Whoa! We Are Republicans!

Whoa! Let me get this right. After Sunday morning, we now have a potential "Republican" candidate who is comfortable quoting the Italian dictator and ruthless fascist Benito Mussolini, one of Hitler's closest allies. Specifically, Trump retweeted a quote from the fascist dictator and said Sunday is comfortable being "affiliated" with that quote, and by implications the man. Winston Churchill must be turning in his grave. Along with many of our sacred Greatest Generation. Does history mean nothing?

We have a potential "Republican" candidate who has declared he will push to have the entire media, what we constitutionalists or believers in the First Amendment call a "free press," liable for inaccurate or uncomplimentary stories about a political candidate. In other words, he is content to give the president power to go after what he refers to as a "terrible" group, the folks who bring us the news, flawed as it often is. Benjamin Franklin must be turning in his grave. Does freedom of speech mean nothing?

We have a potential "Republican" candidate who is admittedly under scrutiny, being officially audited, by the Internal Revenue Service - and yet, even then, refuses to release his tax returns, or for that matter any prior audited tax returns that might illuminate why. Justice Scalia, Justice Rehnquist, and all our prior Attorneys General must be turning in their graves. Does truth and rule of law mean nothing?

And we have a potential "Republican" candidate who, pressed to prove the accuracy of prior claims by stating his gross income, effective tax rate, or even level of charitable contributions - refuses. And this against the backdrop of Veterans groups asking why they have not received promised contributions, after he called them to his side for a private, televised event in Iowa. Countless honest citizens and Veterans, now gone to their common rest, must be rolling in their graves. Does honor mean nothing?

Yes, the average lifelong Republican is entitled to begin asking - what is going on? I think even George Orwell, famous for his dystopian book 1984, might be asking - what is going on? I think perhaps the most poignant questions are these two: How can a man run for President of the United States who so clearly misunderstands, does not respect, or cannot comprehend the importance of our biggest rights, biggest issues and biggest responsibilities of that office? Even Chancy Gardner was a mere advisor of a naïve, shallow president - not the president himself.

And second, how can the common sense of average Americans - in whom I have always believed, as Jefferson and our Founders believed, be so adrift, so unanchored, so willing to be spoon-fed nonsense, to content to leave these statements - and what they portend - unexamined? How can they be so dozy as to imagine that the values being asserted are what America is about?

Understand this - neither Ronald Reagan nor any other modern conservative, of any stripe, no matter how frustrated with the size of our government, level of taxation and debt, fear for our country's security - would ever counsel throwing their lot in with Mussolini, or someone who did not understand what retweeting the fascist's quote means. Nor would they throw their lot in with someone who suggested shutting down the free press with lawsuits for bad stories, effectively eviscerating the First Amendment. Nor would they hide behind an audit to block Americans' seminal "right to know." Nor would they fail to answer fundamental questions about their basic finances, when that is the heart of a man's campaign to lead.

These ironies now go beyond comic, into the surreal. How little will we allow ourselves to think? Put differently, how much will we allow ourselves to be taken for the fool? How long will we permit ourselves to forgive, ignore, stonewall, and bury truth - in exchange for the pleasure of venting disapproval at Obama and go-along Republicans? I sincerely hope that we are at the end of our rant. I hope we collectively retain enough common sense to keep balance. I hope we still know how to honor basic constitutional rights - and the men and women who died keeping them alive for us. If we do not, we have given away the soul of the country.

If we have entered the twilight zone of disinterest in history, honesty, sanctity of free press, free speech and freedom's reign, then we are indeed in deeper trouble than I thought. We have begun to forget how precarious democracy is, how easily thrown away, how fragile the balance of powers, how permissive freedom must be to survive, how imperfect we all are - and why we tolerate each other's imperfections and imperfect government to preserve the Republic.

Republicans have always been proud of being responsible, genuine stewards of the Republic. How ironic, if we should suddenly become detractors who cripple the institutions we have sworn to protect and defend. Let us not do that. Let us think about this election, and vote with attention to the details. Let us pick a real constitutional conservative, someone who respects where we come from, what we stand for, how we treat each other, and how we have always lived. In a word, Whoa! Let us get this right.

The Immigration and Control Act of 1986 gave amnesty to 3 million illegal aliens and we were supposed to put a stop to illegal aliens entering our country. We haven’t.

Since that 1986 amnesty, we have not had a candidate make it through Super Tuesday that promised to deport illegal aliens. Both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have survived with the illegal alien problem high on their agenda despite the hatred by the GOP elite.

Too bad Cruz accused Trump of having connections with the mob today. The comments on Facebook has turned many people against Cruz.

Donald Trump is running in first place and Cruz is running in third with an amnesty and open border Marco Rubio running in second. Obviously the GOP does not represent us anymore. The Cruz Freepers are attacking Donald Trump like Democrats and I can’t listen to Mark Levin anymore.

Most of us don’t care about Trump’s tax return, we know the guy has an army of accountants and lawyers to isolate him from such mundane affairs. We have all heard Trump say he borrowed one million dollars and turned it into 10 billion dollars, Trump was a wealthy man when his father died in 1999, yet Ted Cruz, Freepers and the news keeps repeating Cruz’s position that Trump inherited his money.

