Louisville Tea Party

One of the most effective ways of making sure that 1) you’re able to accomplish your own agenda while 2) those around you are left scratching their heads is to use language that means one thing to the speaker and something entirely different to the rest of us.   This is the timeless ploy of the power-mongers of history, who first charm their listeners with slick, often-eloquent, well-turned phrases that put the masses at ease and then, following their own definitions of their carefully chosen terminology, do something that is just the opposite, usually to the detriment of the people.

So, in an effort to help you better understand what is the meaning behind what is being said, let me offer the following primer in Remedial Liberal-Speak 101.

1) What they say:  ”We’re going to put a freeze on spending”

What they really mean: “Well, we’re going to freeze spending after we increase it dramatically first.  Then, we’re going to put a freeze on those areas that amount to a fraction of 1% of our budget.  The largest and most costly budget items will continue to grow.  And beyond our control.”   The $25 billion per year in budget savings proposed amounts to less than two-tenths of a per cent of the total budget.   Please.

2) What they say:  ”We need to tighten our belts.”

What they really mean:  ”YOU need to tighten YOUR belts.  We’re planning to raise the US debt level by $1.9 trillion (the equivalent of the entire Gross National Product of France!)  even as we speak.”  (Passed 2.4.10–total budget deficit as of now:  $14.3 trillion!)

3) What they say:   “We have invited Republicans to the table to try to build consensus.”

What they really mean:  ”If they would just passively cooperate, not analyze/criticize what we’re trying to do and quietly and dutifully go along with our statist agenda, we could have ‘consensus.’”   The liberals way of “reaching out” is to announce what they’re going to do, before, during and after, no matter how much it costs.

4)  What they say:  ”They don’t like what we’re proposing for healthcare reform?  So let’s see what they’ve got.  They have nothing and have proposed no meaningful alternatives.”

What they mean:  ”We don’t like the numerous, detailed plans that have been put forth that propose simpler, far more cost-effective ways of reducing the burden of health care for Americans.  What we’re after is a total, unequivocal, government takeover of one of the largest industries that remain in the private sector and we will oppose any other cheaper, easier plan that interferes with that goal.   Better still:  We’ll just tell the American people that no real alternative has been put forth at all.’”

5)  What they say:  ”We’re making our first priority, the passing of a Jobs Bill.”

What they really mean:  ”We are committed to our ideology that real solutions to America’s problems don’t come from the private sector,  that there are no free market solutions.   What we need is yet another government solution–a huge stimulus that we’re going to give an appealing name because, after all, who could oppose job creation??”  Note: As Rand Paul has pointed out, the government cannot create jobs (unless they’re government jobs), only business can create real jobs.  The government “creating jobs” is akin to taking water from the deep end of the pool and pouring into the shallow end.   It’s still taking from those who are working and giving to those that are not.

So the next time you hear some establishment politician, whether Democrat or Republican, say something that sounds too good to be true, look beneath and behind the words.  Our leaders’ true message is revealed in what they do, not what they say.

~~Dan Blanchard

Click on the “We the People” title/link for an audio intro to a special series, “We the People,” hosted by our friend in freedom, Jim Coyle, beginning this Sunday, February 7th from 1 – 2pm on AM 970, WGTK.

“We the People”

http://elections.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/

Last week, during the State of the Union speech, our President squandered a golden opportunity, one that could have been a defining moment in this, the second full year of his presidency.   He could have used it as the perfectly timed occasion to say:  ”I have heard the collective voice of Americans all across the country who are saying, ‘We oppose enormous bail outs to banks and the car companies.’  I have heard the anger of those who say, ‘We oppose an $800 billion stimulus that has created very few jobs  while during the same year 3.4 million people lost their jobs.’    I have heard loud and clear the angst of a nation who believes that our approach in the past year to spend our way out of debt is absolutely unsustainable.   I have heard the will of the people expressed at the polls, in places like New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, that says, ‘We want no part of a government takeover of our health care, under the guise of reform.’ And I have heard the pathos of a people who are groaning under the weight of excessive taxation, intrusion into their lives and steady erosion of their liberties.   And so, I stand before you on this night, prepared to plot a fresh, new, common-sense course for our Country.”

