Curing Depression

I read an interesting article in a U.K. news outlet by a guy named Nile Gardiner. Gardiner is the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. The point of this article was that our current president is being so well-received at the U.N. because he brings weakness to the White House. He comes to the United Nations on the heels of his well-documented “apology tours.” Gardiner concluded his article with this: “The Obama administration is now overseeing and implementing the biggest decline in American global power since Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately it may well take another generation for the United States to recover.”

Now, I must say that the actual text of the president’s speech to the U.N. was less bothersome to me than to many other conservative observers. I was mildly surprised to hear him say that the U.S. alone cannot fix all that ails the world. I was cautiously pleased to hear him take a more even tone about the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate (he took both sides to task – rather than simply piling blame on our ally Israel). I was actually much more appalled at his earlier commentary during the week on global warming – pushing us down a path of skyrocketing energy costs, less freedom and less liberty.

But still, reading Gardiner’s article gave me pause. The reality that the U.N. crowd loves seeing us projecting weakness was a bit depressing. So what’s the antidote? I grabbed my new iPod Touch and began surfing the YouTube app for videos of Ronald Reagan. I was a dopey teenager (and a nutty liberal) back in the late 70s and early 80s. I neither appreciated nor understood the leadership that Reagan brought to this country. I watched his old speeches stumping for Barry Goldwater around the time I was born. I watched portions of his debates with Carter and Mondale. I watched clips of him calling for the removal of the Berlin Wall. I watched that great “Morning in America” political ad from the ’84 election.

Watching these old videos, I was reminded for the second time in two weeks that we need to let our principles guide us (see my previous post about the Constitution Day event and Sue Jeffers’ speech to the crowd in St. Paul). We need not be shrill about every little step President Obama makes. Eye on the ball. Focus on the key issues. Don’t get our shorts in a collective bundle every time he takes his wife on Air Force One for “date night” in New York. Don’t get our shorts in a bundle every time he makes a speech. Focus on our principles – lower taxes, limited government, national security and an economic environment that fosters growth, prosperity and wealth creation (not wealth redistribution).

I felt better after watching some of the Reagan videos. Not because it was Reagan, but because it underscored our principles. Now I’m going to read some of Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny before getting some sleep.

More About Speaking Out

Okay…I’ve had a few friends check out the blog and have had generally positive feedback (thanks to those of you who have taken time to give me a quick read). But a couple of people noted that I should provide a little more context about WHY I decided to create a blog. So here’s a quick recap and some observations from my first week of blogging.

I was beaten, defeated, broken and confused after the last election. Granted, I had no illusion that Republicans were going to have any success at all in the ’08 race. It seemed to me that the Republicans had lost their way. They wound up standing for nothing. When your essential campaign promise is a confusing, half-hearted message of “change” and “stay the course,” Republicans were lucky any of us showed up to vote that fateful November day.

But in the days after the election, I kept noting the number of people who did NOT vote for Obama. There were more than 57 million Americans who voted for something other than the “hope and change” gang. Granted, living in Minnesota, I still felt like an island (Minnesota is now the “land of Franken”). I knew of a few others who voted Republican, but it seemed that I was surrounded by happy, gloating liberals. I guess I felt the same thing liberals felt back in 2000. It didn’t feel good.

But the number 57 million stayed with me. I figured those 57 million people were out there….SOMEWHERE. I just didn’t know where. I was feeling lost. I was a Lost Republican. Then, a funny thing happened on the way to a government takeover of our health care system. Some of the 57 million people started to show up. They started voicing their opinions. They stood up to punks like Harry Reid (I really do not like that man) and other Democrats who stood there looking down on their constituents – until their constituents let ‘em have it. Sometimes eloquently. Sometimes not. But it was empowering to watch.

I decided it was time to get off my duff and share my thoughts. It happened a couple of weeks ago when my favorite radio host, Mark Levin (www.marklevinshow.com), shouted at a caller who sounded a lot like me. Levin told him to stand up and DO something. Talk to neighbors, talk to friends. Do whatever it takes to convince even one person that this stampede toward socialism must stop. It was the final push that I needed.

As a former TV reporter (much of that time covering politics), I got a look at how the media shapes what we hear – ultimately shaping what we think, feel, believe – and even fear. And now as a PR guy, I see how organizations, campaigns and activist groups scientifically craft messages to shape and control the public discussion.

My goal is simple. I’d like to engage in the conversation. I want to learn from other bloggers, share my own thoughts and opinions, and hopefully help push others to do the same. There are 57 million of us (probably a few million more due to “voters remorse”), so we can all make a difference.

What’s been very interesting to me, as I’ve started down this path, is to see how active many women are in political blogging. I’ve linked to some in my blogroll. Reading their blogs tells me that I’m not alone. Ultimately, I want to help other people find their voice, get involved and redirect our elected officials down a better, smarter path. I sincerely believe we can do that.

Another Tax Cheat?

These stories make my head spin and they make my blood boil (see link below). I don’t care what side of the political aisle you come from, because we see enough corruption – left and right. The rest of us try to live by the rules, we pay our taxes, we voice our opposition to excessive government intrusion into our lives.  Then these lifers in Congress turn around and call us names. They demonize corporate America for “greed and excess.” They essentially tell us that they know better about what’s good for us than we could ever possibly know for ourselves. Then they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

If Rangel maneuvers his way out of this without going to prison, I will have lost even more faith in our system. Trouble is, guys like this get re-elected again and again and again.

OOPS! CHARLIE FORGOT THIS $1M HOUSE – New York Post

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Killing the Clunkers – what happens after you turn in your clunker for cash?

I’ve been wondering what happens to a vehicle after it gets turned in for a $3,500-$4,500 government handout. A good friend of mine (and fellow Lost Republican) was one of the late takers on the government plan to rid the world of big gas guzzling SUVs. My buddy turned in an aging (yet still very good) Ford Explorer. Granted, they got a spiffy new vehicle and saved a few bucks, but now a vehicle that could have been used by someone in need will meet an untimely demise.

It turns out that the dealerships effectively “kill” the clunker by dumping something called sodium silicate into the running engine. It gums up the engine and renders it permanently useless.

I was pleased to learn, though, that the vehicles will be stripped by certified salvage companies, so parts of these vehicles will be re-used and recycled. At least all is not lost.

In my mind, though, I’m not sure if this program was really all that great. Glad to know that some people got nice new vehicles out of the deal and dealerships had a brief respite from the recession. But here are my two primary questions about the now-famous “cash for clunkers” program:

1. Will the government efficiently reimburse car dealerships for the so-called “rebates” that are due to them? Many dealerships are family owned, and are fronting the cash on these deals.
2. What happens now after we created this kind of short term false demand? This seems less about getting the economy going and more about telling us what kind of vehicles we should drive. Did Detroit pump out new vehicles, or was this more an exercise to get aging inventory off of dealer lots?

For the record, we’re keeping our clunker. Our massive SUV has 120,000 miles on it. It’s paid for. It has new tires and new brakes. Sure, it gets a paltry 14 mpg, but it would take a long time to recoup the cost of a new vehicle in terms of fuel savings. Plus, we really really like the safety of our big honkin’ SUV.

KOB TV in New Mexico did a great story on the death of clunkers. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/mgprst  – Dealers begin disabling clunkers

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