Alexis de Tocqueville called it
a “soft despotism”.  Mussolini
referred to it as “corporatism”.
We now call it Obama-nomics.

Barack Obama has made a
mad dash these fiirst 100 days
of his presidency to the ex-
treme left.  Taking advantage
of every available crisis at
hand, he is pushing America
deeper into Socialism. This
despite his campaign promises
of appealing towards modera-
tion.  Instead, we appear des-
tined to be in line for rations,
of health care, energy, food,
and anything else he can sink
the government’s teeth into.

Soft Despotism is the slow,
creeping, incremental seizure
of power by the government.
It started long before Obama,
so we cannot blame him for
all of it.  Wilson, FDR and
LBJ all played a major roles.
Truman, Carter and even a
few ‘moderate’ Republicans
had a hand in it as well.

Mussolini’s plan for corporat-
ism called for a vertical inte-
gration of government,
business and labor unions
to control a nation’s economy.
The recent moves towards
salvaging GM and Chrysler
show the blueprint from the
Obama version of corporatism.
Labor unions will hold a signi-
ficant stake in both, a majority
in Chrysler.  Uncle Sugar also
holds a piece of the pie.  What
ever is left is fought over by
creditors and bond holders.

The banks are facing a similar
fate.  The Fed is stalling those
banks who want to repay the
TARP funds loaned to them.
Claiming that they are still in
peril, after a ‘stress test’, and
despite several banks showing
a 1st Quarter profit, Uncle
Sugar wants the banks to give
them common stock, with
voting power, instead of the
preferred stock the banks ini-
tially handed over last year.
The Obama Administration
is under strong pressure from
their labor union supporters
to pave the way for the banks
to become unionized as well.

The Obama Administration
has expanded the role of the
government in the economy
from around 20% of GDP to
over 30%.  He has weighed
in with record breaking budget
deficits, dooming future gener-
ations to higher taxes and
massive debt.  Unemployment
continues to grow as the
stimulus packages already
voted on by the Congress have
failed to have any effect as of
yet.  Most analysts now say
that at best, the economy may
begin to rebound sometime
next year, if then.

On foreign policy, Obama took
his teleprompter on tour over-
seas.  He continued protocol
gaffes begun with dissing the
British Prime Minister, Gordon
Brown.  In Europe he gave the
Queen of England an IPod,
apologized for America being
a bad country, and bowed to
the Saudi king.  More apolo-
gizing continued in Mexico
and in Trinidad.  He greeted
Hugo Chavez, whom Obama
emulates with his daily TV
appearances.  North Korea
has started processing
nuclear material again and
test launched a long range
missile as America sat and
did little to stop or condemn
it.  Russia now admits that
our intelligence from the
Bush era about Iran’s nu-
clear program is correct,
yet little is being done to
prevent Iran from building
a nuclear bomb.  The only
country who will act, Israel,
is being criticized by Obama
surrogates.

The media claims that the
Obama Administration is
the brightest and best run
ever.  Yet nearly all of his
cabinet appointments have
had serious issues due to
failures in the vetting pro-
cess.  Many key positions
have yet to be filled.  The
new White House Press
Secretary, Robert Gibbs,
is absolutely the worst ever
to hold that position.  His
press conferences are
filled with stumbles and
gaffes.  This past Monday
was a good example when
a photo-op of Air Force One
flying over New York City
sent thousands fleeing
buildings in fear of another
9/11 attack.  An outbreak
of swine flu from Mexico
now stalks America, but
did not stop Obama from
playing golf over the week-
end.  Had Bush done so,
the MSM would have
screamed bloody murder!

A report from the Center
for Press and Media
shows that Obama has
received an extraordinary
amount of favorable press
coverage.  Over 27 hours
compared to less than 8
hours during the same
period for Bush and about
15 hours for Clinton. They
failed to vet Obama during
the primaries and continue
to let Obama slide on his
many gaffes and decisions.

What is in store for the next
100 days?  Legislation to
reign in the credit industry,
nationalizing health care
and putting a huge new tax
on energy consumption.
Nice, eh?  Congress is now
even reconsidering Obama’s
much ballyhooed Middle
Class tax cuts, as projec-
tions for the budget deficit
look grimmer than predicted.
If potential inflation rates of
8+% annually don’t scare
you enough, how about the
prospects of the Taliban
seizing control of Pakistan
and their nuclear weapons?

After all, under the Obama
Doctrine, America is the bad
guy and is to blame for all of
the world’s problems.  So why
should our enemies fear us?
Which brings me to a nice
quote that we should all keep
in mind the next four years.

