I first got wind of Representative Dan Burton (R-IN), a Conservative leader in Congress, when I happened to see him on CSPan while channel surfing. He was with Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland, standing alone on the floor of the US House. They were there after hours and by themselves just talking about the energy crisis and their new plans to try to get Congress to do something about all the energy bills that were stuck in committee. This was before the Republican leadership had picked up the lead on the energy questions. Before it was popular. I was impressed by his practical “get it done” attitude. I was impressed that here was a man willing to stand nearly alone for what he believed and try to create something.
I was more impressed that even then he was talking the idea of compromise and the need to get something done, and not just be another complainer. Recently he wrote an op ed piece for the Washington Times linked below.
-----Dan’s Op ed------
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/17/americas-energy-future-63907242/
----------------------
Throughout the piece Mr. Burton talks of compromise as being necessary. The entire slant of the article is about the need of Congress to become non partisan on our energy policy. He talks of putting together a bill that is not perfect for Republicans and not perfect for Democrats; but right for America. His plan is simple and full of common sense. Dan again stands nearly alone using the seldom heard word “compromise” on Capital Hill. Though seldom heard it is all the more appreciated by this blogger especially as I pull out of the gas station with an empty wallet. This “Energy Crisis” has hit me hard enough to question my steadfast loyalty to my own principles. Where am I willing to compromise to find common ground. Something needs to actually get done in Congress. Where does one draw the line between necessary compromise and stubborn (ego driven??) adherence to principle. I really don’t know, but that is the nature of compromise. I have to learn to work with those that differ widely with my beliefs. That is the hard part of finding common ground.
I applaud Dan for his concise and logical editorial about what needs to be done and how to do it.
I also applaud his willingness to compromise his ideas for the good of the country. I will applaud any others who do the same. I know that he is not “caving in” on his beliefs, to curry favor with the other side. He is simply trying to find middle ground so the group of our elected Representatives can try to get something constructive done. There is an old saying that “compromise is best reached at the point of the gun”. The Framers of our “Declaration of Independence and later of our Constitution fully understood that saying in real terms. They had very divergent views of the world and how it should be governed. Yet they were able to compromise enough to find some common ground in order to secure their survival.
As we have been recently reminded, this country, along with the rest of the world is dependent upon oil to the extent that our very lives and well being hinge upon an unbroken supply. Our survival, our way of life, has become overly dependent upon that supply. We the people are getting upset that nothing is being done to solve the problem. First there was Newt (a private citizen) funneling this desire into the workable and understandable “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition and media blitz. Then some like Mr. Burton started to spread that message. Now the leaders have started to pick up the ball. The President also. Even the candidates are paying lip service to it. All the polls continue to show that the majority of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents favor more exploration and finding more supply as the first step in solving our energy needs. Compromise is the key to this Congress getting something done. I feel it necessary that I support the idea of compromise. I will always believe in my core beliefs but I will also be looking for the common ground necessary to actually get something done.
It would not be unworthy of your time to check out other remarks by Dan Burton on his blog
-----link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
---------------
Or John Boehner’s site.
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/
---------------
Or Newt’s American Solutions and the Petition Drive.
-----link-----
http://www.americansolutions.com/actioncenter/petitions/?Guid=54ec6e43-75a8-445b-aa7b-346a1e096659
---------------
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.
PS As our Party celebrates Abraham Lincoln, it may be constructive to remember the bloody results caused by the unwillingness to compromise on our individual values. Both sides during Lincoln’s time were unable to find common ground upon which to agree, and we were left to find “good ground” from which we could kill as many fellow Americans as we could in the Civil War.
Showing posts with label My Conservatism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Conservatism. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Update on the “Drill Here” Energy idea. + The “Energy Freedom March”
Update on the “Drill Here” Energy idea. + The “Energy Freedom March”
I admit to being angry that Congress will not allow more exploration of energy sources. I’m fed up with Congress seemingly waiting for some :pie in the sky” scientific breakthrough in the energy field maybe a “perpetual motion” machine. I’ve had enough of big talk and no action. I don’t want to wait another 20 years for the perfect solution. I want something done by Congress now.
Gee is it so complicated. The price of oil is shooting up for lack of it. Hey here is a novel idea. Let’s look for some more. Let’s take advantage of what we have; coal, oil shale, nuclear. Let’s concentrate on bringing the price of oil down. At the same time we can put money into coming up with other alternative forms of energy, wind solar bio and any other newer means. But first let us become free from the rising cost of oil. That alone can have a snowball effect upon becoming free from foreign dependence on oil and lead to freedom from oil altogether at least for energy.
Like a war, we need to see some progress. We need to win one skirmish then one battle. The plan will change once the war starts, it has to adapt to changing circumstances: but we need a plan. Then each bill we pass will move us towards victory over Dependence on Foreign Oil. To be non-partisan, we need a plan for the good of America to point to with pride to overcome the naysayer’s .
Below are some links to update what some of the Leaders in this battle in Congress are doing to try to change things. Below those links, see what we’re doing about it right here in Muskegon.
American Solutions, (the people who came up with Drill here, Drill now, Pay Less) The video is a shorter version of the presentation to the leaders of Congress 1.3 million signatures on the “Drill Here” Petition. This will be sent to all the leaders. Hopefully this 1.3 will grow to a goal of 3 million signatures, which will be presented to the Republican and Democratic Conventions.
-----link-----
http://www.americansolutions.com/
--------------
John Boehner, (Republican Leader in the House) has the following links. He has become the focal point of this process. Constantly bring heat to the majority through a lot of different ways. His current effort is a 10 House member tour of Energy sources in the country. His way of showing that we have the where with all to do great things towards the goal of energy independence. His group of energy bills is called “All of the Above”. It includes not only exploration, but conservation and promotion of alternative energy sources. His current tour emphasizes this.
Yes we are a Can Do Nation. Even if Congress has been a “Do Nothing Congress”.
-----link to Boehner’s sites-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/
---------------------------------
On the right side of the above link be sure to click on the blog button. This has the full acceptance of the 1.3 million signatures, plus other links to his efforts.
Dan Burton the conservative leader in the House has as is usual been leading his own battle to help goad Congress into action and stir up some publicity. He and Mike Pence and Steve Buyer are holding a Press Conference this Monday 7/21 to spread the word. Show an Indiana united front. Below is a link to his efforts.
-----link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
--------------
Next the guy that started the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” slogan Newt Gingrich has broadened the theme by changing the name to “Do it All, Do it Now, Do it For America” He hopes to gather another 1.7 million signatures to go with the 1.3 to total 3 million to present to both political conventions. Below is his site. Click on Rosy the Riveter to see the scope of his solution to the Energy problem. Click on the upper right Drill Petition to see the current total.
-----link-----
http://www.newt.org/
--------------
Last but not least Tim Walberg (Michigan’s own) sponsored the first discharge petitions in the House to try to force the “no more excuses energy bill” out of committee where it along with other energy bill are stuck, onto the floor for a yes or no vote. Below is his latest volley.
-----link-----
http://walberg.house.gov/Blog/
--------------
There are many others, google away, and you will see.
Myself and some others have decided that we also want to not only give our support to this effort but to actually play a small part in this effort, to spur congress on to “Do Something” to help our country to become more Energy Independent.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuesday, July 22nd we are holding an “Energy Freedom March” on the sidewalk of the County building. Starting around 8:30 am. I'll be there all day. Feel free to stop any time for any amout of time. Sign our petition for "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" or not. Pick up a sign or bring your own or not. Bring a friend or not. This is a "bottom up type of thing". I’m making twenty signs to carry. Simple messages, Drill Now, Stop Opec. America / Has Had Enough, Drill Here, We Want A / Do Something Congress. Honk For Lower / Gas Prices.
If you want to help out or find out anything at all about this, below are my contact #s
Bob Carr
231-728-3455 let message play (I screen my calls) If I’m there I’ll pick up. If not I’ll call back. If you want to be anonymous, just comment on this blog. Using the anonymous button. Or call back on the phone when I’m home. I can’t afford caller ID> lol.
Glhotdogs@verizon.net
Hope to see you Tues and Wed.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I admit to being angry that Congress will not allow more exploration of energy sources. I’m fed up with Congress seemingly waiting for some :pie in the sky” scientific breakthrough in the energy field maybe a “perpetual motion” machine. I’ve had enough of big talk and no action. I don’t want to wait another 20 years for the perfect solution. I want something done by Congress now.
Gee is it so complicated. The price of oil is shooting up for lack of it. Hey here is a novel idea. Let’s look for some more. Let’s take advantage of what we have; coal, oil shale, nuclear. Let’s concentrate on bringing the price of oil down. At the same time we can put money into coming up with other alternative forms of energy, wind solar bio and any other newer means. But first let us become free from the rising cost of oil. That alone can have a snowball effect upon becoming free from foreign dependence on oil and lead to freedom from oil altogether at least for energy.
Like a war, we need to see some progress. We need to win one skirmish then one battle. The plan will change once the war starts, it has to adapt to changing circumstances: but we need a plan. Then each bill we pass will move us towards victory over Dependence on Foreign Oil. To be non-partisan, we need a plan for the good of America to point to with pride to overcome the naysayer’s .
Below are some links to update what some of the Leaders in this battle in Congress are doing to try to change things. Below those links, see what we’re doing about it right here in Muskegon.
American Solutions, (the people who came up with Drill here, Drill now, Pay Less) The video is a shorter version of the presentation to the leaders of Congress 1.3 million signatures on the “Drill Here” Petition. This will be sent to all the leaders. Hopefully this 1.3 will grow to a goal of 3 million signatures, which will be presented to the Republican and Democratic Conventions.
-----link-----
http://www.americansolutions.com/
--------------
John Boehner, (Republican Leader in the House) has the following links. He has become the focal point of this process. Constantly bring heat to the majority through a lot of different ways. His current effort is a 10 House member tour of Energy sources in the country. His way of showing that we have the where with all to do great things towards the goal of energy independence. His group of energy bills is called “All of the Above”. It includes not only exploration, but conservation and promotion of alternative energy sources. His current tour emphasizes this.
Yes we are a Can Do Nation. Even if Congress has been a “Do Nothing Congress”.
-----link to Boehner’s sites-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/
---------------------------------
On the right side of the above link be sure to click on the blog button. This has the full acceptance of the 1.3 million signatures, plus other links to his efforts.
Dan Burton the conservative leader in the House has as is usual been leading his own battle to help goad Congress into action and stir up some publicity. He and Mike Pence and Steve Buyer are holding a Press Conference this Monday 7/21 to spread the word. Show an Indiana united front. Below is a link to his efforts.
-----link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
--------------
Next the guy that started the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” slogan Newt Gingrich has broadened the theme by changing the name to “Do it All, Do it Now, Do it For America” He hopes to gather another 1.7 million signatures to go with the 1.3 to total 3 million to present to both political conventions. Below is his site. Click on Rosy the Riveter to see the scope of his solution to the Energy problem. Click on the upper right Drill Petition to see the current total.
-----link-----
http://www.newt.org/
--------------
Last but not least Tim Walberg (Michigan’s own) sponsored the first discharge petitions in the House to try to force the “no more excuses energy bill” out of committee where it along with other energy bill are stuck, onto the floor for a yes or no vote. Below is his latest volley.
-----link-----
http://walberg.house.gov/Blog/
--------------
There are many others, google away, and you will see.
Myself and some others have decided that we also want to not only give our support to this effort but to actually play a small part in this effort, to spur congress on to “Do Something” to help our country to become more Energy Independent.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tuesday, July 22nd we are holding an “Energy Freedom March” on the sidewalk of the County building. Starting around 8:30 am. I'll be there all day. Feel free to stop any time for any amout of time. Sign our petition for "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" or not. Pick up a sign or bring your own or not. Bring a friend or not. This is a "bottom up type of thing". I’m making twenty signs to carry. Simple messages, Drill Now, Stop Opec. America / Has Had Enough, Drill Here, We Want A / Do Something Congress. Honk For Lower / Gas Prices.
If you want to help out or find out anything at all about this, below are my contact #s
Bob Carr
231-728-3455 let message play (I screen my calls) If I’m there I’ll pick up. If not I’ll call back. If you want to be anonymous, just comment on this blog. Using the anonymous button. Or call back on the phone when I’m home. I can’t afford caller ID> lol.
Glhotdogs@verizon.net
Hope to see you Tues and Wed.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thursday, July 17, 2008
"ENERGY FREEDOM MARCH" UPDATE
This idea of mine to have a “ENERGY FREEDOM MARCH” (how do you like the new name?) about “DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LESS” is a way for me to try to show support for those in Congress who are trying to do just that. I feel that they are trying to buck the system. They could use some of our support. I hope this March will show some local support for the idea of expanded drilling. For the idea that the sooner we start drilling the sooner we will start to drive down the price. We need a break. We need to send a clear message to those raising the price (speculators and OPEC etc.) that we have had enough.
My idea of this effort is not to gather an army. I’m talking a few people (4-5) at the core to keep it going for one day, 10 people would be great. Then hopefully people driving by will get interested. I hope to have fliers to hand out that will inform them of what we are doing and why; but also telling them that we hope to have a rally the next day with more people and that it will be made known to the media. This Rally will happen only if enough people show some interest. If we have too small a turnout on Tuesday and few show interest for the next day's rally there will not be one.
What I want to see is a lot of others simply stopping by for an hour or so, picking up a sign and joining in with us. Anonymously is great. I will try to get some signs made up in advance, but as I say later a home made sign is as good or better. But either way is good. Remember the signs need to be read from the street. The sign big enough, but not so big so you can't carry it, the wording short, the letters HUGE. Example. DRILL NOW, FREEDOM/OPEC, ENERGY FREEDOM, HONK FOR/CHEAPER GAS, CONGRESS/DO SOMETHING. The / means the first part on top of the second part, allowing the letters to be bigger. If you are into graphics and want to help let me know. Time is short.
The overall goal is to put some local pressure on Congress to do something about our energy problems. Put that pressure on before they leave for their recess. We need to get something positive done NOW
By the Way. This is all legal, as long as we stay on the sidewalk. No one even needs to know your name. Or you can proudly exclaim it.
I do not want this to be a political party type of thing. This has to do with creating more American made energy here and now. Forcing us to become energy independent. Stopping us from having to give billions of our money to other countries many of whom dislike us and some of whom are our enemy. See my previous post showing the pew poll and how this idea has crossed party lines and has become an American idea. I’m just trying to provide a way for us citizens to voice our opinion in a way that could send a message to our legislators, who seem way too political right now.
While I admit to the part my ego plays in this, I have nothing to gain in any financial sense. Nor am I trying to gain recognition to gain something other than I believe in America as a Can Do type of Nation. If I can help us in any way to Become That again, then I would feel proud of that. That would carry my pride for a long time. Lol I hope others are also willing to that and for the same pay.
As I've said I'll have some signs, but feel free to make your own signs. Small enough to carry, with wording large enough to see from the street. This is meant to be a Grass Roots Apolitical “Action March”. A home made DRILL NOW sign in my opinion shows more heart than a pre made one. More Bottom Up if you will. Let’s try to keep the hate and politics out of this.
Again July 22nd from 9am - 5pm.
Well got to get to work. All my contact #s etc are below. Feel free to call. Or write or comment.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thank You.
Bob Carr
24 Morrall Ave.
Muskegon Mi. 49441
231-728-3455
Glhotdogs@verizon.net
Blog sites.----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com
----------
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com
----------
If you call, I screen my calls so state your name and I'll pick up if I'm here. If I don't, I'm not, so leave a message and I'll return your call. If you don't want to leave your #, call later in the day or evening, I usually go to bed around 11pm unless I’m listening to the Tigers beat some one like the White Sox lol.
Thanks, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
My idea of this effort is not to gather an army. I’m talking a few people (4-5) at the core to keep it going for one day, 10 people would be great. Then hopefully people driving by will get interested. I hope to have fliers to hand out that will inform them of what we are doing and why; but also telling them that we hope to have a rally the next day with more people and that it will be made known to the media. This Rally will happen only if enough people show some interest. If we have too small a turnout on Tuesday and few show interest for the next day's rally there will not be one.
