Grand Ol' What?

Last week, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) got together to make the American public (at least the ones watching C-SPAN or CNN or ...) continue to question the GOP's existence.

A friend of mine e-mailed me this:
Watch this video ...
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=219518&title=cpac-after-party
... and then ask yourself the following question: If you could've blown up this entire building, killing everyone inside -- except maybe for Ron Paul -- and no one would ever find out, wouldn't you at least have to consider it?

Hmmmmm.

So, what happened to this once-grand party? They seem at a loss. But to me, it's so simple: A complete loss of what they stand for. Even if you disagreed with their platform, there was a day when you knew what it was.

I have a confession to make: I'm a registered Republican. I have been since the day I turned 18. I espouse Libertarian views, but have resisted registering LIB because I can't vote in the AZ primary without a major party affiliation.

When I registered, I felt I had a choice of foregoing economic freedom or social freedom. A the time, I opted to retain my economic freedom through supposed lower taxes and took my chances with the social freedoms.

Since that time, I've seen my party of fiscal responsibility pass measures that achieve anything but. I've seen a Democratic president be the only leader capable of balancing our budget and a Republican squander a budget surplus and drive our country into massive debt and near economic ruin. Our own Republican governor in Arizona just suggested the Legislature raise taxes because of the state's "economic situation," completely ignoring the "economic situation" of our state's businesses. Meanwhile, I continue to see government encroach deeper and deeper into our communities, homes and bedrooms.

Thus, my recent voting track record has included Obama (OK, after a Ron Paul vote in the primary), Gov. Napolitano and even John Kerry. The GOP can't endure if it permanently loses a younger generation of voters ... Yet, the rebranding brain trust that's been called in to save the party is led by the same gas bags who've brought it to this point and a new leader who's spent most of his time in his new position arguing with none other than Rush Limbaugh -- one of the many reasons the GOP's devotees have dwindled, I suspect. And still, there is no coherent position: What does party stand for? My best guess is anti-gay-marriage and anti-abortion. That seems to be the only platform of consistent messaging. Can they bring along an entire cohort of voters on these two issues alone? My gut says no, especially now. At least out of the deep south, where those cornerstone issues carry more weight than I can comprehend.

Not that I aspire to see the Republican Party do well in 2012, but for them to do so, a re-branding is in order as well as a massive communications effort to let the country know where they stand and an effort to act on that message. Curious what you think ... Is there a future for the Republican Party, and what does it look like?

Follow the Money

Your country, bought and paid for by lobbyist dollars. Here is another example of why I hate the Democrats and Republicans.

This week, AIG reported $61.7 fourth-quarter loss, the largest quarterly loss in U.S. corporate history. The US government is now going to give them $30 billion dollars and is going to ease the terms on the $150 billion it already dumped down that toilet.

So why do we keep flushing the money? Well, who were the biggest recipients of AIG lobbyists? 1. Chris Dodd, 2. Barack Obama, 3. John McCain, 4. Hillary Clinton, 5. Max Baucus, 6. Mitt Romney, 7. Joseph Biden.

If politicians really care about the middle class, why do they dump trillions down these failed institutions and stick us for the bill?

The Numbers Are Staggering

If every person in this country would take a moment and write a personal check to the government for $35,436, we can be back to even. (Of course, those of you with families are going to have to multiply that by the number of people in your household. Sorry about that.)

These numbers compiled by AP yesterday are unthinkable. I think I am going to be sick. I guess ignorance really is bliss.

A Word From Our Future President

I have hope for the future. His name is William ‘BJ’ Lawson.

His blog at United Liberty yesterday, aptly titled Recovery Through Debt Slavery, hit on some great points about our current economic crisis. While Obama supporters want to put partisan politics aside so they can spend our way out of this crisis, Lawson points out:

The root of our problem isn’t partisan politics — it’s high school math that is lost on our economists and central bankers...

Obama has mastered bank-centric newspeak. Isn’t it odd that the President of the United States cannot conceive of saving money to buy a home, car, or college education? Isn’t it strange that we’re dependent on the “lifeblood” of new debt...