The National Review came out with a headline that showed up on Facebook:
“Trump: Unlike Cruz, ‘I Have a Heart,’ I’ll Enact Universal Health Coverage”

Mark Levin reposted it on Facebook and has since then, done everything he can to discredit Donald Trump.

Trump did say “I have a heart”, he never said anything about supporting universal health coverage.

In the Texas debate, Marco Rubio gave his scripted speech on healthcare. It was a clear, concise speech that sounded like our old way of healthcare where insurance companies compete. Trump agreed 100 percent and added that he wants to include protection for people with pre-existing conditions and he wants to remove the barriers that prevent insurance companies from crossing state lines, both arguments that led to the creation of Obamacare.

While Cruz and Rubio come to the debates with prepared hit pieces on Donald Trump, Trump has off-the-cuff statements on issues not brought up by anyone else. When asked about man made global warming, Trump scoffed and blew it off as if it was a non-issue.

When asked about trade wars in the Texas debate, Trump said:

“Well, you know, I don’t mind trade wars when we’re losing $58 billion a year, you want to know the truth. We’re losing so much.”

“We’re losing so much with Mexico and China — with China, we’re losing $500 billion a year. And then people say, “don’t we want to trade?” I don’t mind trading, but I don’t want to lose $500 billion. I don’t want to lose $58 billion.”

It is Trump that says we are sending our companies and technology to Mexico and China.

When he was asked how he would cut $10 trillion over 10 years, but make sure the country isn’t saddled with even more debt?

TRUMP:
“Because the country will become a dynamic economy. We’ll be dynamic again. If you look at what’s going on, we have the highest taxes anywhere in the world. We pay more business tax, we pay more personal tax. We have the highest taxes in the world.”

“It’s shutting off our economy. It’s shutting off our country. We have trillions of dollars outside that we can’t get in. Yes, we will do my tax plan, and it will be great. We will have a dynamic economy again.”

“We’re going to make many cuts in business. We’re getting rid of — we’re going to get rid of so many different things. Department of Education — Common Core is out. We’re going local. Have to go local.”

“Environmental protection — we waste all of this money. We’re going to bring that back to the states. And we’re going to have other (inaudible) many things.”

“We are going to cut many of the agencies, we will balance our budget, and we will be dynamic again.”

BLITZER: Mr. Trump — Mr. Trump. If you eliminate completely the Department of Education, as you have proposed, that’s about $68 billion. If you eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, that’s about $8 billion. That’s about $76 billion for those two agencies.

The current deficit this year is $544 billion. Where are you going to come up with the money?

TRUMP:

“Waste, fraud and abuse all over the place. Waste, fraud and abuse.”

“You look at what’s happening with Social Security, you look — look at what’s happening with every agency — waste, fraud and abuse. We will cut so much, your head will spin.”

Trump: Unlike Cruz, ‘I Have a Heart,’ I’ll Enact Universal Health Coverage
In an interview this morning on This Week, Donald Trump cited his desire to “help people” as the reason he favors government-funded universal health coverage. Unlike Ted Cruz, Trump said, “I have a heart.”
http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalreview.com%2Fcorner%2F430549%2Ftrump-unlike-cruz-i-have-heart-ill-enact-universal-health-coverage&h=kAQHYlbpY&enc=AZO1a8RQ1OpTC2W3dSPS1UY2_saAeJjDvG171zCXnTG4dF1Mvcn7yfnpx_rWQBhPumBJgcAYZCao2qIwvshz5Xmu4KVtqFHWvqIb5FK9bymX2h8BHiV75x07oi2BSUL18K67M9Bu_GG6HHORwneBBl_BxEWBMCEz-jF-VBd0qTG0sWiOnsFdcD5UOkGgLgUDHWQ&s=1
nationalreview.com

George: You said that Ted Cruz is a liar, but you have said that everyone should be covered by healthcare and the governments going to pay for it. How is that not…

Trump:

I want people taken care of, I have a heart. I want people taken care of, if people have no money we have to help people. But that doesn’t mean single payer, it means that we have to help people. If somebody has no money and they’re lying in the middle of the street and they’re dying, I’m going to take care of that and get them back to health. We are going to work with our hospitals, we are going to work with our doctors. We have to do something.

You can’t have a small percentage of our economy because they are down and out, absolutely no protection so they end up dying from what you have you know you can have a simple procedure or a pill, we will work something out. That doesn’t mean single payer. I mean maybe he’s got no heart and if this means I lose an election, that’s fine.

We have to take care of the people in our country, we can’t let them die on the sidewalks of New York, or the sidewalks of Iowa, or anywhere else. So, that’s not single payer.

So as so far as Obamacare is concerned, one of the staples of my speech, you can ask any of my many supporters is to repeal and replace Obamacare. It’s a disaster, the premiums are going up 25 35 45 percent George you take a look at what’s going on with Obamacare is an outrage, it’s probably going to fail on its own. Unless the republicans renew it like they have been in 17, in 17 Obamacare is going to fail on its own, but a whole staple of my campaign is repeal and getting rid of Obamacare.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.