The Southern Politic

THE FAILED GENERATION

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:38:00 +0000

As this week has seemed to be a retrospective of the sixties with the remembrance of Dr. King bringing about a broader discussion of where America is compared to that era. The time has come to call out the baby boomers as a group for what they were and are today.

This generation of American's was born after ww2 when a group of the greatest generation of American's came back from the war of wars. These heroes of ww2 came back with the dreams of building a better life for a new family and to live in peace. They worked as hard at this as they had in defeating the Japanese and Germans. As a result the golden era of the fifties produced a generation of young people born to a higher standard of living than had ever been seen in this country. They were treated to more stable food supply and better living enviroments than any generation before. The parents(ww2 heroes) had indeed accomplished the great American dream of providing more than they were provided in their youth. So what does this generation that has been born into this do? Do they use the ability to think about the continued social problems in the country and work to gain a workable solution? Do they use the freedom from poverty given to them by their parents to work harder at educating themselves in such a way as to move the American dream into more inaccesable parts of society? Do they create new ways to enrich themselves? Do they development new ways to get people jobs and raise the standard of living for the whole of America?
NO!!!!! WHAT THEY DID WAS: TUNE IN, TURN ON, AND DROP OUT.
They became a generation that did nothing but complain about everything without working towards a truly universal American experience. They spent all their time worrying only about themselves. Yeah they might have participated in peace demonstrations and the like but it was more in an effort to be around better drugs and girls than any other. They protested the things they didn't like, they didn't try to work within the system to try and change things because that would have required a little more effort than getting high and shouting. They didn't accomplish anything they tried but they didn't care because that wasn't the goal. The goal was to maintain this SanFrancisco spirit of counter-culture and solving these problems would mean nothing left to protest.
The more I write about this generation the more obvious their selfishness becomes. This generation has failed in every way but the worst way is the way they failed their parents. Now I am not saying that it is a child's duty to make their parents proud but one would think that of all the sacrifice the generation of the fourties had poured into America the most appreciative would be their own children. But alas this is the group that least appreciated it because they were to selfish to even recognize what had been handed to them on a silver platter. They felt as though they were entitled to it without recognizing the sacrifice given.
Flash forward 40 years and look at what we have today. They are the politicians who complain about everything. The Dems are the repository of flower power and they can not help but act the same way they acted fourty years ago. They don't want to solve problems because that makes them obsolete. They shout down opposition voices today just like they shouted down pro-war students of the vietnam era. They are still the most selfsish of generations this nation has ever produced.

Now it is time for me to say one final thing and understand when I say this that I know that not all of this generation was those from above. But most were. The best thing is that the first of this generation is now reaching retirement, and although I am sure their selfishness and sense of entitlement will manifest itself in the bankruptcy of social security, the upside is, this generation will soon die out and maybe, just maybe we can finally remove their blight on America and truly move forward towards a universal American dream. Without the complaining for the sake of complaining maybe we can begin to solve these fourty year old problems that this generation of the sixties has failed to do.

More Later......

Southern Politic update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:31:00 +0000

I just posted a piece I started working on a few days ago. I have not been as prolific as I would like but I am pleased to welcome into my family my new son(2). He is a month old so you can guess where my prolificness ( sorry if that ain't a word) has gone.

Anyway I am back and will begin posting again in the very near future. Thank you for your patience and please keep reading.

More Later...

Eating the Young

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:58:00 +0000

My oh My what a wonderful thing this political season has turned out to be. Do you realize what we are watching here? History. This is a historical political season. No matter what, the Democratic party will either put a black or woman on the ticket as candidate. It is truly historical. Now that I have gotten all the obligatory praise out of the way let's really get down to it.

The Democrats are just about ready to implode. This party that has spent it's entire political capital for the last twenty years segregating voters into groups of victims, is beginning to reap what they have sewn.

The founding fathers argued that the true threat to democracy was not an external force but the development of factions. The ability to seperate the individual into a faction based on some external or internal conflict was the fear of all the founders. That is why they parsed power the way they did so that it would be almost impossible for a factional group to gain control of the government. The equal powers granted to each branch was not to keep watch on the other but to prevent the power grab of a faction.

