I’ve read some policy points of various Republican candidates for office. One of the most common refrains is something about cutting spending – working towards reducing the deficit; repeal Obama’s bail outs; bring fiscal responsibility to government. On and on – but I’ve yet to read one which makes this simple statement:

“A nation $12 trillion dollars in debt cannot afford any more debt; I will not introduce, sponsor or vote in favor of any budget which is not balanced.”

This is the proper complement to the various tax pledges most Republican candidates will sign. They are two sides of the same coin. A no tax pledge is a promise not to take any more money from the people of the United States – but it is a false pledge if the money will just be taken in the form of borrowing from the future.

The United States is in fiscal crisis – for decades we have talked about “out of control spending”, but never really did anything about it. Now, we must. The debt we are currently piling up threatens our ability to maintain a first class military, to pay for high skill law enforcement, to maintain the roads and harbors we need for commerce. We must stop piling up debt. Right now.

Now, our liberal friends – seconded, as always, by RINOs – will protest that the drastic cuts necessary to balance the budget will cause the most vulnerable to suffer. This is a flat out lie – it isn’t budget cutting which threatens the vulnerable, but there is the fact that the supposed tribunes of the vulnerable who will see to it they suffer as a means of getting the budget restored.

The United States government is shot through with waste, fraud and abuse. No one knows just how much money really flows through the government agencies in a given year. Investigations have shown that literal tens of billions of dollars have gone missing over the years – missing as in “no one knows where it went”. Right now, President Obama and his Democrats are set to spend, in deficits alone, $1.6 trillion dollars in 2011. There is no way to wrap one’s mind around such a sum – but one can easily understand that with such large amounts, a lot of chicanery is sure to be going on.

If you go to the A-Z Index of US Government Agencies, you’ll find the following: Domestic Policy Council, Economic Business and Agricultural Affairs; Economic Development Administration, Economic Adjustment Office, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economics and Statistics Administration and the Economic Research Service…with all that, just found in a short glance, our economy should be booming. Right?

Wrong – and of course we know its wrong. How much duplication of effort is there in all that? How much entirely wasted effort? How many people could be let go in there and still get the vital job done? If there are any vital jobs contained therein, at all. This is the monster we’ve fed for nearly 80 years now. It grows by leaps and bounds and adds agency to bureau to department and it never stops growing and things, once grown, never dies away.

Our opponents will lie and say we are determined to kill granny or the children or what have you with our draconian cuts – but we know we would not be doing that. And now, in 2010, I think that the people are willing to hear and act upon the brutal truth. It is my bet that at least half the non-defense and law enforcement personnel of government could be let go with no negative effect on the day to day lives of the American people, including the most vulnerable. What is more, I’ll further bet that you, reading this, will admit to it (even if, as liberals, some of you will still stoutly deny what you know to be true). Finally, I think the American people in general know this, as well.

If we wish to save our nation, it isn’t good enough for us to pledge to tinker around the edges of the problem. The sad facts of life are that, as far as government goes, all we conservatives have managed to conserve is FDR’s New Deal. It is now time for us to conserve America and our Constitution – and that will require a revolutionary change, and a complete end to the false promises of the welfare state.

If we whittle away at liberalism, then it will eventually grow back – we must hack at it, root and branch. We must have done with it, for good. To do this, we must pledge ourselves not to merely being not-Democrats, but being true conservatives set on a revolutionary rescue of our nation and our people. Plant that flag of liberty, defend it ferociously, and let the chips fall where they may because in this year of 2010, I think the chips will all fall our way.

They just can’t help themselves, it would seem:

The Department of Homeland Security admitted today that it improperly conducted a threat assessment on pro-life and pro-abortion groups in Wisconsin. The assessment came before an expected rally last year in response to the University of Wisconsin Hospital board decided to allow abortions.

In February 2009, pro-life advocates planned to protest the hospital’s decision to open up a new Madison Surgery Center doing abortions.

