Walking the Talk

I am continually amazed at the attempts of political candidates across the country to co-opt issues in which they have no experience.  Years ago, the Christian Right encouraged numerous politicians to have a “come to Jesus” experience and advocate platforms they neither agreed with nor could validate.  If one could say something enough times and get his/her picture made with the right people, then… voila! you’re automatically an expert.

I have thought about this in relation to my lifetime of experience in socially conservative issues.  Though these matters will always form the basis for strength in our republic, they do not currently rise to the top of the national discussion, except during Supreme Court nominee hearings before the U.S. Senate.  The nation’s attention is clearly focused on overly big government, runaway spending, excessive debt, unsustainable entitlements, an open border, energy dependence, an unfair tax system, and two wars against enemies that wear no discernible uniform.

To make the record clear, let me describe my walk compared to my talk.

When will we see real economic growth?

When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he promised “hope and change” for the American people.  What he has provided is the history-repeating tale of big government’s inability to create any job outside of a government job and to continue holding back the private sector with its baffling economic policies.  Rather than put the fiscal house in order, he got Jim Cooper to agree to a ridiculous stimulus plan that has been a sham.  He ran up the credit card to the tune of a trillion a year for a decade into the future and paid back his union buddies by stealing GM from its Bondholders and running dealers out of business at his whim.  How’s that for saving jobs?

Eighteen months into his presidency unemployment hovers just under 20% and small businesses hold into capital waiting for the next major federal bomb to drop on them.  Will it be Cap and Trade?  Will it be Amnesty?  Will it be the largest tax increase in U.S. history with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts?  The private sector has no incentive to invest, spend, create, diversify as long as the current federal government continues to take over and over-regulate private business.   While they continue to look for ways to confiscate the trillions in private capital being banked, business owners struggle to make plans for the future.

How many administrations, Republican or Democrat, have to enact these limited government-control, low tax policies to prove to the policy makers on the left that they work every time they are tried, that letting taxpayers keep more of their money to pour back into the economy stimulates job creation?  The answer?  It will have to take at least one more because they just do not get it.  The American people get it.  American business gets it. Even Europe gets it.

The next economic renewal is only one election away.  American voters will go to the polls in November and teach the policy makers on the left another lesson about refusing to listen to them.  Jim Cooper has chosen to close his ears to his constituents and join the Pelosi agenda against his own voters.  During the past four years he has shown his true colors, voting for every liberty-killing budget-busting bill he could.

Some of his constituents have been paying attention.  When November arrives every America-loving, private enterprise-supporting, fiscally-conservative voter will know what he has done and how he has abandoned them to the devices of an ever-expanding centralized machine run out of the Beltway in D.C.  The cover will be pulled off of his “blue-dog” persona.  The glass will be cleaned to reveal a Cooper/Pelosi takeover machine rather than the fiscal conservative patina Cooper has been trying to sell to the 5^th District.

Stay tuned. The American People will provide the economic jump-start we need on November 2nd.

A New Leadership in DC

Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann recently announced her intentions to form a “Tea Party Caucus” in Congress to address the growing voice of the Tea Party across America. After getting permission from House leaders to pursue this possibility, they recently held their first meeting which was attended by 28 Representatives, all Republicans.

The 40th Vote

I want to be the 40th vote.

Assuming the Republican Party can retain every seat it currently holds in the U.S. House of Representatives, we would regain a majority in the House by one vote if 40 new conservatives were elected in November. This is a critical number for working families across America because this number will guarantee that a conservative majority controls the checkbook, debit and credit cards for the government.

Cooper’s Votes to Remember

Rep. Jim Cooper, our current Representative in Washington, has long cast himself as a “Blue-Dog” conservative Democrat. In more recent memory, his voting record has moved markedly to the left and essentially placed him in lock-step with Speaker Pelosi. His “Blue-Dog” affiliation is weak at best.

June 30th News

The past two weeks for the campaign have been absolutely phenomenal. We’ve been a part of many events, voter meetings, speaking engagements, and much more. As such, it’s become more difficult to blog consistently. Because of this blogging break, I wanted to update you on the recent news from our Campaign HQ on 21st Avenue South.

I Really Do Feel Your Pain

As insincere as it may have sounded, former President Bill Clinton’s famous line, “I feel your pain,” gained great traction as he portrayed himself as “one of us.”  Being a Rhodes Scholar and former Arkansas governor , it is somewhat of a PR miracle that he pulled it off and points out just how great a desire constituents have to identify with political leaders.

This math isn’t fuzzy

News that the national debt has now topped $13 trillion boggles the mind – and the calculator. I recently posted about the idea that numbers this massive can sometimes feel a little bit like “Monopoly Money” and be difficult to grasp. So, that begs the question; how much is $13 trillion?

The fallacy of talk versus action

Jim Cooper must think it is October as he is attempting to put on his “Blue Dog” Halloween mask once again. In a recent statement to the media, he announced his support for giving the President a power of “expedited rescission” to supposedly control spending. He lectured “members of Congress” about their inability to control earmarks and excessive spending and told them they need “parental supervision.”

It’s just like Monopoly money

First, it was AIG.  Then it was Goldman Sachs.  Then GM, Chrysler, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, ad nauseum.   Bailout after bailout after bailout.  And it’s not over yet?

Last year, Congress passed several stimulus bills under the guise of “shovel-ready” projects.  The only shovel that was ready was the shovel being used by individual state workers ready for layoffs because of irresponsible state spending during the past decade.  Good news is that the fellow holding the shovel got to work an extra year.  Bad news is that the stimulus money was a one-and-out.