The Reagan Myth

Ronaldus Magnus

There always seems to be a flood of Republicans, especially those who like to label themselves as conservative, that channel the spirit of the great Ronald Reagan when they attempt to justify their love of military adventurism.  Rush Limbaugh states that Reagan's strategy in Afghanistan is to "win", because that is what Ronald Reagan would do.

Tim Pawlenty unveiled his hawkish foreign policy vision Tuesday in front of the Council of Foreign Relations, basically saying that we will be in the Middle East until the rapture occurs.  John McCain wants to invade every country on Earth, as if we have the resources to do so.  McCain has rattled on about the growing sentiment of "isolationists", which in his eyes are anyone not approving of the concept of endless war.

I guess you can lump Ronald Reagan into the "isolationist" category.  What gets lost in all of the fog of channeling Ronald Reagan is that he was extremely prudent in his foreign policy.  In fact, he was less interventionist than the administrations before and after him.

Reagan talked a tough game to the Soviets.  He made sure we had our defenses (key word) built up.  Today, he would probably be accused of "appeasing" the enemy by even talking to Gorbachev.  There were no missiles fired or bombs dropped in the Cold War.

Reagan saw the folly in entering the Lebanese civil war:

"Sending the Marines to Beirut was the source of my greatest regret and greatest sorrow."

Reagan understood the gravity of sending our greatest asset, our soldiers, into harms way.  He did not take this lightly:

“(W)hen Secretary of State Alexander Haig suggested… bombing Cuba, the suggestion ‘scared the shit out of Ronald Reagan,’ according to White House aide Michael Deaver. Haig was marginalized, then resigned, and Reagan never seriously considered sending U.S. troops south of the border, despite demands from (neo)conservative intellectuals… ‘Those sons of bitches won’t be happy until we have 25,000 troops in Managua,’ Reagan told chief of staff Kenneth Duberstein near the end of his presidency, ‘and I’m not going to do it.”

We need a prudent foreign policy in this country.  We cannot be everywhere all the time.  We cannot win a war against a tactic, terrorism.  These expensive occupations are not the answer.  They are not yielding the results we require to keep our country safe, in fact, it is having the opposite effect.  The cavemen of Afghanistan are no threat to us.  Bin Laden is dead.  We are better off bringing our troops home and defending our porous borders.  Not to mention that we are bankrupt and have been financing $.40 of every $1 we spend on our overseas excursions.  We can no longer afford such reckless military spending (along with entitlements and other spending as well). 

Most importantly, thousands of soldiers have been killed or permanently maimed.  It seems like it's so easy for the old white hairs to send our boys off to these meat grinders.  Reagan was a careful steward of our military, and wouldn't put them in harms way at the drop of a hat, as evidenced by history.

Let's hope we can return to the principles of Ronald Reagan's foreign policy.

Who is Jon Huntsman and Why Do I Care?

Jon Huntsman made his presidential aspirations made the other day in the same place that Ronald Reagan made his announcement in 1980, with the Statue of Liberty standing tall in the background.  For the week prior, it seemed that the media was clamoring for such an announcement.  It seemed strange because there was nothing that would make you believe he'd make a run.  Most people, including myself knew nothing of the little known governor from Utah.

The first thing that makes me skeptical is that the media hasn't decried Huntsman a bat shit crazy lunatic.  This obviously makes me think something is wrong with him personally or his positions are off kilter.  I like my candidates to espouse minarchist principles, in contrast with the mainstream media.  It turns out my suspicions are correct.

Huntsman is a classic global warming alarmist.  On a tip from Verum Serum, Huntsman signed on to the 2008 "Global Climate Solutions Declaration", which states:

Based on conclusive scientific evidence, we recognize that global climate change is a grave threat to our people, our environment, and our respective ways of life. Therefore, we resolve to act quickly to stabilize the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to avoid the resulting catastrophic impacts to the world’s ecosystems, oceans, water supplies, infrastructure, food production, and human health. The magnitude and urgency of the challenges in stabilizing the climate will require an unprecedented level of collaboration and cooperation among all levels of government around the world.
We also recognize that the transition to a low carbon society will invigorate and strengthen global, national and regional economies by enhancing energy security, increasing energy efficiency, and creating new jobs and industries that stimulate diverse, de-centralized and sustainable economic activity.
We further recognize that states and provinces from around the world, including the undersigned, have embarked on journey to pursue innovative actions  and policies to address climate change. This declaration is another step that strengthens and advances our shared vision for long-term cooperative action. We seek to create a low carbon society and enhance energy security by providing ongoing support to our national governments as they combat climate change.

