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The Problem Isn't Republicans, It's The Hated View Of Republicans

EDITORIAL RANT

I was once asked by a news paper editor if I was a Republican, or a TEA partier.  I told him that I prefer to avoid labels because they are over-broad.  I am who I am, think what I want and try to have good reason for what I think always willing to be persuaded, if possible, where I am wrong.

As Emerson once said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."  I would emphasize the word "foolish" in that quote as I do not believe that there is anything inherently wrong in being consistently wise.

I know many people who are registered to vote under different banners who think very much alike on many issues.  The Republicans certainly have no special claim to the "right to life" issue, the "right to bear arms" issue, the right to be free from intrusive government regulations issue or many other issues that are of real concern to people regardless of their party registration.

But listen to the haters and you would think that all Republicans are evil.  Such thinking is over broad, over inclusive and born of a little mind.

Dea Riley, former candidate for Lieutenant Governor with the late Gatewood Galbraith recently posted this to her Facebook page:

Come on Dea.  Do you really think that all persons in the Republican Party openly embrace exclusion, elitism and social categorization?  That we are all radical fascists seeking to impose a specific ideology/theology on everyone, embracing intrusion into individual rights?  That certainly doesn't define me, and neither does it define or describe many of the republicans I know. That is an insult.

But you are in good company.  MSNBC which has turned out to be the great hater of all things republican made up out of thin air a claim that "conservatives" hate bi-racial families. 

My God!  First of all there was no "conservative" backlash last year which the facts prove and which caused MSNBC to amend it's tweet to remove the word "conservative".  But that doesn't cure the problem.

The far left, the liberals in the democratic party and yes, even some of the TEA party liberals who are hiding out under the banner of "constitutional conservatives" hate republicans so much that they refuse to see that we are all individuals, with individual thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

As a republican I still believe in individual freedom, and that is because like our founders I believe that my life is a gift from God and that I am endowed by Him with inalienable rights.

As a republican I still believe that when a government fears the people there is hope for liberty, but when the people fear the government we have tyranny.

As a republican lawyer I defend the constitution every day, which on some days means that I defend the rights of people to do things, and say things with which I might personally disagree, but they have the right to do and say them.

And as a republican I have no compelling desire to see that we control people through a particular theology.  I am a Christian and my faith teaches me that I am to love my neighbor, introduce them to God when the chance arises, but recognize that they operate with free will and their choices are their own.  Do I want everybody to be a Baptist, or a Catholic, or a Methodist, or a Quaker or a Mormon or a Pentecostal?  Of course not.  As a Christian I would like everyone to know and accept Christ and I think the best way to do that is to live what I believe to the best of my ability and introduce them to each other.

But as an American, who believes that people should be free from government dictates as to whether and how they worship, I do oppose the goal of radical Islam to force the world to capitulate to their twisted worship of a pedophile prophet or be killed or enslaved.

And likewise I oppose any effort, by any person or group of persons to enslave people under any ideology, including the disgusting political game that addicts people to government hand outs, destroying their sense of self worth, de-incentivizing them to reach their full potential and thus enslaving them to the masters who they eventually think are the only ones who can provide for them.

The problem in this nation isn't republicans, it's the irrational, unsupportable, off the chart hatred OF republicans.  And THAT my friends is not an accident. 

Hating republicans is not the natural consequence of an honest study of history.  It is not the result of deductive reasoning.  Hating republicans is the cold and calculated strategy of those who wish to fundamentally transform America into the kind of nation our founders and thousands upon thousands of our best and brightest ever since have fought to prevent.

It is unfair to say that all democrats are far left liberals.  It is unfair to say that all republicans are cracker-assed racists.

We are all Americans.  We all have the right to want and pursue different paths to happiness.  But hatred of others is destructive.

You may assign to me a desire to run things by my theology, but only on this one point.  In my view, hatred has no place in America.  I would prefer that we love each other, and all people, as we love ourselves. 

