Conservative Blog Reporting on Media Bias and the Liberal Agenda

Through some unknown means, Progressives have an institutional memory and a long term plan which they have been steadily working at for the past one hundred years.  They have had grand achievements along the way: a progressive income tax, Social Security, Welfare, Aid for Dependent Children, Medicare and Medicaid, and their latest achievement, government run healthcare.  Yet, for the most part, it has been the constant stream of little things that has paved the way for the big things.  Similar to the constant drip, drip, drip of water upon rock, great canyons can be formed over long periods of time.

Conservatives, on the other hand, by definition, really have no forward looking goals.  They are stuck with a life role of perpetual defense, defending the Constitution and the thinking of our Founding Fathers, defending the status quo.  They have no real plan other than defending the line of scrimmage.  Independents, and many in their own party, push for more accommodation, more “reaching across the isle”, so they give up a yard here and a yard there, and oops, the other team has scored a touchdown.  They have no plan, only the dogged task of trying to defend.  They ARE the Party of NO.

This lopsided game, played over a hundred years, has yielded a country and government that would not be recognized by our Founding Fathers.  It has taken us to the precipice of socialism and a failing, if not failed country.  It has placed us on the path taken by so many countries before us, and all have ended up in the same miserable place.  Misery surely loves company, so Europe has welcomed President Obama with open arms.

The Republicans have now taken back the House and picked up six seats in the Senate, a tidal wave by historic standards.  The voters have said that they want a reduction in spending and in the size of government, but they did not vote so much for Republicans as much as they did against the Obama agenda of European style socialism.  Yet, Americans are an inpatient lot, and the Republicans will fail without a radical change in their playbook.

It took a hundred years to get here, and our country will not be restored overnight.  Further, it will not be restored using the same defensive strategies that Conservatives have employed for the past one hundred years.  In short, the historic roles must be reversed.  The Republicans must become the Progressive party and go on the offense.  Such a move would force the Democrats into the role of conservatives, i.e., attempting to preserve the gains they have made and thereby blunting their offense.

The Republican Party must unite and articulate what they stand for, and what their objectives are.  At the same time, they must inculcate in the party the same institutional memory and long term game plan that the Progressives have been so good at over the last century.  As sure as the sun rises, they will be thrown again out of the majority, but in power or out, they must keep working at their plan, being ready to strike when opportunity presents itself. As the Progressives are fond of saying, they must “keep their eyes on the prize”.  There are no short term fixes to the problems we have created over a long period of time.

What might these objectives look like?  Here, in no particular order, are Peacock’s top ten priorities.

I. Tax Reform

II. Social Security Reform

III. Healthcare Repeal and Reform

IV. Shrink the actual size of the Federal Government

V. Reclamation of power by the states

VI. Election Reform

VII. Elimination of government unions and collective bargaining

VIII. Foreign Policy coherence and consistency

IX. Immigration Reform and secure borders

X. Statuary limits upon spending

Peacock will be exploring each of these objectives in depth in future articles.

There is no need in this article to list again the inalienable rights from God that our founding fathers pledged everything to found America on. Even those who are liberation theory proponents or progressives know the list well. If you are using the Internet or in a secondary school in most places of the world you know this famous short list.

Perhaps there is not even a need to point out that these rights are under attack like never before in the history of the United States of America. They have been quietly under attack for 100 years. They have been a bit more aggressively, but somewhat quietly, under attack since the 1960s. Under the Obama presidency they are both aggressively and visibly under attack. They are so visibly under attack that the debate has divided our country to a greater degree than since the Civil War.

The media likes to point to the economy as the catalyst for the unprecedented citizen interest in government and the angry debate on Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The person on the street will give a different story. This amazing level of interest, and the amazing conservative voter turnout in the primary elections, has much more to do with fear of losing the rights that our ancestors have fought for than it has to do with the economy. The insulting and degrading way in which Pennsylvania Avenue refers to the Main Street citizen is simply an ineffective way of demeaning people who are catching on to the truth. The deliberate destruction of the economy by progressives is the progressive’s way to deflect attention from the deliberate destruction of the United States as it was founded.

