Patrick's World USA

The Energy it Will Take to Revive America

2012-02-11T10:15:00.000-05:00

-writers note: this article contains strong adult language due to the necessity to provide the necessary emotional impact required to communicate the points being made here.

If you're old enough to remember, imagine if you fell asleep in 1992 and woke up today having missed the past two decades. You would probably be outraged, amazed, disappointed and totally alienated from the America that you knew. If you're not old enough, trust us on this one; America is an idea and a memory that doesn't exist right now. Restoring it will take a Herculean effort on the part of those who know what it should look like and those who would like to see what it was really like.

Quite frankly, America is a hostile place for freedom loving people. There is no other country on Earth that we can go to have what generations preceding us have had for over 200 years. If there was, we'd probably all be fleeing to get there just like those who fled to get here less than a century ago did. We live in a country where our government mandates what type of health insurance we have to buy - and that health insurance is one size fits all (ie: contraceptives for religious groups that don't believe in it). We live in a country where justice is decided more by bureaucrats than it is by judges.

We live in a country where the government forces banks to make shaky mortgages and then allows those same banks to take bailout money to stay afloat so they can kick people out of their homes because a few salesmen wanted to make a fast buck and a bunch of politicians wanted to pay back their political donors.

We live in a country that continues to heap trillions of dollars of debt upon its citizens and future generations.

We live in a country where as soon as you open a business, your financial future is always in jeopardy and the wolf is always at the door not because of the risks you took with your capital, but because at any moment a ground sloth bottom feeder attorney can take suit against you. The Federal Trade Commission could find something worthy of an action that can destroy you financially or some regulatory agency can eat away at your profits because of the high costs of compliance and still come in and bite you in the ass with fines and penalties for violating some stupid provision in a law written by lawyers who are helping their compadres make a lot of money in legal fees by allowing them to take frivolous action against your business.

We live in a country where traffic law enforcement is simply done for revenue raising purposes. We live in a country where one in three Americans at some time in their life will be arrested or detained. Our country sneers at strict child rearing and displays of religious faith and morality, but lets our culture degrade the imagery and information our youth get and then they lock them up for acting on it? We are not the permissive society liberals envisioned. We're a friggin police state because of them. We aren't free to raise our children or promote two parent households. So much for sophistication when it comes to sex, drugs and violence.

We live in a country where politicians enrich themselves through the information they receive as insiders and who lay the groundwork for themselves or their particular industries through the legislative process. We live in a country where judges protect the legal profession by making rulings or enforcing laws that they know are not in the best interest of the individual case.

We live in a country where the type of job you have is no longer decided by your college degree or lack of one,. Your potential, merit and your experience mean nothing anymore. It's all decided by the luck of the draw, who you know or in more rare instances because you, like Facebook, found one of those disappearing industries that is not highly regulated or pioneered yet. Go ask people who once made six figures a year who are now working at Home Depot or Walmart if all that hard work and education paid off for them. We live in a country where entrepreneurship is punished and where personal success through busting your ass is looked down upon.

Our system is so screwed up that is almost beyond repair. We have one last shot to take America back and restore it to what it was. If we miss this opportunity, we are headed for what Ronald Reagan described as "the thousand years of darkness."

Taking America back requires talking to your friends, your family and your co-workers. Even if they are on the other side politically, you must educate them and let them know that it's no longer cool to be a kool aid drinking liberal. Agree to disagree, but plead with them and explain to them what is at stake. This is no longer about winning a political argument in a bar, a smoking area, at the water cooler or at the dinner table. Print this blog post out and have everyone you know read it.

This is life and death. This is about whether or not you and your descendants want to be victims of a sick and heartless system or if you want to stand up and shout and tell those who are screwing us at every turn that they are the ones who will ultimately feel our pain. We need to flip a lot of tables. We need to be loud. We need to be unrelenting. We must stand up and even make spectacles of ourselves if that's what it takes. Don't be violent or stupid. Just be provocative.

If you're being foreclosed on, document it, keep a written diary of the experience. Put it on YouTube or write a blog. If you're being forced to purchase an insurance policy you don't want or which violates your conscience, get on a soap box or draw attention to yourself somehow. If you are trying to run a business, get a good PR company that will not only promote you but which will smear the forces that go against you. We're playing an ugly game. Under normal circumstances I would never recommend this. But if you're being figuratively punched in the face, you need to figuratively punch back. Two wrongs don't make a right. But sitting there and taking it is even worse.

Do this only provided that you are operating honestly, fairly and with dignity. You will know how well you are operating as a business if you are constantly taking shit from the government, the media and the legal profession. You will know how poorly you are doing as a business if you're getting beaten in the market. In the America I knew before we all hypothetically fell asleep in 1992, that's what it was all about. What we have now is a shit hole cesspool of a country because people fell asleep at the switch. They thought showing up at a polling place every year was enough.

They thought listening to the media was enough to keep themselves educated. The media? The media are a bunch of lying communist pigs who want to participate in the destruction of America. They're the primary reason we're in the shit hole we are in now. They not only didn't do their jobs and look into what was going on in the last 20 years, they intentionally participated in it!

We need to send citizen politicians to Washington who will completely destroy the power supply so that they can rebuild it in such a way that it is limited and restrained by Constitutional guidelines so that it respects the will of the people by allowing the people to operate freely and responsibly rather than because they are required to because of some stupid law or regulation.

We need to send citizen politicians to every legislature from the county right on up to the federal level. Take over Congress and control the power, the law and the power of the purse. That will at least get us halfway there. We have to fire Obama. Should he win reelection, everything I've written here will be just another useless rant against a machine that we will no longer be able to fix. This is our last chance.

We need to put someone in the White House that will just rip the plug out and stop the nonsense. Restoring America to greatness will require that we shut down all these federal bureaucracies that make us miserable. We need to focus on the laws that protect us from each other and the government. We must repeal those laws that give the government too much power. We need to hand off the issues of fraud to the attorney generals and the civil court system, not to dictatorial agencies who get paid by our very own tax dollars to screw us.

Unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in America and let the chips fall where they may. With all the customer service issues that we may have had to deal with in the 1980's, nothing compares to the disaster we deal with today. So a few things go wrong in capitalism. What has all of the legislation and the regulation done to fix the problems people complained out years ago? It's made it worse. It's made it a freakin hell of a lot worse.

Give me the days when the bullshit was confined to an individual transaction. A few people default on their mortgages because they're irresponsible, that's on them. When millions of people are losing their homes, something's wrong. It can't all be them. We have a shit hole of a banking system and a shit hole of a corrupt government that is bed with that banking system.

And jobs? Where are all the jobs? Think about what was just written about our regulatory environment and the way entrepreneurs in America are treated today. That's why there a fewer jobs today. All of these six figure bureaucrats who are f#&*king up all of our lives need to understand what it's like to lose it all the same way many business owners have. Let's see them out on their asses and lets take back America.
Open up America for business again. Get people producing for themselves, not for the government. Then drill. Drill like there is an unlimited supply of oil, gas and coal. Open up nuclear power plants. Open refineries. Let's reawaken this industrial giant.

Jeffrey Folks at American Thinker wrote it best:

One immediate effect of increasing U.S. oil and gas production would be increased employment. If the goal of energy independence were met, millions of new jobs would be produced -- an additional 9.2 million jobs, to be precise, the same number who now work in the energy sector. Not only that, but energy costs would be reduced for all Americans. And with a trade surplus rather than a deficit, America's currency would strengthen, thus lowering the cost of imports and reducing the prospect of inflation. Finally, government revenues from taxes and royalties would double along with production.

Therein lies our answer. We're over 16 trillion dollars in the hole and only going in faster. Our money is in the ground. Our freedom is in our throats. We need to speak up, speak out and get to work. Restoring America will require ruffling a lot of feathers. The establishment on both sides of the aisle must feel our pain. They must lose their jobs and their homes just like we have. This is not about revenge. This is about allowing the system to correct itself.

Out of the ashes we must emerge as the phoenix that once again rises to the heights we once considered "normal" as a nation. We took those heights for granted. Now that we have lost that, we must learn that we must never take it for granted again. Should we restore America, it will be a grander, more glorious place then it ever was before. Near death experiences always make people more faithful, more responsible and more protective of what they have. Let's make that happen.

If we don't, then be prepared to spend the rest of your lives saying "thank you, sir, may I have another."

The Restless Grass Roots

2012-02-01T22:52:00.001-05:00

Many have felt that an angry tone or a momentary release of steam doesn't go over well when political figures speak to the public or the media. When Representative Allen West (R - Florida) said that the liberal ideas like “economic dependency” (some interpreted that he meant people with those ideas) should “get the hell out of the United States of America,” he hit a nerve with the Left. Criticize him for it? Hell no. Forget the words. He's right in the feeling that he is expressing because it is a feeling that we can all relate to! The Left needs to hear that from us and hear it loudly.

Forget protocol and traditional delivery to the media. Those went out the door years ago when Democrats became unhinged and people like Al Gore screamed "he betrayed America!" about George W. Bush. Yes, that's unhinged because it was fabricated in order for Gore to project that onto the liberal base. The release of steam from the normally well tempered West is the opposite. It is clearly representative of the growing loudness coming up from the kitchen tables, the water coolers and the smoking areas across the land. It just so happens that it channeled its way through the words of that of one who knows how the people really feel.

Good for Allen West. In your face, libs.

The grass roots are getting louder. When neither party properly represents the voice of the people, those who hear those voices, particularly Tea Party leaders like Rep. West, can't be blamed for giving expression to those voices. If it comes off a little loose cocked, it's because we're all a little loose cocked when talking about jobs we've lost, the growing debt being saddled around the necks of our children, the homes we're losing and the price of gas at the pump. Those who see the growing encumbrance of big government are not speaking nice nice. If that seeps out in the rhetoric of an Allen West, a Newt Gingrich or a Paul Ryan it's because they get it.

Americans are getting tired of mealy mouthed flip flopping politicians who tell them what they want to hear and who bend their message to the constituency. Instead, they are getting fired up by politicians who aren't afraid to open mouth and let it rip. Voters want to hear what they think. They want to hear what they feel genuinely being articulated back to them before they will embrace a candidate.

In a previous post, this blogger wrote:

Call it shrill. Call it undisciplined. Call it angry. But it is a reflection of how Americans feel. We are no longer content to stand by and let the idiots who are running our country continue taking us down the toilet. There is no reason to look down on or to describe as unacceptable the actions, words and feelings of a presidential candidate who clearly articulates what we are all feeling just because it might be harsh.

There are articles written that can express more concisely the points I'm trying to get across. I'd rather you read what they have written directly and bring to it an understanding of how restless the grass roots are getting in America. You'll find that the common sense lobe in your brain will cause you at some point to make you smack your head and be astounded at just how seriously stupid, out of touch and outrageously off to la la land many in our political system are on both sides of the aisle.

The truth about ‘electability’ by Yates Walker

Mitt's Scorched Earth Win by C. Edmund Wright

Hey GOP! Do You Hear Your Fed Up, Fired Up Base? by Janice Shaw Crouse

Project Obama: A Puppetmaster or a Puppet? by Victor Volsky

These articles should clearly explain what animals we're dealing with in both political parties. Defeating the progressive movement and the Democrat party gone hog liberal wild and replacing the establishment in the Republican Party with people from our ranks who can properly represent what the millions of us "little guys" are really saying around those kitchen tables and water coolers is paramount to the survival of our nation.

Mark Levin says it's a daunting task. But its doable if we all just keep talking louder, writing louder and encouraging those around to us to read articles like those linked to in this post in order to get them to understand better.

This isn't your father's election cycle. This is do or die for America.

This is More About The Republican Party Than it is About Gingrich

2012-01-27T23:15:00.001-05:00

A good online friend has been firing off blog after blog just ripping Newt Gingrich. I know he reads my stuff and it probably irks him to no end that I am endorsing Newt. If it's any consolation, the reasoning has a lot more to do with a Reagan-Palin-Tea Party view of the Republican party than it does with any deep feelings or loyalty to Newt Gingrich. Only Sarah Palin is the true voice and captain of my ideological wing of the GOP. Without her or any charismatic true conservative in the race, this blogger finds that victory can only be found in the defeat of that which is wrong with America (Obama) and that which is wrong with my party (the GOP establishment).

Shortly after Sarah Palin announced that she would not run, I appeared on the Roderic Deane Show where we had a lengthy discussion about the direction of the Republican Party. It was there that I pointed out the clear contrast between the establishment party of Rockefeller and the people's party of Reagan. I strongly advocated that Constitutional conservatives, Tea Party members, grass roots activists and the rank and file move toward taking back the party.

Mark Levin said on his radio show on 1/25/12 (13:00 mark):

Our first objective has to be removing Obama at the ballot box, hopefully replacing him with the most conservative candidate running in the Republican primary...

I've talked before about the need to change the Republican Party. I'm not the first and I won't be the last.It's the Republican Party that must be the vessel through which we Constitutional conservatives operate. And, it's to the advantage of those who run the Republican Party to allow the Constitutionalists to take it over. Because otherwise, I believe the Republican Party's going to die.

If the Republican Party has no answers for what's going on in the society,then it has no reason to exist. If it's a go along party or a dance around the edges party or even worse, if its politicians say one thing and do another it won't be long when the people have no regard for it whatsoever, including its members. First and foremost, we must reestablish Constitutional government.

The next night, Levin gives context to what is happening with Gingrich and Romney. Read about it here and listen to what he says here (the first hour is worth your time).

What you are seeing is the battle for the Republican Party. The choice is between going with the establishment and supporting Romney or going against the establishment and sending a message that we want our party back by going against Romney. Newt Gingrich is best positioned to be the one to take on Romney and the establishment. As such, we have to push him through even if some of us have to hold our noses doing it.

If either Bachmann or Santorum was where Gingrich is right now and they had the best shot of defeating the establishment, this blogger would be using the same argument for either of them.

This entire election cycle is about taking out the garbage. We can worry about making the room smell fresh again another time. We can think about the thrill of supporting a candidate who we can call our ideological soul mate another time. Right now, we must defeat the Republican establishment and go on to defeat Barack Obama. Take back the party; then take back the country.

If Newt Gingrich wins the nomination and goes on to become president, we can never lose sight that it will be the halls of Congress that will need to be filled with people who agree with Constitutionalist and Tea Party principles. Fear not a Gingrich presidency knowing that the Tea Party is right down the block ready to help him bring our country back to greatness or to stop him from doing something wrong. Newt's smart enough to respect that. Hopefully, he'll be smart enough to know this isn't about him, it's about us. If he listens to us, he will be a successful president. If he doesn't, he'll be "primaried" in 2016.

Either way, it will be a hell of a lot better than what we have now. Therein lies our optimism for America.

Listen to my show Saturday 1/28/12 at 11pm ET 8pm PT on Blogtalk Radio! Special edition.

Writer's note: I was so busy today that it wasn't until after I wrote this post that I found out that Sarah Palin had written an awesome Facebook Note which also talks about the establishment. Read it here.

But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on. In fact, the establishment has been just as dismissive of Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Newt is an imperfect vessel for Tea Party support, but in South Carolina the Tea Party chose to get behind him instead of the old guard’s choice. In response, the GOP establishment voices denounced South Carolinian voters with the same vitriol we usually see from the left when they spew hatred at everyday Americans “bitterly clinging” to their faith and their Second Amendment rights. The Tea Party was once again told to sit down and shut up and listen to the “wisdom” of their betters. We were reminded of the litany of Tea Party endorsed candidates in 2010 who didn’t win. Well, here’s a little newsflash to the establishment: without the Tea Party there would have been no historic 2010 victory at all.