What I want to see is a lot of others simply stopping by for an hour or so, picking up a sign and joining in with us. Anonymously is great. I will try to get some signs made up in advance, but as I say later a home made sign is as good or better. But either way is good. Remember the signs need to be read from the street. The sign big enough, but not so big so you can't carry it, the wording short, the letters HUGE. Example. DRILL NOW, FREEDOM/OPEC, ENERGY FREEDOM, HONK FOR/CHEAPER GAS, CONGRESS/DO SOMETHING. The / means the first part on top of the second part, allowing the letters to be bigger. If you are into graphics and want to help let me know. Time is short.
The overall goal is to put some local pressure on Congress to do something about our energy problems. Put that pressure on before they leave for their recess. We need to get something positive done NOW
By the Way. This is all legal, as long as we stay on the sidewalk. No one even needs to know your name. Or you can proudly exclaim it.
I do not want this to be a political party type of thing. This has to do with creating more American made energy here and now. Forcing us to become energy independent. Stopping us from having to give billions of our money to other countries many of whom dislike us and some of whom are our enemy. See my previous post showing the pew poll and how this idea has crossed party lines and has become an American idea. I’m just trying to provide a way for us citizens to voice our opinion in a way that could send a message to our legislators, who seem way too political right now.
While I admit to the part my ego plays in this, I have nothing to gain in any financial sense. Nor am I trying to gain recognition to gain something other than I believe in America as a Can Do type of Nation. If I can help us in any way to Become That again, then I would feel proud of that. That would carry my pride for a long time. Lol I hope others are also willing to that and for the same pay.
As I've said I'll have some signs, but feel free to make your own signs. Small enough to carry, with wording large enough to see from the street. This is meant to be a Grass Roots Apolitical “Action March”. A home made DRILL NOW sign in my opinion shows more heart than a pre made one. More Bottom Up if you will. Let’s try to keep the hate and politics out of this.
Again July 22nd from 9am - 5pm.
Well got to get to work. All my contact #s etc are below. Feel free to call. Or write or comment.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thank You.
Bob Carr
24 Morrall Ave.
Muskegon Mi. 49441
231-728-3455
Glhotdogs@verizon.net
Blog sites.----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com
----------
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com
----------
If you call, I screen my calls so state your name and I'll pick up if I'm here. If I don't, I'm not, so leave a message and I'll return your call. If you don't want to leave your #, call later in the day or evening, I usually go to bed around 11pm unless I’m listening to the Tigers beat some one like the White Sox lol.
Thanks, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
"DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, PAY LESS" ACTION MARCH
Below is the first draft of what I'm planning to do. It seemed a Bottom Up kind of thing to do. I've talked to a few people already and they seem interested. I want ideas. I'll listen to any critiques of the (PR?). I would like to see other cities try it if this works. It might as well start right here right now in Muskegon. To paraphrase an old politician. A little protest in this city; a little protest in that city; pretty soon you're talking a protest people will hear.
I sent the previous version of this to Nick at Right Michigan for help. Also to Tim Walberg, Dan Burton, and John Boehner. I realize they won't be the ones reading it. But I've talked to people in their staff previously and they liked the rough idea. I hope they will help with the pr and organization etc. It may be wishfull thinking but you never know
=============================================================
To whom it may concern.
My name is Bob Carr. I’m a citizen concerned with the price of gasoline. I am also concerned with the seeming inability of the Congress to do something about it. A recent pew pole showed an upsurge in support for a more direct approach to solving that problem, The poll question asked the person to chose between, more exploration, mining etc. vs. increasing regulation on the oil companies, and or conservation. The surprising thing was that the largest increase came from the young people, the college educated, the women, the liberals. A larger percentage of self proclaimed Democrats are in favor of increased exploration, than the percentage of self proclaimed Republicans. All of this change was done in 4 months since Newt Gingrich got the ball rolling with the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition. He has over 1 -1/3 million signatures.
-----link to pew poll-------
http://people-press.org/report/433/gas-prices
--------------------------------
The third box of numbers was shocking to me. This is not a political issue anymore to the people of the country, only to the legislators. I am having this protest march to put a face on the anger the people have with the leadership in Congress.
John Boehner on July 11th released the following. I blogged about it at
-----my blog-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-dream-of-campout.html
--------------------
“I especially liked the fire in the belly as evidenced by the following quote from Mr. Boehner. ““I’m going to say it one more time, we need to do ‘all of the above’ if we’re serious. We can drill in an environmentally sound way, and that’s what we should be doing… We’re not going to leave here for the August recess until we get a vote on having more American-made energy.””.
---------------
I have decided that I too am going to do something about the lack of action from Congress. Below is what I came up with.
On July 23, starting at 9:00 am and hopefully lasting all day I and others will be marching and carrying signs in front of the Muskegon County Building. If this is successful and a lot of people show up or promise to the next day, we will follow up on the 24th. I will then be notifying all media of this. Again if this is received well, I would hope other cities might catch wind of it.
I have been in contact with the offices of Dan Burton and Tim Walberg and John Boehner, they all were positive. Tim and Dan have been the pioneers in the Congress on this issue, along with others including Lynn Westmoreland, and Tom Price. John Boehner has taken the leader ship position as he should in the House. The President has finally joined by lifting the ban on off shore drilling.
It is now up to Congress. I’m organizing this “March” to let the people of Muskegon show their views on this issue. Something needs to be done by Congress, before it recesses to help restore the people’s faith in that body. Letting people know that they can be a “Can Do Congress” instead of a “Do Nothing Congress”. This "Action March" is not a march so much as a few people holding signs and hopeing others will join in. I am not affiliated with any goup, I just want to do what I feel needs doing.
Thank You.
Bob Carr
24 Morrall Ave.
Muskegon Mi. 49441
231-728-3455
Glhotdogs@verizon.net
Blog sites.----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com
----------
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com
==============================================
email or call or comment. If you call, I screen my calls so state your name and I'll pick up if I'm here. If I don't, I'm not, then leave a message and I'll return your call.
Thanks, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I sent the previous version of this to Nick at Right Michigan for help. Also to Tim Walberg, Dan Burton, and John Boehner. I realize they won't be the ones reading it. But I've talked to people in their staff previously and they liked the rough idea. I hope they will help with the pr and organization etc. It may be wishfull thinking but you never know
=============================================================
To whom it may concern.
My name is Bob Carr. I’m a citizen concerned with the price of gasoline. I am also concerned with the seeming inability of the Congress to do something about it. A recent pew pole showed an upsurge in support for a more direct approach to solving that problem, The poll question asked the person to chose between, more exploration, mining etc. vs. increasing regulation on the oil companies, and or conservation. The surprising thing was that the largest increase came from the young people, the college educated, the women, the liberals. A larger percentage of self proclaimed Democrats are in favor of increased exploration, than the percentage of self proclaimed Republicans. All of this change was done in 4 months since Newt Gingrich got the ball rolling with the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” petition. He has over 1 -1/3 million signatures.
-----link to pew poll-------
http://people-press.org/report/433/gas-prices
--------------------------------
The third box of numbers was shocking to me. This is not a political issue anymore to the people of the country, only to the legislators. I am having this protest march to put a face on the anger the people have with the leadership in Congress.
John Boehner on July 11th released the following. I blogged about it at
-----my blog-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-dream-of-campout.html
--------------------
“I especially liked the fire in the belly as evidenced by the following quote from Mr. Boehner. ““I’m going to say it one more time, we need to do ‘all of the above’ if we’re serious. We can drill in an environmentally sound way, and that’s what we should be doing… We’re not going to leave here for the August recess until we get a vote on having more American-made energy.””.
---------------
I have decided that I too am going to do something about the lack of action from Congress. Below is what I came up with.
On July 23, starting at 9:00 am and hopefully lasting all day I and others will be marching and carrying signs in front of the Muskegon County Building. If this is successful and a lot of people show up or promise to the next day, we will follow up on the 24th. I will then be notifying all media of this. Again if this is received well, I would hope other cities might catch wind of it.
I have been in contact with the offices of Dan Burton and Tim Walberg and John Boehner, they all were positive. Tim and Dan have been the pioneers in the Congress on this issue, along with others including Lynn Westmoreland, and Tom Price. John Boehner has taken the leader ship position as he should in the House. The President has finally joined by lifting the ban on off shore drilling.
It is now up to Congress. I’m organizing this “March” to let the people of Muskegon show their views on this issue. Something needs to be done by Congress, before it recesses to help restore the people’s faith in that body. Letting people know that they can be a “Can Do Congress” instead of a “Do Nothing Congress”. This "Action March" is not a march so much as a few people holding signs and hopeing others will join in. I am not affiliated with any goup, I just want to do what I feel needs doing.
Thank You.
Bob Carr
24 Morrall Ave.
Muskegon Mi. 49441
231-728-3455
Glhotdogs@verizon.net
Blog sites.----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com
----------
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com
==============================================
email or call or comment. If you call, I screen my calls so state your name and I'll pick up if I'm here. If I don't, I'm not, then leave a message and I'll return your call.
Thanks, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Saturday, July 12, 2008
I Dream of a Campout.
Still hope for action.
-----link-----
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91RO73O0&show_article=1
---------------
With the clout of the President and the previously mentioned momentum based on overwhelming public opinion, I still have hope that this “do nothing Congress” may yet surprise us. I’ve blogged about how a bottom up movement has kept growing and bubbled up through the system. Republican leaders got on board in the House and Senate, then McCain and Bush are finally joining too. If McCain could just gather all the threads, it would be a chance to prove his abilities and leadership. His experience with working with other leaders could be highlighted. We’ll see. We’ve always at the last moment been able to turn back the naysayer’s. Just maybe this can be the tie breaker. The President did say. “He said Congress must address this issue before it goes home.” Perhaps The President read John Boehner’s alert below.
Yesterday John Boehner sent out this alert on his web site.
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=97030
--------------
I especially liked the fire in the belly as evidenced by the following quote from Mr. Boehner. ““I’m going to say it one more time, we need to do ‘all of the above’ if we’re serious. We can drill in an environmentally sound way, and that’s what we should be doing… We’re not going to leave here for the August recess until we get a vote on having more American-made energy.””.
Wouldn’t it not be something to see 150-200 members of Congress camped out in the House. The President and or McCain bringing food to them. People starting to gather around and bringing their own lunches. I’d organize a busload from Muskegon Michigan. Believe me I’m serious. If I see Boehner actually “camp out” in the House. I’ll get that busloaded. Can you see the signs?? “DRILL NOW, WHILE CONGRESS HIDES”.. “STICK THIS DRILL UP IRAN’S”.. “GO AHEAD WAKE UP THIS SLEEPING GIANT” “LET’S BANKRUPT OPEC” What a thing this could be. Plus meeting or seeing some of the people who started this out. Like Newt (he for sure would be there), and Dan Burton and Tim Walberg. Oh what larks that could be. Remember Bobby Jindal?? He called the Louisiana legislature back in session twice as a rookie governor. What does Bush have to lose. I don’t want just a bite out of that whole enchilada. Just IMAGINE.
I’m willing if Boehner gives us a sign. I’m sure others in the blogoshere would join with the organizing of a bottom up effort. The kind of decentralized type of thing to create our own mini Woodstock. A conservative Woodstock.Lol. Talk about what goes around comes around. We’ll hope, we’ll see.
Maybe the President read it I don’t know, hopefully McCain did. We the people are starting to. The news is getting out, now the bully pulpit of the Presidency is added. If nothing else the extra publicity will help. It is the job of our elected representatives to represent the will of their constituents. That PEW poll showed what that was without a doubt. Nice to see them doing that, standing up for us that is.
John Boehner is starting an “American Energy Tour”
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=96880
--------------
Here are the 10 members going with him. We should be hearing more of this later. Maybe they could be the nucleus of campers. Maybe he could talk them into it.
-----list-----
NOTE: Boehner will be joined on the American Energy Tour by Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Mary Fallin (R-OK), Dean Heller (R-NV), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Robert Latta (R-OH), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Adrian Smith (R-NE).
-------------
Whatever happens I salute their efforts. John Boehner has stepped up as the leader in this. Anyone else think this is possible?
If you think this a fantasy, It may be, but I’d rather live by a positive “can do” fantasy than the negative “can’t do anything” fantasy we’re surrounded by today.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
-----link-----
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91RO73O0&show_article=1
---------------
With the clout of the President and the previously mentioned momentum based on overwhelming public opinion, I still have hope that this “do nothing Congress” may yet surprise us. I’ve blogged about how a bottom up movement has kept growing and bubbled up through the system. Republican leaders got on board in the House and Senate, then McCain and Bush are finally joining too. If McCain could just gather all the threads, it would be a chance to prove his abilities and leadership. His experience with working with other leaders could be highlighted. We’ll see. We’ve always at the last moment been able to turn back the naysayer’s. Just maybe this can be the tie breaker. The President did say. “He said Congress must address this issue before it goes home.” Perhaps The President read John Boehner’s alert below.
Yesterday John Boehner sent out this alert on his web site.
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=97030
--------------
I especially liked the fire in the belly as evidenced by the following quote from Mr. Boehner. ““I’m going to say it one more time, we need to do ‘all of the above’ if we’re serious. We can drill in an environmentally sound way, and that’s what we should be doing… We’re not going to leave here for the August recess until we get a vote on having more American-made energy.””.
Wouldn’t it not be something to see 150-200 members of Congress camped out in the House. The President and or McCain bringing food to them. People starting to gather around and bringing their own lunches. I’d organize a busload from Muskegon Michigan. Believe me I’m serious. If I see Boehner actually “camp out” in the House. I’ll get that busloaded. Can you see the signs?? “DRILL NOW, WHILE CONGRESS HIDES”.. “STICK THIS DRILL UP IRAN’S”.. “GO AHEAD WAKE UP THIS SLEEPING GIANT” “LET’S BANKRUPT OPEC” What a thing this could be. Plus meeting or seeing some of the people who started this out. Like Newt (he for sure would be there), and Dan Burton and Tim Walberg. Oh what larks that could be. Remember Bobby Jindal?? He called the Louisiana legislature back in session twice as a rookie governor. What does Bush have to lose. I don’t want just a bite out of that whole enchilada. Just IMAGINE.
I’m willing if Boehner gives us a sign. I’m sure others in the blogoshere would join with the organizing of a bottom up effort. The kind of decentralized type of thing to create our own mini Woodstock. A conservative Woodstock.Lol. Talk about what goes around comes around. We’ll hope, we’ll see.
Maybe the President read it I don’t know, hopefully McCain did. We the people are starting to. The news is getting out, now the bully pulpit of the Presidency is added. If nothing else the extra publicity will help. It is the job of our elected representatives to represent the will of their constituents. That PEW poll showed what that was without a doubt. Nice to see them doing that, standing up for us that is.
John Boehner is starting an “American Energy Tour”
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=96880
--------------
Here are the 10 members going with him. We should be hearing more of this later. Maybe they could be the nucleus of campers. Maybe he could talk them into it.
-----list-----
NOTE: Boehner will be joined on the American Energy Tour by Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Mary Fallin (R-OK), Dean Heller (R-NV), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Robert Latta (R-OH), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Adrian Smith (R-NE).
-------------
Whatever happens I salute their efforts. John Boehner has stepped up as the leader in this. Anyone else think this is possible?
If you think this a fantasy, It may be, but I’d rather live by a positive “can do” fantasy than the negative “can’t do anything” fantasy we’re surrounded by today.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thursday, July 10, 2008
CAN DO AMERICANS
“CAN DO AMERICA”
The idea of a “Can Do America” vs. a “do nothing America” from a “do nothing Congress” to a “fix it now Congress” is starting to take hold. From a groundswell of the people, first brought to my attention by Newt Gingrich then some congressmen started seeing the same need to do something and struck out nearly alone. I’ve posted before in my “guerilla war” posts about these individuals. I don’t know them personally but I know the feeling that drives them. I’m picking it up by the handfuls where ever and whenever I find it, from The People. It’s that “Can Do” positive attitude. It’s the inspiration that let’s three congressmen stand alone on the House floor after hours and try to start a conversation about doing something about the rising fuel costs. They were Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price and a conservative leader in the House, Dan Burton. Their struggle was then picked up by the Republican leadership in the House and Senate, namely John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell. The people have finally gotten through to Washington. It was a Republican message a Republican bottom up effort. Now I see the Democrats trying to make it look like they had wanted to drill all along. Somehow it was probably Bush’s fault and the minority party in Congress that stopped them. I think "The People" have had enough of that story. I think they are liking the new "common sense" story they are hearing from the Republicans better.