That truth is that bloated, ineffective government is claiming that it, not God, is the provider and definer of basic human rights. The truth is that the United States government, as it becomes larger and seeks more control, is the destroyer of the economy. Perhaps in the past this destruction of the economy may have been more through incompetence than through the design laid out by Cloward and Piven. Recently it is the Cloward and Piven design, strongly promoted by President Obama and his staff, that is the chief force in the destruction of our economy. The truth is that this deliberate bloating of government coupled with the orchestrated destruction of our economy through the Cloward and Piven design are the twin excuses that Progressive government will use to usurp God-given inalienable rights and replace them with “rights” benignly bestowed by a government whose purpose is to drive our country, and perhaps the world, to Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”.

This writer, and an increasing number of people I encounter, do not believe that our horrible and erratic economy is the primary problem we have in America or in the world. In the U.S. the primary problem is a never ending series of multiple personality disorder administrations that have created massive year to year uncertainty while acting like control freaks on a spending binge. The horrible and erratic economy is the result of our government’s “mental illness”.

It is this “mental illness” that is bent on taking away our God given inalienable rights and replacing than with government-approved rights. It is this “mental illness” that makes government believe that it can, at will, levy extremely high taxes on everyone and make the decision for us on how to redistribute our income to others in our country and around the world. It is this “mental illness” that makes government believe it can escalate these oppressive activities to unprecedented levels and then accuse citizens of being “Homer Simpsons” who just don’t understand. If our federal government were an individual under care of a psychiatrist I wonder if the psychiatrist would suggest that such a mentally delusional person be locked up for the protection of society.

Of course, all of this is from the perspective of a conservative who believes that the founding fathers were right and that the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are just as relevant today as they were 200 years ago. On the other hand, the true believers among the progressives, of whom President Obama seems to be one, believe in government control, rights bestowed by government instead of God and redistribution of hard-earned wealth by the government to every corner of the planet. The last time the writers at Peacock Watch checked, ours is the only country on the planet that states in its founding document that our rights flow from God; not kings, dictators or faceless governments.

This writer had the unexpected pleasure of spending a week next to an extremely small town buried in a national forest in the mid-west. When driving into town I first saw banners from several churches on the telephone poles. In the middle of town there is a store with a large plate glass window facing the main street. In that window are proudly displayed the American flag and next to it the Ten Commandments. Across the street is a restaurant that replaces one that burned down, along with the family home of the owners, many years ago. The family owners couldn’t afford insurance but the town pitched in to help them restart their restaurant in another building and move into another home. Pride and self-respect required that the family repay their friends, and they finally did. No one asked for government help. Inside this restaurant are walking sticks and stone animals made by the owner’s very elderly father. On the walls there are pictures of friends going back to high school days. In particular, there are newspaper articles about childhood friends who joined the military and thus became heroes in the eyes of those who stayed behind. These are people who know fear of the Lord. These are people who will do whatever it takes to make sure they don’t have to fear our government.

Progressives and conservatives are thus locked in a titanic struggle that has gone on for at least one hundred years, has now reached a massively visible do or die decision point, and which, on some scale, will frankly never end.

Within the framework of United States society and constitution this is a war. It is a war to be fought at each voting precinct and is as serious as any fighting war our country has been involved in. Every voter in this country has an obligation to themselves, to our founding fathers, to our ancestors, to our descendents, and to all the military and civilian people who have fought for, and continue to fight for, our country.

This writer believes that our voting box war will in 2010 and 2012 decide the future of our country for a long time to come. It is not what has become the traditional choice between a democrat or republican. It is a choice between voting for those who want large, expensive, powerful government that defines our rights and limitations and those who believe, as our founding fathers did, in extremely limited government , God-given rights, balanced budget, minimal taxation and control and distribution of wealth by those who earn it.

It is a war as real and as important as any fighting war and it must be fought at the local, state and federal level.

Any conservative who doesn’t vote has betrayed all those in the past and present who have fought, and are now, fighting for our freedom to vote and decide the future of our country. Those non-voters are also betraying the children and grandchildren we know, and all of our descendents who we will never have the privilege of meeting. This obligation to engage in the voting booth war is so clear that even the Homer Simpsons in office in Washington should understand it.

We must meet this obligation starting now and do it in numbers that clog our streets with unprecedented numbers of people standing in line to vote to preserve our country as it was established by our founding fathers.

Peacock has long believed that people will meet your expectations.

Ronald Reagan’s expectations of Americans were high. Through him we finally shook ourselves loose from the lingering malaise of the Vietnam War and began to believe again in our greatness. American morale improved quickly and our great American machine started humming again. He believed enough in each of us that he wanted dramatically less government and more reliance on the individual.

