Commentary - The Vice Presidential Debate

This past week saw the Vice Presidential debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan.

Predictably, the American people were again short changed and treated with massive disrespect by both the political class and their accompanying media flacks and wide-eyed sycophants.

The Vice President is literally a stopped heartbeat away from assuming the most powerful political office on the planet.

The electorate who must decided their preferences have few unfiltered options to glean whatever information they deem pertinent to that decision. In a demonstration of political cowardice that would appall the framers and the founders, the two major political parties have cowered behind a ‘Commission on Presidential Debates’ to allow them cover from answering the relevant questions of the American people. This farcical commission determines the number and format of the debates. The process is so pathetically skewed against the exchange of ideological differences that it merely descends into pitiable political theater.

The political class and the mass media have the appalling gall to review it as if it were only sport – presenting score cards to present their opinion of who won.

This nation has serious issues and must not allow a high school debate team mentality to shape the discourse.

There were no winners in the debate; the losers were the American people.

Vice President Biden had many salient points to make, but they were obscured by his need to feign so many facial gestures one would think he was performing pantomime. He also needed to defend the policies and actions of the Obama administration, but again that requirement was lost in a haze of political performance nonsense. Congressman Ryan had the opportunity to explain much of the Romney policy choices and decisions to an American electorate thirsting for leadership. He was co-opted out of that possibility by the theatrics of Biden. That point being made, Ryan also had the responsibility to push through the Vice Presidents’ diversionary machinations to present the information the nation is looking for.

The post debate spin focused not on the policies presented, but, as in the case of an intellectually bereft MSNBC, on a scorecard of who won what issues that were, in fact, not debated.

This nation has a rich history of political discourse, perhaps best exemplified by the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates. The media, needing quick sound bites to present, embrace the imbecilic formats presented by the commission, perhaps due to the fact that it does not require them to be intellectually honest about what issues are being discussed.

The American people must demand that those who wish to be hired as temps in the most significant political office in the nation have a forum wherein they can present their resumes for proper scrutiny.

All that was learned from the last debate is that Paul Ryan is respectful to his elders and that Joe Biden can smirk and smile no matter what the issue.

America deserves better.

The next presidential debate is Tuesday. The Madison Conservative is urging the American electorate to hound their representatives in Congress with e-mails demanding clarity in the debate process; to post on their social media that they demand a true debate; and if queried as to their preferences by pollsters, to respond that they are voting for the Druid candidate.

Accepting the idea of two minute answers and thirty second responses is the act of cowards, not leaders.

We owe ourselves and our posterity no less.

The Debate Aftermath

There has been much written and discussed in the aftermath of the presidential debate this past week.

Political and media hacks have attempted to score it, to dissect it as if it were merely a sporting event of little consequence.

Idiocy has abounded but little in the way of intelligent discourse has been offered in the wake of the debate.

Social media outlets have let fly the most outrageous claims and comments about their perceived winner or loser. Explanations have been offered as to the reasons behind each candidate’s performance, but little has been presented to provide the needed context of the debate. The scurrilous attacks and libelous comments have done little to shine a light on the real issues facing this nation, and the mass media is the greatest offender of all.

It seems that most of the blogs, comments on such outlets such as Facebook, and network programs have all missed the most critical, the most salient point and the accompanying hypocrisy should make all Americans cringe with embarrassment.

To wit:

One of these men, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, will be President of the United States on January 20^th, 2013.

He will be the leader of the freest nation the world has ever seen.

He will be the voice of democracy around the planet.

He will be the leader of ALL Americans.

He will have assumed his responsibilities without a single bullet having been fired.

He will face what we are told is a divided nation, a country with financial issues that are quickly spiraling out of control.

This nation was built on the freedom of speech and the right to criticize its leaders, to demand that they answer to the people and govern only by the consent of the governed.

On one hand the mass media decries the partisanship of Washington and attempt to imply that the ‘system’ is broken and then with the other hand present the opinion that the President is but a socialist and Mr. Romney a felon and a liar.