This is enough to disregard Huntsman as a serious candidate regardless of his other positions.  Our country cannot afford, quite literally, any candidate with big government inclinations. 

Add that his potential future opponent is his old boss who he has called a "remarkable leader" and it starts to smell of plant or set up.  Chris "Tingles" Matthews seems to like him for having so-called civility when dealing with the current White House occupant.  Liberal columnist Ezra Klein says Huntsman brings "reasonableness" to the GOP.  Oh my!

All of this leads me to think that if this guy actually gets the nomination, then something was rigged in the primaries, or there were vast amounts of leftists and Democrats crossing over and voting in the primaries.  Guarantee Obama a victory in 2012 if Huntsman gets the nod.  Huntsman has already so much as stated that he won't go at the throat at Obama politically.  Also, kiss the GOP goodbye if Huntsman wins and say hello to a third party.

Why do I care about Jon Huntsman?  Because he is the kind of Republican that is antithetical to the Tea Party movement and principles.  He is the Republican that lost ushered in this recent age of so-called big government conservatism.  He is the type candidate that was thrown out of office in 2006 and 2008. 

He is Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Ron Paul Won the Debate

Jack Hunter with The American Conservative tells us why.

It's worth noting that Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich were obvious runners up.

Free the Market, End Government Stimulus

Since January 2009, the Obama administration has carried out a mandate of Keynesian economics on an enormous scale.  First was the $787 billion stimulus package that was going to be packed with so-called "shovel-ready jobs" to get the unemployed back to work again.  This past week the president laughed about the lack of those type of jobs in his stimulus.  In essence, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was nothing more than a bail out of state and local municipalities that had been living way beyond their means for years.  After all, President Obama had to secure the votes of all of those public sector union workers right?

This came after TARP, (which he voted for as Senator) another $700 billion or so, to bail out the banksters on Wall St.  So much for all that "Main St." talk right?  This is corporate welfare at its sickest. 

Then you have the Federal Reserve's bailing out of foreign entities with money printed out of thin air.  Worst of all, is that they won't even tell us to whom our money was sent.  The Fed is also buying more treasury notes than any other bank or country on the planet in a scam to destroy our currency called Quantitative Easing.  Trillions of dollars have been printed out of thin air so that our central bank can buy debt from it's own government...seem strange to anyone else?

What have these efforts produced?  The housing market is still in the gutter, with no recovery in sight.  Unemployment still hovers above 9%.  Retail sales are declining.  Manufacturers aren't producing.

The Keynesian notion that government stimulus can have a meaningful effect on the economy has been proven false.  

The only thing that can save our economy from further decline is the free the market.  When I say free the market, what I really mean is "UNLEASH THE BEAST!"

Regulatory barriers need to be broken down.  The government intrudes in nearly every market activity we engage in, from what kind of light bulb we can buy, to how much water our toilets can flush, to the fuel economy our cars can have, an on and on.  The socialist administrative state needs to be made impotent.  

Our current tax system needs to be eliminated and replaced.  We need to let productive Americans keep more of what they earn.  No more income tax, regressive payroll tax, corporate tax, or inheritance tax.  Replace it all with the FairTax, a national sales tax that taxes all retail consumption at a flat rate.  This will attract business investment to the United States.  Think of how competitive the United States would be in every major sector with a 0% corporate tax!  Foereigners, illegal immigrants, and drug dealers will finally be able to help fund our government for the first time.    

While the Looter-in-Chief is out playing golf, giving lucrative government jobs to his biggest donors, our economy is sick due to an infestation of too much government interference.  The cure is a massive dose of free market and less taxes.

The only thing left to do is find a doctor that will administer the shot.

Herman Cain Had To Go There

If there's one thing that the Conservative Trucker can't stand, it is pandering.  Watch here as Herman Cain panders to the evangelical right.  Notice the tone of ingenuousness.  Leave morality for the churches and synagogues.  Mitch Daniels was right when he said that we need to call a truce on social issues and focus on fixing our broken economy.  Why does Herman Cain's personal position on homosexuality matter one iota?

