Where Are We Going, And Why Are We In This Handbasket?

I have decided to vote for Barack Obama in November.

It will be the first time in my life that I have ever voted for a Democrat for any office, and it pains me to no end that things have come to this...

But I'm going to do it anyway, because it has to be done this time.

I have put a lot of thought into this decision. It has been the most difficult decision about an election that I have ever had to make, but I feel that the choice is clear.

Republicans lost control of both Houses of Congress in 2006, and by all accounts, they are going to lose even more power this year. The estimates that I have heard put the Democrats gaining ten to twelve seats in the Senate, and predict at least a seventy seat Majority in the House of Representatives.

This puts the Democrats at the magic number of sixty votes in the Senate. The "Veto-Proof" majority. Enough votes to break a filibuster.

If a Republican President were to nominate King Solomon to the Supreme Court, the Democrats would not confirm him.

So the Supreme Court is lost, one way or the other.

Add to that the fact that the Republican Presidential candidate this time around is John McCain.

He not only has based his entire political career on siding with Democrats and opposing the agendas of the people whom I sent to Washington to represent me, he has gleefully engaged in "back-room deals" with the opposition and subverting the political process, he was the leader of the "Gang of Fourteen", and as such, usurped Presidential Authority over the Judicial Nomination Process, and has authored legislation which unconstitutionally restricts the right to free political expression and would throw our Borders wide open to a hundred million (or more) new immigrants, with the right to vote and collect tax-payer funded benefits as soon as they arrive...

He also embraces the Global Warming myth, and has stated that he will pursue an agenda of combatting "climate change", which means attacking the U.S. Economy, raising taxes on everything and everyone, and further screwing up energy production and delivery in America.

To paraphrase something that I heard my Dad say a long time ago, the world is crying out for some good, strong conservative leadership, but NOBODY wants a cheap immitation of a Liberal.

I cannot vote for John McCain.

And if I did, it wouldn't do any good anyway. We, as a Nation, are going to pursue the Liberal Agenda for at least the next four years, no matter who the President is.

On the substantive issues, McCain's platform is almost indistinguishable from Barack Obama's.

And the result of following this path of irresponsible, naive, and short-sighted legislation will be a period of National misery, crisis and economic disaster that will make us all long for the heady, carefree days of prosperity and plentitude of the CARTER ADMINISTRATION.

So now, the question becomes:

If there is going to be a disaster caused by the pursuit of a Liberal Agenda, who should own that disaster? The Democrats who caused it, or the Republicans who layed down and let it roll over them?

With my vote, I choose to put the blame where it belongs.

This is going to be messy, but I plan to do my part to see that the authors of the mess get the full credit for it. I will not give them a RINO to hold up as the representative of Conservatism for the rest of my life.

I will not vote for John McCain.

I am going to vote for Barack Obama.

And pray.

Ayn Rand Says...

If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights and condemned to slave labor.

Any alleged "right" of one man, which necessitates the violation of the rights of another, is not and cannot be a right.

No man can have a right to impose an unchosen obligation, an unrewarded duty or an involuntary servitude on another man. There can be no such thing as "the right to enslave."

-- Ayn Rand, "Man's Rights," The Virtue of Selfishness

With All Due Respect...

Mike at "Mike's America" has written a very respectful, very statesman-like, well-wishing Blog post about Ted Kennedy's brain cancer. If that's what you are looking for, then click the link, and go over there.

Mike is a statesman, and has made a career as a diplomat.

I am a truck driver.

Now, I do not, nor would I ever wish brain cancer on anyone. It is a horrible disease, and apparently Ted Kennedy's case is inoperable, and most probably incurable. I have the utmost sympathy for both him as a person, and his family. My prayers are with them all.

But if brain cancer will remove him from the U.S. Senate, I'll take it.

Ted Kennedy has been the most effective and successful enemy of the ideals and concepts that made America great that the world has ever known.

Name any issue that you are angry about, and I can tie it to Ted Kennedy.

Mad about high gas prices? Ted Kennedy has consistently opposed any and all efforts and strategies to streamline the production and delivery of all types of energy in America for three decades.

Angry about the healthcare system? Ted Kennedy authored the legislation which set up the flawed HMO system (remember that?) and subsequently allowed healthcare costs to skyrocket for the past twenty years, while simultaneously training Americans to believe that someone else should provide their healthcare for them.

Immigration? Kennedy first began to monkey with U.S. Immigration Policy in 1965, by helping to push through the Hart-Celler Act, which was a drastic overhaul of Immigration policies in America. "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs." Said Kennedy.

The bill, when put into practice, proceeded to flood our cities with immigrants, upset the ethnic mix of our society, relax the standards of admission, and cause American workers to lose their jobs.

Education? Kennedy co-authored the "No Child Left Behind" Act, which has been pointed out repeatedly to be one of the major failings of the G.W. Bush Administration. (Huh?) The decline of American Education has happened entirely since Ted Kennedy became a U.S. Senator, and he should shoulder his fair share of the blame.

He has consistently ignored the U.S. Constitution, and opposed at every turn the right of U.S. Citizens to keep and bear Arms.

