An Early Entry In The Silly Season

The silly season is that period of time when everything Congress, the President, or the media do is related to an upcoming election. It usually starts about seven or eight months before the election–in the 2012 election cycle it has already begun.

Newsbusters posted an article on Friday about an article posted in the Daily Kos by Ray Pensador. In his article, Mr. Pensador states:

There is a strong legacy of puritanism in the American culture.  There is a strong legacy of atrocities, of the enslavement and extermination of millions of people, of the appropriation of other people’s land and property, of cruelty, of unimaginable greed.

Yes, this could be said about many other countries, and it takes generations for a country to cleanse itself from those abominations, but again, as a country we are very young, and many of those atrocities happened only a few decades ago.

And therefore that cultural legacy has not gone away completely.

Today, in 2011, there are millions and millions of people in the United States that harbor a deep-seeded hate for what they consider to be minorities, immigrants, and for people who advocate for concepts of social justice and equality for all.

These people hold a twisted sense of piety that revolves around the concept that God will bless His followers with richness and good fortune, and will punish the sinner with poverty, disease, and despair.

They see the concept of equality and justice, and compassion, as advocated by Liberals and Progressives, as interference with God’s will.

In that sense, there is a certain proclivity towards sadism.  There is a certain satisfaction is seeing the suffering of those who they consider unworthy, lazy, sinful.  In their eyes, and again, richness and prosperity are the results of piety, and poverty and suffering, the result of debauchery.

What planet is this man living on? I am not a theologian, but I am not an idiot either. The Puritans were not perfect, but they believed in a work ethic, the family, morality, faith, and following God to the best of their ability. They made mistakes along the way, but generally speaking, I would say that their society was much healthier than our current society. Christianity supports equality of opportunity and equal application of justice–it does not support equal outcome. Christianity sees hard work as a virtue, and encourages charity.

Trashing Christianity is not attractive. Trashing a candidate because of his Christianity is even less attractive. Our country’s laws are based on a Judeo-Christian ethic–to attempt to undermine that ethic is to attempt to undermine the foundations of our government.

 

Putting The Iowa Straw Poll In Perspective

The Washington Examiner reported the results of the Iowa Straw Poll late yesterday afternoon.  Michele Bachmann won by 152 votes, with Ron Paul coming in second.  What is the world does this mean?  Well, frankly, not a whole lot.

The article at the Washington Examiner reported that 16,892 Iowans voted in the straw poll.  The straw poll is something that generally only the truly motivated voter takes part in.  In 2008, Mitt Romney won and Mike Huckabee came in second.

In writing about the Iowa Straw Poll, Wikipedia (not my favorite source, but ok on this sort of thing) reports:

Non-Republicans are allowed to vote in the Ames Straw Poll. However, all voters must be at least 16 1/2 years of age, be legal residents of the state of Iowa or a student attending an Iowa university/college, and purchase a ticket priced at $30, however some campaigns pay the fee for their supporters.[3] Voters have their hands stamped or their thumbs dipped in ink when entering the voting area so that they cannot vote twice. Ballots are put into electronic voting machines.

The message I hear in this vote is that Iowa (which supported President Obama 53.93 percent to John McCain 44.39 percent in 2008) is not happy with the status quo.  The top three votegetters all campaigned on smaller government and cutting spending. None of the top three winners are what I would call establishment Republicans.  The message I hear in this vote is that the mainstream Republican Party had better get back to its conservative roots.  The voters want more Ronald Reagan and less John McCain.

Any poll or primary election that allows members of the opposing party to vote in the primary or poll should not be taken as a valid picture of that party’s voters.  I firmly believe that the mainstream media believes that the only way President Obama can win a second term is for the media to choose the Republican candidate.  I believe that they did that in 2008 with John McCain.  I suspect they will try to do it again.

If Republicans truly want to win in 2012, they need to start paying close attention to what is going on now–not wait until October of next year.  Americans need to learn to do their own research and to understand that there will be people attempting to throw roadblocks in the way of any candidate capable of beating President Obama. The attacks on Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Mitt Romney have already begun.  One thing I learned when I volunteered for a political campaign in 2010 was that campaign workers routinely check blogs and online news sources to leave comments that favor their candidate or criticize the opposing candidate.  I do not filter comments on this website according to content–only for language and relevance.  You may read a comment on this site put here by a campaign worker of a candidate I am not supporting.  Be aware of what you are reading and its source–but read everything about all the candidates you can find.  We elect the leaders we deserve.

Rick Perry Enters The Race

John Podhoretz at Commentary Magazine posted an article about Rick Perry’s announcement that he is running for President.  In the article, Mr. Podhoretz quotes the new candidate:

“I will work every day to make Washington, DC as inconsquential in your life as I can,”

That is an idea I really like. 

Mr. Podhoretz concludes his article by saying:

“Most people outside Texas know very little about Perry, but given his standing as a kind of amalgam of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, he may soon occupy an unprecedented position in the imagination of liberals and the Left—perhaps the most frightening specter of anti-liberalism since Ronald Reagan​ precisely because he is electable. The conservative boogeyman is back.”

In the next few days look for the media to uncover all sorts of negative things about Rick Perry.  Someone will report that when he was five he tried to give the family cat a bath or that when he was two he ate the dog’s food.  Look for it.  It began with the leaking of Governor Perry’s grades at Texas A&M.  Notice that we have yet to see President Obama’s grades or college record.  Don’t hold your breath.  Anyway, look for the attack stories, they are on their way!