About Me

Name: Vansword
Email: vansword2006@yahoo.com Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Blog Roll

 
[Click to edit me]

Conservatism's Surge A True Change To Believe In

Posted by Vansword on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 3:08:56 PM
Last night's Republican rout in Virginia was a statement on President Obama no matter what Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tells us. The excuse that Virginia has always voted for the out-of-power-party in off year elections doesn't change the fact that the margin of swing in their vote since 2008 is astounding.  The same voters that put Barack Obama in the White House went for Bob McDonnell-northern Virginia which is practically a White House lawn ornament declared its independence from the D.C.machine on Tuesday.
 
The success of Chris Christie's New Jersey gubernatorial campaign is another loud and clear proclamation. New Jersey citizens are sick and tired of the corruption and stratospheric taxes-their decision to place their state in the hands of a man who is bent on cleaning up the Garden State bodes well for Americans demanding the same of their politicians in Washington.
 
It wasn't a lack of motivation and drive in candidate Doug Hoffman that cost Republicans the election in NY-23. His loss to the Democrat challenger, Bill Owens, says more about the Republican party's candidate selection process in the state of New York and the party's current divide than about Hoffman's ability to win. The Republican Congressional Conference didn't do themselves any favors when it convinced Scuzzyface....um, er...Dede.... to endorse the Democrat challenger.
  
Hoffman may not be the most personable, charismatic man; but many of the residents of that district were sympathetic with his values and appreciative of his practical approach to the problems they face. Coming from out of nowhere a few short months ago to make as big a splash as he did on both the local and national scene is indicative of the strength of the grassroots movement he represents.
 
There is more to celebrate from Tuesday's off-year election results than the capturing of two important governors' races. State referendums dealing with two explosive political issues were on the ballots in Maine and Texas. Maine voters overturned the previous legislative decision allowing gay marriage. It was a major conservative victory in that the Democrat governor had thrown his whole weight behind the new gay marriage law and state liberals thought it was going to be a law written in stone.
 
Though I am a conservative on fiscal policy, the scope of government and constitutional law, I am not what you would term a social conservative. The matters of abortion and gay marriage are not the uppermost on my agenda. However, I am currently an advocate for each and every conservative play that reeks havoc on the liberal power base in Washington. If that appears rather Machevellian to some, then I sincerely apologize.
 
But if we aren't practical and willing to come together with our varying ideologies to keep from losing our Republic's timeless principles to a bunch of liberals for whom causes are mere playthings on the road to power than we will have more to worry about than abortion and gay marriage rights. Above all, we must preserve the authenticity of these United States, that nation brilliantly designed and bequeathed to us more than two hundred years ago.
 
Leave it to Texas to seize the day and keep blazing that trail to true liberty and independence. Voters passed Proposition 11, allowing for a state constitutional amendment which "limits the use of eminent domain for public use and specifically defines "public use" to specifically not include "the taking of private property for...transfer to a private entity for the purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenue purposes." The amendment won't totally solve the eminent domain issue-there are still loopholes to close but it is a great beginning in dealing with government overreach. Can I hear a collective hurrah?
 
The other forty-nine need to look, listen and learn. Texas leaders' utter fearlessness in the face of government threats and attempted domination is beyond admirable. Sure, they may have more guts than cattle but then it's a question of what is worse: their condition or the problem other states have, which is, they're all hat and NO cattle! Texans believe wholeheartedly in those founding principles Washington. We need to hear that same dedication to the great cause of the United States of America from her sister states!
 
Those who voted for Barack Obama in the last presidential election succombed to his charming mantra, "Change we can believe in".  We have not had any change we can believe in. But his administration has demanded time and again in the short span of one year that we Americans change WHAT we believe in! And what we believe in is liberty and justice for all, just like it says in the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
Time to ante up state legislators. The stakes are high and now, now is the time to go out on the limb and demand your states' inherent right to govern themselves with as little federal government interference as possible. The conservative movement is on the rise and states are the ones who should be leading the charge!

 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Healthcare Shell Game

Posted by Vansword on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 2:00:21 PM
In the increasingly complicated healthcare reform game, the truth of costs, taxes, and government regulations are mixed with absurd Orwellian rhetoric and a magician's sleight of hand.  It's hard to follow the con men's hands as they push those three shells around the table. Senators Harry Reid and Chuck Shumer could find gainful employment as street hustlers.  Reid thinks that he can just attach the promise that states may opt-out of a government insurance plan onto his bill and no one, moderate Dems or American citizens, will be any the wiser.
 
