9 Reasons to Vote for McCain-Palin
It’s
not about the heroism of John McCain. Heroism doesn’t qualify you to
be President of the United States, although it does display character.
It’s
not about the struggle of a young black man to overcome poverty and
abandonment by his father to graduate from Harvard and be nominated for
President, although overcoming such disadvantages does show character.
It’s not about experience or lack thereof. A bad track record is worse than no track record.
It’s not about age or youth.
It’s not about leadership or change. Leaders can lead in the wrong direction and change can be worse, not better.
It’s not about George Bush ’43. That race already took place.
And it’s certainly not about what region of the country you come from, the color of your skin, or who your running mate is.
No, there are real reasons to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket and here are mine:
1. GI Joes & Janes. More than 4,000 young men and women
have given their lives to defeat Islamic radicals who are sworn
to destroy our nation. More than 3,000 innocent Americans
died on 9-11 and it’s only because we have stood strong and
vigilant that no other attacks have occurred. Setting a
timetable for pulling out, as Barak Obama says he will do, is a
betrayal to those who died on 9-11 and to those young men
and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We are
winning the war in Iraq and the argument as to whether we
should have gone into Iraq is moot. Appeasement always
encourages our enemies and leads to bigger and more costly
wars.
2. Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was elected after four
disastrous years of Jimmy Carter. Barak Obama is Jimmy
Carter on steroids. Taxes, socialized medicine, and the
nationalization of medical services will only serve to drive this
nation into a severe recession, if not a depression. Senator
Obama is committed to not only letting the Bush tax cuts
expire, but also to vastly increase spending and further tax
hikes. John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan proved that tax
cuts spur economic growth and restore prosperity. Tax hikes
do the opposite.
3. Smoot-Hawley. Senator Obama is now suggesting the
institution of tariffs on foreign imports. He hasn’t learned from
history. It was the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Act which
Herbert Hoover signed into law that precipitated the Great
Depression. Free trade expands the economy, tariffs constrict
it.
4. Rush Limbaugh. Although Barak Obama says he has no plan to
re-institute the “Fairness Doctrine,” with a bullet proof
Democrat Congress hell bent on doing so, he won’t be able to
resist. Good bye talk radio. Good bye free speech.
5. Barry Goldwater. Goldwater, like all our American Founders,
understood the danger of government. He said, “A
government that is big enough to give you all you want is big
enough to take it all away.” Obama wants to dramatically
expand government because he believes that government
bureaucrats are smarter than you are. Bigger government
means less freedom. Nationalizing health care, which is
the goal of big government politicians like Obama, will destroy
quality health care. Government cannot create anything, it can
only regulate scarcity. If it is the government’s responsibility
to provide for your health care, why not your transportation,
your home, your food?
6. Andrew Kyle Livingstone. Andrew is my newest grandchild. He
has wonderful parents, but what kind of an America will he
grow up in? Will it be the land of opportunity or the land of
entitlement? When anyone uses the words “economic justice”
and “redistribution of income,” the goal is government control
of our economy and our lives. Both of these terms are Marxist
in origin and their application means the end of America as we
have known it.
7. Sarah Palin. John McCain’s choice of Governor Palin has
brought America a new star in the mold of Ronald Reagan.
Sarah Palin has the political philosophy of our Founders—
limited government, strong national defense, greater individual
freedom. She is the future of the Republican Party and of our
nation.
8. Barak Obama. We should choose a President because he
understands the foundation of a free society is freedom for its
people to succeed or fail without interference from
government. It’s not government’s responsibility to care for
us, but to provide for the common defense, and maintain
internal order through the administration of equal justice.
Barak Obama doesn’t understand the foundation of a free
society. He is well-intentioned, but his philosophy is contrary
to that which expands freedom. He doesn’t understand that
individual freedom cannot exist without economic freedom.
The change he advocates is not change for the better.
