Encourage your friends and family

Do you really want to affect change in the American political landscape? Get your family and friends to vote in the November election. The sad reality of the situation over the last 30 years is that less than 62% of eligible voters actually vote in the Presidential elections and less than 40% vote in the "mid-term" elections in between. That means that no matter what the talking heads on television would like you to believe, nobody, and I mean nobody, has been elected to national office by a "majority of the people". That means that even President Obama, who the media pundits will tell you won by an "overwhelming" majority only got an actual 35% of the vote.
This is the reason that we see the offal that currently occupies public office. Not only do we have a significant majority of elected officials in Washington who have never actually held a real job, by that I mean a job that actually results in the creation of wealth, but most of them are elected by less than one third of the electorate. The only way to stop this travesty is to get the voter turnout above 75%.
Over and above the turnout, stop letting other people make your decisions for you. Do your own investigation of the candidates and arrive at your own choice. Yes, it is time consuming, but it is much easier now with the internet. There are literally millions of resources available to determine which candidate will uphold your views and, you can only hope, will uphold those views once they are in office.
When making your determination on candidate selection, make sure that you are viewing it from a "what is the proper role of government" perspective. Be aware that a large number of candidates, particularly the career politicians, view the proper role of the government as controlling all aspects of your life. The only significant difference in the two major parties is which social direction that control will swing.
Personally, I have voted in every election since the day I turned 18. I can't honestly say that I always did the appropriate amount of research in my candidate selection, particularly when I was younger, but I am getting better at it. Yes, it consumes a large amount of time doing actual candidate research, especially separating the wheat from the chaff, but it is worth every moment if I can vote for someone that actually believes in the original structure of the government. It takes even more effort to shake the brain-washing of the public education system about how great the "nanny state" is.
Get your family and friends to vote in November and let's turn this government back into one that is actually "of the people, by the people, for the people" instead of "of some of the people, by the political elite, for their own re-election interests". And finally, remember, if you don't vote, you have also waived your right to complain about the government.

Response to editorial

Here is my response to Dana Milbank (via email) on his editorial in The Washington Post on July 17th;

You are missing the entire point of the billboard and Mr. Sowell's piece. All you have to do is read The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek and he explains that collectivism in it's many forms leads to totalitarianism. The propagation of the socialist doctrines of the early twentieth century led to (and naturally lead to) Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao, etc. Maybe President Obama isn't the totalitarian dictator yet, but he is definitely blazing the trail. He has a cabinet full of people that think that Chairman Mao was a great philosopher, which is completely ridiculous. As my grandfather and father always told me, "judge a man by his actions, not by his words".

In judging President Obama by his actions, let's see what we get;

1) Nationalization of two of the big three American automakers. One still under government control, one sold to the administration's favorite bidder. In the process of that take-over, robbing legitimate investors of their capital. - destruction of capitalism as outlined in many socialist writings.

2) Nationalization of health care. Even though the health care industry is currently invaded by government over-regulation. - elimination of individual choice as outlined in socialist manifestos

3) Vilification of Arizona for trying to maintain their own (and the rest of the nation's) sovereignty - the self-diefication of the federal government and it's leadership as warned about during the Constitutional ratification debates

4) Divisive rhetoric attempting to turn all "minorities" against the Tea Party - as perfectly described in The Road to Serfdom, it is much easier to unite the masses (in its most derogatory definition) against a particular group than for a particular agenda. The Jews in pre-WWII Germany, the kulak in Communist Russia, now people who believe in individual sovereignty as the basis for civil society.

5) Grand-standing instead of actually doing something while Deepwater Horizon spewed oil into the Gulf. As a real leader, he should have been coordinating honest offers of assistance from all quarters. Instead he is setting the stage for the destruction of the heart of industrialized advancement. All part of the destruction of capitalism.

As a result of President Obama's actions, I would say that the only legitimate criticism of the billboard is that it is missing pictures of Mussolini, Mao, Chavez, Peron, and Castro. The twentieth century is full of examples all over the world of the catastrophic consequences of collectivism in any of its forms, yet we now have a president who is kicking in the afterburners to get us to our own catastrophe as quickly as possible. He sees it as his opportunity to put his personal stamp on history, and as many commentators and world leaders have noted, it's really all about him. The most narcissistic individual to ever hold the office.

