Ponderstorm My Brainstorm on Life & Politics

As I write this I’m distressed to say it looks like there is no path to victory for John McCain. But since I prefer to see the glass as half full, I’m searching for something positive to write about tonight’s election. Is there anything positive to consider right now?

After careful thought I think so. I think there is still reason for conservatives to hope.

This 2008 election cycle has a remarkable number of parallels to 1976 when Democrat Jimmy Carter beat Republican Gerald Ford. As you may recall, Ford became President following the resignation of scandal-plagued President Richard Nixon. With the Republican brand tarnished by Watergate and the messy war in Vietnam fresh on voters’ minds, Carter eked out a 50.1% popular vote and a 297 to 240 electoral win.

As things now stand, Obama appears to be headed for a similarly narrow victory over McCain. As in 1976, the 2008 Republican brand is deeply tarnished by six years of squandered opportunities, wasteful spending, an unpopular Republican President and war that seems to drag on and on. Add in a candidate who had difficulties mobilizing his base and energizing people with a clear vision and you have a recipe for Republican electoral disaster. For Democrats, though, these factors created the perfect storm to sweep into power.

Rewind to 1976. Carter, like Obama was very inexperienced. Little was known about Carter just as little is known about Obama. Contrasting these Democrats were Republicans Ford and McCain who were both tested and experienced leaders. They were, however, dragged down by sweeping calls for change and widespread desire to put a new face and political party in Washington.

That was the setting in 1976 and again in 2008. As history shows us, though, the four years after 1976 were not pretty. Carter was tested with an international crisis by Iran and he failed miserably. Instead of acting decisively, he focused on talks and cut the military. Furthermore, the economy grew worse as inflation, unemployment and interest rates rapidly climbed.

Ironically, in 2008, Iran is again at the forefront of the international agenda and the economy is extremely weak. Like Carter, Obama puts a huge amount of trust in the power of talks to resolve aggressive conflicts with unreasonable people like Islamic extremists and dictators. Honestly, I fear for our future as a nation.

As Joe Biden warned, the next President will be tested with an international crisis within a short period of time. The response of that unavoidable test remains to be seen. Will Obama continue to look and sound like Carter or will he prove my analogy wrong and lead wisely?

That’s the dark side of my analogy. Is there a silver lining you might ask? Is there anything to give conservatives reason to hope? I think so and here’s why.

After four years of failure under Carter, the nation was fed up with international weakness, unemployment, inflation and failed Democratic leadership. In 1980 the nation was ready to elect a new leader who was proud of America and willing to tackle the problems instead of just talk about the symptoms. In short, the nation was ready to embrace conservatism and his name was Ronald Reagan.

So my question tonight is who will be our Ronald Reagan in 2012? Who will step forward and lead this nation out of the mess that liberalism and socialism inevitably bring? Who will be or next Ronald Reagan? Will it be you?

Posted under Barack Obama, Campaign

I regularly read Obama 2.0 and just learned of some very interesting commentary by the talented founder of Macho Sauce Productions Alfonzo (Zo) Rachel. In his own words, Zo is a “musician, martial artist, amateure movie makin’, Christian conservative republican.”

His latest video is entitled 1 More B4 11 04 and builds a strong case for electing a conservative as President. He also describes very well the differences between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, and Obama and McCain in ways that are very compelling. His logic is tight (I would dispute his dinosaur comment given some historic and scientific evidence that may suggest otherwise) and his reasons for supporting conservatives and John McCain in particular are some of the best I’ve heard. He is passionate about freedom and excessive government involvement in our lives. It’s well worth watching.

Posted under Barack Obama, Campaign, John McCain, Politics, Video

Let me clearly state that I don’t like or approve of the recent federal intervention in the United States economy. Government policy over the past three decades, pushed to extremes by left-leaning and radical groups like ACORN and using the Community Reinvestment Act, created the corrupt lending environment that was exploited by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to produce the toxic mortgage situation in which we find ourselves. So, since government is primarily responsible for this crisis, why should we then trust government to fix the problem they created?

