Opus 2022-299: Election 2022: Don’t Get Distracted

Never Trumpers have a strange blindness.  Many of them are pocket elitests who look down on the common man as unclean, uninformed and needing wise leadership.  You can often tell them by the sneer in their writing.  Others can actually have some sound thinking as long as there is not a grain of Trump in the mix.  When they get a whiff, all thinking cells shut down and go to the emergency circuit that just yells, “Orange Man Bad!!!!”

John Hinderaker of PowerLine is one of the second kind.  I had just adjusted to reading what he wrote again when he came up with a perfect example of Never Trump Mind Block.

The title was provocative enough for me to read it in spite of the by-line.  I quit reading after I got to the section I am going to quote.  Later, on reflection, I realized that this was a great example of how many people look at Trump and throw all their higher level thinking skills under the emotional bus.

Hinderaker starts off in his traditional style.  The only difference is that the praise for Trump is not backhanded.

“I have often said that Trump was a very good president–our best, rather easily, since Ronald Reagan.”

At this point I was starting to hold my breath but I didn’t even start to be aware I wasn’t breathing, let along going into oxygen deprivation.  The next word fit perfectly into his narrative:

“Unfortunately,...”  There should have been a drum roll.  There might have been but I have my speakers turned off.

“Unfortunately, though, that isn’t the end of the story. He has both said and, less often, done, a lot of stupid things. He now carries this legacy of mistakes behind him like a ball and chain. Of course the Democrats’ attacks on Trump are mostly unfair when they are not fabricated. But there is a reason why half of America’s voters won’t even consider voting for Trump in 2024. I think it is safe to say that no successful candidate has ever begun with that sort of handicap.”

As far as “half of America’s voters”, that refers to the group that also thinks Biden is doing a good job and that printing money has nothing to do with inflation.

Then he throws in what is supposed to be the, excuse me, trump card.

“The Democrats are lying in wait, hoping Republicans are dumb enough to nominate Trump.”

We know this.  The issue is not whether the Democrats hate Trump.  The issue is whether the Republican politicians love their country enough to stand up to the Democrat hate machine.

I have often said that elections matter.  Although I am not sure they matter as much as they use to we need to vote on Tuesday’s issues, not 2024 and we need to speak up while we still can.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-266: I Will Take One Utopia and a Pink Unicorn, Please

In Texas we have a competition for Governor being on between Greg Abbott and “Beto” O’Rourke.  It should be no contest.  Abbott should win going away and never needing to look back.  He is a generally conservative and competent leader.  Beto has been a national celebration of empty suitism.  No serious citizen would vote for him.  It is a good example of having two clear alternatives and when the tallies come down it will tell you where people stand on the issues.

Or maybe not.  It amazes me that people have any confusion on their choice.  I think the problem is the Utopia Compex.

Some people will not vote for Abbott because he is not perfect.  I will admit that I did not vote for him in the primary because he was not the best choice but I gave up searching for perfection in everything after I found a wife.  No politician is perfect.  No church is perfect.  No diet is perfect.  Somehow Abbott is supposed to step above that line.  Since Beto seems to promise Utopia he may be their man.

I will be voting for Abbott in the general election.  Beto represents everything that is wrong with this country so it is really an easy choice.  Abbott did not show the right leadership on the Covid nonsense.  He has been slow off the dime on the border.  He has his weak points.  I think one of his problems is that he is not a good judge of resource people, a failure he shares with Donald Trump.  

Here is hoping he will rise to the occasion.  If we bath him with prayer then he may be wiser and stronger than he really is.

Elections matter.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-144: Election 2022: Share the Vision

I am wondering if I could find anyone in Texas who would admit to voting for Joe Biden.  Where did that question come from?  It seems to me that everyone I talk to agrees with the basic positions that Trump took.  They may be a bit turned off by the “mean tweets”, whatever that means, but they always say he did what he promised.

So where are these people?  I know Texas went for Trump but according to the reports there were millions of us that checked the Biden Box.  Or did they?  If they did they have done a good job of making themselves invisible.

We are now moving toward our runoffs.  In November we have the mid-term elections.  We need to swamp the mindless and parasites with such a strong turn out that they can’t even cheat and win.

Pray that the God who drowned Pharaoh and his army will bring out the righteous.  Talk about what you believe in restaurants, church, doctor’s offices, grocery stores and any other place you might run into someone who is briefly out from under their rock.  Share your vision for America.

Elections matter.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-080: Election 2022: Half a Paper Trail Is Better Than None

I voted on Tuesday.  Although I don’t approve of the extended early voting I still make use of it.  It went smoothly and I was pleased to see something new.

Paper ballots.  

The machines were still there.  I had to get a number to put in the machine but when I finished making my wishes known the machine printed out the results of what I had marked.  So far, so good.  Then I was told to take it to another machine, check to see if it was accurate and put the paper in the second machine.  That was when it was counted.  Cool.  

I did not get a copy.  Not so cool.  My paper stayed in the machine.

