Blue Collar Muse

While I’m unwilling to concede just yet that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States, it would be foolish to deny that possibility. Even if John McCain wins, the status of Conservatism in the GOP and politics generally is troubling at best.

Politicians and The People, with few exceptions, seem determined to abandon sound, proven truths for the warm, fuzzy rhetoric of the Economic and Social policies of “Hope!” and “Change!” It’s difficult to blame The People. They gave the GOP a shot at letting Conservative ideology work it’s magic on the country for years.  Turns out the Pols weren’t as Conservative as advertised.

The years after the Reagan era are defined by a GOP wanting more to breed and less to lead. GOP strategy was “What must we do to increase our power and get re-elected?” instead of “What must we do to serve the people and earn our re-election?”

The nominations of Bob Dole,  W and now John McCain coupled with the strategy of many GOP House and Senate candidates has reinforced that approach. A notable exception, AZ Representative John Shadegg, says even at the height of 1994’s Republican Revolution the GOP’s advice was his most important job wasn’t to represent his district or promote his constituents’ values; it was to get re-elected.

This approach has tainted Conservatism in the minds of the people. It has become identical to, or at least wed to the GOP.  Thus the sins of the Party become the sins of the Principled.  Even if Conservatives object, pointing out they never countenanced bad behavior by the GOP (The Bailout, No Child Left Behind, Medicare Reform) The People still see them as part of the problem and not the solution. How else to understand what happened to Rick Santorum, George Allen and others?

Such losses make the Democrats’ job easier. Each defeated Conservative frees up time, energy and moneyto defeat those remaining. Squishy GOP members voted with Democrats enough to permit them to establish portions of their agenda and to regain solid Congressional majorities. Two things will follow: those who believe the Left can be reasoned with and appeased will be rudely awakened and the country will suffer. To date, only the second is happening.

GOP snubbing of Conservatives has produced much soul searching. The choices are stay in the GOP and work internally for change or leave to found or join a third party. I’m not advocating either choice. But enabling the status quo is not an option. We each must decide what the best use is of our time and talents. To decide, regardless of who wins the White House, a few things should be influential.

Christopher Arledge at Red County has written ‘The End of American Conservatism?’ and at The Minority Report, Civil Truth has penned ‘A Time for Choosing: Even Truer 44 Years Later’. They are as good a starting place as any for Conservatives asking where they go from here. I commend them to you. If you find, or if you have written, posts with similar themes, let me know and I’ll aggregate them here as a resource.

It is impossible to predict the consequences of next week’s election. It is, however, quite possible to predict what will happen if Conservatives do nothing. Surrender and chains being unacceptable options, regrouping and fighting on will have to do for now …

Blue Collar Muse

Popularity: 69% [?]

In 218 BC, Hannibal took on Rome with cutting edge tech, including elephants.

Today, “elephants” are large, slow moving, easy, tempting targets.

Why, then, try to salvage the GOP?

The GOP and G.W.Bush claim to be Conservative. But the gap between GOP and Liberals is narrowing considerably.

Record deficits, increasing Government employment, Government bailouts resulting from bad Government policies without any Government hearings during a Lame Duck administration are NOT Conservative.

These things appall Conservatives but both McCain and Obama approve of recent Government bailouts. How is this change or maverick?

McCain promised no more bailouts not all that long ago.  But he’s supporting AIG, carmakers and more?  Big Gov vs Bigger Govt is not a good choice.

Doing bad things like the other guys - just slower and not as egregiously! This is a lousy platform for GOP candidates.

There are other options.  And it’s me, Bob Barr!  I will not be apart of the Bizarro world tactics and policies of GOP in Washington.

In Superman’s Bizarro world, everything was opposites.  Up was down, in was out - weird!  But this is the policy of the GOP today.

For instance, buying up bad mortgages with taxpayer dollars is what got us in trouble in the first place. Why do it again?

We need MORE regulation?  The most regulated arena of the Economy IS investments.  That failed and we need MORE regulation to fix it?

Strip away the self congratulatory rhetoric and we find, increased spending, more regulation, less transparency from the GOP.

But at the end of the day, if GOP is elected, it will be a victory of the status quo.  Turning to the guys who broke it and trusting them to fix themselves.

If we don’t stop it this election cycle, we may not have another chance to fix it.

Regarding Obama SCOTUS picks as reason to reject Barr and vote for McCain BB asks what about other great GOP picks like Souter?

Plus, McCain bills self as a maverick, outside the fold.  After McCain-Feingold would JM appoint Justices to overturn his signature legislation?

Perot got huge numbers of votes but not a single electoral vote. He still moved the GOP to the Right.

Much of the later legislative successes of the Right depended on Perot’s influence on the process by running even without winning.

Participation in campaign debates is not about message and voter information. Even inclusion of Perot was more about control of race, not information.

Popularity: 43% [?]

I’m a “Cranky Conservative”.  What is that?  GOPers who express their displeasure over the policies of the GOP over the last 15 years.

