Geert Wilder’s “FITNA” Movie

The following film was produced by Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament. Mr. Wilders has caused a great deal of controversy lately due to his fervent opposition to the spread of Islamofascism throughout Europe, and the world.

Mr. Wilders was recently banned from entering Great Britain due to threats on his life by British Muslim extremists.

Mr. Wilders understands that Islamofacism is the greatest threat that faces the free people of the world today. Islamic extremists seek to destroy western civilization as we know it. We, as American conservatives, have a responsibility to recognize this and to act upon this threat.

Mr. Wilders’ film is especially relevant today during the early days of the Obama Administration. The Administration has appeared thus far to act naively in dealing with nations that promote Islamofacism. President Obama conducted his first public interview as president with an arabic speaking news network, and he has also repeatedly said that his administration will be willing to meet with Iran with no preconditions.

The Obama Administration appears to be on the road towards a policy of complete appeasement. We all know what the consequences of a weak foreign policy are; anyone remember Jimmy Carter?

Mr. Wilders was completely correct in comparing Islamic Extremism to Nazism, and Communism. In this day and age, we must defeat this ideology of terror and indoctrination in order to make our world a safe place for democracy and freedom.

8 Simple Rules For Reviving A Dying Elephant

I did not write this, but I wanted to post it on my blog from the first moment I read it. I offered for the author to post this as a guest blogger, but they preferred to remain anonymous. Please feel free to join in and leave your observations concerning how we can work to make the Republican Party relevantly conservative once again.

1. 1. Ditch the old guard! If Tuesday showed us anything it told us it is time to move on. Goodbye to the Doles, Bushes, and McCain’s. Thank you but you are the past. We need new leadership NOW. We need fresh ideas yesterday. We need young faces of tomorrow. The GOP MUST abandon its addiction to establishment candidates.
   2. Sweep out the dust! State GOP chairs who have blindly and stupidly marched lock step with Bush and his party leadership need to suffer the consequences and be voted out of office or resign in shame. Two years ago they had a unique opportunity to correct course and they made matters worse by giving Bush a leadership that split the party over immigration. In the words of one of their own “It is time, it is time for them to go.”
   3. Clean house! The house leadership team MUST be replaced with younger conservatives who will reassure the base. The leadership needs to also intentionally consider that it reflect the face of America: Eric Cantor, Marsha Blackburn would be good places to start. As few old establishment guys who smoke as possible PLEASE!
   4. Embrace who you are! Be conservative or not but figure it out and stop apologizing for whatever the heck it is you believe. If you are social conservative, economic conservative, and a federalist – do your homework for goodness sake and know how to defend yourself. Other wise you look like a phony who has faked it so you can have power.
   5. Vote in some minorities and women for crying out loud! Hello! The reason McCain picked Palin was because he needed an executive who was a woman and could solidify his base (particularly social conservatives) – it’s not his fault the party only has one out there you bone heads have elected. How many times do you think quality African American candidates will put them selves up for election knowing they will suffer the scorn of their own race just to have the party only halfheartily support them? Crawl on your knees to Lynn Swan, Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, and J. C. Watts and tell them you will do whatever it takes.
   6. Develop an in depth deliberate media strategy to overcome the UNBELIEVABLE media bias advantage for the donkeys. It needs to reveal relentless exposure and an all out war against the main stream elite media. It needs to include the development of alternative media and strengthening of talk radio and conservative Internet.
   7. The senate is our only line of legislative defense – get nasty and never, never, never give in. How many times are your donkey friends in the senate going to have to kick you before you realize they have no intention of playing nice?
   8. OK guys its time some of you got a reality check – elite country club republicanism and Washington insider establishment republicanism does not win elections. IT NEVER HAS. Stop trying to run off the guys who put you in power and belittle our leaders such as Huckabee and Palin. We are your party. Get used to it or chose to keep losing.

Newt For RNC Chairman

As the Republican Party seeks to rebuild in the aftermath of last weeks election, one of its first tasks will be to appoint a new chairman for the Republican National Committee. The chairmanship of a major party’s national committee isn’t an extremely visible position; however, an effective chairperson can greatly influence the public image of their party. The RNC Chairperson holds great power in influencing the party’s platform, implementing long-term national campaign strategy, and in finding newer and more effective ways to raise funds.