She must be listening to Mark Levin, too.

Why We Need an Angry Voice to Take on Obama

2012-01-21T18:56:00.000-05:00

Some have been criticizing Newt Gingrich for being a bomb thrower or for showing his anger at Mitt Romney's super-PAC running those ads against him in Iowa. When you look more deeply into the source of Newt Gingrich's anger, it goes far beyond just Mitt Romney. It goes to the state of our nation and to what Barack Obama has done to our country. When general election time comes around, we must consider whether we want a technically well spoken textbook politician or if we want someone who can go up there and be the voice for what we really think and feel.

America as we knew it is gone. When you look at the job numbers, the housing market (American homeowners continue to watch the values of their homes drop and a record number are going through foreclosures, short sales and modifications), what the financial companies have done with the bailout money, the type of indifferent customer service you get on the phone, the lack of capital in the system, inflation, high gas prices and the general apprehension you see in the eyes of the people you deal with everyday, reality hits and you know that all that we have come to expect as Americans is gone.

Top this off with the sheer outright stupidity of Obama's rejection of the Keystone pipeline, a regulatory environment that destroys businesses and stifles the growth of new businesses and the fact that only crony capitalists are capable of surviving in today's environment, there's no wonder that the anger and the hair pulling that goes on in the minds of those who have common sense and who adhere to traditional values of quality and accountability to the consumer as well as to business leaders who could be running their companies more effectively and efficiently if the mediocrity caused by the demotivating that comes from the regulation was not part of the equation.

Call it shrill. Call it undisciplined. Call it angry. But it is a reflection of how Americans feel. We are no longer content to stand by and let the idiots who are running our country continue taking us down the toilet. There is no reason to look down on or to describe as unacceptable the actions, words and feelings of a presidential candidate who clearly articulates what we are all feeling just because it might be harsh.

When Newt Gingrich lashes out at the media, it's a fist pump moment. This blogger has been pushing the notion for over three years that the path to Republican victory is to push the meme that the media lies. Defeat the media and you can take on Obama. When Newt Gingrich calls on Mitt Romney to explain Bain Capital or to release his tax returns, it's because we need to have our candidates vetted. The continuation of the primary process is an opportunity for the candidates and those of us who comment on them to keep the conservative dialogue front and center. Winning America back means saying it over and over again until it sinks it with enough people to make it happen.

This writer doesn't see anything wrong with what Romney did at Bain Capital. Nor does he see anything wrong with someone making a lot of money and paying the legal tax rate for that money. Romney's rich. That's not the issue. The issue is that he did it in an America that no longer exists. We need that America back.

My criticisms of Romney are that he is a flip flopper and that he is the one who started the whole negative campaigning thing to begin with. He can be mealy mouthed when he is in trouble. But, he has business experience, can handle a debate and is capable of of president. But do we want a textbook candidate this time around? I want someone who can flip the tables.

When people on our side criticize Gingrich by saying he'd be a bull in a China shop, I cringe at the thought that that bothers some of us. I want a bull to go through the China shop that is Washington. Americans are pissed. We should want our nominee to get on that debate stage with Obama and just rip him a new one. Newt can do that.

Gingrich is far from perfect. If I had my way, Sarah Palin would be our nominee and she would lead us back to that shining city on a hill. But reality is reality. We must face the fact that America is on its last legs. This is our last chance to wrestle it back from the hands of Obama and the progressive movement. We can always come back later and fix it. But lets get it back first.

If we don't, it's over. We can prepare to spend the next thousand years in darkness just as Ronald Reagan had said. Or, we can all work together to take back our country. If Romney gets the nomination, fine. But for now, Newt seems to be the best we have poll number wise and brain-wise. This is not about nominating a savior. It's about saving our country with what we have, even if it doesn't measure up to our standards. Nothing measures up to our standards anymore in America. Let's not kid ourselves.

What Tim Tebow Shows us About God and Man

2012-01-14T15:34:00.001-05:00

As our political battle lines up more and more as an establishment Republican candidate against an establishment socialist Democrat incumbent, we learn that conservatives outnumber liberals by nearly two-to-one according to Politico. Despite this, our government and our institutions are run by non-conservatives. Why is this? Because the lesser numbered liberals have infiltrated our culture, our media, our academia and most of all our government. Conservatives haven't fully embraced what it takes to win yet, but we're starting to understand.

Hope is on the way for the plurality of Americans who call themselves conservatives and the majority of Americans who call themselves non-liberals. We can still beat the progressives at their own game. In order to do that, we must understand the nature of the game. We will need people of our persuasion to gain traction in the same areas the liberals infiltrated: the culture, the academia, the media and the government. Their example of infiltration shows us the strategy and our ideology is the solution.

Many see our country's battle as being between left and right. But, look more deeply. It really is a battle for positivity versus negativity. It is a battle of right and wrong. More simply put, it is a battle of good and bad. Theological and mythical writings along with historic imagery consistently tell us that our past is a succession of battles between good and bad.

In order to understand this, we must look past the simplistic understanding of what good and bad is. Good means more than just something that's nice; it means something works properly. Bad means something isn't working properly. People can misunderstand the why behind the "rules" that religion gives us because they are not looking at the historical wisdom behind those rules. They are not restrictions, but rather warnings which have arisen from the underlying existential factors at play as man navigates his way through life.

We are mere fleas on an elephant's behind as we stand before the universe, yet we all claim to know what's right. It doesn't matter what differing opinions of right and wrong are. It matters only that our society, our system and our culture works properly. What's right and wrong can be learned from history and natural law. More so, these concepts can be better applied when people in our democratic system give up on trying to use the government to buck those concepts and instead try to force the square peg of liberalism into the round hole of existence.

Because we have allowed people who are nothing like us to represent us for over a century, we have allowed our government to be taken over by people who are incapable of fixing a dysfunctional approach to our Constitution. Because we have been taken in by a pop culture that thrives on all kinds of wacky approaches to lifestyles, sex, fame and voyeurism, we are marginalized in perception as the minorities. We have become the freaks.

Yet we outnumber them almost 2-1!

We're losing their game. Yet, we are capable of beating them at their own game in order to take it back. They own the board. Once we take back the board, then we can set it fair and straight where everyone has a shot and it doesn't depend on the government or rule makers who have no real basis in Constitutional power.

When Tim Tebow becomes the most popular athlete and one of the most reviled personalities at the same time, we learn something powerful about the dichotomy of our nature. Following the right set of values and being a role model for all that's good in life is working for him. There are success principles that apply to one's spiritual life, one's family life, one's financial life and one's career. Admonishing someone for demonstrating any of these principles is just an easy way for one to justify why they're not successful.

Those who hate Tebow do so because they revile the mistaken thought that God is a Denver fan or because he kneels down in prayer. They see imperfections in themselves that they are unable to reconcile. This frustration with one's own lack of clarity and morality causes them to lash out at Tebow. It's easier to blame the neighbor for spending too much time on his lawn than justifying why yours is brown from lack of effort. Even worse, in their minds, what if this God stuff is true and it means they have to swallow their pride and admit they've been living a philosophical lie?

They also hate him because its just not right that a clean cut kid can shoot to the top of a pop culture that is so dominated by show-offs and egotists. We live in a culture where deviance is the norm and the norm is deviance. With all the screwed up things going on in the street, at our jobs and in our government, it only makes sense that someone who kneels down to pray to God is the freak. Our society is going to hell in a hand basket.

But, like I've said, there's still hope. You gotta love the role Tim Tebow plays in our counter culture. Yes, we are the counter culture. We are what the hippies of the 60's used to be viewed as, the unwashed masses. Only we come with a different ideology and set of values. Those who were in the counter culture in the earlier days of the progressive movement have become the culture and now we are the politically oppressed. If you study how they did that, you can learn how we can do it, too, and flip it back to normal again.

As for the Tebow phenomenon, one can find stories about the power of prayer. One can find stories about how the principles in the Bible have been key components of successful people. Regardless of one's religious persuasion or how deep or shallow one believes, the laws of the universe are the laws of the universe. No flea on an elephant's behind can in all intellectual honesty argue with the laws of the universe.

Statistics tell us that Denver will probably not win the Super Bowl this year. But statistics also told the Jewish people that there was not enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. Statistics told the Christians that they would be defeated at the hands of the Roman empire. Statistics told the United States that their hockey team couldn't defeat the Soviet Union in 1980. Having heard of so many miracles, this writer would not be so quick to dismiss the hand of God in their occurrences.

Tim Tebow has tapped into the most powerful force in human consciousness: a devotion to God. Belief in a higher power is used successfully to treat addiction. Belief in a higher power has helped people overcome diseases and injuries; and has also helped people prolong life through the power of positive thinking. Those who do things that don't work often screw themselves up. In the case of politics, they screw up the country. You will find that a lack of devotion to natural law (many of us call this lack of common sense) and a pure understanding of the power of belief is always behind the fall of a great venture.

If by some stroke of luck, divine intervention or its bi-product personal power, Tim Tebow leads the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl victory, you can't say the combination of that and a man who died on the cross coming back to life 2000 years ago isn't sufficient enough proof to justify the existence of God. If Tebow doesn't win the Super Bowl, we still have the man who died on the cross. Either way, Tebow wins. Either way, God wins.

This blogger sees the reality of a blue sky, a clear horizon on a dry sunny day and the power of God. Having studied religion and philosophy, its easier to see what it looks like on all sides. Having lived a few years, it makes better sense now as well. Without the power of positivity and belief, things fail. I see our country failing now. With the power of positivity and belief, people succeed. I can see our country succeeding again. Flip the coin. God or no God? If you pick God, it doesn't change the bumpiness of the ride; it just gives us a better understanding of how to make decisions during that ride.

If we are going to take back our country and take back our culture, we have to understand that the devil's work is in the detail. It's in how our society was infiltrated by a secular progressive movement and watered down our collective values. We outnumber them practically 2-1, yet they're winning because we don't see that reality that infiltrating the pop culture, the media, the academia and the government is how it works. We were meant to work for it. We were designed to fight for it. Therefore, we must go after it.

Fighting for it doesn't mean flailing our arms in echo chambers. Fighting for it means educating those around us by leading by example. Fighting for it means embracing the cultural exploits of Tim Tebow. We will not win until Saturday Live is funny again. The only way that is going to happen is if a bunch of us get into acting. We will not be a shining city on a hill again until a bunch of us start becoming the citizens and activists that made that city shine under Reagan.

You'll notice it's the godless and the self loathing who last out at Tim Tebow. The idea that someone can become successful without being an atheistic drug and sex addicted show-boater is simply holy water on Linda Blair in The Exorcist. For some reason, the most vile of those who trash Tim Tebow because of who he is reminds me of why that holy water burns only the evil.

In the biblical days, they would say these negative spew-spitters were possessed. Today, we just think they're a bunch of negative, dead-butt, disillusioned butt heads. But if they really are that negative and there really is a God, I don't encourage anyone to take the ideological elevator with them down to the gates of hell.

If Tim Tebow wins, it's not because God is a Denver fan. It's because Tim Tebow understands the most vital component of being the best man he can be lies in his belief and faith in God. It's not magic. It's simply how God works through us when we let Him.

Endorsing Newt Gingrich (Updated)

2012-01-10T00:31:00.003-05:00

The posts are not as frequent due to my work schedule, but it doesn't mean I'm not keeping up on things. For several months, I have been uncertain and somewhat unhappy about the 2012 presidential field. The political science major in me had to default to a candidate that would be capable of running the government and someone with an intellect that demonstrated a working knowledge of historical perspective. Yet, having read columns and blogs both pro and con, I could do nothing more than lean in Newt Gingrich's direction but never enough to lead me to an endorsement.

Some who read me will not like this endorsement because those who support Newt Gingrich will see that I am merely picking him as a bandwagon candidate because the political science textbook says he's the best fit and because Todd Palin endorsed him. Those who don't support Newt will rip me for choosing a candidate who is anti-gun, pro-global-warming and too moderate. I get it. It's rhetoric (Newt is a conservative but the points made in the labels have some basis in hitting on his weaknesses), but its nothing different from rhetoric that is being thrown at all the other candidates.

No matter who I or anyone else chooses, someone else will have a problem with it. The party is now divided as we vet our candidates. But, we already know what we what we have. Out of what we have, Newt Gingrich is the best. That's not saying much. Obviously, this endorsement I make is not a ringing one. But, it is my pick given the field.

I am my own thinker. Yet, because Todd Palin endorsed Newt Gingrich, I had to go in that direction. All other directions had nothing pulling me. It will always be a staple of my belief that because I share the Reagan philosophy in much the same way as the Palins do that there is an attraction of thought to how they view politics. As such, their endorsements and opinions hold extremely high weight with me. I consider Sarah Palin to be the closest thing America has had since Ronald Reagan. If Sarah runs in the future, America will see a bold Reaganesque leader. Until then, all we have his Newt.

UPDATE: Thomas Sowell also gets high regards from this blogger. He makes the best argument for Newt here (h/t @ginthegin):

There are no guarantees, no matter whom the Republicans vote for in the primaries. Why not vote for the candidate who has shown the best track record of accomplishments, both in office and in the debates? That is Newt Gingrich. With all his shortcomings, his record shows that he knows how to get the job done in Washington.

Art Laffer, one of the founding fathers of Reagan economics, also endorsed Gingrich (h/t libertarian neocon).

(end Update)

Newt will competently remove the presidency from the hands of Barack Obama and immediately begin turning America in a positive direction. But, the trek back to greatness requires a second step. Gingrich clearly is capable of taking the first step and winning the presidency - which would result in stopping America from going down the road to socialism. Yet, none of the candidates are Ronald Reagan. Only a bold Reaganesque leader can handle step 2.

Without an end to crony capitalism, corporate incompetence and ridiculously high government regulation, we will simply return to the country we were before the Obama socialists got their hands on it. Returning to the Rockefeller GOP establishment days of running the party is not the answer. At some point, Tea Party and conservative grassroots activists have to help take back the Republican Party and make it perform like a legitimate political party that is responsive to the people. But lets get our country back first and deal with the rest of it through the Congressional elections.

Gingrich is good for now. Let's focus down the road when the country is beginning to make its comeback so we can continue searching for that next great one who can lead us back to the prosperity and exceptionalism we enjoyed in the Reagan years. That dream could be clouded by years of recovery or, even worse, further collapses in the banking industry; but we must never stop going after it.

The GOP With and Without Palin

2011-12-17T19:23:00.001-05:00

Having started a new job and trying to keep up with a side business that can be a headache sometimes, I've not had much time to blog or do my BlogTalk radio show. But, I also have to admit that without Sarah Palin in the race, there's not much that I can add to what the great folks out there in the blogosphere are saying. My motivation for blogging was to add mine as another supportive voice for the Palin cause. Without Palin in the race, there's not much for me to do really.

This leads me to something that I was thinking about for the last couple of weeks. Apparently, I wasn't the only one thinking about it as Conservatives4Palin points out. They picked up on an interview of Tea Party Express leader Amy Kremer by MJ Lee where Kremer says:

The grassroots conservative movement has yet to throw its support behind a Republican presidential candidate because “we don’t have the female Ronald Reagan running — and that’s Sarah Palin,” said Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the Tea Party Express.

