The Republican Party chose the first black national chairman in its history Friday, just shy of three months after the nation elected a Democrat as the first African-American president. The choice marked no less than “the dawn of a new party,” declared the new GOP chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Republicans chose Steele over four other candidates, including former President George W. Bush’s hand-picked GOP chief, who bowed out declaring, “Obviously the winds of change are blowing.”
Steele takes the helm of a beleaguered Republican Party that is trying to recover after crushing defeats in November’s national elections that gave Democrats control of Congress put Barack Obama in the White House.
GOP delegates erupted in cheers and applause when his victory was announced, but it took six ballots to get there. He’ll serve a two-year term.
Steele, an attorney, is a conservative, but he was considered the most moderate of the five candidates running.
He was also considered an outsider because he’s not a member of the Republican National Committee. But the 168-member RNC clearly signaled it wanted a change after eight years of Bush largely dictating its every move as the party’s standard-bearer.
Steele became the first black candidate elected to statewide office in Maryland in 2003, and he made an unsuccessful Senate run in 2006. Currently, he serves as chairman of GOPAC, an organization that recruits and trains Republican political candidates, and in that role he has been a frequent presence on the talk show circuit.
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2009/january/0131_steele_rnc1.shtml
Steele is having some problems with campaign fund distribution:
Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never performed, his finance chairman from that campaign has told federal prosecutors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/06/AR2009020604151.html?
But unlike Obama, he didn’t amass 600 million dollars just to give some of it to nihilist groups like ACORN. And unlike Tom Dashle, Timothy Geithner, and Charles Rangel, he pays his taxes.
Steele has a tough job ahead of him. He needs to emphasize qualities that make the GOP a great political coalition, and get back in touch with the conservative base. It also wouldn’t hurt to perhaps include some Libertarian concepts to create a more successful platform.
Some advice for Michael Steele and the GOP, as well as comments about the way our government is managed and the direction of our country:
There are no simple, perfect solutions to the complications of American government or society, especially given the special interests and political brawls between the parties. Forget about bi-partisanship. There’s no such thing. Right now, the leftwing Democrat majority will do everything it can to inflict socialism on our economy and take us into another depression. They intend to eviscerate our national security to ‘improve our image’ for the benefit of Euro effetes and hostile muslim countries. Members of their party including Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott, David Bonior, and Mike Thompson, sucked up to our enemies in pre-war Iraq and Syria in direct violation of the Logan Act and Article III of the Constitution, thus proving their disloyalty to the United States.
Dick Durbin uttered slanderous comments toward the men and women of the military by referring to us as “Nazis’. Jack Murtha calls us murderers. John Kerry insults us by saying ‘only uneducated troops get stuck in Iraq’. What a fine collection of miscreants.
They not only discount the reasons as to why we have to fight the enemy where they live and breed, but they refuse to strengthen the counter-terrorism methods which kept this country safe for seven years after 9/11. Democrats have more sympathy for Islamic terrorists than the American servicemembers fighting on this nation’s behalf. They rely on the latest Eurotrash Poll instead of what’s right for America and freedom. Take that as a clue.
Rally the Republican base and take a stand. Fight the Democrats and their Obamessiah tooth and nail and do your best to stop them from destroying this country.
Government Spending:
Fight to stop pork barrel spending and censure the members of Congress and Senate who engage in it simply because they want to buy the affection of their constituents. There are guilty parties on both sides of the aisle. Fight to prevent any American President from signing into law bills that have pork-barrel riders attached.
Welfare:
The public dole has been abused beyond recognition by social derelicts who exploit the system. On that note, the California breeding machine aka Nadya Suleman, now has a brood of 14 with which she will burden taxpayers.
The Southern California mother of octuplets receives $490 a month in food stamps and three of her first six children are disabled and receiving federal assistance, her publicist confirmed Monday evening.
Spokesman Michael Furtney said Nadya Suleman did not want to disclose the nature of the disabilities, or the type or sum of the payments.
Furtney confirmed the public assistance payments after two sources told The Los Angeles Times that Suleman was receiving food stamps and federal supplemental security income.
“In her view these are just payments made for people with legitimate needs and are not, in her view, welfare,” Furtney said. “She just believes that there are programs for people with needs and she and her children qualify for some of them.”
Suleman is the poster child for welfare reform.
The Bailout:
The current ‘bailout’ includes the Democratic Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae fiasco, and a crapload of corporations getting taxpayer-assisted rescue via the $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”).
Link: http://www.propublica.org/special/show-me-the-tarp-money
Demand that capitalism (supply and demand) take its course. Stop bailing out the corporate entities that failed to be competitive and whose incompetent CEOs mismanaged them into financial ruin. Don’t reward them, make them declare bankruptcy like everyone else. Give the successful ones the incentive (tax breaks) to stay here rather than outsource to places like Mexico and the Philippines.
In the separate but no less extravagant $825 billion “Stimulus Package”, at least one quarter will be devoted to ‘activities crucial to governors, mayors, and local school boards – making them among the plans biggest beneficiaries’. Link: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/20639/
Just wonderful. Most of them are about as thrifty the federal government.
One of the most outrageous requests for money comes from Edwardville, Alabama, Pop. 194.
They want $375 million to install solar powered street lights, solar panels on the town hall, and solar powered recharging stations. For a town of 194 people with a 28.7% poverty level.
Link: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/19976/
Jeezustapdancingchrist. Where are the sane economists in our government?
Taxes:
Taxes will ever be completely eliminated. We have become too dependent on the government throwing money at problems instead of finding concrete solutions like the Fair Tax proposal, which replaces federal income and payroll taxes with a progresssive national sales tax:
How the Plan Works:
The FairTax proposal is a comprehensive revenue plan that would eliminate most major federal income and payroll taxes, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. On payday, every American would receive 100 percent of his or her paycheck, minus any state income taxes.
These federal taxes would be replaced by a national retail sales tax. Under the FairTax, the national sales tax rate initially would be 23 percent, with adjustments made to the rate in subsequent years.
The FairTax is progressive. To make this system fair for low-income Americans, all taxpayers would receive a monthly “prebate,” so no one would pay taxes for consumption up to the poverty line.
The national retail tax would only be collected on new purchases, making “used” purchases tax-free. Additionally, business purchases would be exempt from the tax, thereby eradicating corporate tax compliance costs currently hidden in retail prices. http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=93
It makes too much sense therefore, the government will never adopt it.
The Trade Deficit:
The least that we can do is to look out for our own best interest. I would not tolerate some of the current trade practices. If we are to pay exhorbitant import tariffs to countries like Japan, (who in 2003 increased its import tariff on US beef from 35.5 % to 50%) we need to respond in kind.
Education:
I once saw a bumper sticker that said “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” I thought: If you can’t read it after 12 years of public education, who do you blame? Teachers in public schools deserve a salary commensurate with the demands of their profession. By the same token, they need to prove that they are qualified to teach. If this involves monitoring and periodic qualification tests for them, then so be it. They should also be required to refresh their skills and keep up with significant changes in their course of instruction. Scrutinize the materials used for classroom instruction. Textbooks which malign, distort, and outright lie about America’s history and influence in the world just to satisfy a leftwing agenda, need to be shit-canned.
VA Hospitals:
The troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan receive some of the best medical care in the world. I had surgery at Bethesda, and I can attest to what I’ve seen. Bethesda and Walter Reed are the high-profile, premier military hospitals that treat U.S. dignitaries as well as troops. The personnel at those facilities are likely to be the best. This is not to say that there aren’t issues with care and competency.
All VA doctors should be screened and evaluated for competence and performance. If they have a prior (civilian) history of malpractice, they should not be allowed to treat military patients. Any allegations of abuse or mistreatment of a veteran in a VA hospital should be investigated and any personnel found guilty should spend time in Leavenworth. Provide the funding for qualified, dedicated medical personnel to guarantee veterans the care they need.
National security:
Foreign passengers entering the country should be scrutinized a lot differently than the methods currently practiced. Train the TSA airport screeners to differentiate between an elderly wheelchair-bound person on oxygen and an Arab-speaking male/muslim from (pick a country) in the Middle East. They need to look for potential terrorists, not just weapons. In other words, nail clippers shouldn’t be a concern.
Secure the southern border of the U.S. and start deporting illegal aliens, enmasse. Prosecute their employers and people who shelter and hide them from authorities. If they are not here to escape oppression or seek bona fide political asylum: instant deportation. Enforce US Code Title 8 for a change.
Hold the State Department and INS accountable for every single illegal alien who sets foot on our soil and somehow manages to stay.
Don’t back down from the war against Islamofascism. Keep in mind that in spite of the success in Iraq and Afghanistan, this war is far from over. Freedom’s enemies have patience, dedication, and resolve; something that the average American (Democrats, in particular) have been lacking. Don’t hesitate to use every means at our disposal to stop Islamic terrorists wherever they are, especially the ones within our own borders. (CAIR, Arab Action Network, Muslim Brotherhood) Fight the closing of GITMO. There has to be a secure facility to detain Islamic terrorists outside of the U.S.
The UN:
I’d tell them to pack sand in their ass and get out of the U.S. ‘Nuff said.
Energy:
Encourage and fund feasible alternate energy sources to wean ourselves off of foreign oil dependence. We have thousands of intelligent, motivated students and scientists in this country. There is no reason why we shouldn’t have already had other types of efficient, cheap fuel sources available for use.
Gun Control:
Repeal the Brady bill. Law-abiding citizens have to wait too long and criminals don’t care.
The Drug “War”:
It’s time to bring it to an abrupt halt. It’s a joke. Billions of dollars spent on trying to stop something that involves that good old economic axiom: Supply and Demand. Prohibition did not work. Nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol–all drugs–are legal because the government controls the production, sale, and taxation. Legalize all drugs with this stipulation: You can do whatever you want to yourself, but if you harm anyone else during the production, sale, or use, we will put you under the prison.
Lower the drinking age:
The legal age for alcohol consumption across the United States was raised in 1984 under the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which blackmailed states into raising their drinking ages to 21, or lose federal highway funding. The pious idiots at MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) who helped to influence the passing of the legislation, and have morphed from a ‘concerned group’ to a neurotic bunch of Carrie Nations.
Restricting the drinking age to 21 and over an absolute failure. If ‘underage’ people want to drink, there’s no shortage of ways to get alcohol. Trust me.
First of all, the fallacy of reducing highway fatalities is horseshit. A good number of non-alcohol-related accidents among teenagers have increased due to driving inexperience, not alcohol. In reality, the alcohol-related accidents with 21-24 year olds, has increased.
Secondly, there are so many reasons that the law discriminates against (otherwise) legal 18 year olds.
At the age of 18 one can own property, run for public office, vote, marry without parental consent, be held accountable in the eyes of the law as an adult especially with regard to felonies, and last but certainly not least, serve in the armed forces to fight for this country. They’re good enough to pick up a rifle, drive a tank, fire artillery, and operate equipment worth millions of dollars while engaging the enemy on fields of battle, but according to the MADD-ass-kissing morons in the government, they can’t be trusted with alcohol.
That’s bullshit on stilts.
If the 18-20 year olds in this country decide to band together against this lunacy, it will change in a heartbeat. Get. Out. The. Vote.
Death Penalty:
Use thorough investigations, including DNA analysis, to clear up any question of guilt for those on Death Row. The wrongly convicted will be cleared, the unquestionably guilty will be sent to death. Cut and dried: The punishment would fit the crime. If you commit a heinous, unprovoked act of murder, you will die. If you rape, strangle, and mutilate you will be put to death in the same manner. I don’t like lethal injection. It’s like putting your kitty-cat to sleep, and the rancid waste of a zygote doesn’t suffer like his victim. It’s time to get medieval.
In conclusion:
I like Michael Steele. He has good basic values, he’s intelligent, articulate, principled, and an experienced leader and politician. I think he just might be the candidate to reinvigorate the GOP. I would love to see our party steer the country back to our roots of rugged individualism, personal accountability, and a common sense approach to helping those in need as opposed to creating an Obama style “only government is big enough to solve this problem” Nanny State.
We’ll have to wait and see.