Our Leadership will be hard pressed to come up with a compromise solution that keeps the "common sense" approach yet still actually produce a bill that increases supply. That seems to be the core Conservative approach that shouldn’t be compromised. Increase production. I just saw Dan Burton’s latest statement on his site, I’ve linked it below. As one of the “guerilla” leaders initially he sums up the whole matter pretty succinctly. My “common sense leadership award” goes to him today.
-----link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
---------------
Let me here restate my thanks to all the leadership for taking the lead so effectively. John Boehner the Leader of the House Republicans is charging full speed ahead. Everyday he is firing from the front lines. He walked out of the Country Club picked up a bayonet and is putting himself out there. He is building it I hope the rest of us will come. The least we can do is to watch his back. Look again at his web site. He is daily coming up with new ideas, keeping the Democrats off balance. He’s now is organizing a tour to help dramatize and publicize the fact that we really can do “all of the above” in regards to becoming energy independent. He is taking the lead showing that Conservative solutions work. The more support we can give him and Mitch McConnell in the Senate, the better compromise we will end up with.
For those of my brethren who complain that John McCain isn't following suit and isn't running a big ad campaign about this. Think of what "bottom up" means. First we had the people complaining about the rising cost of gas. Then a private citizen and a few members of the house and senate, now the leadership has joined. I too hope John McCain will follow, we can sure use his help and he sure could use ours: but this is too big a message to be stopped by one person.
Let’s not bitch later over what we didn’t get, but let us fight now for what we can get. That will also show those who have fought the long fight in the wilderness that it was not in vain. I don’t pretend to know all of the unsung heroes, I just will mention some I’ve found more in the public eye such a Newt Gingrich, Dan Burton, Tom Price, Lynn Westmoreland, and Tim Walberg.
I’ve emailed and talked with them. I want to let them know that they have a following that they have at least my support. Let’s face it I like a pat on the back. They’re human, I want to thank them for going the extra mile.
In my side bar under “Old Standby Links” I have links to all I’ve mentioned. I’ll list them here. All the sites have contact buttons. Push one. lol
John Boehner the House Republican Leader .
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/
---------------
Dan Burton Conservative House
------link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
----------------
Mitch McConnell Senate Republican Leader
-----link-----
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/
---------------
Tim Walberg House member
-----link-----
http://walberg.house.gov/
---------------
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
The idea of a “Can Do America” vs. a “do nothing America” from a “do nothing Congress” to a “fix it now Congress” is starting to take hold. From a groundswell of the people, first brought to my attention by Newt Gingrich then some congressmen started seeing the same need to do something and struck out nearly alone. I’ve posted before in my “guerilla war” posts about these individuals. I don’t know them personally but I know the feeling that drives them. I’m picking it up by the handfuls where ever and whenever I find it, from The People. It’s that “Can Do” positive attitude. It’s the inspiration that let’s three congressmen stand alone on the House floor after hours and try to start a conversation about doing something about the rising fuel costs. They were Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price and a conservative leader in the House, Dan Burton. Their struggle was then picked up by the Republican leadership in the House and Senate, namely John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell. The people have finally gotten through to Washington. It was a Republican message a Republican bottom up effort. Now I see the Democrats trying to make it look like they had wanted to drill all along. Somehow it was probably Bush’s fault and the minority party in Congress that stopped them. I think "The People" have had enough of that story. I think they are liking the new "common sense" story they are hearing from the Republicans better.
Our Leadership will be hard pressed to come up with a compromise solution that keeps the "common sense" approach yet still actually produce a bill that increases supply. That seems to be the core Conservative approach that shouldn’t be compromised. Increase production. I just saw Dan Burton’s latest statement on his site, I’ve linked it below. As one of the “guerilla” leaders initially he sums up the whole matter pretty succinctly. My “common sense leadership award” goes to him today.
-----link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
---------------
Let me here restate my thanks to all the leadership for taking the lead so effectively. John Boehner the Leader of the House Republicans is charging full speed ahead. Everyday he is firing from the front lines. He walked out of the Country Club picked up a bayonet and is putting himself out there. He is building it I hope the rest of us will come. The least we can do is to watch his back. Look again at his web site. He is daily coming up with new ideas, keeping the Democrats off balance. He’s now is organizing a tour to help dramatize and publicize the fact that we really can do “all of the above” in regards to becoming energy independent. He is taking the lead showing that Conservative solutions work. The more support we can give him and Mitch McConnell in the Senate, the better compromise we will end up with.
For those of my brethren who complain that John McCain isn't following suit and isn't running a big ad campaign about this. Think of what "bottom up" means. First we had the people complaining about the rising cost of gas. Then a private citizen and a few members of the house and senate, now the leadership has joined. I too hope John McCain will follow, we can sure use his help and he sure could use ours: but this is too big a message to be stopped by one person.
Let’s not bitch later over what we didn’t get, but let us fight now for what we can get. That will also show those who have fought the long fight in the wilderness that it was not in vain. I don’t pretend to know all of the unsung heroes, I just will mention some I’ve found more in the public eye such a Newt Gingrich, Dan Burton, Tom Price, Lynn Westmoreland, and Tim Walberg.
I’ve emailed and talked with them. I want to let them know that they have a following that they have at least my support. Let’s face it I like a pat on the back. They’re human, I want to thank them for going the extra mile.
In my side bar under “Old Standby Links” I have links to all I’ve mentioned. I’ll list them here. All the sites have contact buttons. Push one. lol
John Boehner the House Republican Leader .
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/
---------------
Dan Burton Conservative House
------link-----
http://www.danburtonblog.com/
----------------
Mitch McConnell Senate Republican Leader
-----link-----
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/
---------------
Tim Walberg House member
-----link-----
http://walberg.house.gov/
---------------
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
"The Grand New Party"
In my previous post I quoted the governor of Minnesota John Pawlenty about how he thought the Republicans need to merge the “Country Club with the Sam’s Club crowd.” I liked that phrase so much I googled it.
Below is a link to an article by David Brooks. One of my favorite writers.
-----link-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
---------------
This guy is singing my tune. It’s nice to see I’m not alone in thinking that there is something wrong with the Republican Party. In the path it has chosen. I have previously blogged about him and the idea of a new path for The Republican party. In the article above Mr. Brooks highlights a collaborative effort by two younger writers who wrote the book “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” The two young writers are Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. David Brooks writes about the motivation for that book comes from the Pawlenty quote. The internet does indeed make the world smaller.
Below is a quote from David’s article that I couldn’t pass by.
-----quote-----
“What all these ideas, from the sober to the speculative, have in common is a vision of working-class independence — from bosses, from bureaucracy, from entrenched interests of all kinds,” Douthat and Salam write. This is not compassionate conservatism (which flattered the mind of the compassionate donor), it’s hard-work conservatism, which uses government to increase the odds that self-discipline and effort will pay off.
---------------
How cool is that. Using the government to “facilitate” the success of conservative principles like hard work self-discipline. The key that will make it work is found in the simple notion of Freedom. Douthat and Salam talked of freedom from bosses bureaucracy and entrenched interests of all kinds. I would include unions in that. As in my previous blog I talked of the enhanced freedom the internet is bringing to it’s users. That the internet can be the tool that allows people to become free of those bosses among others. We need not use the libertarian idea that government is bad. Tear it down. Let’s be more Reagan like. Let us introduce conservative solutions and let them work their magic. Let’s work with what we have (make do, make it now, make it work). Changes as to governments size and scope will be a natural reaction to our conservative ideas. The people will begin to demand those changes as they get a taste of that freedom. Much as I blogged about the youth taking for granted the new freedoms of the internet and how they would fight any changes to that freedom. That’s the kind of conservative working class ethic I’m pushing. The British Conservatives have done just that. Overcoming the inertia of the Country Club crowd will be the trick. This will have to be a revolution from the “bottom up” as a friend of mine says, a battle of David’s. The outcome will take time and hinge upon the number of David’s willing to come forward to lead.
The recent pew poll shows our dilemma. The number one issue we as Republicans have is the price of gasoline, our conservative common sense answer to that is to produce more oil as we push for alternatives. The poll showed the vast majority (over 80%) in favor of drilling vs. using a redistribution of wealth (taxes and regulation) to get out of the problem. While all the “guerilla” efforts by the Republican’s including Newt Gingrich’s “Drill Here” petition have changed the majority view about drilling the one group that actually showed declining support for drilling was the Republican. The groups that one thinks of as the Democrat base, (young, college, women) all increased their support of drilling by double digits, some in the 20’s. The Republicans actually showed a decline.
What is wrong here? Are we just too old to change our minds? Are our synapses too fried? Perhaps we think it’s a conspiracy by the left to trick us. We’ve been tricked in the past. Is it our distrust of the leadership and or of government in general. Maybe we just like being in the minority. It allows us to bitch without worrying about the consequences. What ever it is, it seems to be based in the negative. Our guerilla war is based in the positive. It is working. Ronald Reagan was based in the positive, his ideas worked. My simple conclusion is that our leaders need to become more positive more of a can do type of leadership, our party needs to be the vehicle of change for the better. I’ve also blogged in the past the idea that sometimes a person just has to strike out on their own, use God’s gifts and come up with their own ideas. I’ve been trying to do just that, build my own idea of what the party should be and see if anyone will agree. See if I can fit my ideas into what some others think. David Brooks and I hope the authors of “The Grand New Party” are forming a nucleus into which I can fit my ideas. That book is going on my reading list. Well I’m through for now, off to Amazon on line (Ain’t the internet cool?) then off to work. (Ain’t bosses a bitch) lol.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
================================
Link from John Boehner on upcoming battle starting today (Tuesday), over drilling.
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=96485
---------------
Too much going on in my fantasy. Here is some more guerilla stuff.
Below is a link to what Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell put in a press release on the 7th. The Senate was on CSPAN yesterday. The Dems all of a sudden are all for drilling etc. Gee maybe they saw the pew poll above. Lol. Both our leaders in the House and Senate are on board with this “little” guerilla war. Now if we can keep to our conservative ideas and compromise only on the mechanics, we will have won a battle. Our first battle that we can build upon. Build a coalition on. Now if we can keep ourselves out of the way, we have a chance. Talk to your republican friends about getting behind this effort. The Democrats are more than willing to take this issue away too in their election day rush to the middle.
-----link-----
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=300175&start=1
---------------
Mitch wrote a great press release. He kept it to short slogans which captured the ideas better than long winded oratory.
-----quote-----
‘We need to take up and pass legislation that not only makes a statement, but which makes a difference’
-----------------
He repeated that again. Again and Again would have been fine with me. Lol
Another
-----link-----
“Find More, Use Less.’
---------------
The fireworks will soon be happening. John Boehner our leader in the House will be firing on all cylinders today as the House opens back up for business. Call your Congressmen. Email them talk to their wives. Well maybe not that. Lol. What the heck why not if you can.
Mitch McConnell in the Senate has already begun as the Senate was in session yesterday. I would also tune into CSPAN and see if we can boost their ratings which would send a message also. Again talk to your republican friends. I know a bunch that will be saying that this is too little too late, that this will not help. Remind them that Ron Reagan was known not for his pessimistic attitude. Point out the “can do” optimism in the above quotes. Show how the negativism of the Dems is front and center and should be attacked and exposed.
Again Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Below is a link to an article by David Brooks. One of my favorite writers.
-----link-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
---------------
This guy is singing my tune. It’s nice to see I’m not alone in thinking that there is something wrong with the Republican Party. In the path it has chosen. I have previously blogged about him and the idea of a new path for The Republican party. In the article above Mr. Brooks highlights a collaborative effort by two younger writers who wrote the book “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” The two young writers are Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. David Brooks writes about the motivation for that book comes from the Pawlenty quote. The internet does indeed make the world smaller.
Below is a quote from David’s article that I couldn’t pass by.
-----quote-----
“What all these ideas, from the sober to the speculative, have in common is a vision of working-class independence — from bosses, from bureaucracy, from entrenched interests of all kinds,” Douthat and Salam write. This is not compassionate conservatism (which flattered the mind of the compassionate donor), it’s hard-work conservatism, which uses government to increase the odds that self-discipline and effort will pay off.
---------------
How cool is that. Using the government to “facilitate” the success of conservative principles like hard work self-discipline. The key that will make it work is found in the simple notion of Freedom. Douthat and Salam talked of freedom from bosses bureaucracy and entrenched interests of all kinds. I would include unions in that. As in my previous blog I talked of the enhanced freedom the internet is bringing to it’s users. That the internet can be the tool that allows people to become free of those bosses among others. We need not use the libertarian idea that government is bad. Tear it down. Let’s be more Reagan like. Let us introduce conservative solutions and let them work their magic. Let’s work with what we have (make do, make it now, make it work). Changes as to governments size and scope will be a natural reaction to our conservative ideas. The people will begin to demand those changes as they get a taste of that freedom. Much as I blogged about the youth taking for granted the new freedoms of the internet and how they would fight any changes to that freedom. That’s the kind of conservative working class ethic I’m pushing. The British Conservatives have done just that. Overcoming the inertia of the Country Club crowd will be the trick. This will have to be a revolution from the “bottom up” as a friend of mine says, a battle of David’s. The outcome will take time and hinge upon the number of David’s willing to come forward to lead.
The recent pew poll shows our dilemma. The number one issue we as Republicans have is the price of gasoline, our conservative common sense answer to that is to produce more oil as we push for alternatives. The poll showed the vast majority (over 80%) in favor of drilling vs. using a redistribution of wealth (taxes and regulation) to get out of the problem. While all the “guerilla” efforts by the Republican’s including Newt Gingrich’s “Drill Here” petition have changed the majority view about drilling the one group that actually showed declining support for drilling was the Republican. The groups that one thinks of as the Democrat base, (young, college, women) all increased their support of drilling by double digits, some in the 20’s. The Republicans actually showed a decline.
What is wrong here? Are we just too old to change our minds? Are our synapses too fried? Perhaps we think it’s a conspiracy by the left to trick us. We’ve been tricked in the past. Is it our distrust of the leadership and or of government in general. Maybe we just like being in the minority. It allows us to bitch without worrying about the consequences. What ever it is, it seems to be based in the negative. Our guerilla war is based in the positive. It is working. Ronald Reagan was based in the positive, his ideas worked. My simple conclusion is that our leaders need to become more positive more of a can do type of leadership, our party needs to be the vehicle of change for the better. I’ve also blogged in the past the idea that sometimes a person just has to strike out on their own, use God’s gifts and come up with their own ideas. I’ve been trying to do just that, build my own idea of what the party should be and see if anyone will agree. See if I can fit my ideas into what some others think. David Brooks and I hope the authors of “The Grand New Party” are forming a nucleus into which I can fit my ideas. That book is going on my reading list. Well I’m through for now, off to Amazon on line (Ain’t the internet cool?) then off to work. (Ain’t bosses a bitch) lol.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
================================
Link from John Boehner on upcoming battle starting today (Tuesday), over drilling.
-----link-----
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=96485
---------------
Too much going on in my fantasy. Here is some more guerilla stuff.
Below is a link to what Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell put in a press release on the 7th. The Senate was on CSPAN yesterday. The Dems all of a sudden are all for drilling etc. Gee maybe they saw the pew poll above. Lol. Both our leaders in the House and Senate are on board with this “little” guerilla war. Now if we can keep to our conservative ideas and compromise only on the mechanics, we will have won a battle. Our first battle that we can build upon. Build a coalition on. Now if we can keep ourselves out of the way, we have a chance. Talk to your republican friends about getting behind this effort. The Democrats are more than willing to take this issue away too in their election day rush to the middle.
-----link-----
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=300175&start=1
---------------
Mitch wrote a great press release. He kept it to short slogans which captured the ideas better than long winded oratory.
-----quote-----
‘We need to take up and pass legislation that not only makes a statement, but which makes a difference’
-----------------
He repeated that again. Again and Again would have been fine with me. Lol
Another
-----link-----
“Find More, Use Less.’
---------------
The fireworks will soon be happening. John Boehner our leader in the House will be firing on all cylinders today as the House opens back up for business. Call your Congressmen. Email them talk to their wives. Well maybe not that. Lol. What the heck why not if you can.
