“Obamanomics” …Socialism… or not?

“Obamanomics” …Socialism… or not?

Obamacare (Socialized Medicine) is on the way!

By: J. D. Longstreet

The question of whether or not Obama is a socialist continues to come to the fore. The rush by Obama’s people to put out that particular fire has done nothing to quench it. In fact, their efforts may have had just the opposite effect. Surely you are aware of the “Law of Unintended Consequences”.

We have been pounding that drum for a while now. Problem is… nobody wants to hear it.

So what is Socialism, anyway? Well the dictionary says this:

1.
a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

2.
procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.

3.
(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Sir Edmund Burke defined socialism this way:

“A perfect equality will indeed be produced--that is to say, equal wretchedness, equal beggary, and on the part of the petitioners, a woeful, helpless, and desperate disappointment. Such is the event of all compulsory equalizations. They pull down what is above; they never raise what is below; and they depress high and low together beneath the level of what was originally the lowest.
………….. Edmund Burke

Sir Winston Churchill had this to say about socialism:

“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery”.

Could it be that Americans who are socialist sympathizers or, are, in fact, socialists themselves, are ashamed of their collectivist proclivities? Well, it is an honest question.

Here we are in a capitalist society set in a representative republic, which is arguably, a Christian nation, and as such, we have been at war with socialism and communism for nearly 60 years. Now we have socialists openly living and working amongst us and ensconced within our national legislature.

I have been convinced, for some time now, that having Mr. Obama, as President, will mean one thing for Americans: redistribution of the nation’s wealth. That, as any thinking person can instantly tell you, will destroy the capitalist economic system this country is built upon and will lead, very quickly, to “business flight” as giant corporations begin to flee the country to escape the inevitably cascade of inflated taxes they are sure to be burdened with under an Obama regime. With them will go jobs. When the jobs are gone there is no creation of NEW wealth. The economy will simply starve to death. If you think the economy is in bad shape now (I don’t… but that is for a another article) just wait until we have “Obamanomics”

Socialism and communism were based on forcible redistribution of a nation’s wealth. There are a number of ways to take the wealth from those who have it and give it to those who do not. The one favored most, by the liberals/socialists in America, it seems, is taxation. Friends on the Left can hardly wait to begin raising taxes.

We must remember that Obama has been rated as the most liberal senator in the US Senate. Liberals have a demonstrated tendency to take from those who are the most productive in America and give what they take to those who are not productive. Expect, as we said above, huge tax increases on big and small businesses alike. And the nightmare of the “welfare state”, conservatives have warned Americans against, for a very long time, will become reality. And, lest we forget, a national healthcare system… socialized medicine in America.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… well, you know the rest.

J. D. Longstreet

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socialism+medicine+Obamacare

Preparing For America With A Socialist Government!

Preparing for America with Socialist Leadership!

By: J. D. Longstreet
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If you are a resident of America, and you happen to live in a home constructed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, we suggest you begin searching your back yards for what might appear as a ventilation shaft, protruding from the ground, for no apparent reason. If you find one of those, you’ll want to get out the ole shovel and start digging. You may be fortunate enough to have one of the thousands of underground bomb shelters built in America during that era.We suggest you dig down to it, open it, air it out, clean it out, and begin re-stocking it as soon as possible.

If you are one of the unfortunate ones, like me, and you don’t have one of those soon to be needed life saving shelters, you are going to need to go to the search engine of your choice and begin a search for plans for a family, or personal, bomb shelter, or fallout shelter.

You think I’m kidding, right? Not by a long shot! Have you been watching the news lately?

I mean, the Mainstream Media is already telling us the Democrat Party is going to win back the Presidency, and... if they do… you and I are going to need those bomb shelters! Putting the Democrats in charge of the US government is the equivalent of running up the white flag for the Islamofacists! They are just waiting for the Democrats to take over. They know that the Democrats have no earthly idea of what national security means and no hint as to what is required to protect the citizens of the United States, or, the Socialist States of America, soon to be followed by the Islamic States of America!