But it was still better than just electronics.  There will theoretically be a trail that can be followed.  The problem for me is that I don’t know if my vote was tallied honestly.  I should be able to check that someway and with modern technology it is doable.  If nothing else I should be able to take the number I used to get my ballot, go on line and check to see if what they have matches what I did.

We are making progress.  I hope it does not stop here.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-146: Election 2022: Vote for Pumice

I have rarely been elected to anything.  Usually when I end up in leadership it is because the situation is so hopeless or pointless that no one else will do it.  Once in, I think I do a good job.  In fact I had one liberal teacher share her amazement that a conservative could be so good at including all the kids in what we were doing.  It didn’t fit her mush-head paradigm.  

There are a lot of positions I take on issues that would keep me from getting elected to any office today.  These are in the order they occurred to me.

Defund education at all levels.
Start to develop limitations on whom could vote.
Limit the federal government spending only to things specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
Constitutional carry
Expand the death penalty and apply it.  Make allowance for reasonable appeals but certain crimes such as rape and child molestation should result in cleaning up the gene pool.
Outlaw abortion as a form of birth control.
Define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Define man and woman as a biological fact declared by your genes.
Impeach judges who legislate from the bench.
Freeze government spending by dollar amount and have no provision for inflation.
Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment (Income Tax).
Make laws passed by congress apply to congress.
Sunset all government regulations.
Require legislation to be read by congress.
Make amendments illegal that did not directly apply to the legislation.
Limit legislation to one topic.
Shut down most government agencies such as the Department of Education, Housing, EPA, and Transportation.  I am open to doing away with most of the rest.
Honor current commitments in Social Security but make it optional going forward.
Restructure Social Security so that the government pays back borrowed funds and the money is invested responsibly.  
Do away with the entire concept of hate crimes.

I am sure that I could keep meddling, but you get the idea.  At times I am not sure I would even vote for myself.  In the absence of my candidacy I would recommend that these be adopted as the platform of the Republican Party.  

No, I don’t want to buy a nice bridge from you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-137: Crumbling Foundations

Why were the Founders superior to any following generation?  Very few of them were professional politicians.

If you have a copy of the Declaration of Independence take a look at the signatures at the end.  A quick glance shows only one, Samuel Adams, as listing themselves as politicians.  I will concede that there are a lot of lawyers but there is also a good cross section of the types of work that people did in those days.  If you did it to congress today the occupation would be almost 100% “politician”.  Most were lawyers at one point but if you look at how long it has been since they have practiced law then you realize that they are politicians.

I would love to see some serious turnover in congress.  I am not in favor of formal term limits.  I believe the purging should come from the voters booth not laws with loopholes.  Are there people out there who could rise to the level of the Founders?  Probably but they are not willing to go through the attacks and danger of running against the machine of what we call the Deep State.  If I had to recommend anything it would be what I have stated so many times:  Vote the suckers out.  When in doubt, throw them out.  In fact, unless you can make a really strong case to keep someone in office they should be rotated regularly.

2022 is coming.  Elections matter.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-081: Election 2022: Whose Side Are You On

What is the mandate of elected officials?  Are they elected to give their constituents what they want or to do what is right for the country?

Not an easy question to answer.  We tend to answer it based on what we think is best for the country.  We assume what we think is best is best.  I must admit it usually is, at least as long as you agree with me.

The problem I see is that too many of our elected officials don’t follow either path.  It is hard to discover how the last “stimulus bill” was good for the country.  American families were given $600 while trillions were given to foreign countries for questionable projects.  Most of the “foreign aid” went into the pockets of the foreign politicians with sizable kickbacks for the Americans in congress.  It is hard to believe this is what the local folks want either.  Sure they like getting $600 but if they stop to think about who is going to pay for gender studies in a Muslim country they won’t be too excited.  I guess the key word there is “think”.

We need to keep looking for people who can’t be bought.  I have seen people running for school board who flip as soon as elected.  I have seen pastors who come in on fire but the church they go to soon has them toeing the line of compromise.  I am not sure that term limits enshrined in the law is the answer but I would like to see more people willing to get rid of their representatives.  If they are getting wealthy on their government salary they need more than an audit.  If they are pushing their own agenda, they need a wake up call.

When in doubt, vote them out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-057: Headlines: Thinning the Herd

It has already started.  According to a local news station in Georgia, WSBTV, an elected Republican in Georgia was expelled from the legislature because he had not had a China Virus test.  This is the Virus that just keeps on giving so that the Progressives* of the Deep State can keep on taking.  Any excuse will do.  They start with the President of the United States.  They move on to his supporters.  They include anyone who says something they don’t like and now it is members of the Republican party.  

Keep in mind that any excuse will do.  It doesn’t matter if there is any truth.  All that matters is that they have the power and you don’t.  This is Georgia, the state that just elected a racist to the Senate, a state that had their Republican governor turn on the man who helped him get elected in the first place.  

Your state may be next.  Let me restate that, your state will be next.

Keep tabs on the people you elected.  When in doubt, vote them out.

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri