For me the debate is settled, but if Palin does get into a one-on-one with Al Gore, I want her to recruit Lord Monckton for her coach:
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Mike Gravel and the New York Times
I know there's a lot going on that I'm not covering right now, but that's the way it is the last couple days of the week. I should be back to full power on Sunday.
But I just wanted to pop in and comment on two things.
First, Mike Gravel says Palin will run for President:
Gravel is an extreme libertarian who disagrees with Palin's politics, but seems to be objective
about her personally. This is what he had to say about Palin's nomination to run for Vice-Pres:
Secondly, the New York Times has an article on how the Dems health care bill will be expensive.
Well, no kidding. One of the most idiotic things I've seen is this idea of expanding Medicare
at the same time we're cutting Medicare funding. Make any sense? Of course not. Why are they
doing it? This guy is candid:
Why don't they just take all of our money, put it in a giant pile, and burn it?
But I just wanted to pop in and comment on two things.
First, Mike Gravel says Palin will run for President:
Gravel is an extreme libertarian who disagrees with Palin's politics, but seems to be objective
about her personally. This is what he had to say about Palin's nomination to run for Vice-Pres:
Secondly, the New York Times has an article on how the Dems health care bill will be expensive.
Well, no kidding. One of the most idiotic things I've seen is this idea of expanding Medicare
at the same time we're cutting Medicare funding. Make any sense? Of course not. Why are they
doing it? This guy is candid:
“Extending this successful program to those between 55 and 64 would be the largest expansion of Medicare in 44 years and would perhaps get us on the path to a single-payer model,” said Representative Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York.The ultimate goal is a single payer system. Period.
Why don't they just take all of our money, put it in a giant pile, and burn it?
Tea Parties Top GOP
Another great article from the American Thinker:
Rasmussen reports the Tea Party Movement, which percolated only months ago, is beating the Grand Old Party.
That's amazing -- and good -- news. A nascent grassroots movement is more popular than a long-established political party.
Republican Party leaders should be embarrassed. Instead, the Republican establishment disdains this populist uprising. Rather than embracing this genuine movement, establishment politicians and consultants are calculating how to co-opt, sideline or even defeat the newest phenomenon in politics - tea partiers.
That would be arrogance, not leadership. It could be the downfall of Republican leaders, who have taken the Party of Reagan to the Party of No -- meaning, No Ideas, No Leadership, and No Principles.
What's driving the Tea Party phenomenon? Robert Stacy McCain writes at American Spectator about one tea partier, Rhonda Lee Welsch, who says, "‘It's a systemic problem,' discussing the top-down approach of leaders in both parties who seem indifferent to the concerns of ordinary Americans."
People realize that big-government, career politicians aren't going to save America, if it's not too late for that already. Like a modern-day court of Louis XVI, our leaders are disconnected from the people. An uprising is taking place, yet our political leaders seem more interested in playing a good round of golf.
As I wrote not long ago:
Americans are concluding more and more that many of the current problems we face are caused by unrestrained and corrupt government. It is becoming apparent to millions of voters the solution lies in electing officials who understand, respect and abide by the Constitution as much as we citizens are expected to follow the law.
The Tea Party Movement, however, is about more than electing new politicians, although that will be one of its consequences. What's happening in the tea parties is that people are actually using the Constitution to ground and form policy choices, and as a constructive means to hold the political establishment accountable.
Our constitutional system of checks and balances is currently in shambles. Congress refuses to hold the President accountable constitutionally, and the courts refuse to hold the other two branches accountable.
This is why the 10th Amendment is becoming so popular within the Tea Party Movement, and why that Amendment is becoming the bane of statists in the political establishment. The 10th Amendment, intended as a fundamental, "systemic" protection of our constitutional form of government, says that all powers not given expressly to the federal government by the text of the Constitution are reserved to the States or to the people. It is a failsafe against tyranny.
The 10th Amendment, which has been in the closet and is dusty, is a natural resource for the "leaderless" Tea Party Movement. The way to restrain the abuses of power, and create a culture of freedom and economic prosperity, is within the Constitution itself. Tea partiers will use the Constitution, which has been so disregarded by the three branches of government, to tame the beast of tyrannical big government. The 10th Amendment is one key to overcoming what Ms. Welsch articulates for all of us as a "systemic problem."
One of the best books I've read in recent years is The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom.
Read it, and you'll better understand why the Tea Party Movement is surging, and the Republican Party isn't. The book describes the success of leaderless organizations using the analogy of a spider, which is killed when its head is cut off, versus the starfish, which, when a tentacle is cut off, grows a new one.