Obama’s expectations of Americans are clearly very low. Time after time he has talked about how we have created problems around the world and how injustice is common within our country. His comments work to lower our morale and our faith in ourselves. He believes so little in each of us that he is aggressively creating a larger government that is restricting our freedoms more and more.

Peacock and Spouse took the long over road trip to the Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally on August 28th, 2010. We agreed that it was one of the best experiences in our lives.

It was an experience successfully designed to help us believe even more strongly in ourselves and our fellow Americans. This increased belief didn’t just come from the powerful words of those on the stage. It also came from those who were there. At least 500,000 people gathered enthusiastically, cordially, and respectfully to hear and share in the positive message presented. Peacock emphasizes that is was a positive message without negative references.

This massive crowd was the friendliest I have ever experienced. At one point there was a concern that a small child had been lost in the crowd. A woman near us commented that this was the safest and most loving large crowd possible for a small lost child. I have no doubt that she was right. It was almost the cleanest and neatest crowd. The grounds were clean and the trash cans full after the event was over.

People came from all over. We met attendees from California, Arizona (they all love Jan Brewer), Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, North and South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and other states. We saw old people in wheelchairs, on crutches, using canes, and using each other to stand upright and keep going. Everyone offered help.

The message to people who believe in the principals put down on paper by our founding fathers did not disappoint any of us.

We heard about restoring the America as it was founded. Restoring faith in our free enterprise system, in self-reliance, in community. This was briefly contrasted at one point with rejecting transformation of America to something that is clearly just the opposite. We heard about our inalienable rights originating from God. That government has no right to take those away and cannot grant new inalienable rights. They can only originate from God.

We heard a lot about unity rather than division. The most significant reference to race during the day was that we all belong to one race – the human race.

We heard the granddaughter of Rev. Martin Luther King, Alveda King, say “God Bless America”.

We heard about the greatness and relevance of our founding fathers in our daily lives. We heard about acting with honor in all things. We heard about faith, hope and charity and never heard one word about anger, division or hate.

However, in watching most of the news media after the event, particularly MSNBC, we were hearing nothing positive about any of these things. Even Fox news reported as if they didn’t even have anyone there. One has to wonder what the motivation of the news media is in not reporting the positive nature of this event and instead going on a personal attack against Glenn Beck and others on the stage. Some of the attacks by MSNBC were simply outrageous and in stark contrast with the positive, uplifting nature of the event. They bore no resemblance to what we saw and experienced first hand.

The contrast is striking. Glenn Beck has high expectations of Americans and America. He knows that we will meet those expectations. He believes our inalienable rights come from God and that they were excellently defined by our founding fathers. He believes that wealth is not redistributed through government but through charitable organizations and churches. He believes that we should be asking God to bless America, not damn America.

The message from our president, supported strongly by the mainstream media, is depressing. He wants to make government larger and have it take more control over our lives. He wants us to pass on massive debt to our children and grandchildren. He says the message of our founding fathers is no longer relevant, that we must transform America and put more trust in a government that moves itself farther from God each year. He wants America to have only a participatory role in the world rather than a leading role. In short, his expectations of us are low.

For Peacock and Spouse the Restore Honor Rally was a transformational event. We will meet Glenn Beck’s expectations and will spread the word to others through our words and actions.

God Bless America. And God Bless Glenn Beck.

A  previous PeacockWatch article, Our Great Tyranny Engine, explained how our federal government has gobbled up our liberty by creating a problem or crisis, and then passing more laws that require more government and more taxes to solve the crisis of their making.  This is the basic design of that engine, but as with any engine, fuel is required to power it.  That fuel for this engine is tax dollars, and the main provider of dollars to our government is our Federal Income Tax system.

This system not only creates the means to grow government, but worse, it gives the politicians almost unlimited power to barter away tax breaks and entitlements for campaign funds and votes.  Indeed, our tax code is the big litter box when it comes to transactions between lobbyist and politicians.

The tax code is used for everything from social engineering to pitting people who pay taxes against people who do not, again, for political gain. The system is rapidly approaching a tipping point where the amount of people not paying taxes and/or deriving benefits from the government will exceed the numbers of people paying taxes and receiving very little direct benefit from government.  This creates a perceived permanent majority for the party that is deemed to have provided the most benefits.

The tax code itself is hopelessly complex (even the IRS does not understand many parts of it), costly to maintain and enforce, and intrusive into the private lives of citizens.  It has been abused by Presidents and politicians alike, having been used for retribution against political opposition.  At its core, it punishes success and rewards failure.