9. Harry Truman. The good news is that, as Harry Truman proved
in 1948, the polls are not always right. The only poll that
counts is on Election Day, November 4, 2008. President Barak
Obama with a Republican Congress would be one thing, but
President Obama with a leftwing Democratic Congress would
be a disaster of unimagined proportions. So consider the
consequences and get out and vote!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
American Exceptionalism as Seen by de Tocqueville
American Exceptionalism as Seen by de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville traveled from France to the United States of America in 1831 to see and understand what a great republic was like and how it functioned. The book he subsequently wrote, Democracy in America, is considered by many as the best book ever written on democracy and its application in the United States of America. During his travels, de Tocqueville investigated and made observations on virtually every aspect of life in America. He concluded that, “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
In fact, de Tocqueville was amazed by the consensus of good that existed in this new land and the willingness of those of both meager and extravagant means to band together in “associations” to address and solve common problems. He summed it up this way, “Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations…religious, moral, serious, futile, general or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give entertainments, found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it is proposed to inculcate some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society.”
In no sense was de Tocqueville naïve. As an observer from France, he had a perspective that was distinct and unique from that of Americans themselves. In regard to our shortcomings he said, “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” He saw religion and morality as the keystone of democracy and freedom. Consider his words, “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith,” and these, “Despotism can do without faith, but freedom cannot.” He wrote of America at that time, “The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.” And finally on the topic of Christianity he said, “America is…still the place in the world where the Christian religion has most preserved genuine powers over souls; and nothing shows better how useful and natural to man it is in our day, since the country in which it exercises the greatest empire is at the same time the most enlightened and most free.”
Perhaps it’s not surprising that, as a Frenchman, he made the following observation on marriage in America, “Of the world’s countries, America is surely the one where the bond of marriage is most respected and where they have conceived the highest and most just idea of conjugal happiness.”
Even in 1831, de Tocqueville understood the danger of big, powerful government. He wrote, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money,” and “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
The United States of America, as de Tocqueville observed, has always been an exceptional nation. The question is, will it remain so in our lifetime, and for future generations of Americans yet unborn?
Alexis de Tocqueville traveled from France to the United States of America in 1831 to see and understand what a great republic was like and how it functioned. The book he subsequently wrote, Democracy in America, is considered by many as the best book ever written on democracy and its application in the United States of America. During his travels, de Tocqueville investigated and made observations on virtually every aspect of life in America. He concluded that, “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
In fact, de Tocqueville was amazed by the consensus of good that existed in this new land and the willingness of those of both meager and extravagant means to band together in “associations” to address and solve common problems. He summed it up this way, “Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations…religious, moral, serious, futile, general or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give entertainments, found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it is proposed to inculcate some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society.”
In no sense was de Tocqueville naïve. As an observer from France, he had a perspective that was distinct and unique from that of Americans themselves. In regard to our shortcomings he said, “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.” He saw religion and morality as the keystone of democracy and freedom. Consider his words, “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith,” and these, “Despotism can do without faith, but freedom cannot.” He wrote of America at that time, “The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.” And finally on the topic of Christianity he said, “America is…still the place in the world where the Christian religion has most preserved genuine powers over souls; and nothing shows better how useful and natural to man it is in our day, since the country in which it exercises the greatest empire is at the same time the most enlightened and most free.”
Perhaps it’s not surprising that, as a Frenchman, he made the following observation on marriage in America, “Of the world’s countries, America is surely the one where the bond of marriage is most respected and where they have conceived the highest and most just idea of conjugal happiness.”
Even in 1831, de Tocqueville understood the danger of big, powerful government. He wrote, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money,” and “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
The United States of America, as de Tocqueville observed, has always been an exceptional nation. The question is, will it remain so in our lifetime, and for future generations of Americans yet unborn?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Parents
Parents
I was blessed with really great parents and I hope you were too. I thought this Grace Moment from Time of Grace (www.timeofgrace.org) really hit the mark. I hope you are enjoying these daily words of encouragement from Pastor Mark Jeske as much as I am—
“Yeah, I know. Not everybody has great parents. Some people don’t have any parents at all. As with God’s distribution of other gifts, not everybody gets every gift. But there are plenty of good to great parents who get taken for granted, as though they were pieces of furniture or machines.
Were your parents OK? Good? Great? They are precious gifts of God to you, blessings to make your life better. Parents are God’s stand-ins, providing security, food, guidance, and discipline. Parents help us fathom and navigate the complex ways of modern society. Proverbs 23:22 says, Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
The greatest parents are those who share their faith in Christ with their children. Did you learn about your Savior from a parent? You are blessed indeed. Are they still living? Perhaps you could call and thank them. God is good. Parents are good.”