The democrats have spent the last thirty or more years developing a factional party in order to drive a wedge between groups. This becomes beneficial to dem party power by being able to speak to each faction individually without a unifying theme. They can speak equally to the poor urban blacks and the liberal elite of the west coast even though these two groups have absolutely zero in common or have common goals for the nation. They do this by speaking the language of the group to which they are trying to appeal. The only way they can get away with this is to create a factional party with each faction looking out for their own interest.
Well guess what happens when you have one candidate speaking to some factions and another candidate speaking to other factions both effective in their own circle. You get exposed.

That is the most important result of this primary season. The democratic strategy of dividing the country along racial, economic, geographic, and any other way they could divide it in order to appeal to each group has come back to bite them in the buttocks.

What we are witnessing today is also the vapid reality that is the democratic party. I have yet to hear an original idea from any candidate. Obama wants change, well guess what, so did Lenin and Stalin and Hitler and Castro and Ho Chi Minh. Change is good but what does he want us to change in to. Well let's see what he believes in. According to his voting record we see two things,
1. He rarely voted, maybe rarely is a bit harsh, he didn't vote regularly.
2. The positions he actually took on the things he voted for was of a highly liberal one. He showed his true colors when he stood to be counted.

Clinton- Come on do I really need to go into all the wrong here. Let's just let this dog lie.

McCain- Not the most conservative Rep. but conservative in the right places. Military, and his lifelong position of opposing pork barrel spending which earns him his economic conservative stripes, tax cut flip-flop not withstanding. He is more willing to compromise on immigration issues than most conservatives would like but I say that this is what makes him a great general election candidate. Look people are looking for someone who can work across party lines in order to get things done. The president deals with big things, immigration, foreign policy, war and such so the next president needs to be able to build political capital within the opposition.
The only candidate who has consistently demonstrated to the public this ability it is McCain, much to the republicans shagrin. But that is the number one reason he will be the most attractive candidate in the fall that the republicans could have asked for.

Anyway, this will be a great political summer.

More Later...

Laying around in the Shade

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:19:00 +0000

It is the first weekend of The Southern Politic. I started this blog to help offer you a southern look at the world around us, especially the political world. This weekend I am beginning what will become a weekly(Friday-Saturday-Sunday) edition. This post will be a look at things besides politics. This will be my only excursion into the world of pop culture and I will continue to offer my opinion in a (hopefully) unique southern way.

'The title of this post will be "Laying around in the Shade", this is a reference to Charlie Daniels and his song "Long Haired Country Boy". If you don't know the song then you should be ashamed. If you do then you will get the next reference as well(think you oughtta go download this song yet?).

"Kinda like an ol blue tick hound" so these are the DOG DAYS postings:

For example:
Dog that don't hunt, means someone in the news has lied and I will tell you who.
Egg-Sucker, means a completely useless dog or person.
Mutt, don't act like a mutt or else
Best in Show, a good deed done
Flea Bag, a mutt with a funny story

Get the idea?
Well Here we Go!!!
Egg-Suckers:
Britney Spears -Bless her heart. She's pitiful.

Paris Hilton - Useless, Useless, Useless. She wouldn't even make a good lap dog since she apparently stays in heat all the time.

American Idol : Please just let this waste of time die!!!!

Dogs that don't hunt:
Elliot Spitzer : Duh! This guy did the one thing worse than using a call girl. He got caught.

Barak Obama : Come on! Like the scorpion said to the boy, "You knew I was poison when you picked me up" He had to know that Rev. Wright was going to be found at some point, he either thought it wouldn't be a big deal( makes me question his judgement if this is true) or he did. Either way his fumbling around for an answer to this question even after his eloquent speech has shown that he ain't as good at this as he thought he was. Take a lesson from Slick Willy.

The dog not in the Fight:

Newt Gingrich : Don't you know Newt is just sitting around kicking himself for not running this year. He may not have the most universal appeal but he would have walked away with the nomination for the Republican's. Now that would have been a great debate of ideas: Newt and Obama. Well maybe next time.

