Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a great day. May you truly be thankful for your many blessings.

And for those readers outside of the U.S. I hope you get a chance to be thankful for what you have and your life is filled with an abundance of blessings also.





And Go Dallas Cowboys, couldn't resist

brief respite from my mini series of posts

A fistful of thoughts that I know are somehow related, I just got to find a way to tie them all together.

I'll start with Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has someplace to go. Definitely a holiday that the whole family should enjoy together. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons many people don't get to enjoy the family aspect of the holiday or even the holiday itself. And to me some of the reasons are symptoms of some of the problems facing our country.

First though lets thank the fire fighters, police, paramedics, nurses, doctors, hospital staff, traffic controllers, military, and anyone else giving up the day so we can be safe. It is a shame that we need to have a bare minimum of people who make the sacrifice for us. So thank you to those whose job is a necessity so the rest of us are protected and safe.

Now there is the next tier of workers who have to give up the day and cannot spend the day with their families so our lives are convenient or for us to indulge. This is where I wish we could prioritize what is important and let as many people as possible spend valuable time with their loved ones. And since Thanksgiving isn't born directly as any religious holiday it could be a day we agree to make special. Yet more and more nowadays family is a second or third thought in our society.

We need to revisit our priorities in our country. And in doing so we run into many problems, but two I want to discuss are Christian fundamentalists and liberals who politically discount the concept of family values. Of course there is corporate greed that is eroding families in our country, but not the immediate discussion I want to address.


It seems Christian fundamentalists don't realize you can't legislate morality. Morality is better served through education and by living the example. My better half says not to emulate other Christians, but to emulate Christ. Well she believes this, I don't know who originally said this, yet very true and sometimes there is a difference between some Christians and Christ. My point though is we need to restrengthen the family in our society. We are losing a great institution and with strong families with healthy values these can carry forward from generation to generation. The Christian fundamentalists tout this value, but utterly fail in getting our society to truly understand what this means.

Liberals for whatever reasons seem to think that family values aren't important or are some quaint part of our history. I don't know if it is because it is anathema to so called liberalism or they just want to oppose the groups that politically support familt values or what, but you have to wonder why. Many liberals tout they are more educated than Christian fundamentalists. The desire for a good education many times comes from a strong family background. Yet you don't see the Democrats or the elitist liberals even begin to stress the importance of family in their politics or platforms. I have never heard a good argument that supports a good family isn't beneficial to children and society, but liberals treat the topic like it has leprosy or AIDS. Why?

And the family value debate is just another part of the ongoing Republican disconnect with our country. They always put it in their national platform someway, but when it comes to really trying to strengthen our families they completely support programs or turn a blind eye to elements of our society that help erode the family. One example is the Republicans fighting against immigration reform. Two large immigrant groups hispanics and Asians have strong family ties. Next time you are in the mall or someplac similar compare the number of families vs groups or individuals shopping. More often than not you will see full families of Asians or Hispanics out together. Much more than white or African Americans. If you truly believe in family values you might want to get them involved in the process and support of those values.

I know I haven't gotten into what the actual problems are because of the decline of the family in our country. Maybe a post solely dedicated to that should be done. For now though the thought is part of my fistful of thoughts mentioned above. I am frustrated with the decline of Thanksgiving and the values it represents. We need days like this to rejuvenate our families, to bring them together to create lasting memories for our children and for us as we get older. Plus there is so much more to us as a nation when we gather and share thankfulness for what we have.


As a small part to bringing family values back I ask one favor, do not go shopping on Thursday. And this includes grocery shopping, gas purchasing etc. Please don't feed the corporate mentality that one days worth of sales are more important than us as humans. Take off for the day and enjoy a day at home with everyone. If you want to go shopping, by all means go, take the whole family and go on Friday.

Overall plan ahead so you can settle in and have a great Thanksgiving.

Coach! We're gonna win by a hundred points.

Son, we still have to play the game.