Schumer continually looks for ways to stick it to a freedom-loving, capitalistic public. He recently said he thought that the pay czar should extend salary cuts to all private business executives. He'll vote for anything that will sneak government-run healthcare into law. He knows, as do we all, that once the laws are in place, the states will be pressured, politically, economically and every which way until they relent and accept the inevitable. 
 
House Speaker Pelosi could be Big Brother's communication director in the novel, 1984!  With reference to the Obama administration allowing Bush tax cuts to expire she said, "That wasn't a tax increase....it is eliminating a tax decrease that was there... "  Now she says they need to rename the public option, again! First it was called government-run healthcare; next, they dubbed it non-profit cooperatives; then, came the moniker of public option. Lately, they fell upon the idea that it would really sound better if they threw a pretend bone to those skeptics who are afraid of government involvement by terming health reform, the opt-out plan. Now, Pelosi is convinced that Americans will swallow the whole idea if only they rename it the consumer option.
 
Her underestimation of Americans' intelligence is surpassed only by the size of those chunky necklaces she wears! She should be crowned the Queen of Doublespeak and sit beside the White Queen in Wonderland instead of behind the big desk down front in the House Chamber! She hasn't got a clue about the minds of the people she so passionately claims to represent-those poor souls who so desperately need health insurance for whom she believes she is some kind of savior!
 
The idea that individual states could opt-out of any government health legislation is attractive only on the Congressional parchment on which it appears, and then, only momentarily. Reid and his Democrat contingency have not made the exact details of this so-called opt-out clause available to anyone, to their Republican counterparts or to the constituencies who elected them.  If no one is going to let every Congressman read the entire bill or post it on the internet for all to see, where are the guarantees of such a state perogative? Are we to trust that the same government that treats Americans like bullies for demanding their right to information, will suddenly be trustworthy and not include penalities for states who opt-out?
 
Opting-out is itself not a magic pill. The way the clause is set up now, even if states opt-out of the government-run plan, individual citizens would still be footing the tax bill for lower income medical subsidies. They would be paying twice. So much for Barack Obama's promise as a candidate that he would not raise taxes on the middle class. Not only would people have to pay for their own insurance, they'd be paying for healthcare for a sea of deadbeats as well!
 
Mark my words, there will be millions of the welfare ilk, who will be lining up for medical subsidies in their luxury SUVs, wearing Vera Wang jewelry with cellular earbuds attached to the side of their heads. Truth be told, there are many who squander their money on luxuries they are in no real position to afford-then complain that they can't afford health insurance!  Budgeting their finances and living within their means is a reality they are incapable of facing.
 
Under Reid's plan, states could decide with gubernatorial decree, legislative law or voter referendums if they want to leave the federal insurance plan. People frightened by the spectre of high tax penalities for not carrying insurance might be inclined to vote against a referendum. The government is more than well aware that the lazy uninsured will look no further than to them for their insurance needs. One only has to think for a second to understand the political consequences that might ensue for a governor or state assembly who decides to opt-out without public consent.  For that reason, the map of states who would opt-out of the Democrats' plan, will likely follow the traditional partisan red and blue.
 
Call it the public option, call it the consumer option, call it a common sense black hole, no matter! It's the same old scheme to let the federal government get its grimy little hands on the intermost sanctum of a citizen's life-his personal physical well-being. 
 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Passion Needs A Plan

Posted by Vansword on Monday, October 19, 2009 2:01:48 PM
Conservative/Republican leaders and tea party protestors have to forge a unified coalition to defeat the liberal agenda. This agenda has overrun the federal government like the kudzu that eats up the roadside here in Georgia.  The two groups lose sight of what should be their principal goal while they squabble over ideological details.
 
Republican leaders need to shed their snobbishness when it comes to considering viable candidates for next fall's elections. What ails the political body infects the Republicans as well. Political parties are always deathly afraid of going out of their comfort zone-leaving the neat little box of well-known faces and slap-you-on-the-back familiarity. How revitalizing it would be if the Republican party were behind a younger conservative with a strong sense of himself and what he believes. The usual party suspects are so accustomed to following the Washington routine that they seem to have lost the ability to scrutinize and react to issues with a fresh individualism.
 
Just a few months ago, S.C. Gov.Mark Sanford was looked upon as one of the Republican frontrunners. He seemed full of potential for the race in 2012. He buried any promise of that with personal and political indiscretions that rocked his state and which are as of now, yet fully dispensed with. For a while, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota seemed to be full speed ahead to capture his party's imagination as a potential frontrunner in upcoming elections. Lately, though, random straw polls have him finishing behind Gov. Huckabee from Arkansas.
 