Please, take a moment to educate a friend on the unsustainable nature of our debt-based money system. Economic recovery cannot be accomplished by tightening the chains of debt slavery.

Before you dismiss his comments because he is a Republican, consider this from his bio:

You see, we have a nation that is increasingly divided. People appear to enjoy sports like Democrats vs. Republicans, Liberals vs. Conservatives, Straights vs. Gays, Blacks vs. Whites, Spanish vs. English, and so forth… when the fundamental problems we face together as Americans don’t discriminate.

Limiting our discussion to labels like "liberal" or "conservative" prevents real discussion about the issues. You see, these words we use to describe schools of thought are exceedingly dangerous. They confuse instead of enlighten, and divide instead of unite. At worst, people stop thinking entirely.

Take myself, for example: I’m a registered Republican, fiscally conservative, but personally strive for generosity. I consider myself “tough on crime” when crime is defined as one person hurting another person, but with my medical training I question why we criminalize and incarcerate people with addictions who have hurt no one except themselves. I’m very much in favor of supporting our troops, maintaining a strong defense, and appropriate use of force, but pre-emptive war and nation building in developing countries doesn’t sound all that defensive to me. I understand that my household budget demands certain discipline, and I am uncomfortable pretending we can borrow as much money as we want from foreign investors and our own Federal Reserve. While my family and I strive for moral ideals based upon our Christian faith and resulting understanding of desirable behavior, we believe that our role is to encourage and not stand in judgment of others. (italics mine)

I am not, nor do I ever see myself being a Republican, in particular because they are dominated by the big government, socially conservative neo-cons. I disliked the Bush administration even more than the current Obama administration. They are, in most ways, one in the same as far as I am concerned. Both want big government to control you.

Lawson is different. He leans libertarian and brings an anti-war, pro-personal responsibility, pro-individual liberty agenda to the Republican Party. I hope the Republican Party accepts his ideas or dies of irrelevancy. Although Lawson lost a challenge to uber-tenured North Carolina Congressman David Price in the last election, his ideas ring too true to be ignored. Both Republicans and Democrats need to take heed of his message.

Out Curing The Cure

Tonight I Have To Leave It - by the Swedish indie pop band The Shout Out Louds.

...just another thing I found on emusic...

A Need For A Second Party

I stumbled on this almost year old Op/Ed piece from the LA Times while checking Google to see what searches showed up for The National Party Times (the first two items were this blog, btw).

As many of you know, I have much personal regret about how I have handled my personal finances over the last few years, and am very upset to see our government following in my foot steps, ie., spending money they do not have, creating debt they can not absolve.

Most people believe that this country has always had two parties, one for big government and one for smaller government, but as I frequently like to point out, we really have a one party system in this country, both Democrats and Republicans are for Big Government. The best part about this article is how it points out that our original two party system was made up of those who favored small government (Hamilton and his Federalists)and those who favored tiny government (Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party--something ironic in that party name, btw).

Even Hamilton would be distressed at how our current government uses debt to forever enslave future generations just to satisfy the current “needs” of every interest group imaginable.

********

On a scarier note, I was tracking down my favorite philosopher and investment guru Nassim Nicholas Taleb on You Tube and came across these comments he made about our economy a few months ago.

I did a post about Taleb’s book The Black Swan over a year ago. This book, in many ways, changed the way I view the world...

We Don’t Think. We React.

I am a few books behind on my reading list and today, my list just got longer. Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug is a practical guide on how people really use the web. The book is geared toward web designers, advising them to take people’s viewing habits into consideration when creating sites.


Thing is, I don’t design web sites, so why am I interested? And more importantly, why should you be interested?

The book’s key point is that people don’t read websites, they scan them. This premise, I believe, is not only true of the internet. I think it is how most of us engage all sources of information. We get the gist and move on.

This book may not be for you, but check out this chapter and I think you will agree that it is an incredibly insightful and entertaining look at how we view the world.