Paul Revere on air

Slated on Backbone Radio, Apr. 18 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

It was on this night in 1775 that a Boston silversmith rode through the sleeping countryside to warn his fellow patriots the British were coming. Today the danger to liberty is every bit as great, but the alarm may seem less compelling: "The progressives are coming. The socialists are coming. The secularists are coming. The greens are coming. The bureaucrats are coming. The bankruptcy is coming." Too many Americans may answer with a shrug. Yet that's our wakeup call on Backbone Radio, and we'll do all we can to summon minutemen to the constitutional cause. My guests this evening include:

530 John Bolton, Former UN Ambassador

6pm Ralph Reed, head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition

630 Sally Pipes on health care

7pm Attorney General John Suthers

730 Paul Jacob on petition rights and term limits

Please listen in and call in. As much depended on Sam Adams and Paul Revere in their day, much now depends on you and me.

Yours wide awake, JOHN ANDREWS

Freedom at the tipping point

(Denver Post, Apr. 18) “The British are coming,” Paul Revere’s alarm to the Massachusetts countryside on this day in 1775, conveys an urgency you don’t get from the equivalent warning of 2010, “The bankruptcy is coming.” Fact is, though, fiscal implosion threatens the aging United States of today as grimly as the redcoats threatened the newborn nation of 235 years ago. The question is whether Americans will come awake as the patriots did on that historic night, or sleepwalk into the abyss. I fear for our country, optimist that I am, because the answer is not clear. To stop blindly expanding entitlements we can’t fund and borrowing what we can’t repay, the country has to snap out of politics as usual. We need a brutally honest self-appraisal, AA-style. The Tea Party movement is doing that, but so far the old-line Democratic and Republican parties are not. America’s genius for self-correction has never been more needed.

We must save ourselves from a terminal case of debtor’s disease state by state, with Washington dragged in last. It will be Massachusetts setting a good example with Scott Brown after setting a bad one on subsidized health care. Illinois passing pension reform while California remains in denial. New Jersey’s Chris Christie stepping up as a budget-balancing governor as our own Bill Ritter whiffs.

In Colorado neither the legislative session nor the election campaign has yet risen above politics as usual. Democrats raised taxes rather than discipline spending. Republicans went for higher electric rates on dubious environmental grounds. Both settled for a bandaid on the PERA pension cancer. The House Speaker favors an ACORN election bill. Bipartisan senators plan another strike at petition rights.

Constitutional amendments initiated by the people, you see, are part of what ails Colorado in the view of some elected politicians. They want to make it twice as hard for you and me to revise our own charter of government. Such restraints on power as term limits in 1990 and tax limits in 1992 couldn’t be so readily imposed in the better future these visionaries offer us. No thanks.

In the US Senate race, meanwhile, Democratic momentum is with Andrew Romanoff, a friend of the big unions that worsen our fiscal and economic woes, and the Republican field is led by Jane Norton, who supported the easy-spending Referendum C back in 2005, sugar for Colorado’s budgetary diabetes. The Democrats’ likely nominee for governor, Mayor Hickenlooper, is an habitual taxer, yet his opponent Scott McInnis won’t sign a no-tax pledge. Come on, friends, pick it up a notch.

My colleague Richard Bishirjian of Yorktown University contends that part of the problem in Colorado is a “brain drain” due to term limits. The deficit I see isn’t brains but backbone – a spine decline. We’re in danger of being systemically corrupted as a whole people, as the Independence Institute’s Dennis Polhill put it.

Today’s imperative – sober up and man up, or the Chinese will own us – is less galvanizing than a midnight cry to wake up or King George will tyrannize us. But make no mistake, freedom is again at a tipping point. The ascent from bondage to faith to courage to liberty to abundance, traced by historian Alexander Tytler in the 1770s, tilts quickly from abundance to complacency to apathy to dependency, returning then to bondage. Ask yourself where we are on that scale.

The balance our Founders sought, wrote James Madison, was to “first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Two centuries on, badly under Bush and still worse under Obama, Americans are getting little of the one and way too much of the other. We have to turn this around. Will 2010 be the year?

