Bear in mind these people are progressives, who read what Arianna Huffington has to say, and then take the time to comment. Also bear in mind they are intelligent enough to read a blog and post a comment.

Stupid Comment #1

“To create jobs will hurt corporate profits”

For a moment when I read this I thought I was in the land of the elves, or some other make believe place of wonder. This person actually thinks that Obama will have to “hurt his corporate masters” in order to create jobs. If corporate profits will have to drop in order to create jobs… who exactly created those jobs? The only logical answer is the government. After all in order to create jobs a company would need to INCREASE PROFITS. Teachers apparently need to explain supply and demand in the 6th grade, so when drop-outs skip high school they still understand the most basic mechanics of business.

“The very problem most progressives have with Obama is his “measured approach”. We’re living in desperate times that need a greater sense of urgency.”

Let me translate the words of this moron. He thinks Obama needs to simply ignore the American people, and push on them every item in the progressive agenda. How much more of that can this country take? I bet this idiot talks about democracy a lot.

“Massive public works projects would put people back to work in the construction sector.”

I bet this guy would get along well with the people who ran the census this year. How many roads would one have to build in order to put the entire construction sector back to work? When you consider how many millions of homes that were being built I am sure it would be a lot more than we currently have in this country. Even super-massive programs like the eire canal were only a means to an economic end. The canal produced more jobs by its very existence than its construction ever could have created. This is just another person who thinks the government needs to create the jobs, rather than an environment that allows the private sector to hire people.

“What President Obama needs is more Democrats in the Congress, especially in the Senate, and fewer Republicans.”

How many is enough? This is the most democratic leaning federal government since the days of FDR.  The democrats already pushed health care down the throat of Americans.. what kind of evil would they create if they had even more democrats in congress?

“Arianna, that was a very polite way of saying, “We need a revolution”….”

In her post Arianna was scolding democrats for assuming that Obama would do everything in the progressive agenda overnight. She claimed that activists needed to stand up and do their own work.

People call groups like the Tea Pary radical.. this was on a liberal site. I have yet to see anything like this on a Tea Party or Libertarian website.

“If a company has layed off workers then production is slowed, slowing production reduces the amount of product available to be sold, and that decreases the profit the company can share with the share holders. All involved are a part of the enterprise, management, worker, and investor all depend on each other to provide the environment in which all can prosper.”

And we get to see directly into the mind of a socialist. In a socialist universe the worker has as much right to the profit of a company as the shareholder. In a socialist world the worker should own their own labor. So what is missing in this masterpiece of socialist logic (or rather unlogic).

THE CUSTOMER!!!!

I hope you don’t hate me for stating what should be clear, but the customer is the defining factor in a free-market. The customer can decide to create demand by parting with their own money. That demand is the only thing that creates an opportunity for an investor, manager, and worker to capitalize on. Without this spark of opportunity, and this customer willing to part with their money, all three can simply stay home!.

By this persons logic the companies are all to blame for the lack of jobs because they didn’t hire anyone. Can’t they find anyone but corporations to blame for their problems?

NEWSFLASH CAPTAIN BRAIN POWER!!!! The company can only hire people to produce a product or service to meet the demand created by the customer. When the customers don’t buy, the companies have to let go of workers because their is not a demand for the creation of said product or service. Again we arrive at the simple principle of supply and demand.

What is so hard for people to understand. Companies are not evil.. governments who meddle in their business are evil!!!!!

What is a company?

An employee (manager or otherwise)

An Investor (shareholder, venture capitalist, or small business owner, etc..)

A Customer

Who are these evil pieces of the dark and dastardly company machine we are all so afraid of? They are all just ordinary people exactly like the moron who posted this comment. Workers are YOU, Investors are YOU, a Customer is YOU.

The anti-corporate atmosphere in the progressive mindset is so backwards, and outright stupid it has no place in a rational mind.

It should be no wonder that Obama has done so many bad things for small business (the largest employer in our nation), after all he hates companies, because they are “evil and greedy”.

Newsflash my euro-minded nitwits. Greed and Fear are the only two motivators to human progress that can exist within an economy. This is not my opinion.. its the opinion of economists everywhere. It is the simple drive of greed or fear that will drive an economy up or down. Every purchasing decision, and every market move is based on one or the other.

Hippy liberals need to break out of their save-the-world trance long enough to remember that fear of death keeps us all eating food and drinking water, and a desire for a better existence (greed) makes us work hard to achieve something. There can be no collective good from a government which has a purpose other than providing for the basic rights of the natural world.

A man has a right to live is he is alive. A man has a right to own his body, mind, and the benefits of his labor. A man has the right to do anything he wants as long as it does not interfere with another mans right to live, or another mans property.

Once the government aims to create an environment of “fairness” it will most surely violate these most basic individual rights for the “good of the many”. At this point that community contract we call a government has become something evil. It will take by force from some men to give to others. It will borrow money it does not have to give to itself. It will try through the process of rational logic and good intentions to scientifically improve the lives of the majority of people. But in this process if will deprive people of their property, their liberty, and their very lives.

This is the country we live in. We don’t need to argue with fools who can not understand how the world works. These nutbags would never live a week in a tribal environment because nature would weed them out. In today’s world they will be the small group of tyrants that intend to take away all liberty and all freedom for the purpose of moral correctness. They act not out of fear or greed but out of guilt, empathy, and self pitty. These forces are destroyers of nations, and of morality.

Acting as moral ambassadors behind the barrel of a gun can not be an act of kindness, but is instead an act of violence. To which every mans moral response should be to defend his life, liberty and property, and the rights of future generations.

Do not be mistaken. The progressive agenda is not peaceful, nor is is pure of heart. The progressive agenda would treat you like an ape in a cage who is to stupid to live on its own in the real world of the jungle.

Anti-corporate pacifists are willing to do evil in the name of what is right and good. That makes them a special kind of villain in my book.