If you read enough posting boards and even in some media outlets you get the impression that the democrats have already won 2014 and 2016. The lay faithful of the democratic party are so sure of the outcome it is almost guaranteeing a huge surprise.

First of all the writers of posts and blogs have a huge disdain of the tea party. Their posts completely assume that the tea party is just a bunch of country hicks. This is their first mistake. And it seems if you even try to point out anything different you get bombasted with comments about your ignorance. The democratic faithful are seriously unaware of how much of the country is tired of Washington D.C. They don't realize many people aren't joining the tea party outright, but they are listening to what is being said. I don't support the tea party and am a bit scared of their reach, but democrats are completely dismissing them. They may find out the hard way many people don't think the federal govt is the answer or has the solutions we need anymore.

Second the democrats all seem to be in lock step right now and will continue as the republicans struggle. Now there is a tad bit of dent in the armor with the ACA problems and they maybe fixable, but there are other issues that the democrats don't want to face. Sooner or later the problem of the debt and deficit is something the populace is going to demand to be addressed. Some moderate democrats may start breaking ranks and support some Republican initiatives to reduce our government. Add any financial problems for the ACA and many moderates may pull back on supporting quite a few programs to lower govt expenditures.

Many democrats will tout stats that they say shows govt spending and democratic policies help the economy. And they are partially correct. Two problems exist for those facts now. One was there were other factors that also helped at the time. For the great depression WWII played a big role in our economy, not just FDR's initial public works campaign. Another example was the rise of technology and the internet helped the economy and therefore our surpluses of the nineties probably more so than anything Clinton did. Second our budget and debt has never been this high compared to GDP without a strong growth spurt to help us get back to more reasonable ratios. We are spending more without a strong enough economy to balance later. The recovery is taking too long. The drain of social services is adding to the problem more so than benefiting the people receiving. People in the middle class will begin to protest the over reliance on them and start putting pressure on politicians to reduce benefits and if the democrats don't come up with alternate solutions the middle class will start listening to the tea party etc... and this won't be the country hicks the democrats think dominate the tea party's membership. So comparing or touting past successes to say the economy will get better could backfire if it doesn't soon and people see the long term debt as more of a problem than the democrats.

Another problem for the democrats is attitude. Now all sides have the mentality of I'm right their wrong, but there is a growing segment of democrats that seem to fit the old label elitist liberal. They are giving off the attitude that they know what's best for the country and all other ideas are useless. This attitude is different from the uncompromising ideology of tea party purists. It shows itself in their disdain for the tea party, but also comes through in a know it all, look down their nose at the rest of us who can't grasp they know what's best and there is no reason for me to even try to think. This is an intangible attitude, but over time people resent having their thoughts and ideas discounted by someone who holds over their head an air of superiority

The democrats are over confident and over confidence does have some basis to be confident. You can't assume anything though and that is where over confidence comes back to bite you. What I have been trying to convey are some areas that might surprise the democrats or where they are missing the boat and lose their momentum going into 2014 etc.. Another possibility is someone coming out of the blue and taking the country by storm with a whole new message. And on a side note the Governor of Wisconsin was alluding to that last weekend. A bit self serving if you ask me and I noticed a few other commentators saw this point. Yet there is the possibility of this happening because many people are wanting a DC outsider to ride to the rescue.

This post has been written over more than a few lunch hours on a so called "smart
" phone so I really cannot get the flow I want, but the gist is the democrats may look pretty right now and much of the press is all on board, but the game still needs to be played. The democratic establishment will get it handed back to them if they aren't ready to take on our country's problems and think the current Republican implosion is their meal ticket going forward.

Thank you

Here is to all the men and women who give and have given their all.

Thank you and Happy Veteran's Day.

" oh hey dude, its the establishment"

Okay say the title in a Tommy Chong type of voice for a bit of humor effect.

Imagine you and your best friend, always together. Picture yourself at three, thirteen, thirty three etc. Imagine there is always that picture of you two together, arms around each other and smiling. You have probably seen many photos with that scene. Now imagine no matter what, you can't say no to your best friend, even at times when it would be in your friend's best interest and in the best interest of all your friends.

