Ahhh, Ronald Reagan, timely and timeless

Ronald Reagan

"I don't have to think of an answer as to what I think their intentions are; they have repeated it….they hold their determination that their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one-world Socialist or Communist state, whichever word you want to use.

"Now, …they….have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that, and that is moral, not immoral, and we operate on a different set of standards. I think when you do business with them…..you keep that in mind."

-- President Ronald Reagan on dealing with the Communist Soviet Union, January 29, 1981

I have only one comment to add: The more things change the more they remain the same. . .

Why Paul Ryan is the Right Pick for VP

Last week, Greta Van Susteren did a nice piece for Fox News about 42 year-old House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan. She provided background on the Janesville, Wisconsin, native who has now been tapped by Mitt Romney as his running mate on the GOP ticket. They will probably run it again. Take a look at it if you get a chance.

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan

I like Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan, because I think it sends the strongest possible signal to the country that Romney's presidency is going to be inclined to tackle some big issues with big bold ideas. Call me naive, but Paul Ryan seems to be one of a handful in Washington today willing to put forward a plan and be bold enough to attach his name to it. Romney's choice of Ryan wasn't particularly political, nor was it conventional. But it does remind me of something Thomas Paine said: "Character is much easier kept than recovered.”

 It was the right choice. The mantle of leadership has already shifted from the current administration by default. Both men are men of character. The vacuum has been filled. Here's why:

I believe leadership on the tough issues in this current administration has been absent. Faced with the biggest deficits in history and the most amount of debt accumulated under one POTUS, what did we get? Silence on that, but assurance that healthcare reform costing the country trillions was paramount. Taxation as the funding mechanism for Obamacare was first denied by the Obama administration, then affirmed and upheld by the SCOTUS.

Paul Ryan advocates taking on the entitlement programs, the "automatic payments" in the budget that are killing our productivity. They are bold solutions, but much-needed answers.

Paul Ryan, doesn't do the political calculations on fallout. He's ready to have an adult conversation with America's younger workers under age 55. He's willing to say we won't change the plans your elders grew up expecting in their retirement years, but we need to talk - it simply isn't going to be that way for you. Leaders in neither party want that conversation, but Ryan does.

A conventional "kick the can down the road" approach is no longer possible. There are something like 23 million Americans unemployed or underemployed. Check the embedded national debt clock on this blog. We are approaching $16 trillion. Nobody who's serious about the future of America should be interested in the status quo any longer. Socialism has failed to deliver once again.

Balancing the budget is still on Ryan's radar. Spending money we don't have has to be arrested. Where have the Democrats under Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama been on that subject? AWOL. On the golf course, campaigning and begging for another four years to "finish the job."

President Obama, never one for a serious sit down adult conversation except with the likes of Entertainment Tonight and People Magazine, attacks their plans with lies and half-truths. Ask yourself if you've ever heard anything except "we need to tax the wealthy so they pay their fair share." He offers nothing in rebuttal, then blames a do-nothing Congress in stalemate.

It seems the president’s plan for Medicare is bankruptcy. Did you hear the part about Mr. Obama raiding $716 billion from Medicare in order to pay for Obamacare? Then he denies it. But the plan is simple - you take it from Medicare reimbursements to hospitals and private insurance companies.

Contrast that with a President Romney, who would repeal Obamacare on Day One, including the cuts to Medicare.

To oppose Mr. Obama now seems to be linked with racism. However, what this president has done is fail to show leadership on these core issues. It's his policies that have crippled economic growth and led to the worst recovery in 70 years. And THAT has nothing to do with his ethnic origins.

Here's what his policies have produced:

• The unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 42 consecutive months.
• The average price of gasoline has more than doubled.
• The national debt has increased by more than $5 trillion.
• Median household income has dropped by more than $4,000.
• One in 7 Americans is on food stamps — a record high.

I defy you explain away that economic record on the basis of race. If an old white guy from the GOP were to fail to lead the country by producing similar results, who would blame him for just being an old white guy?

