Shhhhhhhh

Silence is golden, especially when Congress goes home. Wait, what's that tugging at my back pocket? (To be continued)

Get Out of Town!

Dear Santa,

Yes that is my Christmas wish, is that Congress will get out of town. Come on Santa, give me a little help here. The longer they are in session the worse things get. It is time for us to look at the U.S. House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate as part-time jobs and not full time. When I was in the legislature in Indiana we did it on a part time basis and it worked just fine. When they are there too long they just keep finding ways to sponsor legislation to justify their existence. You and I pay the price.

The extension of the tax cuts was a good thing for the current economy we are in. All the pork that was added in order to get it signed was reprehensible! The START treaty, and I have read it, is not the best we could have negotiated. We were weak in our posture and if it is signed will be seen that way by the world.

All money bills are supposed, by law, to start in the House of Representatives. It will be interesting to see if the new House leadership got the message on November 2nd or if we will have to turn them out again. Speaker-elect Boehner is saying the right things, BUT will he do them. If we keep the pressure on as a people that will push him that way. Remember, he is part of the long entrenched establishment that has been in Washington for a long time. I was pretty impressed with the interview I saw with him and his wife, and no his crying doesn't bother me a bit. I hope it is an indication of his humanity. Now what I need to see is an indication of his commitment to the people of this country. Talk and tears are cheap! Ask Santa for a part-time legislative branch of our government.

Merry Christmas to each of you. I am looking forward to 2011 and the opportunities that it will give us to participate in the process. We now have nearly 2000 people on the Talk With America mailing list and that is thanks to you. Happy New year as well to you and your families. Families are forever and that is a good thing!!

The Pinnacle of Absurdity

Congress is out of session while unemployment is 9.8%, 13million people are unemployed, the tax legislation is a shambles, the very hard left is mad at Obama and it all looks like a circus to those of us who are paying billions to watch the show. They are taking a break in the middle of all this. How irresponsible is that UNLESS, now think about it.

The show is a ruse, a sham! Obama has to move to the center if he has any chance of avoiding a primary challenge little lone winning re-election. This was his opportunity and he took it. BUT not before choreographing it all behind closed doors with his Democrat colleagues, that's right, it's all a script. Obama needed a way to look like a compromiser and this was his perfect storm. The House and Senate only have small, in comparison to the President, constituents to please and so they can take "hard nosed" positions like they are.

This is a good example of just how partisan things have become. We have too many people in Congress whose only goal is POWER, that's it!! They are angry that the American people had the gall to take some of them out on November 2nd. They believe they are entitled to govern and that we are not smart enough to know what is best for us. WE have taught them that they can ignore us and get away with it. If you think we did our house cleaning on November 2nd, think again. There are still members of Congress on both sides that They don't think we can or have the will to do it. ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF THEY ARE RIGHT!

They argue over this tax bill while billions are being wasted by them and they won't do anything about it, and when we call them on it they just change the subject, i.e, Lindsay Graham of Florida, how pathetic. The SYSTEM is the root of the problem. If we don't change how it works, seniority, term limits etc, NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE!!!!! And if you are setting there saying it is too big a problem to tackle, then you are a part of the problem, not a part of the solution. It can be fixed, it must be fixed and we must fix it. OR just sit there saying I am too busy to help, let someone else do it. If you do that, THEY WIN! Get it! They are guilty of sins of commission and we are guilty of sins of omission. What is it going to take to wake us up!

The Medal of Honor

Congratulations to Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta on receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. Thank you for being an example our children and grandchildren can look up to and be proud of. God bless you Sergeant and God bless this great nation.

"13th Candidate"

We Are Asking the Wrong Question/s!

Who is going to control the US House and Senate after the election on November 2nd is the WRONG question. Who are the candidates, regardless of party, if elected on November 2nd that will "man up" and vote to enhance and reinforce political freedom and economic freedom for the American people? THAT IS THE RIGHT QUESTION!

