What Have We Come To?

What have we come to that Democrats, liberals, progressives, the left wing of American politics are now the Keepers of American Morality (KAM)?

They would gladly abandon their country and give up their loved ones to save Khalid Sheik Mohanned from a scintilla of pain? Indeed, such Wonders of the Human Race are greater in their magnanimity than God himself. God may be dead to these people, but they certainly wallow in their self-righteousness. Even Maggie Gallagher, bless her soul, would give up her life, her family, sons and husband, so that not one terrorist would be tortured!

I can only say, “Save me from these people.” They represent the very misguided reasoning that leads to a denial of a basic American right - to be protected by the people in whom we vest our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. As a citizen who obeys the laws of this country, who pays his taxes, and votes his conscious, I have a right to be protected by whatever means necessary to guarantee my and my loved ones safety. A terrorist does not have a right to kill me - which incidentally is the ultimate torture.

I, for one, am for the powers who protect the people and defend the country using whatever means possible to assure that success. I know that my enemies have no qualms about using whatever methods to serve their purpose. They will, believe it or not, use my own self-doubt and whimsy against me.

If I cannot depend on my government, then should I “abandon all hope”? Or should I join the KAMs and accept death joyfully, knowing that as I perish at the hands of my enemies I have kept the faith?

Barack Obama - What He Himself Has Been Waiting For

Karl Rove, former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush and now columnist to the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, suggests that President Barack Obama is really just a product of Chicago-style politics. And it's not to difficult to see why.

Barack Obama is the One Americans and He Himself have been waiting for. But this longing for a savior or a redeemer is nothing new in American life. We have always been mesmerized by the outsider who promises salvation of one kind or another, who promises to salve our bodies, our psyches, or our souls - particularly in times of stress and turmoil.

He is the circuit-riding preacher who traveled the early frontier to bring salvation to the colonial settlers.

We are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that for
the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin.

He is the rainmaker who came to towns in the Midwest to encourage rain from clear skies.

We have to make hard choices to bring our deficit down.

He is the snake oil salesman who trundled in his wagon from gold-rush town to gold-rush town in the old West, promising, with a swig of his magic elixir, to cure our aches and pains, to increase our libido, and to extend our lives.

If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes
increased a single dime.

He is the faith healer who can with the touch of his hands make the blind see and the lame walk.

Anyway, it was in there somewhere that he became the president. And it wasn't
just bearing or dignity, which he has by nature, it was more mysterious. He put
on the cloak. - Peggy Noonan

He is today's televangelist who offers salvation from a distance through the 'personal touch' of modern technology.

We are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that
for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy
into a tailspin.

He is the spiel man who promises to slice, dice, and puree all our concerns for the mere price of a theater ticket - only $19.95. But, wait, that's not all.

The only way to fully restore America's economic strength is to make the
long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a
renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world.

He is the OprahMan who points us toward 'our better natures' as he accrues more obeisance to himself and his cronies and more of our wealth to his government.

The eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us—watching to see what
we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead. Those of us gathered here tonight
have been called to govern in extraordinary times.

Take all of these together, however, and what you get something new entirely, for national politics, that is. What we have as our super hero is ChicagoMan - a mixture of words, image, false piety, and little substance.

Welcome to Chicago on the Potomac

Welcome to

CHICAGO ON THE POTOMAC

Now you are getting the feel for how it is to live in a city that rules a state, except now it is a city that runs the government of the nation. Corrupt, vile, dangerous to life and limb, its power is wielded by an amoral, machiavelian group of ill-prepared, self-serving nincompoops whose chief word-slinger is a man of just that - “words, just words.” And as we know, words are cheap.

Nothing that Obama has said or done is a mystery or unknown quality to those of us who have had to endure the politics of Chicago as the controlling influence in our state. The news media had ample opportunity to investigate and report on the background and temperament of this man and those who surround him, yet willfully neglected to do so.

Obama is a milquetoast of a man, willing to bend to those on whom he relies for support. In Chicago, he catered to the Daley machine and in Springfield to his mentors such as Emil Jones, and in Washington, he will go along with the Reids and the Pelosis. In other words, he won’t buck the machine or the powers that be.

He is a suit and a mouth. Get over the surprise at misjudging this man, for he is a man, for all that.