Of course you are the Republican party, big business is your best friend, and everyone else is the rest of the country. I don't think it is a stretch to see this picture. This is just one of the problems facing the now labeled "Establishment" part of the Republican party.

Name a vision the Republican Party has had, seriously think about it for a moment and think of a true vision they have had at any time over the years. They have some issues they favor, they will tell you they are the conservative party, they support certain causes, but a vision. I don't know. The closest I came to one was trickle down economics. This is described as if you give tax breaks to big business, the benefits would get invested and then everyone would benefit from the success that big business was suppose to have. The old adage a rising tide lifts all boats. Trickle down got its start in the 80's and the economy did improve. Realistically though it was more from a Democrat philosophy. The Republicans spent our way into a recovery with large amounts of defense spending. The economy improved not because of the actual legislation and work from a vision, but because the Republicans started a debt balloon by spending heavily on defense. Those industries did well and then everyone else. So it may seem trickle down worked, but realistically at best the jury is still out on that one and I am being generous. Another problem facing the Establishment; what can they really hang their hat on to show they can govern well?

The Republicans say they want to expand the conservative base. They honestly realize they need to find more votes. They don't realize this is going to take work. The Republicans seem to be under the impression that saying they are the conservative party all conservatives should follow suit. And there is an untapped audience. Most of this country is still at least moderately conservative, including successful immigrants and minorities. And because these groups have worked hard to be successful they are a natural audience to the Republican message. The Republicans don't want to meet them, not just halfway, but not at all. There is some kind of blind hope of the Republicans they should get these votes without walking in their shoes. And I am not talking about issue voting like immigration reform to obtain these votes, but real canvassing the neighborhood work. Go out and meet them in their world.

New and established immigrants that are successful come from backgrounds that support the same values the Republicans tout. Values like; strong family, work ethic, many have Christian backgrounds, and could be encouraged to support legislation supporting lower taxes, smaller federal government and less reliance on government to be successful. This is a dream audience for Republicans, but are ignored. African Americans that are successful in professional endeavors or with their own business are another ripe audience. And this group is really feeling put off by the Republicans, many have the same values already listed, yet again ignored. Now I will make a distinction. There are many successful African Americans that have benefited from being active politically in the Democrat party and will always carry this loyalty. The African American vote will lean heavily towards the democrats for years. There is no doubt. Yet there are some African Americans who would listen if effort was made. And as with immigrants real effort. This is another area where the "establishment" is watching the tide leave the bay, the boats are sinking, and they don't know why.

This is the area I have the most concern. There is a need for a balanced government and a conservative agenda. We cannot sustain spending our way out of trouble by the federal government. At times some spending by the government works to help the economy jump start a bit, but we cannot rely on it. We need practical and realistic budgets most of the time. And without a debt burden that not only slows down a current recovery, but holds future generations hostage to what we are doing now. This is where we stand now. And the Republican establishment is alienating the people, described above about a third of the country, that we need to help us elect true conservatives to put together a balanced budget, plans to reduce the debt, reigning in of federal programs that aren't working or too cumbersome to be effective anymore. And this brings us back to the first picture.

Republicans for all their conservative talk, really aren't conservative. Their reliance on the status quo and calling themselves conservative have been a large misnomer in American politics. Many people will complain that conservative policies don't work. The policies would if put in place properly and by true conservatives ( and this isn't the tea party, but that is another post). The establishment Republicans have been giving lip service to an ideal, but in all reality they put their best friend first and hope that this friend carries the day for them. And when your best friend is self centered and only has one person to worry about, well you don't get the most compatible person for helping or working with others.