As for you and your editorial brethren at the Washington Post, you should all quit fawning over the chosen one and provide your readers with actual critical assessment of the current president instead of kissing his feet. Wait a minute, that means that you are setting yourselves up to be his equivalent of Pravda. I guess that you have already accepted the end game and are now trying to insure that you have a sweet position within the new totalitarian regime.....

Collectivism in its most basic form

Yesterday, the NAACP issued what can only be referred to as a reprimand to the Tea Party for being racist. Welcome to collectivism at its most basic form. The whole premise of collectivism is to eliminate individual sovereignty and insure that all actions are for the good of the collective. Race is the easiest way to define the collective as you can typically glance at an individual and have a good idea if they are part of your particular collective. My hat is off to the members of the black community who have not hesitated to renounce this NAACP statement. The NAACP will now pillory you as either an "Uncle Tom" or "not black enough".
This is nothing more than a lame ploy by the libtards to insure that they are viewed as the only ones looking out for your particular collective. Notice that Michelle Obama was present at the announcement, this should be the first clue that the whole thing was orchestrated by the Democrats and the White House. The Tea Party scares them as it is focused in the individual sovereignty and self-determination that this country was founded upon. There is nothing more reprehensible to me than the willingness with which people play the race card instead of engaging in open and honest debate about policies. Apparently, according to the NAACP and the White House, the color of your skin (as long as it is not white) excuses the content of your character.
I guess that since I disagree with Obama's policies, I am a racist. Since I disagree with Nancy Pelosi's policies, that makes me a misogynist and since I would gladly invite King Samir Shabazz to come into any of the Rocky Mountain states with the intent to "Kill crackers and their babies", I guess that makes me violent as well.
Full disclosure: I am a white Anglo-Saxon protestant male with a wife of Spanish and Cherokee descent. I have a friend in the National Guard (on his way back to Iraq again), a friend who is Jewish, a friend who is Mormon, and a black uncle who treats my aunt like the phenomenal individual that she is. This is what America is all about, the ability to choose your friends and life partners based on the content of their character. At the end of the day, our race, color and creed do not make us who we are, our actions do. This is the America MLK was longing for in his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Asking for a Redress of Grievances

Once again, the money-grubbing politicians are after your hard earned money. We have all gotten great deals on internet sites purchasing whatever it is that we need and here we go with another attempt at taxing those transactions specifically. Open Congress (www.opencongress.org) has as the lead article on their web site this morning that Rep. Delahunt (D-MA) has introduced the "Main Street Fairness Act" to tax internet transactions. This is nothing more than a lame attempt to put in tariff legislation aimed at protecting brick and mortar retailers. While I am all for supporting my local and regional businesses, I am also for saving a buck when I can.
This legislation is a clear violation of Article I, Section 9 of The Constitution; "No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State". Now I understand that most of our so-called representatives are not interested in The Constitution, nor do I believe that most of them have even read it.
I think it is time for the states to stand up and assert their rights under the 10th Amendment and use the only language that the progressive/liberal establishment understands. It is time for the state attorneys general to file a lawsuit against Fedzilla (thanks for the term Ted) with a list of grievances similar to what was included in The Declaration of Independence;

1. Failure to maintain limited government as outlined in Article I,Section 8
2. Failure to abide by Article I, Section 9, particularly the ex post facto clause and the one mentioned above
3. Failure to protect sovereignty as stated in Article I, Section 8; repel invasions. The influx of illegal immigrants from the south is an invasion.
4. Failure to provide for uniform rules of naturalization per Article I, Section 8
5. Failure to leave decisions of a personal nature, that do not interfere with any other persons' liberty, to the individual per the 9th Amendment.
6. Clear violation of states' rights as outlined in the 10th Amendment through financial coercion and unfunded mandates.
7. Clear violation of the Supremacy clause as outlined in Article VI; it makes The Constitution the supreme law of the land, not whatever whims move the federal governement
8. Clear violation of the Oaths clause in Article VI by peppering judicial appointees with questions about their political stance rather than their position on the supremacy of the Constitution (and most recently allowing a confirmation hearing to continue with refusal to answer questions)

I'm sure if I thought about it a little longer, I could come up with a dozen others. We are currently at the point in this country where we need to start actively pursuing a serious redress of grievances from Fedzilla. The dictatorial attitude and condescending tone so common from the politicians has run its course and we are done.

I have posted this on my ResistNet blog as well.