Cranky Conservatives gave us Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin herself is a Cranky Conservative. So if you are, too, you have an advocate on the GOP ticket.

Palin isn’t popular because she’s cool or fresh.  She’s popular because she adheres to the principles she adheres to.

Liberals understand that Palin’s nomination is a game changing event.  She’s more than just a Veep nominee, she’s a threat to them.

Vuguerie believes McCain/Palin could win with as much as 55% of the vote and perhaps 60% of electoral votes.

Many Dems and GOP in office are responsible  for current financial market woes.  There ought to be an investigation of Congress.

Power corrupts regardless of Party. GOP experienced that. If Obama wins, Democrats will fare no different. 

GOP becamse what it beheld.  They threw out corrupt Dems in early 90s only to become the thing they warred against.

GOP railed against Government spending throughout the 90s. But when they took power, what did they do?

They took up the politics of bribery.  Give to everyone associated with GOP with the purpose of holding on to power.

GOP claimed Washington was a cesspool but when they got there proclaimed it, instead, to be a Hot Tub.

The work and accomplishments achieved over years by Conservative and Free Market devotees has been largely undone by Big Government Republicans.

This was accomplished largely because Conservatives allowed themselves to become little more than an appendage to the GOP.

Conservatives must become a 3rd Force, not 3rd Party, on the Right.  Start new organizations and pull the GOP to the Right.

Do so by utilizing all the tools and opportunity of New Media and other up tools of new technology and modernity.

Don’t wait to be asked by any person or group.  Do it yourself and do it with passion.  You’re not invited to meetings?  Organize a few of your own.

Don’t wait for orders from Headquarters, rush to the sounds of the guns.

Dems and GOP alike have been in power for years and have made sure it’s very difficult to bring change by making it hard to even get a seat at the table.

If Cranky Conservatives successfully move the GOP to the Right, they’ll successfully move even the Left to the Right.

That can happen as long as we don’t tie our issues to a particular party. Fight for them on the basis of principle.

Don’t ask, hat in hand, the GOP or Dems for anything.  Work for your issues and passions and when the parties feel the heat, they’ll see the light!

Popularity: 37% [?]

A friend emailed me about Bob Corker’s involvement in the Gang of 10. He asked, “What is Corker doing?” To quote Bob Corker himself, he is doing “…exactly what I came to the Senate to do.” To the host of Tennesseans who bemoaned the choice of Corker over Ed Bryant as our Senate choice in 2006, he’s doing exactly what we feared. In fairness, for two years Corker has been a pleasant surprise. However, he couldn’t have picked a worse time to begin living down to our expectations.

Just like GOP Senators in the Gang of 14 and judicial nominees, Republicans in Energy’s Gang of 10 are undermining GOP leadership and strategy. Mitch McConnell and GOP leaders have worked this issue for months with the backing of Republicans and Democrats; legislators and voters. Pressure was mounting on Democrats to surrender their sellout of Americans. Gas and oil prices were falling. Support for Energy Independence via drilling and R&D for alternative and renewable energy sources was growing. It seemed inevitable the GOP would get their vote and sooner rather than later. Now, thanks to meddling by Corker, instead of continuing to exploit flaws in Democratic policies, Senate GOP leaders might be forced to regroup and decide if they can even continue in the face of the Gang’s treachery.

Worse is Corker’s betrayal of Tennesseans and Americans in general. The Gang’s proposals ask for less concessions than GOP leadership would likely have been able to get from the Senate. The Gang does call for drilling. But they accept serious restrictions on drilling the GOP would likely not have needed to give up; restrictions which make the oil produced more expensive. Drilling 50 miles offshore is more expensive than drilling 15 miles offshore. Unmentioned is most oil we already know about is inside the Gang’s 50 mile ban meaning more time and expense for exploration.

Then there are the taxes. $84 billion worth. That’s what Corker proposes taking from oil companies who successfully find oil outside of 50 miles. It doesn’t sound too bad to Americans at their kitchen tables figuring how to pay for fuel. They don’t call it a tax and so taxpayers are off the hook, right? In fact it even sounds helpful.

The proposal also seeks to provide tax incentives for converting cars to non-oil fuel sources, including $20 billion for research and development, grants to help U.S. automakers develop alternative fuel vehicles and consumer tax credits for purchase of highly efficient cars.

5 Republicans signed on to this? How exactly will this help Americans pay for fuel anytime soon? What widely available, inexpensive, “non-oil fuel source” currently exists for Americans to convert to? Propane? Driven past a commercial propane station lately?

R&D grants to automakers clearly indicate any benefits are expected to be future ones. Even the current existence of increasingly fuel efficient cars to which proposed tax credits might be applied is misleading. They are brand new cars, not used ones; many sporting new technology making them even more expensive. Corker’s plan is to give Americans a $2,500 tax credit, for example, to buy a $25,000 car? This is making things more affordable?