“When the people fear the
government, there is tyranny.
When the government fears
the people, there is liberty”
Thomas Jefferson, like all of
our Founding Fathers, knew
that the republic given to us
via the U.S. Constitution
would only keep us free if we
defend it.  Line by line, clause
by clause.  Over the past
century, the Constitution has
been under continuous assault.
Each new law passed, each
new treaty entered into, sheds
one more safeguard of our
liberty.

At break neck speed, Obama
and the Democrat-controlled
Congress, are passing legisla-
tion.  Bills involving vast sums
of money, policies that change
the very nature of this nation
are being made law with little
if any review or debate. And
they are far from done.

The New York Times, that
extremist, right-wing rag,
ran a story on April 1 of this
year concerning an alarming
trend in our health care sys-
tem.  It seems that many
doctors are opting out of
accepting Medicare.  Trying
to find a replacement is
becoming more difficult.

This, coming on the eve of
the largest expansion of
government-run health care,
is not good news for the
Obama Administration.  It
will not matter how much
money the government throws
at the problem if there is
nobody who will participate.

The primary reason for this
migration is government
bureaucracy.  Medicare takes
too long to reimburse doctors
and other providers.  Also, the
amount of paperwork is too
much.  A survey in 2008 by
the Medicare Payment Ad-
visory Commission, whom
advise Congress, showed that
last year, patients who had
difficulty finding doctors who
accepted Medicare rose to
29%, up from 24% the year
before.  A survey in Texas
last year showed that only
38% of primary care doctors
accepted Medicare.

Add to this a report from the
American College of Physi-
cians that we are facing a
shortage of internists.  By
2025, they estimate we will
have 35,000 to 45,000 fewer
doctors practicing than the
nation will need.  Meanwhile,
President Obama assures
us that doctors nationwide
are eagerly awaiting the
nationalization of the health
care industry.  Oh are they?

The latest trend in medicine
is not Botox, but the concierge
system.  Patients pay a retain-
er fee, usually around $1600
annually, to have access to
a provider service.  From
there it is a pay-as-you-go
method, with fees based on
what service you require.
Some doctors are even going
back to older methods, of
just charging flat fees to new
patients.  In some cases, these
are very low, as little as $25
for a general examination.  A
few states are attempting to
discourage this practice by
actually prosecuting doctors
criminally who do not accept
government, or even private,
insurance.

In Ayn Rand's tome of a novel,
"Atlas Shrugged", we have the
hero, John Galt, leading a
strike of the mind.  Convincing
the productive and creative to
stop participating in the econo-
my.  It would seem that we now
have a trend of Dr. Galts exit-
ing the system, tired of being
oppressed by government
regulations and fees.  After all,
most physicians leave college
with huge student loans to pay
back.  It would stand to reason
that a new revolt of the Middle
Class would be lead by those
most restricted.

One must wonder what other
sectors of the economy will
begin to follow the lead of the
Dr. Galts?  As the Obama
Administration prepares to
inject more government control
into the free market, whole
industries from banking, autos,
energy and agriculture are now
facing being further regulated.
We already see a lack of new
capital investment as many
financiers continue to sit on the
sidelines with their cash, not
knowing how far this march
to Socialism will take America.

I suppose I could write about
how Obama has absolutely
stunk during his recent trips
overseas.  In Europe he cow-
towed to everyone, including
the Saudi king.  Oh, Obama
did make more protocol mis-
takes, insulting our British
allies.  In Turkey, Obama
made more apologies to the
World on behalf of America.
So belittling his stature that
the Turks made Air Force One
wait in line on the tarmac for
14 hours.  After all, it's just
another jet liner and Obama is
just another lame American
tourist.  LOL!

His most recent trips to Mexico
and to the Conference of the
Americas meeting was again
filled with more apologies.  He
smiled and shook hands with
dictator, Hugo Chavez, even
accepted a book which trashes
America.  Obama then joked
after Daniel Ortega's 50 minute
anti-America rant that Obama
was grateful that Ortega didn't
blame him for things America
did when he was 3 months old.
Yuck-Yuck-Yuck.  About the
only redeeming event was the
fact that Chavez proved to be
a worse gift-giver than Obama
as the book gift was in Spanish
which Obama cannot read.

But what I really want to rant
about is Obama's cabinet
meeting today where he staged
his hard work at reducing
spending.  He photo-op'd his
hard work in getting depart-
ments to reduce expenses by
a whopping $100 MILLION
dollars!  This, at the same time
the interest on all the new
Trillions of debt he's saddled
America with cost $1.2 Billion
dollars per day.

This is known as 'gesture
politics'.  That is, when there
is actually a real gesture.
But I tend to call this farce
'JESTER POLITICS'.  The
MSM made a huge deal
as to how wonderful it is
that Obama is working sooo
hard to save the taxpayers
money.  They ate it up like
the blind sheep they are.