Yes, our President could have and should have taken advantage of his national stage this way–but alas, he did not. Sadly, we heard no such words.  Not only does our current administration not have its hand on the pulse of where Main Street USA lives and breathes, it seems not to care.  It’s not that they do not know what Americans are going through as unemployment continues to rise–and foreclosures with it–and are just acting as though they are blind to these cold, harsh realities.  It’s that they do see and they do know and are acting against the will of the people anyway.

What we got last Wednesday night was a lecture, a scolding as it were, and no one was left out (just ask your Supreme Court justices).   The President’s words, seemingly underscoring his resilience–”I’m no quitter,” in reality only served to emphasize a level of defiance of the will of the People that is unprecedented.   Translation: “We’re going to find a way, some way, any way to get our agenda pushed through, no matter what–and no matter how many object to it.”   If you doubt that, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s commentary the very next day:  ”If the gates are closed, we’ll go over the fence.  If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in.   If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in, but we’re going to get health care reform passed.”  Make no mistake, whatever the People say and however they may protest, their government says:  ”We know better what’s better for them than they do.”

The message out of Washington isn’t anything resembling, “You know, we may have spent way too much after all.”  It’s, “We haven’t spent nearly enough.”   And so, there is more to come.  Much more.  Including the most bloated budget proposal in our nation’s history.  This fiscal insanity is a runaway train, and liberal “leadership” is its engineer.

As the American Conservative Union reported today:

“Today’s Wall Street Journal screams with the headline, ‘Deficit to Hit All-Time High,’ as they report that President Obama’s budget projects the deficit will shoot up to a record $1.6 trillion this year.”  The Associated Press says: ‘Obama unveils $3.83 trillion budget with massive deficits.’

Worse, Obama and the liberal Democrats controlling Capitol Hill now say they want even more stimulus spending, what you probably heard talked about in that State of the Union speech as a “jobs bill.”

Massive government spending does not create jobs, it merely puts America’s families, children and grandchildren in even more debt.  Massive government spending does nothing to help America’s small businesses on main street.  Massive government spending does nothing but give liberal Democrats another blank check to hand out goodies to their liberal special interest friends.

The spending must stop. The stimulus bills cloaked as jobs bills must stop.  We must speak out.”

And so, we are.  And we will.

–Dan Blanchard

I believe that one the biggest indicators of TRUE leadership is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s OWN words, one’s own promises, one’s own decisions and actions.   No one disputes that every sitting President inherits challenges that may have occurred on a prior President’s watch (and those decisions made at that time are THAT President’s responsibility.)   But true leadership does not look to heap blame upon or deflect responsibility away from oneself and toward those who have not been sitting at your desk occupying YOUR role for over a year. At some point, in EVERYONE’s life, someone ELSE’s responsibility ends and yours begins!

The more one keeps singing the “It’s His/Her/Your/Their Fault” song, the more one necessarily implies his/her own apparent powerlessness over the very issue one keeps crooning about.  This does not inspire confidence in such leadership, but a feeling of defeatism and resignation.  When one makes bold decisions and takes action on an immense scale, especially involving hundreds of billions of dollars that you yourself authorized, one is necessarily tied to their implications, good or bad.

Americans would respect and, therefore, follow a leader who would humbly channel the spirit of Harry S. Truman and acknowledge, even reaffirm: “The buck stops here!”   A better country does begin with “me.”   Even when one is President.  Especially when one is President.

–Dan Blanchard

In this 58 second clip, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman (R-MN) urges the fellow members of her party to “embrace” the TEA Party movement in America.  I believe she is wise in saying so and is astute Representative at the Capitol.  But I would respectfully amend one statement she made: it is not the goal of the TEA Party movement to become the dominant force of the Republican party.  It is its mission to reach out to disaffected Democrats and Independents as well as all disenfranchised Americans who know that they are neither being heard nor heeded in Washington.