Unquestionably one of the strongest conservative voices and one of the most intelligent people on the D.C. front, Newt Gingrich poked an irreparable hole into any future election success when he wholeheartedly endorsed very liberal Republican, Dede Scozzafava, for a New York House seat last week. What a disappointing turn of events for some conservatives, optimistic of Gingrich's chances, to learn that the man who constructed the 'Contract with America' is in the end mired in the same political machine that is the root of this country's trouble! If the GOP keeps mishandling the gift of candidate potential that exists, its constituents will start sounding like the mother in "A Christmas Story".........be careful or you'll shoot your eye out!
 
Next year is an election so crucial, citizens and lawmakers who want to halt the big government takeover, must come together on the issues they do agree on. The passion for liberty and small government that is at the heart of Americans filling streets and halls for rallies and town hall meetings is a welcome ingredient in the political process-an ingredient sadly missing in the past forty years from the recipe for a successful nation. Everyone in this country who still loves the Founding Father's vision of our republic and what it stands for should be forever grateful for a more involved and informed citizenry.
 
Tea party protestors, however, do not have the strength, under their own steam, to choose who will and will not run against liberals in 2010. The same quality that made them so successful in making political waves and getting out the message of  'we the people'-a grassroots perspective and everyman mentality- is a deterrent to getting in the door at the country club dance of politics. They lack the clout and the cost of admission. They need to realize that they must first get on board with the idea that we take back Congressional seats, then they can enjoy the leisure of philosophical bickering. The Tea Party Movement needs to jump in on the search for conservative candidates that share some or most of their values, while offering enough clout in the political arena to make a loud splash.
 
While a show of patriot strength and resolve with painted signs on the street corner surely drained fuel from the liberal gas tank,  their forces have merely switched to 'hybrid' vehicles and lurched onward with their Socialist plans. More binds tea partiers and Republican leaders than separates them. There are moderate Republicans who are pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. There are tea party protestors who have staunch religious beliefs that preclude, in their view,advocating for either of those. Are issues such as abortion and gay marriage really the hills we as free Americans want to die on?  Conservatives and tea partiers need to get behind the potential of their own hybrids.
 
It's time for a little housecleaning-a fresh look at the leaders who can promote the conservative cause with a firm belief of their own and the tenacity to take on the political establishment. And, make no mistake, if these two groups don't soon approach some semblance of 'simpatico',  if they can't get the conservative movement under one, more or less waterproof umbrella, the far left in this country will flatten all the other hills that are worth dying on!
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (4) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Bring It On

Posted by Vansword on Sunday, August 02, 2009 3:52:46 PM
Rarely do three little words from any politician seize the imagination and spur one to action. Unless, of course, those three little words happen to be, "I am resigning". (Laugh laugh). I found myself blinded, though, by the bright new future possible in three little words uttered by one of Georgia's Republican contenders for the gubernatorial race in November 2010.
 
I hadn't heard of the latest stir going on in the Georgia Board of Elections and Voting until I happened upon a blog on the subject while searching another issue. It seems that Obama's Justice Department under the auspices of Attorney General Eric Holder notified the state of Georgia that they would no longer be allowed to verify voter registration-they would be required to sign up voters without asking for identification and other pertinent information.
 
Karen Handel, the current Georgia Secretary of State, Republican candidate for governor in 2010 and the official in charge of elections, was not at all happy with this request from the Justice Department and replied this way: BRING IT ON!
 
I don't know Karen Handel from Adam, as they say down South. I knew she was our Secretary of State and that's about all. I only recently learned of the depth of her professional resume. She was once Chairman of the Fulton County(Atlanta) Board of Commissioners and has held executive level positions at several high-powered, high-profile companies. Her fiscal experience is broad and successful. But I needed only to hear those three little words, BRING IT ON. I greatly admire her political courage and her out and out gall at turning sharply on her heel and showing the U.S. government the back of her head.
 
Their present insistence that Georgia not conduct voter verficications amounts to its allowing 'dead people' and 'illegals' to vote. Handel knows as well as everyone that this will lead to the Democrats increasing their ranks, broadening their districts and keeping their political power. She said that it is the state of Georgia's right to verify their elections and not the business of the federal government.  She said that if elected governor she would have Georgia stand up for its rights and not cave in to pressure from the government.  Right on Karen! And Bring It On Obama and Company!
 
 
Copyright
 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Frankenstein Commission

Posted by Vansword on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 7:38:00 PM
In Mary Shelley's famous novel, Dr. Frankenstein would have everyone believe that he created his monster for the betterment of mankind through science. In the end, it was obvious a desire to play God was the real reason.
 
