Lose To Win?

Jeb Bush says Republicans have to lose the primary to win the general election.  Spoken like a true loser.  By loser I mean someone who is accustomed to, accepts and will continue to lose.  Jeb's real concern is that he can't win the primary in the heartland should he choose to run.

To paraphrase the thought process that guides him and others like him:  You ordinary people are too committed to your crazy ideas.  You should let more open minded folks like me decide what should be important to you and the party.

We've heard this kindler, gentler pablum before.  Here's the reality.  No candidate has ever lost for being too committed to personal freedom and the Constitution. Many candidates have lost because the don't have the courage or ability to explain those positions to the American people. 

Heroes

My heroes for today are the residents of Weston, Missouri who worked together to block Fred Phelps and the rest of the people from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. They are the group that travels the country attending the funerals of soldiers who have been killed in action. They "protest" holding signs that supposedly make the point that there are consequences for sin. Their point is specifically that the soldier's death are God's punishment for homosexuality in America.

Their signs don't make that point at all. Most of them are really just designed to shock and create a reaction. As a Christian, I understand that name--Christian--to mean one who follows the teachings of Christ. I somehow can't imagine Jesus making the point that homosexuality is wrong by violating the mourning moments of a family who has just lost a loved one....even if Phelps' argument wasn't completely incongruous with any form of logic.

Back to the heroes. Phelps and his crew say they are exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. In America, you have the express right to be a complete idiot. While you do have the right to say whatever you wish, you don't have the right to be heard. The residents of Weston exercised their First Amendment right to make their own point and block Phelps.

I like seeing people take action instead of just complaining. There was no violence or need for violence. Just a well thought out plan. Not unlike the Patriot Guard Riders, members of a motorcycle group who travel to soldier's funerals to show respect and block out people like Phelps. They don't get the media attention that a troublemaker like Phelps does, but they are an example of how America works at its best. Good people rising above bad.

Results, Lessons and Gloating

Like many others I watched the election results last night already knowing what I would see. Republican victories turning MSNBC hosts apoplectic as they were reduced to calling Chris Christie fat. But there were great moments, highlights and lessons to be learned from it all.

I don't think I could say it any better than Marco Rubio did in his acceptance speech:

Notice he refers to Charlie Crist's phone call but praises Kendrick Meek as a man who has given us all a lesson in dignity and honor. While Rubio won't say it, I will. It's a stark juxtaposition to Charlie Crist's political chameleon act, saying and being anything to get elected. Crist is everything that is wrong with politics today and we say goodbye and good riddance to him.

Were there more men and women like Rubio and Meek in politics today, the discourse would indeed be civil and we wouldn't need to talk about changing the tone. On that topic, perhaps nothing gave me greater pleasure than seeing Alan Grayson and his snide, dishonest and revoltingly foul campaign crushed by voters in Florida.

Nearly as exciting for me was the victory by Alan West, also in Florida. I watched his campaign and was inspired by his commitment to fixing the problems in Washington and not becoming part of the "ruling elite". Just a clip from the end of his victory speech:

The lessons that should have been learned last night are simple. Do what the people ask or lose your job. What do the people want? Lower taxes, less government and less spending. It is that simple. This is not a tea party thing or a Republican thing. Look at how hard Democrats had to fight in very liberal places to hold on to their posts. This sentiment runs deep and will only continue to grow.

Republicans need to be listening as closely as Democrats. They need to follow people like West and Rubio who won on exactly those points. John Boehner said all the right things but now he has to follow through. I believe he will but it will be our job to make sure.

Republicans have to eschew people like Trent Lott (whose Republican establishment attitude turns my stomach). He said earlier this year about the incoming Republican's, "As soon as they get here we need to co-opt them." As soon as they get there they need to muzzle Lott and his ilk.

Trent Lott, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid are like attack of the killer clones. It's all about party power. Whether Republican or Democrat it's that garbage that is killing our country. Hopefully you were part of yesterday's historic election. Now be a part of holding your representatives' feet to the fire like a boss checking up on a new employee.

Our message now: Do the job you were hired to do.....or we'll find someone who will.

Impatient?

Just in case you're wondering...Yes. He did pretty much just call the New Jersey state legislature a bunch of whiny punks. I'll say again, I don't know enough about this guy's full beliefs to praise him too much. But I will say this. We need more straight-forward talk, just like this. Enough of the tip-toeing, politically correct political speech already.