In the present political climate, however, the next chairperson of the RNC will face extraordinary responsibilities. With a President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid, Republicans have no clear ideological leader in Washington. The next RNC Chairperson must be capable of going toe to toe with a President Obama, and they must be able to offer a clear ideological alternative to the almost certain regressive liberal policies of the next four years.

In meeting these qualifications, I can think of no better person than Newt Gingrich.

Since his days as Speaker of the House, Newt has been a consistent voice of dissention in a party that has seriously betrayed the principles of conservatism that earned America’s trust in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Also, he has been one of the few public figures who have consistently called for solutions driven change, and he has been one of the few people who hasn’t been afraid to hold the Bush Administration accountable for their mistakes.

Newt remains popular with every faction of the Republican Party. He is not the only “change” oriented candidate for the chairmanship, but he is the only “change” candidate that the entire Republican Party will unite behind.

The Republican Party is simply too vulnerable to elect a Romney or Huckabee “stand-in”. To do so would be to risk an open ideological civil war within the party. Also, the stakes are simply too high to protect conventional thinking by selecting any number of former state party chairpersons.

The challenges facing the Republican Party are extensive, and they require a chairperson with extensive capabilities. We all know that Newt Gingrich has the talent and intelligence to deliver in the face of majority opposition. Isn’t it time we brought him back into the fold?

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Republican Party obviously really lost on every level on Tuesday. However, In the midst of all the political pity that I’ve been feeling, I think it’s important to get beyond the inevitable political demoralization that conservatives are feeling, and start looking at the real consequences of this election, and where we are to go from here as conservatives.

Of all the places to find it, my first post election inspiration came from Ralph Nader. At the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr. “Full-Time Citizen” rightfully pointed out that no political party is the real loser in this election. The real losers, according to Mr. Nader, are the American people. (He then proceeded to ruin this profound moment by spewing his usual socialist, anti- capitalism jargon, but that’s besides the point.)

Mr. Nader’s words, when applied to a conservative ideology, are very true. Republicans have lost nothing compared to what the American people have lost. In the next 2-4 years, the American people will feel the burden of electing someone with an extremely liberal ideology to the highest office in the land. Steven M. Nielson at The New Conservative had a great post about what to expect in the new socialist administration.

Mr. Nader, (Who actually managed to say two profound things in one day.), also pointed out that there are two kinds of people who react to failed elections. Firstly, there are those who react to political failure with a recessive trait. These people allow themselves to be demoralized by failure, which leads to a compromise in principle, which in turn will ensure continued failure. Secondly, there are those who react to political failure with a civic trait. These people realize that their failings had nothing to do with their message, but rather in the way that their message was delivered.

In order to rebuild the Republican Party, we must return to the principles that we improved America with in the 1980’s and in 1994. The media seems to think that the only effective way for Republicans to regain power is to shift farther to the left ideologically. This is completely wrong. As Barry Goldwater pointed out, conservatives faced the same problem in 1960.

“We are daily cosigned by “enlightened” commentators to political oblivion: Conservatism, we are told, is out of date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with social, economic, and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle’s Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today. The challenge is not to find new or different truths, but to learn how to apply established truths to the problems of the contemporary world.”

We ought to realize that the American people are attracted to authenticity, that’s why Reagan was the only successful Republican president in the last 50 years.  Reagan didn’t feel the need to shift to the left, and we shouldn’t either.  In the words of Mike Huckabee, “We will never compromise our principles for anyone else’s politics.” Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

Gov. Huckabee Speaks Out

I first saw this on Kevin Tracy, but this was just too exciting for a Huckabee supporter not to post. It looks like Gov. Huckabee is the only former Republican presidential candidate who is actually speaking out against his party on the new socialist Wall Street bailout. Gov. Huckabee is standing on conservative principles and speaking the truth. Ironically, the same people who were calling Gov. Huckabee a economic liberal are the ones who aren’t saying anything about the largest expansion of the federal government since the New Deal. Read what Gov. Huckabee had to say.

Frankly, I’m disappointed and disgusted with my own Republican party as I watch them attempt to strong-arm a bailout of some of America’s biggest corporations by asking the taxpayers to suck up the staggering results of the hubris, greed, and arrogance of those who sought to make a quick buck by throwing the dice. They lost, but want the rest of us to cover their bets so they won’t be effected in their lavish lifestyles as they figure out how to spend their tens of millions and in some cases, hundreds of millions in bonuses and compensation which was their reward for not only sinking their companies, but basically doing the same to the entire American economy.

