Rubio signs Norquist tax pledge

The Hill ^ | 04/28/2015 | Ben Kamisar

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Give me a break. We have McConnell and Boehner giving Obama everything he wants. We took over control of Congress in 2014 with an historic victory. The Reps act like they lost and the Dems won. The GOP passed the Obama budget thru September, including keeping Obamacare funding going. They have done nothing to stop his executive amnesties of 2012 and 2015. They are agreeing to giving Obama greater authority to negotiate trade agreements and they are turning the Constitution on its head requiring two thirds of the Senate to stop the Iran deal. Loretta Lynch got confirmed as AG. What difference does it really make if it is Hillary or Jeb Bush in the WH? Will you vote for Bush if he is the GOP nominee?

It's going to be a long battle, but only if we are willing to engage. If Bush ends up being the nominee, it will be largely due to folks getting tired of supporting Cruz (or even Walker) and deciding to sit back and let others try to carry their water for them. We are too often really big on words and really lazy on actions - something the Left manages to stay on top of no matter what. Many said there would be no difference between a Romney, who had opinions that were definitely not conservative, but who also openly stated that the Federal government was acting unconstitutionally by being involved. The difference is that Obama surrounded himself with a lawless crew that aids and abets his lawlessness and who spits on the constitution vs. a guy who may have held certain beliefs but would not rabidly exercise them by going lawless - a really big difference. Individual States will have to work to clean up their own messes as far as who they send to the House and Senate and we can also help there, but once again it takes actual time/effort/money to do so. We can all help keep the most rabid Leftist out of the WH, but the "what difference does it make" attitude helps ensure that the Left will continue to keep grabbing every inch it can while we fall into a lethargic "what the hell are we even trying for" coma - it's how the Left has made all its inroads over the last 60 years or so. Unless we are willing to actually be active for a few solid decades, we may as well just throw up our hands and relegate ourselves to livestock status without waiting for them to do it to us. The Left energizes and does everything it can to grab the smallest part of real estate that it can and we bitch and make excuses because unlike Hillary, who was "No wayz tahred" we get weary and quit.

I will never leave a ballot blank for a national slot - the only time I failed to vote for the opponent of the Left was when Cochran came up on the ballot - I wrote in McDaniel because I couldn't stomach voting for the Dem even though I considered Cochran even worse because of the betrayal.

I guess some of us will fight to the last man and others will wave the white flag because a singular event won't turn things around.

I hope to vote for Cruz, or if he isn't still standing, Walker, but I also understand that with the machine the Left and RINOs have in place, even a Cruz presidency will end up disappointing many of us because of the obstacles. We get a trend of slightly positive motion, then get betrayed by RINOs and instead of redoubling our efforts, we quit - they win.

If we aren't willing to suit up, show up, and stay the course despite the continuing uphill slog, we deserve what we end up with. It's so much fun to mock those who vote for an Obama, twice while many decided that they couldn't vote against him, so opened the door a little wider toward the flame that seeks to burn the constitution into ashes.

Call me a fool, a dreamer who is out of touch with reality, unprincipled, or anything else that cranks your clock up, but I will not go gently into that night as long as I have breath and the means to expend time/energy/funds for the fray.

The differences may not be great, or even substantial, but they can be accumulative if we stop making excuses and exert ourselves while rallying others to also stand fast instead of laying down our arms because "what's the difference" is so much easier to abide by.

There - I feel better...depressed but better.

[kabar]

We can all help keep the most rabid Leftist out of the WH, but the "what difference does it make" attitude helps ensure that the Left will continue to keep grabbing every inch it can while we fall into a lethargic "what the hell are we even trying for" coma - it's how the Left has made all its inroads over the last 60 years or so.

No, the change in American attitudes and electoral politics can be traced to the rapidly changing demographics of the country over the past 60 years fueled by mass immigration from the Third World. Issues have become increasingly irrelevant as identity politics obtain.

In 1970 this country was 89% non-Hispanic white; today, it is 63%; and by 2060 it will be 43%, When you bring in 1.1 million legal permanent immigrants a year, 87% of whom are minorities as classified by the USG and have another 500,000, overwhelmingly minority, entering illegally, you have a demographic earthquake. This started in 1965 with the passage of an immigration act that shifted immigration from mostly Europe to the developing world. It has changed America forever and most certainly electoral politics where minorities now make up one-third of the electorate. Does it occur to anyone why the Dems want to increase immigration and support amnesty? We are being colonized by the Third World. Most don't share the conservative vision of limited government. They want bigger government with more services.

So what is the GOP's reaction to this demographic sunami? Outreach and trying to be more like the Dems. Phyllis Schalfy did a study a few years ago that warned against the continued levels of mass immigration and its impact on conservatism. I recommend you download it and read itHow Mass (Legal) Immigration Dooms a Conservative Republican Party

We need Rep candidates who take the lead of Jeff Sessions on this issue along with understanding the major shrift in the UK on this issue, which has seen a political consensus that immigration needs to be reduced to protect British workers and jobs. The Reps with very little exception want to expand guest worker programs at a time when we have the lowest labor participation rates in 38 years. Native born Americans are the hardest hit.

