Revisiting 'Nazi'

Given that today, January 27^th, is National Holocaust Memorial Day, it is perhaps appropriate to re-run a Madison Conservative blog in its original form, from October, 2011. The hyperbole in the wake of the election has done nothing to dampen efforts from all political quarters to blather on about ‘Gestapo’ tactics, or warn that political actions are best acknowledged in the context of being “like the Nazis”.
 

The names and contemporaneous content of the arguments are irrelative to bigger point about the nature of political discourse and should bear witness of a needed reminder.

To wit, as originally written:

As has been previously mentioned, there occurs from time to time an event that does not specifically deal with issues directly tied to the intent of the Madison Conservative, but nonetheless demand to be addressed in the form of a personal commentary. This week is just such an instance.

The actress Susan Sarandon this week referred to the Pope as ‘that Nazi’. While indeed a wholly inappropriate and insipid statement, the widely held principle of “I may hate what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it” must be adhered to. Ms. Sarandon has the right to express herself in any manner that does not put the public at large in danger – the “you cannot yell fire in a crowded theater” limitation on free speech.

This week also saw the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi, one of the few remaining despots in power. Kaddafi was in the mold of previous mass murderers who ascended to power for personal glory, wealth and power and saw their people as merely tools to maintain their stranglehold on that power.

Kaddafi was a heinous human being who slaughtered tens of thousand, but he was no Nazi.

In recent years, President Bush has been labeled as Hitler, and President Obama has been displayed in caricature with a Hitler mustache. Opposing members of both political extremes have labeled their opposition as using ‘storm trooper’ tactics, or using “Gestapo” type methods in attempting to push through a specific piece of legislation.

This is beyond absurd and borders on the sickening; if we do not learn the lessons of history, we are sadly bound to repeat them.

General Eisenhower, when entering liberated concentration camps, allowed the press to take as many pictures as needed and forced the inhabitants of the neighboring towns to come through the camps to see what had occurred directly in their midst. He did so with the specific intention of forcing history to acknowledge what had happened, so that no one could ever claim the camps had not happened, or were not as bad as had been claimed.

He was a man wise beyond his time.

The Nazis collectively descended to the lowest form of humanity; they created the methodology of the furnaces to help exterminate an entire race and any person they felt was an undesirable was sent to their death in the hope of ‘cleansing’ the state. Hitler had people executed slowly and films taken of the torture so that he could watch them at his leisure. The Nazis and the Gestapo in general, created a wave of fear and oppression not seen previously for millennia.

They butchered human beings for sport; they desecrated the human body under the guise of ‘medical experiments’.

One may disagree with another’s politics or feel the need to make some manner of political statement, as in Ms. Sarandon’s’ case, but can the case of equity be made that President Bush or President Obama have done anything to warrant the comparisons to the Nazis?

Language is a delicate thing and those in a position of using it to a mass audience must be wary of how they use it.

We as a people must speak out against the flip manner that elected officials disparage each other; we can disagree on policy but how does one walk back a comparison to a Nazi with the full understanding of what that means?

Imagine the current “ Occupy Wall Street” protests under a Nazi regime. The protesters would be carted away and butchered for the ‘good of the state’.

Freedom comes with responsibilities and we must hold people accountable for their actions and their words.

We owe our posterity no less and must accept no less from ou

2013 - Catching Up & The Return of The Madison Conservative

As previously noted, the Madison Conservative has returned in time to begin discussing the state of the nation from a constitutional perspective as President Obama begins his second term. Since the last post, there have been a few events of note that should be discussed, even if in a thumbnail, cursory way.

First would be the folly and farce of the ‘fiscal cliff’ debate. It was amazing to see the same charlatans who created the problem and had a year to address the fundamental issues opted to flail about in desperation at the immediacy of the problem. It must be noted that the entire fiasco was created during the last debate on the debt ceiling debate in August of 2011.

The absolute absence of leadership on this issue from each and every member of the government can be best explained by removing the often inconceivable numbers that were bandied about during the ‘crisis’. In order to do this, bring the scale down to more realistic household numbers while keeping the ratios intact. In other words, instead of trillions as the basis, consider hundreds and such instead. Here is what the leadership in Washington has done, in context of a family’s budgetary numbers. Remember that the ratios are intact.

To wit:

$21, 700.00 –Annual Family Income – (Total federal receipts)

$38, 200.00 – Money the Family Spent – (Total federal outlays)

$142, 710.00 – New Total Debt on the Credit Cards – (National Debt)

$38.50 – Total Budget Cuts Made by the Family – (The Congressional Compromise on Budget Cuts).

