Foundations

Any building that will last requires a good foundation. Any political thought that will last also requires a good foundation. The political thought of our Founding Fathers had a good foundation. That foundation was Calvinistic, at least in the first of its instructive acrostic, TULIP.

The "T" stands for "Total Depravity". (The rest is: U-unconditional election, L- limited atonement, I- irresistible grace, P- perseverance of the saints.)

What is "Total Depravity"? It is the belief that men, all men (and women) are sinners and without hope in themselves to satisfy the righteous demands of a holy God. No only are we positionally sinners but we are sinners in our conduct. There are many passages of scripture which point this out: Psalm 14:2-4, Jeremiah 17:9,Romans 3:10-18, 23. It means that each of us is capable of the most heinous acts, and can and will act in a selfish way. This is true of criminal behavior and political behavior.

Our Founding Fathers realized this and put into the Constitution a system of checks and balances. This system pits one man's or group of men's depravity against another's, so that the only way to get anything done is to compromise. That is why when there is gridlock in D.C. you know that everything is working as it should. Theoretically, nothing should get done unless most people are getting something of what they want.

This is how things get done in this country. People who don't always agree with each will agree to do a little bit less than both like but something that both can live with. It is Compromise. It is Politics. It is ...... the American Way. You just have to get yourself into a position where your voice will be heard.

Now the counter side of this is to make sure that you don't go in naively, thinking just because you're there that you have arrived. It is a nasty game that you must be ready for. You should develop a power base that can be used and then use it.

Here in New York we are learning the game very slowly. We have worked to get a non-party endorsed candidate as the GOP candidate for governor. Now things didn't work out as we would have liked. Party bosses can be very vengeful. But we have shown that we have the power to get things done. Now it is time to exercise that power a little, to act in a selfish way for our best interests. This all part of learning the "game."

So compromise isn't a bad thing as long as you don't lose your integrity in the process and sell your soul to get what you want.

Thank you to the DNC

I, on behalf of all right-leaning bloggers, would like the extend a warm thank you to the Democratic National Committee for the selection of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as your chairperson. Joe Biden has been unable to pull the gag out of his mouth lately and that has left us a little short of material. However, we now a new gaffe-a-minute gal, Rep. Wasserman-Schultz.

I just saw three in a short clip via CNSnews.com. Ready? O.K. She said Republicans think that illegal immigration should be a crime. (Brief explanation for any liberals reading this. A synonym for "illegal" is "criminal". By definition, it is a crime) Next she said, if it were up to Republicans we would all be driving foreign cars. Guess what she drives? An Infinity (Foreign car) Lastly, she said she supports a president who is pro Israel. Maybe she isn't as big of an Obama fan as we thought.

Anyway, Thanks for the laughs Deb and keep'em comin'. I'm sure you will.

News Flash!!!!!!

This just in: The press is not impressed with the current crop of GOP candidates for president. What a shock.

I think it's time for us to investigate things for ourselves and not let the press generate our excitement for us. They almost all a bunch of leftist DEM cheerleaders anyway. Don't be manipulated. Research, THINK!

Reality Check Time

Strange exercise time - I want you to leave this site and go to one that features food. You know the one's with beautiful pictures the most delicious looking food you have ever seen. Then I want you to put your hands on those pictures, grab that food, and eat it. Then come back here after you've clean up your face and hands. Go on. I'll wait.

O.K. You're back now. How was it? What do you mean you couldn't grab it. It was right there in front of you. You could see it. You knew what it looked like.

Alright, enough foolishness. What was the point of that? Reality. The pictures and the recipes are there to show you what you could have, if you go to the store, buy the food, bring it home, prepare it, cook it, serve it. There is a process to get for the picture to the reality.

The concepts and abstracts are good to shoot for but there is a reality that must be dealt with. The Reality is there is a political structure that is in place with its own power structure. It gives the illusion that it is transparent but we all know it is not. The real question is how to make the concepts and abstracts the new reality? Do we marginalize ourselves by acting like complete morons in public meetings. Do we join together to support very marginal "Tea Party" candidates who have NO CHANCE of winning just to "get" the MACHINE.

OR do we take an approach where we present ourselves as reasonable, rational people who haven't forgotten the concepts and abstracts but who understand that to get there it will take time and effort, maybe a lot of both. People who are willing to work with the system but work to not be infected by it.

The second is the only one that will work and the only one that has a real plan, not just a means to advance one person's business.

2 postscripts:
1. What is LIBERTY? ( I know what I think. What about you?)
2. A republic is a government that has representatives. The Roman Republic was a republic but not everyone was able to enjoy the benefits. Most of the population were slaves or conquered people. Two modern examples of republics without liberty are the Peoples Republic of China and the U.S.S.R. Both are (and were) republics in name but neither in practice. So it is possible to have a republic without liberty.

