to drink you know), he was getting quicker at the process. He mounted and won a write in campaign. He won. He was later voted vice chair then chair by the same people that tried to bar him from running.
His comment was to remind the audience which was mostly College students that as in high school if you just show up, do your homework and ask intelligent questions; most of the battle is won. Aaron said he learned the issues, fought to do the hard work and was rewarded by those that didn’t.
Later the same type of process happened in his state house district. My ears perked up as I found out he ran in the 92 district in Illinois. I live in the 92nd in Michigan. But I digress. He decided to try to run in the district. When running the idea of running past the state Party officials they told him he was too young, that there had never ever been a Republican that won the 92nd district. The district was 60% Democrat, 25% African American, of the 40, 000 voters 20,000 were on food stamps and therefore they couldn’t afford to help him unless he could show by poll numbers that he had a chance to win. BTW same in my 92nd, but I digress.
Click -- there went that (by now) almost automatic process. Helplessness, frustration, anger then hard work. I mean knocking on tons of doors, speaking at union halls and everywhere else any right minded Republican knew better than to enter. Did he pander to the left? Did he become Democrat lite? NO This kid translated Core Conservative principles into the issues and solutions for those issuse; into the language the people in his district could relate to. He won by a 200 something vote margin. A really close thing. Does Aaron think volunteers stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors help?
One principle I know he would believe in is that America and our freedom still allows one person to rise if they ae wiling to show up, do their homework and ask intelligent questions. His main thing hanging over all that he suggests is that honesty and integrity in doing all of the above in mandatory.
Aaron Schock then won re-election by 59% of the vote because he proved his honesty and integrity by following through on his promises of showing up, doing his homework and asking intelligent questions of his constituents.
Whenever we get bogged down in helplessness we have a long list of Americans that show us that if we are breathing we are not helpless. From Washington at Valley Forge to Aaron Schock. That chain need not be broken. Time for all of us old foggies to pick up the books and do OUR homework.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
No I didn’t forget, here is the link.
-----link-----
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1250955
--------------
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)