At some point, people really
need to question the mental
capacity of our new president.
He increases spending by
some $2 Trillion dollars and
commits our country to ten
times that, plus outlying costs
of whole new programs.  Then
he flip-flops and vows to re-
duce the budget deficits by
50%, factoring in money we
won't be spending on Iraq,
'hopefully'.

He doesn't know how his
cabinet appointees slipped
through his much lauded
vetting program with tax and
other problems.  He didn't
know that the DHS would
insult every veteran in the
country.  He didn't know that
ex-governor Rod Blagojevich
was trying to auction off his
old senate seat.  Just like he
didn't know that his realtor
buddy, Tony Rezko, was a
crook, his pastor, Jeremiah
Wright, preached hate, or his
political mentor, Bill Ayers,
used to be a terrorist.  I'll
even bet Obama didn't know
that in 2006, Ayers traveled
to Venezuela to praise Hugo
Chavez for his liberation-
education program.

No, Obama didn't know any
of that.  He really doesn't
know very much, does he?
I guess that's why he voted
'present' so often when he was
in the state senate.  There's
one thing 'I' do know, we're
all in a heap of trouble!

The Main Stream Media and
the Department of Homeland
Security must have been in
a 'tizz' on Wednesday as a
wave of spontaneous anti-CNN
rallies were held across the
nation.  Right-wing extremists
of all shapes and genders
railed against CNN, and maybe
even MSNBC, too.  Hehehe!

No, actually it was the 2009
version of the Tea Party, with
T.E.A. standing for Taxed
Enough Already.  Estimates
of some 800 to 2300 rallies
nationwide were held.  Crowd
estimates range from 200,000
to 300,000, though some put
the number at well over a mil-
lion.

The MSM scoffed at the whole
affair.  CNN video-stenogra-
pher, Susan Roesgen, talked
with those at the Chicago rally.
When an attendee tried to ex-
plain that he was protesting
against the increasing size of
government and National Debt,
Roesgen injected that why
should he be upset?  He's
going to get $400 from Uncle
Sugar, after all!  Somehow,
the reality that he and his
infant now owe an additional
$68,000 escaped her view of
reality.  Roesgen dismissed
his answer and told the audi-
ence and CNN anchor that
the crowd is anti-CNN and
was promoted by the evil
Fox News.

The rest of the MSM treated
the rallies in similar fashion,
in some cases more vulgar.
They trotted out pundits who
added that the rallies were
just angry millionaires who
aren't patriotic enough to pay
their fair share of taxes.  Or
right-wing gun nuts and pro-
life freaks, whom should be
feared according to the DHS
report distributed to police
departments last week Tues-
day.  The report warned how
returning veterans from Iraq
and Afghanistan might be
coerced into joining extremists
and become a national threat.

The New York Times ignored
the Tea Parties completely,
though they did cover a rally of
300 Afghan women protesting
against restrictive laws.  On
MSNBC, a camera crew
covered a protest of a few
dozen ACORN protesters in
front of the AIG headquarters.
Such was how the MSM
reacted to the ground swell
of public angst to big govern-
ment.

Many rallies had over 10,000
participants.  Atlanta's was
perhaps the largest, with over
20,000 attending.  Most of the
rallies forbid politicians from
giving speeches.  The theme
of the day was that wasteful
spending from both major
political parties had to stop.
That the nation's march to-
wards Socialism would not
be tolerated.

In Texas, Governor Rick
Perry did speak at three such
rallies.  He repeated his call
from this Tuesday to support
legislation in the Texas state
house to invoke the 10th
Amendment.  Perry is against
accepting some of the Obama
stimulus money due to the
conditions attached.  The
stimulus requires changes
and new programs, but only
funds these for one year.
The MSM claims that Perry
is advocating that Texas will
secede from the union.  But
all Perry is doing is reminding
Washington that the Federal
government is an agent of
the 'several states', not the
other way around.

New rallies are planned for
July 4th.  Where these will
lead and what impact they
will have in future elections
is unclear.  What is certain
is that the mood in the coun-
try is not good for Obama or
the Congress.  But wiith
Obama losing a percentage
point a week in favorables
and Congress even lower,
we may in fact see some
REAL CHANGE, soon!

The past four posts I've made
have painted a dire picture
for what's left of the Conserva-
tive Movement, as well as the
Republican party.  Years of
missteps, compromise, and
poor judgment have led them
into decline.  So what can be
done now to rectify the situa-
tion?

Well, for starters, they have
great allies.  Barack Obama,
Nancy Pelosi and others are
doing a great job of splashing
ice water into the faces of the
average American citizen.
With last week's vote on the
Obama budget, every man,
woman and child is now some
$68,000 deeper in debt.  Our
National Debt will shortly ex-
ceed our Gross Domestic
Product, a condition usually
afflicting 'Banana Republics',
not properly run nations.