Charity, philanthropy, and good works can only be just when undertaken by the private sector. This is what Church is all about. This is what privately funded non-profits and community outreach programs are all about. Government has no business poking its law making nose into any of it. Period.

The rift that exists within the Republican party is one not related to spending but instead social issues. Not all conservatives see eye to eye on traditionally Republican issues such as Federal marriage amendments, and the proper use of Military power. The marxist and marginalized  news media is starting to understand how to argue against logic when it comes to spending, and instead it going to continue to attack government reduction proponents on social issues where they intersect with spending. It was only this evening that Rachel Maddow’s stand in stooge proclaimed that defense is the largest piece of the federal government, while quoting Ron Paul who believes we should pull out of all foreign wars and stick to protecting American interests within the country. Then pointing out that Palin is in support of defense spending, tried to make the disagreement out to be the beginnings of a Republican civil war. Only in Rachel Maddows dreams would such a reality exist, and while conservatives do disagree on military deployment and spending, it has little to no bearing on where the federal budget is actually spent.

I would first note that we are in a time of war. Defense spending is always going to be higher when a country is fighting a war. This puts a burden on the tax payers to pay for such a war, and I have to say personally I think we should bring the troops home and leave the sand box to the nomads that live in it. Regardless, the same liberal nut jobs that will try and justify hundreds of billions of dollars in new government entitlement spending agree if it means taking money from the military?

Is the military really the problem with our budget? lets take a closer look at where our money goes, so we can decide what programs should be cut in a time when the economy is in recession, and we are at war.

Out of all the federal spending which part of the government creates the most jobs? This is hard to measure as you can not simply count the employees of the departments. More job creation is done at the level of contractors. When money is spent on contractors that money leaves Federal hands and gets put to use giving non-government people jobs and wages. This money is also spent on companies that are publicly traded, so it could be stated that every American who wants to own a share of these endeavors can. Not all of the companies are public mind you, but many of the big ones are especially when it comes to National Defense. In essence much of the contract money gets circulated back into the business community who continues to create new jobs and use it to its greatest effect (something wasteful government agencies can not do).

The defense department spends $371 Billion in contracts over the course of a year. When compared to literally every other department, they spend more on contracts than most of the other departments combined. This is actually a very good thing as general public is exposed to the benefits of the spending.

Now lets look at actual government spending of different departments.

The Social Security Administration is the largest single department of the federal government when it comes to dollars. With $710 Billion in direct spending, it is the most wasteful government enterprise in all of recorded human history. A system which is broke, and robs Peter to pay Paul, it is a scam plain and simple. We can do without this spending altogether by removing social security. This is a program which will default and bankrupt the country in a matter of years, its ti me to kill this program.

The second largest waste of human energy in the world is the Department of Homeland Security. When liberals talk they often like to combine this department with the Defense department. This is simply a lie, they are two separate entities. One has a value and a place in the world, but the other one should go back to the halls of over-spending intrusive government from which it came. This department spends $460 Billion to take our freedoms and replace them with the illusion of security.

The third largest agency is the Department of Health and Human Services. With $384 Billion in spending, nearly all of this money is given out in Grants. Is is possible any of this money is wasted? This department spends billions of dollars more than the department of defense, and yet most people probably could not tell you what they do exactly? Welcome to the land of pork, and we didn’t fire any soldiers yet!

Then comes the Department of Defense with $377 Billion in spending. Don’t get me wrong, I agree there is waste in this agency as well, but it is one of the few things the government is actually supposed to do according to the constitution, so I suggest we take from other piles and then revisit this one when we have saved a trillion dollars from our budget on other waste. Please note, three other agencies, two of which can be dropped immediately with no ill effects have larger budgets than the department of defense. Sorry Rachel Maddow, guess your research department is not the brightest.

The list continues with a dozen smaller agencies which take in far less money in comparison. However I would note that we should get rid of the next one on the list as well. The Department of Education. Where in the United States Constitution does the federal government have the authority to regulate education of our children? Mark off another $143 Billion dollars in wasted spending on programs that should be illegal to begin with.

By simply eliminating the three departments I mentioned before we could reduce spending by $1313 Billion dollars without touching defense or any of the other wasteful programs spending out tax money like they can print it (Oh I forget at times that they can).

Lets not let the liberal commentators frame the debate. Cutting military spending should be the least of the issues keeping us separated. Once we again have a constitutional government in our nation, then we can duke it out over the social issues, and the issues of wartime and military spending and alike. Claiming that we should eliminate defense spending is a diversion to keep our eyes of all the real pork in the budget that should be the easy low hanging fruit for conservative representatives.

Even when you combine the liberal perspective on defense spending by including the state department, homeland security, nasa, and a couple hundred billion for wartime spending on the war on terror, it is hard to judge a dollar of this spending vs other programs like Social Security which are completely wasted.

I agree with many conservatives that think Iraq and Afghanistan were and are a mistake.. but make no mistake about it, I do believe in protecting the United States. While we are wasting time in a sand box with no purpose North Korea is becoming a nuclear power and Iran is approaching that place as well. Like it or not, this is not the time to cut our military strength by one iota.

Our nation was in the grips of a Tyrant when it was formed. The oligarchy that ruled the American settlements in the new world imposed regulations and taxes on the hard working people while ignoring their basic human right to self determination. Those who were awake enough to understand that they were enslaved finally could not take it anymore. On the 4th of July 1776 Thomas Jefferson and many others signed the document that would make them targets to the empire, and mark the beginning of a long struggle for freedom and liberty.

It is not uncommon to see television commercials depicting our founders in a way that is comical and trite. Apparently all we can do as Americans to keep the founders vision alive is make them into talking heads and people in funny hats that lived a long time ago.

It is far to easy for the progressive movement to talk about the constitution as a rust old tome with little relevance for today. Often a logical persons response to such an attack is to quote the founders in a witty response. This does not hold any weight with the youth, I mean after all who really cares what people like Jefferson thought? That guy died 184 years ago yesterday, what could he teach us today that would be of any value?