Nearly 80% of foreign policy experts say they are convinced the US is going to be hit again within the next few years. Do you want to take the chance that the hit will be non-nuclear, or nuclear? Ok, then, start digging!

(We decided to toss in directions to this website for those of you seriously considering a “shelter”. You will find it interesting, to say the least. Go HERE. )

I’m sitting just 50 miles from a busy east coast seaport, just 30 miles from the largest US Military Ammo Dump on the east coast, just 35 miles from a Nuclear Power Plant, and you think I’m not worried??? Each morning as the eastern horizon brightens at sunrise, I do a double take just to be sure it IS the sun!

It’s time to get on the ‘net and find those bomb shelter plans, and check the yellow pages for the dealer nearest you with backhoe rentals, and get to work. There’s not a minute to lose.

In a few months, after the Democrats win, a free America will be only a beautiful memory. That shining city on a hill will be darkened and will vanish. Man’s last, best, hope will be gone. The candle of freedom will be outed and the American Dark Ages will descend upon us under the much-anticipated Islamic Global Dominion (Or as we tried to warn America prior to the elections of 2006 and 2008… the Socialist Domination of America!). The only nation standing between freedom and utter chaos, will be gone… undone from within by a political party bent on power for itself and unwilling to admit it is completely incapable of leading, and protecting, the nation it claims to love.

Prepare, fellow Americans! The edge of night approaches.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+America+Collapse+Socialist

UN: Iran Can Make One Bomb Now.

UN: Iran Can Make One Bomb Now.

By: J. D. Longstreet

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“Iran has now built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.” (From the Financial Times.) For details go HERE. The report goes on to say: “The new figures come in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, released on Thursday. This revealed that Iran’s production of low enriched uranium had previously been underestimated.”

No Kidding? Why, they must be joking, right? Hardly. Iran has been telling the world what they are doing and what they intend to do with that bomb as soon as they have it built. Well, for all we know, they may have the thing built, already!

If the diplomats of this world have anything to learn at all, it is this… when a man, or a country, tells you they intend to do something, then you’d damn well better listen and prepare your countermove.

I grew up as a scrawny little kid. I was picked on a lot because of my size. Until I learned that I had to strike first, with everything I had, before the bully, or would- be bully knew what had hit him. It saved my behind a number of times. Some of those guys would have wiped the floor up with my scrawny little behind had I not taken matters into my own hands and removed the threat. I suppose that is one of the reasons I can relate to the nation of Israel, as I certainly do today.

I bring Israel into this, for two reasons, which quickly boil down into one reason. Israel will be target number one for Iran’s Atom Bomb. Israel will have to remove the threat before Iran can strike and Israel must be prepared to act alone. The US can no longer be counted on to stand beside Israel. I am confident that Israel knows this and that may be the underlying reason why, Benjamin Netanyahu may very well be the next Prime Minister of Israel. The stage is being set.

Now… for those of you with terminally short attention spans… a word about Iran:

Last July, I wrote in this very space the following: “Iran is the instigator of much of the terror around the globe today with training, and with money, munitions, material, and in a number of cases, personnel. It is one thing for Iran, alone, to have the bomb, it is quite another for Iran to begin handing those nuclear bombs off to bands of terrorists, all over the planet, who have absolutely no qualms about setting one of them off in Berlin, Paris, Lisbon, London, or New York! And therein lies the greatest threat posed by Iran’s ownership of The Bomb. Too often we have adjusted our national blinders so that we are seeing only an atomic attack upon Israel instigated by Iran. I must tell you, the likelihood of Iran arming terrorists with A-bombs is far more likely and, far and away, more dangerous to the US and the world.

Some of us in America understand that it will take a nuclear disaster in one of our large cities to get the attention of that portion of Americans who normally do not take part in the daily grind of everyday politics in the country and the world. They are those folks who will ask: “Now why would anyone want to bomb one of our great cities”? They are the folks who will STILL be puzzled as the mushroom cloud rears it’s dark, ugly, countenance above the ruins of what was formally a thriving metropolis with hundreds of thousand of Americans minding their own business, just like them, before the blinding flash that took their lives.