It’s especially disconcerting to see the very people who pilloried me during the Presidential campaign for being a “populist” and not “understanding Wall Street” to now line up like thirsty dogs at the Washington, D. C. water dish, otherwise known as Congress, and plead for help. I thought these guys were the smartest people in America! I thought that taxpayers like you and I were similar to the people at the U. N. who have no translator speaking into their headset – that we just needed to trust those that I called the power bunch in the “Wall Street to Washington axis of power.”

The idea of a government bailout in which we’d entrust $700 billion to one man without Congressional oversight or accountability is absurd. My party or not, that is insanity and I believe unconstitutional.

Will there be far-reaching consequences without some intervention? Probably, but we honestly don’t know since we’ve really never seen this level of greed and stupidity all rolled into one massive move. But may I suggest that letting “Uncle Sugar” step in and bail out the billionaires who made the mess will be far worse and will start a long line of companies and individuals who will demand the same of the government—which last time I checked means that they will be demanding it out of YOU and ME. This is not money that Congress is risking from THEIR pockets or future, but ours. Many if not most of us have already experienced lost value on our homes, retirement accounts, and pensions. Now they’d like for us to assume some further risks so they won’t have to.

What happened to the “free market” idea? Is that only our view when we WIN and when we LOSE, we ask the government to come in and take away the pain?

If you are a small business owner, is this the way it works at your place? When you have a bad month, a bad year, or face having to close, can you go up to Congress and get them to write YOU a fat check to take away your risk?

Some of what contributed to this disaster is too much government in the form of Sarbanes/Oxley. Some is due to the tax structure that created the hunger for companies to “game” the system. Some is the common sense that was ignored like loaning money to people who can’t pay it back.

Wall Street has become Las Vegas east, but at least in Vegas, people KNOW they are gambling and they don’t expect the government to cover their losses at the tables. In Wall Street, they do. And the American taxpayer burdens the responsibility.

If Congress wants to do something, here are some suggestions:

1. Eliminate ALL capital gains taxes and taxes on savings and dividends right now. Free up the capital and encourage investment. This is the kind of economic stimulus the Fair Tax would bring and if Congress is going to lose money, let them lose it with lower taxes, not with public dollar bailouts of private market mistakes.

1. Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley. It has failed. It was supposed to prevent this. It didn’t. Kill it.

3. Demand that the executives who steered their ships into the ground be forced to pay back the losses of their companies. Of course, they can’t, so let them work and give back to the government and they can live like the people they put on the streets or kept there. It makes no sense to put them in jail—that’s just more they will cost you and me. I’d rather them go out and earn money—just not get to keep so much of it this time. I’m not talking about limiting CEO salaries—just those of the people who now are up in Washington begging for help because they ruined their companies.

Attempts by Democrats and Republicans to blame each other is nonsense. They are both guilty and ought to own up and admit it. They all lived off big campaign contributions and the swill of the lobbyists who strong armed them into permission to steal. Enough of blame. Fix it!

This would be a start. If we don’t hold these guys responsible, we are all finished.

This makes me extremely proud to have supported Gov. Huckabee during the primaries. I voted for Gov. Huckabee because I knew that he was the sort of leader who would speak out against something like this. It’s important for a leader to have a clear moral compass, and Gov. Huckabee has that.

Well done Gov. Huckabee!!

Are We Not Conservatives?

“We are daily cosigned by “enlightened” commentators to political oblivion: Conservatism, we are told, is out of date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with social, economic, and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle’s Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today. The challenge is not to find new or different truths, but to learn how to apply established truths to the problems of the contemporary world.”

-Former Sen. Barry M. Goldwater (1909-1998) From the preface of his book, The Conscience Of A Conservative (1960)

In the next week, the Republican Party will hold their National Convention and decide on a platform of principles that will be officially endorsed. While we are in the midst of such important decision making, I think that it would be wise for the GOP to reflect on the values that we were founded on, and on the values that have governed us in the past.

