I am going to shock many of my Christian friends today because I am doing something we are all taught not to do. I am celebrating a death. More monster than man, he was, but we are always taught to think of what it would be like to be in that person’s shoes and say “There but by the grace of God, go I.” If there ever were an exception, perhaps it is found in Kim Jong Il, the petty potentate of North Korea.

Kim, the successor and son of North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung, recently died at the age of 69. Upon his father’s death he took the reins in that isolated country and was responsible for policies that led to mass starvation and cannibalism, while continuing his father’s policies of purging political enemies in concentration camps. The elder Kim (the father), whose mother was reputedly a Christian deaconess, instituted the Juche heresy in which the Father (Kim Il Sung), the son (Kim Jong Il) and Juche (National self-reliance) ideology are literally worshipped as a state trinity. Kim Jong Il expanded this into a full-blown cult while threatening to destroy “the Land of Morning Calm” (traditional name of Korea) and enslave of his southern neighbor, while shaking his nuclear fist at the world.

As a Christian, I would hope and pray Kim Jong Il confessed the name of Christ prior to death—the same prayer I said for his father. This, however, does not keep me from celebrating. Few men have caused more suffering and death through their personal actions. If he confessed Christ, then I will celebrate the mercy of God. If he didn’t, the lover of liberty within me feels there has to be a special place in hell for men like him and his father. They are a perfect example of Lord Acton’s adage, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Anyone wanting to understand life under the Kim regime should read Eyes of the Tailless Animals, by Yi Sun Ok.

This week, Mitt Romney was endorsed by the DE Moines Register and the talking heads are busy debating how this will impact his campaign. Many people overlook how useless such endorsements really are. Not only are they useless, but they actually demonstrate a problem with the endorsee.

Newspapers will endorse someone from both sides of the race. If there is both a Democrat and a Republican running they will endorse a candidate for each party. In seeking the candidate to endorse they look for those who match up with the values of the paper’s owners or editorial staff. This means they look for a Democrat and a Republican who each share their values. So when everything is done and the endorsements have been announced we see which two people have the closest values to each other and are the least different. The Register has told us Mitt Romney is the most Democrat-like of all the candidates. When you see such endorsements take notice and vote with care.

I am sick of hearing about the evils of gridlock and the virtues of compromise. I understand compromise is an essential part of our government, and to accomplish anything each side must surrender some of their pet ideology and seek common ground. However, the founders never imagined over 500 full time people whose only purpose to exist is the creation of law—easily defined as new limits to our freedoms. It is easy to see that our nation is never as free as when Washington is in full-fledged gridlock.

In the vitriol against gridlock, one target is the Republican controlled House of Representatives. Those of us who worked so hard to take the House last election have to understand that since we only control the House we are limited in our ability to influence law and policy. Only bills attractive to the Democrat controlled Senate will pass; so blocking the agenda of the Left is our most powerful tool. When you hear it reported that Congress refuses to get along and pass some bit of legislation, see such reports as banners pronouncing “Freedom Survives Another Day.”

I know many will complain that if Congress and the President don’t work together the economy will not be fixed. Actually it is government tweaking and interference that keeps the economy on the rocks. The best thing to happen to the economy would be a removal of that interference. If Congress won’t actively remove the onerous regulations that have strangled our economy, the next best is a gridlocked Congress that can implement no new ones.

The NTSB is recommending every state to ban use of any device while driving. Their recommendation includes use of hands-free devices. While sounding like good law there are some things I would like to point out. One is the unintended consequences of such a law. In our city of San Antonio a ban on texting while driving was passed. I have noticed that drivers, instead of holding their phones up at windshield level to text, now continue to text but hide them in their laps and look down to text—a dangerous situation made more dangerous.

I would also point out that the accident they are basing this current emotional call on happened in a state that already had such a law for those under 21 (http://www.iihs.org/laws/cellphonelaws.aspx) and the law did not prevent the accident. If the existence of the law did not prevent the accident, why would anyone imagine the expansion of the law to work any better?

One final point to make is about the other vehicles in the accident. The pickup driven by the texting teen struck the rear of a semi when it slowed for a construction zone. That accident was probably survivable. The problem was the two buses that struck the rear of the pickup. The first one struck with enough force to push it over the pickup, rolling it up like a jelly roll. The second bus struck the first bus. Why has no one pointed out that the buses were following too close? I used to drive a school bus and company policy was that any accident in which you hit something with the front of your bus resulted in automatic termination because such an accident is always preventable with the proper following distance. Had these drivers been at a proper distance there would have been no fatalities.