Rational Reponses

I've been thinking about this for a while. There is so much said on a regular basis that is just devoid of any reason. It galls me to watch, listen to or read some dim-witted statement that is left unchallenged. So starting today, I'm going to start using this space to give my answers for whomever is interested in hearing.

First up for today is an exchange that came out of Christine O'Donnell's debate with Chris Coon's in Delaware. She claims the Constitution does not set up separation of church and state. Coon's response is that the First Amendment does just that. This is an old argument that goes back literally 200 years. What irritates me is the way the AP "reports" the story.

The story says, she was:

...appearing to disagree or not know that the First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion.

This is the arrogant position the left and mainstream media take. If you don't agree then you are out of the norm and "everyone knows" how it really is. The reality is that barring the government from establishing religion does not preclude government from following religious principles. This notion has been so destroyed over the years everyone knows the AP is just spinning the story for their candidate. (See how I turned that tactic back on you AP writer?)

Second, I want to give Meghan McCain my Please Shut Up Award for this week. Can anyone tell me why she's even being given a platform other than her daddy is a senator and former presidential candidate and she has diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain?

Meghan follows up her attack on Christine O'Donnell on Sunday's "This Week" by attempting to expand on her calling O'Donnell a "nutjob". She writes today on The Daily Beast:

...she has not had any real success in business, government, or public service.

Really? And what success have you had, Meghan? I know her argument would be that she's not running for the Senate. But she is running her mouth. Why should we care what she thinks? Given her reasoning, until she's accomplished something (other than writing a really lame book), she should be suspected of not having what it takes. Whatever "it" is.

And finally, Meghan provides us with one final bit of astoundingly profound wisdom:

We are 15 days away from the general election, and as a Republican I hope that we take over control of the House and Senate, but it is hard for me to see Republicans broadening our appeal with a candidate like Christine O’Donnell.

That's exactly her problem. She's out there whining about being attacked for attacking O'Donnell. It bears pointing out that one should expect some fallout if you publicly go after anyone. But beyond that, she identifies herself as a Republican and she wants Republicans to broaden their appeal. So just as we all suspected, she's really about party power and not about any real principles.

That's exactly what the tea party that she loves to attack is about. That's why Lisa Murkowski, Bob Bennet and Mike Castle lost. We the people are sick to death of career politicians being about party power and not about what is right for the country. I doubt Meghan McCain can grasp that concept but she should try.

Too Hard To.....

A Bloomberg.com story today quotes Joe Biden as saying that Democrats aren't spending their campaigns focusing on the Obama administration's "accomplishment" because, according to the Vice-President, "It's just too hard to explain."

Let me translate that from Washingtonese to English. It's just too hard to spin. Explaining to the American people how spending a trillion dollars and having nearly no effect on the economy or job market is a good thing is definitely problematic. Good luck with that, Joe.

No Good Deed.....

One of the things I find most frustrating about America today is the inability to understand the difference between the letter and spirit of the law. We routinely set free dangerous criminals on some minor technicality while punishing well meaning citizens for actions that no rational thinking person would call a crime.

I've already written about this subject this summer when a 7 year old Portland, Oregon girl had her lemonade stand shut down until she could come up with $120 to get a proper license. Licensing laws are important to ensure the safety of consumers when it comes to food but the laws were written for actual businesses--not a 7 year old with a pitcher of lemonade.

Yet we keep hearing of these situations in which the people who should be able to see what is a clear violation and what common sense says is struggle to figure out what to do. The most recent example is a high school football coach in St. Cloud, Florida who was suspended for the unimaginable crime of taking in a homeless student.

I understand there are rules governing what can be offered to a player to prevent schools from "paying" students to come to their particular school. Schools can't offer or provide free or reduced-rate housing in exchange for students attending their school. Was this rule really made to keep homeless kids on the street? Maybe, instead, it was made to prevent the kind of under the table arrangement I just described.

It is maddening that we now live in a bureaucratic nightmare in which public "servants" enforce laws and rules without a modicum of common sense or basic reasoning. Even worse, it often seems as though these same people feel the need to wield their power for all to see in each questionable situation.

What may be worse is that we're losing our outrage at the idiocy of it all. We hear these story and we shake our heads and think, "That's stupid." However, I have to wonder if these seemingly small and isolated instances aren't contributing to the overall decline of rational society.