Posted on 04/13/2009 6:56:55 AM PDT by PlainOleAmerican
Ping
It's TEA TIME!!
We should form a new party and call it the Tea Party.
FTC...
First Things First
I will never understand why conservatives conceded control of their party to faux conservatives, but they did.
I will also never understand how conservatives lacked the will and power to take control of their own party, but think they have the will and power to build a new competitive party from the ground up, and control that party when they so clearly failed to control the GOP…
However, this is a moot point now. If they want any hope at all of stopping the current assault on their country, they will have to regroup and regain control of their party first. Time is of the essence. Every day that passes without taking this first step is another day that the left is able to advance, unchallenged.
The Patriots Top Priorities
As I see it, these should be the top priorities for patriots, once they regain control of their party.
Stop redefining “conservative.” Our nation’s Founders knew it only as, “Preservative; having power to preserve in a safe or entire state, or from loss, waste or injury.” This is the ONLY definition that matters.
So you are taking umbrage with my choice of words? I am as involved as a member of the commissioned service can be. I am forbidden from certain levels of service within a political party, but campaign for Republicans and am involved in letter writing to my elected officials as well as letters to newspapers. I cannot run for office while I hold a commission. My wife wishes me to run for office after retirement, but I am uncertain as to my chances in Virginia since I am an Arizona boy.
Thanks for your service... But I must say, your skin is a bit thin for a Marine???
I appreciate your thanks, though I truly do not deserve it. My Marines, on the other hand, do.
Oh, my skin is thick enough, but I have seen far too many postings that launch a broadside at the drop of a hat. My apologies if that is not your style, but you started off on a bad foot.
Back to the salient point, the GOP is sick. Whether it is terminal or not is yet to be determined. I have not given up on her yet, but the only way to get a viable party is to start at some time. Whether that is to reconstruct the existing party or to build a new one, will take time.
The only reason the 3rd parties that you allude to are unsuccessful is due in large part to the sad mentality of "I have always voted Republican".
Ping
For purpose of mailing tea bags to congress? Ha!
You’ve got a lot of nerve.
You touch on a point that I had heard years ago. That being Democrats do well with sound bites. Republicans are, in general, much more intellectual and require a thorough understanding of an issue.
Our party rarely does well in the media simply because we prefer to think thorough an issue as opposed to allowing our emotions to rule.
The answer to this is a tough nut to crack.
???? If the questions you mean refer to what ruined the GOP brand name, then it was when the neoconservatives took over Bush. I doubt that the GOP will write off it's obligations to them unless the GOP goes into bankruptcy and emerges as a third party without those obligations.
“some time ago the same polling company substituted the words Free Enterprise for Capitalism and got a much better response. Some times it is just the way you word things.” ~ bilhosty
Exactly. The word “capitalism” is actually a Marxist term. Read on:
January 21, 2009
The End of Capitalism?
Michael Miller
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles-2009/Miller-The-End-Of-Capitalism.php
Who would have imagined 20 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell and we celebrated the death of socialism that capitalism would begin 2009 under heavy fire. The Cardinal of Westminster, Cormack Murphy O’Connor, reportedly went so far as to say that, as 1989 marked the end communism, 2008 was the year when “capitalism had died.”
What are we to make of capitalism in light of all the crises, fraud, and government intervention, when even some traditional supporters of markets are supporting bailouts and seem to have lost faith in the market order? Is capitalism no longer credible? Is capitalism really to blame for the financial woes we now face?
Before we try to answer this question, it is important to point out that the word “capitalism” is actually a Marxist term, and while we use it interchangeably with “market economy,” the Marxist view of capitalism surprisingly still shapes the way we tend to understand economics. The term capitalism gives the impression that the market is something out there: a nebulous force which can create great wealth but can also turn and harm us. This impersonal understanding can lead us to blame markets when things go wrong instead of looking for reasons that are harder to diagnose and often reveal deeper cultural and spiritual issues.
Pope John Paul II specifically rejected the term capitalism and its mechanistic, amoral, and impersonal image, preferring instead “market economy,” “business economy,” or “free economy.” He did so not to be pedantic, but to illustrate the important truth that markets are fundamentally networks of human relationships. Understanding markets this way sheds light not only on many economic problems, but also on the underlying moral nature of markets. If markets are intrinsically connected to human action then they necessarily have a moral dimension. Capitalism as seen by Marxists, or even within neo-classical mathematical models, separates markets from moralityand thus from reality. This, as we have seen, can have disastrous consequences.