There is little else to say on the subject save that the American people deserve real leadership and not imbecilic nonsense like this that does nothing but garner headlines for the cowardly political class. The Madison Conservative believes that the first politician who explains to an audience the fiscal issues in this manner will become a national hero.

The second contrived hyperbolic idiocy has been the proposed nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel to assume the position of Defense Secretary. There has been much noise generated about Mr. Hegel’s’ stance on this issue or that issue. The political class and their media flacks seem to be ignoring the obvious – short of having committed a felony or act of treason, any nominee proposed by the president should be given a fair and open hearing and save for the aforementioned disqualifiers be confirmed for any given office.  The President should be afforded the respect inherent in the office; if he wishes a person to serve in his cabinet, that individual should be granted that opportunity. The hue and cry generated over these nominations at best resembles that of a third world banana republic dictatorship.

Lastly, and perhaps most significant, was the Newtown shootings. At a time when America needed true leadership, the only thing proffered by any elected official was the sound of inaction, a perfect vacuum. The Madison Conservative is by definition an avowed and proudly unabashed defender of the United States Constitution and therefore a strong proponent of the second amendment. The question, however,  of why any defensive weapon held by  a citizen required the ability to fire 100 bullets a minute was not addressed or even remotelyconsidered. What elected officials chose to do was to add legal restrictions upon those already adhering to the guns laws of this nation. The question demands to be asked – does adding laws to law abiding citizens actually make a difference? What criminal already disposed to breaking the law would pause and consider his actions based upon additional legislation?

Consider that this internal conversation –“I was going to commit this crime with my illegal weapon, but I should reconsider given those new laws concerning weaponry” has never, and will never, occur anywhere, anytime by anyone..

There are no easy, singular or simplistic answers to the issues raised by Newtown, but the American people must demand that our elected officials address the issues head on, forthrightly and honestly. The American people are not fools and are more than capable of understanding the complexities involved in these issues. It appears the political and media class are the truly ignorant within these debates and must therefore be schooled by the electorate.

If America remains silent, we will only have these issues become a perpetual talking point while we spiral into debt, partisanship and the continued slaughter of innocents.

That's a Wrap - (for now)

This Tuesday will bring to an end the folly and the foibles of the 2012 presidential election campaign.

The political pundits, pollsters, hucksters and slobbering media flack sycophants will be silenced by the American electorate. The citizenry will no longer be hounded by an endless series of intrusive robo-calls and assaulted by a non-stop parade of advertisements heralding what a disciple of Satan is the other candidate.

The mass media liars will be forced to confront the results of the American voter, whatever that result may be.

The reality is this – whoever is in office on January 21st, he will face a divided nation with serious financial issues that must be resolved.

It makes one wonder why any sane individual would pursue the office.

The Madison Conservative has indulged its first amendment right to speak freely and openly on the course of the campaign and the constitutional missteps of the current administration and its opponents.

The time between Election Day and Inauguration Day will be full of blather and bluster from all points on the political compass, those looking to place blame for a loss, those attempting to convey some manner of a mandate in victory.

Those voices are not of serious individuals or organizations. Those voices are merely the worst infected organs of the body politic. Some may argue that such entities are a necessary evil of the public discourse, but that argument is being made by the proponents of political idiocy and cowardice and thus should not be taken seriously.

The Madison Conservative will follow its own rhetoric and take a hiatus from posting during the time between Election Day and Inauguration Day. There will be a myriad of lame duck issues and proposed and debated legislation.

These will be the acts of political cowards and electoral charlatans.

The Madison Conservative will not comment on such actions.

We will return during the week of the Inauguration to continue our quest to inform on public policy debates and to preserve the founding principles of the framers of the greatest governing document in the history of man – the United States Constitution- in the midst of those national discussions.

Please remember to vote, and may God Bless America!

The 2012 Endorsement

Never an entity to brook the tide of popular convention, the Madison Conservative has taken note of the omnipotent practice of various and sundry scribes and editorial boards publicly announcing their endorsement of a specific candidate for elective office.

This willingness to subjugate one of this nation’s founding principles is indeed perplexing to the Madison Conservative. Men and women, far superior to those currently searching for temporary power via elective office, have willingly laid down their lives to protect the sanctity of the secret ballot.

This nation has fought to protect and defend this nations’ freedom to vote in an atmosphere of safety and security.