A recent Rasmussen poll disclosed that just 14 percent of Americans — an all-time low — think today’s children will be better off than their parents’ generation. Does anyone in their right mind in the other 86% cast a ballot for Barack Obama in November?

Here's the deal - I am not naive enough to think that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can lead this country back into the days of fiscal sunshine and clover anytime soon. We are in deep, deep doo-doo. Republicans and Democrats are to blame over a long period of time. The socialist agenda has now fully played out and it isn't working. Everyone used to think America could produce a better life for succeeding generations. That core value is fading fast.

A second term for Mr. Obama, one in which he would no longer have to face the wrath of voters, would mean an attempt by him to double down on higher taxes, more wasteful spending and an even greater dependency on big government. It's our last chance to end this unsustainable path we're on. Does anyone doubt his attacks on job creators and small business owners would escalate rather than abate? This is a president who reminded us all recently, "You didn’t build that.” He believes government is the dispensing machine for all good things American. He does not believe our rights and freedoms come from God.

Here's what I know for sure. Barack Obama cannot lead us out of the economic wilderness we are wandering in currently. He's proven to everyone now that he's undeserving of another bite of that apple.

Here's what we know about Mitt Romney. He's worked most of his life in the private sector. He understands how wealth is created because he's an example of a practitioner in free markets and he's succeeded. He's a turnaround expert, and what are we looking to hire in the White House this November if it isn't a turnaround guy? Turning this mess around is going to be a prodigious task, but clearly Barack Obama is NOT that guy.

In Paul Ryan, Romney now has a bold reform partner with expertise in the federal budget. Who do I like better as the captains of the ship of state to jump-start the economy and restore America’s greatness? Um, wait a minute, let me think a minute. . .

We have to become a nation that is once again financially responsible. I have little confidence that goal can be achieved under President Obama in another four years.

The Romney-Ryan ticket, I believe, has a better understanding that a strong America is dependent upon a financially sound America. I believe the generals of the Joint Chiefs, who say our biggest security threat is our profligate spending and debt. It weakens a strong defense. Put America back on a sound financial footing, and with that result America will be enabled once again to create new jobs and more take home pay for all Americans.

Paul Ryan can prioritize government spending. It's what he does best. Getting the AAA credit rating back for America might at least be possible again. The rating agencies are waiting for a serious sign that American politicians can get their act together. They selected against this POTUS and his failed leadership.

Prioritizing spending is something Democrats are loathe to do when they feel a misplaced moral obligation to the whole society to redistribute wealth and they can't seem to figure out how to say "No" to anyone. You can call the Romney/Ryan approach "trickle-down economics" if you prefer, but no one in the private sector where I've worked my whole life was ever hired by someone who was dependent on the government dole. Instead, they were innovators, entrepreneurs, risk takers and rugged individualists. They BUILD stuff, Mr. President, unlike you.

Only days after Barack Obama was sworn into office in 2009, I seem to remember when he famously boasted that if his policies didn’t turn the economy around in three years, “then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” Conveniently, he's either forgotten he said it or doesn't believe it.

More than once in recent months, Mitt Romney has boldly asserted, "Well, Mr. President, we're here to collect on that promise." Romney may ultimately not be able to turn it around because of the sheer weight of the problem.

But this much is certain - the Obama/Biden ticket has PROVEN they can't do it. At least with the Romney/Ryan ticket we can reinvest in the one thing that's been lacking the last four years:

HOPE AND CHANGE!

The Romney/Ryan Plan to Reform Medicare

Here's the truth about the Romney/Ryan plan to reform Medicare (and it's not what BHO/Biden are telling seniors it is).



Paul Ryan calmly and perfunctorily lays out the case for the need for reform of Medicare on his own terms. He will not be easily redefined by Obama's lies about what he intends to do:



Here's another example of what this POTUS is doing this year in his campaign. Here he is in 2008 as a candidate accusing his Republican opponents of doing EXACTLY what he is doing right now:



Out of his own mouth! It's simply stunning. I used to think Americans could discern truth from error. I hope they still can.