If that was our guiding principle, I believe everything else would fall into place.

Has TEA Party Won The Battle Of Ideas In Washington?

POLITICO has a piece up on top of its website today that starts like this:

If this was a dud year in Washington, get ready for 2014 — the year to “go small.”

Lawmakers had already lost their appetite to “go big” this year, letting reforms of immigration, guns and the Tax Code slip away in the face of gridlock and dysfunction.

And now there’s a new problem. Lawmakers are reluctant to rely on the federal government to get anything done — a guilt-by-association consequence of Obamacare’s botched rollout. Republicans have called it an indictment of more than a website, but of Big Government itself.

While Democrats argue the problem is obstructionism — not ideology — the result will be the same: As Washington laments the end of a do-nothing year, lawmakers are fully prepared to do as little — or even less — in the new year.

“I think anything that has a significant expansion or role for the federal government is going to be problematic,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a top Republican message strategist, told POLITICO. “Because I just think there’s going to be such a cynicism and skepticism attached to any promises made with regard to the federal government’s role.”

Ron Paul, the Grand Poobah of the smaller is better ideology has been saying that the Republicans and Democrats are all the same, even saying on some occassions that they are all part of the same party.

Does this mean that his brand of governance which has usurped the TEA party movement has finally caught on?  The answer is no.

The reaction that POLITICO is predicting for 2014 is more a response to the ineffectiveness of the Obama administration and a growing uneasiness with what many used to dismiss, but now fear, are his nefarious plans for America.  In fact most of the anger and angst of the TEA party was born in reaction to Obama, has fed off of Obama's agenda and is still a reactionary movement rather than a pro-active one.

I saw this meme on Facebook sent out by a local TEA party group:

 

You have to ask yourself, what does this really say to people?  Is it some sort of rallying cry to keep the flames of discontent burning hotter than ever?

The phrase "More Constitution" means what exactly?  Lower taxes?  Taxes are undesirable no doubt, but they are certainly constitutional.  Does it mean more civil liberty?  We certainly have suffered in this area lately and numerous cases are working their way through the court system which ultimately decides, as the arbiter of these debates, what is and what is not constitutional.

How does this meme fit into the reality of political life?  What, no republican who wants more civil liberty and lower taxes can be trusted, and neither can any democrat?  Then who?  What other party is out there?  Aren't most of the TEA party candidates running as republicans?  And isn't it a fact that in places where they do, for the most part, they give democrats an added advantage of being able to run on their liberal agenda while republicans eat each other alive in primaries?

So just what does the observation of the POLITICO piece mean.  Has the TEA party won the battle of ideas in Washington?  Is there really some meaning to the concept of "More Constitution" that is controlling how elected officials act?

No, and no.

The fact is that even the proper role of government, as seen even by TEA party types, is considered dangerous territory.  Standing up in favor of building bridges and fixing roads, and repairing a half century or older infrastructure lights a match under the "big spender" accusers who have found a way, much like the protesters of the sixties did, to get attention in front of cameras and try to steer the policy of the nation.

Spend no money, collect no taxes, go to Washington, do nothing, dismantle the federal government, weaken our military, and withdraw into a kind of isolation that fools people into believing that the world will just leave us alone and allow us to prosper so long as we don't intervene in anybody else's business.

Foolhardy, reckless, ignorant thinking like this makes America vulnerable to the evil forces at work in the world.  If the worst happens it will be on the shoulders of those who failed to take charge in difficult times.  The blame will be squarely upon the heads of those who would give Israel over to the Palestinians, chemical weapons to Assad, control of Afghanistan to the drug cartels, who would remove border security and issue terms of engagement to our military that told them to stand up and take the first shot before firing back.

War is, as the saying goes, hell.  And hell is at our doorstep.  The last thing we need is a nation of bong hugging gamers driving the ship of state.

