The New Republicans and Scott Walker

Many took note that in the Republican Convention the old guard, outside of Mitt Romney, were kept from the podium. The young, the vibrant, not always completely conservative but loaded with common sense and an ear to the people, those were the republicans put on display at the convention.

Still, with odd rules changes and a healthy uncertainty over whether Mitt Romney is more inside the beltway than conservative, many of us are holding our breaths over what will really change under a Romney administration.

What can bring us solace is that we have a slew of very good and upright people leading the charge and that makes all the difference in the world. We heard many wonderful testimonies of the Romney family. We heard their care and attentions to the needs of those they find in their lives; their compassion and empathy. No matter what you think of Mitt Romney’s politics he will do all he can to bring this nation back as a world economic power, bringing back jobs and opportunity, the American Dream to all of us, because he really does care. I can believe in his goodness, that he desires our prosperity as much or more than his own.

Paul Ryan is also a man of exceptional character from all I’ve heard and seen.

We heard from many at the convention who’s parents had sacrificed deeply so they could achieve the American Dream, far beyond what their parents could have achieved in their time. The opportunities they created for their children is what America is all about. They are stories of good people leading good lives and this will truly be the salvation of this nation.

Along this vein of promoting good and virtuous people as a core requirement for those in government, if you want good government and the freedoms it protects rather than bestows, and being from Wisconsin let me tell you my experience with and views of Scott Walker.

I first personally came across Scott Walker at public meetings in the late 90’s after a flash flood struck our neighborhood and the neighborhood was fighting for its existence. A “Friends” group, “Friends of the Menomonee River” in this case, had plans for naturalizing the entire valley in which we lived. With flood mitigation plans standing front and center before local governments after two years of June deluges striking Milwaukee our neighborhood was threatened with extinction. Eventually a flood wall and pumping station was designed to not only protect us from a 500 year flood, but also putting us in a category where we no longer needed to buy flood insurance. It came with a vastly improved neighborhood park and a river walk.

Scott Walker was a State Assemblyman then, not for our district but for other neighborhoods in the same watershed facing the same issues. He became far more involved in the flood mitigation process than any other elected official. He listened with sincerity at all the after hours meetings he attended and he was at most.

With the “Friends of the Menomonee River” putting forth artist’s renditions of our neighborhood as beautiful wooded meadow reserved for fisherman and the worthy who appreciate nature rather than those whose homes were actually standing their; homes filled with home owners who cared for the neighborhood, paid their taxes and in many cases raised their families there, even growing up in the neighborhood themselves. In this environment I decided to give Scott Walker a book I had read for an honors class I had recently taken. The book was titled “Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature” by William Cronon. It expanded the debate on the environment into the realm of culture and history. That is, how different cultures viewed nature and man’s relation to it and how man’s views had changed throughout history.

After one of the public meetings on flood mitigation plans for our watershed I approached Scott Walker and gave him the book. I told him how I thought it was very enlightening on the various views of the environment versus the narrow view the “Friends” group was putting forward. ...The gratitude and humility Scott walker showed as he earnestly took the book into his hands, you would think I was giving him a gold watch. I was immensely impressed and moved and it is one of the reason I believe this man would some day make a remarkable President.

Later, after scandal swept Milwaukee County government, Scott Walker ran for County Executive. For ten years he offered balanced budgets and tax cuts. He was ridiculed and criticized for every step he took. Much of the cuts he made were overridden by the County Board to the detriment of the taxpayer. He always remained calm and respectful to all his adversaries through his entire term of office.

Scott Walker kept this same calm and respectful attitude through one of the most cruel and ridiculous political assaults in the history of this nation when public sector unions attacked him for his budget. He was required by the state constitution to balance the budget, though the former governor had based the past budget(s) on taxes to be collected in future years, had taken money from the gas tax collections meant for roads and illegally raided funds from a doctor’s malpractice escrow account that Scott Walker then had to reimburse.

Yet Scott Walker put forth a balanced budget under almost impossible odds. He offset cuts with savings that allowed school districts to demand a greater percentage of contribution to health and pension plans by their teachers. He allowed districts to shop among other health insurance providers rather than being required to buy from an insurance company run by the teacher’s union. The savings he created were actually greater than the cuts.