Hair on Fire

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough commented yesterday that tea party patriots complaining about taxes "have their hair on fire" over nothing.I'm one of the very few Americans that ever watches Morning Joe for any length of time. Living in Colorado, that means I'm up at 4:00 a.m. to check on the day's liberal spin.  Joe and Mika both have admitted on air they get frequent emails during the show from White House staffers, so its a great source if you're interested in what story lines Rahm and David and the gang want put forth for the day. With few exceptions such as a great interview with NJ Gov. Chris Christy this week, Joe entertains the same old crowd of cronies, day in and day out.  Political heavy hitters such as White House correspondent, Chuck Todd, who keeps a daily watch on the Soup de Jour that is served in the West Wing cafeteria, John Meacham, editor of Newsweek and of  We're All Socialists Now fame and Gayle King, Oprah's sidekick who thinks Obama's greatest achievement has been the repairing of all our foreign relationships.  Maybe she's watched too many of her boss' episodes, but she loves being loved by the world.   None of these usual guests, along with most others, have ever had a decent thing to say about the Tea Party Patriots movement.  In fact, most talking heads on MSNBC have dug deep into their rhetorical arsenals for the most crude, improper, slanderous descriptions they can find to insult their fellow Americans.    One year ago, our President claimed he was "unaware" that tea parties were held across the nation, including a huge gathering right outside his door on the Washington Mall.  This year, Mr. Obama can't figure out why the tea partiers aren't thanking him.  Mr. Scarborough apparently agrees.  Afterall, no one earning under $250,000 per year has had a tax increase under the Obama watch, right?.  Why all the protest and noise?  Washington insiders can't figure it out, so as a member of the unwashed, chattering class, I'll attempt to enlighten them on some key points of dissent:

THE HEALTHCARE REFORM LEGISLATION that was passed inspite of the objection of the electorate is a big one.  Back room deals, Chicago-style political threats and arm twisting, elected government representatives selling their convictions and their souls in order to win political favors and more prompted many Americans to take to the streets on Thursday, April 15.  Oh, and the by the way, Joe, there's also the little matter of the $940 billion dollars (conservative estimate) this monster will cost which we actually don't have.  Where will the money come from?  Taxes, penalities and premium increases levied against the middle class, of course!

47% OF AMERICANS NO LONGER PAY FEDERAL INCOME TAX, yet under Obama, more and more people are collecting  and consuming federally funded benefits and entitlements.  This isn't sustainable, Joe.   We are bracing for another big foreclosure  fiasco, both in homes and in commercial real estate.  We already know how our president will respond to that--a bailout charged to the middle class for generations to come.

MARGINAL TAX RATES ARE ON THE RISE FOR THE DECREASING NUMBER OF AMERICANS THAT ARE STILL PAYING OUR WAY.  We've noticed, Joe, that this administration stops at nothing to carry out its agenda.  We know our tax rates are headed upward, the Death tax will return, along with reinstatment of the marriage penalty.  Young families will get a smaller child tax credit.  More and more people will qualify for the Earned Income credit, but fewer among us will be picking up the slack, Joe. 

THE CAP AND TRADE BILL that is being quietly crafted in the model of the healthcare legislation (secret deals, doors slammed in the faces of Republicans asking to participate, using the Pelosi method of  'wait till its passed and then you'll see what's in the bill', and other honorable methods of ruling the people) will impose enormous taxes on all Americans.  It will become either very costly or impossible to buy and sell real estate which will likely equate to the Fed's buying up all private property.  Costs for energy will soar, while GE gets the contracts to produce all the new appliances and electric motors required for government compliance.  By the way, Joe, did you happen to hear that GE doesn't owe any taxes this year?  Apparently, they made all their money overseas and showed losses in the U.S., so that worked out well for your employer, right?  Good thing it wasn't a Big Oil company or Halliburton that didn't pay taxes, otherwise your guests would be rabid about the unfairness and demanding Congressional hearings. 