We have always had those folks with us. Historians tell us that when the 13 Colonies girded for war against Great Britain, 1/3 were for the War for Independence, 1/3 were against the war, and 1/3 didn’t care, one way or the other.

In the days of yesteryear it was gallant, chivalrous even, to allow the opponent to get off the first shot before America took them out. Today… there will be no chance to strike back. The weapons of war are so powerful that he who gets of the first shot, most likely, will be the winner (if there is such a thing as a “winner” in a nuclear war.)

The point of my rambling is this: Iran must be stopped. And the deed must be done sooner, rather than later. Americans, befuddled by all the politics in the air, both day and night for the past two years, (and the recession on top of that worry) are NOT paying attention to the gathering threat from Iran. Americans are distracted. Distracted is not a good thing when a country is at war for it’s very existence. (It is also “not a good thing” when we have a Commander-in-Chief as naïve as the one we have now. But, we elected the President, and we are stuck with him for at least four years. And, I am convinced he has no idea the trouble the world is in and no idea of how to deal with it.)

We DO have a choice. We can take out the nuclear threat from Iran and continue to enjoy a life of freedom, or we can allow Iran to build the bomb, disseminate it to terrorist bands around the globe, and live in fear and trembling as slaves to the Islamofacists. Those are the choices. There is NO MIDDLE GROUND… contrary to what some leading politicians would have us believe.

Now, understand. I am not “warmongering” here. What I AM trying to do is redirect the spotlight onto the very REAL, and possibly worse, threat emanating from Iran’s possession of an Atomic Bomb. And that is… again… arming terrorists with it.

For the past 292 years we have had it rather easy, as a nation. We’ve had our wars, even amongst ourselves, but, we have had periods of peace. But, I fear that is over.

I hate to break it to some of you, but the war on terror is a never-ending war. It is not likely we will ever again have a world without US troops in the Middle East. But, even if it comes to pass, that we DO manage to dampen the hostilities there, it will be only temporary. In the meantime, wars all over the globe will flare-up and US troops will be required and called into combat in diverse places. It will be a constant struggle; waged from day to day, as young Americans spill their blood in an attempt to keep the death and destruction from our shores. But, eventually, it will arrive here, in America, and we, too, will live then as Israel does today. We’ll not be able to board a municipal bus without worrying if it has a bomb affixed to it, or enter the doors of a shopping mall without the same fear, or attend a sporting event, without that same dark worry tugging at our conscious minds. It will become a way of life and we will yearn for these days of relative peace. Hardly an American family will survive without a death, or multiple deaths, of their young as a result of these wars.

Gloomy? Yes, it is, very. But as I approach my seventieth decade on this earth, I can look ahead and base this prediction on my experience of the 5 wars, in my lifetime, (so far) in which we have engaged the enemy and found that we have won, lost, or “tied” at the conclusion.

It is said in the Holy Scriptures that in the latter days, or “end times” as some refer to those days, “men will cry peace, peace, but there will be no peace”. Those Scriptures have proven time and time again to be right on target. I see no reason to doubt them, or their wisdom, as we stand at the threshold of a war without end.”

That was written in July of last year.

I watch with anxious anticipation the elections in Israel and I hope against hope that Netanyahu becomes the Prime Minister. For I believe Bibi will stand up to Obama and I am convinced, at least at this point in history that Netanyahu will do whatever it takes to stop Iran cold. If so, Netanyahu will have saved the world… at least for another day.

J. D. Longstreet

Note from Editor: Here is an article you will find interesting: "Iran inches closer to the bomb." You'll find it at:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065936.html

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href="http://technorati.com/tag/Conservative+Nuclear+Bomb+Iran+Israel+War" rel="tag">Conservative+Nuclear+Bomb+Iran+Israel+War

“America Circling The Drain”

“America Circling The Drain”
By: J. D. Longstreet
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I am hearing more and more folks speak of the Two Americas these days than ever before. But these people, unlike some of our former democratic candidates for President, no longer believe the two Americas can continue in their unhappy marriage.