For this he faced not only accusation and smears, but threats to him and his family. Still he remained calm and respectful to all.

I have heard it said of Scott Walker that he does not compromise his conservative ideals. This is true in many respects. However I have noticed something slightly different. The left has attacked all of Scott Walkers proposals, and we know through experience that their accusations are grossly exaggerated. But every accusation is built off a grain of truth. From what I have gleaned from the news and interviews is that our governor finds these grains of truth and responds to them and them alone.

Many know that ending the pension system and going to personal 401K plans would bring further savings, yet it is not a popular idea among the public sector unions and studies have shown that the state can function fiscally responsibly with continuing the pension system, so Scott Walker has not proposed a change. This again is an example of the respect he has for all people no matter their views or their offenses against him.

I truly believe Scott Walker would make a great president. He is one of several outstanding governors who are working for the change we need. I would hope we would have even more outstanding governors in sixteen years when, after Romney/Ryan win the election, there will be an opening for a new candidate. Though each of our favorite and accomplished governors may never receive the opportunity to be president we need many such strong, capable conservative governors to bring about the change this nation needs. Governors who can restore state’s rights and support economic prosperity for this nation, which is always good for the entire world.

we can restore the American dream. We can bring this nation back to its founding principles. It is, will be possible if we continue to elect good and upright people.

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2016; Obama’s America

I heard that “2016; Obama’s America” would be leaving the theaters soon (though it seems now to still be out) and I asked my wife if she wanted to see it as I never have or will go to a movie alone.

“I really want to Know more about Obama!” she exclaimed in her not so slight Japanese accent. So we were off to the movies.

The audience was mostly seniors (so much for medi-scare) and by the way they were talking things up before the movie I got the impression they don’t go to movies much. There were about forty people there on a Tuesday Republican Convention night.

It is a movie that will upset leftist only if they fear the revealing of the truth or they don’t think they are really leftists. But the theme of an anti-colonialist Obama as the best fit for why and what he is doing is compelling but distracts from the larger danger. Obama is not a movement of one.

How did the tea party come about? Well, that silent majority and others happened to share common views on life and the world; common values. They are those who are old enough to have received a proper education in their day or went to private schools. That is, there was no organized or coordinate agenda to create this group of like minded individuals. When the dangers facing this nation became clear to all the tea party formed organically, naturally out of the grass roots.

And so it is with the left. The coordination by a foreign power in the coalescing of this Marxist/communist/socialist movement would be hard to prove. But the origins of the propagation of this ideology, that from its earliest days has been considered a threat to this nation, can be shown to originate from the Soviet Union in their designs to overthrow this country.

If you do an Internet search on “Joe McCarthy was right” you will find many sources that, with the release of Soviet files after the Soviet Union’s implosion, document that …Joe McCarthy was right. The problem was Joe McCarthy was a drunk who used a dull hatchet where a sharp carving knife was required to cut out the true threat.

We don’t arrest people or use the government to destroy people’s lives simply for what they believe, or at least that is what we would like to believe. We bring the power of the nation down upon those who seek to destroy it in specific and determined plans, and actions; illegal activities.

So when “2016; Obama’s America” isolates Obama from the larger picture we should not lose sight of the reality that the leftist that run the democrat party have there origins in what has been traditionally considered Un-American and even treasonous. And they are not simply practicing a political ideology, they have been breaking the laws of this land to subvert the Constitution and the rights of the people of this nation. (OK ….they are just practicing a political ideology)

From the campaign credit card fund raising fraud of 2008, Fast and Furious, the subversion of Constitutional processes through executive order, even asking those sworn to uphold the law not to uphold the law, and the list goes on and on, one can claim we are suffering under a tyranny; a ruling class that sees themselves above the law. If Obama were a republican he would have been impeached in his first six months.

And what of equal justice? Many cry over a double standard but what are we really talking about. Here in Wisconsin we have several well documented cases of democrats using public/government office space and resources to support various political campaigns. This is illegal activity and a republican Wisconsin legislator went to prison for similar activities far less obvious or damning. yet the democrats do not even warrant an investigation for their activities. Our now famous governor Scott Walker is implicated in a John Doe investigation (called John Doe because it is to be done in secret) that has gone on and on, and spread to issues far beyond the original scope of the original investigation. We know all this because it is all secret so as not to unjustly tarnish the reputation of those involved.