The stench of hypocrisy is almost too much to bear.

This is America, a nation built upon the premise that it is continually in pursuit of a more perfect union, a land where all men are created equal, and that it is a nation of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Is it now a nation of hate spewing intolerant imbeciles?

Of course not.

The American people are fair, honest and forgiving. America has always been drawn together in times of strife, struggle and hardship.

The man standing on the Capitol steps taking the oath of office at noon on January 20^th will need the full support of the people.

America may have to tolerate the ignorance of free speech, but it need not be accepted as advocacy.

The Madison Conservative, by definition, does not embrace the liberal philosophy. That being said, it must also be remembered that the last time an entire nation was presented as being in unison, it was Germany in the 1930’s.

That really did not work out well.

So, if one feels antipathy to a candidate, or religious fervor for one, it must never be forgotten that those who came before gave their all so that this nation might remain free.

Please consider that before you post to Facebook that your candidate is so much better than that human disgrace running against him.

And let the debates continue.

That is America.

The Fraud of 'Fairness'

The United States Constitution is the greatest governing document in the history of man. It sets forth the guidelines for a free people to form a more perfect union.

It restricts what the government can do in limiting the individual pursuit of personal happiness.

It strives to guarantee an even start for all of the citizenry as they endeavor to lead their lives as they deem appropriate.

There is not a single paragraph, phrase or word which leads one to believe the Constitution guarantees equal outcome, or even a positive result of an individual pursuit of happiness.

Yet these seems to be a decided slant from the liberal realm and their sycophantic media hacks that continually engages in class warfare, and decries that the “system is not ‘fair’”.

Fairness is applauded as a goal, and if even a single working citizen does not have an equitable result in their labors, then the argument follows that the nation is being unfair.

It is time to call the liberals bluff and put to rest the great lie on fairness.

Consider this proposition.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that there are roughly one hundred and thirty million (130,000,000) people employed. Take that number at face value, and without regard to the job or accompanying benefits package.

The stimulus package passed by the Democratic congress under the direction of President Obama totaled close to one trillion dollars.($1,000,000,000,000)The ineffectiveness of it has led to many to explain that it was insufficient, despite the fact it has had little significant effect on the economy. The projected budgets for the foreseeable future include deficits in excess of one trillion dollars per annum.

So again, take the 130,000,000 employed people.

Give them a tax free single payment of twenty five thousand dollars.($25,000)

The total cost would be three point three trillion dollars. ($3,300,000,000,000)

That would surely generate enough income back to the treasury as those 130,000,000 people began ordering goods and services, investing it, paying down bills – whatever they might choose. The effect of the $25,000 would be even greater to the individual, given that it is tax free money.

The question for this exercise would be thus:

If every one had an equal starting point, how many of them would reappear in a year, or less, requiring additional monies? How many would have lost the entire $25,000 and in some cases wound up losing even more in poor financial management?

Lest anyone think it would not happen, consider how many lottery winners have wound up destitute.

Take this example one step further. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are approximately two hundred million individuals total for the workforce – not under 18 years olds and not those over 65 years of age.

Given that greater number of people, this nation could only afford to grant $20,000 per person. That would bring the total outlay to four trillion dollars.(4,000,000,000,000)

For proper context:

The estimated national budget for fiscal year 2013 is three point eight trillion. ($3,800,000,000,000)

The estimate is just that, for the United States government has not passed a budget for more than three years.

So consider that given the growth of the debt, deficit and the national budget, surely this nation could absorb a $20,000 payment to each of the work eligible 200 million, right?

Would that not prove we were a fair and just nation?

For those who might actually consider this as a reasonable concept, pleased remember that there is no guaranteed equality of outcome.

What would one do for those who did not properly manage that initial outlay?

Yet this is exactly what America is doing each and every year – redistributing money to many who will simply require additional funds next year.

Note that this is not encompassing the children of this nation, those who are retired or legitimately disabled. This applies to only those the government considers eligible to work.

