Catching up

A few things have been on my mind the last few days...

Auto Bailout

Yeah, I'm a bit late in saying something about this.  There are a couple of things that I think we should all keep in mind:

1.  This bailout and all of the others that have and will happen are LOANS!  I don't know why people keep getting all upset and say that the government is taking ownership in these companies.  That's simply not true.  This "bailout" would be a loan that would be paid back likely within 5 years (assuming things get better for the companies receiving money).  We need to worry less about the government ownership than we do whether or not the government needs to be stepping in at all.  Which brings me to..

2.  The auto companies can go bankrupt and still be in business.  Bankruptcy does not mean that you close your doors tomorrow.  We all probably know someone whose gone through bankruptcy.  And what did they have to do?  They had some of the things they owed money on taken away from them and they had to start over.  The same would happen to GM, Ford, and Chrysler.  If you ask me, this should have happened a LONG TIME AGO.  How many brands does GM have that are either redundant or unprofitable.  Heck, for you folks living in and around Memphis, how many GM related car dealerships are there around here?  And how many Toyota, Honda, and Nissan dealerships are there?  I think there is something to be said about that.  There is a LOT of fat that needs to be cut out from these American car companies.  If the government gives them a loan, we are just prolonging the inevitable.  Just like with all of the other loans.

Sports talk

I'll start with the NFL.  Wow, what a great season this has been so far.  Quite a few surprises.  Of course, I'm still happy that the Giants are doing as well as they are.  And that Eli continues to improve, especially in leadership.  They are definitely going to be in the playoffs, but I'll not say they are definitely Super Bowl bound.  Last year proved that anything can happen in the postseason.  I think their main competition will end up being the Cowboys.  As for the AFC, it's going to be really close.  The Titans probably needed their loss Sunday more than they will admit publicly.  I think it's between them and the Patriots, and then the Colts or Jets as spoilers.  You can't ever count Brett Favre out if he's in the playoffs.  Again, it's been a great year.  Can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Next, College Football.  Yet another year that the BCS is going to be a disaster.  If Alabama loses to Florida, there will be a ton of one-loss teams expecting to play for the championship.  This is a good thing though.  I guarantee a playoff system is being discussed way more seriously than it ever has before.

And finally, I have to pick on the Memphis Tigers basketball team a little bit again.  I didn't watch any of the game the other night, but the news yesterday morning was that they continued to miss their free throws.  Coach Cal, was losing a championship not enough?  I don't know that many are expecting the Tigers to make it as far as they did last year, but they CANNOT WIN if they won't fix this problem.

Facebook

I've had several people tell me that Facebook was cool and that I should sign up.  But I've for the most part avoided most of the social networking stuff, so I never signed up.  Well, my wife Beverly signed up on it a week or so ago and liked it quite a a bit.  Which finally got me interested enough to sign up.  If you are on Facebook and aren't in as my friend yet, either search for me (Daniel Riley in Horn Lake, MS) or put a comment here on how to add you and I'll do so.  I'm sure there is a way to post a link to my profile here or something, but I can't access Facebook from the computer I am on right now.  I'll look into adding a more permanent link on this blog somewhere.

 

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving.  Be sure to take a moment to thank God for all that you have.

Ron Paul is RIGHT

That title shouldn't surprise anyone who reads this blog.  And neither should the content.  From this article:

Commentary: GOP should ask why U.S. is on the wrong track

By Ron Paul
Special to CNN

The questions now being asked are: Where to go from here and who's to blame for the downfall of the Republican Party?

Too bad the concern for the future of the Republican Party had not been seriously addressed in the year 2000 when the Republicans gained control of the House, Senate, and the Presidency.

Now, in light of the election, many are asking: What is the future of the Republican Party?

But that is the wrong question. The proper question should be: Where is our country heading? There's no doubt that a large majority of Americans believe we're on the wrong track. That's why the candidate demanding "change" won the election. It mattered not that the change offered was no change at all, only a change in the engineer of a runaway train.

Once it's figured out what is fundamentally wrong with our political and economic system, solutions can be offered. If the Republican Party can grasp hold of the policy changes needed, then the party can be rebuilt.

In the rise and fall of the recent Republican reign of power these past decades, the goal of the party had grown to be only that of gaining and maintaining power -- with total sacrifice of the original Republican belief in shrinking the size of government.

Most Republicans endorsed this view in order to achieve victories at the polls. Limiting government power and size with less spending and a balanced budget as the goal used to be a "traditional" Republican value. This is what Goldwater and Reagan talked about. That is what the Contract with America stood for.

The opportunity finally came in 2000 to do something about the cancerous growth of government. This clear message led to the Republican success at the polls.

Once the Republicans were in power, though, the promises faded, and all policies were directed at maintaining or increasing power by trying to whittle away at Democratic strength by acting like big-spending Democrats.

The Republican Congress never once stood up against the Bush/Rove machine that demanded support for unconstitutional wars, attacks on civil liberties here at home, and an economic policy based on more spending, more debt, and more inflation -- while constantly preaching the flawed doctrine that deficits don't matter as long as taxes aren't raised.