I guess some of us will fight to the last man and others will wave the white flag because a singular event won't turn things around.

It is not a matter of waving a white flag or not. It is a matter of strategy and what should be our goals. I am fighting to reduce legal immigration drastically to about 300,000 a year or less and to enforce our immigration laws. The choice is not between mass deportation or a blanket amnesty. Attrition through enforcement works. Obama is providing amnesty to more than 6 million by executive fiat. Very few Reps want to fight it. They are cowards who are the ones waving the white flag.

Call me a fool, a dreamer who is out of touch with reality, unprincipled, or anything else that cranks your clock up, but I will not go gently into that night as long as I have breath and the means to expend time/energy/funds for the fray.

We must choose the right fight and do it smartly. Jeff Sessions has provided the blueprint. Only Walker seems to have got the message. Becoming the Party of Work--How the GOP can help struggling Americans, and itself.

Unless we reduce legal immigration and enforce our immigration laws, everything else is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is the only thing that will make a real difference.

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Sessions "plan" sounds good - it only needs a bunch of GOP/GOPe folks to change the way they do business....

The only way most of them will change the way they go about things is if they keep testing the wind and keep finding that it blows no good for them in their current mode. No plan will work unless we the People who want a return to Constitutional government to form a solid and consistent block of pressure points and to keep it up. Expecting the politicians to change because it's the right/smart thing hasn't worked because we have not absolutely insisted. I like Walker - he's my second choice and Cruz is my first. I think they both get it and we need to ensure they both have support through the process to try to keep the top 2 conservatives in the fray...in the fray.

Politicians can't/won't do it without us exerting a consistent and unending pressure - that will take effort on ur part - a bunch of words will not do it. We need to do what the Dims so often do (and what the "establishment did in MS with Cochran) - we need to become hard core activists and "meddle" with other States by volunteering and donating to their most conservative choices for the Senate and House. Hell - we can even work to help get more conservative governors in other States. If we won't do it, it won't get done and we might as well fold FR up and all just sit quietly in our homes until they come to get us.

When we demand all or nothing, we will usually get nothing. I find it sad that we have some non-thinkers using a parody of a statement I coined (Cruz or Lose) only they are using it as their slogan - I used it as an example of why we lose - we put all our hopes in one individual and then just go home and let the other side walk off with everything if our "one great hope" falters and doesn't make the ballot. Or we get folks like the last Presidential election push a Virgil Goode as the only sane choice despite the fact that maybe 30,000 people in the US have actually heard of him. We keep circling up the firing squad and indiscriminately destroy any opposition we may have to the other side. Then we howl and moan because we never seem to win anything. I'm waiting for some leaders who have a workable plan - other than a "no (fill in the GOP candidate) no way no how" campaign. Unless we can find a plan and find a way to actually goad a lot of folks into buying in and sticking to it, we will lose. The Left is superior at activating its base and making it cohesive enough to insure 110% participation and we can't manage much over 45% of those who claim to be on our side to show up (no, I didn't research the percentages to ensure accuracy - it's a working example) - we're pathetic.

[kabar]

Sessions "plan" sounds good - it only needs a bunch of GOP/GOPe folks to change the way they do business....

Business is the operative word. The GOPe will do the bidding of their corporate paymasters. Sessions has paid a price for his views. He was not appointed the chair of the Senate Finance Committee despite being the ranking member previously. Other GOP "rebels" have been hurt by Boehner in committee assignments as well as drying up donations from business. And the Dems get more money from the corporations than the Reps. The only current/potential Rep candidate for President who is articulating the views of Sessions is Walker. Cruz proposes a fivefold increase in the guest worker programs.

No plan will work unless we the People who want a return to Constitutional government to form a solid and consistent block of pressure points and to keep it up. Expecting the politicians to change because it's the right/smart thing hasn't worked because we have not absolutely insisted.

Milton Friedman explains "Why it isn't Necessary to "Throw the Bums Out" You make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things.

Unless we can find a plan and find a way to actually goad a lot of folks into buying in and sticking to it, we will lose.

Sessions provides such a plan that will cut across and divide traditional Dem constituencies. But a plan, no matter how perfect, will not overcome the sheer numbers of Dem voters as their numbers grow due to immigration and minority birthrates. CA has the demography today that America will have in 2050. No matter what plan the GOP presents in CA, the Dems will still win. This is the point of Schlafly's study.

The Left is superior at activating its base and making it cohesive enough to insure 110% participation and we can't manage much over 45% of those who claim to be on our side to show up (no, I didn't research the percentages to ensure accuracy - it's a working example) - we're pathetic.