While the separation of church and state is not contained anywhere within the framework of the Constitution, proper and respectful deference must be made when using a saying attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius in a discussion on an issue of constitutionality in American democracy:

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

This nation must return to this perspective or we will drown in the flood of debt and deficit, which would not be fair to either ourselves or our posterity.

Terrorism in Libya & Egypt

The Obama administration has for the past week been stumbling over itself to demonstrate just how well they are equipped for providing self inflicted diplomatic wounds with the American people and our allies worldwide. They seem to have forgotten the classic guidelines of incompetence: the American people will forgive the mistake; it is the cover-up that does a politician in.

The mass media has for that time been their more than willing sycophantic accomplices.

The September 11^th attacks this year were to even the most marginally intelligent sentient being an orchestrated terrorist attack. Spontaneous mobs upset with an online, little seen video do not protest en masse with grenade launchers  and a detailed plan to capture and assassinate a United States ambassador.

Yet the continual stream of blathering idiocy continues to be that the actions taken in Egypt and Libya were merely Moslems upset with a video.

Secretary of State Clinton this week finally acknowledged the obvious, as did White House press secretary Carney, yet the President continues to assert his belief of the proven fraudulent premise of the video as being the cause of the unrest.

What has gone unacknowledged by the administration and their media sycophants however, is the source of these terrorist attacks.

To wit:

All such acts are committed by anarchists, cowards - in a word, terrorists.

Terrorists are not associated with any normal classification of ethnic, political or religious collectives.

Consider for a moment the reality of particular actions taken around the world in the last fifty years.

The American people must ask and answer these hard questions on certain types of events.

For example, was the September 15, 1963 bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which resulted in the death of four innocent black girls, committed by Americans upset with the Civil Rights movement, or were they simply cowardly terrorists that had no connection with America and the American people?

Was the slaughter of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich really carried out by ‘Palestinian’ terrorists, or rather by cold blooded murders intent on only their anarchistic political views?

In the strife of Northern Ireland, was it really Christian’s against Protestants, and vice versa, bombing children, women, to achieve freedom for a group of people? Or was it the acts of hateful ignorant people with no allegiances to the people they professed to want to help?

Do true Christians, Protestants, Catholics really promote the death of innocents? Do any of those religions accept such actions as means to an end, especially a political one?

Do Americans actually allow the premise to perpetuate that true followers of Islam are accepting of the death of 3,000 Americans on September 11^th, 2001?

Do American condone the murders of abortion doctors as merely the acts of Christian extremists, or do Americans consider murder to be murder?

This is one of the dangerous aspects of what are euphemistically labeled as ‘hate crimes’. It attaches connection by presumed thought to a group of people who actually have no belief in the acts of cowardice and terror.

Was the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 the act of a white ex-military Christian who simply had only minor disagreements with governmental policy, or was Tim McVeigh merely an evil murderer?

This nation must cease branding acts of terror as being carried out by ‘Islamic extremists’ or even ‘Islamic terrorists’

Followers of Islam cannot be terrorists any more than Jews or Christians can be terrorists. Adherence to their faiths precludes such acts of terror.

For those who may consider the Koran a document of hate, please consider a literal reading of the Bible would demonstrate the ‘eye for an eye’ philosophy. Most religious people do not take such teachings literally.

This nation must not attribute acts of cowardice and hate as religious acts of zealotry in any context.

Terrorism is terrorism, perpetrated by evil people with no greater intent than to perpetrate evil.

It is just that simple.

9/11/12 - A Commentary

(ed.note – 9-11 is a time to reflect on the true nature of this greatest of nations. Events have obscured that fact this year and thus a personal commentary is appropriate)

September 11^th is a day that transformed America while focusing a bright light on much of what is so uniquely good about this nation.

The Madison Conservative would suggest watching two videos, links posted below, to help remind the citizenry of those facts. The Madison Conservative does not mean to diminish any of the brave Americans and their heroic efforts on that day and on every day since by singling out the firefighters of these videos, but the firefighters will always have a special place in the heart of the Madison Conservative.