But what the Republican leadership didn't realize was that ALL spending is a tax on middle-class Americans through price inflation and that eventually the inevitable consequence is paying for the extravagance with a financial crisis.

Party leaders concentrated only on political tricks in order to maintain power and neglected the limited-government principles on which they were elected. The only solution for this is for Republicans to once again reassess their core beliefs and show how the country (not the party) can be put back on the right track. The problem, though, is regaining credibility.

After eight years of perpetual (and unnecessary and unconstitutional) war, persistent and expanded attacks on our privacy, runaway deficits, and now nationalization of the financial system, Republicans are going to have a tough time regaining the confidence of the American people. But that's what must be done.

Otherwise, Republicans can only mimic Democrats and hope for an isolated victory here and there. And that's just more of the same that brought on the disintegration of the party.

Since the new alignment of political power offers no real change, we will remain on the same track without even a pretense of slowing the growth of government. With the new administration we can expect things to go from bad to worse.

Opportunity abounds for anyone who can present the case for common sense in fiscal affairs, for protection of civil liberties here at home, and avoiding the senseless foreign entanglements which have bogged us down for decades and contributed so significantly to our fiscal and budgetary crisis.

During the debates in the Republican Presidential primary, even though I am a 10-term sitting Representative Member of Congress, I was challenged more than once on my Republican credentials. The fact that I was repeatedly asked how I could be a Republican when I was talking a different language than the other candidates answers the question of how the Republican Party can slip so far so fast.

My rhetorical answer at the time was simple: Why should one be excluded from the Republican Party for believing and always voting for:

• Limited government power

• A balanced budget

• Personal liberty

• Strict adherence to the Constitution

• Sound money

• A strong defense while avoiding all undeclared wars

• No nation-building and no policing the world

How can a party that still pretends to be the party of limited government distance itself outright from these views and expect to maintain credibility? Since the credibility of the Republican Party has now been lost, how can it regain credibility without embracing these views, or at least showing respect for them?

I concluded my answer by simply stating the Republican Party had lost its way and must reassess its values. And that is what needs to be done in a hurry.

But it might just take a new crop of leaders to regain the credibility needed to redirect the Party. It certainly won't be done overnight. It took a long time to come out of the wilderness after 40 years of Democratic rule for the Republican Party to take charge. Today though, time moves more quickly. Opportunities will arise. The one thing for certain is that in the next four years we will not see the Republic restored. Instead the need for it will be greater than ever.

The problems are easily understood and the answers are not that difficult. Abusing the rule of law and ignoring the Constitution can be reversed. If the Republican Party can grasp hold of the needed reforms, it can lead the way and regain its credibility. If power is sought for power's sake alone, the Party will never be able to wrench away the power of the opposition.

In the past two years, I found that when the young people heard the message of liberty, they overwhelmingly responded favorably, fully realizing the failure of the status quo and the need to once again endorse a system of self reliance, personal responsibility, sound money, and a non-interventionist foreign policy while rejecting the cradle-to-grave nanny state all based on the rule of law and the Constitution.

To ignore the political struggle and only "hope for the best" is pure folly. The march toward a dictatorial powerful state is now in double time.

All those who care -- and especially those who understand the stakes involved -- have an ominous responsibility to energetically get involved in the battle of survival for a free and prosperous America.

Post-election thoughts

Well, I guess I can say it was nice not having to stay up all night if I wanted to hear the results.  The McCain campaign pretty much unofficially conceded to news reporters at about 9:00 when it was announced that Obama had won Ohio.  And I will of course take this moment to remind you of this statement made by yours truly back in February:

Many conservatives will not vote.  Obama will take the "undecided" vote and will be the first president in a long time to mobilize the young vote.  There will be those that vote against him because he's black, but it won't be enough to give McCain a win.  Obama will get at least 55% of the vote.

So there you have it.  Barak Obama will be the next president of the United States.  Any of you who are fearful of this need to get used to it now.

So yeah, Obama didn't get 55% of the vote, and that is likely due to McCain being able to inspire the evangelical vote more than I anticipated with his choice of Sarah Palin as VP.  But I was still RIGHT for the most part.  Obama won because he mostly had people voting FOR HIM.  McCain lost because he mostly had people voting AGAINST OBAMA.  You cannot win an election if people's motives are to keep the other guy out of office.

And reports last night and early this morning are that Obama was able to mobilize the young vote, which is something Democrats have tried to do for years with little success.  We should all at least be able to recognize that he ran a really organized an effective campaign.  He raised the money he needed to raise and he used it wisely.

And Democrats did not get the filibuster-proof majority that the press was salivating over and that was scaring some conservatives into voting for McCain.  It's not what the Democrats wanted, but it does put Obama in a good position to push his real agenda.  So now maybe we'll find out what that is exactly.  :)

I also think it's interesting that some of the most moderate Republicans lost their seats last night.  Everything is being set up nicely for a major movement back to the RIGHT.  The Democrats will not lead this country in the direction that their liberal constituents want them to, but their agenda will be liberal enough to fire up a conservative backlash.  We've voted out the folks on "our side" who weren't conservative enough.  Now it's time to go back to the drawing board and find the folks that are.