Know When to Hold ‘Em…

As you may have gathered from my last post, I am feeling the same sense of frustration with the GOP that many others are experiencing. That sense of frustration is by no means unjustified. My good friend Ken Carroll writes a blog called Below the Gnat Line, and recently penned a very good discussion of “Why 2012 is Dangerous for the GOP”. It is a spot-on analysis of the situation and I highly recommend you visit his page to read it.

The growing frustration and impatience with the GOP has resulted in a great deal of discussion regarding a possible third party run, much of it involving Donald Trump. A group calling itself Americans Elect has started an effort to run a non-partisan ticket. One lesser known GOP candidate, former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico, has announced that he is dropping out of the GOP race to seek the Libertarian Party nomination. Both of his Iowa supporters are expected to back Ron Paul.

I can fully understand why people are looking for other options, but as Kenny Rogers once told us, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em”. For the sake of the country, we have to remember that the primary goal in the 2012 is to elect a better President than the one we have now. Like it or not, the only way we can do that is to vote for the eventual GOP nominee.

It is entirely possible that the GOP will win the White House, regain the Senate, and hold the House in November, presenting them with the opportunity to show us once and for all if they are any better than the Democrats. If they do manage to keep their promises and pull the country back from the brink of a socialist disaster, this could be the GOP’s finest hour. If however, they once again begin to act like Democrats, it will be time for a third party.

We have seen in the recent past that third party Presidential candidates do not fare well, and so far have only managed to get Democrats elected. A third party candidate this time around would most likely have the same result. A presidential election year, especially one as important as this, is not the time to introduce the voting populace to a new political party.

If there is going to be a viable third party option in this country, it cannot begin with a presidential candidate. No one starts at the top, and that includes political parties. Instead, the new party must establish itself and prove to us who they are and how they will govern by first running candidates in Congressional races, or even in state and local races. Once we can see what this new party is capable of doing, it might be possible for it to gain enough support to mount a successful presidential campaign. Until that happens, the best they can hope for is to play the spoiler.

All it takes to see that I’m right is to take a look at our current list of political parties. There are at least forty and probably more, but none of them are capable of even making a ripple in a national election. Although members of those parties would like us to believe they are being kept out of the process by the two major parties, their lack of success is due to the simple fact that they have not convinced enough people that their views are correct and that they are capable of governing.

The time for a third party may be coming, but it is not here yet. Unless we are able to defeat Obama in November, a third party might well be too little too late.

Colossal Failure by the GOP

I am first and foremost a conservative, and as a result I have, for the past thirty years, affiliated myself with the GOP. I have done so because I believe that, of the political parties available to us, the GOP is the best organization for accomplishing the conservative agenda. While I still believe that to be the case, I am now having serious doubts as to whether or not that is good enough.

The news that Virginia voters will only be able to choose between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney in our March 6^th presidential primary leaves me dumbfounded and furious. This is a colossal failure by both the Virginia GOP, and by the campaign organizations of the other candidates running for the GOP nomination. It doesn’t help that this failure comes on the heels of the spectacle our Congressional GOP leaders made of themselves over Obama’s payroll tax holiday.

On March 6^th I will be forced to cast my vote for Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination for President. I wouldn’t bother even going to the polls on that day if I didn’t feel the need to vote against Ron Paul. The only thing I could imagine that would be worse than having to vote for Mitt Romney in November would be to have to vote for Ron Paul. Frankly, I think at that point I would run as a write-in candidate.

After the November election, the GOP will have to give me some kind of compelling reason to ever vote Republican again. No, I won’t vote Democrat, but the search will be on for another party with which to hitch my wagon. I am not calling for a third party only because I believe the GOP has ceased to function as a viable political party. As of late, they seem to be working harder to get Obama re-elected than are the Democrats. No, what I’m calling for is a SECOND party.

What would it take to convince me to remain with the GOP? Probably more than they can deliver. At a minimum, I would have to see a complete turnover of the GOP leadership in Congress, replacing them with leaders who are actually conservative and capable of leading rather than simply standing in front.

The proper role of a political party is to provide organizational assistance to candidates for political office rather than simply functioning as a fund raising operation for advertising agencies and sign companies. Typically, the party will assist candidates in appointing campaign chairmen on a state level, as well as at the local level. These campaign chairmen in turn will help to organize critical campaign functions such as fund raisers, and even perhaps petition drives to ensure their candidates are on the ballot.

Because I love my country, I will do what I have to do to make sure Obama does not have another four years to destroy it, and then because I love my country, I will abandon the GOP for a political party capable of mounting a credible campaign.

Producing Your Fair Share

Although the Occupy movement has been largely a useless endeavor, they have managed to take the few remaining wraps off of the left’s socialist ideology. In their effort to promote the idea that our government should be in the business of robbing the producers in this country and giving to the non-producers, they have generated much discussion about whether or not the rich are paying “their fair share”.