343- We must never forget:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHayXNAuD8A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT6tCQioI9E

The second issue relative to September 11^th this past week has to do with a vile, disgusting and intellectually dishonest op-ed piece written for ‘The New York Times’. The author will not be given acknowledgement by name in this post; such putrid and insipid nonsense merits author identification.

The purveyor of this literary pornography attempted to place blame for the attacks solely on the shoulders of President George W. Bush.

Such outright lies should be discarded on their face, but this op-ed made its way into the presentations and discussions of the mainstream media and so will be refuted here and now, and hopefully for time immemorial.

The first attack on the World Trade Center was in 1993, under the administration of Democratic President William Jefferson Clinton, the convicted perjurer. Our African embassies were bombed in 1996, under the same impeached president. Both cases brought about gravitas statements that the perpetrators, known to be Al Qaeda, would be brought to justice.

The U.S.S. Cole was attacked in 2000, resulting in the murders of 17 active on duty United States servicemen. The cowardly President did nothing, save for more stern proclamations that justice would be brought to bear.

Consider the mindset of a terrorist that just attacked a naval vessel that resulted in no retribution, no measure of retaliation. Of course they would consider bigger and bolder targets. The planning for 9/11 did not occur after the inauguration of President Bush, but rather under the administration of the sexual predator-in-chief.

The Madison Conservative does not intend to place specific blame upon the borderline treasonous President Clinton; the ability to attack this nation lies in the fact that we are a free and open society.

The point here is that if the imbecilic minds that traffic in an op-ed and accept its premises as fact, then the facts must be clearly presented. If there is specific blame to be placed for the potential of a 9/11 attack, then it must be placed solely at the feet of the Clinton administration.

President Bush made many mistakes in dealing with the war on terror, and 9/11 prevented history from knowing what a Bush administration might have accomplished, but in no way can he be held accountable for the attacks.

Such claims are an affront to the American people and must be challenged each and every time they are presented as an historical  fait accompli.

The Madison Conservative extends the offer to publicly debate this issue with the intellectually dishonest purveyor of the Bush accountability claim.

Lastly, while it is too soon to assess the root causes and governmental culpabilities of the September 11^th, 2012 attacks in Libya & Egypt, this point must be made.

The Obama administration is making the claim that a little viewed online movie trailer is responsible for the violence perpetrated upon this nation this past week, and that the assassination of our ambassador to Libya and the breaching of our embassy in Egypt is tied solely to the aforementioned video. The assertion is that the anniversary of 9/112 and none of the administration policies are tied to the violence.

The absolutely ridiculous nature of such a position is belied by the facts as we currently know them.

The American people deserve better than what they are being offered in the way of true leadership.

The Madison Conservative will address these issues in future blogs, before the November election.

Conventional Summation

The two major political parties, private corporate entities, have finally finished their taxpayer supported conventions.

For those who may have believed there might have been presented any solutions of substance for the American electorate in these examples of self indulgent pomp, it must be acknowledged that nothing of national consequence was accomplished in either convention.

The Republican Party  succeeded in presenting Mr. Romney as a nice person, a man with a lovely wife and as a man who has the basic qualifications to ascend to the presidency. That obviously necessitated four days of collective nonsense. There was nothing put forth as specific policies for the nations woes and no clear vision for the future. There were pointless ad hominum attacks leveled at President Obama and the Democrats in general. It may have made for enjoyable political theater but it also showcased just how vestigial the current political party structures have become. In a nation of over 350 million, there surely must be more than two electoral options for the American electorate.

The Democratic Party found ways to create an impression of  dysfunction amidst the self proclaimed 'most inclusive convention in history'. Rather than addressing the concerns of the nation, they opted to get mired in platform language that centered on the omission of 'God' and language pursuant to the nation of Israel and Jerusalem.