Markets are the combined activities of millions of individuals and families. They are not composed merely of some guys on Wall Street; they are made up by us. Like anything else run by humans, markets are not perfect and can fail. If we become overly speculative and convinced that prices can go nowhere but up so that we violate all norms of prudence and keep buying at outlandish pricesas happened in the Tulip Bubble in 1637 the dot.com bubble in 2000 and the housing bubble last yearsooner or later reality will set in.
Despite their failures however, free markets have lifted more people out of poverty and helped create prosperity and peace better than any system ever devised. So much so that even in today’s financial downturn, as hard as it may be, very few people who live in mature market economies are completely without resources or on the brink of starvation. Notice that markets are often blamed for the downturns, yet we tend to forget the cause of the upturn.
In these days of financial turmoil, we often hear critics speaking about de-regulation or “unbridled capitalism.” Both of these are straw men. Unbridled capitalism is a myth. Try to think of one country where there are no regulations on the economy or business. For free markets to succeed and be sustainable, they require a framework built of rule of law, contracts, and secure property rights.
The real question is what kind of regulation and what level of intervention we should choose. It is important to remember that many of the contributing causes of this crisis were precisely an overly invasive government. Federal regulators required banks to provide mortgages to customers who could not pay back the loans; the Federal Reserve manipulated the money supply, exacerbating the housing boom; and politicians of all stripes promised bailouts that incentivized irresponsible behavior. These are prime examples of what Friedrich Hayek labeled “the fatal conceit”: the notion that bureaucrats and politicians have enough knowledge to plan an economy better than individuals and businesses.
At least on equal par with a juridical framework as a factor in sustaining market systems is a specific moral culture. This includes trust, diligence, collaboration, honesty, perseverance, and prudence. If this crisis has taught us anything, it is the importance of morality for a market economy. The list of the seven deadly sins comprises an outline of the crisis’s causes. How many of us out of greed, gluttony, or pride used credit cards to buy things we did not need or could not afford, just so we could have the latest gadget or keep up with the Joneses? What about Wall Street bankers who couldn’t resist the chance to make ever more and took imprudent risks with clients’ money, or out of pride bought financial instruments they hardly understood. Markets cannot succeed without a strong moral fabric among the citizenry.
Yet instead of learning the lessons of the past, we again hear calls for increased regulation and government involvement. Some regulation is necessary, but we must not look to regulation to solve our moral problems. Here is where the realization that markets are networks of human relationships is important.
If we regulate too much, we concentrate the power of markets in fewer and fewer hands. This has led to all sorts of evil and corruption. Socialist economies, cartels, oligarchies, and union-controlled industries where the price mechanism cannot function produce stagnation and create incentives for corruption. It is a false hope to believe that regulation will make everything right. This is a utopian dream that ignores human failing and is the same promise that has been peddled by the socialists.
It is likewise delusional to believe that markets alone are enough. Markets require more than just efficiency; they require virtue. Our Founders taught us that without virtue political liberty could not long be sustained. The same holds true for economic liberty. And yet without economic liberty there can be no political liberty. Like liberty, the market must be moral, or it cannot exist at all.
Read the entire article on the Acton Institute website (new window will open). Reprinted with permission.
http://www.acton.org/commentary/499_end_of_capitalism.php
Recent articles by this author:
“The End of Capitalism?” http://www.acton.org/commentary/499_end_of_capitalism.php
January 21, 2009
“Hearts and Minds for the Poor” http://www.acton.org/commentary/436_hearts_minds_for_the_poor.php
March 5, 2008
“The Big Picture on Microfinance” http://www.acton.org/commentary/commentary416.php
November 28, 2007
“Does Fair Trade Help the Poor?” http://www.acton.org/commentary/commentary411.php
October 31, 2007
“Who’s Afraid of Free Trade?” http://www.acton.org/commentary/commentary408.php
October 17, 2007
Actually, I’m just trying to fire you up a bit. It’s working...
“Back to the salient point, the GOP is sick.”
Indeed! The point is, if we lack the power to make it well, what makes you think we have the power to replace it, when there is NO evidence to support any such notion?
You bet!
Keep it up, funny man.
You are right. The only way for conservatives to regain power is through the Republican party.
Very true, maybe our greatest challenge...
REPEAL THE INCOME TAX
I first read the title I thought it read PIRATES MUST RECLAIM THE GOP....
No, I mean these questions you were in agreement with...
“What indications, if any, are there that say it won’t happen again? Why not put another party in its place?”
I thought they were rhetorical... until you agreed!
Or else?
Can we repeal the 17th that ended State Representation in DC at the same time?
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