Mitch McConnell in the Senate has already begun as the Senate was in session yesterday. I would also tune into CSPAN and see if we can boost their ratings which would send a message also. Again talk to your republican friends. I know a bunch that will be saying that this is too little too late, that this will not help. Remind them that Ron Reagan was known not for his pessimistic attitude. Point out the “can do” optimism in the above quotes. Show how the negativism of the Dems is front and center and should be attacked and exposed.
Again Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, July 7, 2008
The Internet and the Users Of It.
The Internet and the users of it. A lot of the youth would be included in this group. While I am not. (young that is. Lol.) So I’ll talk from my perspective about why I think the Internet can eventually be something that conservatives can and should use to their advantage.
For example, when I was little it was a big deal to get a long distance phone call from another city. The house would stop functioning, all noise would cease so nothing would interfere; as we would gather by the phone. If I was lucky I could say hello to Grandpa. What a marvel that seemed. An early taste of freedom. Second only to my bicycle.
I remember taking typing class in high school. What a misery it was. I could never get to the magic 40 words per minute. And oh the misery of mistakes. Take out the paper and start all over again, or have a Salvador Dahli like impression of a document splashed with White Out. For the next 30 years, I probably didn’t type over 5 pages. I totally lost the little ability that I had on a keyboard. Then came the internet. First I was astonished with the scope of the world wide web. I was able to research any topic I wanted from my home. When I got into the Tesla Museum in a far off little known country and was able to VIEW the exhibits and read some articles I was astounded. What a marvel it seemed. A larger taste of freedom. Second only to my car.
As the speeds went from megs to gigs etc. I found myself glued to the screen. I mean my first user name was 3 letters and my password was 4. AZO PAZO. That was awhile ago. Lol.
I was having a ball, I could search what ever caught my eye, go there then see what caught my eye and go there, kind of a free form search directed by some unseen power!! Towards what end I didn’t care. The journey was becoming the fun part. I was in my own heaven.
That seemed miraculous enough, but then came the interaction. First I was typing only in the search boxes. Then however, message boards came into play. Typing at a faster pace seemed to be a worthwhile thing. I started to re-teach myself. I’m glad that I remembered the basic position of the fingers. Now I type pretty fast without looking, and accurate too. The whole idea of asking a question from someone, whom I didn’t know, or where they lived. Well. What a marvel it seemed. What freedom it was.
The world soon was catching up with the Internet. Soon I was buying books and all sorts of things on the Web. I’d like to highlight a couple of those things here. Car insurance and stocks. I had previously bought Car insurance through a broker, a real person in town. I would make an appointment, drive over with my information, and listen to this guy’s sales pitch about a package he sold and all the benefits it offered. I was just happy to get out of there. It always seemed like only he had the magic knowledge and or solution to my problem. Let’s face it I was a captive audience. I really didn’t want to make another appointment, lose another half day, hear another speal to get basically the same thing. Then came GEICO and the whole game changed. They and others forced the industry to go internet. A middle man may have lost his job, but my guy is still there (not mine any longer). The good ones are still there, but they are all online. I can check out in minutes what would of taken me days. What a Marvel. What freedom. What transparency. I found the key to the “Magic knowledge”.
Second example. I had saved $500 a long time ago. I thought maybe I should invest it in stocks. I made an appointment and the fella did speak with me but it was obvious that he thought he and I were wasting my time and more importantly wasting his. The fees etc. would out weigh any gain I might make. Plus the fees were so small for him. He basically let me know that he had bigger fish to fry. From my previously mentioned use of the internet, I soon found online stock brokers. Do it yourself stock buying and selling with low enough entry points that I could qualify for. All that previously mysterious information jealously guarded by my previous broker was at my fingertips if I wanted to find it. From home at my leisure, 24/7!! What a Marvel, What Freedom, What Transparency.
What I was learning through the internet seemed great and glorious. I would savor each and every new little advance, each new little piece of freedom. The youth today, (as I see it in my children, now adults themselves) accept all this freedom as their right. While to a lot of people my age may tend to think they take it for granted, we might want to cut them some slack because the youth demand this new freedom as their right. Anyone or any party that for whatever reason threatens or appears to threaten to take away that freedom will face some fierce opposition if the internet users feel their new rights to the information and freedom are threatened.
Much as our forefathers once settled in this new country and away from restrictions on their freedoms, dediced to fight pretty hard to keep and enshrine those freedoms in our Constitutional Government. They too soon took those freedoms for granted so they could get on with their lives. But we saw what happened in WWII when those freedoms were threatened. We rose nearly as one and reminded the world that we remembered what Freedom was. What we had learned.
What does our freedom give us but the ability to make what ever choices WE decide? Not what the government or a certain religion decides is best for us. The internet allows the youth the tool they need to see just how bad the government in our names has done lately. How could any conservative who believes in Freedom of the individual be against the Internet and what the Youth is learning from it. Remember, the same internet that Obama used so well, now is starting to show that maybe he is not all he is cracked up to be. The Internet first wowed us then started to give us a tool to seek what we personally wanted, then set up whole new ways to get those things. In the free market, where we vote with our pocketbooks. Through our own decisions and actions we learn what actually works. Through trial and error sometimes. Our currency in the market place of politics is our vote. Trial and error will happen here also. That is not a bad thing, seeing how the internet is based on providing more information, we have a chance to use less trial and error. More trial and success.
If the youth is engaged in this election then I applaud them. If the Republican party, like the Insurance guy and the Stock guy above, keep trying to keep the knowledge cloistered with a few then we deserve to lose. Just as it may take the “youth” an election cycle or two to see and react to their decisions, it will probably take that long for the Republicans to act in a way that better reflects their slogans.
The end result will be good for the country. Can be good for the Republicans. Then we may all see What a Marvel, Transparency through the Internet can make of Freedom. What new heights of Freedom the Internet can allow us to attain.
I think Governor Pawlenty of Minnesota captured the essence of what the Republican problem is when he said and this may not be a direct quote. The Republicans have to start to merge the Country Club with the Sam’s Club or there will be trouble. Just as Obama is finding out with his elitist bordering on condescending manner. In my limited experience, we at the local level have to not only open up our membership, but open the way we function. Open up our minds.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
For example, when I was little it was a big deal to get a long distance phone call from another city. The house would stop functioning, all noise would cease so nothing would interfere; as we would gather by the phone. If I was lucky I could say hello to Grandpa. What a marvel that seemed. An early taste of freedom. Second only to my bicycle.
I remember taking typing class in high school. What a misery it was. I could never get to the magic 40 words per minute. And oh the misery of mistakes. Take out the paper and start all over again, or have a Salvador Dahli like impression of a document splashed with White Out. For the next 30 years, I probably didn’t type over 5 pages. I totally lost the little ability that I had on a keyboard. Then came the internet. First I was astonished with the scope of the world wide web. I was able to research any topic I wanted from my home. When I got into the Tesla Museum in a far off little known country and was able to VIEW the exhibits and read some articles I was astounded. What a marvel it seemed. A larger taste of freedom. Second only to my car.
As the speeds went from megs to gigs etc. I found myself glued to the screen. I mean my first user name was 3 letters and my password was 4. AZO PAZO. That was awhile ago. Lol.
I was having a ball, I could search what ever caught my eye, go there then see what caught my eye and go there, kind of a free form search directed by some unseen power!! Towards what end I didn’t care. The journey was becoming the fun part. I was in my own heaven.
That seemed miraculous enough, but then came the interaction. First I was typing only in the search boxes. Then however, message boards came into play. Typing at a faster pace seemed to be a worthwhile thing. I started to re-teach myself. I’m glad that I remembered the basic position of the fingers. Now I type pretty fast without looking, and accurate too. The whole idea of asking a question from someone, whom I didn’t know, or where they lived. Well. What a marvel it seemed. What freedom it was.
The world soon was catching up with the Internet. Soon I was buying books and all sorts of things on the Web. I’d like to highlight a couple of those things here. Car insurance and stocks. I had previously bought Car insurance through a broker, a real person in town. I would make an appointment, drive over with my information, and listen to this guy’s sales pitch about a package he sold and all the benefits it offered. I was just happy to get out of there. It always seemed like only he had the magic knowledge and or solution to my problem. Let’s face it I was a captive audience. I really didn’t want to make another appointment, lose another half day, hear another speal to get basically the same thing. Then came GEICO and the whole game changed. They and others forced the industry to go internet. A middle man may have lost his job, but my guy is still there (not mine any longer). The good ones are still there, but they are all online. I can check out in minutes what would of taken me days. What a Marvel. What freedom. What transparency. I found the key to the “Magic knowledge”.
Second example. I had saved $500 a long time ago. I thought maybe I should invest it in stocks. I made an appointment and the fella did speak with me but it was obvious that he thought he and I were wasting my time and more importantly wasting his. The fees etc. would out weigh any gain I might make. Plus the fees were so small for him. He basically let me know that he had bigger fish to fry. From my previously mentioned use of the internet, I soon found online stock brokers. Do it yourself stock buying and selling with low enough entry points that I could qualify for. All that previously mysterious information jealously guarded by my previous broker was at my fingertips if I wanted to find it. From home at my leisure, 24/7!! What a Marvel, What Freedom, What Transparency.
What I was learning through the internet seemed great and glorious. I would savor each and every new little advance, each new little piece of freedom. The youth today, (as I see it in my children, now adults themselves) accept all this freedom as their right. While to a lot of people my age may tend to think they take it for granted, we might want to cut them some slack because the youth demand this new freedom as their right. Anyone or any party that for whatever reason threatens or appears to threaten to take away that freedom will face some fierce opposition if the internet users feel their new rights to the information and freedom are threatened.
Much as our forefathers once settled in this new country and away from restrictions on their freedoms, dediced to fight pretty hard to keep and enshrine those freedoms in our Constitutional Government. They too soon took those freedoms for granted so they could get on with their lives. But we saw what happened in WWII when those freedoms were threatened. We rose nearly as one and reminded the world that we remembered what Freedom was. What we had learned.
What does our freedom give us but the ability to make what ever choices WE decide? Not what the government or a certain religion decides is best for us. The internet allows the youth the tool they need to see just how bad the government in our names has done lately. How could any conservative who believes in Freedom of the individual be against the Internet and what the Youth is learning from it. Remember, the same internet that Obama used so well, now is starting to show that maybe he is not all he is cracked up to be. The Internet first wowed us then started to give us a tool to seek what we personally wanted, then set up whole new ways to get those things. In the free market, where we vote with our pocketbooks. Through our own decisions and actions we learn what actually works. Through trial and error sometimes. Our currency in the market place of politics is our vote. Trial and error will happen here also. That is not a bad thing, seeing how the internet is based on providing more information, we have a chance to use less trial and error. More trial and success.
If the youth is engaged in this election then I applaud them. If the Republican party, like the Insurance guy and the Stock guy above, keep trying to keep the knowledge cloistered with a few then we deserve to lose. Just as it may take the “youth” an election cycle or two to see and react to their decisions, it will probably take that long for the Republicans to act in a way that better reflects their slogans.
The end result will be good for the country. Can be good for the Republicans. Then we may all see What a Marvel, Transparency through the Internet can make of Freedom. What new heights of Freedom the Internet can allow us to attain.
I think Governor Pawlenty of Minnesota captured the essence of what the Republican problem is when he said and this may not be a direct quote. The Republicans have to start to merge the Country Club with the Sam’s Club or there will be trouble. Just as Obama is finding out with his elitist bordering on condescending manner. In my limited experience, we at the local level have to not only open up our membership, but open the way we function. Open up our minds.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, June 30, 2008
VIGILANCE
Below is a link to an article by Kathryn Jean Lopez in the National Review.
-----link-----
http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2008/6/28/73437/7269
--------------
She talks about a new conservative revolution. About how conservative core ideas still resonate with the general public. Her article was about McClintock and California. Yesterday I posted the following about a new Gallop Poll, covering the whole country.
-----quote from my previous article--------------------------------------------------------
New Gallop Pole. A shocker to me, at least in one aspect.
-----link-----
http://www.gallup.com/poll/108445/Americans-Oppose-Income-Redistribution-Fix-Economy.aspx
---------------
The aspect I was stunned by was the following I lifted directly from the above article.
-----quote-----
PRINCETON, NJ -- When given a choice about how government should address the numerous economic difficulties facing today's consumer, Americans overwhelmingly -- by 84% to 13% --prefer that the government focus on improving overall economic conditions and the jobs situation in the United States as opposed to taking steps to distribute wealth more evenly among Americans.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From that quote I drew the obvious conclusion that 84% of Americans realize that redistributing wealth doesn’t fix the underlying problems with the economy and jobs. I further concluded that the public knows those liberal programs have not worked in the past. I agree that conservative ideas such as less government intrusion is still an issue that will garner votes.
I see in the Lopez article about McClintock and his run in the primary and subsequent nomination as a microcosm for the hope and a guide for a conservative rebirth. As she alludes to, this may not happen over night, but it will happen. I liked the article in that it showed the dilemma Republicans as a party find themselves in after breaking faith with the public and their own promises as conservatives. McClintock symbolizes a conservative making the same promises of the Reagan era and getting elected.
While I agree that Conservatives have to stick to the basics, because that is what the people believe. I go a step further and as you know if you’ve read my other posts, I continually push for concrete specific actions. Lead by example not only word. Don’t just back a good sounding conservative bill. Then sit back and say see I fought the good fight. Stay in there and fight tooth and nail. Don’t compromise on principle, get a part of the bill you like enacted. Show that the conservative message has teeth and can work if given a chance. Fight to show your ideas are workable. Earn that trust back.
I also make one other suggestion. Get the grass roots involved, we can rally around any big league leaders that happen along, but the real work needs to be done at the local level. We need to get people talking about conservative solutions to problems within our local schools, local governments. Back the local conservatives who seem true to the core conservative ideas. I’m not talking about ideologues spouting invective larceny about how terrible liberals are, you know those a mile away, everybody else shuns them. Maybe we should too. I’m talking about the ones that make a reasoned workable suggestion at a city or a county or a local school board meeting.
I’ll back the person who suggests that perhaps the private sector could do some things the government does only better and save us money. At the same time I want to see that person willing to fight to actually take that savings out of the income stream of government. Not let it be put back into it. I like the way David Cameron of the new Conservative Party in England talks of “no unfunded tax cuts” and "sharing the proceeds of growth between public services and lower taxes" As a conservative I’m backing saving money in government then actually taking that income stream (taxes in one form or other) out of play. Once we turn the service over, take the money we saved actually out of government. Without doing that the government only continues to grows. By doing that the government becomes smaller and less intrusive.
Hopefully Phil Gramm is pounding that basic conservative idea into John McCain’s brain and we can have some direction from above. Maybe, but I think this really has to come from the bottom up. Thomas Jefferson said back in the day: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. I think Jefferson was thinking more of the individual citizen than the legislator in congress. We the Citizen are the ones who have to be vigilant. Vigilant enough so our legislators are wary.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
-----link-----
http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2008/6/28/73437/7269
--------------
She talks about a new conservative revolution. About how conservative core ideas still resonate with the general public. Her article was about McClintock and California. Yesterday I posted the following about a new Gallop Poll, covering the whole country.
-----quote from my previous article--------------------------------------------------------
New Gallop Pole. A shocker to me, at least in one aspect.
-----link-----
http://www.gallup.com/poll/108445/Americans-Oppose-Income-Redistribution-Fix-Economy.aspx
---------------
The aspect I was stunned by was the following I lifted directly from the above article.
-----quote-----
PRINCETON, NJ -- When given a choice about how government should address the numerous economic difficulties facing today's consumer, Americans overwhelmingly -- by 84% to 13% --prefer that the government focus on improving overall economic conditions and the jobs situation in the United States as opposed to taking steps to distribute wealth more evenly among Americans.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From that quote I drew the obvious conclusion that 84% of Americans realize that redistributing wealth doesn’t fix the underlying problems with the economy and jobs. I further concluded that the public knows those liberal programs have not worked in the past. I agree that conservative ideas such as less government intrusion is still an issue that will garner votes.