As the Clinton campaign
effectively used in 1992, it's
the ECONOMY STUPID!
Americans tend to vote with
their wallets.  Since late
February, we are seeing the
rumblings of a grass-roots
uprising forming.  The Tea
Party rallies are spreading
like wildfire.

There lies the hope for the
future.  The more nuttiness
that comes out of Washington
will drive more people into
the streets protesting.  And
not just Washington.  Many
state governments are also
now engaged in raising taxes,
such as New York's proposed
'millionaire's tax' which will
affect everybody earning over
$300,000 a year.

New York City is especially
vulnerable, as only some
44,000 people and entities
pay some 90% of the taxes
collected.  As Charles Adams
wrote in his wonderful book,
"For Good And Evil", there
are limits to how much folks
will allow themselves to be
taxed before they vote with
their feet.  It won't take much
for a 21st Century Exodus to
occur, with low-tax states
luring new residents and
businesses to relocate.

Over the last few years, we've
already seen a steady migra-
tion of wealth to China, of all
places.  It's a sure sign that
the world is turning upside-
down when a Communist
nation is practicing a better
form of Capitalism than we
are!  But then, they have a
more aggressive method of
term limits for dealing with
corrupt politicians, a bullet
to the back of the head.

While I'm not advocating that
as a solution here, America
does need to tighten the rules
on term limits.  Allowing those
who were serving in 1995 to
be grand-fathered was not a
good idea.  Had it been done
the right way, by 2007, we
would not have any of the
jokers who are ruining the
nation now in office.

The Republicans need to
put together a new 'Contract
for America'.  One which
cleans up term limits, restores
the firewall between retail and
investment banks, advocates
rational regulation of the exotic
financial instruments (like
derivatives and credit default
swaps).  Simplifying our tax
codes, instituting a flat tax
with limited deductions for
children, mortgages and
health insurance outlays.

A new 'Contract with America'
needs to also dial back taxes
on corporations and capital
gains.  If we want long-term
growth and job creation, then
the nation needs to be a
fertile ground for opportunity
and incentive.  I would also
include a clear, definitive plan
for energy independence in
the contract.  We need a 'Do-
It-All-Now" approach, utilizing
oil and natural gas until newer
sources are fully developed.

Another key plank in a new
contract must also be to ad-
here to the Constitution.  It's
there to limit the power of
government, and right now
nobody is paying attention
to it.  The rights of the
individual must be held as
sacred.  Privacy, self-defense,
freedoms of speech and wor-
ship, and ownership of one's
own body must be protected.

The Federal government has
to get out of the business of
moral and social issues.  It
should stay focused on it's
primary purposes, defending
the borders and promoting
interstate commerce.  Edu-
cation, abortion, marriage,
and even welfare should be
left to the states to determine
how their citizens want them.
Enough is enough!  The
Constitution is very clear on
this.  The 9th and 10th
Amendments are NOT just
ink blots!

A nice 5 or 10 point plan,
keeping it as simple as
possible would be the way
to go.  The GOP should
put it together by this summer
and make sure that every
Congressional candidate,
especially those challenging
Democrat seats, sign on-
board to the contract. Then
promote the heck out of it.

As for the Conservative Move-
ment, there is a divide between
those who have led the Intelli-
gentsia (Christopher Buckley,
David Brooks, etc...) and the
Purists (Rush Limbaugh, Ann
Coulter, Mark Levin, etc...).
At issue is the Reagan Legacy,
which was rooted in the sound
economics of F. A. Hayek and
the fundamentals of our Con-
stitution.  The Intelligentsia
desire to be popular with the
Main Stream Media which is
their avenue for fame.  The
Purists dominate talk radio
and the book circuit.  They do
not need the MSM, in fact, they
enjoy the ‘bad-boy’ image the
MSM paints.

But the Purists have to fish or
cut bait.  If the rest of us have
to choose between the lesser
of two evils, then they have to
come down off their high horse
and choose as well.  We simply
cannot afford eight years of
this nonsense.  I’m not even
sure if we can survive four
years, or even two for that
matter.  This is going to be a
long march through the wilder-
ness.  The damage being done
now could take a decade to
clean up and repair.

One of the better, more
objective, polls is the
Battleground Poll.  Their
questions are very neutral
and serve as an authentic
guide to where the minds
of the Americans are at.

Despite Obama's victory,
the polling data shows that
America is still, by and
large, a nation that leans
to the right.  Whatever
the topic, economics, taxes,
abortion, defense, generally
about 60% adhere to those
positions that would curry
favor to a genuine conser-
vative candidate.  Most
people want the government
to leave them alone and
govern responsibly.

