Liberalism

We are living it now folks. We are up to our collective necks in liberalism and it wasn’t just a result of the last 5 years under Obama, of course he opened the throttle quite a bit, but this is a slow, festering symptom that started with Republican Theodore Roosevelt, picked up steam with Woodrow Wilson, accelerated with FDR, and reached overdrive with LBJ. And now we find ourselves mired in a mediocre stew of progressive feel good policies that have only served to bring the strongest, most economically robust, most individually free country to it’s collective knees. Ironically, the policies that progressives champion, hoping to “level the playing field”, do anything but and were strictly designed and marketed by a ruling class to win elections. There is zero intent by the leaders of the current Democratic Party, or the ruling class which includes many Republicans, to actually resolve the issues they promise to fix primarily because, to do so would render themselves useless. Their sole intent is to continue to amass money and power and doing so, requires a loyal, fever pitched base convinced that they need their benevolence and protection. For those conservatives who fear the onset of a socialist state, that ship has sailed – we are already there. The myriad of welfare programs, Medicaid, Medicare, SS and now Obamacare has America firmly planted in socialism.

What other current issues can we attribute to liberalism you may wonder? Take Benghazi – here is a ME outpost that sits in a chaotic country void of any leadership, specifically because of the recent actions of our military, and one that is rife with rogue and radical elements. The current liberal brain trust, which included Ambassador Stevens, thought that reinforced security measures were not important, and would send the wrong message, primarily because liberalism believes that the US military is part of what’s wrong with this world, not what is right. Therefore, their cavalier attitude towards radical elements resulted in four American deaths, and their attempt to obfuscate that fact has resulted in the recent scandal.

The IRS – liberalism believes that any opposition towards their high-minded policies is tantamount to malicious obstructionism and borderline treason (see Michael Moore), therefore, the intense scrutiny the IRS applied towards groups opposed to the administration was in line with the culture that liberalism creates.

The debt – Every dollar taxed and sent to Washington DC, is another dollar stripped from the private market, rendering it less powerful and more dependent on the government. It’s really that simple. By creating crisis’s that require additional spending and running up the debt, the Federal Government can convince their loyal base that taxes need to increase and the problems they face are not because of any actions of their own or the government, but because those with the money refuse to pay their “fair share”. Take for example Oklahoma – the Democrats are claming that they need to borrow more money to pay for the storm, are demonizing conservatives for wanting off sets, and not reminding anyone of the fact that Obama just sent $200 million to Syrian refugees that could have been used for the storm, or that there is $11 billion currently in the FEMA account. They are simply exploiting a crisis to rile up their base, demonize an opponent, and take more money away from the private sector.

These are just a few examples of what the disease of progressivism has wrought, and if we continue down this path, these and other problems will only persist and expand. As David Axlerod recently admitted, the Federal Government is too vast, our debt is too big, our problems are too pronounced, and our labor force is too small, but our country is too important. We currently have a President that does nothing, and knows nothing so it is incumbent upon us to be diligent and engaged if we are to ever repeal the progressive efforts, policies and mindsets that brought us to this point.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan.  Axelrod tweeted that he hopes the bridge collapse will induce us mean, evil Republicans to pass more spending for infrastructure.  This is the kind of nonsense I think all of us on the right are sick of.  Axelrod’s President has been in office for more than four years; trillions of extra money has been spent since Obama took office, a great deal of it justified as money to rebuild infrastructure and here’s comes one of the dunces who put Obama in office to demand that we GOPers agree to spend even more money!  Tell you what, Axelrod, maybe if you and your buddy Barry hadn’t use the last pile of money just to keep your union buddies employed then that bridge would have been fixed!  I hold Obama and Axelrod personally responsible for this – they didn’t do their jobs and a bridge collapsed.  They’ve had more than four years to ensure that all bridges are inspected and necessary repairs done.  That is more than enough time – though I guess what with all the vacations, golf outings and neglect of embassy security, fixing bridges escaped our President’s notice.