The other response historians have made to discredit the founders of this country is focus on their flaws and humanity. As I spent the 4th at Jefferson’s home at Monticello I was not surprised to see the vast array of displays about the slaves he owned. This only makes sense as 110 slaves lived on the plantation with him they did play a large role in the home itself. It is also true that after his wife died Jefferson probably fathered several more children with one of his slaves. For a man that wrote all men are created equal, Jefferson was duplicitous in his nature.

Jefferson is not the only flawed founder, in fact many of the founders had human traits as well, and made big mistakes. While it si interesting to look at these men through the lens of history and dissect their flawed decisions it plays no bearing on their relevance to our history or our current political climate.

The flaws of the founders simply do not matter when you understand the primary reason that one should study them. Jefferson was highly interesting and is worth study for that reason alone, but even he is worthy of study more for the reasons he acted in 1776, than any flaw or scandal he was a part of.

The reason to study the founders

The founders acted out against tyrany and established the greatest nation the world has ever known. We should study them because the nation they created is a lesson for all those who would form governments, and we should study them because we need to understand why they did what they did.

I am far more interested in knowing WHY a piece of our constitution exists, than knowing about who the author had an affair with. If you have not noticed, public schools spend plenty of time talking about Jefferson’s mistress and no time what soever talking about his views on the constitution. Our current school education system does not teach our children the most valuable thing they can know as members of a Republic.

We as a nation need to understand why the founders of our government designed it the way they did. The constitution may not be perfect, and it may need some revision for modern times.. but to even know if that is the case, we must first learn why it exists in the form it does today.

How many Americans know what the 17th Amendment is? Why was the constitution revised? I personally think that should be removed from our constitution because it takes power away from the states and gives it to the wealthy. However, this is only one of the many amendments and court rulings on the constitution.

How can we even begin to build a better nation and a better government when we do not understand the government we have! How many US Senators understand the constitution? They all swore to uphold it, and yet they make regular statements that would lead anyone to believe they never read it.

My challenge to you is to read the constitution cover to cover. I don’t care if you have done it before, do it again. Keep a pocket copy with you at all times, that way you can read it during bathroom breaks or while waiting for something boring like a doctors visit. Then get on wikipedia and learn about the amendments, its free and it won’t take you a full afternoon. Understanding the foundation of our government is a requirement for any education, and to be a rounded person. Once you understand the basics of the Constitution you can list yourself amongst those who better understand our Nation than even our own congress. Once armed with that knowledge it is time to understand WHY it says what it does. Who authored what part? What was left out of the constitution? What is your state constitution? Ever read it?

To understand where we must go, you must first understand where we are, and that is why understanding our founders is so very important. The point of a Republic is not to worship the government we have established, but to celebrate the freedoms we were born with, and keep a watchful eye that the government setup to help us does not become to powerful for its own good.

The first great lie that is so often believed in this country is that the Democrats are the party of civil rights. When Nancy Pelosi walked arm in arm with Civil Rights hero’s as though the health care reform bill was just another good thing the democrats had done, implying that they were the party of civil rights I nearly lost my lunch.

Lets look at history for a moment and see who exactly changed this country to give Blacks the same rights as everyone else.

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, and he freed the slaves. Out of all the civil rights votes since 1933, including the Civil Rights Act it was Republicans who carried the legislation through and made it happen. Republicans voted by majority for civil rights bills 90% of the time, while Democrats voted by majority against them.

Even now as I sit and watch Senator KKK Byrd’s memorial service I can only think to the facts that the man personally tried everything possible to stop the Civil Rights act of 1964. Democrats have fought hard over the years, but not to protect civil rights, but to destroy liberty.

Conservatives should stop letting these people pretend they have been the party of equality, when in fact they are the party of segregation, and the party who does not care what the people of the United States want. In December of last year the Senate Majority leader had the insane notion to compare GOP opposition to Health Care to those who tried to block civil rights.

The other lie that is being told is that partisan laws is business as usual for historic social reforms. This could not be further from the truth told to us by the history books. Health Care reform is nothing like other large social reforms that have been passed into law. Not only do the vast majority of Americans oppose it, not a single Republican voted for it.

Here is this wonderful illustration from the Political Math Blog

The numbers speak volumes.

This is insane nonsense. Robert Hurt may not be your favorite from the primary, but he is a far better candidate than Parriello for the job. That’s exactly what this is about, a job. Today we have a liar and a scumbag in office who is failing to represent us. Forget not his votes on Cap and Trade and Obamacare. If you are to vote for Parriello to send a message you are voting for the Obama agenda, and the destruction of all that is good about this country.

People who say Hurt is not a conservative have not looked at his record, and are speaking out of ignorance. Robert Hurt was far from my first choice, but I will line up behind him from now until the day we send him to Washington because its the best thing for Lynchburg, the best thing for Virginia, and the best thing for the nation.

How did this happen, why didn’t everything change?

The current predicament we find the 5th district in is a direct result of the lack of organization amongst reformers like the tea party. When half a dozen reformer candidates all selfishly decide to run against the establishment at the same time, we get more establishment. This is not rocket science, its just simple truth. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, as we are all to blame for letting this happen. However, today is not the time to lick our wounds and complain, but to move forward as a unified front against the monster that represents us in Washington. Our driving motivation should not be our love of the establishment, but the duty to our country to end the Obama agenda and change the direction our nation is headed. Each and every one of the candidates who ran should stand up and support Hurt to unify conservatives in the 5th. We should all individually send hurt a clear message, we will help you, and we are behind you, but our support has strings attached!

What was actually accomplished

The voters in the 5th sent a clear message to the establishment by all of the messaging that was pushed forward during the campaigns. It is also clear if we had a single non-establishment candidate we would have beaten Hurt! This is a great lesson for us all, and for many an introduction to congressional races. This is not the time to give up! To form a cohesive change great efforts must be taken over long periods of time by many individuals. What would have happened if Dr King gave up during the civil rights movement? Where would we be if the great communicator had decided that it was to much effort and pain? Will we give up now and allow the establishment to continue with business as usual? Today marks just another milestone on the road to building a better nation, and not all battles are all or nothing.