Bill Clinton : Even Bill is distancing himself from Hillary, an act he is good at. The tarnishing of the Clinton legacy is continuing and now he has even caused a rift between the african-american community. Remember at one point the african-american community call Clinton "the nations first black president". Oh, well. So much for that. Maybe he can go back to Harlem and work on his image by actually trying to help the african-american community.

Best in Show:

United States Military : As always! Thank you for all you do. As a veteran of Desert Storm I want all of you to know that those who understand what you are fighting for will always support you and I know it's more about the guy next to you than anything else. ALL THE WAY!!!

Ashlee Dupre : The Spitzer girl is now a millionaire. And who says crime doesn't pay. Welcome to the Blue Tick Hound Club. Now all you have to do is Lay around in Shade.

Well that is this week's dog days.

More Later........

Democrats Use Higher Taxes to Slow Economy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:27:00 +0000

I was reading a story today at Fox News about a democratic congressman introducing a tax on gasoline. Read it here http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,339589,00.html

I wanted to spend a few moments talking about the hidden meaning of this and how it really shows that the Dem's understand more about tax policy than most Republicans give them credit for.

For years now we have heard that the Bush tax cuts are hurting America. Let's analyze that statement for a moment. Are these tax cuts hurting America or the American Government. You see these are two completely different things and until we realize that then we will continue to be fooled by the rhetoric of the left.

The federal government is an entity which produces nothing and makes no profit. It is by definition a non-profit organization, as are most governments except for socialism,communism and dictatorship. These other governments are designed to both draw all resources from the economy and redistribute them back out as dictated by the government. That is not what happens in a Republic. In a republic we choose how that money is spent by granting our approval at the ballot box.

The dems are complaining that these tax cuts hurt America and that we should repeal them to make things right. Well if tax cuts hurt America then why did this dem propose a tax increase as a form of punishment to induce less driving.

They are showing their true colors, because they understand that tax increases hurt American's but they don't care. They believe that they are a better steward of your money so they should dictate the collection and redistribution of the economic bounty. Sounds a lot like the other governments mentioned earlier doesn't it.

Folks let me tell you, the dems believe in the welfare of the government apparatus much more than they believe in the American people. If they didn't they wouldn't try to seperate American's into groups: rich/poor, black/white, christian/free thinker, good people/republicans, you get the idea.

I'll be dipped in sugar and called a doughnut before I believe one word that comes out of the dem party that has anything to do about trust in the American people. They don't!!!

More later.....

A War Unlike any Other

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:38:00 +0000

As we sit here on the anniversary of our invasion of Iraq it is time to reflect on the effects and causes that are being debated today.

Let me start by saying right off that the war in Iraq is completely right and we should do whatever it takes to insure a succesful outcome and bring a stable democratic government to Iraq.

Iraq is of course part of a larger global war on terrorism. Let's look at that for a moment. On 9/11 the US was attacked, not by a nation but by an ideology. We weren't attacked by random terrorists with a limited agenda. We were not attacked by a small isolated group who saw 9/11 as a culmination of events. We were attacked by a worldwide organization that has sworn to bring about a theocratic world government. The radical Islamists are not a small group and they are not swayed by concession or recognition. They are not attempting to have a world voice, or a recognized state. They are after nothing less than the total conversion of the world to their form of Islam. If they can not achieve conversion then it is totally acceptable to them to eliminate(KILL) those who would oppose them. They will never surrender and come to the peace table for talks. They do not accept any terms other than those they dictate.

Anyone who doesn't believe that is simply stupid. STUPID!!!!!!

How do you combat an enemy like that? With Germany in ww2 the solution was complete destruction of the German lands and the execution of all of the leaders of the Nazi party. With Japan we had to resort to nuclear weapons to finally break their back. None of these adversaries were as committed nor widespread as the enemy we face today.

The only way to defeat this enemy is to change the ideology. That is not an easy task. How do you do that?

If you wanted to change the ideology of a nation you would infiltrate and deliver propoganda to undermine the government. Much like part of the way we helped defeat communism during the cold war.