The View From Here

There has been a lot of discussion lately re: the continued admittance of liberal posters at B4V, the cautioned albeit well intended advice to a friendship based on commonalities other than politics, but those thoughts and discussions are also combined with an increasing obsession to personally belittle others from both sides. I must admit that early on in my B4V presence beginning in 2006, I did enjoy attacking liberals, and still do post some sarcastic remarks, but the personal attacks have certainly escalated over the last few years, and that is just not healthy for anyone, particularly the one leveling the attack. Personally, I had to reflect on that – do I really harbor such disdain in my heart for someone I don’t personally know? I will admit that when I read a post from majordomo that begins “We, Ourselves”, I still have to hold back from launching into a sarcastic tirade, but on the occasion I have, I realize that that tirade only affects me, and me alone. It tends to discombobulate my attitude and my day, and quite frankly majordomo isn’t worth it. So I decided a while back that I just wasn’t going to engage in the swamp anymore. That I would simply voice my opinion, which I enjoy doing, and would only respond in kind to those liberal posters that I deemed worthy of a response. Everything else I would just ignore, and I must say, that my blood pressure is down – LOL.

As some of you know, my daughter is a liberal and voted for Obama in the last two elections. In 2008, she and I were at odds, and the dialogue was heated on occasion, but being that she is my daughter, I made a point to converse on a range of topics outside of politics and when the conversation did circle back around to politics, I was tempered as was she. Consequently, we have had some very good conversations. A while back I sent Mitch a personal email at his request, and in the beginning we did battle each other on political issues, which of course we were at odds over, but slowly the conversation turned to other issues and common ground was struck. In my opinion, life is simply too short to personally attack each other on line. This doesn’t mean that I have stopped contributing, campaigning, writing on, and voting for the demise of liberalism, as that is a passion of mine that will not abate anytime soon, but I also realize that at my age, heated rhetoric is something I choose to largely ignore and wish everyone on this blog, conservatives and liberals, would also adhere to. Simply voice your opinion on the issue du jour, or comment on your over arching ideology, be prepared to defend it civilly, and don’t be offended by those who try to drag you down into the swamp. I also ask of Matt and Mark to delete posts that do insult and harangue, and if it doesn’t stop, to ban the commentator, and that includes me. I would like to see a new direction at B4V, one that actually provokes thought, converses on a range of topics, and one that welcomes civil and insightful input from a diverse group. What do you think the chances of that are?

In keeping with the spirit of the blog, my issue du jour is – The Fifth! Hard to believe that Lois Lerner plead the Fifth. I think it does more harm to the regime than good. It just reeks of malicious intent. Furthermore, why is Sarah Hall Ingram not testifying? And why is she being promoted to oversee the ACA enforcement? This whole IRS scandal doesn’t pass the smell test.

Sunday Open Thread

There is so much going on that a dedicated thread just seems inadequate. A couple of things on my mind – the other night Bill Maher and Michael Moore claimed that the GOP is committing borderline treason for obstructing Obama’s agenda. Apparently escalating debt, a shrinking work force, and higher taxes are patriotic. Who knew? The major media is back in cover mode for the regime after a brief brush with faux outrage. Chris Matthews and David Corn claimed that the continued investigations just proves that the GOP is pandering to their racist base. But I think the best example of journalism mal practice came from Martin Bashir when he pointed out that the head of the IRS during the time of the unethical inquiries was appointed by Bush – meaning of course that this is again Bush’s fault. To which I will gleefully remind him that the head of the CIA at the time of 9/11 was appointed by Clinton – so 9/11 is Clinton’s fault right?

Discuss these and other topics amongst yourselves – be civil and pithy.

Damage Control

This has been quite a week for the Obama regime, who may want to brush up on the first rule of holes. From Benghazi, to the IRS, to the AP, it seems as though Obama continues to double down on excuses rather than come clean. Ironically, for a President who says he champions the “little guy”, he has no problem throwing that “little guy” under the bus if it serves him. How can a President who has been described as a master executive and in command of the issues, know nothing, when an uncomfortable issue presents itself? Equally ironic is David Axlerod’s admission today that the federal government is just too big, and too vast, to have control over everything. Isn’t that what conservatives been trying to tell liberals for years now? That a big government, presents big problems? Unfortunately, Obama chooses to blame others and plead ignorance, rather than take ownership as any honorable leader would do.