The TEA Party is becoming the clear voice and primary force for conservatism in America: Fiscal responsibility, limited government, national sovereignty and a return to our Constitution as the blueprint for American liberty. –Dan Blanchard

http://www.breitbart.tv/bachmann-tea-party-members-will-become-dominant-force-of-republican-party/

Rand Paul will be joined by his father Dr. Ron Paul on Saturday January 30th in Louisville, Kentucky for a Rally! Special musical guest Aimee Allen (http://aimeeallen.com) will be making an appearance as well! The event starts at 4:00 PM (EST) and will be at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, South Wing Entrance B. Admission for this event is only $25 for adults but kids are free so bring the family! Spread the word!

(Editor’s Note: The above announcement does not constitute an endorsement.  However, it is consistent with our mission to publicize key events featuring candidates whose policies, platform and vision for America harmonize with our own, including: fiscal  responsibility, limited government and a return to our  Constitution.  Ron Paul, the 11 term Congressman from Texas, is often referred to, and appropriately so, as “the Champion of the Constitution.”  And Rand Paul has avowed a three-criteria approach for voting on any bill: 1) Is it moral?  2) Is it Constitutional?  3) Is it practical?    –Dan Blanchard)

Let the founders of America speak for themselves…and refresh our memories:

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” – George Washington

“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.”- Thomas Jefferson

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” – William Pitt

“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation.” – James Madison

“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address

“A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired.” – Alexander Hamilton

“With respect to the words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” – James Madison

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

“In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can.” – Samuel Adams

(Editor’s Note: It is for these and other reasons that Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, argued for  ”a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  This is the only approach to government that can preserve our identity as “the land of the free.” – Dan Blanchard)

“CBS News: CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric spoke to Tea Party leaders Michael Johns and Kellen Guida about their movement and the frustrations of those who identify with it. The Tea Party movement, Johns said, was a “visceral reaction” to the idea that “our federal government was growing too large, that too much power was being centralized, and government bureaucracies that the American people were over-taxed, in some ways over-regulated.”

http://www.breitbart.tv/hugely-patriotic-movement-tea-party-leaders-talk-movement-mission-with-katie-couric/

(Editor’s Note:  There are moments where Couric attempts to bait Johns and Guida with false assumptions & stereotypes that only serve to reveal her own bias and naivete about the purpose and scope of the grassroots effort.  These two articulate beautifully the common concerns and basis for our hopes for a better America–Dan Blanchard).

AN ECONOMIC TIME BOMB

Weather-wise it has been a very cold January, and politically the Scott Brown Senate victory has chilled Washington even further Democrats.  But if the Democratic economic policies continue nevertheless, this year will be nothing like the bitter economic January we will be living in a year from now, says Pete du Pont, Chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis and a former Governor of Delaware.

Government spending has already hugely increased, and so has the size and scope of government, but next year there will also be substantial tax increases for a great many Americans.  The first reason will be the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, explains du Pont:

• The top personal income tax rate will rise next Jan. 1 to 39.6%  from 35%, a hike of nearly one-eighth.
• The dividend tax rate will rise to 39.6%, more than 2½ times the current 15%.
• And the capital gains tax rate will rise by a third, to 20% from 15%.
• If the House health care bill had passed, all three of these rates would have risen to 45%.

The estate tax, which fell to zero this year under the Bush tax cuts, will return in 2011 — or sooner, if Congress acts to restore it.  Another likely tax increase will be on the income of private equity and hedge-fund managers, from the capital gains rate of 15 percent to the new higher income tax rates.  It has already been passed by the House and is supported by the Obama administration, as is an additional 10-year, $90 billion tax on banks aimed at “rolling back bonuses for top earners.”  It would affect some 50 banks, insurance companies, and large broker-dealers.

Meanwhile a number of last year’s tax deductions have disappeared due to the failure of Congress to extend them into this year, says du Pont:

• The tax deduction for state and local sales taxes is one.
• The deduction for college tuition and fees is another.
• The 50% write-off for small businesses for capital purchases–equipment, machinery or building a new plant–has disappeared as well, which will have a negative effect upon the construction of new business operation facilities.

Source: Pete du Pont, “An Economic Time Bomb,” Online Journal, January 26, 2010.

(Editor’s Note: In a faltering economy, with 26 million Americans out of work, we simply CANNOT impose a greater burden on families.  It is impossible to tax and spend our way into prosperity–Dan Blanchard)

For text:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704375604575023413871397430.html