You could also embargo and isolate much like we have tried with Cuba. This track is much longer and not completely succesful if you have a dynamic leader who keeps his nation isolated himself.

You could also attack and defeat the nation and impose your own form of government and enforce it with arms. This worked in Japan and partly in Germany.This is the attempt in Iraq but we are not looking for the same results.

In Iraq we are looking for multiple outcomes.

1.To establish Iraq as a democracy. This is completely an internal objective which is an attempt to rid the world of the thorn that was Saddam.

2. To establish a succesful democracy in the Middle East. This is a much more important objective. This is the ideology changing strategy that makes Iraq so important to the greater war.

In order to establish a change in the Middle East, we must establish a presence.
The fact that people can get online and espouse whatever hate speech or dissension or support that they want to is a freedom that most Americans take for granted. The freedom to dissent is one that is defended with the "blood of patriots" and ensures the survival of our way of life.
This freedom is not granted by government but by God and it is the people's job to insure that these God-given freedoms are protected around the world.
If we want to change the ideology of the radical Islamist we have to eliminated their seed corn. We have to offer something different to those disaffected that flock to the radical movement.
Here is where Iraq becomes important.
The establishment of a thriving democracy that includes all people without regard to religion is something that will resonate throughout the world if we are succesful. Iraq can be that example of democracy that offers hope to the hopeless, freedom to the oppressed and opportunity to the disenfranchised. If we only have the resolve to see this mission through.
Germany took 20 years to completely lose all remnants of its Aryan ideology within its government. The mission in Iraq is more important.

Let us not forget that we are changing the world. It ain't easy.

More Later....

Barak Obama:Rising from the Ashes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:16:00 +0000

A few days ago I had written off Obama because of the flack caused over his preacher. As I sit this morning watching his speech to answer these questions I am again amazed at his ability to reach the right notes and strike the right tone.
When he was the keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention, I saw someone who had a way with words that was as impressive as any who had come before. Now don't get me wrong, Obama is a left wing liberal who would move towards a greater socialistic society if given the chance. But when Reagan was elected he managed to bring in votes from people who would never agree to the idealogical positions he held. Reagan spoke to people not at them, Obama has the same ability.
Obama started his speech with the perfuncatory denuciation of Rev. Wright without his past attempt to explain it away. He moved the speech forward to an embrace of America and used his own life story to show that he believes that America does offer opportunity to everyone. By the end of the speech he had gotten back on message and reframed his debate as a way to heal the divide between white and black.
Obama has risen above the fray of this incident.

Although Obama is wrong on the war, whether he is naive about world events or he just doesn't like war, he is wrong. The Iraq war is seminal to the safety of America. Obama has made his case and he is much more a worthy opponent than Clinton. This debate between McCain and Obama should make for historic campaigning much like the Lincoln/Douglas debates of 150 years ago. Just remember thatLincoln was the Republican.

More later......

John McCain and the Conservatives

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:44:00 +0000

Throughout this primary season the debate among Republicans has been who is the true banner carrier of the Reagan Revolution. It has been interesting to hear the debate because the real debate among conservatives should be who is the banner carrier of the Republican Revolution of 94. It is this segment of the Republican party who has been the most vocal but the most unrealistic in their desires.

Reagan ushered in an era of government effectiveness, not government reduction. Reagan did not abolish the Dept of Ed., he did not reduce entitlement programs and he did not kick out the illegal immigrants. Reagan did lower the absurdly high tax levels, he did rebuild America to a major power after Carter's attempted socialism of the nation, he did raise the military to the point where it is today because he would not compromise on his military budget.

Reagan was not what the foggy memory of those who espouse him to be. He granted amnesty to illegals, he approved expansion of social programs(although he did it as part of the deal with Tip O'neal to raise the Pentagon budget).

Even Reagan was not Reaganesque. I heard that somewhere but can't remember where, maybe Bill Kristol.

That brings us to John McCain. McCain has shown throughout his political career that he is able to cobble together effective coalitions of both sides in order to achieve his legislation. He has always been against pork barrel spending and he is the strongest hawk that has come along in a very very long time. He is more military minded than any potential president since Reagan and he understands the importance of keeping America safe through strength.