We have the opportunity in front of us to remove a vote that the Obama counts on. We have the chance to continue to revolutionize the GOP from the inside. We should be writing Hurt letters and letting him know that we will hold him accountable to us when he goes to Washington.

If you want to change the status quo you must never believe it will be easy. Nothing worth fighting for is easy. Did you think the establishment was just going to roll over and hand the reigns of power to a group of people who can not even line up behind a single newcomer? The 5th district is only one of many around the nation that will fail to buck the establishment. This is a simple case of a movement in its infancy, and November is not our final say.

Don’t back down, stick to principles.. voting for Hurt is your best way to send a message to Obama before the 2012 elections.. don’t throw that away because of selfish pride and hurt feelings.

In thinking about this I have been pondering questions about gun rights, and the rights of the individuals to protect themselves and others. I personally have issues attending a tea party debate at a University that does not support individual gun rights on its campus when they actually matter.

I think the school went a long way when they decided to provide a handgun shooting range for students on their local university police range. I think this was a great idea, and long overdue from the school that has one of the United States first all weather ski slopes.

I am unsure as to why this logic did not carry through when the university decided not to allow students with concealed carry permits to carry on campus. Traditionally school grounds have been “no gun” zones around the country, but with tragedies like the  Virginia Tech massacre, one would think that the need to protect students should be seen at an all time high.

At what point in time on Liberty University’s campus does a legal carry permit holder become a threat to security of others instead of an asset to overall security of everyone they stand next to?

Lets examine why I personally choose to carry a gun much of the time, and why I should be allowed to carry every single place I go. (Yes even on airplanes and school grounds).

The purpose for me to carry my hand gun is to protect my life and property. It is the right of all humans to protect their lives and property from threats that would take them away. I believe like many others that this is a basic human right, and not a power given to me by the government or any elected office. I do not require the “ok” from congress, or any law to protect my life and the lives of those around me. This is a right I was born with, and you were to.

So how then in a day and age where the knife and sword have been replaced by guns should I defend myself where I am not allowed the right to carry one. Please bear in mind I had an FBI background check and now hold a document issued from a judge that gives me the right to carry a gun 95% of the places I go in concealment. I was already allowed by my state laws to carry openly in even more locations just because I am an adult with no criminal history that would prevent my ownership of guns.

So I find myself trying to understand why Liberty University does not believe in my right to protect myself? I am a law abiding adult that regularly carries my gun into public places with the intent to protect myself if I am ever in a situation that requires it.

I personally think every law abiding adult person in this country should take it upon themselves to provide for the protection of their family. For one to rely on the police, which will arrive in a deadly situation far to late to do any good, is to be negligent of their personal responsibility. The police are a luxury, and should not provide people with a false sense of security. The millions of times Americans defend themselves legally with guns every year is clear evidence I am not saying anything that is “out there” or “radical”.

The personal right to defend life and liberty on the grounds of Liberty University is greatly handicapped because as every logical person knows criminals do not obey laws. I can guarantee without a doubt that criminals have and will continue to bring guns into every university in the country because they bring their guns regardless of the rules against them. Once again.. Criminals do not obey laws by definition. Rules against legal citizens carrying hand guns on private property is paramount to liberal gun control, and spits in the face of logical freedom loving gun owners.

Liberty University would do better to teach its young persons the benefits and values of defending themselves in an emergency, and the honor associated with standing up for those who can not defend themselves. This would be a practice worthy of the university’s namesake.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that every 17 year old should be armed, but restricting legal permit holding adults from protecting themselves, and the Univeristy while they are on the grounds is not clear thinking.

I do not shop in places that do not support my right to carry, and I will not attend debates on the future of our freedom in a University that does not value my personal freedoms in respect to the safety of my life.

I had a disagreement with a family member on this issue, which gave me time to think it through.. I had previously said “Liberty University does not support my second amendment rights”.. I was wrong.. I now correctly believe “Liberty University does not respect my individual liberty, nor my personal right to defend myself on its campus”

After taking a peek at the congressional finance reports for the local candidates campaigns I am lead to draw some conclusions.

Tom Parriello has already raised 1.6 MIllion dollars for this campaign. Its only May, which means he could raise another Million, or more before the general election depending on PAC contributions, his current fund-raising efforts etc… Looking at his 2008 Campaign numbers he spent just under 2 million dollars on his last campaign. More than 200k was provided through PAC funding, and to date he has already received 400K from PAC funding this go around.  It is not unthinkable he could find more PAC money with his close relationship with the President. It is also not unlikely that he could get some big support from other campaigns in return for his unpopular  health care vote. Lets also remember that he spent 100k less than our last congressman to win the election by a tight margin. We can only hope much of that was due to the Presidential election cycle and the millions spent on trying to bring “change”. With any luck many of his supporters last time around will not be voting in this election. This could also play out for a republican candidate in much the same way, people do not get rid of their congressman between presidential elections.. it just doesn’t happen very often.

So no matter how angry and upset we all are about who we have in office, we have a long road ahead of us if we are going to stand a chance at changing the tide in our favor.

Before I jump into the basket of potential opponents lets remember a couple things about campaign finances. 70% or more of the money spent in a campaign is spent on voter contact. Most congressional candidates will need six or more contacts with the entire field of voters in order to get enough name recognition to win. This is in all reality a game of Branding, not of winning minds.

That being said, those with larger budgets often win elections because they can afford more contact and higher quality contact with the voters. A yard sign does not tell people who you are. A mailer only tells a small percentage of the recipients anything about you.. for those that even open the letters in many cases they will end up in the wrong hands, or in the garbage in 10 seconds flat. The same can be said of post cards, and even telephone calls. In the end the higher quality mediums to reaching people like events, interviews, radio, television, etc.. are very expensive. Those with more money will get more contact, and more branded name recognition. More money = easier to win.