We have mentioned in our scribbling, a number of times, how America has grown into two absolutely distinct countries cohabitating within the same borders. We have also pointed out that, at some point, these two countries are going to want to be separate from each other. The patience of one or the other will run out and rumblings about separating the two countries, geographically, will begin.

It already has.

Those on my side of this issue want our republic back. We want the original constitution of the United States back. We yearn to live free (again) as our forefathers did, only a few short decades ago. In other words we want our freedom and the protections from government granted us by the original US Constitution restored.

I don’t recognize this place called “America” today. There is only a vague resemblance to the real America. Half of the population are freedom loving people, while the other half have become socialist slaves. As of this writing, the socialist are in control of our government, which is on the verge of being considered a rogue government. (To at least to half the country) The last two elections have completed the “balkanization” of the country formerly known as America. The split is deep and wide.

Let me ask you… have you noticed more people speaking in lowered tones, whispering to each other as they discuss the politics of the day in America recently? I have. I have been noticing it for some time now. It made me uneasy. Then I heard a radio commentator mention it a few weeks ago. He, too, has noticed it. As a matter of fact, I had a whispered conversation with a trusted friend, in my office, just a few weeks ago. The topic of the conversation was the shape the country finds itself in today. It was during this whispered conversation that I suddenly realized what we were doing. I was stunned at the import of what was taking place… in my own office.

In the America in which I grew up, no one felt the need to whisper about politics, about the President, about Congressional leaders. Does this tell you anything? It should. It tells you we are now an oppressed people!

Listen up, now: When a citizen, in a supposedly free country, feels the need to whisper his opinion on the workings of his government to a trusted friend, that dear reader, is oppression by an overbearing government!

Just days ago, I was having my hair cut and my barber and I were talking politics, as is our wont, when I realized he was leaning forward whispering in my ear his opinion about something the government was doing. This is NOT the America I remember.

When the government decides to station combat troops on American soil… this is not the America I remember.

Look, America is in BIG trouble. I MEAN BIG TROUBLE. A few of us see it for what it is. A few of us have been warning it was coming and now it is here. It is my opinion; America had her last free election last November. I hope, and pray to God, that I am wrong about that, but I fear I am right.

A nation as divided as America is today cannot continue. As we struggle with our internal problems our enemies are circling ever closer, with fangs bared, ready to tear us apart if we don’t do it to ourselves first.

The inevitable approaches. Like a runaway locomotive even if the brakes were applied today, it will take a very long time to get the train stopped. There will be damage done. The recent passage of the so-called Stimulus Bill will do little, if anything to caused our economic system to recover. When it goes, America will quickly become a “garrison” state. You and I would call it a “police” state. Why do you think the government is already moving combat troops onto American soil? The government, such as it is, KNOWS this. Our government has been studying this since the 1970’s.

I wish I had possession of a workable crystal ball to tell me how we will get through this mess we have created through ignorance and apathy. I refer, of course, to the ignorance and apathy of the American citizen.

I do not see how America can survive another half century with 50 states. I just don’t see that. The State Sovereignty Movement is already underway and reports I have seen have the figure at close to two-dozen states already involved to one degree or another. That ought to get your attention. That is close to… HALF the states! For more on the State Sovereignty Movement go HERE.

And ponder this: if the government of our southern neighbor, Mexico, should collapse, as a result of this world-wide recession, what happens when the hordes from that country swarm our border, as they surely will? And how will the southern states, on that border, react to what will amount to an invasion?

The stage is set. The players are in the wings, the footlights are on, and the curtain is about to rise. Is this the last act?

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+America+Collapse+Socialist

Education or Edjukashun? ... Alan Caruba

Education or Edjukashun?

By Alan Caruba

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My father used to say that there was no defense against stupidity. He was a very smart man. When he entered kindergarten in the early 1900’s, he spoke his parent’s native language of Italian. The teacher seated him beside a boy who spoke both English and Italian, and he learned English. Nobody gave it any more thought than that.

Dad passed through the K-12 grades in Newark, N.J., and then worked his way through New York University to gain a degree in accounting. Then he studied some more and was among the youngest men to become a Certified Public Accountant. All that study and hard work helped him survive the Great Depression. It is a classic American story.