The Associated Press reported today that the department said in a memo that it “destroyed all of the copies of the assessment after an internal review found it violated intelligence gathering guidelines about ‘protest groups which posed no threat to homeland security.'”

AP indicated the assessment was reportedly only shared with the director of Wisconsin’s intelligence-sharing center and local police in Middleton, Wisconsin, the site of the rally.

Today, a pro-life organization in Wisconsin informed LifeNews.com of its concerns.

In response to an open records request by the Alliance Defense Fund and Pro-Life Wisconsin, the Middleton Police Department and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, along with the Department of Homeland Security all refused on February 4 to release copies of the threat assessment.

Probably because they don’t want to look like a bunch of fools. I really don’t blame the cops on this – it was probably liberal, political higher ups who ordered it done. Because you know how we gap toothed, knuckle dragging Bible-clingers are ready to go off on a violent rampage at a moment’s notice.

We simply must return to the Constitutional order of things – this is getting entirely out of hand.

More and more fun stuff about 2010:

..Fox has the list of donors, which comprises a set of interlocking slush-type funds that pay for the anti–Tea Party campaign. The largest of these is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME,) which has kicked in a total of $9.9M in a single year to two funds that provide the cash for the non-grassroots movement. Yes — government workers’ money is being used to fend off Tea Party protesters.–

It seems that the Tea Party movement, once defamed and derided, now poses a threat to the liberal establishment, so much so that they are collecting millions to undermine it. Conservatives shouldn’t object to political speech — which this is. But there is certainly grounds to object to the chicanery, the lack of transparency, and the pretense that the opponents of the Tea Parties are themselves grassroots activists. They aren’t — this is Big Labor and assorted liberal-interest groups once again doing the bidding of the Democratic party. And if not for Fox, no one would be any the wiser.

In defense of our liberals, this is what constitutes “grassroots” in liberal-land. Being completely servile in mentality as well as rather lazy in effort (you think that the AFSCME employees of government are wellsprings of innovation and efficiency?), it takes uber-liberals to set things up so that liberal rank-and-file people can get going. There never has been a liberal movement which sprang spontaneously from the people – all liberal movements have always been the result of careful planning and lavish funding (where do you think the concept of “walking around money” comes from?).

As for conservative movements – well, there have been only two and the one led directly to the other, with a slight interruption. Buckley fueled the first conservative movement in the 50’s which culminated with Reagan while the likes of Rush, Hannity and TEA Party activists have created the second movement (yes, there have been conservatives long before – but prior to Buckley, conservatism was all about what you’re against; with Buckley, it started to be about what you’re for. Big difference; to counter-act liberal fascism, we now have conservative revolutionaries. Strange world, indeed).

We’ll see how this plays out – this is Liberaldom gearing up for the battle. They mean to smash the TEA Party and, at the least, hold Democrat losses to a bare minimum in November – confident that liberalism will eventually become the default position once they get 50% plus one dependent on government.

And we, of course, mean to smash them – to me, this is where we draw the line. We’ve let things slide – we’ve now got people actually advocating for government-funded sex-change operations: at this point, we either totally destroy liberalism or be destroyed, ourselves. And by “destroy”, I mean just that – we roll it all back and restore the Constitution and undo all the liberal idiocy…or lose it all, for good.

Great battle; well worth fighting – and I intend to be in the thick of it.

As, again and again, 2010 gets more fun all the time:

Oh. My. God:

President Barack Obama said he doesn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay.

(Blasphemy deleted). This is something I’d expect Bush to say. And yes, I mean that as the worst possible insult.

Hey Obama: THE TAX PAYERS DIDN’T SPEND HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO BAIL OUT ALEX RODRIGUEZ. This is an important distinction that bears repeating…

…Man, (expletive deleted) it. I’m now officially on the Palin 2012 bandwagon. Because if this country’s going to crash, I want it to crash hard and fast so we can just start over.

What is really funny: This liberal is only just now figuring out that the Banksters and liberal leaders are on the same side, even when they are not one in the same person.