If the TEA party really wishes for an America that used to be, maybe they ought to be asking things like, where are the real men, the John Wayne's of our time, instead of asking that old time policy be implement by a bunch of impotent 'fraidy cats. 

Think about it.  America was strong, and stood up for itself in the days the Ron Paul folks wish they could return us to.  To get there might take a much tougher, rougher approach than the rally attending, flag-shirt wearing, malcontents and protesters can deliver on their own.

If a do nothing Congress is the result of a TEA party victory, then I think Merle might have asked the right question a long time ago: Are the good times really over for good?

 

John Kerry Traitor To Our Ally Israel?

John Kerry couldn't be expected to do anything other than act as a traitor to our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel now could he?  I mean, during the Viet Nam war he was a traitor to his own country, remember?

Now he is prepared to force a deal between the terrorist leaders of Palestine and the leaders of Israel that goes something like this:

US Secretary of State John Kerry will offer Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a political trade-off: Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state, in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, Palestinian sources told the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Sunday. [The Times Of Israel]

Now let's see, what would this mean that Israel give up?  Half of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, The Temple Mount, Old Jerusalem, and the tomb of Jesus Christ.

And just who is it that he will propose handing these things over to?

Hamas, the dominant Islamist movement in Palestine, deserves credit for this transformation of Palestinian society. It is a potent and dangerous threat to the very fabric of Palestinian society, and ultimately Israeli society as well. But Islamism cannot be seen as an isolated movement treatable with a local cure when, in fact, it is part of a global movement bent on uprooting existing regimes in the Middle East and replacing them with Islamist regimes. Born as the Palestinian offspring of the international Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas began as the Brotherhood’s vehicle to combat Israeli occupation in the outbreak of the intifadah. But it swiftly expanded, aspiring to drive the Jews out of all parts of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and replace the Zionist state with a Muslim theocracy...Each of these institutions became a vehicle for Hamas ideology indoctrination—to oppose secularism, to fight the cultural onslaught of the West, and above all, to wage military jihad against the enemies of Allah. It is these institutions that breed the violence and engineer public consent for terrorism within Palestinian society. [investigative project]

Oh and just in case you forgot who John Kerry used to be before his plastic surgery and time in relative obscurity after losing his race for the White House, here's a reminder.

 

So We Should Suddenly Trust Them On Iran?

As my father always taught me, if anyone lies to you ever, you can never trust anything they say in the future because you will never know when they might lie again.  After all the lies from the Obama administration, why should we trust what John Kerry says about the Iranian nuclear deal.  Answer: we shouldn't.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran will continue its nuclear enrichment program, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said after five days of marathon talks between Iran and the six world powers led to the endorsement of a deal early on Sunday.

“The (nuclear) program has been recognized and the Iranian people’s right to use the peaceful nuclear technology based on the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and as an inalienable right has been recognized and countries are necessitated not to create any obstacle on its way,” Zarif said in a press conference in Geneva on Sunday.

“The (nuclear) program will continue and all the sanctions and violations against the Iranian nation under the pretext of the nuclear program will be removed gradually,” he added.

He said the next six months will be a serious start towards “the full removal of all UN Security Council, unilateral and multilateral sanctions, while the country’s enrichment program will be maintained." "Production of 5-percent-enriched uranium will continue in the country similar the past,” Zarif continued.

“None of the enrichment centers will be closed and Fordo and Natanz will continue their work and the Arak heavy water program will continue in its present form and no material (enriched uranium stockpiles) will be taken out of the country and all the enriched materials will remain inside the country. The current sanctions will move towards decrease, no sanctions will be imposed and Iran’s financial resources will return,” he continued.

“I hope that we can reach the goals designed by the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) and constantly pursued by the Iranian nation with solidarity and sympathy and consensus," he said. [FARS]

And now it has been revealed that the USA was secretly meeting with Iran without telling our ally Israel.