The great Aztec civilization existed for centuries before the Spaniards arrived on the continent. Cortes told the Aztec leader, Montezuma, give me your gold or your life. Montezuma gave Cortes his gold, and Cortes killed him anyway. The Aztec civilization did not survive the loss of its leader. The head of the spider had been cut off.
The Apaches, a leaderless "starfish" society, survived hundreds of years of the Spaniards' trying to do what they did to the Aztecs. As Brafman and Beckstrom write:
You wanted to follow Geronimo? You followed Geronimo. You didn't want to follow him? Then you didn't. The power lay with each individual.
We are seeing the "starfish" Tea Party Movement with candidates running in both Democratic and Republican primaries. When they are shut out by the party establishments, as happened in New York's 23rd congressional district, they are running as independents, or under third parties.
"Starfish" tea partiers are learning how to organize, raise money, and utilize the alternative media in record numbers. They are voicing their opposition to unaccountable Big Government, and promoting productive policy alternatives, through the guiding principles of the Founders.
From the tea parties, the grassroots, and the alternative media, we are seeing new leaders emerge. Like our Founders, they understand their strength of leadership does not come from a political party, but from consent of the governed. That is why they don't hitch their wagons to one person or one party.
Talk radio host Mark ‘The Great One" Levin discussed recently how Reagan spoke not of "his" administration, but of "this" administration. Levin noted how Reagan understood his power came from the people, not from the office he held. Reagan didn't read The Starfish and the Spider, but he understood its principles. The successors to Reagan's GOP do not understand those principles, and seem more beholden to staying in Washington than saving America. They are "spiders."
The Tea Party Movement is determined to save America. Republican Party leaders would be unwise to try to co-opt, sideline or defeat it. Perhaps they should welcome the new leadership into the Party as their single most important survival tactic.
Rasmussen reports the Tea Party Movement, which percolated only months ago, is beating the Grand Old Party.
That's amazing -- and good -- news. A nascent grassroots movement is more popular than a long-established political party.
Republican Party leaders should be embarrassed. Instead, the Republican establishment disdains this populist uprising. Rather than embracing this genuine movement, establishment politicians and consultants are calculating how to co-opt, sideline or even defeat the newest phenomenon in politics - tea partiers.
That would be arrogance, not leadership. It could be the downfall of Republican leaders, who have taken the Party of Reagan to the Party of No -- meaning, No Ideas, No Leadership, and No Principles.
What's driving the Tea Party phenomenon? Robert Stacy McCain writes at American Spectator about one tea partier, Rhonda Lee Welsch, who says, "‘It's a systemic problem,' discussing the top-down approach of leaders in both parties who seem indifferent to the concerns of ordinary Americans."
People realize that big-government, career politicians aren't going to save America, if it's not too late for that already. Like a modern-day court of Louis XVI, our leaders are disconnected from the people. An uprising is taking place, yet our political leaders seem more interested in playing a good round of golf.
As I wrote not long ago:
Americans are concluding more and more that many of the current problems we face are caused by unrestrained and corrupt government. It is becoming apparent to millions of voters the solution lies in electing officials who understand, respect and abide by the Constitution as much as we citizens are expected to follow the law.
The Tea Party Movement, however, is about more than electing new politicians, although that will be one of its consequences. What's happening in the tea parties is that people are actually using the Constitution to ground and form policy choices, and as a constructive means to hold the political establishment accountable.
Our constitutional system of checks and balances is currently in shambles. Congress refuses to hold the President accountable constitutionally, and the courts refuse to hold the other two branches accountable.
This is why the 10th Amendment is becoming so popular within the Tea Party Movement, and why that Amendment is becoming the bane of statists in the political establishment. The 10th Amendment, intended as a fundamental, "systemic" protection of our constitutional form of government, says that all powers not given expressly to the federal government by the text of the Constitution are reserved to the States or to the people. It is a failsafe against tyranny.
The 10th Amendment, which has been in the closet and is dusty, is a natural resource for the "leaderless" Tea Party Movement. The way to restrain the abuses of power, and create a culture of freedom and economic prosperity, is within the Constitution itself. Tea partiers will use the Constitution, which has been so disregarded by the three branches of government, to tame the beast of tyrannical big government. The 10th Amendment is one key to overcoming what Ms. Welsch articulates for all of us as a "systemic problem."
One of the best books I've read in recent years is The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom.
Read it, and you'll better understand why the Tea Party Movement is surging, and the Republican Party isn't. The book describes the success of leaderless organizations using the analogy of a spider, which is killed when its head is cut off, versus the starfish, which, when a tentacle is cut off, grows a new one.