Liberal fascism in Australia – fighting for bigotry against free speech: the New Liberal Order.

MoveOn moves on to lying about the environment (been thin pickings, I guess, since they no longer have a Clinton to defend or a Bush to slander).

China’s military urges selling of US bonds to punish the US. I say, “go ahead, make my day”.

Stocks rallied yesterday on the news that nearly bankrupt parts of the Euro-zone will come to the rescue of the completely bankrupt parts. This is the global financial elite just trying to keep the ball in the air and hoping that the global economy will some how improve before the hot checks hit the bank.

And, now: have at it.

Ed Morrissey notes:

…The study in Cambridge showed that 17% of patients assumed to have no brain activity beyond involuntary impulses actually show cognitive understanding using an MRI to map brain responses to questions asked by researchers. None of the 17% had brain injury due to hypoxia, the underlying cause of the injury to Terri Schiavo, whose case became a national political crisis a few years ago, but the implications of this study are still horrific…

…The new diagnostic ability that this study suggests could mean that patients once dismissed for years as nonresponsive have actually had an interior life without any ability to recognize it or communicate it to the outside world. It could also mean that previous decisions to suspend care may have been made in error, although entirely in good-faith belief that the person inside had utterly vanished.

This could change all of our perceptions on the victims of tramautic brain damage, as well as offer hope for those who remain trapped but conscious inside unresponsive bodies.

Our point, as pro-lifers, is that given we do not have – and cannot have – 100% knowledge of the interior condition of a human being, it is always better to err on the side of life. This is outside of theology – as a Christian I believe that the soul comes in at the moment of conception and goes out at the moment of physical death; but nobody has to subscribe to this view if they don’t wish to. But even outside of that, we just don’t know.

The Culture of Death is very sure of itself. Most lies are. And, additionally, most lies are very vehement in self defense. We on the pro-life side, being people of faith, are quite capable of admitting doubt. Was Terri Schiavo’s mind (soul, if you will) already departed before they removed the feeding tube? We don’t know. Didn’t know then. Don’t know now.

You could slice and dice her brain post-mortem to your heart’s content and you still won’t get that answer because while we have a good deal of knowledge of how the organ called the brain works, we haven’t the foggiest notion of how mind works. Disbelieve in God if you will – but perhaps that “persistent vegetative” person is actually thinking of things? Still having a life; and a life no one is permitted to take without just cause. Unless and until someone figures out how to measure my thought which put a bit more oregano in to the spaghetti sauce – and tell me where, precisely, it is stored for me to recall days later while writing a blog post – there is just no way anyone can say whether a person who has physical life is aware or not at some level.

Err on the side of mercy. Err on the side of love. Err on the side of life.

UPDATE: And the global Culture of Death suffers a defeat in Costa Rica.

And 2010 marches on:

Republican candidates are showing surprising financial strength in Congressional districts held by Democrats in the Northeast that party leaders have singled out as ripe for what could be critical gains in the November election.

Some of the most competitive races are taking shape in the New York metropolitan region.

In the 19th Congressional District, north of New York, the Republican challenger, Nan Hayworth, an ophthalmologist, has amassed about $519,000, slightly more than the roughly $451,000 that the Democratic incumbent, Representative John J. Hall, has in his campaign coffers…

And on it goes. Of course, money doesn’t equal victory – but after having been outspent by the Democrats in 2008, it is telling that the GOP in the Northeast is getting such traction. Remember, the leftist story line is that unless the GOP goes left, we’ll become a regional party of the South. And yet, as the GOP base has tacked further right and started to drag along the GOP leadership, Republican prospects are rising all over…including in the more liberal areas of the country.

Could it be that the left is wrong?

Could it be that the sun rises in the east?

Anyways…

The battle for November is really not even begun and we can expect Democrats to find yet new depths in the political gutter to try and derail conservatism. We won’t win this in a walkover, boys and girls: if we win, it will only be after a very hard, very long fight with determined political opponents.