Most of the exit poll data
showed that what lost the
election for McCain was
his lack of a clear message
on economics.  Given that
just a mere seven weeks
before the election, we
experienced the beginnings
of the worst meltdown of
the economy in decades,
this was definitely bad news
for McCain.  Without Joe
the Plumber, I suspect that
Obama might have won in
a true landslide, with 400+
electoral points and perhaps
even double digit popular
vote advantage.

But Joe was only one man
and he arrived on the scene
too late.  Others, like Rush
Limbaugh, were on the scene
but off on the side lines.  Very
little was done to bolster the
McCain campaign by those
who claim to 'Keepers of the
Flame' of their cause.  The
Faithful did not get the needed
marching orders in time, if at
all, to do their work.

On top of all of that, the people
were just plain 'Bush-ed out'.
His milk-toast brand of conser-
vatism, appeasing to the likes
of Ted Kennedy and general
mismanagement on many
levels had taken it's toll. The
war in Iraq, while finally being
won, had taken too long and
split too much blood.  The
budget deficit had grown
(though compared to how
Obama is expanding it,
Bush now seems like chump
change) and the power of
government expanded too
much.  Even Bush's attempt
at appearing human and not
merely recite off of tele-
prompters at every occasion
worked against him.

Obama assumed a cult-like
status among the True Be-
lievers of Statism.  Every
sub-group of Democrats,
anti-war, tax & spenders,
hand-out-heaven-advocates
(ACORN), unions, etc, were
all behind him 100%.  Middle
America was just happy to
have someone in the White
House who was not Bush.

But since his election, Obama
has begun to lose some of his
luster, particularly with the
independents.  After going
back on a number of promises,
such as posting legislation on
line for five days before a vote,
scrutinizing budgets, spending
wisely, and other issues, his
support is beginning to slip.
Some polls are showing a near
even split now between his
positives and negatives.  This
will only widen, in a bad way,
as the full impact of his budget
and policies take hold.

So, what will the Conservatives
do to rally support back to their
side?  Who will lead the charge
and how will it be executed?

We begin Part 3 with the 2008
Presidential campaign.  While
the Democrats had only two
genuine contenders for their
nominee, the Republicans had
a full field.  We had the King of
the Moderates, the Old Fraud
himself, John McCain.  Then
there were the two wanna-be
conservatives, former gover-
nors, Mitt Romney and Mike
Huckabee.  Beyond the other
deluge, the GOP had two men
of true merit:  former New York
Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and that
straight-shootin' Texan, Con-
gressman Ron Paul.

Clearly, beyond any shadow of
doubt, the one candidate who
commanded the most exper-
tise as an executive and held
true, principled values was
Rudy.  While less of an execu-
tive, Ron Paul was the next
best option.  But both had is-
sues as far as their credentials
as 'true conservatives'.

The so-called conservative
magazine, "The National
Review", painted Giuliani as
an unfit choice early on.  
Namely because he had a
sense of humor (once wear-
ing a dress for a party) and
they questioned his position
on abortion.  Ron Paul was
dismissed as plain crazy,
despite being the only one
running who had a firm grasp
of the failings of our monetary
system.  He also had that
nasty habit of quoting the U.S.
Constitution all the time! LOL!

Still, despite being pooh-
poohed by the Right Wing
Intelligentsia, Giuliani had
a great deal of support at
the beginning.  Fiscal Con-
servatives and even many
in the National Defense
types knew that Rudy would
run a tight budget and carry
out the war against terror
with vigor and conviction.
The Religious ‘leg’ of the
3-legged Conservative stool
were the only ones who had
sharp negatives for Giuliani.
Aside from being pragmatic
about abortion, Rudy was a
Roman Catholic, which still
makes some in the Bible
Belt cringe.

Mitt Romney, who was second
in the executive experience
department, also suffered from
religious bias.  Mormons still
scare a lot of Baptists and
other orthodox Christians.  So
he wasn’t going to get very far
with them.  Nor were his cre-
dentials valid enough for the
Defense types.  After Rudy,
John McCain was the only
other who held their respect.

Huckabee, being a Baptist
minister himself, had the
religious right in his pocket.
But his tax and regulatory
policies as governor of
Arkansas did not curry much
favor with the fiscal types and
he had zero security creden-
tials.

Enter now the New York Times
and the rest of the Main Stream
Media.  Well before the first
primaries, they mustered their
forces against Giuliani.  Most
of the polling data of the fall of
2007 showed him defeating
either of the Democrats.  He
was, after all, America’s Mayor.
Hit pieces began with crticism
of Rudy’s use of any reference
to the 9/11 attacks in his ads.
From there, it got much worse.