This unfavorable economic environment is not a shortcoming of capitalism. It is a direct result of government manipulation within our economy for the benefit of a few people. Sometimes manipulation gives an unfair advantage to the rich and sometimes the poor. In this current environment, those who should not get a loan it were encouraged to borrow beyond their means.  While historically no bank would loan money under such terms, Fannie and Freddie created an unnatural market for banks to offload risky mortgages. The result was the poisoning of our entire financial system.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the federal government stepped in and removed even more of our individual freedoms and made our economic system less of a capitalistic one and more like a planned economy under socialism. To give you an idea of the extent of the change, we’re now talking about the government owning or nationalizing large portions of our banking system. We’re also talking about government confiscating taxpayer money to buy up and refinance failing mortgages. We’re also talking about government, not shareholders, owners or investors, telling companies how much they can pay their employees and how to run their businesses. Sounds more like the old Soviet Union than what the Founding Fathers set up, doesn’t it?

This is an extremely dangerous precedent that will severely damage our economy in the long run. It makes the American taxpayer the ultimate holder of risks that the market should allocate to willing investors. It also gives government enormous control over our economy, our money and our everyday lives. In effect, a government bureaucrat will soon be deciding who can borrow, how much they can borrow and under what terms. In the name of fairness and environmentalism, other factors will probably be imposed later like how large our house can be and whether we really need what we can afford.

Instead of the massive bailout that was adopted, I wish government had essentially stepped out of the picture and removed Read More…

Posted under Economy, Government

Recently somebody suggested that Presidential preferences are like this: “The ‘right’ wants a President they can have a beer with. The ‘left’ just wants someone really smarter than them.” My reply was something like the following:

I think its deeper than the “beer and smarts” analogy suggested above. The right wants to know confidently that their key principles (the “3 pillars” of free markets, national security and social conservatism) are held at a core level by the President and they (the President) won’t waver on them. They don’t care much about physical appearance, TV image, speaking ability, etc. as long as these core principles are not abandoned. Delegation as a leadership style is fine and a “hands off” approach by government preferred for most issues. In a nutshell, government is not to do much more than safeguard these principles and protect us from evil nations.

The left, on the other hand, wants somebody who feels their pain and is smart enough to fix everything that is wrong. That means somebody with an Ivy League education is preferred since only they are smart enough to hold such power. They must look good on TV and be respected by other players on the world stage so they don’t embarrass us. They also have to speak well to soothe us and make us feel comfortable after convincing us that they feel our pain and want to help us enjoy life.  Image and perception are everything as long as the economy is good and we are safe from all harms including natural disasters like hurricanes and dirty water. Risks are to be eliminated and the federal government is the ultimate safety net for everybody. Everybody should be equally happy.

I know that’s a light-hearted, broad-brushed view of things; however, I feel it does point out many core differences between liberals and conservatives. What do you think?

Posted under 60 Seconds, Politics

A liberal friend asked me to read an article entitled “Insanity” by DarkSyde at The Daily Kos and pointed out that he thinks it pretty much sums up how most liberals feel about the past 8 years and what this election is about.  I found the article cleverly written and coming from an unusual angle.  It made me stop and think because on a foundational level I actually agree with a some of the broad assessments made in this article even though many of them are grossly exaggerated.

Republicans are often blamed for all the nation’s problems of the past 8 years. I concur that the GOP has been part of the problem for 4 of the past 8 years; however, remember, the Senate was evenly divided when Bush was elected and then 1 GOP member switched to Independent and caucassed with the Democrats so the GOP didn’t control both houses until 2003 and then lost in 2007 after the 2006 election cycle. In fairness to Republicans though, during the 4 years of complete GOP control, Democrats have blocked and/or watered-down virtually all Republican proposed solutions to the problems this article blames them for.

However, in spite of the problems, the overall issue is bigger than simply who controls Washington. The underlying problem in Washington, as I see it, is systemic and part of human nature. It’s something our Founding Fathers were aware of and repeatedly divided government in an attempt to mitigate. It’s simply this: Power corrupts. It doesn’t take a rocket scientists to see that both parties are now corrupt. That doesn’t mean that all members in both parties are corrupt but that the system is corrupt with power. There’s a creeping loss of individual rights and personal liberty every year regardless of which party is in power.

So that brings me to my next point. Since both parties are corrupt and there’s no third party that stands a chance at winning this election cycle, what am I to do as a voter?  I feel I must take the path of less damage and that’s why I am going with the Read More…

Posted under Politics, Taxes