“We haven’t engaged in presidential politics yet because the movement hasn’t coalesced around anybody, so we’re just sitting back and waiting,” Kremer added.

For the past few weeks, I have been struggling with my own dissatisfaction over the direction of the Republican Party and the Tea Party. This is not to say that they're not working to unseat Obama or that they have stopped pushing for limited Constitutional government. The troubling part to me is that neither the GOP or the Tea Party have one leader that they can coalesce around.

The Tea Party has always prided itself on being a leaderless movement. Until now, the Tea Party has been united despite not having a leader. But now that the Republican Party doesn't have a clear leader, the Tea Party like the rest of the conservative movement has been a movement divided by candidate preferences even though it remains staunchly anti-Obama and anti- big government.

There's nothing wrong with people choosing their own candidates. But, we all know people who were in lock step with each other about Sarah Palin who are now backing a different candidate than we are. The person who may have shared my thoughts, quoted my articles or retweeted a link as a sign of agreement may today be the person who is arguing Rick Perry or Rick Santorum when I may be thinking about backing a different candidate.

It's so odd and so surreal to think that if I strongly backed another candidate or even leaned toward another candidate that people who I once locked arms with might argue with me. This doesn't mean we're still not friends or that we won't end up uniting again to go up against Obama next year. But, again, it's just so odd to not have that tying thread which Sarah Palin was to us all.

Because of Governor Palin, I have made some very awesome friends on here. I hope to continue those friendships into the future, Palin or no Palin, because I am convinced that there is still greatness left in America as evidenced by the mere existence of these people.

While we will all tend to disagree from time to time, we all recognize that America would be a better place if Sarah Palin led us back to that shining city on a hill and put an end to not only the national nightmare that is Barack Obama, but put an end to business as usual in Washington. Sarah Palin was a two for one special: someone who could destroy the Democrats and liberalism while cleaning up and reforming the Republican Party at the same time. Sudden and relentless reform? You betcha!

That's why everyone on the left and in the GOP establishment were just crapping their drawers at the mere thought of her running. They knew that at the snap of a finger, millions of us would have poured out of the woodwork. It would have looked like a scene from Braveheart. There would have been pundits asking where all the Palinistas came from?

We've been here the whole time. We built an army over the past three years. We would have gone to war for Governor Palin. There would have been no sacrifice too great to demotivate or deflate us. The world was about to see something they haven't seen since the Reagan revolution.

Which leads me to this. What was the Republican Party before Sarah Palin became a national figure? What is the Republican Party now that she's not running?

Before Palin, the Republican Party was a mess. It had lost its way having become drunk on the Potomoc water. It never fought or spoke out loudly enough in advance of the housing and financial crisis. The principles of conservatism weren't being adhered to or spoken of much in the halls of Congress.

While Sarah Palin remained a potential candidate following her run for vice president in 2008, we were a strong party. We took back a swath of seats not only in Congress, but in state houses and state legislatures across the country. America was hopeful again because we knew Obama couldn't push anymore of his economy busting stimulus and health care craziness through Congress anymore.

Now that Sarah Palin isn't running, the Republican Party is becoming a mess again. You can put eight Republicans in a room and all eight of them will pick a different candidate for president. Republicans know what they want. Conservatives know what they want. If what they want was up on that stage last night, they'd be behind her. Instead, they're all trying to find pieces of what they want in each candidate and are ultimately going to end up going with the least common denominator.

The Republican nominee selection process is not so much about choosing the best person, it's about choosing the least worst person. The 2012 election will be a referendum on Obama, not a coronation of Romney, Gingrich, Perry or anyone else.

While Palin remains a voice for our philosophy, without power she cannot stop the party from returning to business as usual once Obama is defeated. We will all breathe a sigh of relief when Obama is ousted in the election. But it will only be then that the real fight will begin. If we sit back and allow the Republican Party to return to business as usual, we're screwed.

When you see Tea Party patriots like Nikki Haley and Christine O'Donnell endorsing Mitt Romney, it makes you scratch your head. The Tea Party is a leaderless party, but all movements eventually seek out a leader whether consciously or unconsciously. Palin would have become that leader. Without her, they wander in the wilderness. The discipline isn't there. There's nothing wrong with Republicans supporting Mitt Romney (he is a Republican after all). But when Tea Party members do it, it makes you wonder if the lights went out and now everyone is just bumping into each other.

I don't want to sound like I'm not supportive of Governor Palin's right to make her own career and family decisions. There is always a day down the road for her to come back into political life if she so chooses. And, if she so chooses, we will be there for her. Yet, one can see what's been happening since she decided not to run. It's not her fault. It is what it is. But, without her running, we're just falling apart.

We can do the self improvement stuff without her. We can do the grassroots stuff without her. But, we can't run this country without her. There are rare times in history when great leaders come into existence and this is one of them. We pray that someday Sarah Palin recognizes her greatness and takes the helm of a ship that is in dire need of a top notch captain.

Isn't it Funny That No One is Lying About Sarah Palin Anymore?

2011-12-13T23:54:00.000-05:00

We should all take notice at how the smears and the vitriol directed at Sarah Palin coming out of the mainstream media have stopped. Since she's not running, they have nothing to fear; and, as such, they no longer need to push their lies onto the American people in the hopes of throwing her off track.

That sudden halt to the hits coming from Politico, Huffington Post, Mother Jones and even the GOP establishment is nothing more than a collective sigh of relief coming from crony capitalists, socialists and political insiders who once trembled with fear and spent many a night in a cold sweat when the possibility of her running existed.

While Governor Palin continues to write and speak out on the issues, the dirt merchants have turned their sites on folks like Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. They size up the current field and tell us who they fear on a daily basis.

This is proof positive that the media lies and that no right thinking voter in America should trust anything they hear online or on TV. As the Obama campaign plans to use nearly a billion dollars to smear whoever the GOP nominee is, we must constantly remind the American people that no matter what they say about the GOP candidates, it's a smoke screen designed to help Obama get reelected.

The man behind the AstroTurfing campaign designed to shoot down Palin's vice presidential run is now hard at work looking at monkeys' asses on poles.

Let's never forget how America got into this mess in the first place. Remember the lessons of 2008. Be relentless in educating the American people that this goes beyond just being a battle of ideas. This is the future of our nation at stake. This election is huge. No matter what, we must oust Obama.

Regarding Reconsideration

2011-11-30T00:04:00.000-05:00

Conservatives4Palin has purchased a television ad to be shown in the Sioux City, IA market tonight on KCAU-TV during "GMA, Dr. Oz, 5 PM, 6 PM, and 10 PM news programming." Regardless of whether you agree or not about asking Sarah Palin to reconsider, consider one thing. Can we look ourselves in the mirror and be confident that we did all we could do to get Sarah Palin into the presidency?

Realistically speaking, the chances of her changing her mind are small and the idea that she could win even if she did run now after some important primary filing deadlines have passed also falls into the small chance odds range as well. But, this doesn't mean we don't give it one last effort - not out of disrespect for her decision, but out of a desire to continue being vocal in the cause.

Only time will tell whether or not this decision will play out like all of her previous ones: hard to understand at first but completely ingenious in outcome. By waiting, Sarah Palin risks allowing our country to go the way of Greece. Should Obama get reelected or should the next president be unable to fix our country's dire fiscal condition, it is conceivable that there may not be an America as we know it for her to lead in the future. However, what if by not running, the truth of her record comes out and people see her for who she really is so that in four or eight years she can run straight up with the smear campaign against her as a fading memory for most voters?

If you notice, with the exception of the occasional jab afforded most conservative commentators, the bad-mouthing of Sarah Palin in the media stopped almost immediately after she announced she wasn't running. You don't see the routine hit pieces in The Huffington Post or on Politico anymore; nor is MSNBC furiously racing to deadline each night with the final edit of stories stoked by malcontent bloggers in Alaska and in the liberal section of cyberspace.

Suddenly, people are actually talking about how much Sarah Palin has contributed to the conservative cause. Even some liberals are admitting that she has been effective. Why shouldn't they admit it now? She's no longer a threat to become president.

The sudden end of the smear campaign tells us flat out that every lie, every smear and every hit article published about Sarah Palin was politically motivated. The demonization of Palin by the Left and by the establishment had nothing to do with any deficiencies in her character. It had to do with creating false perceptions of deficiencies in her character in the event she ran for president. Now that she's not running, it's no longer necessary for the smear merchants to continue to churn out the nonsense.

Many Palin supporters believe that the time was now. With our country in such dire straights, the argument is that we can't wait for her the way we had to wait for Ronald Reagan. If those who believe this want to stay true to those beliefs, it is necessary to take on the exercise of asking her reconsider one last time so that it can't be said we didn't try.

This blogger wrote in a previous post:

It may be a sisyphusian effort. Some may say we're wasting our time. But, we should go forward with a reconsideration movement even if it doesn't change Governor Palin's mind. History must record that if the day comes when America as we know it no longer exists that we didn't just give up on Sarah Palin. "If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

After much thought, I have to recognize that the Palin movement doesn't die with her not running for president. It can only die if we stop trying to effect the changes needed in our political system. Part of this means that we need to move forward into the next chapter of the movement: supporting Governor Palin and candidates who are willing to carry out her and our vision for a better America. In doing so, some of us feel the need to make one last final plea for reconsideration.

We have always respected Governor Palin's decisions. This is not about telling her she's wrong for not running. It's about telling her we need her and we will be there for her if she does, whether it's now or later.

Let's plan on moving forward without her in the White House for now. If she changes her mind, it will be a pleasant surprise. If not, then it is our duty to create an even more favorable environment for her to run in the future by changing our leaders and making our government more responsive to us.

If the country survives the next half decade and we are successful in bringing it back, imagine how much more powerful she will be should she run down the road. If the country doesn't survive as we know it and we go the way of Greece, then at least let it be said that we tried to save it together.

-Listen to Patrick's World USA tonight on BlogTalk Radio at 11pm ET 8pm PT

Thanking God For All My Blessings

2011-11-23T10:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a rough year. Having suffered setbacks on the job front and the business front, it's been difficult navigating the waters of stormy life circumstances. This blogger has been very active online in supporting the conservative cause and particularly the cause of the Palin movement. During the past three years, I've been challenged by time constraints, particularly due to work and business obligations. Yet, I have always tried to do what I could to push forward for a better America. While things have not gone particularly my way, they have gone in a direction that now leads me toward a better future.

I've been challenged by jaded Palin supporters and Palin detractors who claim I wasted the last three years of my life. That can't be further from the truth. It's important to believe in success and to believe in the qualities that make for great leadership. Advocating for and speaking out for a greater, better America is not a hobby. It is a business decision. It is based on the belief that a rising tide lifts all boats and that a better America leads to having better Americans. Sarah Palin embodied this belief and I supported her whole-heartedly without regret.

During the process, the company I worked for over the last 4 1/2 years downsized in July. As such, I have been without a job since. I have a business, which is struggling due in part to market and regulatory forces, but also in part due to the fact that building a business from scratch with no money is a daunting challenge. We are in the process of seeking out investment funds for a lucrative opportunity in the debt purchasing - debt selling business. It is my firm belief, with God's help, that we will break that seal and get the financing we need to succeed.

In the meantime, I have a mortgage to pay and a child to support. Monday, I was offered a nice position with a decent base salary and an unlimited bonus and commission structure. If I perform as I have in the past, I will be financially stable by the summer and be in a position to save and invest money after that. For this, I am thankful to the Lord for all of my blessings. I look forward to celebrating a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends who all have overcome their own personal challenges and who are now set on a much more stable path ahead.

While I have obtained the type of job that will afford me the ability to rebuild my life again, millions of Americans continue to be out of work and continue to suffer as the result of an economy that has been destroyed by the policies of crony capitalism and a president who many argue is trying to collapse our system in order to reorganize America into a collectivist style big government state. It's important that we thank our Lord for our blessings at this time and turn our eyes to Him for help in these trying times.

Psalm 46 tells us:

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. (Selah) 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. 6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Selah) 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth." 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Selah)

Renewing and restoring America, as Glenn Beck has told us, begins with renewing and restoring ourselves. In spirit with this philosophy, it is only fitting to encourage people to do whatever they can do to best secure what they have, build upon their future potential and keep moving forward with a positive demeanor and a patience that tells them that no matter how bleak things may seem, with personal effort and perseverance, things can and will work.

One can't help but to wonder if the decisions made by people like Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, John Thune and Paul Ryan regarding presidential runs are not born of the theory that you can't sell the house unless it's completely built. While it clearly can be argued that Sarah Palin was ready for the presidency, three years of boning up on the issues and building wealth may not have been enough for someone who could potentially occupy an office during the most trying times our republic has seen since the Civil War and World War II.

Maybe there's more that we all have to do personally before someone like Palin could be considered a lock for the presidency. It's time to take back the culture, the Congress and the cable television box.

Keeping powder dry and fortifying the fort sometimes is a better way than shooting the works and leaving oneself vulnerable to the fickle finger of fate. I am me. We are conservatives. We know our luck. Sometimes, building it bigger than we have to is more important than blowing it all too quickly on a cause in such a way that it fails rather than succeeds. I've done that in business, and I know how unpredictable the future can be when you bet on time and future success without having a fortress already set up that can withstand that kind of a dice roll.

Consolidating and building on one's own personal wealth (with wealth being defined as strong relationships with God, family and friends, financial stability; and a strong positive mental outlook with advocacy in our hearts and words for what is right) is key. Building America back from the ground level up requires us to first become strong individually, then as a family, then as a community and then as a town and state. We must never stray from that which makes us strongest, whether it be spiritually, financially or socially.

The key line of today's interview which landed me the job was when I said "making money is not about the mansions and the yachts; it's about the ability to take care of the car, the water heater and the family when something goes wrong." After thinking about my resume, I could have added that it's about being able to thank God today for the decisions made yesterday with His guidance.

While we all make mistakes (and I have my fair share of them), one thing is certain. We can overcome our past by building on a future based on what we do today. I have always been blessed because I have a clear understanding of the fundamental spiritual and mental values that we need to move forward in such a crazy world. I may not always stick to these values 100%, but for me it's not about the kill, it's about the thrill of the chase. Success is not about the shining city on a hill, it's about busting your ass to get there.

As we move forward into 2012, this blogger's work schedule will be demanding. I will have to make some changes in how I contribute to this and other blogs which have been so gracious and offering me their forums to post my articles. My radio show may have to shut down in January since my work hours will take me past the 11:00 hour on Wednesday. My blog posts may come more on weekends than during the week. But, by being focused on the main thing to better myself, it is my most sincere hope that I will be better positioned down the road to contribute more than just my written word to the cause of bettering America.

And, I'm not going anywhere. I will still blog and tweet. I will still cheer-lead the future of America.

When you sit down at the table with your family and friends tomorrow, please make sure that you thank God for your blessings and ask Him to bestow upon you the patience, inner peace and personal power to better yourself in the future. Success is not a destination. It's a journey.
God bless you all.

-Listen to Patrick's World USA tonight on Blogtalk Radio at 11pm ET 8pm PT.

What Do our Candidates Have To Say About Sarah?

2011-11-22T19:32:00.000-05:00

All of our candidates have their flaws, but if it comes down to nominating a candidate that is the least of all evils, we should look at nominating a candidate that will have Sarah's voice in his or her ear. That's where we can win.