Whenever a voter asks FIRST, what party does the candidate represent, that voter is a part of the problem, not a part of the solution. Do I understand the political realities of today? Of course I do. I served in the White House, I ran a statewide Presidential campaign, I worked for a Governor and was co-chair of a Congressional campaign and was an elected Member of a State House of Representatives. I probably understand it better than most.

But ask me if I think the system is working in the best interest of the majority of Americans and I will tell you, no, not now, no way, unless we force some remarkable changes. Are you reading this and saying that it is too big to change, or you can't get Congress to vote to change it? If that is you, you are part of the reason that it DOESN'T change!

This country is in love with 'SENIORITY" as a measure of talent. Well it isn't. Just because you have lasted longer than others doesn't make you smarter or necessarily more valuable, it probably means you have either flown under the radar so people haven't really seen your non-productive self, or you are a part of the good-ole-boys network that gets you elected, hired etc no matter your qualifications. How many of you know someone/s who are not where they are today because of talent, but rather because of who they know and who protects them?

The same thing it true in POLITICS! The seniority system perpetuates it!

Those with talent and skills don't need it. Those who are scared of being "found out" can't survive without it.

We are electing people whose only mode, is survival through getting re-elected. They are in a continuous campaign and fund raising mode. We need to free them up to do the right things by limiting how long they can serve in any political office so they know that at some point they have to go home and live with those they represented, everyday!

November 2nd we need to clean house!

Have you made 1 phone call to help SOMEONE not some party get elected? Why not?

Do you vote based on emotions or FACTS?

Can you have an intelligent conversation with someone and back up things you state as fact, with credible sources?

Do you defend your position by talking LOUDER?

I am so grateful to be an American. I thank God I live in this country. I don't apologize for what my country does, I am proud of it. I want the world to continue to be able to look to us in time of need and for protection. Wealth in America is not determined by how much land we can add through invasion. That is the medieval way to calculate wealth. I believe that we need the strongest military power on earth because so many people look to us for protection, AND, dictators, thugs and merchants of aggression would feast on the weak who without our protection would be helpless. We have been greatly blessed and there is much expected of us as a result.

I say the Pledge, fly the flag, sing the National Anthem and put my hand over my heart and take off my hat. I am an American through and through, and I always will be. God bless this great nation.

Jim

Wing Nut or Lug Nut? Which Are You?

Among the definitions of "wing nuts" is that a wing nut is a mentally deranged person. How appropriate! Lug nuts on the other hand are meant to keep the wheels from falling off. How appropriate! The question for America this coming election day is which do you want running your government, a Wing Nut or a Lug Nut? A wing nut in my book is someone, on either side of the aisle who doesn't care about the facts, they don't want to talk about it, whatever IT would be, and they feel that the only good Republican or Democrat is a "dead one" according to where their party blinders point them.

What are you? Are you a "Wing Nut" or are you a "Lug Nut"?

Personally I am a Lug Nut. I am trying to do all I can to keep the wheels from falling off the vehicle of State. If you are a "Wing Nut" you don't even have a pit crew. Your crew chief is one person sitting up in "the tower" just watching you go round and round and praying you won't run out of gas, which of course you will. It's just how much damage can you do before you do.

If you are a "Lug Nut", you do have a crew chief and a pit crew. Their job is to get feedback from you on how it's going, make adjustments as needed, and figure out just how much it takes to never run out of gas. You make changes according to the conditions on the ground and history has shown that this is the winning strategy for winning the "big one"!

This President and this Congress are bent on letting the wheels fall off. They appear not to be concerned about what will happen when they do. The wreck that this strategy will inevitably cause will be catastrophic and lots of other people will get hurt and they just don't care as long as they are in a position to push their strategy beyond the breaking point.

If you are a Wing Nut, even though you can see and feel the wheels falling off, you chalk it up to the rough terrain you have to go over to get to where you are trying to go. In fact your thought process is if only everything and everybody would just get out of your way, it would be smooth sailing for you. You ignore the warning lights on the dash, the blue smoke coming out of the back end, the steam coming out from under the hood because your crew chief keeps saying; "keep on keepin' on" So of course you do.