They went after his family, his
ex-wife, and any other foible to
discredit him to the Average
American.  By December ‘07,
Giuliani’s poll numbers were
slipping, especially in the early
primary states.  Nationally, he
was still Number One with a
decent war chest of cash.

December was a critical month
for the Republicans.  With most
of the rank-and-file split be-
tween Giuliani, Romney and
McCain, the Conservatives
had yet to weigh in with a
clear choice.  This brings us to
the failure of the current gate-
keepers of Conservatism.

Had, at this point, any of the
public leaders, especially
Rush Limbaugh and Ann
Coulter, picked a candidate,
there would have been time
for that one to garner the
support needed and walk
away with the nomination.
But they, nor any of the
other popular ‘talkers’ did
so.  They sat on their hands.
They failed to act.  Coulter,
later in the process, turned
her choice into a joke and
publicly supported Hillary
Clinton of all people!  Even
Rush jumped on the band-
wagon in his “Operation
Chaos”.

While this may had been
good fun, it did not result
in the desired effect of dis-
rupting the Democrats.
Sure, they had their prob-
lems, but either way, they
were going to have a
nominee who had zero
executive experience, poor
security credentials, and
were all for having as many
babies being aborted as
possible.  Heck, Obama is
in favor of killing them even
after they are born!

After the first few primaries,
Giuliani was essentially out
of the race.  Thanks to sup-
port from the MSM and even
cross-over voters in open
primary states, McCain was
rolling up the score.  By
late January, the game was
all but over.  Romney’s best
speech was when he bowed
out of the race.  Giuliani
tossed his hat to McCain,
knowing full well that he was
better than either Democrat.
Huckabee stayed in for as
long as he could milk the
religious wing.  His eyes were
already looking to 2012 and
either a TV or radio show to
fill in the time in between
campaigns.

Ah, let us not forget Ron Paul.
With the Libertarians having
been compromised by the
Far Right years ago, Paul
was the darling of the indivi-
dualists and Constitutionalists.
Despite almost fanatical sup-
port, who kept the cash flow-
ing, Paul never got much
more than 10% of the primary
vote in any state.  With the
Republicans more rational mix
of winner-take-all primaries
along with some proportional,
Paul would never get enough
delegates to sway power.

So, the GOP was left with
McCain as their candidate.
Another step in the Road to
Moderation.  To appease
the Conservatives, he choose
Alaskan Governor Sarah
Palin to be his running mate.
An unusual and risky choice,
but one that put a spark of
life into McCain’s campaign
and threw the Democrats
off their prepared game plan.
They had assumed McCain
would choose Romney to
add much needed economic
credentials to his ticket.

Only after the choice of Palin
did Limbaugh and the rest
rally to McCain’s camp, but
only in a half-hearted way.
It seemed to me that they had
already given up the game, as
if thinking that maybe America
needed four years of statist
inspired disaster to ‘cleanse’
the nation in preparation for
a new breed of conservative.

Even before the election was
over, various attack dogs within
the GOP began trashing Palin.
Her energy and enthusiasm,
along with genuine executive
credentials, elevated her to
excellent position for 2012.
But this is assuming we’ll have
an election in 2012.  Or at least
one where the post-Census
redistricting by Obama and
Nancy Pelosi haven’t trashed
the electoral college map
forever.  The tactics used by
Obama, with his allies in
ACORN, will be very ready
for whom ever the GOP runs
next time.

Next time, I will go further
into election analysis and
it’s aftermath.  And, we will
begin to consider the future
fate of the Conservatism

As I last left off, in the latter
1990s, the Conservative
movement, led by Newt
Gingrich and his block of
hard-core Republicans,
had some minor success
in rolling back the clutches
of government.  But once
they became entangled in
the quagmire of Bill Clinton's
sex scandals, their focus
was undone.

Instead of the folly of the
impeachment hearings,
Gingrich could have used
a bloodied and wounded
Clinton to bring about true
changes in our political
and economic systems.
Real term limits, for example,
which did not allow buffoons
like Barney Frank to be grand-
fathered in their offices.

Equally as important would
have been eliminating our
ridiculously gigantic tax code
and regressive tax system in
favor of a simpler, flat tax.
Personally, I would have
favored a Constitutional
ammendment, adopting the
Swiss notion of stripping
the power to tax away from
Congress altogether, and
lay it in the hands of The
People.  There are so many
things that could have been
done.  Abolishing the Federal
Reserve and returning us to
‘honest money’, or trashing
the failed institutions, like
the Department of Educa-
tion or Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, which helped
cause our current predica-
ment.

But Newt is not solely to
blame for this failure.  He
had a lot of help.  Many of
the Republican and Conser-
vative punditry had a hand.
They, too, got caught up
with their fixation against
Clinton.  You have to wonder
why they would want to im-
peach him and put Al Gore
in the powerful position as
being a sitting president for
the 2000 election cycle?  Was
that really such a bright idea?