Sarah can be the ultimate lobbyist, a lobbyist for the people. If there is a culture of corruption in Washington, if there is crony capitalism and if the Congress is allowed to insider trade, why can't "we the people" get a nice chunk of that "special interest pie?" We are, after all the biggest and most powerful special interest of them all. There are 300 million of us who want the nonsense to stop.

Let's let Sarah Palin be our voice and let's find out which head that voice will resonate the loudest in. They should have a debate question: "what do you think of Sarah Palin?" Whoever answers that debate question correctly and sincerely should get our vote. Right now, Newt Gingrich is being pro-active in courting the Palin vote. Where are the rest of the candidates on Sarah?

We've been able to get a good read on people by how they react to Sarah Palin (both good and bad). Maybe we should use this as one of the criteria we consider when choosing a nominee.

Sarah Palin: How Congress Occupied Wall Street

2011-11-17T19:53:00.001-05:00

(h/t @IL4Palin)

Sarah Palin has just penned an absolutely fabulous piece for tomorrow's Wall Street Journal that clearly explains and articulates the points that were made by Peter Schweizer in his new book, Throw Them All Out. Even the most politically astute among us will find her op-ed helpful in tying together what we have been hearing in the news regarding insider trading in Congress and how crony capitalism works within the walls of government.

Alaska's former governor looks at the issue of how elected officials enrich themselves even though their government positions don't pay the kind of salaries that would support such enrichment. Her familiarity with how all of this works comes from her own experience in Alaska.

The corruption isn't confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It's an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It's an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests.

None of this surprises me. I've been fighting this type of corruption and cronyism my entire political career. For years Alaskans suspected that our lawmakers and state administrators were in the pockets of the big oil companies to the detriment of ordinary Alaskans. We knew we were being taken for a ride, but it took FBI wiretaps to finally capture lawmakers in the act of selling their votes. In the wake of politicos being carted off to prison, my administration enacted reforms based on transparency and accountability to prevent this from happening again.

She goes on to elaborate on her calls for sudden and relentless reform.

I've learned from local, state and national political experience that the only solution to entrenched corruption is sudden and relentless reform. Sudden because our permanent political class is adept at changing the subject to divert the public's attention—and we can no longer afford to be indifferent to this system of graft when our country is going bankrupt. Reform must be relentless because fighting corruption is like a game of whack-a-mole. You knock it down in one area only to see it pop up in another.

Palin also provide solutions in her piece. Congress should not be allowed to be exempt from laws governing insider trading and disclosure nor should they be allowed to benefit from certain types of deals and campaign contributions.

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

She calls on Congress to have to follow the laws the make and encourages the grass roots on both the right and the left to embrace her solutions. It's a great read. Read the whole thing here.

Those who called her dumb and inarticulate might find it too substantive a read for them to understand.

Governor Palin once again demonstrates her ability to lead on the issues. She's clearly intellectually engaged in the political conversation. She has guided the national discussion toward addressing crony capitalism and the real problems that confront America. The American presidency would surely be enhanced by someone of her caliber.

No Endorsement: Sarah Palin On The Record 11/15/11

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

Fox News analyst (sniff sniff, not presidential candidate) Sarah Palin gave her assessment of the Republican field on On The Record with Greta Van Susteren last night. She didn't endorse.

When Greta asked about whether she would endorse someone she thinks could win and beat President Obama or if she would endorse someone who has ideas that are more consistent with hers, Palin responded:

Well, I want to believe that he or she who would share the ideas that I have, and that many fiscal conservatives have, and those of us who believe that the balance of power needs to be tipped more in favor of "we the people" versus this trajectory of centralized government growth that we have been on. I want to believe that he who shares those ideas will be most electable. The cream of the crop has not risen yet in this very fluid primary process so I'm not going to get out there and endorse anybody right now. But, certainly those ideas that I have that so many Americans share that are pro growth ideas, pro private sector blessed Constitutional restraints that our Constitution has within it (created) in order to build this prosperous and healthy nation of ours; those ideas that are articulated best by the candidate through this primary process will be the one that I will endorse.

It's clear that Palin is moving on from being a political candidate as she becomes more of a political analyst. She assesses the candidates and opines on the Penn State Sex scandal at the end with outrage and blunt straight forwardness. There is no indication of reconsideration. She is simply becoming another voice. While she continues to be right on the issues, it's becoming more and more obvious that she is settling back into the conservative fold in order to wait for another day down the road rather than jump in and take this one.

-listen to Patrick's World USA on BlogTalkRadio tonight at 11pm ET 8pm PT.

What Would Sarah Palin's Endorsement Mean?

2011-11-15T20:00:00.003-05:00

No human being is perfect. We can’t look for perfection in candidates. We can only look for and hope to find one who most closely represents what we believe. If one comes close enough for us to be confident in their abilities if elected, that’s when we can support him or her. Will we get everything we want? No.

Tonight On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Sarah Palin will tell us who she thinks has the best chance of winning the GOP nomination. For the record, I never like to be called a front runner or a follower. I make my decisions based on my own views. In most cases, my decisions are validated afterwards by conservatives who I believe strongly in. In few rare cases, they point out a flaw in my reasoning and I come more in agreement. In other cases, I disagree on that one issue or point and move on with no hard feelings, but for the most part my best conservative bellwethers are right 99.6% of the time.

Here’s my honest take on this. I’ve been leaning toward Newt Gingrich. However, I have also been looking at Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann. I like Rick Santorum and Rick Perry, but I don’t believe they resonate enough with the American people to win. For all intents and purposes, though, I remain uncommitted and open to all arguments, which is I why I tend to listen more when writers and bloggers make the case FOR a candidate than when they make a case AGAINST a candidate. That’s not to say negative information is discarded. Some of it is important in the decision making process provided that it’s true information or reasoned opinion and not trash talk that’s agenda driven.

There are flaws in all the candidates, including Newt Gingrich. I’ve read them all and I respect my fellow bloggers and tweeters who have pointed these out. But, if none of the candidates have a vision and Gingrich has at least something of a vision, we must consider. If none of the other candidates have his intellectual capacity, we must consider. If none of the other candidates can articulate themselves better than he can, we should consider him as viable and electable even if we are not ready just yet to unite around him. It’s worth taking a look at him. The question is, will Sarah Palin being taking a look at Newt Gingrich tonight on Greta?

No one can predict Palin. She could end up picking any of the other candidates for all we know. She may endorse. She may not. She is an analyst, so what we get out of her tonight might just be analysis and not her final word. If Governor Palin does endorse tonight, be ready for it to be a huge boost to one candidate. Also, look for some to argue against her.

We must remember one thing either way. We have always loved her for who SHE is. She ran with John McCain. She backed Carly Fiorina in California. She may be the closest thing to perfection in our eyes, but there are no real perfect candidates - including the ones she's been affiliated with. Whoever she picks will not be perfect, which means we are all not going to agree. No matter what, we must avoid infighting in the Palin army at all costs and respect Governor Palin’s opinion tonight.

It may seem like I’m hedging because I'm leaning Newt, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. Technically, I’m still undecided. I want to hear what Governor Palin has to say. I’m not looking for her to pick my candidate for me. I’m looking for her input. Palin’s input holds a lot of weight considering she remains the best choice for president despite her not running. Why wouldn’t one want to listen to what she has to say? The person who should be president may be picking the person who can be president.

Gingrich has overcome one concern since I wrote Backing the Imperfect Candidate October 26, 2011 (emphasis mine).

Newt Gingrich is a Reagan conservative and The 21st Century Contract With America makes some strong arguments. However, even if he is not establishment in the sense that some other Republicans are, he too comes with baggage. His past marital infidelity and his lack of discipline raise questions. He will have to move up in the polls and he will have to raise a lot more money if he is to be viable. Herman Cain comes in as a political outsider with some new ideas. But stumbles on the trail and questions about his foreign policy credentials makes it harder for him to close the deal as well. All the candidates seem to be missing something or other when you go through them.

Don’t look for the Palin army to coalesce around one candidate just yet after being staggered by her announcement not to run. Palinistas have always wanted one thing since day one and that is the total package. Swallowing anything less than Sarah Palin as president is going to require a lot of water and good gag reflex control. But at some time, we are all going to have to walk into a voting booth and make a decision even if it looks like there’s a name missing on the ballot. When we do pick our nominee, we are going to have to accept imperfection. This is because there is no candidate in the race that gives us the confidence that Sarah Palin would have about vision, ideas, character and discipline.

There will still be other questions. I still have them. But we need a nominee. Although I'm not a fan of group thinking, I was hoping to gauge who the Palin army could coalesce around. Right now, the Palin army is split and they are still debating amongst each other. Ultimately, if Sarah had run, this wouldn't be an issue. If we can’t find someone better than her, what else are we supposed to do? We have to go with somebody.

Since I started leaning, I was looking to see if another candidate could sway me back. All of them so far are either too establishment, not moving the needle or in some cases going backwards themselves. If great minds think alike and Palin endorses Gingrich, it would push me further in the direction I’m leaning. But, if she doesn’t endorse or endorses another candidate, then it leaves me as still undecided. In that case, I would have to consider her logic and reasoning as to who she picks and come more into agreement; or disagree on that one issue and move on with no hard feelings, with this being the 0.04% time that she was wrong.

There are pros and cons to a Gingrich presidency among Palin supporters and conservative writers.

Steve McCann at American Thinker makes a strong case.

Of the remaining viable candidates, there is only one who is not a part of the establishment, has laid out a viable plan to rescue the country, is not intimidated by the mainstream media or the Democrat smear machine, is knowledgeable of how to get drastic changes through the congressional legislative meat grinder, is more than capable of overwhelming Barack Obama in a debate, is experienced in foreign affairs, has a record of conservative legislative accomplishments, and can articulate to the American people as to where he will take the country. It is time for the Republican primary voters to rediscover Newt Gingrich.

Palin supporters Josh Painter and Sheya make a case for him as well.

Palin supporter Gary P. Jackson on the other hand takes issue.

As the 2012 Republican presidential candidates continue to look less and less appealing, some are starting to fall for Newt’s pretty words and big promises.

Without a true leader in the bunch, no one to really get excited about, many conservatives are falling into the deadly pattern of listening to flowery speeches instead of researching the records of the candidates. Suddenly beating Obama is more important than electing an honest man who will actually bring the reform necessary for the nation to survive.

Gary is a good critical thinker and makes great arguments. He has also pointed out unflattering things about Rick Perry and Herman Cain as well. Those who point out the flaws in our candidates help us evaluate them. But this also serves to remind us that all of our candidates are flawed. Without Palin in the race, we are already choosing the lesser of all the evils and we haven't even gotten out of the primaries yet.

Like I wrote:

While Sarah Palin is not running for president, when she speaks at conferences or gives analyses on Fox News, she’s still dead right on the issues – which is primarily the reason her supporters are finding it difficult to accept her not running. If there was a better candidate in the field, they would have already gotten behind him or her.

It may or may not be time tonight for someone to get her endorsement. But if Sarah Palin is dead right again when she endorses, we may have an idea about to who look at in the primaries as we choose the best of rest that are not named Sarah.

Maybe someone as intelligent as Newt Gingrich can see America's disgust with big government and crony capitalism enough to take action on it. It’s a risky bet to consider. But if we have to pull a lever, maybe our best chance is to look at the smartest guy in the room. With his intellect, he may be better able than others to understand what we’re trying to do long before they start bringing the pitchers of the Potomoc water into his White House. Maybe Sarah sees someone better. We'll have to see what she says tonight.

Being beholden to Sarah Palin for her endorsement may be the first step in having our voices heard in the next administration. If it’s not Newt, then there just may be another GOP candidate that wakes up the day after Palin endorses with a skip in their step, a bump in their polls and our voices in their head.

Choosing Sarah Palin's Successor

2011-11-12T22:35:00.001-05:00

If Sarah Palin doesn't reconsider and run for president, Republican primary voters are going to have to choose from the remaining candidates. This selection process is difficult for two reasons. First, none of the candidates are Sarah Palin. Second, of the four or five best candidates two are viable and it's difficult to pick one over the other at this point. Either way, we are voting in a post Palin election this go around.

Without her in the race, we are back to the business as usual of choosing a nominee. Put the heart and soul back in the box and get out the dice and the handicapping sheet. We're not rooting on Secretariat here. We're simply picking a horse.

Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum are good conservatives. Unless they do something major in the next few weeks to get into the top tier, they will have a very tough time in the primaries. It has always been this writer's contention that if Sarah Palin was going to win or lose, it would be based on her campaign performance - not on what the media says about her. The same can be said for Santorum, Bachmann and Perry. It will take getting bodies into voting booths, but right now the numbers are not there.

Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann need to get more people to listen to their conservative messages. Rick Perry must undergo a major rehabilitation after his gaffe in this week's debate. Ron Paul resonates well on economic policy but is out of sync with the GOP on foreign policy. Huntsman is likeable, but he like Romney is seen as more of an establishment candidate at a time when many primary voters are looking for an anti-establishment candidate.

Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich are also good conservatives. They have been able to defy the odds and move themselves up into the top tier of candidates. As such, they are the most viable other than Romney. But one can't help but to be torn over picking a candidate since the best candidate by far has decided not to run.

As I was writing this, Michele Bachmann did an interview on Hannity, which I will now add to the quotes I already planned on using from Cain and Gingrich. We clearly would be better off with any of the candidates we have than Obama. But, dominating the game and bringing America back from such a deficit in this game is not as exciting nor is it as good of a shot as it could be since Palin won't be at the helm. Add a shameless request to reconsider here.

America is like the Denver Broncos. Barack Obama is Kyle Orton - horrible. Tim Tebow is a better quarterback. But he's not Aaron Rodgers. Since Sarah Palin is not running, we will not have Aaron Rodgers as our quarterback. Whoever the GOP chooses as its nominee would easily replace Obama as our quarterback. But we need to throw for a lot of yards and we need touchdowns fast.

So what do we do? We watch. We wait. We let the process play out. Governor Palin has said that eventually we will have the "most vetted candidate to come forth and rise to the surface."

So lets not kill each other over Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Santorum or any of the other candidates. If you're backing a candidate then back them. But, let's look for the good in all of them. Let's not give the liberals fodder for the general election. Don't sweat the negative stuff. We may have our favorites and those we least favor, but we need to know the arguments for all of them. Yes, we need to discuss their weaknesses, too. But we need to remember that anything we say can and will be used against us in the court of public opinion come general election time.

Newt Gingrich has disavowed his couch affair with Nancy Pelosi. The Right Scoop picked up a great speech that Ginrich gave to his supporters yesterday.

The dumbest thing I've done in the last couple of years is sit on the couch with Nancy Pelosi. I was trying to send a signal and it failed (inaudible) and was foolish; it didn't work. People have misinterpreted that to suggest that I favor Cap and Trade. That is explicitely untrue. If anybody asks you about this, all of my testimony is on YouTube because I testified at the energy and commerce commission the same day as Al Gore. And I testified against the bill. I then helped lead the effort through American Solutions to beat the bill in the Senate. Cap and Trade is a totally irrational effort to centralize power in Washington, to give the Left control over our lives by using Carbon as the new excuse... If any of your friends ask you where I am on Cap and trade, I'm opposed to it.

Herman Cain successfully fought off the phantom charges of sexual harrassment on Neil Cavuto today. According to what Cain said on the video posted on The San Francisco Chronicle website, he scored major points about how the media works in using psychological warfare in order to place doubts into the minds of the voters and how voters are responding more positively now because the smear campaign is backfiring.