The belief that any individual or organization is somehow ordained to provide direction for the electorate is paramount to a non military coup de tat.

This is not hyperbole – it speaks to the right of the people to vote how they choose without fear of recriminations by the state. When the state endorses, by its silence, the mass media ability to announce support for a specific candidate then freedom itself is under assault.

Does publishing an endorsement count as a campaign contribution? Surely an endorsement lists a candidates positive record without veering into their negatives. In short, it is a political commercial.

For a nation looking for leadership, the willingness to allow such blatant attempts to pollute the public discourse is shameful.

For that reason, the Madison Conservative is hereby making its endorsement for President of the United States thusly:

VOTE.

The Madison Conservative has a preference for whom it will cast its constitutionally protected vote, but will extol that opinion solely from behind the curtain of the voting booth. The Madison Conservative has but one vote and will not consider revealing that precious gift from our founders and framers under any circumstances. That should be the nature of all votes and any attempt at endorsements.

Somewhere today, someone will willingly lay down their lives for the hope that maybe someday their posterity will be able to vote freely and unencumbered by the state.

Do not suffer the fate of those who once thought that any assault on freedom was a merely a question of degree.

It is with the first link of ambivalence that the chain of tyranny is formed.

The Weeks Tidbits - 10-21-2012

Two disparate news blurb postings this week on many levels encapsulate what is at the heart of this election and what it means for this nation moving forward.

First, Trinity Church in New York City this week announced that it will need to cancel its annual Halloween festivities. Oddly enough it is not because of some mindlessly aggrieved collection of people that have successfully litigated the issue but rather because of a group of misguided people exercising what they falsely believe are their constitutional rights. A collective of protesters from the Occupy Wall Street enclave are encamped on the sidewalk in front of Trinity.

Church officials have explained that it is their belief to hold festivities with the aforementioned encampment on their doorstep would put the children into potentially harmful situations and so they are acting prudently and preemptively: quoting from the officially released statement – “Last year, more than 1,200 people took part. However, we are deeply concerned about the escalating illegal and abusive activity the camp presents.”

Ed Needham, an Occupy Wall Street organizer, said he found it "frankly disingenuous" for the church to cancel its Halloween celebration.

The second incident of note came from the on-air comments made by the almost comical Chris Matthews, who stated on his MSNBC ‘Hardball’ show, in discussing the second presidential debate and Mr. Romney’s interaction with the President that:

“I don’t think he understands the Constitution of the United States…He’s the president of the United States. You don’t say, ‘you’ll get your chance.’”

There are so many issues raised with this type of ignorant and sycophantic comment.

Consider that Mr. Matthews spent a sizeable part of his professional career on Capitol Hill, working in various and sundry capacities including stints as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and as an aide to former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill.

There is much hue and cry, whining and bluster by some about a mass media bias. Mr. Matthews is not exhibiting any bias in his comments; he is demonstrating outright stupidity.

His comments, again, live on air, apparently attempt to convey now that Mr. Romney is in violation of a constitutional protection of the president.

It can be discussed whether Mr. Romney may have been rude, or even possibly disrespectful, but to spew forth the claim of constitutional infringement goes beyond even extreme partisanship.

One wonders if Mr. Matthews will extend such concerns to Mr. Romney, should he win the election.

What these two seemingly seperate tidbits demonstrate however is just how far this nation has come to allowing the inmates to run the asylum.

It is absolutely unconstitutional to block access to a church, or to illegally assemble, but it is condoned  because the mass media seems to believe that the ‘righteousness’ of the Occupy Wall Street protesters endows them with the right to flaunt the laws that the average citizen must obey. Mr. Matthews gives voice to this concept by publicly claiming constitutional privilege for what is at most a poor demonstration of manners by Mr. Romney.

Bestowing rights of non-confrontation to an elected leader, but allowing, even encouraging confrontation because the cause is somehow ‘just’ shows how intellectually bankrupt much of the extreme left has become.

They can do and say what they wish, apparently, because they are so much more politically pure than anyone else.

Rubbish.

America must be vigilant to keep these charlatans of freedom and their ilk from infecting the body politic. The Occupy Wall Street thugs and punks should be moved by the police or arrested. Mr. Matthews should be removed from his position as an on air political personality.

If the electorate does not demand these actions be taken, then it must be interpreted as the axiom that their silence is acceptance of these transgressions against democracy.

Our founders, the framers of The United States Constitution and our posterity would be no less than ashamed of us.

We owe them, and ourselves, better.

Let your voice be heard.

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.