In 1856, John C. Fremont was the Republican Party’s first presidential candidate. In that year, our platform was mostly centered around the abolishment of slavery. Even in our beginnings, we as a party believed in the intrinsic value of every human being and their right to live freely. Seven years later, this platform manifested itself in the form of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was authored by the first and greatest Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.

In 2008, instead of the enslavement of would-be American citizens, we are witnessing the genocide of them. While the Republican Party as a whole is primarily pro-life, a great number of Republicans oppose a constitutional amendment that would ban abortion nationally. Hopefully, our platform will include support of this amendment. Just like the very first Republicans, our delegates in St. Paul should recognize the value of every human life, and their right to live freely as Americans. We should endorse a “Emancipation Proclamation” of our own, and break free from this genocide.

At another time in our history, another great Republican leader emerged. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency after the assassination of his predecessor, William McKinley. At the age of forty-two, Roosevelt inherited a incompetent government and an increasingly corrupt corporate sector. With intelligence and vigor, Roosevelt acted upon what he saw as the removal of rights from America’s working class. Roosevelt oversaw the passage of a series of labor laws which were successful at protecting the rights of the hardest working Americans.

Although Roosevelt can not be described as a conservative by any means, he had a good grasp on one fundamental conservative belief; that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Today, labor unions have unfortunately become what they were originally made to fight against. Labor union membership is mandatory in most states and industries. Shamefully, most labor unions spend their members’ hard earned money to support liberal political causes that many workers don’t believe in. This is misrepresentation of the highest degree, and should not be tolerated. The Republican Party’s platform in 2008 should support the enactment of Right To Work laws across the country. We should take into account the example of Theodore Roosevelt and protect all Americans against the threat of domestic absolutism.

Perhaps the greatest example that conservatives have to look to is President Ronald Reagan. Indeed, American Conservatism ultimately succeeded with his election in 1980. Following the pessimism that insued from the energy and economic crises of the 1970’s, President Reagan lead Americans to believe in themselves again. President Reagan governed with an inherent set of values that he knew would prove successful when applied to our national problems.

Ronald Reagan’s principles changed politics, and America forever.  As true conservatives, we need to apply his principles, and the principles of our other great leaders, to our platform today.  As Sen. Goldwater said; “The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today.”   If Republicans are going to throw around the names of are great leaders, then shouldn’t we begin emulating them?

I am only reflecting on these principles because I feel that I need to.  The Republican Party is increasingly becoming a party that I don’t recognize.  As conservative Republicans, I think that it is time that we take Sen. Goldwater’s words to heart.  We need to apply the principles of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan to the problems of today.  

In light of the coming convention in St. Paul we should ask ourselves;  Are we not Republicans?  Are we not Conservatives? 

Lessons In Libertarianism (Why I Won’t Vote For Bob Barr)

I find It amusing that Bob Barr, my former Congressman, is running for president as a Libertarian. I lived in Bob Barr’s district from 1996-2001. Even though I was eleven years old when I met him, he didn’t make much of an impression on me. How would you like it if your first impression of a politician looked as creepy as Bob Barr did in the 1990’s?

Anyway, a lot of conservatives seem to think that it would better to vote for Bob Barr than John McCain. I agree with Nic Shaykos when I say that it is not a good idea to pull the lever for Congressman Barr. As Nic already noted, Congressman Barr is a member and represenative of the ACLU. You know, the organization that is behind taking “Under God” out of the Pledge Of Allegiance? With apologies, I will pose the same question that Nic asked, how can a conservative belong to the ACLU?

The bottom line is that Bob Barr is a bad choice for President. I compare voting for him as similar to voting for former house majority leader, Tom Delay. Sure, Bob Barr understands conservatism just as well as any career politician can, which in short, is for all the wrong reasons.

More than that however, my opinion is that the basic beliefs of the Libertarian Party a founded on a deeply flawed ideology. Libertarians act on the assumption that man is responsible enough to govern themselves completely, and without government intervention. However, doesn’t absolute power corrupt absolutely? Before anyone misunderstands me, I believe that men are fallen, and evil at heart, and should be held responsible for their actions. Government should be refined to the most basic level, which is the core belief of federalism, which is a true doctrine that conservatives in government should live by. Libertarians missed that step. Fderalism was good enough for Thomas Jefferson in 1800, good enough for Barry Goldwater in 1964, and good enough for Ronald Reagan in 1980, so it should be good enough for conservatives in 2008.