McCain may not be the ideal of the right but he is a conservative. Because he doesn't march in lock step with the far right he is as villified as Joe Leiberman on the left.
Reagan did not march lock step with the right, he was the one giving the marching orders.
Reagan was a true leader, McCain has those same qualities.

If the Republicans want someone who walks in time with the right wing of the party then they will miss a golden opportunity to expand the party. The Republicans could use this nomination to reach out to an entire new constituency, the disaffected and the disillusioned. Those who are unhappy with Washington make up a larger percentage than membership in the Republican and Democratic parties combined. Tap into that.

Let me close by saying that the time for change is here and we need to be very careful about what kind of change we want. Do we want change that strengthens America by not backing down to a fight. Do we want change that brings coalitions together from both sides in order get things done.
Or do we want something else.

Just remember what my old Grandpappy used to say, "God gives every bird his food, he just don't throw it in the nest".

Until next time....

Southern Days

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Just a quick post to say "It is a beautiful day."

I was sitting outside this morning drinking a cup of coffee, the breeze was blowing and a bright sun was rising in the sky. I was watching the squirrels enjoying the morning and it dawned on me that I was just sitting there smiling.

Go outside today and enjoy it if you are able. If not, open a window and let the breeze in.
After the rough weather we have had the last few days in the south, today is a welcome change.

I will return this evening with a more appropriate postconcerning the historic events in New York State today and other bits of politics we need to take a look at.

Until then, enjoy the day.

The Mortgage Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:43:00 +0000

About ten years ago the Federal Government changed the rules about banking and insurance and a host of other financial services and who could offer them to consumers. The intention of this was to allow a variety of financial services from a single provider so you could easily bank, and insure and invest all from the same entity.

Here we are ten years later suffering from what always happens when Washington has a good idea.

THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Washington is the master of not seeing the results of what they do. They have ignored their own complicity in this current crises by blaming both consumers and banks(mortgage holders) without realizing that the biggest problem is the de-regularization of the financial industry.

Now I am a conservative so I have to pray at the alter of less government regulation, but in this case the regulation would have saved both the national government and the nation vast sums of money.

By making it open market to offer mortgages the government in effect turned its back on its own regulatory responsibility simply because it became to vast to regulate. The market became flooded with less than reputable mortgage lenders because the investment community was able to subsidize mortgages as an investment tool. The term special investment vehicle(siv) was invented as a way to package mortgages together as a single investment instrument which could then be sold on the open market as a package. The problem with this is that homeowners don't operate as a single group. Once one of these mortgages that are packaged into an investment SIV is defaulted on the problem effects every other mortgage in that SIV. If a single mortgage is bought and sold on the open market you have a direct line of ownership of the debt and recourse to collect from defaulted homeowners. IF the mortgage is part of a package that is bought and sold incrementally on the open market then it becomes less of a direct line of ownership and more like a shotgun blast with multiple pellets of ownership being spread across the investment spectrum. When one loan defaults, it is defaulted throughout all owners of the SIV. Since the SIV is owned by multiple sources as an investment then nobody really knows who is the actual holder of the debt.

If you are not completely confused by this point then you should probably work for NASA or something because this is the stupidest thing I have ever had to try and wrap my mind around.

Guess what, most of the government doesn't understand this either or they would not be calling for these massive bailouts. Listen if we bailout these people who bought more house than they should because of the low initial payment the problem won't go away. It will just kick the can down the road because eventually these chickens will come home to roost.
I don't want to sound like I have no compassion because I do, but we need to let these mortgages
foreclose. Most of the people who will lose their homes will hurt but as the good Book says, This too shall pass.

If the government wants to help these people then offer them a reduced living voucher to move to a rental property and provide credit management services. Something proactive to move their lives forward. Don't do something stupid and freeze interest rates on mortgages or freeze payments. This will result in not only postponing the problem but it will drive the investment market away from all types of real estate which will further erode consumer confidence as home prices continue to plummet. The market will react better to getting all this problem scraped away no matter how painful.

This post has given me a new idea.
I am going to create a new area called
THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Watch for it......