I see in the Lopez article about McClintock and his run in the primary and subsequent nomination as a microcosm for the hope and a guide for a conservative rebirth. As she alludes to, this may not happen over night, but it will happen. I liked the article in that it showed the dilemma Republicans as a party find themselves in after breaking faith with the public and their own promises as conservatives. McClintock symbolizes a conservative making the same promises of the Reagan era and getting elected.
While I agree that Conservatives have to stick to the basics, because that is what the people believe. I go a step further and as you know if you’ve read my other posts, I continually push for concrete specific actions. Lead by example not only word. Don’t just back a good sounding conservative bill. Then sit back and say see I fought the good fight. Stay in there and fight tooth and nail. Don’t compromise on principle, get a part of the bill you like enacted. Show that the conservative message has teeth and can work if given a chance. Fight to show your ideas are workable. Earn that trust back.
I also make one other suggestion. Get the grass roots involved, we can rally around any big league leaders that happen along, but the real work needs to be done at the local level. We need to get people talking about conservative solutions to problems within our local schools, local governments. Back the local conservatives who seem true to the core conservative ideas. I’m not talking about ideologues spouting invective larceny about how terrible liberals are, you know those a mile away, everybody else shuns them. Maybe we should too. I’m talking about the ones that make a reasoned workable suggestion at a city or a county or a local school board meeting.
I’ll back the person who suggests that perhaps the private sector could do some things the government does only better and save us money. At the same time I want to see that person willing to fight to actually take that savings out of the income stream of government. Not let it be put back into it. I like the way David Cameron of the new Conservative Party in England talks of “no unfunded tax cuts” and "sharing the proceeds of growth between public services and lower taxes" As a conservative I’m backing saving money in government then actually taking that income stream (taxes in one form or other) out of play. Once we turn the service over, take the money we saved actually out of government. Without doing that the government only continues to grows. By doing that the government becomes smaller and less intrusive.
Hopefully Phil Gramm is pounding that basic conservative idea into John McCain’s brain and we can have some direction from above. Maybe, but I think this really has to come from the bottom up. Thomas Jefferson said back in the day: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. I think Jefferson was thinking more of the individual citizen than the legislator in congress. We the Citizen are the ones who have to be vigilant. Vigilant enough so our legislators are wary.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Subtle Lessons.
Hat tip to wowOwow and columnist Liz Smith
-----link see video-----
http://www.wowowow.com/post/charlie-rose-george-will-liz-smith-46691
--------------------------
Long interview of George Will. I may have changed my ideas some after listening to George. I do appreciate that guy. Kind of puts me back on an even keel. Charlie a couple of times came close to losing it, by what Newt might call George Will’s “persistent optimism”.
Another subtle lesson I learned. This one comes from across the pond.
A quote from David Cameron. “No unfunded tax cuts” Think about that simple statement and the difference between simply saying “Cut Taxes” . There is a world of difference between the two. A cacophony of subtlety. The first accomplishes the second, but in what is a far more palatable way. A more palatable conservative way. The first denotes fiscal responsibility, the second threatens draconian measures. Which way would you prefer to accomplish the same thing? David Cameron knows and has the electoral victories and popular support to back it up.
-----link where I lifted the above quote------
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2619614520080626?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0
----------------------------------------------
Check out my side bar near the top for “Updates From Across the Pond” for more Cameron stuff.
The two different ways show me the gulf that separates the new British “Bottom up Politics” From the American Conservative way. The English system deals in terms of facilitating the services the government provides. Making it work, by putting a conservative slant on things. Getting the private sector involved in running different aspects of the government thus funding future tax cuts. The Conservatives here seem more in your face, more all or nothing. Too “CUT TAXES” if you get my drift. I think we as a party have drifted too far from the people. While bashing Obama for his elitism, we need to offer something other than our own form of elitism. George Will tired me out. What is obvious to him takes me awhile to puzzle out. Before I tackle the big issues like breaking the union stranglehold on the quality of teaching, I need to educate my self with things like “no unfunded tax cuts” That is if I really want to make a difference. If I really want to help win an election.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
-----link see video-----
http://www.wowowow.com/post/charlie-rose-george-will-liz-smith-46691
--------------------------
Long interview of George Will. I may have changed my ideas some after listening to George. I do appreciate that guy. Kind of puts me back on an even keel. Charlie a couple of times came close to losing it, by what Newt might call George Will’s “persistent optimism”.
Another subtle lesson I learned. This one comes from across the pond.
A quote from David Cameron. “No unfunded tax cuts” Think about that simple statement and the difference between simply saying “Cut Taxes” . There is a world of difference between the two. A cacophony of subtlety. The first accomplishes the second, but in what is a far more palatable way. A more palatable conservative way. The first denotes fiscal responsibility, the second threatens draconian measures. Which way would you prefer to accomplish the same thing? David Cameron knows and has the electoral victories and popular support to back it up.
-----link where I lifted the above quote------
http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2619614520080626?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0
----------------------------------------------
Check out my side bar near the top for “Updates From Across the Pond” for more Cameron stuff.
The two different ways show me the gulf that separates the new British “Bottom up Politics” From the American Conservative way. The English system deals in terms of facilitating the services the government provides. Making it work, by putting a conservative slant on things. Getting the private sector involved in running different aspects of the government thus funding future tax cuts. The Conservatives here seem more in your face, more all or nothing. Too “CUT TAXES” if you get my drift. I think we as a party have drifted too far from the people. While bashing Obama for his elitism, we need to offer something other than our own form of elitism. George Will tired me out. What is obvious to him takes me awhile to puzzle out. Before I tackle the big issues like breaking the union stranglehold on the quality of teaching, I need to educate my self with things like “no unfunded tax cuts” That is if I really want to make a difference. If I really want to help win an election.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, June 9, 2008
My Personnal Piece of Conservatism
I have labored with my tortured thoughts as to why conservatives cannot regain power and in fact seem to be losing it. Peggy Noonan was who I first looked to and as far as I’m concerned she was spot on. On top of that as always she put it in elegant terms.
-----link-----
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/party-house-republicans-2046890-republican-bush
---------------
Then came Alex Costelanos, who wasn’t quite as elegant but every bit as accurate.
-----link-----
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njg0ZjliNmIyNzdlODBkNDQ3MjFmNGQ1ODExNDBlMzU=&w=MA==
---------------
Alex Costelanos talked of David Brooks writing about the British Conservative movement.
-----link-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/opinion/09brooks.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
---------------
I had been blogging my brains out as the news kept coming out of England. Brooks alluded to the fact that the British had got their losing in early and spent their time coming up with a new approach, a “bottom up” vs. a top down approach to government.
Alex Costelanos called it embracing government. I think however that the lesson to be learned from the British conservative success, is that the voters think that the system is broke and that is why we have this cycle of voting out the bums. No matter which party. I have a little different slant. I’ve blogged before about how all politics is personnel. The problem with national politics is that it is not personnel. Our leaders, as the British leaders are doing now, have to come up with real change that affects people directly. Democrats have always claimed to be for the little guy. During the Reagan elections the majority didn’t believe that anymore now they do again. Their primary warfare however showed how the voters are still of a mind that the government is broke. And that bigger government will only mean bigger failure.
Newt’s on the right track with the Drill Here, Drill Now, campaign. Simple direct and to the heart of the problem. Gas prices affect everyone. Newt is setting up networks online to come up with solutions to problems, all across the spectrum. He is building it hoping that they will come. He is building a data base from which winning ideas can be taken from which to get involved. The only problem is at the local level we have to come up with our own ideas. Or translate them into local politics. At the local level we have to walk the walk. All of our high minded philosophical sophistry amounts to nothing, if we are afraid to wade into local politics and practice what we preach. Actually do the mental hard work of translating our glorious philosophy into something that will make the public notice that they are better off because we are here. Not in some esoteric way but because their interface with the monster went smoother because we rolled up our sleeves and changed the bureaucracy in some small way. It’s not that hard if your ideas are set and you are truly trying to help others. If we fail the first times, be of good hope for the public is always on the side of the underdog if they trust them. Trust is what it’s all about. It’s what makes politics personnel and local.
Peggy talked of getting our ideas back. Brooks talked of the British ideas, They both are right because we had the ideas and lost them, while the British ideas are creative they are just basic conservative ideas made to work in a modern bureaucracy. Made to relate to modern people. Can we change as a party? Now? We seem so entrenched as a party that I think it nearly impossible right now right away. I can change my little corner of the party though in my precinct. Maybe not overnight but that is good because first I need the time to listen to what the voters want and only then channel the solutions to their problems through the Conservative Vision. That vision will be made up of using what is at hand and making it work better. Not make it bigger, and not necessarily make it smaller. Just make it work. The secretary of state in Michigan got my vote when the lines at the license bureau got quicker not because she wrote a blog about starving people around the world. She got personnel, because of that she earned my trust. We have the ideas, they will sell themselves. Our work is to get them in place in the system; we have to prove to others that they will work and that we truly mean and believe in what we say. We have to earn their trust. We have to become the doers, and not the talkers.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
-----link-----
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/party-house-republicans-2046890-republican-bush
---------------
Then came Alex Costelanos, who wasn’t quite as elegant but every bit as accurate.
-----link-----
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njg0ZjliNmIyNzdlODBkNDQ3MjFmNGQ1ODExNDBlMzU=&w=MA==
---------------
Alex Costelanos talked of David Brooks writing about the British Conservative movement.
-----link-----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/opinion/09brooks.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
---------------
I had been blogging my brains out as the news kept coming out of England. Brooks alluded to the fact that the British had got their losing in early and spent their time coming up with a new approach, a “bottom up” vs. a top down approach to government.
Alex Costelanos called it embracing government. I think however that the lesson to be learned from the British conservative success, is that the voters think that the system is broke and that is why we have this cycle of voting out the bums. No matter which party. I have a little different slant. I’ve blogged before about how all politics is personnel. The problem with national politics is that it is not personnel. Our leaders, as the British leaders are doing now, have to come up with real change that affects people directly. Democrats have always claimed to be for the little guy. During the Reagan elections the majority didn’t believe that anymore now they do again. Their primary warfare however showed how the voters are still of a mind that the government is broke. And that bigger government will only mean bigger failure.
Newt’s on the right track with the Drill Here, Drill Now, campaign. Simple direct and to the heart of the problem. Gas prices affect everyone. Newt is setting up networks online to come up with solutions to problems, all across the spectrum. He is building it hoping that they will come. He is building a data base from which winning ideas can be taken from which to get involved. The only problem is at the local level we have to come up with our own ideas. Or translate them into local politics. At the local level we have to walk the walk. All of our high minded philosophical sophistry amounts to nothing, if we are afraid to wade into local politics and practice what we preach. Actually do the mental hard work of translating our glorious philosophy into something that will make the public notice that they are better off because we are here. Not in some esoteric way but because their interface with the monster went smoother because we rolled up our sleeves and changed the bureaucracy in some small way. It’s not that hard if your ideas are set and you are truly trying to help others. If we fail the first times, be of good hope for the public is always on the side of the underdog if they trust them. Trust is what it’s all about. It’s what makes politics personnel and local.
Peggy talked of getting our ideas back. Brooks talked of the British ideas, They both are right because we had the ideas and lost them, while the British ideas are creative they are just basic conservative ideas made to work in a modern bureaucracy. Made to relate to modern people. Can we change as a party? Now? We seem so entrenched as a party that I think it nearly impossible right now right away. I can change my little corner of the party though in my precinct. Maybe not overnight but that is good because first I need the time to listen to what the voters want and only then channel the solutions to their problems through the Conservative Vision. That vision will be made up of using what is at hand and making it work better. Not make it bigger, and not necessarily make it smaller. Just make it work. The secretary of state in Michigan got my vote when the lines at the license bureau got quicker not because she wrote a blog about starving people around the world. She got personnel, because of that she earned my trust. We have the ideas, they will sell themselves. Our work is to get them in place in the system; we have to prove to others that they will work and that we truly mean and believe in what we say. We have to earn their trust. We have to become the doers, and not the talkers.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Lawyers.
Too Much Crime & Too Many Laws ??
What’s the solution. Increased enforcement. But we can’t, we don’t have enough police and jails and the courts are over crowed now. The simple solution is cut the number of laws. Make the ones remaining easy to understand because they are basic. Then enforce the you know what out of them. Is that possible ? If there are half the number of laws then there should be twice the number of police available to enforce the remaining ones.
The idea also is to jump on the “little” laws. Littering, jay walking, petty larceny. Enforce these hard, make the penalty small, but also follow thru on the payment of the policy. Set up real community service. Keep the first offenders off the record sheets, except to the judges. We don’t want to brand a person a career criminal for jay walking. We just don’t want him or her jay walking. $10 or 1 hour on the service “chain gang”. Make it at least inconvenient to break the little crimes again. We of course have to still concentrate on the violent crimes. But look at all the police we have and they are still working on the small type crimes. Give them the ability to put penalties on the things they deal with. I don’t know how it would work in the specific. But in the overall picture, we need to not make a federal case out of the small stuff. Not get the kids set up for a life of crime. We need to make it a bit humiliating and inconvenient to do things that are disrespectful of others. Not just the kids either, but concentrate on them. They are the ones we have a chance to help the most.
In our lawyer crazy society, run by government populated mainly with lawyers, we have been smoozed into believing that if we pass a law against something then that something will go away. When it doesn’t then we pass another law. Well we have simply accumulated too many laws. We have forgotten that we also have to enforce those laws for them to be effective. By passing more laws simply means we have less ability to enforce current laws. And more leeway to wiggle out of being punished.
Lawyers will say we need the extra laws to make them less complicated, more specific to the specific wrong. Make the sentencing fairer. I call that “dumbing down” the judicial role in law. Are judges and juries too slow to understand the difference between premeditated murder and unpremeditated. Cannot a judge pick a sentence that fit’s the crime? Cannot he pick a sentence better than a bureaucrat somewhere else safe from the repercussions of a bad sentence. A person dies through some fault of another, why is it necessary to have such a complicated set of laws about it. Why not let the jury say guilty or not, then the judge decide on the punishment. Kill the cold blooded serial child killer for example. For the man who negligently causes death through non premeditative actions would receive a lighter sentence based upon the local situations, decided by a local judge.
As a conservative, I believe the laws should be broad and vague enough for people through their judges to make sure the punishment fit’s the crime. If they don’t fit the crime, vote out the local judge, don’t pass more laws thinking that will solve the problem. For those of you who think that the law would not be served in such a system because you’re thinking about all the possible wrong decisions: just look at what our current way has evolved into. Also look what happens when leaders are chosen by a bunch of local individuals. Why in the last election alone nearly 50% of the choices were wrong. Yet we rarely hear for a repeal of democracy. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what 50% was wrong. Some may think that we could just pass a law and say that it is illegal to vote for the wrong candidate. All radicals secretly wish for that. Luckily at least so far we have the same amount of nuts on each side. Lol.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
What’s the solution. Increased enforcement. But we can’t, we don’t have enough police and jails and the courts are over crowed now. The simple solution is cut the number of laws. Make the ones remaining easy to understand because they are basic. Then enforce the you know what out of them. Is that possible ? If there are half the number of laws then there should be twice the number of police available to enforce the remaining ones.
The idea also is to jump on the “little” laws. Littering, jay walking, petty larceny. Enforce these hard, make the penalty small, but also follow thru on the payment of the policy. Set up real community service. Keep the first offenders off the record sheets, except to the judges. We don’t want to brand a person a career criminal for jay walking. We just don’t want him or her jay walking. $10 or 1 hour on the service “chain gang”. Make it at least inconvenient to break the little crimes again. We of course have to still concentrate on the violent crimes. But look at all the police we have and they are still working on the small type crimes. Give them the ability to put penalties on the things they deal with. I don’t know how it would work in the specific. But in the overall picture, we need to not make a federal case out of the small stuff. Not get the kids set up for a life of crime. We need to make it a bit humiliating and inconvenient to do things that are disrespectful of others. Not just the kids either, but concentrate on them. They are the ones we have a chance to help the most.
In our lawyer crazy society, run by government populated mainly with lawyers, we have been smoozed into believing that if we pass a law against something then that something will go away. When it doesn’t then we pass another law. Well we have simply accumulated too many laws. We have forgotten that we also have to enforce those laws for them to be effective. By passing more laws simply means we have less ability to enforce current laws. And more leeway to wiggle out of being punished.