I have a feeling that Obama might actually be pleased that the IRS and AP scandals surfaced this week as it does distract from his deplorable absence on the Benghazi issue. What President is absent during a raid on an embassy in the ME? What Secretary of State doesn’t even call the second in charge back (Hicks), in Libya for two days following his plea to evacuate?  These actions by Obama and Clinton are indefensible. Obama claims he wants to bring those responsible to justice? Well he had the chance to get those responsible the night of the attack, but chose to disappear. And furthermore, he has yet to bring any of those people responsible to justice.

The IRS issue gets deeper by the day. The number of targeted groups swells to nearly 500, the discovery that liberal groups were receiving IRS approvals within days, including Obama’s brother, while conservative groups were being held up, and the possibility that some leaked IRS reports on Romney were used against him. Nixon was impeached for this kind of activity, so it doesn’t surprise me that Obama is being held to account, and surprisingly by the mainstream media as well. I was shocked when Joe Scarborough lit Axlerod up this morning on MSNBC. If Obama loses his sycophantic media support, he could be in a real bind. The next few weeks will be fun to watch.

Being There

A few weeks ago I wrote a post entitle “A Rudderless Ship” and received quite a bit of heat from my conservative colleagues. Their contention is that Obama is at the helm, overseeing the destruction of our nation and doing so with clear intent. I continue to respectively disagree. I don’t disagree that the nation is in decline as that fact is obvious, but what I do disagree with is that Obama is at the helm. He clearly is not. Let’s take a few examples:

-         Benghazi – Obama was last spoken to and informed at 5pm the night of the raid, and was not heard from again until the next morning. His instruction was to “do what you have to do” and then he disappeared into the night.

-         Obamacare – Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Democratic leadership, the Unions and a myriad of other special interests wrote the Affordable Care Act without as much as a vague outline from the President. In fact, the bill was so piecemealed together, that we had to “pass it to find out what was in it”, and what we are finding out is not good. I highly doubt that to this day, Obama has even read the entire bill.

-         Immigration – after vigorously campaigning on this issue back in 2008, and again in 2012, Obama has all but abandoned any concerted effort to get something passed. In fact Marco Rubio has done more work on immigration in the last few months than Obama has in the last 5 years.

Obama is a complete disgrace as a leader and as a President, preferring instead to demagogue and fund raise rather to actually do the heavy lifting of governing. Unfortunately, we have too many emotionally stunted low information voters in this country that confuse his style of divisive and emotional oratory with leadership. He reminds me of Peter Sellers character Chauncey in the movie Being There, and is as intelligent as well. He also proves the Rush Theorem on a daily basis. I hope that someday a leader for this country will emerge out of the dark abyss that is the Obama regime.

Cinco de Mayo – Open Thread

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Here in AZ this is a big deal and I have lots of family friends coming over for stacked tacos, cerveza frio, and swimming so I hope all you enjoy your day.

A couple of things on my mind – if I came out as a heterosexual real estate broker, would I get a call from Obama? If I lied about the cause of death of an ambassador and admitted not doing my job and reading cables from an embassy in a perilous region, would I be considered a leading Presidential candidate for 2016? If I just made stuff up about Obamacare, abortion and the Presidents taxes, could I get a job at MSNBC?

Happy Sunday all!

From All Angles

With the report that Obama’s most recent budget submission raises taxes on everyone, despite his campaign promises, and the news today that the administration is literally paying people to enroll others in the SNAP program in effort to continue the entitlement culture, the liberal assault on the American people is coming from all angles. Add to that, the report that federal revenues are too hit record levels this year at $2.7 trillion, yet Obama will have you believe that the $85 billion dollar sequester was a huge concern and may be catastrophic to the economy. In fact, Obama is now making us feel the pain for that temporary slow down in spending by furloughing FAA workers, delaying flights and causing back logs at major terminals, this despite the fact that Obama just promised $200 million to Syrian refugees. Obama and his far left regime have discretion at how revenues are allocated so just know that they have chosen to make your traveling life miserable as punishment, and instead opting to give that money to Syrian refugees, this again despite record levels of revenue flowing into Washington DC.

