Following Superwoman’s Lead
A long-time friend of mine, who retired some years ago after serving as a Republican congressman for eighteen years, called me last week. He said he was concerned about protecting his assets in the event the current soft dictatorship in Washington evolves into an out-and-out police state.
During our discussion, I asked him if the Republicans win control of both houses of Congress, did he believe they would have the courage to seriously start cutting back on entitlements and trying to repeal every unconstitutional bill the Obamaviks have passed. To which my cynical friend responded, “If the Republicans take over the House and Senate, it’s not going to make a tinker’s dam bit of difference.”
He went on to say that one of the hardest realities he had to come to grips with during his tenure as a congressman was that most Republicans lack courage. He said they live in fear of being accused of being calloused, cruel, uncompassionate, or – worst of all – racist. When he was a congressman, he was notorious for stubbornly sticking to the Constitution when it came to voting on legislation – which, of course, resulted in his being labeled an extremist.
The recent Senate debate over yet another extension of unemployment benefits was a perfect example of the RINO problem. Most Republicans were careful to say that they supported the extension of jobless pay, but argued that the costs should be “paid for” rather than adding them to the federal deficit.
Attention Republican senators: There is no provision in the Constitution for the government to provide unemployment benefits – period! Yet, this obvious fact was never part of the debate. And so it is with virtually every Congressional debate. Such time-wasting debates are almost always based on a false premise – usually that the government has a right to engage in activities that are not spelled out in the Constitution.
In the case of unemployment benefits, the false premise is that Congress has a right to give money to people who are unemployed. The debate then centers around whether the money should be borrowed, printed, come directly from taxpayers in the form of higher taxes, or by cutting an equal amount from some other transfer-of-wealth program.
The progressives in both parties have been using this clever debating tool for decades. It reminds me of a selling strategy the late Elmer Wheeler, thought of in his time as the world’s greatest salesman, once wrote about. Wheeler said that when someone orders a malted milk at a soda fountain (realize that this was clear back in the 1940s), the clerk should not ask, “Would you like an egg in your malt today, sir?” Rather, he should matter-of-factly say, “One egg or two today?”
If the clerk simply asks the customer if he would like an egg in his malt, Wheeler said it makes it easy for him to say no. But by eliminating the no-egg option and giving the customer the choice of one egg or two, he often feels intimidated and chooses the single-egg option rather than saying, “I don’t want any egg in my malted.”
That is the crux of the problem with many Republicans. They lack the courage to say they don’t want any egg in their malt. What many Republicans still do not understand is that a majority of Americans (meaning tea-party people) want politicians to abide by the Constitution.
Compassion is a good thing, but it’s not a collective experience. It’s a very personal issue. To be sure, a majority of Americans are compassionate, but they do not want the government to force them to pay for what politicians think they should be compassionate about.
Though 30+ percent of Americans actually do want socialism (so long as they believe they will get the better of the scam), I believe that a majority of Americans want an end to socialism. Most so-called Republican conservatives don’t understand that their constituents want them to stand tall and fight against all entitlement programs and business subsidies – no comprising.
Amazingly, when someone like a Sharron Angle (running for the Senate against Harry Reid in Nevada) says she wants to privatize Social Security and get rid of the Department of Education, Reid thinks he can win votes by calling her an extremist. It’s this type of absurd charge that throws fear into the hearts of so many Republicans.
Thus, through doublespeak, progressives have succeeded in changing the ground rules of every debate. When someone suggests that the Bush tax cuts should stay in place, progressive politicians and pundits have become fond of asking, “How are you going to pay for those tax cuts?” Their premise is that the money people would be able to keep as a result of a tax cut really belongs to the government! It is, of course, a totally false premise.
So, the big question remains: If we actually have elections in November, and if Republicans can overcome Democratic fraud and voter intimidation and win both the House and Senate, will enough of them have the courage to stand up and talk tea-party language?
If they are fearful, all they need to do is follow closely behind Superwoman (a.k.a. Michelle Bachmann), Jim DeMint, Ron Paul, and a host of other tea-party House and Senate members. Bachmann is a woman who never ceases to amaze me with her ability and courage to zero in on the real issues. She doesn’t buy into false-premise debates, which drives the far left crazy. In a recent interview, she said:
“I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another, and expose all the nonsense that has gone on.” The only word I would take issue with is “nonsense.” I would be inclined to call it blatant criminal activity.
Along with a growing group of her fellow congressmen and women, Rep. Bachmann not only understands what a majority of people in this country are upset about, she actually believes in the same things they do. But it would all be for naught if she didn’t also possess the courage to
say what she believes.
And she’s absolutely right – subpoenas should be the first order of business. So long as progressives know there are no serious consequences to their actions, they will continue to defy the Constitution and engage in criminal activity.
It’s time for Republicans to clean out their tent (meaning, invite progressives to leave the party), put an end to the cushy, clubby atmosphere in Washington, and get in step with Michelle Bachmann and other tea-party folks in the House and Senate.