People who do not want me to get the nomination or become president - I don't know who these people are, it's probably a network of them - are behind this because they knew just what you indicated at the beginning of this interview. They knew that some people were going to believe the accusation, whether it was true or not. Let's take a little bit of shine off of Herman's star and see whether or not it will help to reduce the enthusiasm that people have. They knew that. So, they achieved that objective. But here's what backfired: more people believe me than the accusation. And they have demonstrated it with not only their verbal support - people wanted to volunteer; they have demonstrated it with their dollars.

Palin supporters can clearly relate to that. The media runs with stories based on anonymous sources and make the victim shadow box it. It's not important whether the story is true or not, but whether it can have enough of a psychological impact on voters so as to knock down their level of acceptance on a candidate. This was always the strategy of the Left when they feared Palin would run for president. You can see that what is happening with Cain is similar to what happened with Palin. It's helping to galvanize his supporters.

The intent is obvious. Isn't it funny how all of a sudden Sarah Palin is no longer a dumb bimbo who is unelectable? Where are the daily hit pieces from the Huffington Post and Politico? Their writers must have been told to focus on Cain now and just reprint stuff from the Bush and Palin files and update the fill in the blank parts with more timely material.

Michelle Bachmann nailed it on Hannity last night.

I think that conservatives are tired of seeing us attacked. They've seen it happen. They know that it's completely unfair. They know that the media's biased. That's why I think that the media has completely lost the faith of the average American. And that's why I really know that in this 2012 election, we have more than a chance to win. We're going to win. And that's why we can't settle on anything less than a true core conservative because people aren't going to listen to this biased media anymore, are they? You heard that last night. They're not going to listen to the media. They're going to make up their own mind.

We are not running against Obama. We are running against the media. If we tear each other up now and don't stand up to the media lies, we lose.

Eventually, we're going to have to argue on behalf of one of these folks in the general.

I'm not endorsing anyone for president just yet. I'm just saying that we should not be like the rest of the weak kneed, trembling tiger Republicans who didn't come to the aid of Sarah Palin when she was being destroyed. We're trained in spotting and debunking media lies. And if they do it to Bachmann, Cain or Gingrich, we need to recognize that and not become like them. Standing for something is a lot better than standing against something. If you have to destroy another candidate to advance yours, you're doing it wrong.

Let's not help them pick our nominee. More importantly, let's not help them with their opposition research. All of our candidates are flawed and we know it. But someday, we're all going to have to back the nominee, even if it's the one we bashed in the primaries. We better not have to flip flop.

Renew, Restore and Reconsider

2011-11-10T19:56:00.002-05:00

When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance

Conservatives4Palin has posted a Reconsider Project Ideas Open Thread on their website. The Palin movement is bubbling right now with calls for Governor Palin to reconsider running for the presidency. There are some stinging realities to overcome if this discussion is to result in a concerted final effort to get her to reconsider, but there is a good argument for going through with this effort nonetheless.

In order to get to this good argument, this writer has to be blunt and will for the sake of this post express strong feelings and sentiments that are deeply rooted in this blogger's firm conviction that Sarah Palin is the one we've been looking for. Anything written is written with all of the love and all of the most due respect that I have for the Governor as a leader and a potentially transformational political figure.

Here are the facts. Sarah Palin has made a decision that she believes is best for her and her family. Leaders make decisions, stick to those decisions and act on those decisions no matter what. Major primary filing deadlines have passed or will be passing shortly (Florida and South Carolina or already closed). There are millions of Americans who were looking to her to run and help save the country, and these people just don't see any alternative even with Palin out of the race.

Here are the analyticals. Our country is being destroyed by Barack Obama, the Democrat Party and the progressive movement. Whether you believe it is intentional or simply because of bad policy and mistaken assumptions, the fact remains that the country's moral and economic foundations are collapsing. There is no one in the Republican field right now who offers us that much more beyond a simple defeat of Obama. While most of the candidates could potentially stop the bleeding by beating Obama, our troubles are so deep that it will take a decade or more to recover without radical relentless reform and the psychological optimism that would come from a leader who would continue to be a daily reminder of where we need to go. None of what the candidates are offering does that.

Here is what we want to say to Sarah Palin but won't because we care about her and respect her right to make decisions about her own life. For three years, we all busted our asses - including her - to fight the socialism and the president's agenda. Although Governor Palin has always said its not about her, the fact remains that she is our leader, our voice. We are doing it for her and our country, and we will continue to fight for our country even if it means having to tell Governor Palin over and over again that we need her.

She has always been the point person for everything her supporters believe. We are her supporters because her words and her political philosophy are ours. We fought the smear campaign against her, promoted her to a media-brainwashed nation and quite frankly I think we won that battle. She in return acknowledged that we had her back and she in return fought hard for the cause using her position as a public speaker, Fox News analyst and writer to push back on the liberal onslaught. She gave us the hope and motivation to carry on even when the winds were howling in our face and the snow was holding back the foot that's slow.

We kept on. We kept on because we believed that there was no one else in America who could help us save this country. We don't want to throw it all on her shoulders. We would never vote for her and say go get em while we sat back home watching sports and eating Bon Bons the way we did when George W. Bush was president. We dropped the ball. We assumed the grown ups would always win.

The days of assuming that the person we voted for was going to do it alone or that the grown ups would always be in charge are over. We let Bush get smeared alone. We didn't blog, tweet or Facebook about the impending financial crises. We were asleep at the switch. We learned our lesson with the election of Obama. We woke up because a woman from Alaska came down here and told it to us like it was and from that point forward we willing to give our all for her.

This time it was going to be different. This time, a president Palin was going to have an army on the ground throughout her administration keeping the media in line and promoting the cause friend to friend, house to house. That's what it was like when Reagan was president and that's what it was going to be like again!

Then she broke our hearts by not running. Yes, we respect her decision. I know she asked how her supporters who trusted her on everything else would question this one decision. Well, let me explain why. When you are as humble as Sarah Palin; when you are not able to see yourself the way others see you; and when you just don't know how much this really means to so many people, it doesn't make you a bad person nor should she not have the right to make a decision her future or her family. Her problem is she simply is not seeing her own greatness.

Does she really think that there's someone else out there that can give us the optimism and the hope that she can? Does she really believe that any of the other candidates can succeed in renewing and restoring America like she can? We don't need a title? She doesn't need a title? Someone needs a title. We're doing it for each other. This is our country. Governor Palin represents our country and we are its citizens.

Karen Allen at PalinTwibe sums up how she feels and although she doesn't speak for all Palinistas, many (including this writer) can relate to what she wrote.

I know where I am at the moment - nowhere. Truthfully, I feel a little like a woman without a country, destined to float the seas with no news of my homeland. This isn't a "Woe is me, Palin left us, waaaaah" kind of feeling. It's a "I don't recognize this political scene" feeling.

None of the other candidates represents our vision of our country the way Sarah Palin does. This thing is a shining city on a hill that is the beacon of freedom for the rest of this God forsaken world. We are the unique bearers of a historical calling to be an example to the rest of the world how great free people can be. Sarah, it's your country. We want you to have it. We know you can take the best care of it.

You don't trust something as huge and as in danger as America is to just anyone. This is not about someone digging up something stupid from Palin's past or smearing her in the media. This is not about stupid sound bytes in a 90 minute debate. This is not about people on the Left getting their panties in a wad. Screw them. They don't really like our country anyway. This is not about shackling yourself to a job that the media and the political class will curse you over for the next 8 years. This is about history remembering the first woman president for saving it the way Lincoln and Washington did.

So if we grab Governor Palin by the shoulders, shake her and beg her to reconsider, it's not because we're trying to be disrespectful. It's not because we're trying to invade her life. It's not about what the people in the Palin army have sacrificed to support her. This time was not wasted. It made our lives better and the movement goes on. This is about America.

Maybe having statues erected to you, airports named after you and having your name mentioned amongst the greats doesn't appeal to someone with a servant's heart. Maybe having access to all the world's secrets, having planes and staff at your beck and call or being called Madame President doesn't appeal to someone like Sarah Palin. That's fine. But ask yourself one thing: where will America end up if she doesn't lead it? There's the good argument for reconsidering.

It may be a sisyphusian effort. Some may say we're wasting our time. But, we should go forward with a reconsideration movement even if it doesn't change Governor Palin's mind. History must record that if the day comes when America as we know it no longer exists that we didn't just give up on Sarah Palin. "If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

Renew, Restore and Reconsider or lest we say a farewell to kings.

Building on Grizzly Fest and the Restoration Movement

2011-11-09T08:05:00.002-05:00

Sarah Palin has been carrying the mantra of Glenn Beck’s call to renew and restore America, which was the underlining theme of his Restoring Honor rally on the mall in Washington, DC on August 28, 2010. Now that she’s not running for president, how do we continue to do this? During hour 2 of Grizzly Fest, the panelists discussed the future of the restoration movement.

Stephen Bannon moderated the panel. He saw, in his research, similarities between the type of people who supported Reagan and those who supported Governor Palin. He also saw the similarities in the way the elites and Washington reacted to Reagan and Palin. He saw her humility and her emphasis on team rather than self promotion. He made the point that we are either to be a country of of our traditional values or we will become something totally different.

Bannon also talked about how this country is at a turning point and how important the Palin coalition is.

Jackie Siciliano talked about how Sarah Palin inspired people to run at all levels of government. She also spoke about our youth and bringing young people on board in the face of what they are being taught in school and in universities. Stacy Drake was disillusioned with politics until she read about Governor Palin in 2007. She saw someone who finally had it right. Talking about Conservatives4Palin, she said it was never about one charismatic person, but all of us.

Whitney Pitcher spoke about moving forward and what we need to do to restore our country. She was never interested in politics until Governor Palin hit the scene. Whitney called Palin "the anti-Illinois" politician when talking about her experience as an Illinois resident familiar with the type of politics going on in her state. Sarah Palin, as mayor, took exception with a business owner who owned a garbage pickup company who tried to use government to make everyone have to use that company to pick up their garbage. Palin was against crony capitalism early on in her career.

Ultimately, renewing and restoring America is going to require renewing and restoring the Republican Party. The party establishment keeps pulling it back to the pre-Obama days’ philosophy of business as usual where candidates talk like conservatives to get elected but act as part of the political permanent class once elected. Democrats choose winners and losers based on their union, environmental and cultural affiliations. Republicans choose winners and losers based on their business, legal and social class affiliations. Either way, the regular American gets left out of the equation.

This explains the electoral frustration that has been expressed by generations of voters. You’ve always heard of voting for the lesser of the two evils or that there are no real differences between the two political parties. Yes, the Democrat party tends to favor more regulations and leans socialist while the Republican party tends to favor less regulations and leans more capitalist. But, overall, each party rewards its cronies at the expense of the American people and the small business owner.

The most effective way of renewing and restoring the Republican Party comes through Tea Party activism. Governor Palin and her followers have developed a strong enough network so that through her endorsements, her followers’ activism and grassroots support that comes from all Tea Party groups, candidates will be able to generate strong support first locally and then nationally. The 2010 elections showed us that the Tea Party can have a strong influence on the nominating process.The next step comes in 2012.

Because so many Americans are sick and tired of business as usual, they can be called upon to support and make viable commonsense Constitutional conservatives who run in GOP primary races against entrenched establishment candidates. Infiltrating the party is the first crucial step toward winning back the future. As more and more Tea Party candidates win nominations and ultimately go on to win in general elections, we can build the infrastructure in Congress and on the state level in order to effect real change.

The conservative movement can take a page out of the liberal playbook. For decades, they have been infiltrating the Democrat Party, the media, the culture and the academia. Winning back the future means beating liberals at their own game and affecting the Republican Party, the media (particularly the new media), the culture and the academia by running strong candidates, encouraging conservative activists to get into journalism, encouraging conservatives to bring a hip version of their values through humor, music and art to culture and by developing more of an intellectual base in colleges and universities throughout the country.

Sarah Palin will be an effective megaphone for us in that infiltration. Her supporters and supporters of the Tea Party movement in general can all play a role in bringing this about. It would have definitely helped us by having her in the bully pulpit of the presidency, much the way Reagan made conservatism cool again from his platform, but it may be more of a long term approach for Governor Palin if she can get the fires of conservatism stoked more than they are now.

We all know what happened after Reagan’s presidency. Everyone forgot what he said and went back to business as usual. If we lose our country and the presidency in 2012, many may second guess Palin’s decision to not run. But only time will really tell if her decision to not run is a way to forego a flash in the pan presidency in favor of developing a stronger foundation upon which we can build our power base and from which she can emerge as an even stronger presidential prospect in the future. This one’s a dice toss; but if it plays out well it won’t be the first time we looked back at a Palin decision and said “wow, that’s what she was doing and look at how well it worked!”

-listen to Patrick's World USA tonight on Blogtalk Radio. My guest is Whitney Pitcher, panelist on Grizzly Fest.

The People Vote Against Themselves in Ohio and Mississippi

2011-11-08T23:02:00.002-05:00

The idiocracy has spoken.

It looks like the people have voted against themselves in two states.

In Ohio, they have voted against Issue 2 which would restrict the right of public sector unions to bargain against the taxpayers in regards to how much they have to contribute to pension and health care benefit programs. While private sector companies require employees to contribute a reasonable share of their own money to their benefits, public sector unions can continue to make taxpayers pay for their benefits without having to put much of their own skin into the game. Greece, here we come.

In Mississippi, they have voted against the Personhood initiative, which would have protected life in the womb. This is an even worse example of the people voting against themselves because in this case, they have voted against protection of the very existence of human life. Satan laughing spreads his wings as those who have survived the 9 months in the womb and grown up to be of voting age choose to take that same very basic human right from a percentage of newborns who will not survive the right to be born because some in our country still believes that denying the right to life is okay.

Folks, we got a long way to go to save this country. A long way to go. When taxpayers who will get jack at retirement vote against their rights to protect their money from being confiscated to be redistributed to public workers who will be paid cushy pensions for tying up their traffic and causing the other normal bureaucratic pain we feel when dealing with state governments and when human beings deny the right of existence to fellow human beings, there is something seriously wrong with a lot of people in this country.

We have voted against ourselves. It's no wonder we're in the mess we're in.

Moving Forward After Grizzly Fest

2011-11-02T10:49:00.003-04:00

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Saturday’s Grizzly Fest, it’s worth your while to listen to it here. Sarah Palin supporters are finding their way forward after her decision not to run for the presidency. Roderic Deane and Nicole Coulter co-hosted the broadcast which focused on organizing for the year ahead. The push will be on to get common sense Constitutional conservatives elected to Congress. Sarah Palin, who was instrumental in helping get candidates elected in the 2010 midterms, will once again be active in getting more elected in 2012. The program was broken up into three segments with three sets of panelists who discussed various aspects of the future of the Palin movement.

From GrizzlyFest.com:

Panel 1: Success of the Movement So Far – 2-3 p.m. ET

Tammy Bruce, conservativeradio host and author
Jedediah Bila, conservative columnist and author
Josh Painter – blogger, creator of Texans for Sarah Palin
Tami Nantz – blogger outreach coordinator of Smart Girl Politics, founder of Moms4SarahPalin

This panel will discuss the historic nature of the Palin movement, both in the blogosphere and in organizing, and the impact Palin supporters had on the historic 2010 midterms. Plus, what potential we have to make a difference in 2012.