There are many monsters running loose in the United States Congress. These legislative monsters were created years ago by that same kind of thinking-the liberal progessive philosophy which believes it knows what is best for all of humanity but really seeks the power of a mad scientist over his experiment. This ultra-liberalism has been lying not-so-patiently in wait for the perfect political moment.
 
That moment arrived with the Presidential election of 2008. Unlike the villagers in Shelley's novel, we don't need torches to locate this beast-we know where he lies. We must corner and cage him before he destroys us all.
 
The monster I refer to is the censorship of free speech being promoted by The Franking Commission, the bipartisan group responsible for mandating Congressional mailing standards. This commission, unfamiliar to many Americans, oversees and monitors the contents of all franked(free) mail sent out by Representatives and Senators to their constitutents. Such mail involves flyers and letters that offer voters brief summaries of their elected officials activities and news/opinions on certain vital issues.
 
Recently, the usually rather low-key panel decided it was time to clamp down on Congress' outgoing mail. Republican House member John Carter from Texas was told he could not use the phrase 'government-run healthcare' in a letter to his constitutents penned by his staff.
He was told he would have to change the wording- they even offered their ideas of  what they termed 'more suitable' language.
Rep. Carter revealed this email from the Commission at a press conference last Thursday.
 
At that same press conference, Carter posed this question, "Now, why can't I say what I feel about a plan that I'm being asked to vote upon, that has been debated on the floor of the House on multiple occasions, where multiple numbers of people have used the tern 'government-run healthcare' plan?"
 
"Why does The Franking Commission have the right to prevent me from freely speaking what I think my folks back home ought to hear and instead tell me I have to speak what the President said last night?" Carter asked. "I think that is an abridgment of free speech."
 
The Texas Congressman went on, "Why are they so afraid of this chart? He was referring to the very colorful, very intricate chart on Obama's health care plan introduced by his fellow Texan, Rep. Kevin Brady, which was, ironically, voted into the Congressional record on the House floor earlier in the month but disallowed by the Franking Commission.  Carter asked, "Could it be that they know what this health care plan is?"
 
If it's good enough for the permanent record of legislative proceedings it's good enough for the American public. That's part of the problem. As Americans, we don't know enough of what goes on in the Capitol building. I personally believe that everything they discuss and write should be made a matter of public record, available to those who put them in office.
 
John Carter's communications director, John Stone told one news network that Republicans plan to fight this obvious censorship from The Franking Commission. "We plan to take it to the floor on Monday night", he said. "If they try to stop it with a motion to adjourn we're going to go outside and hold our speeches. We will not be silenced."
 
This is how it starts my fellow citizens- one governing arm telling another arm what they can and cannot say to their own voters? I know it's not smart to talk about individual Congressman paying for their own mass mailings in these tough economic times, but that would definitely be one way around the Franking Commission!
 
I don't know exactly how that would work or how Congressman would raise the funds to pay for their own constituency mailings. Perhaps everyone who votes for Congress could be able to donate toward the chance to have uncensored mail from their elected officials.
We could find a way to circumvent this strangulation of legislators' freedom of speech. Listen, if our 'fearless leader' can get around the Constitution, certainly our Representatives and Senators can get around one little commission! But any of those ways would be admitting that the Commission has the right to censor in the first place.
 
What we need to do is clobber this hideous monster with the torches we carry- that torch being our love of personal freedom. It is inherent in man and not subject to the control of any mad scientist or liberal progressive philosophy. It's time to run through the village with torches burning brightly-we are not afraid of monsters, under the bed or in the Congress!
 
 
Copyright
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Political Puppeteers

Posted by Vansword on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:17:00 PM
House Speaker Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel recently met alone behind closed doors to discuss the health care reform bill. I don't know about you-but that scares me to death! Those two are possibly the most sinister of all the current crop of liberals running the show in Washington!
 
Obama may be too inexperienced to handle foreign policy, too out of his element with economic matters and possessing of a narcisstic personality that lends itself well to dictatorship, but the power dreams of other politicians like Pelosi and Emmanuel are definitely pulling strings behind the scenes.  The United States Congress is being manipulated like Punch and Judy dolls by a group of evil puppeteers.
 