Here's a priceless cartoon that illustrates what we're talking about:

Here's what Mitt Romney said today. There are exactly 84 days left until we get a change of direction that will help put America back on the right track.

Paul Ryan - there's an app for that

Mitt Romney announces Paul Ryan as his running mate in November

I returned from three days out of range in the high Uintas to learn about the Congressman Paul Ryan (R-MI) pick as Mitt Romney's running mate. So much for my high-tech app on my iPhone and all the good that did me. . . It's obvious Rupert Murdoch liked the choice a lot (and he doesn't tweet much either).

I actually like this choice a lot too. My first impressions - it signals to the world that Mitt Romney is really serious about budgets and entitlement reform. There's another oh, by the way, fact that interests me - this is the first ever Mormon/Catholic pairing of two presidential election running mates in history. Ryan is only the second Catholic GOP candidate to make it to the national ticket.

In sports a lot is said about "chemistry." You've heard it again and again during the Olympics. There's no question that there's chemistry between Ryan and Romney. It's evident when they campaign together. They share a number of things in common. Despite the twenty-plus year gap in their ages, they are both data hunters. They love numbers -- Mitt Romney from his experience in business and working with economies as both a governor and a businessman, and Paul Ryan from his lifetime in studying the budget and the economy and particularly how the legislative process and our federal budget gets put together.

I've heard Paul Ryan tell the stories about when he was in high school and other kids were doing what most teenagers do, he was reading the federal budget for fun. Seriously, you can't make this up - that's who the guy IS at his core. And one of the things Mitt Romney finds particularly appealing is, Ryan is a very articulate, glib, enthusiastic guy. He can take really complex economic and budget issues and make them understandable in clear, concise language that voters can understand. He explanations don't get lost in the kind of legislative speak that you often get on Capitol Hill. And frankly, he's able to put a little more salsa sauce into it than Romney does.

This pick clearly brings this debate right where it should be focused now between the left and right. The remaining months will be about THE BUDGET finally. It will become the Romney agenda as supported by Ryan with all of his principles. That debate will be a more substantive one than a lot of the back-biting and name-calling that we've seen in the past few weeks.

Romney has sometimes been knocked as the "stiff." Paul Ryan will become the Energizer Bunny. In the last  seven terms in Congress, he rocketed to the top of Republican politics. He has become the youngest chairman of the House Budget Committee ever. He has left an indelible mark on the Republican party with the Ryan budget and his bold proposals for Medicare reforms, etc. All have really energized conservatives and Republicans. And likewise, it's also angered and energized a lot of liberals and Democrats, who are as violently opposed to it as Republicans and conservatives are enthusiastically for it. This election is now set for the precise trajectory I would have hoped for months ago. The choices could not be more clear cut.

Historically, and by Constitutional dictum, all spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Under the Nancy Pelosi Democrat-controlled House during Obama's first two years, no budget was presented for consideration in the House. When the BHO budget was submitted it was laughed out of contention unanimously by both parties.

In 2010, when control of the House switched to the Republicans under Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the budget chairman in the House was named and he actually presented a serious budget that called for major reforms of entitlement programs, real spending cuts, and a plan to reduce and eventually eliminate deficit spending in a reasonable amount of time. For two consecutive years the Ryan Plan, as it came be called, was passed in the House and stalled in the the Democrat-controlled Senate.

All of which means this country has been operating without a budget in place for four years. The consequences are becoming obvious - deficit spending and debt has risen dramatically with no end in sight.

The creeping progressive agenda is something Paul Ryan deeply knew and cared about, and was actually opposing vigorously, for years in the Congress.

Click here for the complete transcript of an interview with Glenn Beck in 2010, where Paul Ryan says the following:

"Where we raise our family, 35 miles from Madison, I grew up hearing about this stuff. This stuff came from these German intellectuals to Madison ‑ University of Wisconsin - and sort of out there from the beginning of the last century. So this is something we are familiar with where I come from. It never sat right with me. And as I grew up, I learned more about the founders and reading the Austrians and others that this is really a cancer because it basically takes the notion that our rights come from God and nature and turns it on its head and says, no, no, no, no, no, they come from government, and we here in government are here to give you your rights and therefore ration, redistribute and regulate your rights. It’s a complete affront of the whole idea of this country and that is to me what we as conservatives, or classical liberals if you want to get technical."