The Obama Preacher

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:35:00 +0000

I'll tell you what. That preacher sure did rile up a bunch of folks. I myself found it quite amusing. This is an obviously intelligent man who has used his God given talent to spread the Word.

I found a lot of what he said offensive but I also found a lot of what he said disturbing.

Disturbing because it made me think what is it that disconnects reality from politics. Rev. Wright obviously was speaking in a political capacity when he condemned US policy. He spoke in a political capacity when he condemned US action in WW2. All of these things are open for debate and there are those who have differing views from my own.

The part that made me pay attention was the 9/11 conspiracy rhetoric and the HIV genocide.

I will concede that Rev.Wright is not the first person to expouse this stuff but I began to wonder if this was a view of Rev.Wright's true feelings or if he had completely gone over to the side of politics and abandoned his theological message. Let's examine these two paths.

If this was a true representation of his feelings I go back to my original question of the seperation from reality.

Listen, the American Government has done a lot of things wrong throughout history, we ain't perfect. But let me ask you a couple of questions.

1. If the US Govt was capable of pulling off the 9/11 attacks and being able to effectively keep the entire effort from anyone then you have to look beyond the Bush administration for blame. An operation of that magnitude is not dreamed up and put into action in the period between march2001 and Sept2001. So if this was already in the works then you have to blame Clinton because he was in power long enough to put it all together. If Bush is so stupid and Clinton so smart then why are these conspiracy theorist so quick to give a Machiavellian intellect to Bush on only this one effort. Brilliantly played George.
The HIV argument is so historically inaccurate that it is almost laughable. Ignoring facts doesn't offer different truth, it just offers one the ability to say whatever they want without worrying about accuracy.
The one thing great about America is that you can say whatever you want without recourse from the Govt. But I will say that you can expect that the American people will react and decide whether this type of speech is rewarded.
This rhetoric also offers at least one answer to the question of "What was Michelle Obama thinking, when she caused such a flap?"
If she has been listening to Rev.Wright's view of America for twenty years then it is no wonder that she has not been proud of America in her life. Rev.Wright offered nothing but slander against America.

2. The entire set of soundbites was Rev.Wright using his influence and station to enter the political arena. That is the most likely idea because I watched the soundbites and Rev.Wright read most of the inflammatory remarks word for word from his notes, which means it was a carefully crafted, with each phrase chosen beforehand in order to illicit the most effective response. In other words it was a political speech. That is fine, but just remember that if you are going to claim a faith based pedestal, your feet get dirty when you step down in the mud of politics.

All of this fails to answer the biggest question, "Will this affect Barak Obama and his campaign?"

Well, yes!

I hate to say it but this was his Howard Dean moment. "Yeeeeeeeeeeh"

If the race becomes about race Obama loses. America is ready to elect a black president but they are not ready to elect a black president cut from the mold of aging civil rights activists.
Whether those activist from the 60's want to believe it or not, America is different today.
Race is not the centerpiece of the American struggle. We have moved past institutional segregation and the opportunities for advancement for all people is there. Just look at Sen.Obama and tell me that it isn't. Here is a black man, with a muslim name, who rose to having a legitimate shot at becoming president.

Racism still exists in people's hearts both black and white. You can not change that. That is also part of freedom of speech.

Welcome to Southern Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:18:00 +0000

I am a proud southerner. I know that term denotes to some a backwards, illiterate, inbred, racist. Obviously those who think that are not from the South.

Those of us who are from the south know different. Southern people have a way of life that is different from everyone else. We do not believe that this moment is the most important one ever, nor do we think that whatever trouble we have today will be with us tomorrow.

Southerners understand that life is more like a wide river, flowing slowly past beautiful landscapes and winding into remote places. We like to take the time to enjoy the view and we also know that when we run into troubled waters all we have to do is wait and the trouble will
pass by as we move further downstream.

The rest of ya'll worry too much and enjoy too little. It ain't about what you don't have, it's about what wonders life has given you.

As an introduction to this blog just let me say that the southern perspective on life will weigh heavily on our perspective on politics.

More to come.....