The great Aztec civilization existed for centuries before the Spaniards arrived on the continent. Cortes told the Aztec leader, Montezuma, give me your gold or your life. Montezuma gave Cortes his gold, and Cortes killed him anyway. The Aztec civilization did not survive the loss of its leader. The head of the spider had been cut off.
The Apaches, a leaderless "starfish" society, survived hundreds of years of the Spaniards' trying to do what they did to the Aztecs. As Brafman and Beckstrom write:
You wanted to follow Geronimo? You followed Geronimo. You didn't want to follow him? Then you didn't. The power lay with each individual.
We are seeing the "starfish" Tea Party Movement with candidates running in both Democratic and Republican primaries. When they are shut out by the party establishments, as happened in New York's 23rd congressional district, they are running as independents, or under third parties.
"Starfish" tea partiers are learning how to organize, raise money, and utilize the alternative media in record numbers. They are voicing their opposition to unaccountable Big Government, and promoting productive policy alternatives, through the guiding principles of the Founders.
From the tea parties, the grassroots, and the alternative media, we are seeing new leaders emerge. Like our Founders, they understand their strength of leadership does not come from a political party, but from consent of the governed. That is why they don't hitch their wagons to one person or one party.
Talk radio host Mark ‘The Great One" Levin discussed recently how Reagan spoke not of "his" administration, but of "this" administration. Levin noted how Reagan understood his power came from the people, not from the office he held. Reagan didn't read The Starfish and the Spider, but he understood its principles. The successors to Reagan's GOP do not understand those principles, and seem more beholden to staying in Washington than saving America. They are "spiders."
The Tea Party Movement is determined to save America. Republican Party leaders would be unwise to try to co-opt, sideline or defeat it. Perhaps they should welcome the new leadership into the Party as their single most important survival tactic.
The Palimpsest
From the American Thinker:
Sarah Palin is an authentic American phenomenon. She resonates with a majority of the American people as authentic -- because she is authentic. She is a no-BS, stand-for-the-truth, take-a-licking-and-keep-on-ticking kind of gal. In other words, she is not like the ordinary, everyday, go-along-to-get-along professional politicians who control our national political parties. And it is precisely for that reason that she can now spearhead an American political renaissance.
Our nation has been buried for decades under political pabulum. The Democrats pretend to represent average Americans, but they are controlled by wealthy elitists who pay lip service to American values while propagating cultural Marxism in every corner of the land. The Republicans pretend to be the party of fiscal responsibility, but they are more comfortable outsourcing the sinews of American power than building strong the fabric of American society.
The American people have been held in thrall for decades to the two major political parties because there isn't a "none-of-the-above" option on our ballots. Worse yet, people have grown cynical about the prospects of honest and honorable government because they see that the people in power, whatever their political party, seem to have more solicitude for their own power than they have for the people.
The framers of the Constitution knew that people would be attracted to power who would be willing to trade their votes to remain in power. They crafted a Constitution to create a limited government in order to limit the power of such people. But government of the people, by the people and for the people requires people to be vigilant about keeping the power of government limited. Unfortunately, the people have failed to do that, and now it is time to rectify the failure.
It would be comforting to think that an authentic American political phenomenon like Sarah Palin could spearhead a successful third-party movement. But that is wishful thinking. Were she to attempt such a thing, it would almost certainly fragment the huge centrist American vote and result in further radical left victories in the national polls. That would compound the present disaster, and tilt America inexorably in the direction of third-world status and misery.
Better to heed the words of Shakespeare, who wrote that "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." For America, that means Sarah Palin and the Republican Party. Here's why and here's how:
1.The Republican Party is out, and wants in. That means it needs a champion who can generate popular enthusiasm. Sarah Palin is such a champion. Put aside the blithe criticisms of the pundits and naysayers. If an election were held today, Sarah Palin would generate a popular majority greater than the one that swept Ronald Reagan into the White House.
2.The Republican Party is chastened. Its failure under Bush to pare back the scope of federal interference in people's lives resulted in the Devil's bargain with the Democrats to expand federal involvement in mortgage lending, and that led directly to the collapse of the real estate market and then the stock market. That has taken the Republican Party down a couple of pegs, and it is now far more amenable to the common sense values that Sarah Palin embodies.
3.The Republican Party has an existing political infrastructure that can be used to facilitate a national campaign by Sarah Palin, whereas a third party candidacy would need to reinvent the wheel. Time is short, the issues are vital, and the 90% rule applies to the choice of political vehicle.
