Recipe for Republican renewal

How could the GOP could become the Grand Old Party once again? Their chances in 2010 aren't very good right now, even if the Democrats go hog wild with more pork-barrel spending, and big-government programs. The past eight years of George W. Bush and his administration don't inspire a lot of confidence for most Americans in the Republican party. Now, it's still possible the party could regain relevance in the next few years. It's not an easy process, and will require attributes that a lot of politicians don't have – or if they do, they're in short supply. Such as common sense. Economic and financial literacy. Remembering and governing by the founding principles of the Republican party and the United States.

Vince Lombardi told his Green Bay Packer team back in the 1960s, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” It was his way of stressing the fundamentals to his players. That's exactly what Republicans must remember (and put into governance) if the party wants a chance in hell of staying relevant – or even in existence. It's the Constitutional, limited-goverment principles our country was founded on.

Simple things like cutting (or at least freezing) spending... balancing our budgets... and making sure new programs are necessary before approving them. And utilizing our military for national defense – not international offense into foreign lands, with no clear enemy, goals or exit strategy.

It's definitely not the “neo-conservative” bill of goods that was sold to the GOP and our country. And it's not blindly supporting a leader regardless of how they govern, because they have an “R” behind their name.

That's the reason Republicans lost en masse in 2006 and 2008. Average Americans looked at supporters of the party and the President as loyal Kool-Aid drinkers who acted like Seargeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes (“I know no-thing... I see no-thing!”), and saw nothing wrong with anything President Bush did. It was “Hallelujah, Hail Bush, Pass the Ammunition.”

Republicans and some “conservatives” who looked at everything President Clinton did with a critical eye, turned a blind eye to the Bush Administration's policies that increased our country's debt, and decreased our liberties – all in the name of the “War on Terror.” Never mind that terror is a tactic, not an enemy – and makes about as much sense as a “War on Frontal Assaults.” The WOT rings hollow when our southern border with Mexico is an absolute sieve, and it's obvious the Administration was never serious about border security, or discouraging illegal immigration.

Americans saw borrowing and spending skyrocket to new all-time highs... and “staying the course” in two military conflicts, because we hadn't “finished the job” yet – whatever the hell it was. Even though back in 2003 the President declared, “Mission Accomplished.” Combine this with the biggest stock market crash since the Dirty 30's, and most folks on Election Day were ready for “change.” They didn't care about the details – as long as it wasn't the policies or party of George W. Bush.

Effective leadership today will require a lot of courage and candor from elected officials to citizens, bordering on brutal honesty. Especially when it comes to financial and economic matters, and how they affect policy decisions across the board.

The starting point for all decisions must be made with this premise: The United States of America is bankrupt, along with at least a dozen states. The state of California is Exhibit A. We can no longer afford to be the world's policeman, or show other countries the American way of life, whether they want it or not. The bailouts and stimulus programs (whether from Bush or Obama) are probably being funded by printed – and not borrowed – money, which is debasing the currency, and will cause high (if not hyper-) inflation in the next year or two.

We're the world's largest debtor nation, owing a good chunk of that debt to foreigners. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts last September were done to appease these foreign investors, who could have put in “sell” orders, and really wreaked havoc with our bond and real estate markets. The more important international battles in the short to medium-term will be financial and economic, and not military.

In the coming years, there will major paradigm shifts in the US. There will be a reduction – if not an elimination – of guaranteed pensions from corporations, state and federal governments. Fewer benefits, an increase in retirement age, and means testing will probably all be in place. Wall Street will no longer be a major financial center or sphere of influence, because of the arrogance, corruption and excessive greed of investment bankers – and that includes Hank Paulson.

For you “true believers” who think Paulson is a hero deserving Man of the Year honors, I'll sell you ocean-front property in Wyoming. Paulson made a ton of money shorting the mortgage-backed securities that he helped create – which means when the value of these “assets” went down (and he knew they would, because they were dogs from the get-go), he cleaned up. The $850 billion Banker Bailout Bill he railroaded through Congress was a scam as well. Banks have hoarded the money, and it hasn't gone to buy up troubled assets as Paulson said it would.

Wall Street and the stock market are a huge Ponzi scheme, and 401(k) plans will go down in history as one of the biggest scams ever foisted on American employees/investors. Warren Buffett says it best: “If you're at a poker table for awhile, and you don't see the sucker – you're it.”

Americans are starting to realize they've been played for suckers by Wall Street with the help of Democrats and Republicans, and they're none too happy about it. I've got a hunch that the Madoff scandal is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and we'll see more stories like this in the future.