As a business owner that helps people spend their advertising dollars I would also remind all of us that in reality most people don’t know who you are or what your about until they have seen or heard your name 10 times. In this case even five or seven contact points will not be enough for average people to know a single thing about a candidate. Campaigning is like trying to catch a fly in mid flight with a pair of chopsticks. Even when someone learns who you are, they are often going to make up their mind by means of simple issues, or an idea they had from an advertisement. Most people know very little about who they are voting for. Thats why slander and name calling can actually be effective.. most people won’t know any different.

So it is clear that a larger budget and better fund-raising is the key to winning elections because it allows for more voter contact and people learn who you are.The other fact people need to know is that campaigns must be planned backwards.. If you run out of money two weeks before the election you are dead in the water.. so candidates usually plan from election day backwards.

Because we have so many candidates in the pool it is actually very easy to find out who we should be voting for, because losing races will stand out in the financial department.

As of March 31

Robert Hurt has roughly 200k on hand and has spent half of his money on his campaign. He has received 45k in PAC funding and raised the rest. He has not spent any of his own money on his campaign. So far he has rasied 1/4 of what it will take to compete with Parriello.. Notice I said compete, not win. Last time Goode spent 100k more and lost.

Verga has raised 320k and spend just over a third of it. He has even more ground to make up to compete with Tom.Over 85% of this came from his own pocket. That does not show fund-raising skill, and unless he has another 1.5 million in cash he can donate, he better learn how the raise money.

McPadden has raised 250k, but an even higher percentage came from his own pocket. Once again no fund-raising.

Boyd has only managed to raise 70k and has already spent all but 20k of it. I am not sure how he expects to even compete with the last three candidates I mentioned.

Feda Morton has raised only 50k and only has around 7k left. (I remind everyone these numbers are more than a month old). She did manage to bring in some PAC money, but a campaign could spend 2k in a single letter to a part of the 5th district.

McKelvey has spent twice as much as he has raised yet still reports to have another half million on hand for the rest of the campaign.

I can’t talk about Ferrin or Clark because I would need to do more digging in government websites which are no fun to use.. But I can not imagine the picture is any different.

So what is going to change once one of these people wins the nomination. Well first off they are going to get support from the local republican party groups, PAC money might appear from interested parties, and new donors are going to show up because their dollars will be spent on a person who is going to run.. not just against other republicans.

After reading these numbers and giving it some thought I am a bit disturbed. I hope someone out there has a good fund-raising plan to bring in another million dollars or more to the campaign, because without it we are not going to make it very far. I don’t even know what else to say.. Its great there are some people who want to run on their own dime, but they better learn how to raise funds. Hurt is the only one in the race who has not spent his own money, and will probably be able to raise the funds required to compete at his current rate.

Once again I can see a clear reason for several candidates to turn in the hat and let this district elect a Republican to congress. Right now the bottom candidates are actually doing more damage than good, and it strikes me as selfish. Anyone who runs for congress has to have an ego the size of texas, but people should realize that their own needs need to come after the needs of the people of the district. For that reason alone I could never vote for Feda, Boyd, Ferrin, etc..

I am sad because I think people in this district are about to learn a hard lesson.. Politicians like Hurt who run time and time again can raise funds, already have lots of connections, and can more easily win a race. I don’t like Hurt because he is a politician, but if a half dozen people are going to crowd the field and ruin it for the rest of us, I am not sure I like them either.

I will vote for McPadden myself.. but even voting for Ferrin, Feda, Boyd is not going to hurt this race as much as the candidates crowding the field.

For the bottom three: When are you going to wake up and get it? You are actually working against our common goals because you think you need to run, even when you have shown no skill at running a race, raising money, or reaching enough people to make a difference. Its time to gracefully end this nonsense. We are in a battleground district, but you are going to hand it to either another career politician, or a democrat!

Pen and Teller have a great word for this.. Bullshit.

Yes it would be foolish not to admit that we live in a much more Hamiltonian world than Jefferson ever would have liked. Globalization, mass media, the internet and the information age as a whole have changed the picture to a world where our neighbors are also people half way across the world. It does no good to try and return to a Monroe style of governing where we pretend the rest of the world does not exist. In fact it is now more than ever that the opportunity exists  for people to take our rights away and conform us to the whole of the worlds populations. The same truth rings out about truth and free speech. Even though I know I would not be comfortable saying some of the things I find myself thinking, and there is an oppressive spirit in our country toward true patriotism, I now more than ever have the ability to reach thousands or even millions with my words and spread my ideas as an individual.

Individual rights are the true cornerstone of our way of life as Americans. Power lies not with the government, or corporate wealth, but with the individual who can still vote, and who can still make a stand with his words and his wallet. So I say to you republicans that say people like me are “crazy” and “need to come back down to reality” those of us in this country who are waking up are not going to stand for he same zero sum game DC has been playing with us for decades. President after president we have seen this country argue and play political games with issues that have no relevance, all the while dipping their dirty hands into the public coffers to expand their own salaries, benefits, pensions, and give money to corporate friends. We have watched both the Republicans and the Democrats waste our hard earned money for quite long enough. I for one have had it up to HERE!!! (points at own neck).

People pretending to love the constitution still engage in silly games where they allow the media, and greedy politicians to frame the discussion in this country. For to long we watched news reporters and congressman argue about different approaches to government run health care. Who stood up and asked if the idea of government interference in the Health Care industry was even a constitutionally viable concept?  Who stood up for Americans when people on both sides passed the Patriot act? Who stood up when Bush Jr spied on all of us? To me that is a crime far worse than anything Clinton was guilty of. Where was the voice of the people?
Even now there are those in the republican party that want us all to live in a “Big Tent” republican party. Excuse me? What? A big tent party means that at least 1/3 of the people in your political party disagree with you on much of what you believe. How can that be a healthy way to have a political party? Instead of promising ground breaking legislation the Republican party should be seeking to limit the power of government and dismantle money pits like the Military Industrial Complex. Instead of the montra that government is the problem the Republicans have increased the size of government, and government spending for 8 long years. This is not conservative by any stretch of the imagination.