NO!!!  Of course not!  So in-
stead of focusing on doing
some real good, like disassem-
bling seven decades of bloated
government, the GOP wasted
their opportunity.  All it accomp-
lished was to victimize both
Bill and Hillary Clinton, and set
the stage for a backlash
against the Republicans and
Conservatives.  This then
caused what became known
as the Era of “Kinder Conser-
vativism.

George W. Bush was another
lesser of two evils.  Another
‘stopped clock’ who was cor-
rect on occasion.  Sure, I was
as glad as anybody that he
happened to be president
when we were attacked on
9/11.  I shudder to think how
Al Gore would have reacted.

But, Bush did make numerous
blunders.  And I’m not talking
about Iraq, though that was not
handled properly.  In his at-
tempts to be the face of a
“Kinder Conservative”, Bush
opened the door on more
Federal government involve-
ment in education and health
care.  He also went along with
the ouster of a key ‘gatekeeper’
of liberty, Trent Lott.  Bush
threw him under the bus for
a gaff that is mild compared
to those made by Obama and
his gang.

Some much energy of the
Conservative movement was
expended in defending our
war against Islamic fascism
and Bush’s policies that the
GOP continued to embrace
the notion of running more
moderates.  Whatever prin-
ciples they had in 1994 were
long gone by 2004.  The
Democrats were able to put
themselves into position to
retake both wings of the
Congress in 2006.

The immigration act which
Bush and ‘The Old Fraud’,
John McCain, tried to get
passed put the last nails in
the coffin.  Bush lost all
credibility by this point.  His
budgets were getting larger,
deficits growing.  While he
did, with McCain’s help,
bring about The Surge to
finally win the war in Iraq,
the die was cast.  2006 set
the stage for the Democrats
to win back the White House.

Stay tuned for Part 3, as we
watch Rush Limbaugh and
Ann Coulter, along with many
other Conservative gate-
keepers, hand the country
over to Barack Obama and
condemn us to Socialism.

Some of you think that all I
desire to do is write an endless
stream of blogs trashing our
Kenyan-In-Chief, Barack
Obama.  Nothing can be fur-
ther from the truth.  Sure, I
would enjoy blogging about
all of the different versions
of You-Tube videos of the
Haddaway song, "What Is
Love?".  My favorites are the
one with Sponge Bob singing
it, as well as another cartoon
featuring some "South Park"
like characters.  See, I do
watch musical videos other
than "Westerwald Marsch"!
LOL!!!

The great tragedy that has
fallen upon our nation, how-
ever, is not Obama's fault.
He is just the means to our
end.  How and why we've
gotten to this point in our
history is somebody else's
fault.  It is a failure of the
'Gatekeepers'.

Mind you, despite my rant-
ings, I am not a Republican.
I'm not even a Conservative.
True, I tend to vote along
their lines, but it is merely
the lesser of two evils.  Or
as my favorite radio talk-
jock, Mark Scott, would say,
"Even a stopped clock is
right twice a day."

There has been a lot of hand-
wringing in recent months
concerning the losses being
piled up by the GOP.  Since
2006, they've lost the Congress
and now the White House.
They have been nearly com-
pletely neutered in the Senate.
Especially given the leanings
of several of the Republican
Senators.

During this last election, I
throw my hat towards John
McCain after Giuliani was
run out of the primaries by
both the Far-Left and the
Far-Right.  Both were in
great fear of the most ex-
perienced executive in
American politics.  He would
have run circles around any
challenger from the Demo-
crats, and probably would
have given the current Con-
gress a run for their money,
too.

So how did we get stuck with
‘The Old Fraud’ as a counter
to ‘The Great Faker’?  The
answer takes us down a long
path of compromises and mis-
steps.  Thus, this will be a
multi-part exploration. Unlike
another radio talk-jock, Mark
Levin, who’s new book,
“Liberty and Tyranny”, which
he subtitles as a Conservative
manifesto, I will deal with this
subject as an Objectivist.  In
other words, I will not shy
away from being critical of
those who failed at the gates.

Who failed?  What gates am I
talking about?  The gates to
the land of freedom and true
liberty.  Where the individual’s
rights are held sacred.  The
land of true Capitalism.  I get
a real kick watching these
morons protesting the G20
summits and such, complaining
how Capitalism has failed.  We
have yet to experience it! What
we have instead is Social
Democracy which practices a
form of market economics.

