At the core of the progressive playbook is regulation.  It is necessary to regulate every aspect of American life to keep us safe from ourselves.  Watch your diet, wear your seat-belt, keep those teens in their car seat, and by all means make sure you always go green.  From banking and business regulation to regulation of our personal lives, it is fair to say that America is only a relatively free nation.  It is time for our government to be reminded that liberty is a comprehensive package.  You cannot pick and choose.  Partial freedom is not free.  Relative freedom is not America.

Do you remember protests on Capital Hill, anti-Bush signs, and blood for oil slogans?  How times change when a Democrat is in the White House.  Libya is, after all, a moral mission with humanitarian aims.  I wonder what made Iraq different?  Oh yes, it was politics.  Despite our feelings of outrage and disgust, Qadhafi presents no vital threat to the United States.  Are we prepared to engage every example of brutal tyranny?  How about Syria, Yemen, the Ivory Coast, or the Sudan?  The American people are interested in taking care of our vital interests first.  They lie right here at home.  We cannot afford such foolish endeavors and I seem to remember they are part of the reason we are in this position.

USA Today reported last week $4.8 billion worth of earmarks within the continuing resolution to keep the government funded in the short term.  Just when we thought earmarks had been ended we find business as usual in Washington.  At least Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has attempted to put a stop to the spending which includes $18.6 million in unemployment for those with a reported income of $1 million or more and $20 million for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Massachusetts.  Thus far, Harry Reid (D-NV) has obstructed any effort to stop these earmarks.  What happened to the promise to stop earmarks?  Career politicians are still in charge.

Long touted as the defenders of minority groups, the Democrats are in fact placing undue strain upon these very groups.   Put the pieces together with a certain degree of logic and a picture which has been largely ignored soon appears.  Rising housing prices are driving minorities out of many areas in which they were well established.  The reason: building restrictions and bans have become the norm in the name of environmental concerns.  The insistence of an ever increasing minimum wage assures a high rate of unemployment among minority youth.  Obamacare is dependant upon forcing the young to buy into the program.  When the median age of Hispanics is 27 and that group is expected to comprise 30% of the population in the future, where will the greatest burden of Obamacare fall?  It makes for good politics to talk about helping certain groups, but it matters little when the net effect of the Democratic platform is negative toward those same groups of Americans.  It is time that we stopped thinking in groups and began to focus on America.

I will be speaking to a group at the Hereford Senior Center on Monday, the 14th of March at 11:30.  We welcome anyone to join.   Please contact us if you have a group which you would like for me to address.  Keep spreading the word.  Large movements begin with small steps.

My children know it.  You know it.  Every competent teacher or administrator knows it.  Yet today, the President of the United States has devoted an entire day of his time to address this national crisis.  I do not intend to sound cruel.  I understand the impact of bullying and it cannot be tolerated.  My question is this.  Is this the best use of the President’s time?  With 9% unemployment, $4.00 gas, and clear national security concerns, are there not more pressing matters?  At what point do we simply allow teachers and school administrators to do their job and get out of their way?