Reprehensible Behavior

It has been rightly stated that the Congress of the United States is the most powerful deliberative body the world has ever known. To that, we can add that it is the most corrupt legislative body the world has ever known. And the most arrogant. Nothing breeds contempt for the people who elected these miscreants to office more than the fact that the people continue to elect them, over and over. The capital is awash in money - from taxes, special interest groups, individuals, and others who want something special and who are willing to pay whatever price to get it. Such monies go through the hands of our elected representatives and it's only human that they should succumb to the lure of wealth and fame and prestige and power. Nothing so corrodes the soul as the will to power and our legislators have that will in abundance.

And the degree and brazen show of corruption is so egregious as to boggle the imagination of the more inhibited worshipers of money. The Jefferson "Cold Cash" drama is but the tip of an enormous iceberg. Jefferson got caught because his effrontery was so blatant that even the government could not turn a blind eye or deaf ear to his outrageous conduct. But while Jefferson may be soon for the criminal justice system, the remainder of Congress go on committing acts of outright graft under the guise of providing goods and services for the people in their care. The National Review reports, "Earmarks have come to symbolize a congressional culture of incontinent spending and rank favor-trading." House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey adds, "I detest the fact that earmarks have turned the Congress into an ATM machine for members’ districts.”

The outright avarice and contempt of the American political system exhibited by 'Pork-barrel Johnny' Murtha and 'Earmark Ted' Stevens are just the overt examples of the graft that cuts deep into the ranks of our elected reprehensibles...uh, representatives. As the daily news shows, Congress is incapable of righting itself, so immersed in its own folly as it is. It is Scrooge running its fingers through the wealth of the nation and dispensing a million here, a billion there to its favorites. This regal institution should be ashamed of its outlandish behavior, but yet it revels in its greed.

Why haven't any of the candidates for president, democrat and republican, spoken out against these unethical practices? Where are the campaigns to clean up Washington? Where are the campaigns to make Washington more responsive to the people? Is there a lack of call for reform because most of the candidates themselves are from the same den of thieves?

Get out of the war in Iraq, fine. But the major battle for the soul of the country will take place in Washington and with the power-hungry, money-devouring Representatives and Senators who are yet devising new taxes to get more of the nation's wealth in their hands.

Why Take A Chance?

Why take a chance on presidential candidates of unknown or questionable quality? Why should we entrust the national security and our own well being to candidates who are nothing more than 'special-interest' candidates with agendas clearly not in step with the majority of American voters?

What are our choices, I ask? Why nothing more and nothing less than candidates who want to be president merely because they will be the 'first' of some kind or another. Barack Obama - first African-American president; Hillary Clinton - first Female-American president; Bill Richardson - first Latino-American president; Mitt Romney - first Mormon-American president; Dennis Kucinich - first (allegedly) Wacko-American president; etc.

I say 'no' to them all. I want to vote for an American - an unadulterated and unhyphenated American. I want a proven quality from my president, and, therefore, I will go with the time-tested and proven Genuinewhitemale-American candidate.

So should we all.

Dear Fred, Rumors Abound That You...

Dear Fred,

Rumors abound that you plan to announce your candidacy for the Republican nominee for president of the United States sometime around the July 4 holiday. I hope you do. For the serious voter, there are no real options among the Democrat and Republican candidates for that esteemed office. By that, I mean there is no true American candidate among the lot. While I am conservative in outlook and politics, I, nevertheless, look at both parties' slate of candidates before I decide for whom to vote. I want my vote to count, to be sure, but I want to vote for the candidate who offers the most favorable program for the country as a whole. This election cycle I am in a quandary, for there is no candidate who appeals to me as an American candidate. How is this you may ask?

Well, Fred, when I look at the Democrat slate, I don't see the 'diversity' of American society as some do; I see the divisiveness of our politics and our culture. What do we have here as possible presidents of the United States? We have one of everything, each contending for its own share of the vote. We have Barack Obama, the African American; Bill Richardson, the Latino American; Hillary Clinton, the Feminist American; and, Dennis Kucinich, the Wacko American.

Obama insists we not vote for him because he's black but because he has the best program, yet he travels to Selma to prove his bona fides to the old guard civil rights leaders, and strokes the ego of neo-segregationist Al Sharpton. He wants to be the first African-American president. Hillary wants our vote because she has the most presidential experience, yet she travels to Selma to profess her 'oppressed' birthright, and actively seeks the votes of women. Just last week she threw her pitch at minority women. She wants to be the first Female-American president. Bill Richardson, as inept as a candidate can be, nevertheless is seeking our vote while he openly admits his search for Latin favor. He wants to be the first Hispanic-American president. Then there's Dennis Kucinich. To vote for a candidate because he or she would be the "first" would be self-defeating on my part. Thus you see, Fred, my choices from the Democrat side are racial, ethnic, gender or psychic - more divisive than diverse, more distinctive than inclusive. None of these are acceptable to a voter who sees himself as American, white, male, middle class, overtaxed, under-insured, and a scapegoat for the ills of our society.