I really believe this is the last train out for the Republican Party. Think of it as the Courage of Conviction Train, and hope that enough Republicans have the courage to get on board and prove my ex-congressman friend wrong about his tinker’s dam comment.
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I would have expected better from Robert Ringer. Like most mainstream Republicans they can’t see the forest for the trees. Notice when talking about cutting back government and obedience to the Constitution he refers to entitlements only. The neoconservatives never speak about cutting back on their own unconstitutional activities such as unauthorized wars as one blatant example.
There is also no mention of the shadow government who are really in control. It goes much deeper than lack of courage. Our government official in all three branches have become mere puppets to those who control the flow of money. All Ringer accomplishes is promoting the false Left / Right dichotomy.
Also I would never place those other people like Bachmann in the same class as Ron Paul. Dr Paul stands alone is a class all his own. You would be hard pressed to find a handful of men in the entire country with his integrity.
Robert,
All insightful and spot on comments.
The crux of our political problem as I view it is that corporate and financial interests have completely infiltrated and corrupted our government (both sides of the political aisle) and now our so called representatives are taking their marching orders, not from the citizens who these politicians are elected to represent, but from heavily funded small elitist groups spreading their money around in covert ways to our politicians to do the bidding of these corporations, unions, and financial sector crooks.
The fact that neither political party has taken direct and forceful action to secure our nation’s borders, even after 9/11, more than hints that these politicians are no longer representing the American citizens.
The writing is on the wall and it’s not in braille.
I’m sure the recent corruption scandals involving Charles Rangel, Maxine Waters, and John Kerry are just the tips of the icebergs and the greater problem lies in the fact that we know that there are many of these long time entrenched politicians taking advantage of their political positions to wheel, deal, and increase their own bank accounts and at the American citizen’s expense. Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and California are literal viper’s nests of entrenched and rotten to the core politicians. It’s been obvious for years and yet the same known vipers are re-elected over and over again. So are we to conclude the people in these states have lost their minds or are the people in these states so compromised as well with the redistribution of wealth that has purchased their blind allegiance to these political villains?
I lost my faith in the integrity of the Republican party during the President G.W. Bush administration when I repeatedly took the time to sincerely and politely write to my Congressman and Senators and received back in the mail a few weeks later, nice and polite form letters that explained to me how my opinion was indeed important to these representatives however they had already decided to do what they thought was “best” and which was against how I personally requested them to vote.
What was more frustrating is that the polls at that time in my state indicated that the majority of my fellow New Hampshire citizens agreed with my positions. However by the way these politicians voted on critical issues, it was clearly apparent to me that they were not representing the people in the state who these so called “representatives” were elected to serve.
I no longer wish to vote for any well connected, wealthy lawyer / business person “type” who have been the most disappointing and unresponsive to constituent’s wishes as they appear to be the most corruptible to outside corporate and business influences.
If we are ever going to right the ship of state and reverse course towards the rocks our nation is currently heading towards, we must change the system to allow people with far more personal integrity to run for office. We cannot keep electing the same corrupted and compromised insiders to be elected, to then appoint judges, and to then further erode our freedoms and faith in our system.
We need to send a clear and unwavering message this upcoming election to our elected officials…”YOU WORK FOR US!” and not the other way around.
“During our discussion, I asked him if the Republicans win control of both houses of Congress, did he believe they would have the courage to seriously start cutting back on entitlements and trying to repeal every unconstitutional bill the Obamaviks have passed. To which my cynical friend responded, “If the Republicans take over the House and Senate, it’s not going to make a tinker’s dam bit of difference.””
Robert,
With the approval of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court of the United States with the votes of 5 so called Republican Senators (Snowe, Collins, Lugar, Gregg, and Graham), your friend apparently knows what he is talking about. He’s should not be declared so cynical if he’s apparently telling the truth.
I agree with the gentleman who said it won’t matter who wins both houses of Congress. Or the Presedency, for that matter. I’m beginning to wonder what good it does to vote. Our choice is between the socialist Democrats and the gutless Republicans. Is this ever going to change?
It appears that D40 totally misread this missive. First, if you’re at all familiar with Ringer, or at least read his Core Beliefs, you wouldn’t have made such a ridiculous opening remark. Second, if you review the national budget and the unfunded liabilities, you’ll quickly see that entitlements are far and away the the burden that will bring down the ship. That is, not long after entitlements bring down the states. Third, your grievances with neoconservatives simply doesn’t fit the narrative. Fourth, Glenn Beck’s doing a great job of uncovering the shadow government, and that wasn’t the point of the missive. Fifth, saying that “All Ringer accomplishes is promoting the false Left / Right dichotomy.” is just plain stupid. Re-read what he actually said. And lastly, indeed Ron Paul is a hero. On that we agree. But there are other brave souls standing up against the tide, and for that they deserve our support and kudos. It seems childish and non-productive to say “Oh yeah? She’s not so great. Look at him. He’s the best” For Christ’s sake there’s a war on. So stand up and give every warrior a pat on the back, or at least a kind word of support.