Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Romney's Good Ideas and Free Stuff for Votes

If the worst thing about the presidential election process is the un-ending and ceaseless barrage of campaign commercials, the second worst thing has got to be the weeks of Monday morning quarterbacking that go on after the election ends.

With today seeing the first White House press conference since summer, of course there was talk of the election, and how Our Great Leader, HRH Barack Hussein Obama, (Peace Be Upon Him) feels about Gov. Mitt Romney.  And then for some reason (probably to show they were covering both sides) our liberal media decided to share the contents of a conference call that Gov. Romney had with his top supporters.

HRH Obama, in his press conference today, said, "my hope is before the end of the year, though, that we have a chance to sit down and talk.  There are certain aspects of Gov. Romney's record and his ideas that I think would be very helpful."  This an absolutely amazing turnaround. During the campaign, Gov. Romney had no good ideas according to the Obama campaign.  In fact, it was Gov. Romney, who said he agreed with the President on some issues, particularly in the realm of foreign relations, and was blasted for it in the press.

Of course, with the President being so "bipartisan" and "magnanimous" the mainstream media could not resist participating in their favorite sport; spinning comments so Republicans look bad.

Gov. Romney commented during a "post-election conference call" with major donors, that some of the policies enacted by the administration appeared like "gifts" to help win young minority and low income voters.  From the New York Times:
“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.

“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”

Even the voters saw these policies and "gifts" as a reason to keep Obama in office.  A prime example of this was the YouTube video of the woman saying, vote for Obama because he gave us Obama phones and Romney will take them away.

At the GOP convention people like Sen. Rubio, Sen. Martinez, and Sen. Rice were showcased.  They all shared the same story.  They came from very humble and sometimes poor beginnings, but they worked hard, overcame adversity and made themselves into successes.

But prosperity that involves hard work is frowned upon by the left.  The left says, we will take care of you.  The government will fix your problems.  Besides, it's not your fault.  It's the rich guys fault.  We need to get at him and hit him in the wallet.  Vote for us so you can keep getting government handouts--like free healthcare, free cell phones, free Internet. Vote for us to "get revenge."

All this really shows is that Alexis de Tocqueville was right:
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.” 

If you offer someone YOUR cash for their vote, it is called "bribery".  If you offer someone OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY (TAX DOLLARS) for their vote, it is called "public policy."




Share/Save/Bookmark

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Going Viral- The Secession Petitions and the White House

I seriously doubt that when someone in the current administration thought of creating a place on the White House website for people to create a short petition, gather signatures and have the Administration respond, they ever dreamed that there would be petitions from the citizens of 42 of the 50 states, asking to leave the Union.  As of 7:00 pm (MST) there was a petition visible on the "We The People" page of the White House website for every State in the Union except Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Washington.

As a bit of background,  the "We The People" page allows people age 13 and over with a valid email address to create a petition (with at title no longer than 120 characters and text no longer than 800 characters) and post that petition for anyone with an account at the "We The People" site.

The "rules" of the site are fairly simple. After you create your petition, the site will assign a web address to the petition and provide it to you.   You can then send the link to your petition to anyone you like.  People may then go to your petition, click on the "sign this petition" button, and then they are presented with a link and additional buttons to share the petition by Twitter or Facebook.  After the petition gets 150 "signatures" the petition can be found by searching the "We The People" site.  Until the 150 signature threshold, the only way anyone will know about the petition is to be sent the direct link.   The petition has 30 days to receive 25,000 signatures.   If the petition receives 25,000 signatures within 30 days, the petition will be presented to a member of the White House Staff, and an Official Response will be posted by the White House (unless by doing so, there is a violation of law).

The Louisiana Petition was the first to be posted on November 7.  The petition is as follows:
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Peacefully grant the State of Louisiana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

As the founding fathers of the United States of America made clear in the Declaration of Independence in 1776:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." 
"...Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government..."

For the most part, the petitions for other States basically say the same thing, with the name of the State replaced.   And no, none of these petitions are binding, and the ONLY outcome that MIGHT result from the petitions, is that some person in the administration of  Our Great Leader, HRH Barack Hussein Obama (Peace Be Upon Him), might provide a polite response.

There are those that will say these petitions are just a waist of time--  except, they are a "message" to the White House of how unhappy people are.

And no, none of these petitions will result in a State being able to secede. To secede, Arizona, for example, would require acts of both Houses, the Governor, and likely a popular vote of the people to amend the Arizona Constitution-  and beyond that, there are the implications of Amendment 14, Section 3 of the Constitution.   Robert E. Lee was stripped of his rights under the 14th Amendment-  His rights were restored by a 2/3 vote of the Congress-- in 1976 (yes nineteen seventy six).

I do not believe that ANYONE takes these "petitions" seriously- as far as anything "happening" or a state actually being able to secede because of the petitions.  What those that are signing this petitions are really wanting is an HONEST, FRANK AND OPEN RESPONSE from the White House (not just something written by an intern who just got clearance to work in the White House yesterday).

I also think that people have found a way to vent their anger at the "government in general"-- the White House and the Congress.   People want to feel like they are heard, and these "petitions" are a good- maybe even healthy- way to express an opinion and "believe" that a White House staff member may actually look at the "petition."

Too many times, people feel that there is no way to communicate to their government on an individual level-- hence the popularity of the Town Halls.  People feel that unless you are a Lobbyist with a truck load of cash- or a person who can donate the "Federal maximum" to a campaign-- a member of the "Party Elite" (name the party-it is on both sides)-- or a member of the media- their voice, their opinions, their ideas do not matter- that no one will see or hear what they have to say.   This "viral movement" has given people a chance to feel like they can 'get the attention' of someone in power- and they are getting on Facebook and Twitter and telling their friends, and encouraging them to sign up and "click" to express their opinion.

However, deep down inside, I don't believe that more than a handful of people think that clicking on a button on a web site will have effect on the governing or laws of this nation.  IF people actually DO believe these petitions ARE going to result in secession, I believe that would actually be convinced it is time "education reform"-  starting with the curriculum for US History and US Government...

SECESSION PETITIONS  AND SIGNATURES AS OF 19:00 MST 11/13/2012
150 Signatures Required to View/25,000 in 30 Days for White House Response
(Some states have more than one petition. State names are to the petition with the highest number of signatures as of the time of this report.  No petition listed is more than 6 days old)


87,761
7,553
31,376
6,066
26,588
5,819
25,310
5,755
24,448
5,264
23,757
5,208
23,384
4,483
18,157
4,354
17,432
4,195
16,728
3,906
15,691
3,057
15,671
2,202
15,063
2,143
14,834
2,133
14,450
2,067
14,272
1,408
13,889
981
12,310
Connecticut
0
11,720
Hawaii
0
11,204
Iowa
0
10,775
Maine
0
9,596
Maryland
0
9,563
Massachusetts
0
8,591
Vermont
0
7,811
Washington
0


Share/Save/Bookmark