Lawyers will say we need the extra laws to make them less complicated, more specific to the specific wrong. Make the sentencing fairer. I call that “dumbing down” the judicial role in law. Are judges and juries too slow to understand the difference between premeditated murder and unpremeditated. Cannot a judge pick a sentence that fit’s the crime? Cannot he pick a sentence better than a bureaucrat somewhere else safe from the repercussions of a bad sentence. A person dies through some fault of another, why is it necessary to have such a complicated set of laws about it. Why not let the jury say guilty or not, then the judge decide on the punishment. Kill the cold blooded serial child killer for example. For the man who negligently causes death through non premeditative actions would receive a lighter sentence based upon the local situations, decided by a local judge.
As a conservative, I believe the laws should be broad and vague enough for people through their judges to make sure the punishment fit’s the crime. If they don’t fit the crime, vote out the local judge, don’t pass more laws thinking that will solve the problem. For those of you who think that the law would not be served in such a system because you’re thinking about all the possible wrong decisions: just look at what our current way has evolved into. Also look what happens when leaders are chosen by a bunch of local individuals. Why in the last election alone nearly 50% of the choices were wrong. Yet we rarely hear for a repeal of democracy. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what 50% was wrong. Some may think that we could just pass a law and say that it is illegal to vote for the wrong candidate. All radicals secretly wish for that. Luckily at least so far we have the same amount of nuts on each side. Lol.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Friday, June 6, 2008
Where Do Water Boys/Girls Come From
Where do our Great Leaders come from.?
How Important is it to have Great Leaders?
How important is the Water Boy on the team?
In America, in our democracy, due to the freedom we enjoy, both the water boy and the great leader are dependent upon each other. I’m going to try in this post to relate my ideas of the importance of freedom to the selection of leaders that are great from the millions of people trying to be. I’ll be trying to justify why my efforts at this blog are important. OK , here it goes.
I sit down and listen to Newt talk about leadership and how to achieve it, in order to help bring about the change I feel necessary. I listen to others talk of the importance of Freedom of the individual over the government and I wonder why is it so important. Why, when it is easier to change my ideas to fit the prevailing ones shouldn’t I change them? In politics why should I vote for McCain even if he doesn’t represent all of the beliefs I have? Isn’t it a contradiction for me to stand firmly for my convictions, yet vote for someone opposed to some of them?
I’m not trying to say something is better than nothing, even if that is so. What I’m trying to get to is where do great leaders come from. Great leaders bubble up from that great cauldron we call Freedom. They come from people, everyday people, millions of them having that sense of Freedom saying what they believe. As in all things, some have to work at it. To some it comes easy. But try we all do, in our own ways. We feel we are on the same team, as does the water boy on up to the quarterback. We are all trying to make a difference.
Through fate or natural selection a person bubbles up with all the right ingredients. In baseball we call him a phenom. A natural. Others as I say have to work at it more. Some presidents had to grow into the office before they became great. I have a feeling though that it is a combination of natural greatness with the ability to focus on a message plus never ending work. As much as Reagan seemed a natural, his struggles early on as an FDR Democrat thru the union problems he faced as President of the Actors Guild, which finally turned him into a Republican, showed that the work had to be done. He too had to go thru the fires of life to succeed. Even for the naturals, the work still had to be done.
The fact of the matter is that a president needs to be popular as well as have good ideas. Some become great because of their good ideas, while others simply are popular. Good ideas are the copper, the popularity is the glow. While it is easy to say popularity will fade ect. It is equally true that without popularity the good ideas will not see the light of day. It seems obvious that both are equally necessary in order to lead greatly. It is important to have great leaders because to be a great leader means that they have the same dreams and goals and ideas that the majority of the population want, and tirelessly trys to carry them out.
The point I’m making is that the more people exercising and demanding their right to exercise their freedom, the bigger the cauldron from which leaders will emerge. The internet is a great tool by which many can get their feet wet. It has created another starting point for people to express their ideas, creating another load of ingredients for our cauldron. We have had a lot of firsts running for political office for President. I see a youthfull blogger now blogging and aspiring to that position actually attaining it in the future. The point is that there will be thousands if not millions other who don’t, that is as it should be. There is no dumbing down of Freedom, it either is or it isn’t. It is the freedom of the process that matters. The freer the process the better the selection. The more open and transparent the process the better choice we will make, and the better chance for that special person to bubble up and be judged by all us water boys/girls adequet to lead our team.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
PS Like a butterfly from a catepillar, a great leader comes out of a Water Boy/Girl. In one specific species they are the same. That species is a Free People.
How Important is it to have Great Leaders?
How important is the Water Boy on the team?
In America, in our democracy, due to the freedom we enjoy, both the water boy and the great leader are dependent upon each other. I’m going to try in this post to relate my ideas of the importance of freedom to the selection of leaders that are great from the millions of people trying to be. I’ll be trying to justify why my efforts at this blog are important. OK , here it goes.
I sit down and listen to Newt talk about leadership and how to achieve it, in order to help bring about the change I feel necessary. I listen to others talk of the importance of Freedom of the individual over the government and I wonder why is it so important. Why, when it is easier to change my ideas to fit the prevailing ones shouldn’t I change them? In politics why should I vote for McCain even if he doesn’t represent all of the beliefs I have? Isn’t it a contradiction for me to stand firmly for my convictions, yet vote for someone opposed to some of them?
I’m not trying to say something is better than nothing, even if that is so. What I’m trying to get to is where do great leaders come from. Great leaders bubble up from that great cauldron we call Freedom. They come from people, everyday people, millions of them having that sense of Freedom saying what they believe. As in all things, some have to work at it. To some it comes easy. But try we all do, in our own ways. We feel we are on the same team, as does the water boy on up to the quarterback. We are all trying to make a difference.
Through fate or natural selection a person bubbles up with all the right ingredients. In baseball we call him a phenom. A natural. Others as I say have to work at it more. Some presidents had to grow into the office before they became great. I have a feeling though that it is a combination of natural greatness with the ability to focus on a message plus never ending work. As much as Reagan seemed a natural, his struggles early on as an FDR Democrat thru the union problems he faced as President of the Actors Guild, which finally turned him into a Republican, showed that the work had to be done. He too had to go thru the fires of life to succeed. Even for the naturals, the work still had to be done.
The fact of the matter is that a president needs to be popular as well as have good ideas. Some become great because of their good ideas, while others simply are popular. Good ideas are the copper, the popularity is the glow. While it is easy to say popularity will fade ect. It is equally true that without popularity the good ideas will not see the light of day. It seems obvious that both are equally necessary in order to lead greatly. It is important to have great leaders because to be a great leader means that they have the same dreams and goals and ideas that the majority of the population want, and tirelessly trys to carry them out.
The point I’m making is that the more people exercising and demanding their right to exercise their freedom, the bigger the cauldron from which leaders will emerge. The internet is a great tool by which many can get their feet wet. It has created another starting point for people to express their ideas, creating another load of ingredients for our cauldron. We have had a lot of firsts running for political office for President. I see a youthfull blogger now blogging and aspiring to that position actually attaining it in the future. The point is that there will be thousands if not millions other who don’t, that is as it should be. There is no dumbing down of Freedom, it either is or it isn’t. It is the freedom of the process that matters. The freer the process the better the selection. The more open and transparent the process the better choice we will make, and the better chance for that special person to bubble up and be judged by all us water boys/girls adequet to lead our team.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
PS Like a butterfly from a catepillar, a great leader comes out of a Water Boy/Girl. In one specific species they are the same. That species is a Free People.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Governmental Diversity
Just a little pause here to help myself keep on the purpose of this site. Try to nail down my reason for doing this blogging and political thing. I want to talk of one aspect of smaller or more efficient government. I’ve come up with the term “Diversify” to express the idea of decentralized bureaucracy and bringing it back down to the local level.
While the label is mine the thoughts come from different sources, and weren’t mine originally by any means. I just think they make sense, so I put my spin on them. Newt Gingrich and David Cameron are the obvious examples I have drawn from. Diversifying bureaucracy from a top down to a bottom up organization is my goal. Newt Gingrich in his book “Real Change” consistently calls for use of models based on entrepreneurial systems that have proven track records of success. His words, programs that work vs. programs that don’t. There are examples that deal with changing the bureaucracy from within such as Giuliani’s success in New York changing the police system to lower the crime rate, which made New York into the safest large city to live in. Giuliani did that by measuring at the precinct level the effects of policy and changing the policy to fit the local conditions. Other examples diversified the bureaucracy into private hands. The idea that 2 weeks after Katrina Fed Ex was on the ground shipping packages and The US Post Office put an embargo on shipping newspapers magazines ect for 6 months.
All of these examples of successfully turning systems into ones that work and succeed, were made possible through getting them back in touch with the customer’s (Citizen’s) wants and needs and continually tailoring that policy to the satisfaction of those needs. A policy’s success needs to be measured by the effects is has on the people it is supposed to help, not the affect it has on the bureaucracy. Using those measurements also will point the way for any alterations needed to the policy. Not as we do now by making a policy then trying to adjust the people to it. As companies get bigger and more bureaucratic they tend to focus more on the company, and less on the customer. Government Bureaucracy does the same thing only quicker as they are further removed at the start from the customer (Citizen) and their needs. A corollary to that is the need to be flexible to accommodate the needs of the customer (citizen). That in government means local control. In a top down system there is no local control. Newt also talks a lot about how to measure success (Metrics) and the need to measure that with a factual consistent Metric if your goal is to succeed, also the need to be able to change the policy (again easier at the local diversified level) to be able to learn and build upon your mistakes and success‘. He thinks that government bureaucracy measures things in relation to the success of maintaining and enlarging itself and not the actual success of achieving it’s stated goals. Has the welfare program for example, been more and more successful in helping people get off of welfare in the last 50 years, or successful in increasing the size of the welfare bureaucracy itself?
In education for example, a need to breakdown the centralization of every aspect seems necessary. The basic concept that one failure in a centralized bureaucracy effects all the students must be understood. Also once that mistake is enacted it becomes very hard to alter it. Why not have thousands of individual efforts to build a better mouse trap. Charter schools fit that bill. Sure there will be some mistakes,. If we allow the free movement between schools, the individuals who are directly affected will be able to affect the change by simply moving to a better school. The point is that now, when there are mistakes under the current system those mistake become very near impossible to change. Similar to compound interest, the damage from the mistake compounds as if it had a life of it’s own. The Detroit Public Schools is a prime example of mistakes made which seem uncorrectable. Akindele Akinyemi is someone trying to set up an alternative to the system in Detroit. Look through his site and you will get a sense of the struggle it is. And the huge effort he is making.
-----link-----
http://whoisakindele.info/2008/05/covenant-for-detroit-new-educational.html
--------------
The absurdity of the near impossibility to change what is obviously a failed system is glaringly apparent to at least 75% of the people, maybe more, people are crying for a change. As one of the people I too feel frustrated. Newt’s book comes up with some solutions. Maybe some are good. People see the need for change. They keep voting to throw the bums out no matter which party. The majority of voters will appreciate change if it is coherent and honest. I hope the Republicans are the ones who can learn to give that option to the voters.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
While the label is mine the thoughts come from different sources, and weren’t mine originally by any means. I just think they make sense, so I put my spin on them. Newt Gingrich and David Cameron are the obvious examples I have drawn from. Diversifying bureaucracy from a top down to a bottom up organization is my goal. Newt Gingrich in his book “Real Change” consistently calls for use of models based on entrepreneurial systems that have proven track records of success. His words, programs that work vs. programs that don’t. There are examples that deal with changing the bureaucracy from within such as Giuliani’s success in New York changing the police system to lower the crime rate, which made New York into the safest large city to live in. Giuliani did that by measuring at the precinct level the effects of policy and changing the policy to fit the local conditions. Other examples diversified the bureaucracy into private hands. The idea that 2 weeks after Katrina Fed Ex was on the ground shipping packages and The US Post Office put an embargo on shipping newspapers magazines ect for 6 months.
All of these examples of successfully turning systems into ones that work and succeed, were made possible through getting them back in touch with the customer’s (Citizen’s) wants and needs and continually tailoring that policy to the satisfaction of those needs. A policy’s success needs to be measured by the effects is has on the people it is supposed to help, not the affect it has on the bureaucracy. Using those measurements also will point the way for any alterations needed to the policy. Not as we do now by making a policy then trying to adjust the people to it. As companies get bigger and more bureaucratic they tend to focus more on the company, and less on the customer. Government Bureaucracy does the same thing only quicker as they are further removed at the start from the customer (Citizen) and their needs. A corollary to that is the need to be flexible to accommodate the needs of the customer (citizen). That in government means local control. In a top down system there is no local control. Newt also talks a lot about how to measure success (Metrics) and the need to measure that with a factual consistent Metric if your goal is to succeed, also the need to be able to change the policy (again easier at the local diversified level) to be able to learn and build upon your mistakes and success‘. He thinks that government bureaucracy measures things in relation to the success of maintaining and enlarging itself and not the actual success of achieving it’s stated goals. Has the welfare program for example, been more and more successful in helping people get off of welfare in the last 50 years, or successful in increasing the size of the welfare bureaucracy itself?
In education for example, a need to breakdown the centralization of every aspect seems necessary. The basic concept that one failure in a centralized bureaucracy effects all the students must be understood. Also once that mistake is enacted it becomes very hard to alter it. Why not have thousands of individual efforts to build a better mouse trap. Charter schools fit that bill. Sure there will be some mistakes,. If we allow the free movement between schools, the individuals who are directly affected will be able to affect the change by simply moving to a better school. The point is that now, when there are mistakes under the current system those mistake become very near impossible to change. Similar to compound interest, the damage from the mistake compounds as if it had a life of it’s own. The Detroit Public Schools is a prime example of mistakes made which seem uncorrectable. Akindele Akinyemi is someone trying to set up an alternative to the system in Detroit. Look through his site and you will get a sense of the struggle it is. And the huge effort he is making.
-----link-----
http://whoisakindele.info/2008/05/covenant-for-detroit-new-educational.html
--------------
The absurdity of the near impossibility to change what is obviously a failed system is glaringly apparent to at least 75% of the people, maybe more, people are crying for a change. As one of the people I too feel frustrated. Newt’s book comes up with some solutions. Maybe some are good. People see the need for change. They keep voting to throw the bums out no matter which party. The majority of voters will appreciate change if it is coherent and honest. I hope the Republicans are the ones who can learn to give that option to the voters.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Friday, May 30, 2008
Not Just My Thoughts, Phew!!
The Catholic view of John McCain.
-----link-----
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=28073&page=1
--------------
The above talks of John McCain’s troubles with the conservative religious movement.. In my opinion the religious right organizations are sounding more and more like the Left wing loonies. Political Correctness with God on your side. I may be blurring things here as I agree with Anne that the left has made a religion out of environmentalism. But I think you see my point. I firmly believe in God. I firmly believe that this country with it’s constitution would not exist without the firm belief in God which our Founders had. The basis of our law is derived from God’s law. Notice I said God not Falwell, or Robertson or my pastor, or yours or Obama’s or a Catholic’s priest nor a Rabbi. I believe the founding fathers belief in God let them see past the partisan if you will vision of any individual religious leader or denomination to envision the Freedom to choose our own individual faith or none at all; to keep the government out of religion and religion out of the government. The Founders may have believed as I do that we are closest to God when we are alone with him. He is in everyone.
God gave me the right to post this blog it is inalienable to me to do this. Our government helps enforce my right to blog. I can use my inalienable rights any way I so choose. Barring injury to others. I am influenced by all sorts of people, but ruled by none. God rules me when I let him through my conscience, that ever present ability to see right and wrong immediately. Only after glimpsing it, am I then allowed to confuse the issue or not.
You know what?? I would like to give my candidate or any candidate for that matter the ability to do the same. One of the essential traits I vote for in a candidate is their ability to make free decisions based on fact for the good of America beholding to none. All of this political correctness is ridiculous. At the current level it has just become another interest group. These litmus tests are just another way to limit the ability of a President to make courageous decisions, unpopular decisions for the good of the country.