If you need a little uplift to start your day, then I encourage you to click on www.timeofgrace.org and sign up to receive Mark’s pithy take on our world from Jesus’ perspective. It’s even better than orange juice or that first cup of coffee.
I was blessed with really great parents and I hope you were too. I thought this Grace Moment from Time of Grace (www.timeofgrace.org) really hit the mark. I hope you are enjoying these daily words of encouragement from Pastor Mark Jeske as much as I am—
“Yeah, I know. Not everybody has great parents. Some people don’t have any parents at all. As with God’s distribution of other gifts, not everybody gets every gift. But there are plenty of good to great parents who get taken for granted, as though they were pieces of furniture or machines.
Were your parents OK? Good? Great? They are precious gifts of God to you, blessings to make your life better. Parents are God’s stand-ins, providing security, food, guidance, and discipline. Parents help us fathom and navigate the complex ways of modern society. Proverbs 23:22 says, Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
The greatest parents are those who share their faith in Christ with their children. Did you learn about your Savior from a parent? You are blessed indeed. Are they still living? Perhaps you could call and thank them. God is good. Parents are good.”
If you need a little uplift to start your day, then I encourage you to click on www.timeofgrace.org and sign up to receive Mark’s pithy take on our world from Jesus’ perspective. It’s even better than orange juice or that first cup of coffee.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
21st Century Book Burners
21st Century Book Burners
The other day I received an e-mail which included a link to a YouTube™ video that was titled “Burning Down the House.” I pasted in the link and watched the video which had to do with how liberals in Congress caused the current financial crisis by mandating loans to individuals at subprime rates who really had no chance of repaying the loans. It was a well-documented, compelling video. But the quality, or even the correctness, of the video is not the point of this blog.
I thought the argument made by the video was sufficiently informative and so I forwarded it along to a number of friends. However, before they had a chance to see the video, YouTube™ had taken it down. Why? Because if you are a member of YouTube™, which is owned by Google™, you can complain that a video is “offensive” and if enough others complain, the video is flagged. The intent is to stop pornography and videos that violate patent rights from being put on YouTube™, but the left has now organized to issue complaints against any conservative video as being “offensive.” The result is that any pro-life or pro-free market video or any video calling for victory in the war on terrorism or even promoting a conservative movie is “flagged” as being offensive. Apparently, once a number of complaints are received a video is automatically taken down. The appeal process to get it back up is lengthy enough to make timely videos such as “Burning Down the House” unavailable when they could have had an impact.
I was shocked when I read about this in a piece written by Matthew Sheffield in the October 2, 2008 issue of The Washington Times. But I should not have been.
We live in the age of book burners. The liberals already control the mainstream media—CBS, ABC, NBC, Newsweek, Time, US News, and nearly all of the major newspapers. The far-left teachers’ union controls public classrooms. They write the history textbooks. They want to use the power of government to force conservative ideas off the air through re-implementation of the ironically called “Fairness Doctrine.”
Liberals must have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in their ideas or in the American people to make free choices wisely. What intellectual bankruptcy! When their ideas do not prevail, they use the power of government or organize into bands of electronic vandals to censor conservative ideas. They shout down and throw pies at conservative speakers on campus. They steal conservative alternative campus newspapers. They blacklist conservative actors and actresses.
Apparently their ideas are so weak and flimsy that they can’t even stand up to the slightest bit of scrutiny or analysis by conservative critics on the radio, in Hollywood, over YouTube™, at FOX News or in any other public square. How sad for anyone that their confidence in their own ideas is so low that they cannot allow them to be questioned. Instead the power of government, theft, blacklisting, and vandalism are their only recourse.
Liberalism was once a voice for freedom of speech, but that voice has apparently been silenced. Is intellectual honesty dead among liberals in America?
The other day I received an e-mail which included a link to a YouTube™ video that was titled “Burning Down the House.” I pasted in the link and watched the video which had to do with how liberals in Congress caused the current financial crisis by mandating loans to individuals at subprime rates who really had no chance of repaying the loans. It was a well-documented, compelling video. But the quality, or even the correctness, of the video is not the point of this blog.