In his time, American education was as basic as it comes. You learned the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic..

You were taught, not just history, but something called civics, lessons about the way the nation was governed and why our republic was a leading example of “government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

In a report by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, released in November of last year, more than twice as many people (56%) who took the test knew that Paula Abdul was one of the “American Idol” judges than where those famous words came from. Only 26% identified Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as the source.

Of the 2,500 Americans who took the test that included college students, elected officials and other randomly selected citizens, nearly 1,800 flunked the 33-question test on basic civics. The elected officials scored slightly lower than the public with an average score of 44% compared with 49%; less than half.

There are two great threats facing America today. One is the vast ignorance of our history and of the way we govern ourselves, and the other is the growing numbers of functionally illiterate Americans.

For that we must put the blame squarely at the foot of our debased educational system and for that we must understand the threat is the result of the deliberately dumbing down of the system by the teacher’s unions. I do not blame teachers, some of the most under-appreciated people in our society. They are the victims of an educational system whose demise began in earnest in the 1960s.

Recently, in October, the New Jersey Education Association had an advertisement that celebrated a “character education program”, taking note of a school that received “the prestigious School of Character designation from the Character Education Partnership.”

“The advertisement went on to note that “those values include the affirmation of human dignity, the welfare of the individuals, and the desire to serve the common good. Character education strives to promote basic human values that transcend religious or cultural differences.” In other words, a totally secular approach that, for schools in America today excludes beginning the day with a prayer, bans the singing of Christmas carols, and deemphasizes individual achievement.

“It is not intended to usurp the role of families in teaching values,” the advertisement said, but that’s exactly its purpose, going on to note that “Standardized tests cannot measure character, so it does not always get the attention it should.” What is not getting attention is the ability to read and write English well, American history, civics, and other subjects the schools are failing to teach.

As commentator, Greg Lewis, recently noted, Arne Duncan, President Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, led the Chicago schools as Superintendent, but only 17% of Chicago’s eighth grade students are reading at or above their grade level. “It is almost impossible not to teach a child how to read,” said Lewis who pointed out that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, illiteracy was barely 1%. Today it is 20% or higher.

The single worst piece of legislation to come out of the last administration was “No Child Left Behind” that requires a teach-to-the-test, one-size-fits-all approach to education, coast to coast. The rise in the tutoring industry outside of our schools is testament to the failure of NCLB. Far too many high school graduates arrive in colleges today requiring “remedial” courses in the most fundamental lessons that our schools are failing to teach.

In a recent edition of School Reform News, published by The Heartland Institute, it was noted that one third of all students entering college today must take remedial courses in those subjects that, in former times, they would have mastered by graduation from high school. We are literally cheating generations of young Americans of their birthright with the present education system.

It’s not as if today’s parents of school-age children don’t know there’s a very real problem. The results of an Associated Press survey, released in June 2008, revealed that “The views of the general population echo concerns from business and college leaders, who say they have to spend a lot of time and money on remedial education for people who completed high school but don’t have the skills to succeed at work or in higher education.”

“Overall, the majority of those surveyed said the quality of U.S. schools has declined over the past 20 years.”

“The vast majority think classroom work and homework—not standardized tests—are the best ways to measure how well students are doing.”

Americans who have passed through our schools for nearly fifty years know what the problem is. Meanwhile, in Congress, every manner of legislation is under consideration to deepen and worsen the problem. Many attempt to reach into the pre-school years of childhood development to seize control of the very youngest children.

One called “No Child Left Inside Act” (HR 3036) would inject all manner of environmental propaganda into the curriculum, further eroding the time today’s children have for the fundamentals, and scaring the hell out of them with more apocalyptic nonsense about global warming, It is the work of Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD).The Greens have invented “a nature-deficit disorder” to hide the fact that intend to continue indoctrinating children with the dubious science they use to advance their agendas.

This debasement of education produces a population unable to understand the forces at work in order to make them compliant and complacent voters who will accept more and more laws that undermine the Constitution and enslave them with the belief that the State knows best.