Panel 2: The Restoration Agenda – 3-4 p.m. ET

Steve Bannon, film producer and radio host
Jackie Siciliano, coordinator of Team Sarah
Stacy Drake, editor at Conservatives4Palin
Whitney Zahnd, Illinois O4P coordinator, blogger, and part of the Central Illinois 9/12 Project

This panel will identify the main themes we relate to as Palin supporters, and how we can continue to make these issues front and center going forward in 2012 and beyond.

Panel 3: Future of the Grassroots Movement 4-5 p.m. ET

Peter Singleton, Iowa O4P coordinator
Janne Myrdal, North Dakota Tea Party Caucus
Thomas Schmitz, California O4P coordinator
Kristen Hendershot – Alaska resident, O4P coordinator

This panel will discuss the “boots on the ground” aspect of the Palin movement, and how we can continue to deploy for good causes.

The Palin army remains a well networked force for change in America. Even though Sarah Palin is not running, the group is sticking together in order to move forward with the work necessary to save the country. The values, the ideas and the political philosophies of the people who came into the Palin movement were already there. Without a leader to rally around, many have been wandering leaderless in the wilderness since Ronald Reagan left the national stage. As Tammy Bruce said, “each of us became Ronald Reagan” after his passing.

We didn't know each other before Governor Palin was chosen to be John McCain’s running mate. This writer remembers the weeks prior to his announcement of her. It was a dismal time. Coming to grips with a GOP presidential nominee who was speaking over the crickets at his sparsely attended rallies in the face of the impending socialist onslaught which the Obama campaign represented was probably the lowlight of my political life.

In the days leading up to McCain’s announcement, this blogger was having conversations with his friends about the end of America as we knew it and about the end of conservatism as a major political force. As bad as things are now – and as depressing it is to consider that Sarah Palin will not be president in 2012 – it is still better than it was then. There is a future ahead of us because Sarah Palin reignited the conservative movement and the army that formed from her inspiration is a political phenomenon that one rarely sees in American politics.

In the past three years, I have raised one question a number of times. Is it 1964 or is it 1976? The answer is obvious. It’s 1964. What Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan did for the conservative movement in 1964 was done again in 2008 by Sarah Palin. She, as Reagan did, took a dying brand of conservative and revived it. She renewed it, and now we are on the process of restoring it.

This restoration now falls on our shoulders. Because Sarah Palin was nominated to run as VP, we all met. Since 2008, we have all become politically active – many of us for the first time. The internet exploded with pro-Palin and conservative blogs and websites. I spoke with Jedediah Bila for the first time as a result of a BlogTalk Radio show that April Liesel was doing at the time. I was invited to be on another show and that’s how I met Thomas S. Schmitz. These people inspired me to start my own BlogTalk Radio show and it was my honor to have had all three of these people on as guests.

Roderic Deane had me on his show. I’ve been on Dr. Gina Loudon’s show and she has been on mine. I’ve had Ron Devito, Stacy Drake, Whitney Pitcher, Adrienne Ross and Jackie Siciliano as guests. I could go on and on, but the point is that all of us have had the same experiences. We have gotten to know each other through our devotion to the ideals of Sarah Palin and because of our participation in the Palin movement.

It brings me back to the “old days” at Team Sarah where I would correspond with Thomas S. Schmitz, Ron Devito, Adrienne Ross and so many others. During the height of the smear campaign against Sarah Palin, we got most of our information from each other. Rather than take mainstream media accounts of the lies, rumors and innuendo at face value, we researched. We looked deeply into the smears and found clear cut facts that showed how false and misleading they were.

Conservatives4Palin became an instrumental site in debunking the lies and the myths of the anti-Palin movement. While the Left was concentrating on why Sarah Palin couldn’t be president, we were out there exposing them as the lying sacks they are. We’ve taken on many established journalists and media personalities and their credibility has suffered for it. Yes, we – a rag tag army of volunteers, many of whom were not professional journalists – destroyed Pullitzer prize winners and other highly recognized journalists who chose to toss their journalistic integrity aside in order to defecate all over themselves out of fear that Palin might actually become president.

We stood tall. We were the Patriot missiles of the blogosphere. Palin smears were being shot down left and right. There were many days when Politico would post their daily hit on Palin in the morning and by early afternoon it was debunked on Conservatives4Palin and blogs across the Palinosphere.

Josh Painter’s Texans for Sarah Palin was also a big go-to site. His Quotes of the Day posts were instrumental in keeping all of us Palinistas informed about what we were all writing and saying about her. So many ideas came from our interaction with each other. It was there we were able to see what was being said and written about Governor Palin. If you wanted links to truthful articles and posts about her, you went to Texans for Sarah Palin.

The numerous blog posts and articles coming from our side washed out and pushed back all the hit pieces. Without us, the internet would have been filled with lies about Sarah Palin with no rebuttal. It was on Team Sarah that I met Gary P. Jackson who publishes A Time For Choosing. His readers would hit the comment boards on articles about Sarah Palin to correct the record. It was war with the Left and the media. The Leftists were rumored to have been paying bloggers to leave negative comments about Palin on articles. We were real people, defending her for free.

All of this work does not go for naught just because Governor Palin is not running. Today, the movement is strong. There is no reason for it to stop working toward fixing America's problems.We can't just pack up and go home now. It's time to move forward and finish the job. Governor Palin needs to know that although we are greatly disappointed by her decision, we respect it. She also needs to know that if we continue with our work, we want her to consider running in the future. We will continue to fight for the ideals that she represents with a suddenness and relentlessness that will be necessary to bring about the needed reform.

In the third segment of the Grizzly Fest broadcast, the panelists addressed the future of the grassroots movement. The segment started off with a call to Sarah Palin's brother, Chuck Heath, who spoke about campaigning for candidates in 2012. The panel discussion was moderated by Peter Singleton. The discussion was geared toward what Organize4Palin will be doing going forward.

Peter Singleton nailed the whole thing when he said this:

We have formidable adversaries - the left, the media and the crony capitalists. They all work together. They are all opposed to our core values of free markets, constitutionally limited government and individual liberty. However, the vast majority of the American people agree with us on the issues. Despite the fact that we are the majority of the American people, we could never establish an enduring electoral coalition that can restore the balance between the government and the people that the founders envisioned.

As I see it, there are three reasons for that. First of all, the Republican Party stands for Constitutional conservative values and has a great platform. Much of the Republican establishment does not and it appears to be aligned with the other side... Second, the mainstream media has immense influence in shaping voters' views. Third, on the practical sense, the Left has much better voter data bases and data bases on their activists, and they have mobilized their much smaller percentage of the population vastly better than we have mobilized our much larger share.

We all know that our country is in grave peril and that we are at a tipping point economically, politically [and] socially. That's not the bad news. The bad news is the left and the crony capitalists - who work together by the way - have a playbook they're working off of and they're planning to take advantage of this looming crisis. And, we must mobilize. This is a call to action. We must mobilize and now or lose our freedoms and lose those freedoms forever.

Janne Myrdal talked about the power of one. Kristen Hendershot talked about traveling and being politically active. Thomas S. Schmitz talked about how the world is changing and how we don't live in a top down movement anymore. He talked about it as being a bottom up world now. He pointed out that whoever has the strongest ground team wins. "We're the real leaders," he said.

America is not going to be restored by the faculty lounges at Harvard, Princeton and Yale. America's not going to be restored by the permanent political class; its not going to be restored by panels of experts and entrenched out of touch party machines. America is going to be restored by people listening to this show.

Schmitz talked about building the the ultimate ground team to affect elections. Emphasizing "boots on the ground" and "fingers on the keyboard," he encouraged listeners that we have to be empowered, confident, bold and prepared for action. He said it was important that we be an engaged citizenry.

Dr. Gina Loudon came on at end of show. "Conservatives never had the verbiage to define the narrative." she said. "That is what Sarah has led on and that as what the governor has really become a beacon for in this country. That is what all of us continue to be a part of."

As we move forward, the Palin movement can continue to be a strong advocate for pushing the Republican Party back to its platform and holding their feet to the fire. Defeating the forces of socialism and crony capitalism is the calling for those of us who want to fix the Republican Party and fix the nation.

Listen to Patrick's World USA tonight at 11pm ET 8pm PT on Blogtalk Radio. My guest is Thomas S. Schmitz who was a panelist on Grizzly Fest.

How Bottom Feeders Work and Why We Always Get Jack

2011-10-31T22:47:00.002-04:00

Everyone is making a big deal over the allegations of Sexual Harrassment against Herman Cain. The key to understanding this is to know how our litigation system works. Those who own businesses are charged by attorneys by the hour for their defense. Those who go up against businesses are either solicited or welcomed when they call an attorney who know they can make a buck off the case either way.

I know a guy and, although not a party to the suit, was assisting him with the defense of such suit. His company had Errors and Ommission insurance. A consumer went to an attorney to file bankruptcy to get out of an obligation. The attorney questioned her about my friend's company's approach. She, in broken English, claimed to the attorney that she was told if she didn't pay the debt that people would be breaking down her door and that a sheriff would come to her house. In rural counties, sheriffs are also police officers.

The attorney immediately phrased his questioning in such a way that she, again in broken English, answered that she had felt as if she was threatened. There is no voice recording of the conversation. Neither the defendant nor the defendant's attorney could name the agent they were alleging the violation against. It was strictly made up. At best, it was poorly documented and if it really did happen, slipped past a supervisor and six other people who may have been able to hear that conversation. In fact, the representative who was assigned to the account was not there on the date the complaint alleges, and there are no notes on the account that an incoming call was ever fielded on that date as well.

The defendant's attorney figured getting $500.00 to file a bankruptcy wasn't enough. He found a way to make an additional $3,000 on the case. That's not bad for for filing a claim on behalf of a false witness. In America's tort and legal system, being a dirt bag makes you money, but doing the right thing costs you too much, so you don't even bother.

The outcome: the company could have fought the case and won at the cost of about $100,000. Instead, it paid about $2,500, settled the debt and had its E&O insurance company pay the attorney who defended the company and recommended all of this strategy another $2,500. This sounds like a good deal, right?

About a week after the case was settled, the E&O insurance company dropped the company. Had the company exercised its right to defend itself and racked up over $100,000 in legal expenses, the E&O insurance company would have had to pay that. But because it would have cost the business another $2500 out of pocket to meet the deductible, they went with the original recommendation. Crony #1 sued on behalf of the lying bearer of false witness and crony #2 (the defendant's attorney) convinced the company to keep the costs down.

The moral of the story is that the attorney for the plaintiff made $3000. The attorney for the defendant made $2500. The E&O insurance company made off with three years of premium to the tune of about $7,500. The victim had their debt settled in the amount of about $2,500. The company that did nothing wrong, had their insurance dropped, and got a major blemish on Google (the case was dismissed and the settlement agreement stated that there was no wrong doing but its still on Google!). Now the company has to try to market itself with a Google blemish and will now be shopping around for another E&O carrier who will clearly raise their rates big time.

Who made out on this deal? Bottom feeding attorneys and a lying plaintiff. Who got screwed? The company that was trying to do the right thing. The next time, they should make the insurance company pay for every dime they can. Drag the case out. Bring the legal fees into the hundreds of thousands. I bet you only then will the insurance company feel good about pursuing a counter suit against the original bottom feeder. But they recommend against it so they don't have to take the risk. And they drop you any way.

Our system is severely dysfunctional. America as we know it is gone. Don't expect it to come back anytime soon.

Now you know why Herman Cain settled his case. Now you know why it came back to haunt him.

Why would anyone want to run for president or run a business in this day and age? Business decisions require the proper assessment of risk versus reward. There is no reward to attempting to be successful in business. Nor is there any reward in running for president. Everything today is all risk and no reward, unless you're a crony who gets paid no matter what the outcome is - even if both the defendant and the plaintiff get jack out of the deal.

The political parties and the permanent political class in Washington are the players in this game. We the people, regardless of party, are the ones who get jack. How's Jane Roe doing these days, anyone know?

My Take on Grizzly Fest '11

2011-10-28T20:07:00.007-04:00

Listen to Grizzly Fest here:

Listen to internet radio with Grizzly Fest on Blog Talk Radio

Sudden and Relentless Reform Begins Now

When I wrote Palin Exposes Problems in GOP by Not Running, it was originally written as a stand alone piece - my analysis of how glaringly obvious the weaknesses in the Republican Party were when they are not shrouded by the light of a potential Palin presidency. Roderic Deane graciously invited me to discuss the piece on his BlogTalk Radio show as he and others were organizing Grizzly Fest '11.

Since I am spending tomorrow with my son, it's highly unlikely I will be able to listen to Grizzly Fest live or participate in the forums. I will be certain to listen to the podcast at my first opportunity. This is an important online summit that should be viewed by not only Palin supporters, but by conservatives, Tea Partiers and Republicans across the greater coalition that will be working to unseat President Barack Obama in 2012 as well.

Which brings me to what I would like to focus on if I was able to attend the summit. I would hope that some of the people who read this post take an interest in discussing the role of the Palin movement in shaping the future of the Republican Party. As a lifelong Republican, a part of me laments how party insiders and the party establishment seem to be resisting candidates who stand for Constitutional conservatism, smaller government and who would like to see an end to cronyism and the disproportionate influence the permanent political class has in not only Washington, DC, but within the party itself.

Consider this post and my post about the problems in the Republican Party as my contribution to the summit.

Grizzly Fest '11 is an opportunity for a disheartened Palin supporter like myself to move forward enthusiastically with the next step the Palin movement will be taking. Rather than wander leaderless in the wilderness like I was before Palin hit the national scene, I can take heart that because of Governor Palin's work over the last three years, we have been motivated to form a movement that would have propelled her to the presidency had she chosen to run. Grizzly Fest represents an opportunity to unite in an effort to save our country and to continue to support Governor Palin in her efforts.

I believe our movement has grown tremendously over the last three years to the point where we could have gotten Governor Palin elected president had she ran. Although we will not get to test that theory this go around, if you believe that we are a movement strong enough to get someone elected president then you have to believe we are strong enough to effect the change necessary in both our government and the Republican Party in order to renew and restore America.

Over the course of the last three years - as a result of this blog, Blogtalk Radio and the new media interaction between Palin supporters on Twitter, Team Sarah and Conservatives4Palin, I have had the opportunity to communicate with great people like Frank Aquino, Jedediah Bila, Tammy Bruce, Roderic Deane, Ron Devito, Adrienne Ross, Thomas Schmitz, Jackie Siciliano and many others active in the Palin movement and who are actively participating in Grizzly Fest. A bi-product of being part of such a large movement like ours is that when I mention people, I miss so many others because there isn't enough bandwidth here on Blogger to list you all.

One person who has been able to capture the essence of the Palin movement in the blogosphere is Josh Painter who put together the blogroll which is featured on his site Texans For Sarah Palin and which is the source for the Sarah Palin-Friendly Blogs which are listed on the Grizzly Fest website. It's a great honor to see this site listed there.

This post is more than just a shameless reciprocation to the folks over at Grizzlyfest.com, however. It is an affirmation that we have built something that will continue to further the cause of bringing the shine back to the city on a hill. Because of Sarah Palin, we are a powerful voice instead of a bunch of broken men and women who would have been watching the end of the conservative movement three years ago had John McCain not chosen her to be his running mate.

Our futures and the future of our great nation will depend on our continuing to grow the movement and our deepening relationships among ourselves and others who will come into the fold as we and Governor Palin continue to speak out and hold Washington's feet to the fire.