I thought the argument made by the video was sufficiently informative and so I forwarded it along to a number of friends. However, before they had a chance to see the video, YouTube™ had taken it down. Why? Because if you are a member of YouTube™, which is owned by Google™, you can complain that a video is “offensive” and if enough others complain, the video is flagged. The intent is to stop pornography and videos that violate patent rights from being put on YouTube™, but the left has now organized to issue complaints against any conservative video as being “offensive.” The result is that any pro-life or pro-free market video or any video calling for victory in the war on terrorism or even promoting a conservative movie is “flagged” as being offensive. Apparently, once a number of complaints are received a video is automatically taken down. The appeal process to get it back up is lengthy enough to make timely videos such as “Burning Down the House” unavailable when they could have had an impact.
I was shocked when I read about this in a piece written by Matthew Sheffield in the October 2, 2008 issue of The Washington Times. But I should not have been.
We live in the age of book burners. The liberals already control the mainstream media—CBS, ABC, NBC, Newsweek, Time, US News, and nearly all of the major newspapers. The far-left teachers’ union controls public classrooms. They write the history textbooks. They want to use the power of government to force conservative ideas off the air through re-implementation of the ironically called “Fairness Doctrine.”
Liberals must have absolutely no confidence whatsoever in their ideas or in the American people to make free choices wisely. What intellectual bankruptcy! When their ideas do not prevail, they use the power of government or organize into bands of electronic vandals to censor conservative ideas. They shout down and throw pies at conservative speakers on campus. They steal conservative alternative campus newspapers. They blacklist conservative actors and actresses.
Apparently their ideas are so weak and flimsy that they can’t even stand up to the slightest bit of scrutiny or analysis by conservative critics on the radio, in Hollywood, over YouTube™, at FOX News or in any other public square. How sad for anyone that their confidence in their own ideas is so low that they cannot allow them to be questioned. Instead the power of government, theft, blacklisting, and vandalism are their only recourse.
Liberalism was once a voice for freedom of speech, but that voice has apparently been silenced. Is intellectual honesty dead among liberals in America?
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Of Bad Law, Bad Choices & Ignored Warnings
Of Bad Law, Bad Choices & Ignored Warnings
The current economic crisis is a direct result of bad law, bad choices and ignored warnings. Let’s talk about bad law.
Bad law often originates from well-intentioned people and that’s what happened in the case of our current economic crisis.
As far back as 1977, the Carter Administration pushed for and the Democratic Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act which gave incentives to low-income families to obtain mortgages to purchase a home… A great and worthy goal that achieved some success.
But in 1995, Bill Clinton (with the help of Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Barney Frank) pushed through changes to the Community Reinvestment Act. These changes authorized subprime loans. Under pressure from lawsuits by community activist groups like ACORN, Freddie Mac orchestrated more than $1 trillion of these dangerous loans to folks who would not otherwise have been able to obtain a loan due to low income, no credit, or bad credit.
Until the advent of subprime loans the housing prices had been tracking at the rate of inflation (which was very low), but all of the sudden the new demand for housing, thanks to easy money, made the price of houses skyrocket. It all worked well as long as interest rates were low, but they didn’t stay low.
Higher rates plus an artificial spike in fuel prices caused by our nation’s failure to access the Alaskan offshore and other known oil reserves put out of reach by the Federal government, put a tremendous economic squeeze on low-income house buyers, many of whom simply quit making their mortgage payments.
Oops!
Back in 1995 and all the way through 2003, there were warnings that there was an impending crisis at Freddie Mac. There were numerous articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. In fact, at the time of the Enron collapse, the Wall Street Journal warned that the situation at Freddie Mac was even worse than Enron. But no one paid attention. No one wanted to listen, especially those in Congress who instituted the change to subprime loans.
When the Bush administration proposed major changes to avert the crisis we are experiencing today, both Senator Dodd and Representative Frank said Freddie Mac was sound and that no change or additional oversight was needed. John McCain was a co-sponsor of the proposed legislation, but you would never know it from mainstream media coverage. Meanwhile Senator Dodd, Representative Frank, and newly minted Senator Barak Obama were receiving huge checks from the executives at Freddie Mac as a payoff for their continued support.
What about bad choices? Yes, the folks who took the subprime loans made bad choices. But, it was awfully hard to resist. A beautiful home in the suburbs with better schools and less crime was very enticing. And if the interest rate would only stay low… But the interest rates shot up, the housing prices dropped and disaster occurred. It’s a sad situation, but you and I know that it’s not good to bail out our children when they get in trouble. There is no lesson learned when we do so. We should have compassion, but a bail out would not be beneficial in the long run. We are all better off, even if bruised, when we are forced to live with the consequences of our actions.