And there you have it folks - a capsule summary any thinking American can digest to invigorate and focus this campaign on where it is headed into November 6th. If you want to know what really makes a man like Paul Ryan tick, here it is fleshed out a bit more from the same interview:

"They are leading us to a social welfare state, cradle‑to‑grave society where they create a culture of dependency on the government, not on oneself. It is meant to replace the American idea. And the reason I’m doing a lot of these speeches ‑‑ the reason I’m talking about Hegel and Faber and Bismarck, you know, and what those people stood for and what they did and said and all their disciples, you know, in America is because I really believe we’ve got to have a debate and a political realignment fast because we will win the debate now. We are a center‑right country. But if they succeed in moving us faster down the tipping point where more Americans are dependent on the government than upon themselves, where a debt crisis sparked money entitlement explosion brings us to, you know, a really tough fiscal situation, then down the road we may not win that referendum and so that is why I’m trying to, you know, do what I can from my position in congress to sound the alarm bells on what this agenda really means, what this philosophy’s all about and how we need to have a referendum in America in real elections to untangle this mess they created and prevent us from reaching this tipping point where we are a social welfare state, cradle‑to‑grave society, dependent on the government that lulls us into lies of complicity and dependency versus the America idea of, you know, making the most of your life, equal opportunity, equal natural rights. You know, those are the things that got us where we are and that’s why I put this roadmap plan out there. I introduced it three years ago. I put a new version out in January. You can go to my website, Americanroadmap.org. It is a very specific economic and fiscal plan. It’s a piece of legislation that says there is an alternative to this progressivist vision for America. There is a way to reapply and reclaim the founding principles in America and still get America back and make this century another American Century appeared that’s why I’ve been, you know, speaking from the hilltop. It’s not popular and it’s ‑‑ and for my party, we can’t afford to screw up again. But we’ve got to get people to stop being worried or afraid of taking on this debate and that’s what I’m simply trying to do."

So if I am right in my assessment, we will actually have two men atop the ticket of the GOP this year who are serious about taking on the tough problems we face as a nation and doing something to correct the illegitimate course we have been pursuing this past four years.

There is only one way Romney and Ryan can lose this debate, and that is if the other side - the BHO/Joe Biden ticket - refuses to debate the case on its merits. There is one thing a radical left-wing extremist ideologue can't stand, and it's the one thing both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are really, really good at:

MATH!

Chicken, Gay Marriage and Landslides

Last week millions of Americans, some of whom had never been to a Chick-fil-A before, discovered their political preferences had merged with a great chicken sandwich. And the lemonade is second to none as well.

But the chicken sandwich was only a side order to the controversy that sparked over remarks Dan Cathy, owner of the famous franchises that are always closed on Sunday, made about traditional marriage. Said Cathy, if America expands the definition of traditional marriage to include gay marriage we are "inviting God's wrath." His remarks were made on an Atlanta radio station, but they quickly spread nationwide.

Dan Cathy, Founder of Chick-fil-A

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit," he explained. "We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that ... we know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

Time will tell whether he is right or not (he is), but God tends to be patient with His children. When I returned from my LDS mission to England in the late sixties, people were saying back then if God didn't soon destroy the city of San Francisco, He would have to apologize to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. We all smiled back then because the gay community was viewed as a small and inconsequential minority. Then was then and now is now.

That's why a tweet on Twitter caught my eye the other day. It was re-tweeted by someone in my follower camp. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee tweeted: "Closest Chick-fil-A to San Francisco is 40 miles away and I strongly recommend they not try to come any closer." A mayor. . . of a major U.S. city. . . in the twenty-first century in America. . . sounding like. . . a sheriff. . . in the wild wild West. . . of yesteryear. . . amazing! And they call such folks "progressives."