As much as I've gotten to know many of you who might be reading this, what really blew my mind is that I have come to know Sarah Palin supporters that I didn't even know existed until after she decided not to run. This validates my theory that had she announced, millions of us would have poured out of the wood work much to the dismay of her detractors. The media, which has gone to contortionist lengths to mock her and downplay the level of support she has, will soon find that they will no longer be able to hide our numbers and Palin's effectiveness as a leader from the rest of America.

If they think she and we are gone just because she's not running, they have another thing coming.

As our country continues to flounder economically, the Palin army has an opportunity to continue to grow and network with each other. We can stand for free market principals. Who knows, we can even be profitable in our endeavors to get into the media, pop culture or academics because of our affiliations with each other. We don't have to go broke crusading for what needs to be done to fix our great nation. We can't afford to wait for the government to get out of our way. We need to build our way back from the ground up.

I'm not saying this to be opportunistic. I'm saying this because it is a fundamental belief of mine that if we are going to stop the liberals, we must beat them at their own game and infiltrate the media, the culture, academia and ultimately the halls of government itself. Think about how liberal these institutions have become and then ask yourself how that happened.

Look at what the liberals did with their party after the 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention. There's a lesson for us. If they were able to turn the Democrat Party into the liberal party, we can infiltrate the Republican Party and make it the conservative party. In all areas, we can use our ideas and their playbook to defeat them. Look at what Andrew Breitbart has been able to do both commercially and politically. There is no reason why we need to go broke and continue to be victims of a socialist agenda while pushing forth with what's truly right for America.

We need to become a free market country again. We can begin with ourselves and our party. We can build from the grass roots up. We can lay the foundations of economic prosperity by putting more boots on the ground, more boots to the butts of statists and cronies and someday by putting a pair of our boots on the floor underneath the desk in the oval office.

It's our nation. Let's work toward making it better again. Let's bring the words integrity and merit back into the lexicon of those who represent us in Washington and who decides government's role in our economy. Regulating, handing out and bailing out is not free enterprise. Statism severely hinders the mobility the society needs so that individuals are not stuck in their economic status or class.

We are a lean mean fighting machine! Let's show government that fat with taxpayer money, drunk with power and stupid with ideas is no way to go through life.

I will be talking about Grizzly Fest on my BlogTalk Radio show Wednesday Nov 2, 2011 at 11pm Et 8pm Pt. If anyone involved would like to be a guest on my show to talk about Grizzly Fest, please email me with subject line: "Want to Talk Grizzly Fest" at reagantman@gmail.com.

Backing the Imperfect Candidate

2011-10-26T09:34:00.002-04:00

Let’s be realistic. No large army of supporters which has spent three years fighting to elect our next great one is going to come running out of the wilderness yelling “Candidate X is our man and he’s going to save our nation.” The anticipated great one, Sarah Palin, has chosen to postpone her greatness for another time. The current field of candidates all bring pieces of the puzzle to the table, but are also flawed in some way. The only way to thoroughly review the candidates is to look at their positions on the issues and determine who is the closest in best articulating the conservative philosophy and then going with the least imperfect one.

Rick Perry brings a strong record on jobs, taxes and energy to the table, but his vision is a bit a sloppy and his record on immigration makes it tough to embrace him as a standard bearer. He is a good man with good credentials, but there are issues with immigration and cronyism. Michele Bachmann is a strong conservative, but she has spent more time doing what she does best - fighting for us as a Tea Party leader in Congress - than building the type of support for the presidency in the same way Palin has.

Mitt Romney is an intelligent business thinker, but he is not a core conservative. Most of all, he is a symbol of the establishment – and no matter how electable he looks on paper, conservatives are looking for someone who is not representative of business as usual. Rick Santorum is a core conservative. But, without an infusion of charisma, money and good poll numbers, it’s going to be hard to get him to the top. Jon Huntsman is a moderate, plain and simple. Ron Paul is dead on when it comes to economic policy, but his isolationism on foreign policy is way too far from where the Republican Party needs to be on issues of national security.

Newt Gingrich is a Reagan conservative and The 21st Century Contract With America makes some strong arguments. However, even if he is not establishment in the sense that some other Republicans are, he too comes with baggage. His past marital infidelity and his lack of discipline raise questions. He will have to move up in the polls and he will have to raise a lot more money if he is to be viable. Herman Cain comes in as a political outsider with some new ideas. But stumbles on the trail and questions about his foreign policy credentials makes it harder for him to close the deal as well. All the candidates seem to be missing something or other when you go through them.

Don’t look for the Palin army to coalesce around one candidate just yet after being staggered by her announcement not to run. Palinistas have always wanted one thing since day one and that is the total package. Swallowing anything less than Sarah Palin as president is going to require a lot of water and good gag reflex control. But at some time, we are all going to have to walk into a voting booth and make a decision even if it looks like there’s a name missing on the ballot. When we do pick our nominee, we are going to have to accept imperfection. This is because there is no candidate in the race that gives us the confidence that Sarah Palin would have about vision, ideas, character and discipline.

Had Palin run, some would have pointed out imperfections in her as well. We would have had to explain her resignation and point out that she, too, is human and made mistakes on the campaign trail in 2008. But, drawing a blank on what newspapers you read or what Supreme Court decisions you take issue with when you are answering other rapid fire questions successfully from a trained journalist who is intentionally working you into a “gotcha” moment is easier to accept as a voter than past marital infidelities, being unsure about one’s position on abortion or releasing a questionable campaign ad, providing tuition breaks for illegal immigrants, supporting a health insurance mandate for one’s state, staying on the bus when the regular people wanted you to come talk to them, calling for the withdrawal of all American troops from around the world or working for a president that you now want to unseat.

No human being is perfect. We can’t look for perfection in candidates. We can only look for and hope to find one who most closely represents what we believe. Will we get everything we want? No. But, with Sarah Palin in the race, we’d have come damn close.Without her, we're going to have to look more long term.

Ronald Reagan was the rare case of a candidate so closely representing the views of so many that he rose to the level of greatness. But even he, in retrospect, had flaws – granted they were seriously overshadowed by all of the great things he did while president. Greatness is defined by what you do, not by what you don’t do or can’t do. For someone like Sarah Palin, her defining greatness will not come from sitting this one out. Instead it will come from what she does in the future. In the meantime, there is no other Reagan and we must learn to accept that.

All things must be considered when making a decision. While there is nothing jumping out to cause any unity in thought on candidates amongst Palin supporters and undecided Republicans, they agree on what they don’t want. This is the main reason for not being able to settle on an alternative candidate to Palin. Unfortunately, there are enough imperfections in all the candidates to make it hard to choose.

It’s not yet time for an endorsement. Sarah Palin hasn’t endorsed anyone either. We can take a look at the more conservative candidates like Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry or Rick Santorum and consider whether or not we can live with one of them as the nominee. But that’s all we have. We can endorse now and have Palin endorse differently. We can wait to see who Palin endorses. Or, we can end up in agreement later on in the nominating process.

We can’t predict the outcome of any of that. What we can do, is be free to choose our own candidates. Without overt direction from Governor Palin (she may want us to be freed up to choose our own candidates), her supporters are beginning to migrate over to other candidates slowly while looking to Palin for “shadow leadership” on issues as they continue to support her as a voice for their beliefs. While Sarah Palin is not running for president, when she speaks at conferences or gives analyses on Fox News, she’s still dead right on the issues – which is primarily the reason her supporters are finding it difficult to accept her not running. If there was a better candidate in the field, they would have already gotten behind him or her.

There should be no mistake about the issues within the Republican Party. Regardless of whom any of us choose to support, if that candidate wins the presidency it will still be necessary to continue moving forward with Sarah Palin’s message and a concentrated effort on renewing and reforming the Republican Party. We will not defeat crony capitalism by allowing the Republican Party to go back to its old establishment ways once it regains power. We cannot accept a return to business as usual once Obama is out.

We are going to have to keep working at sudden and relentless reform long after our flawed - but better than Obama - candidate wins the presidency. Sarah Palin will help us by continuing to lead that fight. Until then, that hole will remain open until she accepts the calling to run at some point in the future or until another who has a similar potential for greatness arrives on the scene. Maybe, whoever we nominate will hear our voices.

The cause lives on.

Patrick's World USA will not air this week on Blogtalk Radio. The show returns for its regularly scheduled Wednesday night broadcast next Wednesday at 11pm ET 8pm Ct. We invite Palin supporters everywhere to listen in LIVE to the Grizzly Fest online forum on Saturday, Oct. 29th from 2-5 p.m. ET, and to share their own ideas in their dedicated forums.

Did Sarah Palin Postpone Her Destiny?

2011-10-20T20:52:00.003-04:00

Only time will tell, but unless a new leader of her caliber emerges within the next decade, she will continue to be called upon.

When pondering the concept of picking a candidate in a Palin-less race, I have come to the conclusion that we are just not going to get what we need to renew and restore America this go around. In 2008, it was this writer's opinion that if the Republicans won the election, whoever got the nomination would be someone who could stop the bleeding but who would not be the truly bold leader needed to lift America's spirits and motivate it back into greatness. Now that things are even worse now, the sentiment is still the same regarding the 2012 field. Nonetheless, we still must win the election.

We can look for stronger leadership after we win. We can look at renewing and reforming the Republican Party so that it turns away from the stale establishment politics of the permanent political class and embraces the grass roots more. We can move the GOP toward creating a better and more fertile environment for citizen politicians and conservatives who bring common sense ideas to the table.

We can start with raising and discussing these issues at the GOP Convention in 2012. We can follow up with that by encouraging Sarah Palin to run for president in the future and to make it clear that renewing and restoring America cannot happen unless we renew and restore the Republican Party. This must happen if the GOP is to avoid giving cause for the rise of a third party. As a Republican, I encourage the party to avoid this.

For Sarah Palin, this means the letters, the tweets and the online encouragement isn't going to stop. We needed her now more than ever, but that doesn't mean we won't need her in the future. There just isn't anyone else out there right now that can take hold of this tiger and tame it completely like she can. Bold leadership is always going to be in demand as long as its absence continues to leave the gaping hole we have now.

Anyone associated with the Republican establishment and those in the party who would rather sacrifice principle simply for the sake of winning will continue to have a problem with the conservative movement. The pale pastels of safety are easier to pursue than the bold colors that are truly needed at this time to not only defeat Obama, but to make sure that liberals never gain that much traction ever again. It may seem safe to elect moderates, but when conservatism isn't applied by those moderates when they get into power, their policies fail and the people always turn to the other party, the Democrat Party.

Mitt Romney's biggest challenge with the conservative movement is that he is symbolic of the Republican establishment. The establishment wants to vote safe at a time when we need sudden and relentless reform. This is what's wrong with the GOP and explains why Romney's poll numbers remain steady rather than going up. The rank and file are looking for a bold and dynamic leader who is going to challenge the status quo in order to renew and restore America while ending socialism and crony capitalism outright.

That search will not stop until that leader steps up or until we find someone who will. Nothing less than top shelf leadership will suffice.

With Sarah Palin not in the presidential race, it's been extremely difficult to find a candidate that fits the bill. This blogger understands that we have to beat Obama, but who we beat him with is totally up in the air. There isn't one candidate that screams out "I'm the one" the way Palin did. We have Herman Cain. We have Newt Gingrich. We have Rick Santorum. We have Michele Bachmann. They seem to be the best of the bunch, but they all have flaws. At some point we are going to have to overlook flaws, unfortunately, this election cycle.

Luckily for us, none of our candidates are as flawed as Obama is. That ought to buy us some time when we win. Winning the election in 2012 is only step one. Step two is learning how to be the party and power yet still be dissatisfied enough to want to work even harder toward finding better leaders to help renew and restore the country. We can start with the Tea Party. We can start with Congress. But someday, someone who believes she doesn't need a title may have to take one on in order to finish the job.

Palin Exposes Problems in GOP by Not Running

2011-10-14T22:15:00.001-04:00

More and more, people are starting to see that Sarah Palin's decision to not run has left a gaping hole in the Republican field. Ever since she hit the campaign trail in 2008, the left wing media has pummeled her and the Republican establishment has been silent – and in some cases complicit. While Republican establishment types cringed behind closed doors fearing a run or weaved their fears tactfully into articles and commentaries leading up to the 2012 race, millions of regular everyday Americans were becoming fans on her Facebook page, with many of them giving time and/or money to support her. Even the most ardent of Palin supporters are finding out now that there was a lot more support for her than even they thought. Now that she’s not running, we’re learning a lot more about the GOP.

We know about Organize4Palin and the thousands of “boots on the ground” activists they had positioned to be ready to spring into action in case she did run. We have seen a massive proliferation of conservative and pro-Palin blogs and websites on the internet over the past three years. Prior to her withdrawal, it was this observer’s understanding and expectation that the media and the establishment would be astounded by the number of Palin supporters that would just come pouring out of the wood work as soon as she announced. There was nothing secret or hidden about the agenda. It was out there, wide open for the media, the Republican establishment and for anyone else who wanted to see it – unless of course they didn’t want you to see it.

By her not running, we’re finding out about the depth of her support anyway. We’re finding that Palin supporters aren’t the uneducated folks the media led us to believe they were. There were thousands of people talking to each other on the internet about her, networking and organizing for her with the kind of effectiveness that professional political consulting firms would die for. There were attorneys, business owners, writers, business owners, professional people as well as regular working people all giving of themselves in one way or another.

While some may want to view Palin supporters as star struck fans chasing windmills, the fact of the matter is that your regular Palin supporter is a well studied, well informed voter who was much more deeply aware of the issues and the web that was being weaved to get her into the presidency than the media or the GOP establishment would want you to know. They knew how big the army was getting, and it is big.

What will hurt the GOP in the long run is that they may be losing many of these supporters who are new to the process when it would be easy to bring them into the party tent if it was more receptive to them. These potential Republican voters who are new to political activism, yet highly educated from researching issues due to their interest in Palin, are finding out along with the rest of us what the real Republican Party looks like; and they don’t like what they see.

They’re not dreamers blinded by their allegiance to Sarah Palin. It’s the media, those that didn’t want to her to win and the GOP establishment who are blinded by their hatred and fear of her so much that they refused to acknowledge the size and strength of her following and now risk alienating them because of this. The political vacuum that has been left as a result of her decision is evident in the way many conservatives are finding it hard to back a candidate; and the ones who are backing candidates are doing so with much softer support than Palin would have gotten.

Sarah Palin articulated a pure brand of conservatism that resonated completely with the values that most people agree with when polled on the issues. It’s more than just the charisma or her ability to give a great speech that fires people up. She resonates on all levels. The media and the GOP establishment preferred to ignore that rather than to embrace it.

A few fat cats ran a campaign to draft Chris Christie and party leaders acted as if there was this massive groundswell for him. The media gave this round the clock coverage until he gave the press conference to announce he wasn’t running and then it was over. There was no crying or gnashing of teeth. That level of heartache is only reserved for those with a deeply devoted and widespread following.

Running parallel to the Christie story was the far less reported one about the millions of Palin supporters and legions of activists throughout America who were clamoring for her to run. While the story of a few Republican Party insiders trying to convince Christie to run was ginned up, millions of people waiting for a Palin decision were ignored. Despite the lack of media coverage and attention from the Republican Party, the tidal wave of shock and disappointment over her announcement not to run was felt by millions of people across the country instantly because she announced her decision on the Mark Levin Show. It is, after all, talk radio and the new media where most of those who seek real news coverage go.