And now the deal is going down for the Establishment. Can they rise to the occasion or will they be split apart by their ideological brethren? The Establishment has its work cut out. And don't be too energized by Christie's win. I know the Business Insider has been running articles on Christie being the model for success going forward, but he has a few things going for him the rest of the party doesn't have. First, he is popular in New Jersey, second Sandy hurt New Jersey and he responded and wasn't shy about asking for help from an administration that wanted to look good right at that moment, the Establishment doesn't do well with natural disasters, and once he got elected he did do one thing politically right and that has been magnanimous with working with democrats at times.

The Establishment needs a vision, one that they can espouse and then carry it out. This is more than saying a few phrases, like: "read my lips no new taxes" or successful people lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. It needs to show why people should listen to them. Put a realistic and workable budget together that people can understand, yet doesn't ignore there are problems in our country. It is great to say we cut the budget by cutting. It doesn't work, if it doesn't offer alternative solutions to problems. Conservatives don't want the federal government trying solve all the problems because we know that is an unrealistic expectation. We must be prepared though to offer alternatives. Ignoring problems only cost more in the long run. Again you cannot saddle debts on a future generation, whether by borrowing money now or by handing off a much larger problem to solve. The Establishment just doesn't seem to see why no one wants to listen to them. And quite frankly because they haven't said anything new in decades. Their time and unfortunately conservatism in general is at a tipping point. Can they come through, do we need a new party, or is this country doomed to a spiraling out of control federal government born not because the Democrats have better ideas, but because the Republicans just don't have any?

Too bad their best friend and wall street are too consumed by their own largess and greed to help. And no its not about the money, PACs, or getting rid of the lobbyists, (that wouldn't hurt though), its about reinvesting in our country.


And this has been post number two in my pre primary midterm election discussion about where we stand politically in the eyes of an independent conservative. I saw a quote today though that scares me about writing these posts." The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." H. L. Mencken

I am probably in much trouble here. ( not that I have some special ownership of truth) some people perceive truth different than others

Have a great evening

They say they have a vision

Vision,a word that encompasses a wide variety of definitions and meanings to different people. For our purposes though I plan to talk more about political visions or visions for our country.

A statement such as " read my lips, no new taxes" is not a vision. Or "Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall" even though this was a monumental statement that defined the end of an era or end of the cold war was not an actual vision for our country.

Some visions develop themselves such as our "manifest destiny" that occurred during the 19th century. This became a vision of our country and depending on your perspective a quite successful one. This was brought about by quite a few separate events that occurred throughout the century such as the Louisiana Purchase, the gold rush of the West, end of the civil war, and other events all eventually combining into a dream made possible by a variety of entrepreneurs, adventurers, and political will. Visions don't always have the support of everyone, but our manifest destiny became a reality because it had the support of enough power brokers to make it come true.

Sometimes a vision is born and carried forth by a stated goal. The best example is JFK's we are going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. President Kennedy knew we needed to establish ourselves as having superiority over the Soviets, not just in the space race, but as a country, way of life, way of governing. He needed something to prove that we could achieve superiority and the space race provided him with a great goal. The goal became a vision because the country embraced it. This was something Republicans and Democrats could all hang our hat. Outside of a very small minority that was scared of what we might find most Americans were excited about us reaching the moon. President Kennedy had political will, popular will, and the resources to accomplish this goal, his unfortunate death only added to the political and popular will. Unfortunately once we reached this goal, the space race was over and nothing new about it excited the populace so it took a long time for anymore major space events to take place. It became part of our government,not something new and exciting anymore. Once the vision was achieved there was nothing new to inspire us forward.

Some visions are actual thought out defined visions. One example is LBJ's Great Society. And depending on your perspective: a failure, a partial failure, or a partial success. Part of the success was just the idea that you can define a whole program dedicated to improving the standing of many of our country. As a vision, the concept itself, is a great example of what a country like ours can do that many other countries cannot. As a practical reality, it has not succeeded in completely eradicating racism and its programs to rid the country of poverty have become federal behemoths that have created multi-generational poverty. The vision itself is wonderful. Again no other country probably in the history of the world has ever set out to create a better way of life for its masses or oppressed than what the vision of the Great Society professed. You cannot fault the vision. So what should be done, ignore it and cut out all the programs. Actually no, and at this point this is where we can restate how great our country is by still defining the vision or restating it and coming up with programs that might achieve the goal. And this discussion will be for a different post.