I can not think of a more dishonest, uncaring, selfish, narcissistic, un American President than the current occupant. He has spent tens of millions of dollars on his own vacations while unemployment remains persistently high, GDP continues to drag along the bottom, and Obamacare continues to force companies to lower hours, cut benefits, and delay any expansion or hiring. Obamacare is a train wreck waiting to happen, as evidenced by the delay in the SHOP program, and lack of achievable benchmarks by the HHS department. Obama is truly out to serve his own interests, that of his cronies, and that of his far left, elitist base, and regular, hard working, God fearing Americans simply don’t factor into that equation. The average American is being squeezed from all angles to serve an elitist, selfish, far left community agitator and this is without question a truly sad, black mark in America’s history.

Equanimity

Noun

Mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation

These are difficult times for a lot of people to be sure, and this is an excellent article that I recommend highly. Suicides are up, stress is up, rancor is up, unemployment is up, etc., etc., – these are trying times, but then again, “fundamental transformation” of anything can be difficult. The sad thing is, we didn’t need any fundamental transformation, and the current unsettled societal environment is exactly what Obama needs to continue the decline. This is not by accident. Obama plays on the emotions of every one at every opportunity, and that is by design. But that being said, I want to make an appeal to the common sense on both sides, those on the right and the left, to dial down the rhetoric and just stop and think for a moment.

For those on the left – Obama is playing you. He wants you to think that corporations are evil, that the rich are evil, that America is a misogynistic, racist, imperialistic society, and that white Christian men are paranoid about the changing ethnic landscape. His fundamental transformation of America into a European style socialist country with a more powerful central authority requires that you reject capitalism, that you reject Faith, and that you question the traditional family role. And this distorted belief he needs you to embrace started with your schooling via the ultra liberal educational system in our country, led by 1960’s style radicals that largely failed in that very capitalist system they need you to reject. But I believe you are better than that. I believe that most of you understand that our capitalist system is responsible for creating the most powerful economic engine in the world, for providing the highest average standard of living, and for lifting more people out of poverty than any other economic platform hands down. That our Constitutional model of government is responsible for providing more civil and human rights to more people, and for giving more autonomy to more people than any other country, and there really isn’t even a close second. So my question is, why would you, as part of the “proletariat” want to change that dynamic, and restrict not only your freedoms, but your voice as well?

For those on the right – Obama wants you to become irrational. He wants you to “hate”, to shout, and to become visibly angry. He also wants to divide conservatives, to have the social conservatives battle the fiscal conservatives, and to polarize. That plays right into his hand. He can then better play on everyone’s emotions if we are all at each other’s throats. So why do this? Are we not able to oppose his agenda from an intelligent perspective? Are we incapable of convincing people that the Constitutional model of governance on a capitalist economic platform is best for everyone? Because if we are, and all we can do is shout and call people names, then we have truly lost. We are better than this, and America is stronger than this. We need to begin to appeal to a broad spectrum of people on our terms, and not on just opposition to what Obama is doing. We need to appeal to their common sense, to their intelligence, and to their core belief that America is the beacon of liberty, justice and opportunity. If we stop playing into the hands of the left, dial down the rancor, and show people what we stand for, and not just what we stand against – then we can begin to turn the tide. And that will require a conviction of Faith and composure of the heart and the mind. Equanimity, if you will.

A Rudderless Ship

Any more it seems as though this nation is a rudderless ship, as our petulant President chases every emotional liberal issue, with his faithful lap dog media in tow. The other day, Obama was visibly angry as his hand picked issue of 2014 went down to defeat. I only wish Obama had shown the same level of passion when our Ambassador and three other brave Americans were slaughtered in Benghazi. But evidently, that passion is only reserved for those who dare oppose his high-minded agenda and his fundamental transformation of America. Vowing to continue the fight over what Democrats obviously see as their wedge issue, Obama has yet to tell Americans that this piece of legislation that he is laser focused on would not have not done one thing to prevent the Sandy Hook tragedy, and will not accomplish one thing in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. But actually resolving the issue seems to take a backseat, when there is an election to be won. As Rush so astutely pointed out yesterday, this bill was suppose to pass the Senate, where the Democrats have the majority, to where it would eventually be defeated in the House, where the evil Republicans reside, and then the Democrats would have their 2014 campaign bumper sticker – Republicans want children to die. Sadly, instead of addressing the issue of mentally instable people, privacy laws, and enforcing the numerous gun regulations and background checks already on the books, Obama will choose to cite this piece of legislation as the only thing standing in between the American public and wholesale slaughter. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have less of a President, and more of a community agitator.