He has been an outspoken and tireless advocate of U.S. embarrassment and defeat in the War in Iraq.

His stand on same-sex marriage should anger you whichever side of the issue you are on. He claims to support same-sex marriage, but has never sponsored any legislation attempting to legalize it. (Unless you count his usurpation of Presidential power through blocking President Bush's Judicial Nominees... But then again, Kennedy knows that the courts are the extra-Constitutional path of Liberalism into Law...)

And, despite the fact that he, himself, has been fabulously wealthy all of his life through no effort of his own, he has chosen to make a career of working tirelessly to place stumbling blocks in the path of any American who would seek to become wealthy through hard work, ingenuity, or investment.

And on, and on, and on...

And on.

Ted Kennedy has been in the Senate all of my life, and I have had no method of removing him.

The people of Massachusetts have for some unknown reason chosen to inflict him upon America since 1962, and he has opposed everything that I hold dear, everything that I believe in. I was not surprized to learn that his opinions and ideas emmanated from a diseased brain.

I, for one, will not be sorry to see him go. I do not wish him his pain. I wish him a speedy and comfortable departure. (And his inevitable eternal reward, whatever that may be.)

I suppose that I should at least try to say something nice about the man rather than simply trash him with a list of facts, since (as far as we know, ) he is a human being...

So, here goes...

As far as we know, he hasn't killed anyone in almost forty years...

Sorry. Best I can do.

Happy Trails, Senator Kennedy! Here's to the speedy relief of your suffering, and ours!

"That's Not Leadership."

Despair.com

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK...That's not leadership. That's not going to happen..."
- Barack Obama

Okay, Mr. Obama...

We live in the United States of America.

Our forefathers established the first nation in human history in which the power of freedom was fully unleashed, and as a direct result, we citizens of the United States of America enjoy the highest standard of living on the face of the Earth.

Not only is this high standard of living our birthright, but most of us do the work, and pay the cost every day to maintain that standard of living for ourselves and our families, not out of selfishness or greed, but because we recognize that it is our duty as citizens of this great nation, and guardians of that birthright to maintain, and even improve on it.

To tell me that I should care one whit about how other countries around the world feel about my lifestyle, much less that I should scale back my lifestyle, which is not only my birthright as an American citizen, but that I bust my butt sixty to eighty hours per week for, is not only an insult to me personally, but an open-handed slap at my Country, and the ideals and opportunities which have made my Country the greatest nation on Earth, and the envy, by your own admission, sir, of the rest of the world.

And the fact that you, Mr. Obama, flew to the engagement where you insulted me and my Country on a jet airplane, you live in a mansion, and have never worked a day in your miserable life by my definition of an honest day's work, and then have the nerve to tell me and my fellow citizens that we have to tighten our belts shows without question that you, sir, have no idea what true leadership really is.

If you want to lead America out of the Energy Crisis that we currently face, then get Government out of the way of the Energy Industry, and let them solve it.

And if a market for Environmental Clean-up is created through that, then let the market make someone rich by doing that.

Let us take a leadership role, as a nation, and show the world that we can not only maintain and improve our standard of living, but that we can do it cleanly and affordably, by embracing freedom, opportunity and the ingenuity of the individual, as well as the collective.

Let's lead the world by showing them what made America great in the first place.

But if belt tightening is the only solution you can embrace, then we all await your leadership on that as well.

When we see you living in a mud hut with no air conditioning instead of your mansion, riding a bicycle to Oregon to insult us and our beloved Nation instead of flying on a very comfortable jet airplane, and living on one bowl of rice every day, then you can point to your belt tightening leadership.

So, lead, follow, or get out of the way.

But don't tell us, the citizens of the United States, that we should follow the rest of the world into poverty and depression, just so that the rest of the world will like us.

The rest of us are not so weak.

Still Around...

It's so hard to find time to Blog lately...

This past weekend, we went to N.C. to see the family and show off the baby, and a good time was had by all. (I don't care who you are, you don't have a prettier or cooler baby than mine, no matter what.)

Caleb showed off all weekend long like it was his JOB. He smiled, he sat up, he laughed, he played with his toys, he tried to crawl. He kept everyone near him smiling and laughing the whole time. He was quiet and happy in his car seat for the whole trip, and even sung quietly to himself while he rode.

We left N.C. on Monday morning, and spent the night at the top-secret Tugboatcapn Bunker in the woods near Atlanta Ga., and made the rest of the trip on Tuesday, returning home about 7:00 Tuesday night.

And then Wednesday, I got the Flu.

Some micro-organism has invaded my person, and has ever since attempted to convert me into a gigantic, walking, whining, complaining, dripping, coughing Virus.

But thanks to Ny-quil and Day-quil, and a very understanding and long-suffering Wife, I am still alive.

It's not like I don't think of things to write about, and God knows that there is plenty going on that needs to be commented on, but the truth is that I would much rather play with the baby, or talk to my wife, or, frankly, watch mindless television than to spend time arguing on the internet about things that I cannot change.

But I love Blogging.

So, whether it makes any difference or not, I am still going to try to post something every couple of days or so...

When I have the time...

And when I am inspired...

And if anyone cares...