This is why so many people continue to believe that the Earth is warming despite ample evidence that it is cooling. Similarly indoctrinated, these people oppose all forms of energy production except those—wind and solar—least capable of providing the billions of megawatts the nation needs.

“We have met the enemy and he is us,” said the cartoon character, Pogo. The enemy is the National Education Association, a union that has complete control of the Department of Education and at the state level too. There’s still time to turn this around, but we are running out of it.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/. Every week, he posts a column on the website of The National Anxiety Center, http://www.anxietycenter.com/.

© Alan Caruba, February 2009

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Little Things Mean A Lot!

Little Things Mean A Lot.
About Those American Flag Lapel Pins….
By: J. D. Longstreet
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In the spirit of full disclosure allow me to say, right up front that I have several American flag lapel pins. Some are singles, and some are crossed with the NC state flag, etc. When I am not wearing the Sons of Confederate Veterans Lapel pin, I will have either my American Legion pin, or my American flag pin on my lapel. Sometimes I will wear the American Flag pen on my left lapel, nearest my heart and at the same time, the Third National Flag of the Confederacy on my right lapel.

Yes, I AM making a statement with the wearing of those lapel pins. I am saying, loud and clear, the things those pins represent are things that are very important to me. It is an overt expression of my love and my caring for those things, those principles, which are the foundation of the countries, and the organizations, those tiny little lapel pins represent.

I will readily admit to being a nationalist. I think my country, the USA, is the best nation on the face of the earth. You may disagree. That is certainly your prerogative. But, do not expect me to change my mind. My country makes mistakes. It blunders sometimes. But… and you know what is coming… it is still my country!

As an American citizen, I am free to change that. I can denounce my citizenship and become a citizen of another country, if I wish. I DON’T wish. Some do.

Let’s be clear about something: I am not ashamed of my country. From time to time I am ashamed of some of my country’s leaders… but never my country. Just because I am ashamed of the actions and the behavior of some of my country’s leaders is no reason for me to remove, or not wear, an American Flag lapel pin. You see… that makes a statement, too. It says, again, loud and clear, that I am ashamed of my country. I won’t do that.

Back in the 1950’s I took an oath, as I was sworn in to the Army, to defend this nation from all enemies foreign and domestic. It is essentially the same oath the President of the United States swears when he is sworn into office. I don’t recall there being an expiration date on that oath. I’m proud of that. I wasn’t much of a soldier, but I had committed what there was of me to the service of my country. I have never regretted that.

We have a government of leaders these days who have never worn the uniform of their country. They have never crawled in the mud with the enemy popping off 7.62 rounds over their heads, or heard the rattle of a machine gun, or fully automatic assault rifle, in the dark, and watched the tracers skimming the service of the earth searching for a target in the blackness of night. They have never felt the stark terror of combat that dries your throat and mouth until your tongue is sticking to the roof of your mouth and you could not spit if your life depended upon it. And they know absolutely nothing of the courage and fortitude it takes to overcome all that and force your mind and your body to work and do the job you were trained for until the enemy is vanquished or you are dead. They have no clue! Yet, today we make these people our leaders and even the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces.

You see, those of us who have made the commitment have paid for the right to question the patriotism of a person who refuses to wear a simple American Flag lapel pin near his heart to announce to the world, “I Love My Country”. A person who cannot speak or understand one single word of English will understand exactly what that simple little lapel pin is saying! That is one HELL of a statement. It is a powerful declaration!

Now, it seems to me, when a person is the President of the United States of America, which carries the title and the duties of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, he/she should wear that American flag lapel pin, if for no other reason than to demonstrate respect for the men and women who WILL go in his/her place, in his/her name, to fight, bleed, and die, on the battlefields where HE/SHE sends them. Is that asking too much?

Apparently it is. This country is so screwed-up, these days, and so close to functional illiteracy that it would not surprise me if many Americans could not identify the flag of their country. They sure as heck couldn’t tell you anything about it, like the number of stripes, what the colors stand for, how many stars are on the flag, what the stars stand for, etc.