So as you watch and listen to the Obama administration celebrate this "achievement" remember how many times they have lied to us in the past before you believe in the fairy tale this time.

Told Jah: TEA Party Leader Avowed Democrat

I've been trying to tell you for a long time now that the TEA party movement has been co-opted by those who see it as a vehicle by which to weaken the republican party and in turn eliminate the effective check on an otherwise runaway progressive shift in this nation.  If you read this blog, this should be no surprise:

A prominent Kentucky Tea Party leader [Wendy Caswell] who endorsed the Republican primary challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a registered Democrat who signed a pledge to support Democratic policies and principles while running for state representative in 2012.

While Caswell reportedly founded the Louisville Tea Party in 2009 and currently serves as its leader, public records raise questions about her political affiliations and recent intervention in the GOP primary.

Caswell is a registered Democrat, according to Kentucky State Board of Elections records. She ran as a Democrat in 2012 for state representative in the 42nd district, but lost the primary race.

“I, Wendy Caswell, do solemnly swear … that I am a registered Democrat voter in M121 precinct,” wrote Caswell in a handwritten Feb. 9, 2012 campaign filing, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“I believe in the principles of the Democratic Party, and intend to support its principles and policies,” the pledge continued. [Free Beacon]

Well, you might say, not all of the TEA party folks are infiltrators and saboteurs, and you would be right, but take a look at what TEA party leader John Kemper has to say about this shocking revelation:

And of course since there has been a dedicated effort by some, including Judge Napolitano who spoke in Boone County last week, to use the TEA party as a way to advance the libertarian agenda of those like Ron Paul, look what Libertarian Ken Moellman had to say about the article which exposed Ms. Caswell as a devoted democrat:

Wendy Caswell is a truly committed activist?  Well then, her sworn oath to support the Democrat party must be a really important expression of her loyalty and wouldn't her activism on its behalf be well served by supporting an opponent of the strongest republican leader in the nation, particularly if she could do it wearing the uniform of a "trusted conservative" ?

Again, I am certain that many people who are involved in the TEA party are very dedicated conservatives but they are being played by others.  Their desire to make the GOP more conservative should inspire them to support the GOP and work within it, not against it.

I've been warning you about such things for a long time now.  Be careful who is stirring your TEA.

Libertarian Muslims Infiltrating TEA Party To Help Spread Sharia Law

I've used this analogy many times before.  Do you remember the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?  In one scene the local sheriff has gathered a crowd of men around a platform trying to organize a posse.  After a while, a man in the crowd joins the sheriff on the platform and applauds the effort.

But then, before his very eyes, the man usurps the sheriff's effort at gathering a crowd and turns the discussion into a sales pitch for a new invention, the bicycle.  Pretty soon the entire crowd has lost interest in the sheriff's effort to get the bad guys and are enamored with the bicycle salesman.  The follow-up to that scene shows Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) riding around the house with Etta Place (Katharine Ross) on the handle bars to the sounds of B.J. Thomas singing Burt Bacharach's "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."

I believe that the modern TEA party followed a similar incarnation.  A few good people gathered a crowd in order to go get the bad guys, the democrats who controlled Congress and gave us the Bailouts and the Stimulus Packages and who controlled both houses of Congress which was in lock step with a far left progressive President.

But soon, having gathered a crowd and gotten their attention, others jumped on the stage and usurped the momentum.  First it was Libertarians looking for a vehicle to propel Ron Paul forward.  Then it became the political parasites who needed jobs and lusted after attention who began chanting what the crowd wanted to hear.

Then the democrats and Obama saw a use for the TEA party and began to fan the flames of discontent with the help of their buddies in the media in an effort to divide the republican opposition to their plans for "transforming" America.

Now it's those who want to see Sharia law in America.

Tea Party circles in East Tennessee might seem an unlikely environment for launching a Muslim organization. Will Coley, a 31-year-old Tennessee native, Muslim convert and Tea Party activist did just that.