Compounding the frustration with this current empty suit of a President, is his rush to politicize every single issue, at every opportunity, and his desire to play the media, and on the emotions of the low information voter to advance liberal legislation. I remember when Democrats and the media use to scold Bush for politicizing 9/11, and would accuse him of playing on the emotions of that day to advance his causes, but evidently, that’s a one way street for them, because they have no shame in employing that tactic themselves. It’s too bad we don’t have a leader for all Americans in the White House. Someone who listened to others, someone who reviewed previous legislation to ascertain the effectiveness, or lack thereof, someone who managed all of the issues confronting our country not just the causes of the left, and someone who was equally upset over those Americans killed abroad, those Americans unemployed, those business’s facing strangling economic conditions, and those Americans questioning the future of their religious freedoms.

UPDATE by Mark Noonan:  Just wanted to add two cents in light of today’s events.  Think about this, a 19 year old was able to bring an American city to its knees today and we didn’t catch him!  Reports are the the FBI looked in to one of the two and did nothing.  Uncle Sam is snooping on our private correspondence but at least one of the two bombers can travel to Chechnya, come back, link to Islamist You Tube videos and no one says “boo” to him. We suck.  But mostly we suck because liberals, from Obama on down, suck.  A fully armed America in possession of its rights and courage would have just gone about its normal business and waited for the mutt to show up, and then shot him.  Just a lousy, disgusting series of events.

Thoughts On Boston And Other Gripes

Yesterday’s events in Boston are certainly deplorable, definitely an act of terror, and proof positive that evil does exist. If this does turn out to be the act of a domestic terrorist, either side will be quick to label that person as representative of the whole, and that will be wrong in either case despite the seemingly gleeful anticipation by some in the media that this is someone on the right. Chris Matthews and a whole host of other left wing “journalists” are already speculating that this is some anti government, far right extremist, and have actually mentioned that extremists of this nature are pretty much all on the right, which is not only wrong and shameful, but knowing their character or lack thereof, fully expected. In September 2010, some left wing loon took hostages at the Discover TV channel, over the last couple of years OWS protestors have destroyed a lot of public property, and going back a few years, the Weather Underground became famous for their bombings, just too name a few. In fact one member the Weather Undergound, Bill Ayers, is so revered on the left that he is a prominent professor at Columbia and a noted member amongst the left intelligencia. And this is aside from the Black Panthers, the unions and the Greenpeace demonstrations, which are anything but “peaceful”. So violent whackos are hardly the sole occupants of the right.

In addition, Democrats are already rushing to make this political. Sheila Jackson Lee has blamed the sequester, Axlerod has tied it to Tax Day, and Barney Frank credits increased spending for first responders quick reaction, among other inappropriate musings. Every single one of them needs to be chastised for these repugnant comments. I am sick of tired of nearly everyone in our Federal Government and most of those pundits at the national level. The politicians have increased spending over 30% in the last four years, they have tripled the debt in the last four years, and they continue to display complete incompetence every day, while the sycophantic pundits deflect and make excuses. Or worse yet, are really that stupid to not know the difference. Allocation of tax payer money is the responsibility of our elected representatives, and is prioritized in a budget, something of which has largely been missing over the last several years. Considering that spending has increased by over $1 trillion in the last 4 years, Jackson Lee, for example, wants us to believe that an $85 billion cut back in the rate of growth, is partly responsible for yesterdays bombings. This is the level of intelligence that occupies our federal government, and that is the level of discourse that our national media chooses to give time to. We are in for a world of hurt if we continue to elect and allow people like this to govern our country.

In conclusion, my prayers are with those affected by this atrocious, evil act.