 Pelosi trys to run the House like a prison warden, throwing her Republicans cohorts a few crumbs of legislation information then expecting them to sit captively in their cages while the Dems lay down the law as they think it should be. And Emmanuel? Well, when I heard that one Republican congressmen failed to show up for a pre-Cap n Trade vote gathering because he was afraid Emmanuel would grab his arm and throw him into a room with the President for further convincing, I knew the kind of man ol Rahm must be.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

The Cornerstone of the Republic

Posted by Vansword on Thursday, July 02, 2009 4:45:38 PM
When California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass lamented in an interview with the LA Times recently that conservative talk radio was terrorism and that its rhetoric had threatened Republican officials with dire political consequences if they didn't vote against the liberal agenda, she put a human face on government ignorance. It's possible to get elected to any office in this country without completely understanding what the Bill of Rights, and most importantly, The First Amendment is all about.
 
This was Bass' response to being asked how conservative talk radio influenced the Ca. legislature: "The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "'vote for revenue and your career is over.' I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it's about free speech, but it's extremely unfair." She guesses it's about free speech? Madame Speaker, it's all about free speech! And nobody has to 'allow' it. It's a guaranteed right spelled out in that document you might have heard of, The United States Constitution!
 
How can an educated, informed,politically involved woman such as yourself accuse conservative talk radio hosts of being terrorists when they are simply giving voice to what so many Americans are thinking?  They are merely conservative spokesmen urging listeners to exercise their Constitutional rights to make government changes in a democratic fashion through elections. It is the right of the voters of this country to inform politicians with whom they are disillusioned and with whom they do not agree that they will wage campaigns against them and vote them out of office.
 
Ms. Bass needs to seriously revisit the Bill of Rights. All the power given to the government of the United States of America and to elected officials such as herself, comes from the people who elect them. Read your Constitution, Madame Speaker of the Assembly! There is no power whatsoever that you can take that is not given to you through the people's votes!
 
As for being unfair, do you know, Ms. Bass, what freedom of speech is? It means that we as citizens can say whatever we want(outside of libel or slander), whenever we want(during election campaigns), and wherever we want(in front of government buildings at tea party rallies!) It doesn't mean we have to worry about being politically correct, that we can't speak out against issues such as government-run healthcare because it is a pet project of the party in power in Washington. It doesn't mean that we can't take our time and have true debates on important Congressional bills(which we were denied with the stimulus and cap-n-trade). Freedom of speech is an all-or-nothing proposition-it is the very cornerstone of our republic. Having a restricted freedom of speech would be to have none at all.
 
And the right to free speech has, most certainly, never implied that whatever I say has to be fair to you and your beliefs-and vice versa. Attempts to curb a citizen's words because he doesn't agree with his government is not the definition of free speech in a democratic republic-look it up-you will find another more sinister type of government listed under that description!
 
Your complaint against conservative talk radio has nothing to do with terrorism and you know it.  Terrorism is a word thrown around by liberals who want to appear to be concerned with citizens' welfare but who are actually concerned with retaining their power. There is nothing quite so incidious as a power trip disguised in humanitarian garb.  Your opinion has everything to do with a perceived threat from viewpoints that challenge yours.
 
Whenever Democrats feel challenged by an organized, intelligent surge of opinion by Republicans or Independents or Libertarians, they label them terrorists because they are unwilling to entertain the thought that anyone is smarter or more capable than they are. When the poor peans not in power in Washington have the nerve to disagree, the spector of a true rebellious movement among conservatives looms large. The only weapon in the liberal Dems arsenal is to portray their naysayers as terrorists.
 
We the people are slowly awakening from our apathetic reverie to this threat to freedom of speech .  We the people, in the form of tea parties and sympathetic conservative radio hosts, are insisting that our voices be heard.  If that sounds like a warning to politicians, well, so be it. At least they can comprehend that much! But it comes not from terrorists but from fellow Americans who think they are leading us in the wrong direction-away from liberty and towards socialism. Our collective voices will be heard. Our voices are the only ones that count on election day. That, Madame Speaker, is what free speech in America is all about!
 
This country celebrates another July Fourth on Saturday. I wonder what thoughts of our Founding Fathers will run through Ms. Bass' mind as she picnics with family and friends and looks skyward to brilliant displays of rockets red glare. Maybe the Fourth to her is just a quaint little holiday habit-it's true meaning long ago lost in the hedonistic pleasures of food and pyrotechnics. But for many of us true patriots, who still relish the wisdom of our country's founders,  the Fourth of July is all about the First Amendment. Without this freedom to practice our religion of choice(or none at all), the right to vocalize our opinions to government both individually and as part of a public assembly,to post blogs and write to our legislators, the democratic republic we celebrate every year is but a decorative faux finish on an ugly structure rotten to its foundation.
 
Copyright
 
 
 
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous1Next »