How this will ultimately affect the Republican Party is yet to be seen. We are already starting to see some of the effects. Reaction to what is happening with the current GOP field has not been positive. A variety of concerns are bubbling to the surface. There is the concern that establishment favorite Mitt Romney may not be able to earn the support of the Tea Party. There is the concern that even some of the more conservative candidates have glitches that prevents them from drawing the enthusiasm of the base the way Palin did. There is the concern the candidates will beat each up so badly that the nominee would be damaged coming out of the gate.

Robert Eugene Simmons, Jr. at American Thinker goes as far as to say that because Palin’s not in the race, Obama is going to win.

The calculus is fairly simple: the media and GOP establishment want Romney to be the nominee. Once a progressive is at the head of the Republican ticket, low turnout for Republicans will hand a narrow victory to Obama.
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In 2008 the Democrats dodged a bullet because they hadn't counted on a Palin VP nomination galvanizing a dispirited Republican party. Without Palin, or another charismatic authentic conservative, Obama would have swept the election in a landslide.

The activism and excitement Governor Palin brought into the 2008 campaign spilled over much more easily into the Tea Party movement following the election than it would have without her. Over the course of the last three years, she has pulled millions of people (including young people, working people, women and minorities) who have never been politically active into the conservative movement. Surely she has her standard middle class white male followers, but her support is so diverse that there are even gay organizations that support her and gays who are not into identity politics who just happened to mix in heterogeneously with the rest of the people behind her. There are Democrats who would give their left arm for such a diverse base.

Kevin Ainsworth at Conservatives4Palin points out a serious issue with the political system.

She was the one everybody was waiting to enter the GOP contest and would have been the frontrunner. Having become the nominee, thanks to your help and support, she would have probably beaten Obama and become President as you all so desperately wanted. But at what cost? People and companies donating $1 billion will want something for that money. To get the money in the first place for the campaign they would probably have put conditions on it. Let’s face it – they would not have wanted her talking about crony capitalism for a start! She would have been shackled during the election and then would not have been free to do all those things you dream about and which she believes in once she was elected.

There is a theme in Ainsworth's article which is showing up in a lot of writing coming from Palin supporters recently following her announcement. It’s something the GOP really ought to pay attention to. The notion of “we the people” is a concept that holds incredible weight, which stands as a great sales pitch for the Republican Party to use in order to draw millions back into the tent and which presents a way to grow deep roots into the political culture by empowering those who would otherwise be cynical of a process that keeps candidates beholden to special interests.

In its greed and lust for power, the Republican Party has chosen to alienate these voters by using the politics of crony capitalism and big money donors as its strategy for gaining and holding power. Some will contend that this is a reality of modern politics and that trying to win elections by rejecting this formula is a death blow for any wannabe candidate who seeks elected office on a populist message based on the will of the people as exercised through grass roots activism. Accepting this, though, means that you don’t believe that the Palin model is doable with the right amount of effort and support, nor do you believe that the fight by regular people to have a say is worthwhile.

Even worse, accepting the electoral model status quo means accepting the systemic problems that allowed socialism and progressivism to flourish in the first place. As long as the system favors the powerful over the little guy instead of balancing it for all, the pool of disenchanted poor and working class who respond to everything with knee jerk emotions will be a recruiting haven for liberals, statists and socialists.

For decades, Americans have sat at the broken red light waiting for someone else to fix it. When Palin decided that she would run that light and millions followed her, the notion of “sheep no more” was born.

Just as frustrated motorists will all join in running the broken red light as soon as the front guy goes, so will frustrated citizens join a political movement that aims to buck the status quo if there is a trustworthy leader with the right support to follow.

The establishment has become like those cars that won’t run the light and we poor saps who get stuck behind a bad nominee will end up having to lay on the horn for another four years until either Palin runs next time around or someone else realizes that neither Obama nor an establishment Republican is willing or able to fix it.

"Unless there is a radical change in policy -- implemented by a new president -- the US may be transformed into an Europeanized business model that saps entrepreneurship and shifts the ownership of wealth from the ordinary citizen to oligarchs in industry and banking like the cabals who pull the strings in the EU," Bernie Reeves writes at American Thinker.

The Republicans have alienated a large voting bloc by being silent or even complicit in their criticism of Palin for running that metaphorical red light. They should be capturing that enthusiasm and bottling it for future electoral victories. My late father said “the older you get the dumber you get.” How the Republican Party mutated into the party it is today, especially after Ronald Reagan invigorated it and handed it a new generation of voters, leads me to believe that my dad was right.

Despite whatever reason Palin decided not to run (whether it be for the security of her family or simply because she feels she can make more money while being more successful effecting change as a private citizen), there surely was no encouragement for her to decide the other way coming from the Republican establishment. Rather than go to Wasilla, they went to Trenton instead. They chose to shun her and fear her rather than to embrace her as the catalyst necessary for reviving the party and bringing in new members.

If everyone, including the party establishment, got behind her early on and stood up for her, she may have felt more of the calling. Instead, she may be thinking "why bother" knowing that she would be out there swinging in the breeze if she had run and won the nomination in a party that continues to be hostile to her. If they really knew how big of a voting bloc they were ignoring, they wouldn’t have insulted our intelligence by treating her and her followers like they were lightweights.

It wouldn’t be fair to blame the Republican Party outright for Palin’s decision to not run. It was her decision after all. But, it’s not unreasonable to blame the Republican Party for their absence while her supporters and the more fair minded (many of whom vote Republican) were out there defending her.

It’s fair to be critical of the party for not being more encouraging toward her and for not working harder on creating a political environment where more people like her feel more confident about running for political office. Maybe by not running, she will end up being more effective in bringing about change when her absence in the race makes the Republican Partys’ heart grow fonder and they realize that without her there, the RINO dishes keep piling up in the political sink and the conservative ones are still spotty.

We must understand first and foremost that the progressive movement has flourished for decades in an environment created by crony Republicans whose only real difference with the Democrat Party is that they prefer crony capitalism over crony socialism. For them it’s not about big government versus small government; it’s about who gets to run the government. While the center right cronies exchange power back and forth with the center left cronies each election cycle, “we the people” get left holding the bag even though it’s “we the people” who they keep getting to pull the levers or press the touch screens for them.

The days of just waltzing into the voting booth and voting Republican may be over if serious changes are not made in regards to what the Republican Party really stands for and the types of leaders it really wants to support. We may have to pull that lever this one last time just to get rid of Obama, but once Obama’s gone it has to be time for a serious discussion about whether the GOP wants to return to just business as usual without the socialism or if in fact they can be serious about executing the will of “we the people.”

We can believe all we want in small government and individual empowerment and responsibility. But, until we reform the GOP and assume the power necessary to effect change within the party, we will never be able to reform Washington and assume the power necessary to effect change within our government.

It's "we the people" who should be able to decide who our nominee is and which direction the Republican party should go. This means challenging the establishment and reforming the party in such a way that it can embrace candidates like Palin instead of allowing them to feel like their family’s security is at stake or that the shackles of running for office outweigh the freedom of earning money on the open market. There is only so much crap even deeply committed patriots are willing to put up with before they say no to running. As a result, we get leaders with glitches instead of leaders with principles.

Some see the GOP as a party of the circular firing squad. Others see it as a party of blue bloods who keep shooting themselves in the feet to prevent themselves from running toward a more non-conventional candidate who just happens to have her pulse on the real feelings and desired direction of the American people. Because of this, we will once again go through the exercise of nominating someone who bores us to death but who is less of a statist than the other guy.

There’s a reason why the party establishment fears reform candidates like Palin or refuses to give “we the people” the appropriate say. All the big money that goes into funding the supposedly pro-capitalism party comes from people who are afraid that they can’t succeed without having their hand on the till in one way or another. They build their crony networks which in turn corrupts the capitalist system because they operate under the assumption that you can’t beat city hall. If they won’t allow people like Palin to change this, they will be right in their self-fulfilling manifestation of why it has to be that way.

Let’s face it. If you try to build a business on your own these days you either have to grease the system or beat it in order to be successful. Try beating the Federal government’s regulatory agencies, the IRS and the EPA and tell me whether or not it’s easier to just divvy up with the boys. You can understand why cronies do it. You just can’t understand why they won’t fix it. Therein lies the frustration and the finger pointing. The cronies are too comfortable to change and the American people are growing impatient with their being intransient.

The Founding Fathers would be beside themselves with grief if they were here now to see how badly our system of government has deviated from their intentions. The system that is supposed to be working with us now works against us. Many of us know that if it was the way they intended it to be, we’d be free and prosperous. That’s worth fighting for. That’s worth building a movement around. The call for restoration and renewal is not a slogan. It’s a clarion call for a political party that would like to be able to win elections again with the support of the people rather than with contempt for the people.

Socialism doesn’t work. It doesn’t have a source renewable revenue source. It drains from the rich and then collapses when the rich are no more. Crony capitalism doesn’t work. It keeps the wealth and power in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. Cronyism is born of cynicism. So is socialism. Some become exclusive members of the system and some work to collapse it. There is another alternative: fix it, renew it and restore it. This is where “we the people” come in. This is the alternative the Republican Party needs to offer if it is to avoid going the way of the Whigs.

Limited government, personal responsibility, a strong family unit, a belief in God and free market capitalism will work only if people are willing to stand up for it the way Sarah Palin has been standing up for it. There are millions of us out there. The idea that we can grow wealth across along socioeconomic lines in a free market economy is not a fantasy. A rising tide will lift all boats. Sarah Palin tells us that sudden and relentless reform is the only way to make this happen.

By not embracing this sudden and relentless reform, the Republican Party acts against its own best long term interests. Sarah Palin and her ideas are a meal ticket for the Republican Party. Her base would be an instant source of membership growth, if only the party would listen. Imagine how great the Republican Party would be if it embraced its Reagan roots and was in sync with Palin in fighting for energy independence, smaller government and an end to crony capitalism.

Everyone keeps bringing up Sarah Palin as a possible third party candidate. You want to know why? She is a third party. Her movement is big enough to put real numbers on the board had she decided to run that way. But she’s smart and she’s patriotic. She would rather give the Republican Party more time to reform itself appropriately than hand the election to Obama by splitting the vote.

Only time will tell where the Republican Party will go following Palin’s withdrawal from the race. Had there been a better candidate or even a comparable alternative, her supporters would have flocked to that candidate by now in much the same way Reagan supporters flocked to her in 2008. “We the people” know what we want and whether it’s Palin or someone who represents what she does, that’s the candidate “we the people” are looking for.

With her absent from the Republican field, we are getting to see a lot more about the current state of the GOP. Although she is still out there fighting for the cause, you can tell that by not having her plank in the race, the structure is weakened. What we’re not hearing in the debates from that 9th podium behind which stands no candidate is louder than what we are hearing from the other 8. The GOP establishment might have been scared of the spider, but they may just find out that there a lot more bugs now that the spider is not there.

The Naked Communist

2011-10-12T22:17:00.000-04:00

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, many wondered how it was possible that America could actually elect a radical progressive to the presidency. But for those of us who have been studying politics for a long time, the only thing that was surprising about it was how wide out in the open the progressive and socialist movements were as soon as Obama had captured the attention of an adoring public and as soon as it was evident that the media was going to go along.

Since the turn of the last century, the progressive and socialist movements have operated under cover. They weaved themselves into what appeared to be more mainstream causes like the labor movement, the environmental movement and the peace movement. Their intention from the very beginning was to infiltrate the institutions, the culture, the academia, the government and the media. Slowly and methodically, progressives gained powerful positions in journalism, in universities and in elected office.

Bill Steiger-wald of the Tribune Review published an interview with David Horowitz, who wrote the book The Shadow Party with Richard Poe. "What they want is a form of socialism," Horowitz said. "They don’t articulate it as such, but if you read their statements and as we show in the book, their agenda really is socialist." The Shadow Party was funded by George Soros and has been in operation since prior to 2004.

It goes beyond that, though. During the 1960's, the radical movement led by Saul Alinsky was designed to marginalize normalcy. The bedrocks of our society such as the family and the belief in God came under attack by progressives and radicals just as the anti-war hippie movement was ratcheting up. The ability to get young people to question their religious and social beliefs led to an acceptance among those in the counter-culture of alternative lifestyles. Despite their pleas for fairness, the goal was not to gain acceptance for alternative lifestyles, but rather for alternative lifestyles to gain prominence over conventional lifestyles. It wasn't enough to be tolerant of alternative lifestyles; it was more important to despise traditional lifestyles.

Originally, progressives would have continued their burrowing underground which was already weakening the surface soil of our cultural and political lives had Hillary Clinton gone on to win the nomination in 2008. The movement's strategy can be likened to the question "how do you boil a frog?" The answer: slowly, so that the frog doesn't realize it and jump out of the pot.

Barack Obama was a lightning bolt to the progressive movement. He brought a level of excitement that the Left had never seen before. His presidential candidacy was on fire and people were hanging on his every word. The liberals' political messiah had arrived and the moment could not be wasted. In their excitement, socialists and progressives saw the Obama movement as the legitimizer.

Once Barack Obama was able to confront Joe the Plumber with "don't you think the wealth needs to be redistributed?" and there was no blow back, the closets were opened and the commies all came pouring out. They were openly socialist now. There was no longer a need to window dress it in liberal speak. The progressive movement became so excited that in their premature infatuation with Obama, they shot the works rather than continue their patient pursuit of socialism.

So while many in the Republican party and the conservative movement continued to believe that the silent majority, the grown ups if you will, would always outnumber the freaks, the undercurrent was eroding the political ground underneath them. The radicals had spent decades working for their moment and they thought they got it in 2008 when Barack Obama beat a gentile John McCain and a muzzled Sarah Palin. The conventional thought even in that election was to take the high road and the American people would ultimately vote for the grown ups.

It didn't happen this time.

Suddenly, the conservative movement was forced to wake up and confront what was really happening. In their excitement, the Left turned the heat up too quickly on the frog. Conservatives figured it out. They learned the Alinsky rules for radicals. They read the opponent's playbook and put themselves on equal footing again so that they could take them on and beat them at their own game. The emergence of the Breitbart "Big" sites, the rise in the number of conservative blogs and websites and the use of new media like Facebook and Twitter became the method by which the Right would now be able to more effectively take on the Left.

The Tea Party became the movement that would push back on the Shadow Party and the progressive movement. Ordinary citizens who were now properly alarmed by what these sinister leftists were up to got off their couches and took to rallies and town hall meetings across the country. The frog had jumped out of the pot.

Now that we know how it happened and why it still happens, we can work toward defeating it. It's important for everyone to know that there are deep roots to this movement. Everyone needs to watch the video at Voting American. It will open your eyes. It's not conspiracy theory and it's not alarmist. It's based on information gathered by a man who attended a communist meeting over 15 years ago. The video explains how the communist goals, first discovered by Cloen Skousen who wrote "The Naked Communist" in 1958 were being achieved.

CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

It's pretty frightening when you realize how many of these goals have already been achieved.

The goal of attaining a socialist new world order requires undermining and collapsing the American system. The first step is to fundamentally transform America into a European social style democracy. The European model is characterized by a society where roughly half the people pay into the system and the other half take from the system. Considering that nearly half of all Americans now pay no income tax, you could say they probably have already achieved this first goal.