But, 2010 is still getting more and more fun, all the time…

Thanks, Barry; thanks, Harry:

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co will close its five-diamond property in Las Vegas this May, after the hotel struggled with a slide in demand and revenue.

“It’s nothing the hotel did. It’s a simple lack of business and a decline in the tourism industry,” said Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Vivian Deuschl.

The owners of the 348-room property, Village Hospitality LLC, an arm of Deutsche Bank, will stop funding the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas day-to-day operations on May 2.

It is a very nice place – its out at Lake Las Vegas; a resort developed a few years back set outside Las Vegas. Golfing, boating, shopping, spas – the whole 9 yards available. Now its gone; the jobs are gone…but Barry and Harry say things are getting better.

Can’t tell you how helpful it is for the President to demonize travel to Las Vegas…and how doubly helpful it is to have a Senator who lacks the spine to stand up to him on it.

Just re-stating the obvious:

Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has directed enrichment of a portion of that country’s stockpile of uranium to 20 percent. Experts regard this as a significant step forward for Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The reaction of Defense Secretary Robert Gates seems significant:

At a news conference with French Defense Minister Herve Morin, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised President Barack Obama’s attempts to engage the Islamic Republic diplomatically and chided Tehran for not reciprocating.

“No U.S. president has reached out more sincerely, and frankly taken more political risk, in an effort to try to create an opening for engagement for Iran,” he said. “All these initiatives have been rejected.”

So Gates was, evidently, praising Obama for pursuing a policy that has been, by the Secretary’s own admission, a complete failure.

One has to feel sorry for Gates having to carry on with such levels of incompetence as we see in the Obama Administration. He’s doing the best he can and I’m grateful he’s there as at least it means we’ve got someone who will look after the troops. But one Gates cannot carry an entire Obama Administration – and while he’s loyal to his boss, it clear that our policy towards Iran has been a failure.

It is time to re-assess our goals and means of attaining them.

Are we really going to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons? If so, then engagement and UN sanctions have to be set aside in favor of much stronger action – blockade backed by a threat of aerial bombardment of power, oil and nuclear sites.

Are we going to live with an Iranian nuclear force? If so, then we’d better start working out theater ballistic missile defense systems with Iraq, the Gulf States and others who will be under the Iranian gun. And then we’d better be prepared for a decades-long stand off punctuated by various flare ups of violence – and, of course, the prospect that the lunatics in Tehran will actually launch a nuclear war.

The one thing we can’t do is continue on as we are – Obama’s policy, as all liberal policies for dealing with rogue regimes, has been an utter failure. A failure, by the way, which everyone with any sense at all predicted. There never was a question that Iran’s government would respond to anything other than a mortal threat to its existence. Everyone knew this and knows this – except, of course, for President Obama and his Administration.

Time to start learning fast, Mr. President.

Profligacy and death go ill together:

Bankers are not the cause of the global economic crisis, according to the president of the Institute for the Works of Religion. Rather, the cause is ordinary people who do not “believe in the future” and have few or no children.

“The true cause of the crisis is the decline in the birth rate,” Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, said in an interview on Vatican Television’s “Octava Dies.”

He noted the Western world’s population growth rate is at 0% — that is, two children per couple — and this, he said, has led to a profound change in the structure of society.

“Instead of stimulating families and society to again believe in the future and have children […] we have stopped having children and have created a situation, a negative economic context decrease,” Gotti Tedeschi observed. “And decrease means greater austerity.”

“With the decline in births,” he explained, “there are fewer young people that productively enter the working world. And there are many more elderly people that leave the system of production and become a cost for the collective.

And, of course, tens of millions of abortions – we’ve lost a great deal because we wanted to be rich without working and loved without family responsibility. I plead guilty, guilty, guilty.

We must return to sanity – to a willingness to do hard, physical work; to commit to one person and raise as many children as God provides; to put off personal gratification in favor of having a gift to leave our children. If we do this, then we will be happy – and prosperous, in to the bargain. If we don’t do this, then we’ll eventually die out.

The choice is ours – decline is never an thing of fate but an act of will.