Now, I understand some of you don’t wear lapel pins… of any kind… anytime. That’s fine. I respect that. Not a problem. I’m just saying that IF you DO, and you choose NOT TO WEAR a simple American Flag lapel pin … well… that tells me all I need to know about you.

J. D. Longstreet

Why Conservatives "Suck" At Government!

Why Conservatives “Suck” At Government!

By: J. D. Longstreet

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Shocking title, eh?

Well, it needn’t be. Heck, if you are a conservative, don’t be ashamed of it! Be PROUD of it! It means you are normal! We conservatives are awful when it comes to governing.

The longer I live, and the longer I have dealings with liberals, I have come to suspect they are mentally disabled in some way. It is the truth. Conservatives, on the other hand are fairly easy to figure out. We come into this world hard-wired toward conservatism.

OK, let me see if I can stir this piece back to conservatives and why we are so terrible at governing. The underlying, single most important fact about conservatives is that they loathe government. We DO understand there must be boundaries and government provides that, but when government reaches beyond providing a service, which offers security for the country, most conservatives, including this scribe, recoil.

Ronald Reagan summed it up for conservatives: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." (Ronald Reagan -- First inaugural address, January 1981) He was right on the money.

We conservatives can abide government when it is small and kept that way, but the very nature of government, itself, is to grow and become bloated and end up smothering to death the very society it was set up to oversee. The most efficient form of government on the planet, at smothering its adherents, is… socialism. You know, the type of government we now have in the United States! You may have thought all those parties on January 20th were for Obama’s inaugural. They were not. Those parties were, in fact, a wake for democracy in America.

It is abhorrent to conservatives that a government should be run by a cadre of people who have trained all their lives to administer power over their fellowman. That is how we view the corp of trained bureaucrats running all those government agencies and even those in the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches of the government. Liberals may choose to view them as public-minded civil servants. Conservatives do not. We see them as tyrants and would-be dictators. The very idea that they are in government to serve their fellow man is foreign to conservatism. If one wishes to serve his fellowman, there are many other ways to do it than through administration of some government agency that wields control over those it supposedly serves. No, do not expect conservatives to toss laurel branches at government toadies!

I suppose one must say that government is a necessary evil. In that case…. Conservatives demand that it be kept small. Currently, the US government is growing like a marshmallow in a microwave oven! I know you are going to say it grew under George Bush, a Republican! Yes, but we are not writing of Republicans here. I am writing of conservatives here. George Bush was a lot of things but he was/is not a conservative.

Liberal government types do not speak to you, they lecture you, they “talk down to you.” They come across as stiff necked, and rigid, and convinced of their superiority of intellect, over yours, and they, and they alone, are your salvation. As an example, I give you the President of the United States, the messiah, Mr. Obama.

There is something in the conservative animal that resents the living daylights out of that approach to anything, including politics. It is one of the underlying reasons Northeastern candidates do so poorly in the bastion of conservatism, the South. In the South you are free to suggest most anything you want. But, the instant you begin “telling” or ‘commanding” or “demanding”... we bristle, and we get our backs up. We do not like being ”talked down to.” We find it offensive… extremely offensive.

Conservatives have such disdain for government that if and when we stand for election, it is most likely out of sheer consternation with the then current liberal office holder. If, and when, we win that office, we have a very steep learning curve because we are not prepared to accept superiority over our fellow citizens and we have not trained for a job in government as so many, many, of our liberal friends have while studying in their liberal colleges and universities. Plus, a true conservative is never REALLY happy in a government job. He feels, well, somehow dirty.

I’m not offering any of this as an excuse for conservative failure at politics. I’m offering it as one (conservative) man’s opinion as to why conservatives really do so badly at governing. If it makes you uncomfortable, I ask only that you think about it for a bit. You may come to agree with me… you may not. I would ask that you consider how conservatives, when in opposition in the Congress, seem much more effective with more “fire in the belly” as they oppose the would-be legislation introduced by liberals in both the Senate and the House. While that does not make my case, in my mind, it sure does lend validity to my argument.

J. D. Longstreet

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Conservative+Liberal+Government+US