Now we face a huge crisis, but there is another one looming on the horizon that is much, much larger than the current one, yet the liberals like Dodd and Frank have once again assured us there is no problem. I’m talking about Social Security which is just as busted and broken as Freddie Mac. Again the Bush administration has tried to make changes to return this program to solvency, but the opposition is in denial, just like they were on the subprime crisis. The result is sure to be the same.
Will the Dodd’s and Frank’s of this world ever learn? Apparently not! Senator Dodd, Representative Frank, and Senator Obama now claim that the current crisis is a result of “deregulation” when, in fact, it is their bad judgment and bad legislation that have gotten us to where we are today. It was mandatory regulations stipulating that subprime loans be made to individuals with no capacity to repay them that caused this crisis.
Dodd and Frank and Obama are afraid the truth will get out. This time they are right. It will. Stay tuned.
The current economic crisis is a direct result of bad law, bad choices and ignored warnings. Let’s talk about bad law.
Bad law often originates from well-intentioned people and that’s what happened in the case of our current economic crisis.
As far back as 1977, the Carter Administration pushed for and the Democratic Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act which gave incentives to low-income families to obtain mortgages to purchase a home… A great and worthy goal that achieved some success.
But in 1995, Bill Clinton (with the help of Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Barney Frank) pushed through changes to the Community Reinvestment Act. These changes authorized subprime loans. Under pressure from lawsuits by community activist groups like ACORN, Freddie Mac orchestrated more than $1 trillion of these dangerous loans to folks who would not otherwise have been able to obtain a loan due to low income, no credit, or bad credit.
Until the advent of subprime loans the housing prices had been tracking at the rate of inflation (which was very low), but all of the sudden the new demand for housing, thanks to easy money, made the price of houses skyrocket. It all worked well as long as interest rates were low, but they didn’t stay low.
Higher rates plus an artificial spike in fuel prices caused by our nation’s failure to access the Alaskan offshore and other known oil reserves put out of reach by the Federal government, put a tremendous economic squeeze on low-income house buyers, many of whom simply quit making their mortgage payments.
Oops!
Back in 1995 and all the way through 2003, there were warnings that there was an impending crisis at Freddie Mac. There were numerous articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. In fact, at the time of the Enron collapse, the Wall Street Journal warned that the situation at Freddie Mac was even worse than Enron. But no one paid attention. No one wanted to listen, especially those in Congress who instituted the change to subprime loans.
When the Bush administration proposed major changes to avert the crisis we are experiencing today, both Senator Dodd and Representative Frank said Freddie Mac was sound and that no change or additional oversight was needed. John McCain was a co-sponsor of the proposed legislation, but you would never know it from mainstream media coverage. Meanwhile Senator Dodd, Representative Frank, and newly minted Senator Barak Obama were receiving huge checks from the executives at Freddie Mac as a payoff for their continued support.
What about bad choices? Yes, the folks who took the subprime loans made bad choices. But, it was awfully hard to resist. A beautiful home in the suburbs with better schools and less crime was very enticing. And if the interest rate would only stay low… But the interest rates shot up, the housing prices dropped and disaster occurred. It’s a sad situation, but you and I know that it’s not good to bail out our children when they get in trouble. There is no lesson learned when we do so. We should have compassion, but a bail out would not be beneficial in the long run. We are all better off, even if bruised, when we are forced to live with the consequences of our actions.
Now we face a huge crisis, but there is another one looming on the horizon that is much, much larger than the current one, yet the liberals like Dodd and Frank have once again assured us there is no problem. I’m talking about Social Security which is just as busted and broken as Freddie Mac. Again the Bush administration has tried to make changes to return this program to solvency, but the opposition is in denial, just like they were on the subprime crisis. The result is sure to be the same.
Will the Dodd’s and Frank’s of this world ever learn? Apparently not! Senator Dodd, Representative Frank, and Senator Obama now claim that the current crisis is a result of “deregulation” when, in fact, it is their bad judgment and bad legislation that have gotten us to where we are today. It was mandatory regulations stipulating that subprime loans be made to individuals with no capacity to repay them that caused this crisis.
Dodd and Frank and Obama are afraid the truth will get out. This time they are right. It will. Stay tuned.
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