Senator Schumer should resign…

He is despicable, anti American, anti military, and must resign. If footsy in the Men’s room is good enough to get rid of the Senator from Idaho (which I agree with whole heartedly!), disrespecting and lying about our troops is surely grounds enough to call for NY Senator Schumer to resign… Here are his words. You be the judge and jury:

“And let me be clear, the violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge, not
because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes
from al Qaeda said to these tribes we have to fight al Qaeda ourselves. It
wasn’t that the surge brought peace here. It was that the warlords took peace
here, created a temporary peace here. And that is because there was no one else
there protecting.”

He must be removed because he is obviously against our troops and on the side of victory for our enemy. Throw the bum out!

Doug Lamborn threatens constituents…

Now even a novice politician knows better than to threaten voters for voicing their opinion. Someone like Doug Lamborn, a political “fixture” in the Republican Party should have known better than to call up a couple of constituents, and leave a threatening voice mail for all to hear. Even if Doug disagreed with his constituent’s opinion, threatening their free speech is not the way to go. I have always criticized his ability to articulate issues, and his uneasiness in a crowd, and my belief he lacks leadership skills, but this is bad. This is not a rookie mistake, this shows total incompetence.

I am so glad I am running unaffiliated this year but I have to be selfish here; I hope he is the Republican nominee. If he beats Jeff Crank which is highly unlikely unless there is a three or four way primary race, I may actually have a shot if I petition onto the general ballot. Either way this incumbent representative is in deep trouble as a candidate already. There is a theory out there called the “Likability Factor” and it determines why people gravitate to some and not others. People gravitate to people they “like”. If the theory holds true, Doug has a real uphill battle on his hands in 2008. Especially if he is going to continue to threaten the people he hopes will vote for him. Just a thought…

Living his life; ignored!

Senator Sam Brownback is living his life; ignored! For all of you that have read my book you know that is a good thing. This picture of the senator standing in front of a nearly empty room, reminds me of the cover of my book. I have been where he is in this picture at my debate during the 2006 campaign for congress.

The media is doing this to marginalize the senator but I applaud him. He is in the “game”. He is making a difference in the world in his own way and his kids and family are surely proud of his efforts. Compared to most, Sam Brownback is a winner because he has chosen a passion and followed it. This is a man I would like to meet just to talk to him about his view on the world. He may never become president, but it is not because he didn’t try. Think about that for a moment. Then think about what you’re doing with your life. Are you willing to go out and get ignored?

Government Run Healthcare…

Is dangerous for your health! Just ask anyone that has Medicaid, lived in Canada or the UK in the past few years, or believes that we each have a right to refuse healthcare. Yes I said refuse care. John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and many other pro government advocates for the takeover of healthcare are starting to “drip” out the details of their plans. John Edwards wants to mandate doctor visits or you will face criminal charges. Hillary wants similar mandates that people must abide by or they could be held “accountable” for the consequences of not following regulations regarding your health. You must be very careful what you wish for because you just may get it. The people proposing government controlled healthcare have obviously never dealt with the bureaucracies of the IRS, Motor Vehicles, or City Hall.

If you want the most expensive healthcare, with the poorest quality of service, and limited access, just give it over to the government, they can break anything. Just look at our immigration, education, body politic, and Social Security system and the picture is as clear as the top line on a vision chart; something you won’t be seeing much of if the government has anything to do with it! Just a thought…

One small step...

I have been on a roll recently posting about the problems plaguing the two political parties and I have linked here to a Bob Franken blog post, at The Hill website. Bob has been a Journalist for many years and he has covered politics for most of his career. He knows the system is broken and in today’s post he hints at campaign finance reform. I agree we need campaign finance reform but I do not want the government meddling again so we get another “McCain-Feingold” type reform, and end up stomping on freedom of speech rights again. I think the reform should be simple.

I suggest we work on two aspects of campaigning; the length you can campaign, and how you can finance the campaign.

Length of the campaign should be tied to the type of campaign. For example; the presidential campaign and statewide office campaigns like governor and senator,etc… should be limited to 8 months. No money can be raised prior to the eight months. All other campaigns are limited to 6 months.

Financing; no candidate can donate more than the $3000 limit to their own campaign. Any individual can donate up to $3000.00 to any campaign. No PAC money can be given to the campaign but they can run as many issue ads as they would like. No candidate can be associated with any PAC. No corporate donations to individual or PACS. All donations must be listed immediately on the candidates and PAC’s website.

We need to get big money out and individual money into political campaigns. We need to reduce the time we need to focus on political campaigns so voters don’t become fatigued with the debate. It has become an anointing process at the party level, and the money has been controlled far too long at the lobbyist and corporate PAC level. We can’t ignore groups that have an interest in politics because they have rights in the political arena too. They represent millions of voter’s opinions and deserve to get their message out. We just need to disconnect them from the individual candidate.

What we need are representatives in government that are focused on the good of the American people, American business, and American values. The party system encourages the dissection of people into interest groups which undermines the entire system. The current finance system for campaigns favors the wealthy and corporate interests, and we need to put in guidelines that make the system more accessible for all. I don’t have all the answers and there will be no system that is perfect but when a system is this far out of balance we need to engage the debate.

Bob Franken has been an Emmy winning political journalist and he knows the system has issues and I believe he is just the tip of the iceberg. The voters know the system is broken. We just have to convince the rest of the “insiders” it is time for reform of the parties, time frames, and the campaign finance process. Just a thought…

They Can't See Beyond The Party...

This entire article is about the horse race between Democrats and Republicans in the 08 race for the senate. Raising money has become a huge issue for republicans because most republicans are doing what I did; sending back the fundraising letter with a note telling the party how we feel. My note said something like; when you start acting like republicans I may consider sending a donation.

I am sure other party members have sent similar notes, and I bet many have left the party because of their disappointment with the actions of the party members over the years. I believe both parties will find themselves disappointed at the polls and 2008 will shape up to be the year of the “outsider”. People new to the parties as well as independents will see a chance to get noticed by the voter in 2008. Just a thought, maybe a hope…