How can he win by not cozying up to the religious right? The same way we tell the Dems about getting away from their far left. I keep going back to the idea that the people know the government is broke. They are the ones that have to deal with it. The people want it fixed. They will vote for anyone with a good sounding plan, short of that they will vote the Bums out and hope for change. I’ve been posting about the big conservative movement in England and Europe for that matter. Showing an alternative or a possible case for voting the bums out. Looking closer to home we see 3 Republican losses in formally Republican strongholds. Also the “Blue Dogs” are threatening the same kind of harm to our party. Another article about that written today.
-----link------
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/28/america/NA-POL-US-Conservative-Democrats.php
----------------
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just found this, I’m as excited as someone can be who has been saying (blogging) the same thing forever and thinking nobody else is thinking the same way. I’ve just been blogging a little about it today, I’m lonely no more. I’m not going to erase what I just wrote above. It’ll remind me that all people if they use common sense can come up with the same ideas. I’m nobody, this guy writes for the National Review. Alex Castellanos talks in his piece about David Brooks, and The British Conservative movement led by David Cameron. About how we conservatives need to embrace the government to fix it and make it work for the people. Let us become the facilitators between government and people. Let us be the ones to set up local controls on government “bottom up politics”, that is why I started another blog after reading some Cameron speeches. {upper right on my side bar} I named it “Bottom up Politics” Please John McCain give Cameron a private call take him out to lunch. Lol. Try to understand his concept. Americans are dying to help. See my side bar “Update Across The Pond” for other Cameron stuff.
-----link-----
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njg0ZjliNmIyNzdlODBkNDQ3MjFmNGQ1ODExNDBlMzU=&w=MA==
---------------
We have to be the ones to help the people get the government working again. That whole Cameron idea of the conservatives being the people party and the liberals being the party of government. Toooooo good of an article. The quote below about the various people recently weighing in, I’ve blogged on each one. I feel redeemed. Almost as if Peggy Noonan caught my eye and winked.
-----quote-----
"Republicans can’t seem to express an organizing principle these days, and almost everyone with a computer to type on has noticed. David Brooks writes in the New York Times that the British have at last declared their independence from us: American conservatives, he notes, have lost the leadership of the conservative movement to them. Tom Davis, a former leader of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, writes, “the Republican brand is in the trash can.” The New Yorker headlines, “The Fall of Conservatism: Have the Republicans run out of ideas?” Most painful of all, the elegant Peggy Noonan, who is to conservative composition what Fred Astaire was to dance, says the Republican party, including its conservative leadership, has “squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years” because we are no longer serious about leadership, policy, or ideas." The Peggy Noonan part was great.
I’ve got to get out and get something in my neighborhood working.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Think I’ll also invite Alex to our “Sunday Morning Conservative Coffee for Ward 2 Muskegon” Peggy always has an open invitation. Lol. I’ll be there 8:00 am Sun. at the downtown McDonald’s. You are always invited too. It would be nice to see someone. Lol.
PS Just an ego thing maybe. But a list of some of my posts about the above.
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/two-brooks-emerging-river.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/leader-that-leads-solution-that-works.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/build-it-and-they-will-come.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/truth-in-peggy-noonan.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/cycles-through-bums-out.html
---------------
Thanks for the time.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
-----link-----
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=28073&page=1
--------------
The above talks of John McCain’s troubles with the conservative religious movement.. In my opinion the religious right organizations are sounding more and more like the Left wing loonies. Political Correctness with God on your side. I may be blurring things here as I agree with Anne that the left has made a religion out of environmentalism. But I think you see my point. I firmly believe in God. I firmly believe that this country with it’s constitution would not exist without the firm belief in God which our Founders had. The basis of our law is derived from God’s law. Notice I said God not Falwell, or Robertson or my pastor, or yours or Obama’s or a Catholic’s priest nor a Rabbi. I believe the founding fathers belief in God let them see past the partisan if you will vision of any individual religious leader or denomination to envision the Freedom to choose our own individual faith or none at all; to keep the government out of religion and religion out of the government. The Founders may have believed as I do that we are closest to God when we are alone with him. He is in everyone.
God gave me the right to post this blog it is inalienable to me to do this. Our government helps enforce my right to blog. I can use my inalienable rights any way I so choose. Barring injury to others. I am influenced by all sorts of people, but ruled by none. God rules me when I let him through my conscience, that ever present ability to see right and wrong immediately. Only after glimpsing it, am I then allowed to confuse the issue or not.
You know what?? I would like to give my candidate or any candidate for that matter the ability to do the same. One of the essential traits I vote for in a candidate is their ability to make free decisions based on fact for the good of America beholding to none. All of this political correctness is ridiculous. At the current level it has just become another interest group. These litmus tests are just another way to limit the ability of a President to make courageous decisions, unpopular decisions for the good of the country.
How can he win by not cozying up to the religious right? The same way we tell the Dems about getting away from their far left. I keep going back to the idea that the people know the government is broke. They are the ones that have to deal with it. The people want it fixed. They will vote for anyone with a good sounding plan, short of that they will vote the Bums out and hope for change. I’ve been posting about the big conservative movement in England and Europe for that matter. Showing an alternative or a possible case for voting the bums out. Looking closer to home we see 3 Republican losses in formally Republican strongholds. Also the “Blue Dogs” are threatening the same kind of harm to our party. Another article about that written today.
-----link------
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/28/america/NA-POL-US-Conservative-Democrats.php
----------------
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just found this, I’m as excited as someone can be who has been saying (blogging) the same thing forever and thinking nobody else is thinking the same way. I’ve just been blogging a little about it today, I’m lonely no more. I’m not going to erase what I just wrote above. It’ll remind me that all people if they use common sense can come up with the same ideas. I’m nobody, this guy writes for the National Review. Alex Castellanos talks in his piece about David Brooks, and The British Conservative movement led by David Cameron. About how we conservatives need to embrace the government to fix it and make it work for the people. Let us become the facilitators between government and people. Let us be the ones to set up local controls on government “bottom up politics”, that is why I started another blog after reading some Cameron speeches. {upper right on my side bar} I named it “Bottom up Politics” Please John McCain give Cameron a private call take him out to lunch. Lol. Try to understand his concept. Americans are dying to help. See my side bar “Update Across The Pond” for other Cameron stuff.
-----link-----
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njg0ZjliNmIyNzdlODBkNDQ3MjFmNGQ1ODExNDBlMzU=&w=MA==
---------------
We have to be the ones to help the people get the government working again. That whole Cameron idea of the conservatives being the people party and the liberals being the party of government. Toooooo good of an article. The quote below about the various people recently weighing in, I’ve blogged on each one. I feel redeemed. Almost as if Peggy Noonan caught my eye and winked.
-----quote-----
"Republicans can’t seem to express an organizing principle these days, and almost everyone with a computer to type on has noticed. David Brooks writes in the New York Times that the British have at last declared their independence from us: American conservatives, he notes, have lost the leadership of the conservative movement to them. Tom Davis, a former leader of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, writes, “the Republican brand is in the trash can.” The New Yorker headlines, “The Fall of Conservatism: Have the Republicans run out of ideas?” Most painful of all, the elegant Peggy Noonan, who is to conservative composition what Fred Astaire was to dance, says the Republican party, including its conservative leadership, has “squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years” because we are no longer serious about leadership, policy, or ideas." The Peggy Noonan part was great.
I’ve got to get out and get something in my neighborhood working.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Think I’ll also invite Alex to our “Sunday Morning Conservative Coffee for Ward 2 Muskegon” Peggy always has an open invitation. Lol. I’ll be there 8:00 am Sun. at the downtown McDonald’s. You are always invited too. It would be nice to see someone. Lol.
PS Just an ego thing maybe. But a list of some of my posts about the above.
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/two-brooks-emerging-river.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/leader-that-leads-solution-that-works.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/build-it-and-they-will-come.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/truth-in-peggy-noonan.html
-----link-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/cycles-through-bums-out.html
---------------
Thanks for the time.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Progressive Ways by Conservative Means
The Good Side of Conservatism
Boy of boy the British have it spot on. It keeps getting better. Leadership definitely sets the tone. How is this for a campaign ad. Pretty sappy you say. Well if you notice at the end of the video you’ll see the plea to vote May 1. Well they did and the liberal party took a beating at the hands of the conservatives. Their media called it the May Day massacre.
-----link-----
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=campaigns.display.page&obj_id=142460---------------
This is what I’ve been calling bottom up politics. Previously I blogged about why it seemed that the opposite is happening in England as in America as to which party was winning. Almost exactly opposite down to the special elections after the mid terms. I made the case that the people were fed up with failed government policies that were only making things worse while sapping the energy of the people. They were throwing the bums out no matter who they were.
-----link to my blog-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/cycles-through-bums-out.html
-----------------------------
David Cameron the leader of the Conservative party in England in the next link, pretty much sums up what the new conservatives across the pond are running on. Also what I’m trying to figure out how to copy here on this side of our little pond in our piece of paradise.
-----link-----
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=144994
---------------
In this short fact and link filled article, he refers to pursuing progressive ways by conservative means. Not only clever but true to conservative traditions of fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility for involvement. Re involvement of the people. Making the government the facilitator of that desire for involvement not an impediment. This is the kind of ad I can get behind. An issue ad. More than that an uplifting ad. Kind of like an updated Reagan speech. Or Reagan Esq. in a Multi media sort of way. Perhaps if Newt would of presented his Contract With America in a less serious and scholarly way with more sincere smiles it might of caught on.
To be fair to Newt, this British conservative revolution has yet to fully come about. The British Conservatives have yet to even win their elections. When they do, I’m sure they will run into the same type of entrenched status quo that Newt and the Gang of Seven ran into. Perhaps however, the fresh, positive and downright happy attitude found in David Cameron and his message will give a better alternative to the status quo. Instead of the pounding away at personal responsibility and burdens of citizenship as I, and most US conservatives tend to do. That British sense of humor and gayety is a better selling point. Everyone knows that for generations people have died to keep our freedoms. I think now it’s time we focus on the wonderful thing freedom is. The joy it can bring, how strong we can feel when working together. Why it is indeed worth fighting for.
I’m going to start smiling more. It’s the least I can do.
Not because I should --- but because I feel better when I do.
Regards, Proud to be Living Dangerously As A Conservative
BREAKING this morning. Related news off the Socialist Web. Yeah I know, I guess I’ll read anything. I’m serious though read it. You’ll be amazed, the liberals are saying the same thing we conservatives are saying here and the liberals there are suffering the same defeats we have been. I keep posting about this. I think it's important. It’s like the old Superman Bizzaro World comic book. I still stress my Mantra.
IT’S THE GOVERNMENT STUPID. Make the government work better, Then find ways to diminish it’s scope.
-----link-----
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/byel-m24.shtml
--------------
See also my side bar under “Xtra links for Current Posts” Also other related British stuff is located near the top of the side bar titled “Updates From Across the Pond”
Boy of boy the British have it spot on. It keeps getting better. Leadership definitely sets the tone. How is this for a campaign ad. Pretty sappy you say. Well if you notice at the end of the video you’ll see the plea to vote May 1. Well they did and the liberal party took a beating at the hands of the conservatives. Their media called it the May Day massacre.
-----link-----
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=campaigns.display.page&obj_id=142460---------------
This is what I’ve been calling bottom up politics. Previously I blogged about why it seemed that the opposite is happening in England as in America as to which party was winning. Almost exactly opposite down to the special elections after the mid terms. I made the case that the people were fed up with failed government policies that were only making things worse while sapping the energy of the people. They were throwing the bums out no matter who they were.
-----link to my blog-----
http://conservativeinmuskegon.blogspot.com/2008/05/cycles-through-bums-out.html
-----------------------------
David Cameron the leader of the Conservative party in England in the next link, pretty much sums up what the new conservatives across the pond are running on. Also what I’m trying to figure out how to copy here on this side of our little pond in our piece of paradise.
-----link-----
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=144994
---------------
In this short fact and link filled article, he refers to pursuing progressive ways by conservative means. Not only clever but true to conservative traditions of fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility for involvement. Re involvement of the people. Making the government the facilitator of that desire for involvement not an impediment. This is the kind of ad I can get behind. An issue ad. More than that an uplifting ad. Kind of like an updated Reagan speech. Or Reagan Esq. in a Multi media sort of way. Perhaps if Newt would of presented his Contract With America in a less serious and scholarly way with more sincere smiles it might of caught on.
To be fair to Newt, this British conservative revolution has yet to fully come about. The British Conservatives have yet to even win their elections. When they do, I’m sure they will run into the same type of entrenched status quo that Newt and the Gang of Seven ran into. Perhaps however, the fresh, positive and downright happy attitude found in David Cameron and his message will give a better alternative to the status quo. Instead of the pounding away at personal responsibility and burdens of citizenship as I, and most US conservatives tend to do. That British sense of humor and gayety is a better selling point. Everyone knows that for generations people have died to keep our freedoms. I think now it’s time we focus on the wonderful thing freedom is. The joy it can bring, how strong we can feel when working together. Why it is indeed worth fighting for.
I’m going to start smiling more. It’s the least I can do.
Not because I should --- but because I feel better when I do.
Regards, Proud to be Living Dangerously As A Conservative
BREAKING this morning. Related news off the Socialist Web. Yeah I know, I guess I’ll read anything. I’m serious though read it. You’ll be amazed, the liberals are saying the same thing we conservatives are saying here and the liberals there are suffering the same defeats we have been. I keep posting about this. I think it's important. It’s like the old Superman Bizzaro World comic book. I still stress my Mantra.
IT’S THE GOVERNMENT STUPID. Make the government work better, Then find ways to diminish it’s scope.
-----link-----
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/may2008/byel-m24.shtml
--------------
See also my side bar under “Xtra links for Current Posts” Also other related British stuff is located near the top of the side bar titled “Updates From Across the Pond”
Thursday, May 22, 2008
BOBBY JINDAL, WHO IS THAT ??
Bobby Jindal. WHO is that?
I started following Bobby since I first heard of him from his failed bid then his election to the US House, and then fell in love with him during the whole mess of Katrina. He seemed one of the silver linings in that dark cloud. Not much was made mention of his efforts during that traumatic time. He was always on the edges of the news. Others were in the spotlight. Like Sean Penn rowing a boat, the national guard helping a pollitician scurry back to save his slush money, and the media making sure people were able to see the misery up close and personal. Well Bobby was doing what he has always done. He brought his positive can do attitude or better yet the selfless what can I do attitude to the mess. Then with what little power as a member of the US House he had he was able to use it to make a dent in the bureaucratic mess unfolding in his state. In his heart he knew what I’m just learning, Actually helping people directly has become almost illegal, in most cases it is. The next election, the people of Louisiana recognized what he did if the Mass Media wouldn’t and elected him governor. The article I linked is a long read but it fleshes out quite well the man I call Bobby Jindal. I lifted it from The Red State blog they from The Criticle. The author is Ben Domenech.
-----link-----
http://www.redstate.com/stories/elections/2007/bobby_jindal_saves_louisiana
---------------
I’m glad to see McCain has him on the list as a possible running mate. I got the link off of Drudge, see my side bar, “Old Standby Links“.
-----link-----
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080521/D90Q9VF00.html
---------------
He fits all the Politically Correct requirements the pundits condescendingly say McCain needs. You know the ones that have to do with counteracting the perceived age problem and let’s just say “diversity appeal”. Even because of all that I would urge McCain to select him lol. The one thing in Bobby’s favor I think is that he is not the flamboyant type, he won’t be trying to steal the spotlight. He’s my favorite kind of person, he’s a doer. The article below shows what he does and some of what I’ve said. I hope John McCain can see the common ground they both share in their get things done no earmark attitude, which is labeled in the Media as their Maverickness. It would be a great political risk for Sen. McCain to take, besides all the chance for negative punditry, there would be the risk of Bobby out shining John in the Media’s eyes. But then great leaders are sure enough of themselves and their ideas that they are willing to take gambles. If, the Next President of the United States wants someone by his side that will help him do what is possible to fight the bureaucracy to make government work, then I would urge John McCain to pick Bobby Jindal for his right hand man. His major drawbacks seem to be that Bobby is quiet, borders on genius, dislikes obstacles to getting things done. The list is long. Lol. I think though that I could over look them. The question is can the people who run those obstacles allow him to run? He was bad enough in Louisiana , dare they allow him loose in Washington. The article below once you get past the agenda stuff sprinkled here and there is really good about the abilities of Bobby Jindal and an excellent depiction of the problems of unlimited Bureaucracy run wild showcased by the catastrophe that was Katrina.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I started following Bobby since I first heard of him from his failed bid then his election to the US House, and then fell in love with him during the whole mess of Katrina. He seemed one of the silver linings in that dark cloud. Not much was made mention of his efforts during that traumatic time. He was always on the edges of the news. Others were in the spotlight. Like Sean Penn rowing a boat, the national guard helping a pollitician scurry back to save his slush money, and the media making sure people were able to see the misery up close and personal. Well Bobby was doing what he has always done. He brought his positive can do attitude or better yet the selfless what can I do attitude to the mess. Then with what little power as a member of the US House he had he was able to use it to make a dent in the bureaucratic mess unfolding in his state. In his heart he knew what I’m just learning, Actually helping people directly has become almost illegal, in most cases it is. The next election, the people of Louisiana recognized what he did if the Mass Media wouldn’t and elected him governor. The article I linked is a long read but it fleshes out quite well the man I call Bobby Jindal. I lifted it from The Red State blog they from The Criticle. The author is Ben Domenech.