4.National campaigns require huge amounts of money. Sarah Palin can raise that money directly from the American people by way of the World Wide Web, in exactly the way Obama is alleged to have done. Millions of Americans will donate $5, $10, $20 or $100 to a political renaissance spearheaded by Sarah Palin. They will be glad to do it, because they trust her.
5.The time to begin the political renaissance is now, not in 2011 or 2012. The reason is that Sarah Palin must spearhead more than a personal, political campaign. She must spearhead a political renaissance, and that means taking over the Republican Party. To do that, she will need time and allies and money. She can raise the money, and the allies are ready to hand. But time is remorseless, and assuming power in the Republican Party will be time-consuming, so she must begin that task today.
A palimpsest is a manuscript written over a partly erased older manuscript in such a way that the old words can be read beneath the new. It is time for Sarah Palin to write over the American political landscape so that the words of our Founders will resonate across this land again. She can do it, because like the Founders of this nation she is an authentic American phenomenon.
Sarah Palin is an authentic American phenomenon. She resonates with a majority of the American people as authentic -- because she is authentic. She is a no-BS, stand-for-the-truth, take-a-licking-and-keep-on-ticking kind of gal. In other words, she is not like the ordinary, everyday, go-along-to-get-along professional politicians who control our national political parties. And it is precisely for that reason that she can now spearhead an American political renaissance.
Our nation has been buried for decades under political pabulum. The Democrats pretend to represent average Americans, but they are controlled by wealthy elitists who pay lip service to American values while propagating cultural Marxism in every corner of the land. The Republicans pretend to be the party of fiscal responsibility, but they are more comfortable outsourcing the sinews of American power than building strong the fabric of American society.
The American people have been held in thrall for decades to the two major political parties because there isn't a "none-of-the-above" option on our ballots. Worse yet, people have grown cynical about the prospects of honest and honorable government because they see that the people in power, whatever their political party, seem to have more solicitude for their own power than they have for the people.
The framers of the Constitution knew that people would be attracted to power who would be willing to trade their votes to remain in power. They crafted a Constitution to create a limited government in order to limit the power of such people. But government of the people, by the people and for the people requires people to be vigilant about keeping the power of government limited. Unfortunately, the people have failed to do that, and now it is time to rectify the failure.
It would be comforting to think that an authentic American political phenomenon like Sarah Palin could spearhead a successful third-party movement. But that is wishful thinking. Were she to attempt such a thing, it would almost certainly fragment the huge centrist American vote and result in further radical left victories in the national polls. That would compound the present disaster, and tilt America inexorably in the direction of third-world status and misery.
Better to heed the words of Shakespeare, who wrote that "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." For America, that means Sarah Palin and the Republican Party. Here's why and here's how:
1.The Republican Party is out, and wants in. That means it needs a champion who can generate popular enthusiasm. Sarah Palin is such a champion. Put aside the blithe criticisms of the pundits and naysayers. If an election were held today, Sarah Palin would generate a popular majority greater than the one that swept Ronald Reagan into the White House.
2.The Republican Party is chastened. Its failure under Bush to pare back the scope of federal interference in people's lives resulted in the Devil's bargain with the Democrats to expand federal involvement in mortgage lending, and that led directly to the collapse of the real estate market and then the stock market. That has taken the Republican Party down a couple of pegs, and it is now far more amenable to the common sense values that Sarah Palin embodies.
3.The Republican Party has an existing political infrastructure that can be used to facilitate a national campaign by Sarah Palin, whereas a third party candidacy would need to reinvent the wheel. Time is short, the issues are vital, and the 90% rule applies to the choice of political vehicle.
4.National campaigns require huge amounts of money. Sarah Palin can raise that money directly from the American people by way of the World Wide Web, in exactly the way Obama is alleged to have done. Millions of Americans will donate $5, $10, $20 or $100 to a political renaissance spearheaded by Sarah Palin. They will be glad to do it, because they trust her.
5.The time to begin the political renaissance is now, not in 2011 or 2012. The reason is that Sarah Palin must spearhead more than a personal, political campaign. She must spearhead a political renaissance, and that means taking over the Republican Party. To do that, she will need time and allies and money. She can raise the money, and the allies are ready to hand. But time is remorseless, and assuming power in the Republican Party will be time-consuming, so she must begin that task today.
A palimpsest is a manuscript written over a partly erased older manuscript in such a way that the old words can be read beneath the new. It is time for Sarah Palin to write over the American political landscape so that the words of our Founders will resonate across this land again. She can do it, because like the Founders of this nation she is an authentic American phenomenon.
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