How to Really Honor our Fallen Heroes Every Day

We have heard the phase, "Freedom doesn't come cheap" and it is true. This is Memorial Day. It is the day that we honor those who gave the last full measure to either win or keep our freedom. We have had parades. We have had speeches. The taps have been played. Tears have been shed on a day to remember the who paid the price.

As I thought about the day, I wondered what can we do to pay our part of the cost? I'm over 50. I can't join the armed forces again. Some may say I already did my part, almost 5 years active duty plus that little more than a year in the reserves. I did my part, right? I don't think so. What can I do? What can you do?

The best thing that we can do is to use the hard won freedoms well. We need to become informed about politics and world events. We need to understand the intellectual foundations for this nation. We need to be diligent in protecting the freedoms that were won. Our cost of freedom is constant vigilance. This includes voting.

Sadly, slothfulness has crept in. There was an election just last week. Twenty-one percent of the registered voters voted in that election. That means that 79% weren't willing to even go to a polling place to protect their freedom. That result is typical of most elections. What an insult to the fallen that we take so lightly the freedom that they paid so dearly to give to us.

If we truly want to honor our fallen heroes we need to get involved in the political process.

A Need for Time of National Repentance?

In the men's Sunday School class that I teach we have been going through some of the Old Testament prophets. One theme that is seen over and over again is "Repentance".

Looking at the events that have happened to this nation, I wonder if we need a time of national repentance?

WHO ENDED 'MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT'?

By BETSY MCCAUGHEY (from The New York Post, May 24, 2011)

In today's special election for the 26th
district US House seat in western New York, Democrats are trying out a tactic
they're sure to use nationwide in 2012 -- the obscenely false claim that they will save "Medicare as we know it" from Republican efforts to reform it.

The truth is, the Obama health law, passed by Democrats last year, already eviscerated Medicare -- though seniors won't feel the effects for some time. And the reform plan Democrats are attacking -- Rep. Paul Ryan's entitlement-reform vision -- would undo much of the damage, while charting a new course to ensure Medicare doesn't run out of money.

"Medicare as we know it" can't survive ObamaCare's cuts of $575 billion from the program's funding over the next decade. Just as outrageous is that the Obama law stole $410 billion of those
"savings" to expand eligibility for Medicaid.

It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul -- but it's robbing Grandma to create a whole new class of government dependants.

The nation needs to spend less on government, and entitlement reform is key. Instead, the ObamaCare law starts new entitlements -- with its vast expansion of Medicaid and a new insurance program for the middle class -- then imposes sacrifices on seniors to (partly) pay for these new obligations.

The administration's own actuaries say Medicare will spend $14,731 per senior in 2019, instead of $16,162 if the health law hadn't passed. That's less care for seniors. Richard Foster, the chief actuary for Medicare, testified to Congress that the Obama law makes such severe cuts that some
hospitals may stop taking Medicare.

Such cuts might be justifiable if the "savings" extended Medicare's financial life, as President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius often claim. In fact, the Obama law just pays less to those who treat Medicare patients, then uses the cash for something else entirely. Raiding Medicare leaves less money to care for future retirees.

So what can that next generation, retiring a decade from now, count on? The Obama law puts those decision in the hands of an unelected board called the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB -- a cost-cutting panel.

The board is a radical departure from Medicare as we've known it. On the pretext that budgeting decisions should be shielded from outraged seniors and political pressures, the Democratic Congress handed nearly all control of Medicare spending to IPAB. In April, the president reiterated that the board would decide what care is "unnecessary" for seniors, and added that he wants its unprecedented powers increased.

Last week, Obama indicated that he'd like to reduce the deficit by taking another $200 billion from Medicare over the next decade. That would be IPAB's job, too.

Yet IPAB is drawing fire from many who pushed hard for the ObamaCare law -- including the AARP and Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.).

Ryan's reform, passed by House Republicans early this year, would repeal the ObamaCare law in full, thereby restoring the $575 stolen from Medicare and ending IPAB. But, to keep the program sustainable in the decades ahead, the Ryan plan would (starting in 2022) give each new Medicare enrollee a choice of private health plans and pay a premium to the policy chosen. He argues that seniors would be safer choosing their own health plan rather than putting their care in the hands of the cost-cutting IPAB panel.

Let's hope voters examine the plain facts -- because one thing is clear: Obama and the Democratic Party are not saving Medicare "as we know it."

Betsy McCaughey is the author of "The Obama Health Law: What It Says and How To Overturn It."