Author: Cluster

Jeb Bush and Ideology

Cluster10 Comments

Yesterday Jeb Bush strongly suggested that the GOP was too rigid ideologically and that the party needed to be more flexible to attract a larger block of voters, and while I disagree with Bush, I want to thank him for bringing this subject up because I believe it is a win for conversatives to have this conversation.

First of all, I agree with Amazona when she says that ideology is the foundation of any individual and/or party platform. Ideology drives policy, so if you understand their ideology, you will know and understand the policies they will promote. The ideology that is at the core of the tea party and most conservatives is that of a more constitutionally based government at both the federal and state level, and that is an ideological belief that should always be rIgid.

The decentralized outline for government that is found in the Constitution is, to parapharase Churchhill; “….is not the best form of government but it is the best so far”, and the same can be said about free enterprise. It may not be the best economic platform, but it is the best so far. Capitalism, for all it’s faults, is the most effective economical system ever, in terms of creating more wealth for more people and for creating a higher standard of living for everyone. And contrary to liberal thought, conservatives do want to provide safety nets for those in need, but we want it administered at a local level where it can be more effective, efficient, and help more people.

The good news is that I think the voters are starting to figure that out with the 2010 elections, and then again in Wisconsin.  So let’s continue this conversation, and if you are a liberal, please tell me where I am wrong.

UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: I would like to take this opportunity to go on the record saying that I think Jeb Bush was right.. to a degree.

Sorry Cluster, but I have to weigh in.

Yes, I agree with Jeb. But, I see this as a problem with both the major parties, and a problem that starts not with elected officials, but with the voters… Let’s be honest about what’s been happening in recent years. The internet has empowered the extremes on the left and the right by giving them a venue to build an audience and influence. This naturally will result in the ability for these groups to influence people in power.

In recent years we’ve seen elected Democrats and Republicans lose primary battles because they weren’t liberal or conservative enough. Joe Lieberman went from being his party’s Vice Presidential nominee to be booted out. In 2010, Christine O’Donnell beat the more moderate, but more electable Republican Mike Castle, only to lose a winnable U.S. Senate seat in the general election.

This past year, we saw every single candidate in the Republican presidential primary labeled a RINO by supporters of a different candidate. So, yes, I believe that Ronald Reagan would never have made it through this year’s primary, because he was a former Democrat.

Barack Obama, the most extreme left-winger to occupy the White House, isn’t considered liberal enough by left-wing bloggers, and hasn’t exactly won praises from them.

So, let’s be honest about what’s going on, and who’s to blame. We, as bloggers and activists, are criticizing our leaders for compromising or for merely for working with the other side just to get things done. We’ll dissect a voting record to find a few black marks just to feel justified in opposing a decent public servant of our party. Let’s wake up.

Because He Can

Cluster31 Comments

So why is Obama doing such a poor job, and getting away with it? Because he can, courtesy of a complicit media and an American populace with a very short attention span. Case in pointing is the recent call by Obama to put recently laid off teachers, and other public sector employees back to work. Well, the reason why they are being laid off in the first place is because the 2009 stimulus money is drying up, which was a temporary fix to begin with, but the administration won’t remind you of that and neither will the media. They both know that many people will fall for another temporary fix and they can get away with demogoging this issue one more time for political gain. Second case in point is the Bush tax rate cuts, which now should be called the Obama tax rate cuts. While the administration and the media continue to blame those rate cuts for the deficits, many people have forgotten that in December of 2010, Obama and a democratically controlled congress chose to extend those rate cuts, but again, they won’t remind you of that.

Maybe the most egregious example of this grand hoodwink the media and the administration are playing on America, is the Administration line that North America only has 2% of the worlds oil reserves. That is an entirely skewed number based only on identified reserves with completed EIS studies that have already been planned for extraction. The fact is, North America has nearly equal the crude reserves that Saudi Arabia has, as is being discovered with the Baaken Fields in North Dakota. There are many other examples of the media laying cover for this president – remember “shovel ready jobs”? By Obama’s own admission, those jobs “weren’t so shovel ready”, but that is of course assuming that Obama knew what he was talking about? It is past the time we demand that not only our elected officials be more competent and honest, but we must also demand that from the media. The lengths to which our media has promoted and provided cover for this president should possibly be investigated, and should certainly serve to inform future generations on how not to conduct themselves as journalists.

More media cover for the Obama administration. The media will gladly give time to Nuns and Priests that support the regimes efforts, but ignore the lawsuits and the protests. ABC, CBS, and NBC stayed true to their liberal slant and ignored the 164 rallies across the United States on Friday against the federal government’s abortifacient/birth control mandate under ObamaCare.