Eric Cantor

All incumbent GOP Congressmen in Virginia won over 60% of the vote except Eric Cantor.  Perhaps there is a message for Eric in this statistic.  The message I hope he takes from this is that we are unhappy with his hypocritical votes under Bush that grew our government.  Eric is partly to blame for the current debt thanks in part to his leadership of the GOP under President George W. Bush.

Act like a Republican, Eric, and cut the size of government.

Nobel Peace Prize

Chinese dissident wins 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

Just curious, did this year's winner actually DO ANYTHING to deserve the prize or is this another "hope and dream" handout?

The Reagan Libertarian Contract with America

The Reagan Libertarian Contract with America

Check out this link and Mr. Root's own pledge to America from Reagan Libertarians.

$111 Million in Federal Stimulus Wasted

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stimulus-audit-20100917,0,3706864.story

What did the auditor find was part of the problem? Too much government red tape. That is, government is too big and gets in the way...even of itself.

Moral of the story is that government is too big and the stimulus is too ineffective. The former should be cut down and the latter would have been better off as tax cut to let individuals decide how to spend or invest their own money. After all, tax dollars are OUR DOLLARS FIRST.

ROSMY Back to School Campaign

Working with Business, Not Against It, Mr. President

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38832142

My favorite quote: "Think about how much good it would be if [President Obama] pledged to grow the economy by working with business, not against it,” argued Cramer."

President Obama is so intent on growing the government and making Americans so dependent upon the government that he forgets the taxes paid to support the government come from private citizens and private industry.

He also seems to forget that government borrowing and taxes take money away from the private sector which could otherwise be spending the money they have earned or reinvesting that money to create more jobs and grow the economy.

Diminished States' Rights

A few weeks ago I read an opinion piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I cannot recall who the author was, but his premise was that ever since the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states' rights has been on a fast track to decline.

What is the Seventeenth Amendment? It allows for the popular election of U.S. senators. Previously senators were elected by state legislatures.

How is this a bad thing? The Framers' intentionally designed a bicameral Congress so that each house balanced the other and represented two vital interests in our union- state autonomy and the need for federal authority as demonstrated by the total failure of the Articles of Confederation which lacked hardly any centralized or federal powers.

Under the new Constitution the lower house was to be elected directly by the people every two years. Direct election allowed for the people's voice to be heard at the federal level. Election of representatives every two years allowed for rapid turnover and the introduction of current viewpoints into the policy making process.

To balance vox populi, James Madison and the other Framers designed an upper house, the Senate. The Senate was to be elected every six years by the various state legislatures to represent the power of the states. As such, senators played an extremely important role in ensuring that federal power did not usurp state authority and through longer terms, that their votes were not swayed by today's headlines.

Remember, the U.S. Constitution spells out specific powers assigned to the federal government and reserves for the people and the states all other powers. The role of the House and Senate is to guard against an all-powerful federal government from encroaching upon the rights of the people and the rights of states.

Once senators became answerable unto the people, states' rights began to decline faster than had already been the case (thanks to men like Presidents Jackson (D) and Lincoln (R)).

Our form of government was designed to balance conflicting interests. Executive vs. Legistlative vs. Judicial. People vs. Government. Federal vs. States. The Seventeenth Amendment has tipped that balance of power too much to the favor of the federal government.

Perhaps we need to consider whether this amendment born of the Progressive Era has caused more harm than good in terms of our nation's long term health and survival. Maybe it is the right thing to do, but then again maybe it destroys the foundations of our system of checks and balances.

Either way, we need to return to principles of liberty and freedom or we will surely suffer the same fate as Europe's failed socialist and communist systems (Greece, USSR, East Germany...) which placed it faith in the hands of an all-knowing, all-powerful federal government.

To The States

"To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States,
Resist much, obey little,
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever
afterward resume its liberty."

Walt Whitman

My apologies for being gone for so long but the holidays came between us.

Thanks to my partner, Wes, I have been re-introduced to a long time inspiration, Walt Whitman. As a Christmas present Wes gave me the complete works of Walt Whitman. Since I was in junior high I have been a fan of Whitman. His transcendantist worldview and boundless faith in the American Republic and populace are inspiring.

"[T]he genius of the United States is...always most in the common people" writes Whitman in the preface to the 1855 Leaves of Grass.

Whitman is an inspiration. He celebrates that which makes the United States special, supreme. What is that? Liberty, Individualism, Freedom, Diversity, Sacrifice, Commerce, Hope, Self-Reliance, Love, Devotion, Involvement, Responsibility.

I hope to reflect upon Whitman and the American spirit throughout this year.