High turnout helps the Dems. Low turnout helps the GOP. The 2014 midterms had the lowest turnout since WWII. There are more Dems than there are Reps. The last time voter turnout was so low during a midterm cycle was in 1942, when only 33.9 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

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I'm all for throwing the bums out - those in individual States decide to send the bums up there - I believe we need to get together and "meddle" in some of the States' elections to try to help more conservative-minded folks get sent to DC. They do it to us (as they did in Mississippi) and we make noise about it but don't really do anything of substance to retaliate. Once again, unless we are willing to expend time/effort/money to keep up a long-term push, we may as well just relegate ourselves to the sidelines.

In case you haven't noticed, I like to "stir the pot" to get people to think about what it would really take to make some headway back towards a Constitutional Representative Republic. It necessarily causes some friction, but that's fine by me. If someone comes up with a better idea, I will jump on board. Until then, I'll keep the paddle in the pot and keep stirring.

To me. Cruz and Walker are our best hopes and I don't believe that either of them will go lawless. Walker has "evolved" his stance on immigration and I like the latest version better than what Cruz proposes. I still prefer Cruz overall and will not do anything to smear him or Walker because it makes no sense for us to trash either of them until such time as one of them is as close to definite for the final ballot as we can get. If Cruz looks like the best bet to make it, I'll double down on support for him. If Walker looks like the guy with the best chance to be there, I'll jump more firmly to his side. Both have some pluses and minuses, but either one would make a fine President when one looks across the whole board.

Neither one is apt to get everything they espouse so it won't get as good as Walker is saying he wants it or as bad as Cruz indicates he would have it. Either one will do their damnedest to stem the tide of illegals which is really the biggest threat. I'd wager that if either one spent a solid hour explaining their thoughts and rationales, we would tend to stop being as split on it as we are. It's early and they both have a lot more to develop and communicate.

We both want the same thing, we just don't agree on all the particulars and many of the particulars are not well-defined enough for us to paint the whole picture yet. Cruz is a bulldog and Walker is not quite as "rude" with the enemy - both have some superior aspects.

Here's hoping that we manage to have one or both viable at the end so the really terrible candidates become irrelevant - then we might be able to do a better job of deciding which would be best - until then, I will support both but will dedicate most of my time/cash to Cruz - I would expect you will be doing the same for Walker and I cannot/will not fault you for that.

[kabar]

My point is that regardless of which candidate you may favor, there is no refuting the numbers. If we continue to import hundreds of thousands of future Dem voters every year thru legal immigration along with giving out more than 1.5 million work permits to legal permanent immigrants and guest workers every yesr, conservatism will not survive no matter how the message is crafted. CA is the canary in the coal mine. I have witnessed it firsthand here in VA. We are losing and the faster we recognize it, the quicker we can come up with a strategy to counteract it. The status quo will make the Dems the permanent majority party.

Demography is destiny.

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My point is that regardless of which candidate you may favor, there is no refuting the numbers. If we continue to import hundreds of thousands of future Dem voters every year thru legal immigration along with giving out more than 1.5 million work permits to legal permanent immigrants and guest workers every year, conservatism will not survive no matter how the message is crafted. CA is the canary in the coal mine. I have witnessed it firsthand here in VA. We are losing and the faster we recognize it, the quicker we can come up with a strategy to counteract it. The status quo will make the Dems the permanent majority party. Demography is destiny.

Can't argue with any of that. We still have no choice but to either concede the battle or be active and do our best to:
1. Get rid of as many Dems as possible
2. Get rid of as many RINOs as possible<
3. Try to replace every one we get rid of with the most conservative candidates available

It will not be a quick or easy task and we have to get a lot more radically active than we have been in the past.

Stopping illegals from continuing the flood and nailing down the elections to keep them from voting is a priority. Weeding them out by active deportation where possible and by attrition by denying them any sort of benefits can also work if we manage to get enough conservatives seated - none of it will happen unless we manage to get a majority without all the Left-Wing Ass-Kissers we currently have.

Sending emails/sending letters/making phone calls is all fine but unless we also get a ground game of massive demonstrations to go along with it, and to counter the demonstrations of the Left is also critical - it will take effort and sacrifice. The question is whether or not those who claim to be conservatives actually have the fortitude to do it.

I'm retired now and, while not rich, do have the wherewithal to attend a well-planned demonstration or two. Most of our demonstrations deal with abortion and/or 2nd Amendment issues - we need to get vociferous about getting back to the whole of the Constitution and reining in government to compliance with the 10th Amendment. If we cannot manage to rally enough folks to actually stand up, in public, to be counted, we will continue to spin our wheels.

Your point is salient and understood - it can't be effectively turned around just by seating one really conservative President.

I'm digging in for the long haul - I hope enough others are aware enough to realize that they also need to do the same and work until exhausted then dig deep for another burst of energy. Too many pay a lot of lip service so those that actually get actively involved are fighting our own dead weight as well as the ever energetic Leftists.