Supporters of traditional Christian values about traditional marriage between a man and a woman took to the Chick-fil-A franchises across the nation in record numbers to vote with their pocketbooks in an overwhelming show of support for Cathy's remarks. These must have been the angry people then-candidate Barack Obama dismissed disparagingly in 2008, who were clinging to their guns and their Bibles. That was followed a few days later by a "kiss-in" at Chick-fil-A restaurants by the gays who were defiant and filled with indignation. They still have not been informed, I guess, that marriage any way they define it is NOT a civil right.

We can be grateful supporters and protesters over gay marriage are not yet killing each other with six-shooters in duels at dawn. Yet.

Mayors of Chicago and Boston, playing to their liberal bases respectively, even suggested Chick-fil-As were not to be welcomed there and threatened to deny building permits if they tried. While God's wrath and its demonstration hangs in suspension for the moment, the defiant wrath of pro-gay marriage advocates is now vividly on full display. For the first time they have a sitting POTUS who supports their position, and just last week support of gay marriage was written into this year's Democratic Platform of core beliefs.

No one seems to care anymore about the rule of law in this country. The attacks on Chick-fil-A are un-American, and pure and simple bigotry. The SCOTUS has NOT declared gay marriage is a civil right in America, and until they do people in good conscience who oppose it are free to oppose it with their public speech if that's how they feel. And even if gay marriage is someday written into law, people can still say whatever they want. This is still America and free speech is protected.

Advocates for gay marriage certainly are free to exert and impose their minority views on the rest of us, but the minute the majority opinion starts to express themselves with chicken sandwich purchases, there is outrage. There is no bias case that can be made legally against anyone who says they stand in opposition to gay marriage. Dan Cathy stands squarely with millions of other Americans believe in the sanctity of one-man one-woman marriage based upon religious tenets.

Some secular humanists even oppose homosexual marriage on simpler grounds because they believe nature, nurture and procreation go together. They see marriage between a man and a woman on purely pragmatic grounds as a stabilizing force for good in society, regardless of religious dictum.

So it comes to this: If you brand someone as a hater or a bigot because he or she opposes the expansion of the definition of traditional marriage, such a stand should be labeled for what it is - unfair and narrow-minded.

The flip side is also true: If someone sincerely believes our society would be better off with what they label "marriage equality" and it is the only fair and just thing to do, that belief should be respected. In America we get to say what we think.

Mayor Ed Lee, San Francisco

So Mayor Lee of San Francisco says he "strongly recommends" that Chick-fil-A stays out of his fair city? Really? Is he sending a message as an elected official that something untoward might happen if his "recommendation" is violated? Really? Is he sending a message that threats will be upheld in his wild, wild town in the West? Hang Dan Cathy at dawn from the nearest tree and let him swing in the wind? Really?

Is that what we've come to? That a mayor elected by homosexuals whose political views he is determined to uphold regardless of the unsettled law in this arena of marriage definitions has the right to punish those with whom he disagrees politically? Really?

I also noticed last week the black preachers in America are now coming out in opposition to President Barack Obama's support of gay marriage. The vast majority of those preachers have now drawn the line in the sand against their great black leader because he has gone too far in their view. Is the good mayor now going to publicly oppose those black preachers who proclaim homosexuality to be a sin in God's eyes? Will he warn them to stay out of San Francisco and muzzle their pulpits as well? If he's consistent in his reasoning that's exactly what he should do. Don't hold your breath.

The public grandstanding against Chick-fil-A by politicians in these three U.S. cities, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston, is coming from far left wingnuts. The masks are off, the gloves are on, and the punches are being thrown, but America isn't buying it.

In record numbers Americans swamped Chick-fil-As with orders for chicken sandwiches. In Salt Lake City, the line at the food court in the new City Creek Center wound all the way around the court and out the door as people waited over an hour to buy lunch in support of Dan Cathy. The liberal agenda is a failing proposition on all levels, and it will backfire at the voting booth in November.

It's a game of chicken with landslide written all over it.