Again, it made for comical political theater, but had nothing to do with the problems facing America.

The sole truly disgraceful aspect of the Democratic convention was their choice of nominating speaker and how the media fawned over the presenter, heaping effusive praise on a man who is a convicted perjurer, a man who opted to molest a woman not much older than his daughter - in the Oval Office - and who as commander in chief exhibited the clearest case of cowardice and treason. William Jefferson Clinton allowed the murder of 17 active duty Navy personnel to go unanswered for whatever calculated reasons he may have had. To the Madison Conservative, he was, and is, a coward and to have him lionized on a national stage is an affront to freedom everywhere and a slap to our military past, present and future.

All that being said, presented here is an abbreviated version of what the Madison Conservative had hoped to hear from either political quarter - further exploration of these issues will be forthcoming:

BUDGET - Before any conversation can be had on the budget, a baseline accounting must be established - how much does the government spend on paper clips? Once that starting point is established, an intelligent debate can begin on how to address the financial future of the nation.

DEBT - We must prioritize our debt to be addressed immediately. Primarily, we must repay all our foreign debt so that we are not under the financial stresses of any other nation. The debt is more than a fiscal burden - it is a matter of national security. Once the baseline budget is established, 35% of all found budgetary overages and the accompanying savings  must  be utilized to pay down the foreign debt. Once that is accomplished, it will allow the Treasury to restructure the debt so that it can be safely managed and paid down over a reasonable amount of time.

NATIONAL SECURITY - We need to return to Teddy Roosevelt's' catchphrase - "Speak softly and carry a big stick". America must honor its commitments to our allies, but we must cease to being drawn into conflicts around the globe - that is the business of the United Nations. For those who believe that America must help those in need, the question becomes where to stop. There is pain and anguish the world over - we cannot solve and fix everything. America should adopt a retaliatory stance  - we will support any nation that has been attacked, regardless of the aggressor. 

THE MILITARY - We must prioritize the military within the framework of Veterans Affairs. The Madison Conservative has spoken of its admiration and respect for entities such as The Wounded Warrior Project, but these organizations should not have a need to exist. We must support those who take up arms in defense of this nation. That compact is not merely for the duration of service, but in an age where Senators have a private subway system, how does America allow its veterans to, in essence, plead for the help they need via television commercials. There is no greater organization for good in the world than the United States Military, and we must fully support them. It is that simple.

EDUCATION - We spend more per student than any other nation on the planet. It is not an issue of money that is impeding our students. It is a system that rewards failure. There are more than sufficient anecdotal stories demonstrating how the students in charter schools are far surpassing their public school contemporaries. The answer is not to dismantle the public school system, but rather to first reform it. The most immediate issue is to remove the concept of tenure. A job for life without metrics of performance is beyond bizarre. 

GAY MARRIAGE, ABORTION, & ALL THE OTHER SOCIAL ISSUES - The framers wisely left all responsibilities not assigned to the federal government as solely the realm of the states. The federal government has no business being involved in anything not within the framework of the Constitution. Therefore, all the blather associated with such issues, while important to large parts of the electorate, must be returned to the state houses. The overreach of previous administrations have led many to believe that the federal government is responsible for addressing issues that in reality it has no vested constitutional 

interest, and therefore must not be allowed to obscure the real business of the federal bureaucracy.

That is a thumbnail overview and summation of what the Madison Conservative was hoping for, from any participant of either of the conventions.

It would have been much more helpful than hearing for two weeks that the Mitt Romney is a nice guy but that the Democrats want to overthrow the Constitution in favor of a European socialist model, or that President Obama had unprecedented issues on everything that were President George Bush's fault and that Mitt Romney wants your grandmother to die in the street from a lack of proper health care.

Such nonsense - the American electorate must demand better and can do so this November at the ballot box.

Labor Day 2012

The Madison Conservative has analyzed the Republican Convention. The blog will return next week after the Democratic Convention to provide constitutional context, if any, between and amongst the political parties based upon their respective assemblages.