We do not need to let DC frame the public discourse and keep us all talking about issues that do not matter. For to long I personally have decided to support the Republican candidates because I thought it was better than letting the democrats keep control. I find now I was in grave error. This is because the republican party is still to friendly with socialists. Lets be frank here, when you support more big government, more government intrusion, and fewer liberties you are a socialists plain and simple. Needing to live in the Nanny State where big brother looks out for everyone is going to open the doors for people like Obama to come in and do crazy stuff. We can debate about the meaning of the word socialism all day long, but Democratic Socialism is still Socialism.. and is likely to become a form of Communism or worse over time.

We need to start voting for the people that make sense to us. I do not want to live under a big tent where socialist republicans are my counterparts. If the republican party wants to be the party of the people it needs to stop running democratic candidates! I voted in the last election for the lesser of two evils. I voted against Obama, but I voted for a guy that I think is a democrat at heart!

It does not matter if the republicans get back power in the house and senate.. I know that’s going to be hard for some people to chew on, but I would rather see ten years pass where a new party is formed that comes in and cleans out the Democrats and Republicans for their treachery, than to see more of the same Republican garbage for any length of time. Republican politicians will lie to you just as quickly as a democratic one will. I have no doubt that we will see an ocean of republicans pretending to identify with our ideals as constitutionalists and libertarians.

If we don’t vote in a new kind of republican congress.. we might as well just keep the people we have.

On another note I would also say that wanting a constitutionally run government is not a pipe-dream. It is not being naive to work toward that goal. The only hope the republican party has is to squeeze out the liberals in our midst.

In order to balance a budget of any kind, national, household, or otherwise a couple things need to be taken into consideration.

You can not spend more than you make.

This is not rocket science, and as someone who made poor choices with credit cards at the age of 18 I can tell you its not even complex. You can not spend money you don’t have.

Our current government is 14 trillion dollars in debt. To give an example of how much money that is lets use an analogy. How long does it take for a million seconds to go by? That’s a lot of seconds, but its really only 8 days worth of them. 8 Days for a million seconds to go by. Now how long does it take for a trillion seconds to go by? Think about this for a second and give your most liberal estimate. 32,000 years! 14 trillion dollars is a stinking lot of money. That same congressional budget office Obama and Pelosi were quoting also says that number will increase by 9 trillion more in this decade. Thats 23 trillion dollars by 2020 if we do nothing. Our country is spending millions of dollars an hour to pay back that debt. That clock is always ticking, and the interest is always growing. Even president Clinton’s former financial advisor says that is unsustainable by all standards. This is not even a debatable issue, it is a fact.

You only have two ways to balance the budget

You must increase the money you make, or decrease the money you spend. Once again I could teach this to a 5 year old with a couple five dollar bills. Soon he would be asking for next weeks allowance today.. sound like anyone we know?

To increase the money the government brings in it can do one of two things. It can increase taxes, or it can print more money. When the government prints more money everyone else has the value of their money decrease. Our government has doubled the money supply in the country in the last year. Welcome to money that is worth less and increased costs for everything. Food prices are a good example.

Taxes are the other way to increase the governments income. “lets tax the rich.. lets tax those greedy corporations”. Hmm.. There is no such thing as a greedy corporation there is only stock holders, employers, and customers. When you tax a company it will cost one of those three people and in most cases all three of them. Corporate taxes are a simple lie that the poor falls for every time.

Most people think they don’t pay taxes when they don’t pay into the income tax system. They are dead wrong. Of the 100+ taxes people pay, many of them are on the poor and middle class. Take the roads and bridges we drive on. No rich person paid for those, we paid for them in taxes on our gasoline and oil. We paid for them in taxes on our car registration, our vehicle purchase, etc.. Everyone pays taxes somewhere, and increasing government revenue through taxes decreases the power of the economy.

The government is incapable of creating wealth or growth. It also can not create a “fairness” for the lower class. Such laws and programs only help to keep the poor people poor while making the rich people richer. When you penalize a poor man for making more money, you are not empowering him to become rich. The recent push toward social justice should be renamed to a push toward classism and social inequality.

The government does not produce anything. They don’t make cars to drive, tables to eat on, or perform a service to pay for. The government is a consumer of money, not a producer of money. The government is incapable by its very nature of helping the economy by its involvement. Instead it helps the economy by getting out of the way.

So how do we balance this nasty budget we have.

Cut spending by cutting government jobs, programs, salaries, pensions, grants, loans, management, etc.. Get rid of wasteful government agencies like the department of homeland security, the IRS, the FDA, and the list goes on.

There is no magic solution to balancing the budget, its as simple as cuts. If a company doesn’t have money to spend they borrow money. BUT and this is a big but.. that company is capable of producing something unlike the government. it is immoral and unjust to think the government is borrowing money it does not have and refusing to live within its means.

If your sibling took out a $10,000 line of credit in your name and refused to pay the bill.. instead took out another card with a higher limit you would file suit against them in court. Why then do we allow a group of pigs to sit in washington and spend all of our hard earned money?

There is one more way for the government to make more money.. the people who pay them (MEANING US!) can get richer and more wealthy. Then we could afford to pay more money. So how do we all get rich to keep this government dope fiend flush with cash? They need to cut taxes. Every dollar the government does not consume and destroy with its own wasteful nature is a dollar the economy can use in spending, and thus growth. Cutting the capital gains tax will historically increase the revenue of the government. It is a time tested way for the feds to make more money. Obama wants to raise it!!!!!!!!! Once again.. it makes the government more money to cut it.. Obama wants to raise it??

Balance the budget by getting rid of wasteful government programs (most of them) and lowering taxes on the people who can spend money to help the economy grow.

If we did both of those things everyone would have more money.. You, me, the rich guy everyone hates to much, and the greedy feds with their stupid programs.