Wing Nuts, you are about to loose your sponsorship. Your car is not being returned to the garage, it is being hauled off to the junk yard. It has no scrap value and because you have spent billions even trillions trying to keep it going, you will no doubt skip town leaving some body else holding the bag. Your only hope is that over time people will forget about what you did and will someday let you back on the track. NOT THIS TIME!

The sponsors have had enough. They have seen through all your hype, pretty speeches that you couldn't give without a teleprompter, and maniacal obsession with power. You are finally being seen for what you are, all show and no blow, all hot air and no substance, and illiterate when it comes to being able to read the Constitution, history books or anything else that would help you understand just how far "off the track" you are.

You crashed your car, you are an unfit driver!

On November 2nd another race will begin. I am sure you will try and cobble together something to try and stay in the race. But we know who and what you are now. This will be an endurance race this time, which only begins on November 2nd. We have been training for a long time not to drive in fits and spurts, but for as long as it takes to win this race once and for all.

We are not going to put you in the winners circle again or let you drink from that cool bottle of milk. No making "donuts" on the track, no drivers hall of fame. All that will be left is a footnote in the history book that says; "they didn't do or care enough to send their very best". RIP my wing nut friend, rest in perpetuity!

Do It For Yourself!

I can only imagine the sense of anticipation that the original patriots of the revolution had as they planned for establishing this great nation. I have the same sense as we plan to start taking our country back on November 2nd. But as they must have felt then, we must understand now, that a revolution needs to take place in order to re-establish "a more perfect union". There is one significant difference though. They KNEW that this was only the beginning of a very long process. We haven't learned YET that the day at the ballot box is only the "first shot" and that we if we are not persistent, vigilant and relentless in our follow up, we will leave the polls on November 2nd thinking we have won the battle, only to loose the war.

We have taught them to ignore us. Too many Americans believe that the problem is with somebody else's Congressman or Senator, not theirs. That is why we re-elect over and over again people who should be fired and have to find a real job. We have taught them that if they raise enough money in most instances they can get re-elected, regardless of their voting record which most people have never looked at. We have taught them, and allowed, a seniority system to drive how we vote. Instead of electing or re-electing them based on what their committee assignment will be or how many earmarks they can bring back home, it needs to be their record on voting for the overall well being of the country, not just their district.

Do you trust the "sound bytes" that you see and/or hear on your television? Do you believe what you see in the political ads, both positive and negative? Do you believe that the media slants things to suit their own purposes? We are manipulated, everyday, by what we see and hear because we won't do the grunt work to find out the real facts on our own. And they know it! Do you have conversations in your family about how you are too busy to get involved so we will let somebody else do it? Well, somebody else IS doing it and how is that working out for you?

Our actions and our thinking have become myopic. We are guilty of what in business is called "silo" thinking. We mistakenly believe that as long as we take care of and get rewarded for what is going on in our little corner of the world, that we don't need nor should we care about what is going on outside of it. WRONG! Silo thinking has ruined and is ruining companies today and it has and will ruin countries while the fiddler plays and Rome burns.

Some people ask me "where do we start" or "there are so many things to fix what should we work on first"? Start with YOURSELF! You can't fix anything unless you/we work an making sure we are a part of the solution, not a part of the problem. I may not agree with what you say, but I defend to the death your right to express it. BUT, I am not even hearing from you. Why don't you comment on this blog? To busy, don't care or are you just glad somebody else is doing it so you don't have to. BUT YOU DO HAVE TO! We all need to hear from you. I want to know what you think. Do you agree or disagree with what I am saying here.

You and I TOGETHER can make a difference and create a more responsive government than we have now. I can't do it by myself, I need your help. Over 6000 people now see this blog. How many more could if you would send a copy of it to everyone on your email list. PLEASE do that for America! Thank you!

Jim