Our tax code is all of the egregious things above, but first and foremost, it is the fuel for the engine designed to enslave us.

In 1903 Federal Government spending was a mere 6% of GDP.  The 16th Amendment was enacted in 1913, authorizing the federal income tax.  In the current fiscal year, spending is 45% of GDP, and climbing steeply in the out years of our current budget.

To maintain any semblance of liberty, and to strike at ever increasing federal power, this fuel must be cut off.  Yet, even a smaller engine of government needs some fuel.  If the income tax is repealed, it must be replaced with something that provides predictable fuel,  but takes power out of the hands of the politicians.

Over the past several years there have been alternatives proposed to eliminate the federal income tax, perhaps the most popular being the “Fair Tax”, basically a flat rate consumption tax which would replace the income tax, social security, and medicare taxes.  It has some popular support, but it will never see the light of day in our Congress, and very few politicians of either party will even take questions on it.  Again, it is the source of their power over us.  They will not cede this power, so it must be taken away.

Short of a bloody revolution, how can this be peacefully done?  Randy E. Barnett, professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University and author of Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty, has some ideas on this.

In his Op/Ed piece (Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2009, “How the Tea Partiers can make Washington pay attention”, Professor Barnett says that the states must take back power from the Federal Government.

Tea Party Peaceful Assembly

The states have the power to call a Constitutional Convention by a vote of two-thirds of the states, and any law produced from such a convention could be passed into law by a three-quarters vote of the states.  Such a move would be feared because its scope cannot be limited in advance.  All things would be on the table.  Yet, says Professor Barnett, “It is precisely the fear of a runaway convention that states can exploit to bring Congress to heel”.  The state legislatures could petition Congress for a convention to propose a specific amendment.  Congress could then avoid such a wide-open convention by proposing this specific amendment to the states before the number of state petitions reaches two-thirds.

What would this amendment be?  It would be a proposal to repeal the 16th Amendment.  Such a threat for a general convention has worked before, and resulted in the passing of the  17th  Amendment, according to Professor Barnett.

The message here is that the states must take the lead in changing the direction of this country.  In November, we may put conservatives back in charge of one or the other of our Congressional bodies, but can we forget what the GOP did when they were last in power?  Both parties at the Federal level are the problem.  Neither is the solution. The solution must begin at the state level.

Below are several charts that show the political make-up of the states as of October, 2009.  The first is a chart that shows state senators (red is GOP, blue DEMS), and shows a lot more red than blue.  The second is state representatives (white being evenly balanced).  Again, there is a similar pattern.

State Senators (Source: Webfoot.com)

State Representatives (Source: Webfoot.com)

We need 34 states to vote for such an Amendment, and it would seem that the best agency to mobilize the electorate state by state would be the infant Tea Party Movement.  This movement sprung from local roots, and before attacking the national level, it would appear that the best chance for success would be at the local level.  After all, all politics are local.

The Tea Party Movement could also take a lesson from what has happened in Colorado between 2006 and the present.  Colorado, for its entire history has been the reddest of states.  In that year, Republicans held both Senate seats, five of seven congressional seats, the governor’s mansion, the offices of secretary of state and treasurer, and both houses of the state legislature.  After the 2008 election, in one of the most stunning reversals of political fortune in American history, the exact opposite was true.

What caused this reversal?  In 2006, three internet multi-millionaire’s who were dedicated progressives conspired to buy Colorado for their cause by using 501 C type organizations, enabled by the new campaign reform laws, to shape their message.  With discipline and focus, they have pioneered a legal architecture designed to take advantage of the new campaign finance laws and an emerging breed of progressive donors who are willing to commit unprecedented resources to local races.

The interesting thing here is that very little has been written in the press on how this historic shift was engineered.  Perhaps this is because that in Colorado the progressives feel they have found a formula to create permanent Democratic majorities across the nation.

Fortunately, this story has been captured in a new book, The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care), by Adam Schranger and Rob Witwer.  The Tea Party Movement, who seems to be wrestling with strategies and organization, should begin with this book.

This is not to say that turning 34 states red will accomplish the constitutional strategy outlined above.  Republican or Democrat, state politics has become the minor leagues where the ambitions are to advance to the big leagues of Washington DC.   Somehow, the end objective of repealing the 16th Amendment needs to be uncalculated into the process of turning these states red.