PS: government representative.. cutting out the pork means your salary to!

I could not agree more. Don’t get me wrong I think we need to protest as much as we are now, if not more in the coming months, and possibly years. That does not mean however, that simply making fun signs, listening to music, and yelling in the park are going to help any of us achieve our political goals for this nation .

What do I mean by that? I think the 9-12 groups are a good example. These groups are not known for protesting, instead they are meeting, educating one another, and taking action in their local governments. 9-12 groups have been responsible for getting rid of corrupt local officials, changing local laws, and creating a lasting bond between members who can agree on at least a majority of the 9-12 principles.

So why don’t they protest in a way that gets national media attention? How are they going to effect change without a national voice? Don’t get me wrong there are lots of 9-12 groups at the tea parties. These groups have had a national spokesperson leading them and promoting them to the rest of the country. Namely, Glen Beck. They are able to find more like minded individuals through the public attention he brings to the group.

This kind of pulic attention has also been given to the Tea Parties, and more.. through its efforts to protest in every major city in the nation. The resounding unity of people around the country, all getting together to protest is drawing a lot of public attention. This is also bringing huge criticism from the left who are trying very hard to discredit the tea party movement. Beyond the lefts ability to discredit the party by calling it racist, violent, or stupid, the right is also looking to co-opt the tea party movement under its own banner to create a new base to its party. Its as though when Ron Paul raised so much money by talking about these issues the rest of the right learned they can “shake the money tree” using those same issues and gain new supporters for their candidates in the process.

The Tea Party Protests do not effect change, instead they create awareness that change needs to happen, and that people are not alone in their feelings.

The Knee Jerk Response

The initial response from the left to the tea parties has been  to call us names and say hateful things about us. Do not think for a second that this is the end game for progressives in this country on both sides of the fence. Making exagerated claims about the tea parties is going to deter some people from our ranks, but it will not protect socialist candidates from losing seats in congress as all of the national press grows our numbers every time we protest. Americans across the nation will resonate with our message about a government out of control. This will draw voters who are Regan conservatives, Ron Paul supporters, Libertarians, Alex Jones followers, Jeffersonians, and many middle of the road republicans.

Do not be deceived for a moment that claims of racism and violence will be the true stumbling blocks to our cause. The left may adopt insain ideas and policy, but they are not stupid, or under-funded in their efforts. The left is going to hit us on our issues, and we as a group need to be prepared.

Here is a video from the Huffington Post where a man who appears to be a lone journalist goes out looking to ask tea party members about the issues. Of course you can not see the hours of taping that probably had well spoken people telling the truth and making him look like an idiot, instead you get this.. well just watch and you will see what I mean.

This is the kind of attack we should be expecting from the left. He is attacking the tea party on its ignorance, and skipping the real issues people are concerned about.

For instance he talks aout how Obama cut taxes for 95% of Americans. This is not true, but he did in fact give tax breaks to 98% of working families in his stimulus package. This however is NOT the issue, he did this while at the same time taking over one of  the nations largest auto-makers, the nations largest insurance company, and giving billions to the banks that were “to big to fail”. This also skips the issue of the fact that the president is spending money like it is growing on the white house lawn. A small tax cut to working Americans and other small tax breaks for buying a new car, or a new home do not reverse the truth that the other side of those exact same actions were to make the tax payers owners of fortune 500 companies. IE Socialism.

You will also notice in this video the interviewer is showing interviews with people who may not be stupid, but they are clearly not public speakers, and may not even fully understand all of the specifics of the issues. It is hard for ordinary people to understand all of the specifics when they rapidly change, and the left spins everything to make it look more appealing. Tea Party members do not attend a rally thinking “If a journalist asks me about the issues this is what I will say” but that journalist did with the people he interviewed.

Obama and company are clearly lying about the issues in many cases. For instance Obama claims that everyone will see Health Insurance rates decline. This is an outright lie. In reality the best case scenario for the bill would be to see the rate of increase in premiums decline.. that is not a decline in itself and is deceptive. Even that is probably a pipe dream when you consider the inflation of the government program that will oversee the new legislation and the increased costs over time that we can not even imagine today. Even the CBO which the white house likes to quote basically says they do not know the true cost of the health care bill over the coming years because there are to many unknowns. That is basically an admission that it will cost a lot more than we now realize, probably billions more. Not to mention the costs that companies will face which will raise prices and hurt us all at the checkout line.

The other part of the health care puzzle is the individual mandate that people must purchase insurance, or pay a fine. This kind of “you must cooperate” with the government kind of legislation is leading us down the road experienced in the book 1984. (Written by a former communist I might add).

Where does this lead us? Will they later force everyone to buy a home? a car? certain clothes? specific food? I can not even imagine the dark places this kind of legislation could bring us in the future.

The left is not going to stop at flinging feces at the tea party, that was just a knee jerk reaction because they didn’t see us coming. The true way they will discredit us in the future elections is to not respond to the real issues, but instead point out the things obama is doing that will make us look like we just don’t like him, not his policy. When Obama stood up and said he didn’t know why the tea party was angry because he had lowered taxes, it was a very smart political move. Its true, he did give out tax breaks to people making less than 90k a year. Thats NOT the issue!

These kinds of lies will also be used on a local level. Tom Parriello recently posted on twitter that he was excited to be a part of the “biggest tax cut in history” referring to the health care bill. When you look at Parriello’s position on taxes you can see how deceptive this statement really is. People like Obama and Tom are not going to stand back and let us take our country back without a fight. They are going to approach the undecided voters who do not follow politics and tell them lies they want to hear. We need to constantly be watching for these lies.

How do we beat them?

We have to be more organized than we already are. The leadership of the local Lynchburg tea party is doing a great job, but the rank and file people in this town, who may not even attend protests need to stand up and start working. In politics there are two things that are required for victory.