And for our country, our original vision is still our best. The founding fathers worked for decades, first to realize they would stand up to tyranny, then to get together to determine what standing up to tyranny meant, fighting the war, and finally getting together and even though it took years writing our constitution. This vision took shape over decades, but was born from the new idea that man should be in charge of his own destiny. And one of the wonderful aspects of our constitution was that many men took charge of their own destiny, espoused their ideas, compromised on some, worked and fought through the process to shape the vision. Which as we all know is something our current government cannot do.

Another vision we have is what is also causing the current quagmire in our government. The idea or concept that all Americans should have healthcare. Now as an idea, this is something to think about and if possible something to work towards. This idea started a couple of decades ago and supposedly came into fruition with the Affordable Care Act. Again this is a vision and people actually put together legislation to try and realize the goal. The debate on the success of this is still out. The vision still exists and though many people aren't on board with the current product, we, as a country, can still work forward with goal to make it work. You can create a vision, but not call it a failure just because the practical application didn't work the first time. That is one very important lesson we should have learned from our founding fathers' efforts to create the constitution. I am not a fan of the affordable care act, but I don't see this as a reason to not think about what we can do to achieve affordable health care. As a conservative I am of the opinion that the federal government can't solve all the problems, nor should even try, but there is nothing wrong with the federal government shaping the debate on how to solve problems or create solutions.

I titled this post" they say they have a vision" as an intentional misnomer. This is where we stand as a country. No one has a vision for our country going forward. And I think it is time we look at ourselves, decide who we want to be as a country, much like our forefathers, and go forward. And I don't think we need to have some group get together and propose something we vote on. I think it is time for the people of this country to expect more from ourselves and define what we can do. We are at an interesting time in the history of our country. Change is happening rapidly. This change is economically, culturally, with technology, geo-politically around the world, amongst ourselves, and the reader probably can mention a few. Do we elect leaders that realize this change is happening and prepare our country for the ongoing evolution of the United States as a people or do we sit on what we have and watch our famous experiment with democracy (okay with the republic) disappear into the world's history books? Yes the United States in name could still exist, there are enough nationalists to keep that going, but what about what our forefathers created. A flexible framework of a government that allows a country to adapt to change and still keep its primary values of freedom, individualism, government by the people, and the ideal that all men are created equal. (the concept of all men are created equal is another topic I want to broach someday) still in place.

This type of vision is different than the legislative visions I mentioned previously, but more of a vision that develops over time. One that many people shape, but becomes part of the political will of the people. One that only a country created as ours can achieve. This is one of the main reasons our country is great. The ability to move forward as a country based on the will of the people, by the governance of the people, and by the dreams of the people. Like the examples above, there are many different types of visions. And all these types plus more are the examples of what can move us forward.

We are at the cross roads of time. Democracy, or our working Republic, is still new to the history of the world. Our country has evolved. It doesn't look like it what it did 200 years ago, 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago. And in fifty years it might look even different. What is important is keeping our values so generations going forward can benefit from the same things we benefit from; the ability to stand up and control our own destinies both individually and with our country.

There is much to talk about with this vision, but for now this post is the first of a series where I hope to talk about where we stand politically, why the current groups of political leaders are failing us, and what I eventually hope to define as one possible vision going forward. I know no one person cannot speak for all, but I hope to instill in the reader a thought process about what they see going forward and what can we do to re instill our founding fathers' vision and processes back into our government.

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And a secondary note about the affordable care act.

There is so much noise on this it is hard to determine what it is actually. From the best I can determine and at a very simplistic level:

Everyone is suppose to have coverage.

It seems you can get coverage from different sources, one being the infamous website the government produced. Your job, private or individual policies bought directly, or through groups like AARP, all as long as it meets certain government standards.