The initiating incident was the texting teen, but the killing blows were delivered by two bus drivers overlooking their safety training and driving too close to safely stop. This matters little though, because it plays into the hands of some who would use emotion to make laws. The actual cause of the deaths will not be addressed, but will be swept aside in an emotional assault on cell usage. Yes, it is stupid to text while driving. Yes, something should be done. However, until you convince the drivers, efforts to force them will be ineffective.

Barack Obama rode a mantra of “Hope” and “Change” into the Whitehouse. The Republican Party was disappointed by leaders infected with the neoconservative heresy. Eight years of majority dithered away as Republicans acted like Democrats to buy votes. Instead, they alienated their base, lost their majority along with the White House.

In 2008 the GOP ran a candidate ill equipped to inspire the base. While he could promise little more than four years of the same, Obama promised something different. Of course it would be different. He was using the word “Change,” wasn’t he? He said he would change things. Of course there was little said about what he would change beyond such bromides as “share the wealth” and “fairness.” His Senate record of voting “Present” was no help pointing out the direction he would take the country. Yet he was able to inspire people and assure them that he was the savior they had awaited for so long.

This election we have a chance to make real changes in Washington. We have the House already, and a Senate majority is within reach. Hopefully both will be dominated by rock-ribbed conservatives. The problem is our ticket for the White House. None of this lot really inspires the base, in general. Sure each has their supporters, but none seem able to coalesce the base into a political machine. Each will have to rely on a fear of four more years in the Obama wasteland to keep their detractors in check, pushing them to show up at the polls, nose held tightly to cast their ballot. But show up they must. This is because while there they will vote for something even more important than the butt parked in the Oval Office. Every member of Congress and 1/3 of the Senate are up to reelection. Remember, the House initiates all appropriations bills (they hold the checkbook) and the Senate must approve all court nominees and treaties (they hold the keys to our freedoms).

The most important thing the GOP candidate can do is motivate. Rather than running as the Anti-Obama, this person must run as America’s answer—inspiring hope. Ronald Reagan did not simply run against Carter. Yes, his quip about a recovery being defined as Jimmy Carter losing his job was funny and creative—and oh, so very true! However, he spent most of the time playing up America and the bright future that was ahead for her if only the people would put him in office. We had just ended the long bloody Vietnam conflict. Inflation was rampant, unemployment through the roof. Things were so bad that previous laws of economics were rewritten giving us the previously unknown “stagflation.” After Nixon’s shenanigans, Ford’s questionable pardon of him, and Carters general ineptitude, people had a deep distrust for politicians. Well guess who is back. We have Jimmy Carter the sequel. It is time to send this guy off into the private sector, once and for all. The way to do that is to take a play from the Gipper and inspire. Don’t play on our fears; draw from our hopes.

Mitt Romney has to be feeling a bit like the chunky kid in a neighborhood ballgame. You know the kid I’m talking about—the PC crowd would say he has a lot of heart, but he still gets picked last every time. In a field of his fellow Republicans, waiting to get picked for the team Mitt maintains his steady mid 20’s position, while watching others go from back of the pack to surge ahead of him. Michelle Bachman, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and now Newt Gingrich have all passed him up with the base of the GOP, only to be brought down by accusations or the unfortunate opening of their own mouths. Mitt must be getting the message by now. While a small field has decided that he is the best bet for beating Obama, most Republicans seem to be voting “anyone but Mitt.”

Somehow I’m having visions of 2008 all over again. It looks like, just like in 2008, we will have our candidate chosen by the media. Once he has secured the nomination the media will turn on him fiercely and protect their candidate Barack Obama. While current polls show Romney as a serious contender for Obama this lasts only until the media make him their favorite whipping boy. I know the party apparatchiks who support candidates like Romney expect us in the libertarian/ conservative camp to hold our nose and support the centrist candidate. I know the alternative, if we take our toys and go home, is four more years of economic lunacy and Chicago style politics; however, I want to ask, when will the GOP centrists hold their nose to support our candidate? I’ve been around long enough to know the answer to this involves a cold day in a hot place.