Obama vs. McChrystal

In how many different ways can the war in Afghanistan be turned into a SNAFU and opportunity for the most narcissistic president in US history to genuflect? First and foremost, this goes out to all politicians regardless of party affiliation, if you are going to deploy the US military, it needs to be under the order to achieve unconditional surrender of the enemy. This requires that the congress officially declare war and provide funding above board for a good, old fashioned, ass kicking.
As for General McChrystal, he is responsible for the lives of thousands of American soldiers, including my brother, while trying to eliminate the Taliban from the worst geographic location for military maneuvers on the planet. If he expresses frustration, as he did during his time with the reporter from The Rolling Stone, then so be it. He is the military leader in a quagmire that is shaping up to be significantly worse than Vietnam. By the way, if you've read the article, the comments aren't nearly as bad as they could have been. The reporter appears to have painted a reasonably accurate picture of the diplomatic infighting as he could.
As for the tongue-lashing that the General is bound to receive from Dear Leader today, I have only one comment "Stand your ground, General". You took an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic and this president has shown his complete disdain for the document.
This president has proven himself to be a megalomaniac intent on showing that he is "the chosen one". His obvious disdain for the American soldier is evidenced by his refusal to attend the ceremony at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day, choosing instead to vacation with his family in Chicago. While his lame attempt at showing some amount of respect got rained out (what a weenie), Marines charged with standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown never leave their post, even during a hurricane.
Chairman Maobama is all about the photo op, taxpayer funded dates with his wife, and has taken more vacations in his first year than most presidents take during an entire term. Hope his golf game is improving because he plays a lot of it.

Could he be any more disingenuous?

President Obama addressed the nation last night about the worst environmental disaster in the history of this nation. His claims of actions already completed were half truths at best. He claims that he assembled a team of top scientists, led by Steven Chu, to figure out how to stop this spill. When did he do this, yesterday? Besides, this is an engineering problem that has to be figured out by seasoned, experienced drilling experts not a bunch of academia wonks that have never been outside of a classroom or laboratory. Yes, there are a lot of physics involved and Mr. Chu is at the top of that field and will likely have good ideas, but why wasn't he put up there 55 days ago?
He also attempted to discredit the technological marvel that was Deepwater Horizon and forgot to mention that it was government policy, bowing to the environmentalists, that moved drilling into a region that was a mile below water. Notice that he failed to mention the offer of assistance from the Dutch government three days after the initial accident that the Obama administration, not BP, refused. Notice also that he failed to mention that EPA policy concerns are what prompted the Deepwater Horizon to be filled with water and sunk, turning a mile of pipe into one big pretzel, rather than letting it burn while BP and TransOcean figured out how to shut it off.
Did he mention that nobody has ever tried to cap a well below a mile of water and what has been accomplished so far is a testament to the technological advancement of our society? No he didn't and I doubt that he even understands that a human can not swim any deeper than about 2000 feet (that's less than half the depth of the well head for all of the Obamabot Zombies out there). He would rather follow "Rules for Radicals" and identify someone to vilify and put all of the effort toward complete vilification and blame.
A real leader, regardless of political affiliation, would have asked BP at the beginning what help they needed and removed barriers for assistance. He would have accepted assistance from anywhere and everywhere and overwhelmed the issue as opposed to spending time figuring out whose ass to kick.
My take on the whole thing; Obama knows that he is a one-termer and he is intentionally making this as large of a disaster as possible so that his ultra left wing buddies can use it as ammunition to destroy the oil industry as a whole. After all, the ultimate goal here is complete government control over the means of production and what better way to accomplish that than control of the basic source material for so much of our lives.

My latest project

Last night, I embarked on my latest project, teaching a class on The Constitution to a group of home school students. What I was presented with was a group of intellectually adept students (and some of their parents) that asked intelligent questions and approached the subject matter with an open and critical mind. We never got past definitions of terms like liberty and forms of government, yet the inaugural class lasted 2.5 hours. These kids are the hope for our future and if we can send them into the world intellectually well armed they will flourish.
In our discussion on liberty, there were questions ranging from abortion to the draft to retribution for violations of an individual's personal liberty (which led into a discussion of the proper role of government). As an engineer who is self-educated on the subject, it provided the equivalent of an intellectual obstacle course, but I am confident that this group could have held its own with a true scholar on the subject.
I am looking forward to next week's class and the challenge that it presents (yes, I actually enjoy a challenge).