His one person outreach project to Tea Party conservatives and libertarians grew into the first national organization countering Islamophobia on the Right.

Their message: Islam is compatible with an anti-big government or libertarian philosophy. They do not denounce sharia, but defend it within a libertarian framework. 

"Our approach is different," says Coley. "We use principles within sharia like maqasid (primary goals) to show their connection with John Locke's principles of life, liberty and property."

After speaking with fourteen Tea Party chapters about Muslim beliefs on liberty and sharia (Islamic religious law code), twelve of them agreed to reject anti-Muslim appeals. They even publically supported a petition opposing a proposed "sharia ban" in Tennessee.

Coley's efforts drew the attention of members of the small but growing community of Muslim libertarians, especially after an initial article on the anti-Islamophobia website Loonwatch.com.[Illume Magazine]

I tried to warn you.  Be careful who is stirring your tea.

Related articles

Why Don't They Form Their Own Party?

Religion Of Peace Update: Destroy All Christian Churches

Shhhh....Whatever you do don't criticize Muslims.  They are no threat to us, or the peace of the world.

I’m sure if the Vatican called for the destruction of all mosques in Europe it would go unnoticed by the media.

Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah has once again called for the destruction of all Churches on the Arabian Peninsula.

Bin Abdullah, head of the Ulema Council and the Standing Committee on Fatwas, made this statement after a presentation by the Kuwaiti parliamentarian Osama Al-Munawer of the bill that bans construction of new non-Muslim religious buildings in Kuwait.

The Mufti stated that, according to Islamic law, all churches in the region must be demolished; i.e., Islam is the only legal religion here. The words of Muhammad that “there cannot be two religions on the Arabian peninsula” the head of the Sunni always interprets in favor of Islam. [Weaslezippers]

Oh, and if you would like to compare what our President has said about Islam vs. Christianity, well then, take a look:

10 Quotes By Barack Obama About Islam

#1 “Islam has always been part of America”

#2 “we will encourage more Americans to study in Muslim communities”

#3 “These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.”

#4 “America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”

#5 “So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed”

#6 “Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality”

#7 “As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.”

#8 ”I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month.”

#9 “That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

#10 “I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story.”

10 Quotes By Barack Obama About Christianity

#1 “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation”

#2 “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.”

#3 “Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?  Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination?  Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?”

#4 ”Even those who claim the Bible’s inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, sensing that some passages – the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ’s divinity – are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life.”

#5 “The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a Constitutional amendment to ban it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their politics.”

#6 From Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope: “I am not willing to have the state deny American citizens a civil union that confers equivalent rights on such basic matters as hospital visitation or health insurance coverage simply because the people they love are of the same sex—nor am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount.”

#7 “I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.  I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity.  That’s just not part of my religious makeup.”

#8 “Those opposed to abortion cannot simply invoke God’s will–they have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths.”

#9 On his support for civil unions for gay couples: “If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount.”

#10 “I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

Egypt Outlaws Muslim Brotherhood, Again

Prior to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak the Muslim Brotherhood had been outlawed in Egypt for 85 years.  After Mubarak was removed the Brotherhood re-formed as a political party and took control of the nation.  Egypt has once again outlawed it.  Why?

Here's a little three minute video of the history of the Muslim Brotherhood.  This might help explain it.

 

Egyptian Forces Arrest Muslim Bro/Clinton Aide

This from the Washington Free Beacon:

A senior Muslim Brotherhood official who, until recently, had been employed by the William J. Clinton Foundation was arrested in Cairo on Tuesday and charged with inciting violence.

Gehad el-Haddad served as one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s top communications officials until Egyptian security forces seized him as part of a wider crackdown on officials loyal to ousted former President Mohamed Morsi.

Before emerging as a top Brotherhood official and adviser to Morsi, el-Haddad served for five years as a top official at the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit group founded by former President Bill Clinton.