All this did not come about because an anti-colonialist, if you accept the well documented premise of the movie, suddenly gained the Presidency. We cannot lose sight of the larger picture, the dangers we face and what it will take to restore this nation.

The movie is well worth seeing especially if you sincerely want to know more about Obama and his designs to destroy this nation, specifically through the national debt. Just remember it is not just Obama who wants to see this nation destroyed. He is just one of several heads.

A Bridge Too Far

In light of the 2010 midterm election, showing strong conservative results, and the continued resonance of tea party ideals among the general public, has the tea party, the conservative core of this nation gone a bridge too far? ‘A bridge too far’ taken from a quote attributed to General Montgomery in regards to Operation Market Garden and the title of a movie on Operation Market Garden.

Operation Market Garden was an ambitious plan to take a series of four bridges leading right to the border of Germany. At the time many were hoping the war would be over by Christmas. I believe we conservatives also can feel the potential for sweeping victories in the upcoming 2012 election despite the mainstream media propaganda to the contrary. But perhaps we to have been too ambitious, thinking the war will be over this November.

I am not speaking of the brilliant move by Romney in picking Paul Ryan as his running mate. I am speaking of the senate republican primaries in Wisconsin and Missouri. (the last two battleships ever commissioned)

My view of the best candidate in Wisconsin is explained in my previous post. Eric Hovde is a true conservative that has talents and abilities that not only fit what this nation needs but the world. But he lost in a four candidate primary of three conservatives and a somewhat moderate political dynamo, the former governor Tommy Thompson; the primary winner with 35% of the vote. If one of the other conservatives had dropped out Eric Hovde would most likely have picked up most of their votes and Wisconsin would again have supplied the Senate with a conservative private sector powerhouse.

I don’t know what the pundits or the republican party was thinking in not thinning the field. (actually the establishment types surely thought this was the best chance for Thompson) A prominent talk show host in the Milwaukee metropolitan area kept contemplating that the candidate losing big in the polls might come from behind and win, even though he voted for Hovde. So many others contemplated supporting a loser rather than making the rational decision. Did they think everyone could win? Did they think something magical would happen that one of three conservatives could beat out the moderate?

Yes, Thompson is a moderate but he will vote the party lines clearly drawn and understands we want Obama Care repealed, lower taxes and fewer regulations, including the reigning in of the EPA. But he is a political machine familiar with Washington. I fear he will build relationships with the massive number of unelected staff and bureaucrats rather than conservative and tea party congressmen, including his fellow senator, the manufacturer Ron Johnson.

And then there is Todd Akin, again winning with only one third of the vote in a field of three candidates, all conservatives. He quickly put his foot in his mouth and republicans abandoned him. Whether he deserved to be abandoned is not the question.

Just as in Operation Market Garden, where the British 1st Airborne suffered great losses and had to retreat from that bridge too far, those behind the conservative cause have let their hopes and ambitions overwhelm their common sense. We have suffered some setbacks and we can’t afford to keep thinking the war will be over in November. And I am not just talking about the multiple election cycles it will take to re-establish limited government in our nation.

Historians have documented parallels in history for some time. Patterns and trends are repeated in novels and movies as they seem to tap into something all can relate to; an archetype. Science fiction writers also draw on these  patterns and norms.

I believe that in the battle of good and evil for the soul of this nation we can make comparisons with the Second World War. As many believed the war would be over by Christmas, the reality turned out to be something very different. The Battle of the Bulge was yet to be fought, where evil mustered all they had to destroy the good. It was a battle of confusion and deception where the battle lines were lost and many fitted as US Military were actually Nazis. A comparison can also be made to the German advances in early 1918 in the First World War.

This election will become that battle. I believe few understand how far the left will go. And this battle will not be over until Mitt Romney stands before Chief Justice Roberts with his hand on the Bible in January. And much of the turmoil soon to manifest can be attributed to Justice Roberts. He handed the left their Holy Grail. He supplied the instrument, Obama Care, through which all their wildest dreams can be fulfilled. Why would the left ever give up now?

