Americans for the most part are polite, at least conservatives are. For years we’ve seen conservative speakers shouted down by unwashed and unproductive liberal professional protesters. On college campuses you can usually tell the speakers political views by the volume of the audience. It is good to finally see conservatives getting in their verbal shots at liberals. During a town hall meeting in Philadelphia with HHS Secretary Sebelius and Senator Arlen Specter, brotherly love quickly fled the room. The issue at hand was healthcare and the people of this country are finally recognizing the liberal agenda for what it is—an effort to seize as much of the economy as possible and control the lives of the American.

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Later this month one more liberal landmine is set blow another hole in our already frail economy. In 2007, shortly after the Democratic takeover of Congress, the minimum wage was raised. This act was praised by the media and their friends on the left as help for the poor. We were barraged for years with images of unfortunate people who could not earn a ‘living wage’ flipping burgers and mopping floors. The left claimed these people needed help and that everyone working full time deserved to earn enough to live on. So in charged the Cavalry, riding Democrat donkeys and Republican RINOs, defending the rights of the worker from the evil capitalists enslaving them. No longer would these people be taken advantage of, the liberals would see to that and Bush would sign the bill. To ensure future prosperity for these disadvantaged souls, Washington legislated regular automatic increases. One of these is set to go off on July 24.

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Recently the House of Representatives passed a huge tax bill masked as an energy plan. HR 2454, which none of the House read prior to the vote, adds artificial costs (just another form of tax) to energy production and distribution. The goal of the bill is to make green energy more palatable and competitive so that market conditions will coax the nation to develop and switch to these new technologies. This is sort of a round about way to answer the critics of green energy who say that these sources of energy are cost prohibitive and that the market does not want them. Rather than letting market forces work, Congress wants to make the energy we currently use so expensive that other sources will become magically attractive. This is in keeping with the motto of the Democratic party: “If you can’t beat them, tax them into submission.”

Unfortunately, certain Republicans in the House of Representatives thought that you and I do not spend enough on utilities and voted with the majority to dip into your wallet. It is my hope that the eight voting for the bill will face serious primary opposition and be removed from office next time around.

The eight who voted to raise the consumer’s cost of energy:

Mary Bono Mack (R CA)
Michael Castle (R DE)
Mark Kirk (R IL)
Leonard Lance (R NJ)
Frank LoBiondo (R NJ)
John McHugh (R NY)
Dave Reichert (R WA)
Christopher Smith (R NJ)

As a child I was taught: “If you can’t find anything nice about a person then say nothing at all.” In an effort to conform to the manners my mother repeatedly (and futilely) tried to instill in me, I have decided to find something nice about President Barack Obama and the current leadership of the United States Congress.

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For the first time in his career Arlen Specter did the right thing—he switched sides. The only thing I have never understood is why the GOP has supported him for so long. Party loyalty and whom to support will always remain a mystery. I have heard the arguments that he is electable and we need this seat. However, when the party decides to lay-aside the beliefs of its base to support the ugliest dog at the show, why does it then turn around and expect the base to vote for that candidate?

When explaining his move, Specter tried to sound Reaganesque—claiming he had not left the party, the party had left him. Actually, he had never been in the party. He was always been (to suitably mangle the metaphor) a Jack Ass in an Elephant suit. When explaining his reasoning he pointed out that over 200,000 Pennsylvanians had switched from Republican to Democrat in the last election and of course he assumed these were the moderates and liberals who would support Specter. Am I the only one who remembers Rush’s Operation Chaos? This tactic to keep Hillary in the race so the Democrats would keep eating each other was a very powerful tool and thousands of Americans—especially in PA—took part by switching parties for the primary. I wonder how the media will spin it when they all switch back for the next election.

One thing that is quickly learned by any observation of American politics: memories are short. The biggest threat to those who would undermine our system and take away our freedoms is a voter with the power of recall. Had people remembered McCain in the 2000 election, he could have never been the candidate in 2008. Hopefully the people of PA will remember Arlen Specter’s history of obfuscation and disloyalty to take this opportunity to get him out of office.

Shortly after the attacks on 911, President Bush announced the new Office of Homeland Security. A good friend of mine was frightened by the potential for this new agency, seeing in it a potential for abuse of freedoms. I didn’t agree because I believed the reports that it was just a reorganization to increase communication among various organizations. We were early in the Bush administration and I, like many Americans, still thought he was a conservative. Besides, we had recently learned of glaring security problems through the attack. As a good American son, I have always been watchful of efforts to overstep by the government so I was put off guard by my trust for an individual. I forgot that the man sitting in the Oval Office is not the measure of our government, because that man will change every four to eight years. (more…)

Every member of Congress since 1884 has taken the following oath of office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Those elected to represent a congressional district answer to their people first (as the sovereign body) and then to the people’s document—the Constitution. The founders knew a strong central government was needed to deal with foreign nations and ensure a strong union between the states, but they feared a federal government without restrictions. Besides establishing the branches of our federal government and defining its relationship to the states and the people the main emphasis of the Constitution is to restrain this new leviathan. For example, the navy is a permanent fixture, provided for in the constitution, while the army must be funded with new legislation every two years. The founders, in effect, placed a sunset clause on something as essential as an army to protect the people from abuse by their own leaders. (more…)

In the beginning there was the Three. The three were all powerful and all truth was filtered through the Three. The Three were known as ABC, CBS and NBC. Over time, alternatives to the Three come forward. Conservative talk radio, cable news outlets and the Internet allowed the truths once hidden by the Three to be shouted from the roof tops. Over time, the Three and their cronies in print saw their influence and power wane. It was no longer possible for them to twist the news to meet their political agenda without being called to task for it. Such a change is never welcome to despots. After years of wandering in the wilderness the Three have found their deliverer. The Obama administration along with the Hip-pocket Congress of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are working hard to end free speech in America with the “Fairness Doctrine.” This bold-faced effort to silence those who would stand against their leftist agenda to recreate America in the European image is everything the founders of our country fought against. (more…)

President Obama and the Hip-pocket Congress are taking unprecedented steps to seize control of private sector firms, placing their assets under direct federal control. With plans to implement measures to permit government agencies to intercede in large publicly traded companies the push to state control of industry is at a fever pitch. Today’s news includes one such affront to a free market. At the request of the Obama administration, GM CEO Rick Wagoner resigned. This is just one example of the future we face with President Obama. Such is to be expected from Mr. Obama, since he has never worked in private industry, having made his living seeking political solutions to every problem. He can be excused for concluding government activism can make everyone as wealthy as it made him. (more…)

Senator Arlen Specter seems to be getting a bit uncomfortable. He is facing the appropriate scorn for crossing the aisle to follow his liberal heart. Not only was he one of only three Republicans in Congress to vote for the porkulus spending package of Obama, Reed and Pelosi, the American triumvirate, but he debauched himself with a cloture vote to squelch debate and force a vote on a bill that members of neither chamber had read. (more…)