Capitalism is basically all about
property rights, with the most
important property being your-
self.  Without individual sove-
reignty, you cannot be free, nor
can you truly own anything
else, for that matter.  As Ayn
Rand often pointed out,
Capitalism is a political system,
not merely an economic one.
While the GOP and Conserva-
tives adhere to some of the
principles of Capitalism, they
do fall short on a few subjects.

The Gatekeepers of Liberty
had a good run during the
1980s with President Ronald
Reagan.  His revolution was
modest, but a complete re-
versal of our nation’s course
from previous administrations.
In 1994, Newt Gingrich led
another revolution, which too
had limited success.  But then
things began to slip.
Mind you, I like most of
the Gatekeepers, Gingrich,
Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter
and the rest.  But as I said
before, they are ‘stopped
clocks’.  They are right a
couple times a day.  Which
leads me to the essence
of this next series.  The
Gatekeepers of the Con-
servative movement are
to blame for our current
state of affairs.  They had
the opportunity to bring
about long-term, effective
change.  But they blew it!

So much could have been
accomplished after the 1994
Congressional elections.  But
while Newt did achieve most
of the ‘Contract With America’,
he got side-tracked with the
Clinton-Lewinsky-Impeachment
nonsense.  A golden opportun-
ity to use a wounded Clinton
to effect true change, like a
flat tax, abolishing the Federal
Reserve, and really rolling back
the failed policies of FDR and
LBJ, was squandered.

In Part 2, I will explain more,
and take us into the current
problems with the Conserva-
tive movement and the GOP.
As Oliver Cromwell said,
“Put you trust in God..., and
keep your powder dry.”

For those of you who were
concerned about Obama being
Clinton Part 2 or Carter Part 2,
be more worried about him
being Nixon Part 2!  This
week's ousting of GM CEO,
Rick Wagoner, is a alarming.
Aside from the fact that there
is no Constitutional provision
for such an action, this may
just be the beginning.

Our pals in Congress are now
considering a bill which will
give the Treasury Secretary
the power to set wages and
compensation.  Of course, it
will ONLY be limited to those
firms which have taken bail out
money from the government.
But when have you ever seen
the Congress limit the power
of the State?

Could wage and price controls
for the entire economy be far
off?  Let's not forget that FDR
did this back in the 1930s with
his NRA program.  No, he was
not advocating gun rights!  His
NRA stood for National Reco-
very Act.  What are we calling
all of these new stimulus and
bail out bills?  Recovery Acts?

In the early 1970s, Richard
Nixon instituted wage and
price controls in a futile at-
tempt to control inflation.  At
the time, it was flirting with
10%.  When you look at the
numbers in Obama's budget,
his scheme for reducing the
deficit 50% by 2013 takes
into account an inflation rate
of about 8% per year.  Hmmm.
Where have we seen this
play before?

The stagflation of the 1970s
was made much worse by
the government trying to
inflate the budget deficit away.
Inflation hurts the lower and
middleclass worse than the
wealthy.  It is especially hard
on those with fixed incomes.
Of course, when you can
adjust income at the rate of
inflation, then it gives the il-
lusion of keeping pace. But
does it really?

The answer is, N-O!!!
Inflation is bad for everyone,
except those deeply in debt.
Then it becomes a game of
at least pulling in enough
cash to take advantage of
the inflation to pay down a
debt.  The question is, can
the government pull in enough
to make the scheme work?

The answer is N-O!!!  LOL!!!
Sorry to burst your bubbles,
but everything Obama is
planning on doing will not
help generate any long term
growth.  Increasing tax rates
is always a bad idea.  If the
Congress and Obama con-
tinue to legislate a new busi-
ness environment where
incentive is stifled, which
wage restrictions and in-
creased tax rates will do, they
will not reap any benefits in
increased revenue.

The Obama budget looks to
add some $12.8 Trillion dollars
of new debt.  And that's an opti-
mistic figure.  His new health
care plan could easily wind up
costing several times more
than the allocated $640 Billion
planned on for 2010.  Our GDP
for 2008 is estimated to have
been $14.2 Trillion dollars.  The
number may be lower as more
adjustments are made for the
4th Quarter.  It's decline has al-
ready been revised from a neg-
ative 4.7% to 8.3%.

The firing of Wagoner sets a
whole new precedent.  Already
there is talk of Ken Lewis, the
CEO of Bank of America, may
be the next to be forced out by
the Obama Administration.  If
that happens, then all of the
400+ companies who took
TARP money may be feeling
the long arm of Obama soon.

Even Nixon did not meddle
with internal corporate politics.
Many of the banks that took
TARP cash are now scramb-
ling to give it back.  They have
seen the future and it is not
pretty.  If Obama & Company
continue to repeat the mistakes
of the past, what next?  Will
he display other extra-Consti-
tutional actions?  Has the era
of dirty tricks, enemies lists,
and other abuses of power
returned?