-----link-----
http://www.redstate.com/stories/elections/2007/bobby_jindal_saves_louisiana
---------------
I’m glad to see McCain has him on the list as a possible running mate. I got the link off of Drudge, see my side bar, “Old Standby Links“.
-----link-----
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080521/D90Q9VF00.html
---------------
He fits all the Politically Correct requirements the pundits condescendingly say McCain needs. You know the ones that have to do with counteracting the perceived age problem and let’s just say “diversity appeal”. Even because of all that I would urge McCain to select him lol. The one thing in Bobby’s favor I think is that he is not the flamboyant type, he won’t be trying to steal the spotlight. He’s my favorite kind of person, he’s a doer. The article below shows what he does and some of what I’ve said. I hope John McCain can see the common ground they both share in their get things done no earmark attitude, which is labeled in the Media as their Maverickness. It would be a great political risk for Sen. McCain to take, besides all the chance for negative punditry, there would be the risk of Bobby out shining John in the Media’s eyes. But then great leaders are sure enough of themselves and their ideas that they are willing to take gambles. If, the Next President of the United States wants someone by his side that will help him do what is possible to fight the bureaucracy to make government work, then I would urge John McCain to pick Bobby Jindal for his right hand man. His major drawbacks seem to be that Bobby is quiet, borders on genius, dislikes obstacles to getting things done. The list is long. Lol. I think though that I could over look them. The question is can the people who run those obstacles allow him to run? He was bad enough in Louisiana , dare they allow him loose in Washington. The article below once you get past the agenda stuff sprinkled here and there is really good about the abilities of Bobby Jindal and an excellent depiction of the problems of unlimited Bureaucracy run wild showcased by the catastrophe that was Katrina.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
BIGGER STAGE - SMALLER BUT NOT LESSER PARTS
BIGGER STAGE - SMALLER BUT NOT LESSER PARTS
I’ve been recently getting so into the local scene, political and just plain local stuff, new business, neighborhood issues and the like, that I’ve seemed to be losing interest in the bigger picture stuff. The stuff that got me into this in the first place. Trying to campaign for local people like Karen Buie and losing my zeal for the bigger candidates, the bigger issues, that kind of thing. My other blog site deals with those “smaller” things.
-----plug-----
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com---------------
Those things seemed more interesting. Then I realized it’s the personal touch that I find appealing. Being able to talk with the owner of Benson Drug. Having him say hi to me in the store, or talking with Karen Buie in the evening to see what I could help her with if anything. I’m realizing people like to just be acknowledged as human, me included. As Martha would say “It’s a Beautiful Thing”.
I was looking over some of my old posts on this site to find material to blog about when it dawned on me. “Big” politics can be personal too. For example. I had blogged about the bill in the State Senate, about making a constitutional amendment, about the ability for the state to raise taxes. It would have made it harder to do that. I had talked personally with our Senator once about it back when I blogged about it. Yesterday I had called his Lansing office and talked with his assistant Jeff Cobb (SP), trying to see what had happened to the bill. Jeff said he would talk with the sponsor of the bill a state senator Roger Kahn from Saginaw and he would get back to me. Well Jeff Cobb called me back today to tell me that the bill was in committee and would die there for this year. I said that there might be hope for it next year I put in my 2 cents. I let him know I was interested in it and how the bill failed to get the necessary 2/3 vote for passage by only 1 vote. The Republicans are in the minority so that told me we were getting some bipartisan support to get the vote that close. I made sure to tell him that I a private citizen support their position. A small Thing.
Well I then googled state, senator, Michigan, Kahn as that was all I knew, which got me to his website then his telephone number it was toll free and I called. Talked with a charming lady who seemed truly pleased to hear from an actual voter not a lobbyist. After showing my command of the subject (yeah I do have an ego) I told her thanks and to please make sure to tell Senator Roger Kahn thanks for the effort and to think about trying it next year. Then I also slipped in my support of the Transparency bill of Jack Hoogendyk and the efforts along the same lines by Mike Cox our Attorney General. It finally came home to me that I was again interested and that I had gained that interest because It had become personal, I had done that small thing. I reitterate, it became interesting to me again, in a small but no less important way I made it matter by doing something. If you think there’s not a difference think about it the next time your talking to and button pushing through a computer generated voice phone menue thing just to get to talk to an operator. Maybe it won’t get anything big done. But I felt better for doing it. To wax philosophical just for a sentence, that personal thing is the defining characteristic of how well a democracy works, the personal involvement of the citizens. Like giving out candy at the Fruitport parade this Memorial Day, I mean those kids can’t even vote. But it’s making politics personal, they feel good and I do too.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
I’ve been recently getting so into the local scene, political and just plain local stuff, new business, neighborhood issues and the like, that I’ve seemed to be losing interest in the bigger picture stuff. The stuff that got me into this in the first place. Trying to campaign for local people like Karen Buie and losing my zeal for the bigger candidates, the bigger issues, that kind of thing. My other blog site deals with those “smaller” things.
-----plug-----
http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com---------------
Those things seemed more interesting. Then I realized it’s the personal touch that I find appealing. Being able to talk with the owner of Benson Drug. Having him say hi to me in the store, or talking with Karen Buie in the evening to see what I could help her with if anything. I’m realizing people like to just be acknowledged as human, me included. As Martha would say “It’s a Beautiful Thing”.
I was looking over some of my old posts on this site to find material to blog about when it dawned on me. “Big” politics can be personal too. For example. I had blogged about the bill in the State Senate, about making a constitutional amendment, about the ability for the state to raise taxes. It would have made it harder to do that. I had talked personally with our Senator once about it back when I blogged about it. Yesterday I had called his Lansing office and talked with his assistant Jeff Cobb (SP), trying to see what had happened to the bill. Jeff said he would talk with the sponsor of the bill a state senator Roger Kahn from Saginaw and he would get back to me. Well Jeff Cobb called me back today to tell me that the bill was in committee and would die there for this year. I said that there might be hope for it next year I put in my 2 cents. I let him know I was interested in it and how the bill failed to get the necessary 2/3 vote for passage by only 1 vote. The Republicans are in the minority so that told me we were getting some bipartisan support to get the vote that close. I made sure to tell him that I a private citizen support their position. A small Thing.
Well I then googled state, senator, Michigan, Kahn as that was all I knew, which got me to his website then his telephone number it was toll free and I called. Talked with a charming lady who seemed truly pleased to hear from an actual voter not a lobbyist. After showing my command of the subject (yeah I do have an ego) I told her thanks and to please make sure to tell Senator Roger Kahn thanks for the effort and to think about trying it next year. Then I also slipped in my support of the Transparency bill of Jack Hoogendyk and the efforts along the same lines by Mike Cox our Attorney General. It finally came home to me that I was again interested and that I had gained that interest because It had become personal, I had done that small thing. I reitterate, it became interesting to me again, in a small but no less important way I made it matter by doing something. If you think there’s not a difference think about it the next time your talking to and button pushing through a computer generated voice phone menue thing just to get to talk to an operator. Maybe it won’t get anything big done. But I felt better for doing it. To wax philosophical just for a sentence, that personal thing is the defining characteristic of how well a democracy works, the personal involvement of the citizens. Like giving out candy at the Fruitport parade this Memorial Day, I mean those kids can’t even vote. But it’s making politics personal, they feel good and I do too.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
SIMPLE IDEAS
Article below echoes a pretty common thread I hear and agree with about the
Republican party needs change. Most of the heavy hitters have singed on to the need for change, some more grudgingly than others lol. I’ve highlighted Peggy Noonan as she is my favorite. It does seem like the message is getting through to the leadership if for no other reason than they feel their jobs are threatened. Keep in mind, not all conservatives are wrong headed. Let's not throw the good out with the bad, Pete Hoekstra comes to mind. The link below is for an article by Victor Davis Hansen , I lifted it off of Pajama Media.
-----link-----
http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-problem-is-not-conservatism-but-conservatives-who-arent-conservative/---------------
The point simply put was again stated that we Republicans need a clear basic common sense message, and more importantly we need to believe in it and not compromise on it. Also at the end Mr. Hansen said.
-----quote-----
In short, the Republicans’ problem? They forgot who they were and can’t explain what they might be. They need to go back to basics, adopt conservative principles to confront new challenges, and then find the most effective spokesmen they can to explain their positions—hourly.
---------------
That sums up what is and what needs to be done and I reemphasize the word HOURLY. As I read the ideas of integrity and honesty kept bubbling up. From demanding a higher bar for ethics and gladly accepting that the bar will be higher for the messenger; to the concept of ignoring the slings and arrows and working the plan. Doing what you promise is the lens through which people out side of Washington will see and judge those they put their trust in. Trust to the voter is not some clever marketing slogan. Recruit new members, which will help create new leadership. Hey Mr. Smith did go to Washington after all. The stigma of the movie comes from what he found there not Mr. Smith or his ideas.
As far as a critique of the list Mr. Hansen came up with, well I don’t care about the specifics. They will come later, naturally. They will be formed by the new leaders. Point and click didn’t just pop up, it forced it’s way around and through and in spite of the arrogance of the colossus that IBM had become. It happened because the concept was clear, easy and unmistakable, dare I say user friendly. It reeked of common sense, luckily the people pushing it didn’t have to be overly heroic because the leaders of IBM ect were too inflexible to take what was offered. Those new guys became heroic later because they had the honesty of their concept and they stuck to it.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Republican party needs change. Most of the heavy hitters have singed on to the need for change, some more grudgingly than others lol. I’ve highlighted Peggy Noonan as she is my favorite. It does seem like the message is getting through to the leadership if for no other reason than they feel their jobs are threatened. Keep in mind, not all conservatives are wrong headed. Let's not throw the good out with the bad, Pete Hoekstra comes to mind. The link below is for an article by Victor Davis Hansen , I lifted it off of Pajama Media.
-----link-----
http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-problem-is-not-conservatism-but-conservatives-who-arent-conservative/---------------
The point simply put was again stated that we Republicans need a clear basic common sense message, and more importantly we need to believe in it and not compromise on it. Also at the end Mr. Hansen said.
-----quote-----
In short, the Republicans’ problem? They forgot who they were and can’t explain what they might be. They need to go back to basics, adopt conservative principles to confront new challenges, and then find the most effective spokesmen they can to explain their positions—hourly.
---------------
That sums up what is and what needs to be done and I reemphasize the word HOURLY. As I read the ideas of integrity and honesty kept bubbling up. From demanding a higher bar for ethics and gladly accepting that the bar will be higher for the messenger; to the concept of ignoring the slings and arrows and working the plan. Doing what you promise is the lens through which people out side of Washington will see and judge those they put their trust in. Trust to the voter is not some clever marketing slogan. Recruit new members, which will help create new leadership. Hey Mr. Smith did go to Washington after all. The stigma of the movie comes from what he found there not Mr. Smith or his ideas.
As far as a critique of the list Mr. Hansen came up with, well I don’t care about the specifics. They will come later, naturally. They will be formed by the new leaders. Point and click didn’t just pop up, it forced it’s way around and through and in spite of the arrogance of the colossus that IBM had become. It happened because the concept was clear, easy and unmistakable, dare I say user friendly. It reeked of common sense, luckily the people pushing it didn’t have to be overly heroic because the leaders of IBM ect were too inflexible to take what was offered. Those new guys became heroic later because they had the honesty of their concept and they stuck to it.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative
Monday, May 19, 2008
CYCLES (THROW THE BUMS OUT)
Broadening one’s outlook, has something in common with age. Since I’ve been researching the conservative movements over seas,(France Britain, and Germany) I’ve been noticing similarities. I’ve of course picked up on what they are doing right to use to help figure out what we can do right but the following article about how arrogant an snobbish ect that their liberals are struck home. Here is the article.
-----link-----
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article3957974.ece--------------
Here is my light bulb moment. The liberals over there are being accused of everything conservatives here are being accused of. What is different? Liberal theology here and abroad are pretty much the same. Conservative theology here is about the same as there. The (light bulb clicks on) difference is that the group in power is the one acting bad and the ones out of power are not, well in our case there is a time delay, we aren‘t thoroughly out of power at least not yet. Hopefully by the time we get back to the ascendancy we will have changed. That was the first light bulb idea (power corrupts) The second idea is that our neighbors (voters) pick up on the change in the way politicians act when they have power as we become arrogant ect. Which ever party is in charge.
Getting back to the similarity of broadening one’s outlook and getting older, I can’t escape that they both help filter our view of the world through the lens of varied repeated experience. Both tend to show us trends and cycles once removed. They give us the pause and depth from which to judge things better.
The nut of what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t matter what party is in power because the people get upset by the arrogance of government. The parties just seem to take turns sharing being disliked by those who voted for them as they merrily increase and make government more inefficient in order IMO to insulate themselves from the scrutiny of the voter.
The whole concept the British are using, bottom up politics, works. It always works. It worked for the Dems here when it was “power to the people”, It has been called many things by many parties. Even I admit to trying to take back the government. The one thing that doesn’t change is that whoever is swept into power by that cry, is soon swept out by the same cry.
Slogans don’t mean squat unless and only as long as they are truly believed and backed up with hard work and integrity. The more government is made the end all to our problems the worse it gets. The quicker those good ideals become corrupted.
I know this may seem simplistic, but so was the constitution; until we messed it up with details.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.
PS If you haven’t noticed it’s time to start doing the hard work.
pss The more people rely on the government to make their decisions the more they are going to be upset.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article3957974.ece--------------
Here is my light bulb moment. The liberals over there are being accused of everything conservatives here are being accused of. What is different? Liberal theology here and abroad are pretty much the same. Conservative theology here is about the same as there. The (light bulb clicks on) difference is that the group in power is the one acting bad and the ones out of power are not, well in our case there is a time delay, we aren‘t thoroughly out of power at least not yet. Hopefully by the time we get back to the ascendancy we will have changed. That was the first light bulb idea (power corrupts) The second idea is that our neighbors (voters) pick up on the change in the way politicians act when they have power as we become arrogant ect. Which ever party is in charge.
Getting back to the similarity of broadening one’s outlook and getting older, I can’t escape that they both help filter our view of the world through the lens of varied repeated experience. Both tend to show us trends and cycles once removed. They give us the pause and depth from which to judge things better.
The nut of what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t matter what party is in power because the people get upset by the arrogance of government. The parties just seem to take turns sharing being disliked by those who voted for them as they merrily increase and make government more inefficient in order IMO to insulate themselves from the scrutiny of the voter.
The whole concept the British are using, bottom up politics, works. It always works. It worked for the Dems here when it was “power to the people”, It has been called many things by many parties. Even I admit to trying to take back the government. The one thing that doesn’t change is that whoever is swept into power by that cry, is soon swept out by the same cry.
Slogans don’t mean squat unless and only as long as they are truly believed and backed up with hard work and integrity. The more government is made the end all to our problems the worse it gets. The quicker those good ideals become corrupted.
I know this may seem simplistic, but so was the constitution; until we messed it up with details.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.
PS If you haven’t noticed it’s time to start doing the hard work.
pss The more people rely on the government to make their decisions the more they are going to be upset.
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