The notion that the rich should “pay their fair share” is a common theme among the socialists. They make a big show of pointing out the inequalities they see in our system, and criticize those who dare to succeed in life. At no point however, can they provide a definitive answer as to what a “fair share” might be. As a person who is known to think out of the box, I’ve been giving some thought to this “fair share” business.

It would seem that the socialists believe only those who have managed to produce a certain amount of personal wealth are responsible for paying a fair share. Would it not also be right to ask of everyone else, are you producing your fair share?

We are citizens of the greatest nation on earth, and are presented with more opportunities than any of us will ever take advantage of. The degree of our success is limited only by our motivation, determination, talent, and courage. If there is a “fair share” that we should all have to pay, is it not then reasonable to insist that everyone should be held responsible for taking advantage of those opportunities to a degree that they produce enough wealth to pay that fair share?

As the Pilgrims learned while the nation was in its infancy, the survival of our society depends upon our citizens’ willingness to work and to produce for the feed and care of our economy. Years ago it was common to hear people being lauded as “productive members of society”, but that phrase seems to have fallen into disuse as of late. When a sizable portion of the population neglects their responsibility to be productive members of society it becomes increasingly difficult for our economy to sustain our way of life.

In my view, one of the most striking differences between socialism and capitalism is the fact that socialism focuses on taking from those who have wealth, while capitalism focuses on creating wealth. Like most parasitic organisms, socialism can exist quite well as long as it has a strong capitalistic economy to feed upon. Redistribution of wealth only works as long as there is an adequate supply of wealth. Once the supply dries up, the only thing left to redistribute is misery, which will then be in abundant supply.

Naturally, there will be those who protest that they want to work, but are unable to find a job. While I understand how difficult it can sometimes be to find work, difficulty does not eliminate responsibility. Our responsibility to be productive includes a responsibility to obtain marketable skills and to apply them accordingly. In order to do that, we must be able to evaluate what skills are in demand, and if that situation changes, to be willing to change as necessary. One striking example of a failure to properly evaluate the job market was shown in a recent photo of an OW protester. Her sign bemoaned that fact that she had spent $96,000 on a degree in Gay / Lesbian / Transgender Studies and still couldn’t find a job.

The ability to be productive requires a certain amount of thoughtful planning, and an even greater amount of effort and persistence. If I decide I want to be a furniture maker, I can get some rudimentary tools and a few pieces of wood and fashion together a simple table. Hopefully, I can find someone who needs such a table and sell it to them for more than I paid for the materials that went into it. The difference between what the materials cost me and what I was paid for the table is wealth that I have created, otherwise known as profit. If I take the time to learn more about the best types of wood to use in making tables, and make the effort to learn how to shape and finish the wood to make a more attractive and functional table, chances are that I can find more people who want to buy my tables, and charge more money for them as well.  

Perhaps I could get by on what I earn by making and selling rickety tables, but is that the best I can do? If so, then perhaps I am producing my fair share, but if I can make better tables and produce more wealth, do I not have a responsibility to society to do so?

How did they not see this one coming?

When a politician suddenly adopts a position that is contrary to everything he believes, common sense would make you question his motivation. When President Obama first championed a payroll tax holiday, GOP leaders in Congress should have instantly been wary of his intentions even if they didn’t see the obvious folly in such a plan. Sadly, many of our own took the bait.

It is easy to see how this one works. Good Republicans would naturally be attracted to the idea of a tax cut. President Obama suddenly bought into the idea that tax cuts, even for the wealthy, are good for the economy, and pushed for a cut in the payroll tax. These good Republicans ignored the sudden contradiction from the President, and failed to remember the lessons learned about temporary tax cuts. They took the bait, and the trap has been sprung.

Here we are now a year later, and the Democrats have managed to put themselves in the position of fighting to extend a tax cut against Republican opposition. Quite the role reversal, isn’t it?

The Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. This was an obvious setup from the start, and they walked right into it. Now the GOP has to find a way to protect the Social Security system from the Democrats’ political games without being seen as wanting to raise taxes on the poor during a recession. I suspect they will take the easy way out and go along with the extension, delaying the political pain of ending the tax holiday until after the 2012 elections assuming, of course, that the Democrats show no interest in raising the issue in the weeks prior to the election. Since they crafted this whole issue for that very purpose, the GOP would be walking into stage two of their trap.

It will take some skillful political maneuvering for the GOP to come out of this without suffering some serious political damage, and skillful political maneuvering is something for which they have not shown an ability to carry out.

Frankly, I don’t have a lot of advice to give them about getting out of this mess. I suspect they will get into another head butting session with the Democrats, making everyone in Washington look bad. Probably, that will be the most we can hope for. I can however, give them some sound advice on how to avoid this type of situation in the future – read my first sentence.