Foreign leaders, central banks and investors are looking at our country and leaders like we've smoked large quantities of crack cocaine. They don't believe in or trust American leadership like they used to – and neither do a growing number of citizens.

I realize that some of you may disagree with what I'm saying, and think none of these events could ever happen in the US. Or you think that I'm not being a loyal Republican. Frankly, I don't care. I call it like I see it, and my predictions in the past have been pretty accurate. I knew that John McCain was a no-hoper back in July, and if you didn't figure it out by Labor Day, you were truly drinking the red-state Kool-Aid. Think about this: If the new-fangled, neo-conservative Republican way was so great, then what caused the electoral a**-kicking the last two elections?

The only way the GOP can regain prominence is to totally reject the foreign and domestic policies of George W. Bush, and get back governing by the limited-government, Constitutional principles that made this country great. And not just giving it lip service – but actually putting it into practice. Voters today are increasingly angry about what's going on; and their patience for nice platitudes, speeches, or general BS is quickly running out.

A lot of Obama supporters engaged in the cult of personality, but too many Republicans did as well. Either the party gets back to the fundamentals of our country's Founders, or it's doomed to irrelevance and a footnote in history.

The defaming of the President, 2008

No one expects political campaigns to be as calm, rational and genteel as academic seminars (although even those aren’t what they used to be), and certainly not as illuminating as the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, but the 2008 election was marked by defamation on as grand a scale as any in our nation’s history. George W. Bush may not be one of our great presidents, but he is not evil or insane. Yet the left wingers in our country, aided by a few right wingers, managed to craft an image of an administration that showed reckless disregard of the Constitution, the rights of both our citizens and foreigners, the requirements of diplomacy and our standing in the world.

Routinely, Bush was likened to Hitler, because he “invaded” Iraq, even though he was saving a people from tyranny, not imposing it. Government surveillance of enemy communications was misconstrued as “spying” on American citizens. Holding enemy combatants was confused with denying them due process rights. Indirect negotiations with Iran and six-party talks with North Korea were treated as nonexistent. These lies are only the tip of the iceberg.

This is defamation, which is “the utterance of a false statement that harms the reputation of another.” There is nothing wrong, of course, with uttering true statements that harm a person’s reputation (unless it is a privileged communication), but the distinction has been lost of late amidst the passion of self expression that has gripped our nation since the turbulent 1960s.

The turning point came with New York Times v. Sullivan (1965), a United States Supreme Court decision which held that even false statements are protected by the First Amendment if the writer or speaker did not know the statements were false at the time they were made. This constitutes malice. But, alas, the climate of allegedly “wide-open, robust debate” credits any statement agreeable to the passions of the media that publicize it.

Of course, it’s fair to say, as old pols have, that “politics ain’t beanbag,” and certainly Bush understands that, as he has been gracious under the verbal assaults and has filed no libel suits. He accepts Harry Truman’s admonition, viz., “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

It would incorrect to rank the recent campaign as the worst in history, for others come to mind, such as what the supporters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson said about the opposing candidate in 1800, calling the former a tyrant and the latter a libertine. Or the campaign of Andrew Jackson’s supporters against incumbent John Quincy Adams in 1828, smearing that most virtuous of all presidents as immoral. Remember the nuclear blast commercial castigating Barry Goldwater in 1964?

What makes this year’s political defamation particularly galling is that it was uttered and disseminated by people in both party and media politics who make grandiose claims for their superior wisdom and virtue that are not warranted by the facts. No one has captured this pretentiousness better than Thomas Sowell, who has dubbed the advocates of the nanny state at home and appeasement abroad as “the anointed.”

Like the progressives of the late 19th and early 20th century, today’s incarnations see themselves as the better sort of people, whose job it is to lead the unenlightened masses to a promised land of harmony and plenty which is about as likely to arrive as the forever postponed utopia in the old Soviet Union. Neither the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt nor the Great Society of Lyndon Johnson managed to raise the standard of living or bring people out of poverty. Only a free market has shown that it can do that.

Coming from what are purported to be the best colleges and universities in the country, liberal politicians and journalists believe they alone are “objective” in their analysis of the nation’s and the world’s ills. They speak a peculiar language characterized by moral neutrality regarding matters of morals and moral outrage about facts that displease them.

By the evidence of this last campaign, the anointed ones feel no compunction about uttering all manner of lies about those whose offices they covet, for their pie-in-the-sky ends justify any means. There is a far-left organization aptly named By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) that defames all those seeking to end racial preference in public policy.