1. We need to raise money and get behind one candidate.

2. We must be more organized than our opposition.

Do not get me wrong, I love freedom, and the tea party itself does not have to endorse anyone. BUT elections are a matter of money. No matter how much truth we can muster, the liars with a bigger wallet will always win the votes of the un-educated who like the status quo, or who are unaware of false accusations the left is flinging. Average people are not engaged in the political process except one day every four years. This is reality, and trying to pretend it is not true will not get us anywhere.

We need to fund a candidate that supports our issues, listens to us, and has the background and statesmanship to win. Sending the most well meaning person to office who has no skill in public speaking or lacks the ability to get our issues heard by others will do us no good. The world is full of officials who are just along for the ride. They don’t actually get anything done because they are ill-equipped to be leaders, or they have no back bone / influence.

Getting this person to office is going to require a mountain of money. This is not an understatement. If we are looking to send a congressman into office we need to raise money that is counted in hundreds of thousands For a senator we need millions. That kind of money is not easy to raise, and requires the support of large financial backers who can donate thousands at a time. When Goode was elected he had companies donate tens of thousands to his campaign in one gift. This is a part of the political process that can not be ignored. Who among us has the ability to fund raise? Who has experience financing an election? How many of us are ready to ask our friends and relatives to give to a candidate we are going to back?

Running for office requires a lot of labor hours by ordinary people. Having close friends and family members who worked on large campaigns I can tell you they work hard to make it happen. A member of my family was asked to work on the state level for the McCain campaign by a friend of our family in Washington. The idea of investing that kind of time and travel was a daunting prospect alone. Having worked with a public affairs group that runs governors campaigns I can tell you these guys work from sun up, to sleep time. Running a campaign is a huge effort that requires immense man hours to accomplish. Even running a campaign for state legislature requires endless phone calls, luncheons, meetings, public speaking events, and volunteers.

Who among us is equipped for that kind of effort? At the recent tea party I was listening to a young college age girl talk about her candidate. She said “I am the campaign secretary” and I was a bit surprised. I am not saying a college kid can not do a great job, as they do much of the political leg work in this country, but in my experience that position is usually filled by a lawyer, business owner, or full time experienced political operative. Running for congress is not a small task by any means.

So I ask a tough question. Do any of the candidates running in the GOP primary have the know how to create the political machine needed to win against a well funded opponent? Do any of them have the people on board that will be needed to fund raise the campaign. Does our local group have anyone with the financial power to help make this thing happen in a meaningful way? What if the GOP on the national level does not help fund the campaign because they do not like the candidate? Would not be the first time. Simply getting that “R” on the ballot is not enough to win any election.

Do we have opposition research on the level required to win? A friend of mine was asked to practice debate with President Bush before he took office. He sat across the room from the president as a stand in for the real opponents he would face in the debate. He gave great detail on how the operation was run on a presidential level. He was working on the Bush campaign, and later became one of the president advisors. When he was working the campaign he went to the campaign headquarters every day in DC. He walked into the high rise building past a secure room that only certain people were allowed access to. He was working on the top floor with the President, so he always felt kind of important, like he was up there with the big guy during the campaign. It was not until he prepared to be a stand in for the debate that he saw the overwhelming size of the operation he was involved in. He was taken into that secure room where he found hundreds of desks full of people with gigantic stacks of paper. They were hustling over the stacks and computer screens and on telephone calls. The place looked like a trading floor of the stock exchange. When he asked what this place was they said “This is opposition research”. The entire room, and floor of the building was dedicated to examining every angle of his opponents. When he was given the volumes of printed paper to study he was told, this is everything we have on the person you are standing in for. He spent days reading on every position the candidate had every had on anything. They knew things about this person he had probably forgotten.

Then the process of practicing for the debate happened. He started off debating with other stand-ins. There was even a stand in for the president so they could practice every part of the deate before it happened. Then after the stand ins practiced with the other stand ins the president to be came in and practiced for hours on end with his debate stand ins. They had the entire stage setup so it looked and felt like the real thing. Every issue, and every response was based on the opposition research they had spent months collecting.

This of course was a presidential election, which millions of dollars a spent on, even hundreds of millions. But the idea still stands. Winning campaigns are very well orchestrated political exercises by large groups of people all culminating on the events of a single day.

I certainly do not ask these questions because I think its impossible, but i do think we should all be realistic in our efforts. If we do not have what we need today, how do we get it? All things can be done, but they require the power of the group, and many many dollars to make them happen. Are we going to unite behind one person, all give our collective efforts, talents, and money to making it happen? November could not come any sooner.

The next issue is the general rank and file of the movement. Are we educating one another? Are we reading books that will enlighten us, are we aware of the issues with the depth needed to defend ourselves against calculated attacks? Have we resolved to donate our own time and or money to seeing that our voice is heard in the next election? The opposition is going to know exactly what to say to discredit us, we all need to know what to say in return.

Lastly I would point out that the last few months have been amature hour in the 5th district. Its not even the amount of mud slinging that has been going on so much as the amature nature of the mud being slung. When I am at a tea party and a child walks up and hands me a flyer that tells me not to vote for one of the candidates, insulting their integrity, but not claiming who it was distributed by.. its clear somone does not get how this political process needs to happen. It is certainly a good thing to point out the inconsistencies of your competition, or to tell others why they should steer clear of them. It is not a good thing to fling feces at them without explaining who you are, and why you are saying it. One can not stand above reproach by hiding in the shadows, and should instead always approach competition head on, in the full light of day. To proceed otherwise is childish.

We need to think like political operatives. We have the greatest weapon known to political change… TRUTH. Our efforts should be focused on a get out the truth centered approach. We do not need to slander each other and weaken our cause as a whole, but should instead tell people the truth. WE ARE NOT POLITICIANS, WE ARE NOT WASHINGTON INSIDERS, WE ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO LOVE THIS COUNTRY, AND WANT TO SEE REAL GRASS ROOTS CHANGE COME TO THE 5TH DISTRICT, AND WASHINGTON AS A WHOLE.WE WANT TO SEE THE POWER RETURNED TO THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION.