It seems all too obvious to me that many of the American people have it so good in this country that they have become complacent, and have no regard for what it took to make life in this country possible. Are we perfect...? No. Have we made mistakes...? Of course. No one can argue that, but I defy anyone to point out another country in the history of this planet where the citizens enjoy a higher standard of living than the United States.

This last election has opened my eyes to the fact that we are on the brink of a new American revolution in this country. Before you start thinking I am off my rocker, let's look at what happened in the first revolution. Our Fore-Fathers succeeded the rule of Great Britain due to an oppressive King that mandated a state sponsored religion (reason for the 1^st amendment), taxation without representation, and the notion that human rights are guaranteed us by our creator, and not the government. The founders knew all too well, that a government powerful enough to grant you liberties, is powerful enough to take them away. The Constitution was drafted, with the 10 amendments (The Bill of Rights), to ensure that the government would never get this much power over the people again, and to ensure that the government would exist to serve the people. Almost immediately, the 2^nd Continental congress began a pull back to British rule, and sought the approval and consent of the British monarchy. So this battle has been waged on the American way of life since the beginning, and is only gaining traction in the complacency and ignorance of the American people.

Today's revolution is not being fought with guns and swords on the battlefield, it is being fought in a far more sinister, methodical, and stealth manner. Modern liberals have become much smarter, and far more cunning than the spineless cowards of our past, like Joseph Galloway, a Pennsylvania delegate, who proposed legislation in the 2^nd Continental congress ask for the British consent to our new government. Modern liberals have learned that this battle is not going to be won all at once, and that the road to success is through incremental victories. This was most prevalent in modern history during Roosevelt's administration when he took advantage of the depression to create a welfare state, thus a dependency on the federal government, when his policies failed to yield any results to actually turn the country's economy around. FDR openly admitted that his policies were geared toward political victories without regard to cost. The leaders of the Democratic party congratulated him for not only ensuring Democratic victories in the upcoming elections, but for years to follow. A mind-set that appears to still be shared by Rahm Emanuel, the President's White House chief of staff, when he was quoted as saying, "Never let a good crisis go to waste" when referring to the mortgage industry problems, and using the timing to get some of the controversial legislation through.

"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition."
Thomas Jefferson

Modern liberals are continuing this battle, first in the classroom, and on most of the college campuses in this country, and unify their message with the aid of bureaucratic organizations like the National Education Association (N.E.A.), and the teacher's unions. I have an adult son, and a school-age daughter, and I have been at odds with their schools for obvious bias in school curriculum, and what seems like indoctrination techniques to a liberal mind-set. For example, my daughter's seventh grade social studies department showed the class the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" when discussing the subject of climate change. I questioned the teacher about the choice of the movie, given the fact that this movie is not based on an iota of scientific fact, and was told that if I opted to have my child taken out of the class, she would have to complete a 2 hour work assignment that the rest of the class was not responsible to do. This would be a great movie to show if the class were talking about the art of special effects, but I felt that the choice was suspect when showing it in the context of climate change.
The new battle in America appears to be for the hearts and minds of America's youth. The modern liberal, which appears to be lazy, and without ambition, has gravitated to the business of education, where you can instantly garner respect from children that are afraid of a bad grade, and you get to preach your ideology from a bully-pulpit, and disguise this as lecture. Not to mention taking summers off. This is obviously not true of all teachers, but you will look far and wide to find teachers that openly proclaim conservatism, and they will tell you, it is because of the concern of the back-lash they will experience if they do. These methods are not without precedence, Hitler went straight for the youth of his country when effecting the take-over the German government.

Our way of life is under assault. Our Fore-Fathers knew that a government entity, will by nature, become a tyranny if left to it's own devices. This is the reason that adhering to the Constitution is so crucial, and why modern liberals are working so hard to circumvent it's authority by attacking the mind-set of children, and using activist judges as a means to get laws by precedence enacted that they don't have a mandate to get through the legislature.

I started to become very aware of politics when I was around 16 years old, shortly after President Reagan's landslide re-election to office. I remember feeling such a sense of pride whenever I heard him speak, and  always knew that he was as proud to be an American as I am. I also know that as much as President Reagan loved this country, he knew that the country wasn't perfect, but always offered his guidance and constructive criticisms with a smile, and a sense of optimism. President Reagan was so eloquent and professional, it appeared that several of his political rivals did not realize immediately that they had just been criticized.

After watching what has been going on over the past month, I am reminded that those days appear to be long gone, and that level-headed, calculated responses to issues of concern have been replaced with hysterical, emotional attacks. [1] President Obama, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, declared during a speech after being asked about the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. that the Cambridge, Massachusetts police "acted stupidly", and that they were out of line with their actions. As an attorney, and more importantly the President, I don't think we are out of line to ask that he familiarize himself with the facts before commenting about an issue. After finding out later that this was not the case, this monumentally arrogant man preached to us that this should be viewed as a "teachable moment", and that it should serve to show that racial tensions are still very real. In my opinion, it shows me that when you teach yourself to view each and every situation through the prism of race, it is very easy to lose sight of what is really going on, and brings into question one's ability to use good judgment in almost every aspect of decision-making.

[2] Charles Rangel (D-NY), Congressman for New York's 15th district, failed to report more than $1 million dollars of outside income, and over $3 million dollars in business transactions as required by the House of Representatives, and thus, failed to pay the taxes owed to the U.S. government. This prompted several ethics violation investigations to which he [Rangel], and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus have alleged is due to some racial bias.

[3] Earlier this month, John Dingell (D-Mich), stated that the health care reform protesters reminded him of Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists. Now if you don't think that is not trying to invoke some type of racial fear, I don't know what could possibly convince you.

John Conyers (D-Mich) rebuttal to the members of Congress who oppose the health care reform bill had this to say [4] “I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill,’” said Conyers.“What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”What good is reading the bill? IT'S YOUR JOB!!! What else do you have to do? This is what infuriates me when people call me a racist for opposing people like this. I don't care if Congressman Conyers is magenta, I expect him to do the job he was elected to do. How can he in good conscience cast a vote for this bill, if he hasn't read it? 

All of this race-baiting bothers me greatly, and prompted me to do something that I have not done for a while, and that is to go back and listen to late, great, Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial from 1963. The genius of his words are as relevant today as they were back then, but I strongly doubt that he would be proud of what is going on today. Dr.King dreamed of a day when his four children would have the opportunity to be "Judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin". I am a fan of Dr.King, and though the reason for his fame is definitely a black eye for our country, I am proud that the founders of the country, and the framers of the Constitution, gave birth to a country that allow a man such as him to rise to such prominence. Dr.King respected the Constitution, and cited several items from it during his speech. He was not on a mission to destroy it, he simply wanted the words in it to apply to him, and to all of the black community.

There are several people out there who think they're the next Martin Luther King. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jerimiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, and Barack Obama, just to name a few. It's my opinion that Dr.King would be ashamed of these men, and the way that they carry themselves. Riding around in limousines, enriching themselves by way of the church, cheating on their wives, spewing hatred in the name of God, and using the bully-pulpit to preach about what a terrible nation this is. None of these men are, or were, fit to stand next to Dr. King, let alone replace him. He [King] understood what was at stake, and how to get where he wanted to go. One need only look at the way he conducted himself, and how he expected the people around him to conduct and present themselves. Suit, tie, and with words and deeds. Dr.King's mission would not have ended with a check, like some of the other names I've mentioned. I'm certainly not a Dr. King expert, I'm just an admirer of great men who've touched the history of my country in a positive way.

If you have never listened the "I have a dream speech", or haven't done lately, I urge you to do so. You will definitely see and hear the contrast from the origins of the civil rights movement, to the perversion that passes for it today.

[1] - http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/22/harvard.gates.interview/index.html

[2] - http://wcbstv.com/local/charles.rangel.ethics.2.1160326.html

[3] - http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/08/dingell_protesters_remind_me_o.asp

[4] - http://www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=51610

The recent health care debate has sparked a lot rhetoric from both sides. In the interest of full disclosure, I am vehemently against the proposed government take over of our health care system for a number of reasons. Primarily due to overwhelming, documented reduction in the quality of care patients receive under such a system. The state of Oregon has the type of system that Congress is proposing for the entire country. Barbara Wagner, a resident of Salem in the state of Oregon, and lung cancer survivor, was prescribed Tarceva by her oncologist. Tarceva is a drug that has shown excellent results in slowing the progression of lung cancer, but comes with a large price tag, about $4000.00 a month. Unfortunately for Mrs. Wagner, she received a denial letter from Oregon Health services commission that read,

"Treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon Health Plan."

What was also outlined in the denial letter was that physician assisted termination of life is a benefit that the state would pay for, should she opt to go that route. Did you get that?!? The state health care would not pay for the doctor prescribed medication that would extend her life, but would pay a doctor to kill her.

Barbara appealed this decision twice with the board, and they stood firm on their decision, supported by this statement,

Dr. Walter Shaffer, medical director of the state Division of Medical Assistance Programs, which administers the Oregon Health Plan, attempted to defend the health plan's decision. "We can't cover everything for everyone," he said. "We try to come up with polices that provide the most good for the most people." Shaffer then addressed a priority list that had been developed to ration health care. "There's some desire on the part of the framers of this list to not cover treatments that are futile," he said, "or where the potential benefit to the patient is minimal in relation to the expense of providing the care."

One might look at this story and assume that a grim end is inevitable, but alas, an evil, profit driven pharmaceutical company, Genentech, decided to provide the drug to Mrs. Wagner, free of charge, and save her life. Below is the link to the story that I found online reporting this story, and interviewing Mrs. Wagner back in June of 2008.

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/08/21/this-is-what-government-rationed-health-care-looks-like/

If the story above doesn't get you angry enough, here's what Tom Daschle (D), former Senator of South Dakota, a leading adviser to Obama on health care reform, and the original Obama candidate for the Health and Human services secretary had to say, as reported by Bloomberg,

"health care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them"

I am not a conservative because I lack compassion, I'm a conservative because I am filled with compassion. The greatest gift one can give another is the direction, skill, and confidence to provide for themselves. Liberalism is a direct contradiction to this theory, and seeks to eliminate any individualism, centralize power, and micromanage the distribution of goods and services to the people. This is the ultimate goal of the Obama administration as evidenced by appointing all of the Czars that report directly to him, and not the head of the agencies that they represent.

Reforms are needed, I agree. There are free market solutions to this issue. For example, currently, individual states and the federal government, in some cases mandate what insurers must provide on their policy. That means, if you are a single man, and your particular state mandates that insurers must cover breast enhancement surgeries, that drives up the cost of your policy for a benefit you'll never use. In addition, insurers are not allowed to offer coverages that cross state lines. Meaning, that if a company decides to pursue business outside of their home state, a they have to buy a company in the state they wish to do business in, or start a new company in that state, instead of being able to centralize management, much like other services do.

I'm sorry to say that Barbara Wagner lost her battle with cancer in November of last year. I hope that her story will serve as an example of what happens we we take the decision making out of our doctor's hands, and put it in a bureaucratic committee's hands.
I do not believe that most of the people that go into medicine do so because they want to live the country club life, or drive a Porche. I believe they answer a calling to help people that requires years of education, sacrifice, and commitment.

I have spent the last few months wondering why exactly the Democrats, the media, and the entertainment industry seem to be so intent on discrediting Sarah Palin. For a large part of my childhood, my brother and I were raised by a single-mother who taught us the value of respect, responsibility, and, that if we applied ourselves, we could accomplish anything we set out to. Unfortunately, Mom was a far better teacher, than I was a student. That being said, Sarah Palin is a glaring reminder to me that she [Mom] was right.

Let's examine all the things there are to dislike about Sarah Palin. First, she's a Mom. We've all had one, and I think we can all agree that that seems harmless enough. So why is it that she was taking grenades for this fact during the campaign? She and Todd seem to have a strong marriage, and appear to work pretty well together as a team to facilitate their careers and interests. I certainly don't recall anyone citing the fact that Barrack Obama has children, and that this could somehow preclude him from serving in office.
Second, she's a self-made woman. This is where I think we really get into the meat of why she is so disliked. Mrs. Palin is the quintessential feminist, but didn't rely on affirmative action to get her where she wanted to go. She worked her way through college, began a professional career, married her childhood sweetheart, and eventually started a family. It is the fact that she started a family that led her into politics after she had concerns with the way some of the taxpayers' money was being handled, and not a never-ending pursuit for power. By the way, she did all of this without a director, studio, or a sound stage.

Sarah Palin did an outstanding job while serving the people of Alaska in several different capacities, so why does she attract such venom when it comes to her opposition? The answer, unfortunately, comes down the abortion issue. Let's face facts, she is, what Hillary Clinton pretends to be, she has done more for the advancement of women in the world of politics than anyone else, and she has done more to actually represent the people who voted her into an office than Barrack Obama is ever going to.
Sarah Palin did not ascend to her level of success by playing a victim, or invoking some affirmative action requirement to hire her, she competed on a level playing field, and WON!! If she were a liberal, abortion supporting, cry at the drop of a hat victim, she would be the poster-girl for the feminist movement. Hillary Clinton, who failed the Washington D.C. bar exam, garnered her highest ratings when she was out playing the victim when Billy got caught messing around with ole' "blue dress". She [Clinton] would likely not have ever been heard of if she hadn't hooked her wagon onto Bill Clinton's coat tails. With a past riddled with professional failures, Hillary is still hailed as the smartest woman alive, a champion for women's rights, and role model for young women everywhere.

Folks, all the facts aside, the real reason Sarah Palin is so hated by the left is quite simply because she is genuine. The Democrats don't like her because she didn't need their help to get her where she is (anyone remember Clarence Thomas?). The media can't stand her because she's not a phoney. There's nothing there for them to dig up (too bad there's no hidden love-child, right John Edwards?). Hollywood hates her... Well let's face it, most of the people in Hollywood are just too stupid to know what's going on. If Sarah Palin were a brain-stormed character on the west wing, we would be seeing the actress portraying her, and the writer, interviewed about how exciting it would be to see an actual person like this in politics.

http://politicalace.blogspot.com/