Many Americans, including me, were disappointed that President Bush did not succeed in Iraq sooner than he did, or that he resorted to government bailouts to deal with an economic crisis. But they have elected a faction that will use our government to ensure defeat abroad and real economic depression at home. For that we can thank, at least in part, a campaign of defamation that reduces the complexity of political issues to a matter of the elite’s personal preferences.

Readers poll: Who was great in 2008?

Backbone Americans far prefer Palin or Bush over Time's Person of the Year, Barack Obama. Voting continues, just a click away. Out of a wide-ranging list of nominees from our thousands of friends, Gov. Sarah Palin leads all contenders for Woman of the Year. President George W. Bush is the other top vote-getter for Man of the Year so far.

To vote, click here and use the comment block. Balloting closes 1/4/09.

The wide interests and lively imagination of Backbone Americans are evidenced by the ever-growing breadth of our list. Other nominees receiving multiple votes (shown alphabetically, not by ranking) included:

Armed Forces Personnel Douglas Bruce Dick Cheney Vaclav Klaus Ron Paul David Petraeus Police & Firefighters Alexander Solzhenitsyn Robert Spencer Rick Warren

Single votes have also been cast for the following:

Chuck Baldwin William F. Buckley Jim Bunning Saxby Chambliss Tom Coburn Constitution & Bill of Rights Dinesh D’Souza Anthony Flew Fernando Flores Bobby Jindal Mort Marks John McCain Millennial Generation Albert Mohler Paul Newman Henry Paulson Putin & Medvedev Ronald Reagan Natan Sharansky Tony Snow Tom Tancredo Peter Wallison John Walsh Oprah Winfrey

Vote for Man of the Year

Who showed the most backbone in 2008? That's our criterion for man or woman of the year. Take the poll today, right here. Yes, we know that Time magazine already made Barack Obama its person of the year. For political appeal and oratorical gifts translating into momentary impact on the world, he deserves it.

But we at Backbone America now invite you to vote your favorite on a different basis -- the individual's lasting impact on human betterment resulting from fidelity to truth and right. In a word, character or backbone.

Cast your vote in the comment block at the foot of this page. It could be someone prominent in the past year's news, someone you think is a rising star with potential for great impact in years to come, or someone whose lifetime achievement was highlighted this year, perhaps by their passing.

In the latter category were Alexander Solzhenitsyn, William F. Buckley, Paul Weyrich, and Charlton Heston. Top newsmakers included John McCain, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Bobby Jindal. Some might choose the outgoing president, George W. Bush. Or a figure of world eminence like Pope Benedict or Lady Thatcher. We're bound to get some joke nominations, for which I won't even tempt you with suggestions here.

The above names are just examples. Voting is open to anyone you choose. Variety is encouraged.

Use the comment block below to give us your Man or Woman of the Year nomination, more than one if you like, with a few words telling why. We'll tally and publicize the results early in January. Thanks for taking part, and best wishes for the New Year.

Colorado Winners & Sinners of 2008

Before 2008 is forgotten, here’s our annual salute to Colorado winners and sinners of the old year. Denver hosted a successful DNC and sparkled for its 150th birthday. Coffman and Polis went to Congress after tough primaries. Ritter’s tax increase flopped. Hard times for Rockies baseball and the Rocky Mountain News. So begins one of my current TV mini-debates with Susan Barnes-Gelt. The full script for this month's series on Colorado Public Television is posted on the home page, left column partway down. Our exchange continued as follows:

SBG- The biggest winner, now that we are at the end of 2008, is the American public; witnessing the end of the Bush government. Eight years of being lied to while corporate goliaths and hedge fund managers got rich, have taken a huge toll.

JA- Enough with the Daily Kos talking points. Give me some hometown humor. How about Mark Udall making “Boulder liberal” into a badge of honor with his 10-point victory? How about Speaker-designate Bernie Buescher becoming election roadkill? How about Golden changing its name to Tincup after the Coors brewery goes away?

SBG- That's a good one and Commerce City sounds like a brand all America would love to adopt! Urbanism is a huge winner. With Obama's election - a true urbanist who thought about being an architect. C I T Y is no longer a 4-letter word!

Update by JA- After this piece was taped mid-December, the ball took another funny bounce for ex-Rep. Bernie Buescher as he was appointed Secretary of State. Overnight, with Ritter's help, he became resurrected roadkill. Is that what they mean by failing upward?