Oh yeah, pandering.

By the way, unemployment is still over 9%.

Putting Weinergate in Perspective

It's frustrating that there was barely any mention of the 67th anniversary of D-Day Monday, as the airwaves and television screens were clogged with discussions about Anthony Weiner's weiner.  It was all the rage.  Sean Hannity dedicated an entire hour of his show to the pathetic spectacle of a press conference in which Weiner apologized over, and over, and over again for his indiscretions. 

The whole affair has not doubt been entertaining to some extent, but to reach the level of coverage it has received is ridiculous.  In the meantime, we have a President that is single-handedly ruining our economy.  Barack Obama should be kissing Weiner's ass for distracting the media away from his ruinous policies as long as he has.  Let's forget the lack of jobs, declining housing market, sky high energy prices, disastrous deficit spending, military adventurism, redistribution of wealth, inflationary monetary policy, and so on and so forth and concentrate our total attention on a naughty picture a liberal congressman sent.

Let's face it, even if Weiner resigns, someone as leftist or even more so will replace him.  Do you think his ultra-moonbat constituency would vote in a Republican due to Weiner's perversity?  It won't happen. 

Jack Hunter offers a similar perspective:

One need not go searching for these immoral government acts on Twitter or in the National Enquirer when they can be found in any news headline at any given moment. Yes, Anthony Weiner and his goofy sex life is unquestionably sad and pathetic but so is the lopsided amount of attention America pays to such trivialities—considering the routine immoral behavior committed in Washington everyday by even the most personally wholesome politicians.

Time to get back things that matter.  

Courts may overturn Obamacare

US judges seem receptive to health care challenge - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110608/ap_on_re_us/us_health_overhaul

Nullification

This is a truly captivating speech on nullification by Tom Woods.  Our 10th Amendment is so blatantly ignored.  The states have the power to nullify unconstitutional federal laws!

 

The Federal Reserve and Quantitative Easing Explained

If more people really understood the ramifications of the Federal Reserve and the stranglehold it has on our economy, then maybe there would be more of an outcry for an audit.  The Fed has trillions of dollars on its balance sheet that banks are just waiting to flood into the economy.  When that occurs, get ready for inflation the likes this nation has never seen.  Inflation, after all, is just an insidious form of taxation as it makes everything we buy more expensive.

This video was presented by Chard Reid, a former candidate for U.S. Congress, at the Hancock County Tea Party meeting on 6/2/11:

What has Weinergate Taught us?

Anthony Weiner: Can't say with "certitude" if that's his junk.

Here is what we do know:  There was a tweet sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner's Twitter account to a 21 year-old woman in Seattle.  It contained a pic of a man's underwear covered, semi-aroused genitalia.  The tweet was discovered by Twitter user Dan Wolfe (@patriotusa76) and the photo was posted.  Rep. Weiner then discovered the tweet was sent out and had it deleted.  Big Government received the pic from Wolfe and ran the story.

Then the fun begins.  Weiner claims hack, but call a lawyer instead of the police.  Suddenly it's simply a prank, yet he hires a "firm" that specializes in "white-collar" crime.  Weiner calls a presser to put the issue to rest but acts like a little wiener to a couple of CNN reporters that actually ask him tough questions.  Unbelievably, he says that he can't claim with "certitude" that the pic is not of him.

In his interview with Wolf Blitzer, he still can't say that the picture is not him:

 
So what have we learned class?  Politicians dodge their way around questions.  Partisan media outlets will latch on to a story and milk it for all it's worth.  Do you really think Big Government would have taken a story like this to the point they did if it were Sarah Palin sending racy pics to a 21 year-old male Twitter user?  No doubt the Daily Kos would run with that baby until the bitter end.  Be that as it may, it shows the importance of a Big Government.com that will run stories the MSM will not.  The Daily Kos just runs crap against conservatives that their pals in the MSM already do.  It's good to have a side of the media that will combat them.

However, it is now time to move on.  We have an epic battle against Barack Obama to wage.  During the Weinergate distraction, local gas prices shot up $.40 over night, the housing market slumped over 4%, the private sector added an anemic 38,000 jobs in May, and economists are calling for another Great Depression.  We have to defeat Obama and his pack of Marxists on the issues, not scandal.

Let's get back on topic folks, and leave the tabloid stories for the tabloids.