Add to this the plan’s call for 85% of cars on the road by 2028 to run on non-petroleum fuel and you see how much this will cost American families already unable to afford $4 gas.  Considering there are at least 100 million vehicles now on the road, Americans and American business will have to replace or modify 85 million vehicles in the next 20 years.  At $2,500 to $25,000 per vehicle that’s a $212.5 billion to $2.125 trillion high drag, low speed burden the Gang imposes on Americans and the American economy in the name of saving us from high prices.  It sounds like the joke about buying things one doesn’t need because they are on sale and justifying the purchases based on “savings”!

Worse, there won’t be any real savings. Adding $84 billion to oil companies’ cost of production only means the product produced will cost $84 billion more at the pump. Americans are going to pay more thanks to Corker and the Gang. R&D is fantastic. Even if it takes years to bring something to market, the wait is generally worth it. But at issue is what do Americans do in the meantime? Cheap oil now while we transition is better than expensive oil now until we transition.

The final insult is that oil produced under the Gang’s plan cannot be sold outside the US. Democrats have whined for years about losing good jobs and weakening the Economy. Here is an opportunity to create jobs and fuel the Economy and Corker and the Gang won’t allow it. Brazil has enjoyed record economic growth and job creation as it has changed from a net oil importer to a net exporter over the last 5 years or so. But for Corker and the Gang, oil production beyond that necessary to eliminate US oil imports cannot be sold on world markets. The jobs, economic growth and general prosperity oil exporting nations enjoy is denied to America and her citizens, corporate and individual.

Thus the next command from government beyond where we drill and where we sell will be how much we produce. Only produce here; only sell there - as if government owned the oil. Couple these restrictions with government requirements that Big Oil finance R&D which makes their product less marketable and you complete the picture of the ignorance the Gang wants foisted on the American public as beneficial. And Bob Corker says this is exactly what he wanted to accomplish in DC.  Corker and the Gang would be better advised to join up with their GOP House colleagues’ #Don’t Go Movement.  It provides all the benefits they say they want with none of the drawbacks.

To recap, the R&D the Gang proposes won’t be helpful for years. They tease you with tax credits for far off R&D results you’ll end up paying for later anyway via the same high prices they claim to be fighting. As beneficial as R&D is for tomorrow, today’s prosperity requires inexpensive, readily available oil. The immediate burden of surviving lean R&D years falls on Big Oil. But they must work while prevented from drilling in the best places, selling for the best prices or providing the best wages and profits for Americans; all the while dealing with government imposed reductions on the value of their market and product.

Thanks, Bob! Do us a favor and don’t Gang up on us anymore. We can’t afford it!

Blue Collar Muse

SEE ALSO:

Gang of 10, Continued at Terry Frank

Letter to Senator Bob Corker, R-TN by Debbie at Right Truth

Gang of 10 Compromise: Conservative Sellout or Minority Political Reality? by Truman Bean at Truman’s Take

Popularity: 33% [?]

UPDATE:  Video of the GOP’s impromptu presser!  The Dems are so wrong on this one.

It’s late in the week’s news cycle, I know. But this is important!

While the Democrats, you remember them, the ones Nancy Pelosi famously stated were “ready to lead!”, while they headed out of DC for a 5 week vacation, the GOP had a different notion of how to conduct the nation’s business.

Despite 75% of the American people being in favor of additional drilling to increase the nation’s domestically supplied oil, the Democrats refuse to even allow the idea to be voted on. What happened to their much vaunted commitment to tolerance and bi-partisanship?

Forget about the things the people think are important, what about the job they are constitutionally mandated to do? You know, like pass a budget for the government. Surely they got something done on that front before heading home, right? I hope you’re sitting down. They did not! When they get back, they’ll be so busy with convention highlight reels and the November elections the Democrats will probably just toss a few numbers around and submit a bloated, enormous, unintelligible, indecipherable Omnibus bill for a vote and then scream that the GOP is obstructionist and wants to shut off welfare and Social Security payments when the Right dares to ask what’s in the bills. One wonders how long the Democrats think they can get away with the same garbage they hand out year after year.

However, if the GOP has anything to say about it, it won’t be much longer. Because unlike the Democrats, the GOP decided the people’s business and the nation’s business were worth conducting before they left town. So they’re still in session. Despite having the power turned off (no lights, microphones, etc …) many Republican members of the House are still in session. They’re asking their Democratic colleagues to come back and finish work before heading on vacation. I don’t think any of them have taken the GOP up on their offer.

So Jim Cooper, Lincoln Davis, Bart Gordon, John Tanner, Steve Cohen are all headed home. Good job, fellas! Way to be representing the people of Tennessee!

Blue Collar Muse

SEE ALSO:

House Republicans Refuse to Vacate at Gateway Pundit.

Floor Revolt: No Vacation for House Republicans at Michelle Malkin.

The Republicans are Staging a Revolt on the US House Floor at Ft. Hard Knox

Breaking News: Dems Shutting Down US House at The Everyday Republican

Breaking: House Republicans Raising Cain! at Free Republic

Popularity: 32% [?]