Okay, you may ask, what about the Republicans? Don't they offer you an acceptable option? Not really, Fred, just more of the same - Democrat-lite, and the more potential for being the "first”: Rudy Giuliani, the first Italian-American president; Mitt Romney, the first Mormon-American president, and John McCain, the first Maverick-American president. Let's be honest, Fred, a "liberal" Republican is nothing more than a low-end Democrat. Both Giuliani and Romney have dropped their liberal leanings because it's the politically expedient thing to do, not out of any epiphany. These guys are first and foremost politicians. Now John McCain is a politician, too. He is not a "maverick" as some wish to label him; he's a man seeking to hold on to his constituency by trying to please everybody - in other words he has no innate conservative philosophy. As a matter of fact, neither do Rudy and Mitt.

I'm hoping, Fred, that you can offer me and those with similar feelings a real choice in the coming primaries and elections. I want to vote for an unhyphenated American, a man/woman who thinks the United States is still worth fighting tooth and nail for, a politician who knows the proposed amnesty legislation will produce immediate and profound damaging results to this nation that cannot be mitigated or undone. I would gladly vote for a candidate who .... , but, Fred, I could go on with a litany of the obvious. Fair to say, I want an American candidate, unencumbered by hyphenation, who wants to preserve the unity and sanctity of the United States of America envisioned in the Constitution.

Given what I've read about you and from you thus far, you can be the man I'm looking for. For all our sakes, Fred, do what is right.

Respectfully, your most enthusiastic "Fredhead,"

William H. Driver
Average American

A Long, Long Trail A-Winding...

In a season when there is no outstanding candidates for president, it is a good thing that campaigning has begun early. A twenty month plus campaign may indeed be too much, but the general public should take the positive view. If the present climate is any indication of what we may expect from these "best and brightest" among us, then we are in for a prolonged bout of mud throwing and slime wallowing, intensifying as the months grind on.

We are seeing a gradual deterioration of civility among the candidates and we may expect greater animosity as the going gets tougher. Already we've seen the Clinton and the Obama organizations come to verbal blows. Among others, David Geffen's comments about Hillary Clinton's mendacious political instincts and his support for the Messiah of the Masses Barack Obama set off a row that stirred the juices of the political punditry. Word was leaked that Obama might have Muslim ties; these were soon dispelled by a check of the records, but it did roil the waters temporarily. Both tried to weasel their way into Selma, Alabama, history as only callous politicians can. The Chappaqua Shrew's campaign train keeps barreling down the tracks, but as one supporter said, "I support all her positions, but I fear she can't connect with people because she won't allow the real Hillary to step forward." But a keen observer can see the chinks in her armor as her campaign progresses, so maybe the real Hillary shouldn't step forward.

While the Democrats appear to have settled on their front-runners, the Republican field of candidates is quite unsettled with no candidate having a clear head start. John McCain, the presumptive GOP leader, has so far shown a lackluster effort, placing him in third place behind Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. The GOP field is so unsettled two other potential candidates are testing the political waters - Chuck Hagel, senator from Nebraska, and Terry Thompson, former four-term governor of Wisconsin. Hagel, to be more precise, put his toe in the water, then quickly withdrew it - a positive sign from a hesitant would-be. Thompson touts his experience as governor and Bush appointee as pluses to justify his run.

Theodore Sorenson has come out in support of Obama for Democratic candidate to the highest office. He compares the fledgling Obama candidacy to that of John Kennedy's foray into presidential politics. Sorenson could be wishfully thinking in his dotage; it may be that Obama is more in the mold of Jimmy Carter than Jack Kennedy, what with his vague 4H motif - hope, heart, home, health - and anti-Washington schtick.

Fred Thompson may decide to run, which would give the Republicans a creditable conservative candidate more in the mold of Ronald Reagan. And then there's Newt.

With so much time ahead, who knows what blunders, errors, missteps, and miscalculations these most ambitious of people can muster. In fact, the next president of the United States may not be any of these "chosen few."