The left is united around an ideology that sees struggle, violence, as the dynamic through which all progress was achieved out of the chaos and void from which everything came about by chance. There are no absolute or even common values. It is a survival of the fittest where compassion and holding to ethical standards are considered weakness.

In this coming election we will see unprecedented accusations against republicans propagated vigorously by the media. We will confront great confusion. Violence will spread beyond the breaking of windows and slashing of tires on republican get out the vote vehicles as in previous elections. And if you think Biden’s statement that the republicans want to put our fellow citizens ‘back in chains’ was a gaffe, I say leftist tactics and goals suggest otherwise.

I plan to vote November 6th and be safe at home before the election results start coming in. I was out and about when the O.J. trial was out and can guarantee there will be violence when Obama loses.

If you think the left and Obama will give up after they lose the election, I disagree. We will see riots in our streets, accusations of massive  voter fraud to negate the election and attempts by the Justice Department to arrest Romney and or Ryan in an attempt to disqualify them from taking office.

But if we stay strong and righteous the good will win.

Why I am Voting Eric Hovde

For those of you in other parts of the country besides beautiful Wisconsin we are having a republican Senate primary election this coming Tuesday; August 14, 2012. We have four impressive candidates looking for the people’s stamp of approval to run against the most liberal vote in the House of Representatives, the democrat candidate for Senate Tammy Baldwin who is collecting funds nationwide through homosexual activist organizations.

The most well known candidate running in the republican primary is former governor Tommy Thompson. He is considered a slam dunk victory over Baldwin by some if he should win the primary and he is committed to repealing Obama Care. He will vote the republican line guaranteed at least 98% of the time. But he is a professional politician who believes government can solve problems and that is the problem. He is not a conservative but a moderate who having served in the Bush administration knows how Washington works. All reasons all should fear that potential 2% where he might undermine conservative reforms. (Why 2% rather than 1 or 5? Wisconsin is the dairy state)

Tommy Thompson is a disaster waiting to happen from my perspective, the common man’s perspective. He represents everything republican that brought us to where we are today.

Mark Neumann, a former conservative congressman that took courageous stands for fiscal conservatism when he was in office, was who I first thought of when our current Senator Herb Kohl announced he would resign.  A conservative politician who is well known, he has lost every state wide race he was in. And he is a politician though he is accomplished in the private sector. He believes in small scale green energy government initiatives and has taken advantage of them. Many don’t like him for negative attacks he made against Scott Walker in the governor’s race.

He has been endorsed by conservative organizations but they have had little effect. I personally believe that if an organization that puts ‘tea party’ in their title (the tea party express) they should not be endorsing one conservative over another. It corrupts the movement.

Neumann is simply not the most conservative, is a politician and isn’t the best fit for what this nation and the world desperately needs.

Jeff Fitzgerald is a republican state assemblyman, the assembly speaker, who has given up his seat to run for the Senate. He valiantly pushed through the Walker reforms here in Wisconsin. Though he is relatively young his career in politics has not left him pure and sinless. In 2005 he voted to extend ethanol mandates across the entire state. He is a professional politician, something the public has grown to disdain. He would work for real change but I do not believe he is the best choice either.

Eric Hovde is a conservative and very successful businessman in the field of finance. He is not a politician. He understands international finance and some even call him a genius in his field. He has a large portfolio of companies and properties and though many have tried to find links between his companies and government programs few links could be found. The links that have been found have been mischaracterized and cannot be attributed to his leadership. This is an incredible accomplishment in todays world.

He admired Ronald Reagan from an early age and remained a conservative while growing up in Madison Wisconsin and having lived in Washington D.C. for over twenty years. He understands the great threat our nation is facing with its growing debt and has the conviction, skills and natural ability to offer real solutions. I see him as a real conservative and I prefer whole milk.

We will all suffer deeply if Obama is re-elected and we do not return to this nations founding principles of limited government. Our economy will collapse.

But what about the rest of the world? Europe is on the verge of economic collapse as is China, though they wont admit it. There was a time before Obama when the United States was a leader in this world and powerful leadership will be required in the very near future. Fiscal leadership in particular will be critical for the well being of many in the world. If you think things could go from bad to worse for us in the United States, things will be far worse for those in other countries when this looming financial Winter settles. The poorer and more despotic a nation is, the more that nations people will suffer.