The government through its website will determine if you meet certain income standards you can receive help subsidies for your coverage.

There are supposed benefits like no pre existing condition denials and of course everyone gets "affordable" health insurance.

Some complaints are the subsidies that people receive to pay for coverage, the government setting the standards for the type of coverage or what is the minimum allowable coverage, the disparity in costs between old and young people, the disparity in coverage between different groups of people for example apparently urban and suburban dwellers are getting more choices and less expensive coverage than people in rural areas, you actually don't get to keep your policies apparently because of the minimum standards, and I am sure the reader knows their own complaints.

All this from a 1100+ page piece of legislation. Anyway a simplistic primer for those confused about what is all the noise. I am not going to get into the pros and cons of the legislation, but as a conservative I will state way too much reliance on the federal government to actually run the show. There maybe a better answer and I hope there is (and yes I have a few), but it cannot all come from the government. Too many players are way too unhappy for the government to have this much control.




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And finally I said I would work to be positive and constructive. I want to emulate this in all my writings so I must confess I got a bit smarky on a post on a CNN story the other day. Yes I said smarky because I cannot think of a better word. It wasn't sarcastic, it was very trite. Anyway got to be careful and not let the absolute juvenile attitude of the CNN posters get to me. I like reading them for entertainment, but I cannot let my self get caught up in their ways. There are some good comments, but enough of the juvenile ones to cause brain failure if you read too many of them.

Have a great evening and Go Mavs tonight.

I do not know where to start

The news is already lighting up with political rhetoric about both democrats and republicans/tea party. The Wall Street Journal online had an article about establishment Republicans getting ready to fight back for control of the party. The associated press had an article about Democrats getting ready to support Hillary already. And of course all the posters and trolls are all over these stories and more.

There were so many comments I wanted to respond to I felt overwhemed. And thank goodness I didn't. I try as best as possible to take the positive and constructive route. So with that spirit in mind I am going to use the next few posts to break out a few posts that show why the democrats are over confident, the tea party is gaining more support than the establishment republicans and democrats realize, why the establishment republicans are clueless about their problems, why the tea party is not the answer, well actually why any of the three groups mentioned not the answer, and finally and going back to the constructive and positive theme what I would write as a platform writer for my progressive conservative party if it actually came to fruition.

Yes a bunch to discuss so will be covered over a few posts and right now I don't know which order or if I will mix up the topics as I go along. I do know I will have one post specifically to the platform.

One thought I want to get out is the reason for being very specific about a specific platform is that the other three groups don't have a vision any more. All three groups are locked into being on one side of a variety of issues. No one has a vision anymore. We are just arguing crap year in and year out. One of the post comments brought up an interesting fact and even quoted the source about how different voting groups voted. Pretty interesting tidbit of info, but what it showed me is that our politicians don't see a country anymore, but voters as commodities that need to be cultivated. And yes I know any astute person has seen this coming for a long time.

I am starting to ramble because my brain is overloaded with thoughts. This is why I know I am going to need to break this out, so hopefully I can hold onto it all and put together a few coherent posts.

One point I want to add is that I will break out my platform into two major themes. First is problems to solve like the budget, debt, social programs etc and second a vision for our country that accepts the notion that we are a changing nation, but we can still keep our fundamental values and principals going forward to remain a great nation. One of the problems establishment Republican and tea party trolls are having a hard time accepting.

Sing this

Oh where oh where can democracy be

Oh where oh where can it be

With education pa the tic

And electorate apathetic

Oh where oh where can it be

Sung to an old nursery rhyme, but I don't know the name.


Yep it is about a year away till mid terms and potentially the wildest primary season in a long time. And the middle class will let themselves get shut out again unless we unite immediately. Going insane in this insane year.



And on the sports front the Mavericks need to find a defense. Lets see if they can find one against Memphis tonight or does Memphis offense get a shot in arm playing the Mavs. Thank goodness it is a long season.


And will someone please explain to me how the Cowboys keep losing insanely close games.