As I hear more and more of the groundbreaking efforts of Mitt Romney with Bain Capital I grow more confident that he is the person this nation needs as President at this time as financial disaster looms here and around the world. I believe that his recent European tour suggests that he wants to lead and is capable of it.

Eric Hovde, with his expertise in international finance and understanding of the fiscal crisis facing this nation and the world, is also the man for the times. As a United States Senator he will be in a position to offer his expertise not only for this nation but the rest of the world on a scale he would otherwise not be able to achieve.

This is why I am voting for Eric Hovde. The United States is man’s greatest hope and we must understand that what we do now holds severe ramifications not only for us but for the rest of the world.

Freedom Works

Freedom Works is one of many organizations that are working diligently to save this nation. The Heritage Foundation is a powerful bulwark in the cause of freedom that has been unmatched in the depth and quality of their research from what I can ascertain.

Freedom Works had an auxiliary site on which they conducted a survey for the RNC.The goal was to identify the issues that are most important to the public. The process was to pair issues together and have one choose one over the other. Then each issue was paired against a different issue among the set and the process continued for as long as the participant wanted to go on. I suspect I went farther than most into the survey but never got to the end where all options were exhausted.

The survey was about to close and had been up for some time when I took it. The top 20 issues were listed. On top was repealing Obama care of course, but it was what I didn’t see in the top twenty that intrigued me more than what I saw.

The repeal of ethanol mandates and subsidies was not in the top twenty. It is something I and many feel strongly about. But then again I felt strongly about almost every issue presented. The reality is, when faced with the choice of any one pairing of issues I could have tossed a coin and have been satisfied with either result in most all cases. In other words, after the first two or three in the top twenty all the issues listed were just as important to me, and I suspect many others, as what would have been number twenty five or thirty.

I appreciate the work of Freedom Works but question if they have been played. All the issues presented should be part of the republican platform under the principle of limited government, but now they have a basis on which to deal with but a few. The establishment will give back some inches after the miles they have already claimed. It is this kind of politicking the public is becoming sick of.

The public, the silent majority, the moral majority, …the tea party are looking for a complete dismantling of government. We want it out of our daily lives, PERIOD. We want to be able to look to their fellow man again and ask each other, how are we going to solve this problem? How are WE going to make our communities better?

The people of this nation want to be human again, not numbers in a poll. They want to build bonds of trust with their neighbors, in their churches and among their families and have their shared values reflected in their social institutions at every level. This means in politics too. They want accomplishments arising from their own volition and efforts. They despise having to look over their shoulders to see if government approves, and what taxes and regulations may apply, and if they can gain an exemption or not. They want to stop looking at their employees as someone that may sue them under some law or regulation they may not even be aware of. They don’t want to wait to see how government will move the markets, where it will invest deciding winners and losers before they make their own business decisions, as all the while our elected officials are become filthy rich in the process.

My family which is far better off than myself and consider themselves conservatives, not to mention members of my church, have said to me on more than one occasion when I was in a financial bind; “Isn’t there a government program for that?” Private individuals are becoming so trained and drained of resources that they look to government to fulfill basic human duties, or at least what used to be considered basic duties such as Christian charity. Charity is not even allowed to be Christian any more in light of the Obama administrations rulings in regards to Catholic hospitals.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. Perhaps for some of you the holiday has just ended today; Sunday the 8th. Many eloquent and important editorials were written that stirred the founding spirit in our own hearts. They inspired, they warned and even wondered if all this nation represents is lost. Most of you reading this blog are inspired and motivated to stand strong and take this nation back. It is a drive and motivation that has to go far beyond this past Fourth of July. Like the founding fathers who pledge all they had, their lives and the fate of their families to the cause of liberty, facing certain death if they failed, we have to be so committed in this time of peril for our country. It will take many an election, many checks in support of candidates who will not be heralded by the establishment, many judicial appointments and even political strife in the streets to turn this nation around and we have no time to waste. It will take the full effort of all of us great and small.

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Thomas Jefferson.

“The Declaration of Independence”