INCREASED DISCRETIONARY SPENDING BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION has risen by 24%, except for spending for the military and defense, which shows no increases even though our president reminds us that terrorism remains our biggest threat (please don't refer to the terrorists as Islamic extremists, though).  Somebody will pay for the increased spending.

THE CBO PREDICTS PUBLIC DEBT WILL GROW TO 90 % OF OUR GDP WITHIN THE NEXT FEW YEARS.  Who suffers, Joe?  Who pays the interest on the debt?  Which future generation gets hit the hardest and pays the dearest price for this administration's complete disregard for fiscal responsibility and the caretaking of our financial future?  Who will listen to us, Joe?  We write our representatives and get form letters thanking us for our support and interest in return.  What else can be done besides grabbing a flag and heading out to a tea party?  We have no recourse until November, at which time the great bell of liberty will toll.

STIMULUS BILLS, BANK TAKE-OVERS, GOVT./ UNION TAKE-OVERS OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY and other big-government, Marxist-inspired interventions into the private sector and the private lives of Americans have outraged the general public.  We know the administration would love to take over the media and internet.  We know they are plotting bail-out's for failing newspapers instead of realizing the market drives whether or not a publication succeeds or fails.  If the govt. owns the big news corporations, they control what is disseminated to the people.  Fewer dissenting voices can be heard until they are silenced altogether. 

LIBERAL JUDGES LEGISLATING FROM THE BENCH is another outrage that has Americans saying 'enough'!  We expect all branches of our government to exercise their duties, yet refrain from over-stepping their Constitutionally mandated boundaries.

AMERICANS ARE PRETTY TICKED OFF, JOE, about high unemployment also.  Did you hear that our Chairman of the Federal Reserve just stated recently that unemployment will likely stay high for a good while longer and that the ONLY WAY TO OFFSET ALL THE INCREASED SPENDING OF THIS ADMINISTRATION IS TO RAISE TAXES!  Paul Vocker agrees and tells us a VAT tax is really going to be needed, otherwise we can't sustain all the new spending.  Hair on fire over taxation, indeed!

CHINA AND OUR OTHER DEBTORS are worried about our ability to repay our massive debt, yet we have an administration that continues to pile on more and apparently, what we can't get in credit, we just print. 

WE ARE KINDA WORRIED ABOUT OUR 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS, TOO, Joe.  Seems gun ownership isn't too popular amongst you Washington elites.  When we hear about proposed restrictions on gun ownership and our rights in general, we speak up, and since no one in Washington listens anymore, we take to the streets to defend our Constitution and Bill of Rights when we see them ignored, too.  We know liberals in Congress and the White House don't read bills anymore, and we know you guys in the media don't hold them accountable, so we have decided to hold all of you accountable for your failures.

UNDESERVING PEOPLE THAT CONTINUE TO REAP THE BENEFITS OF THE HARD WORK OF OTHERS is another reason the folks are upset with this administration.   People that have worked hard all their lives to provide for their families and to be able to offer a charitable hand to neighbors truly in need are now considered selfish if we don't gladly pick up the tab for food, housing, clothing, transportation, health care, education and more for a growing number of people here legally and not, that use their addictions, laziness and entitlement mentalities to drain the rest of us.   The more they take, the less there will be for those that sincerely need assistance.  The media didn't have reports from the tea parties of violence or disorderly behavior, so instead, they have now decided to simply call all of us racists.  They are certain that the only people getting out in their communities in protest are white, older, wealthy Americans.  The tea parties I've attended include Americans of all ages, religions, income levels and races, but the camera crews for MSNBC never seem to find the cross section of faces or hear our voices.   

It is impossible for Barack Obama and the media types in his servitude to comtemplate the idea that his policies are dividing the country and more and more people from all backgrounds and walks of life are joining those old, white rich folks in city parks and courthouse squares to say NO to both the quiet, creeping take-over's and the blatant, overt assaults on the American way of life, our free markets and our personal freedoms given by God at birth.  By the way, Joe, the numbers of  'rich' people dwindle daily.

Joe Scarborough will never 'get it', but I wish he'd at least stop claiming to be a conservative Republican.  He gives the brand a bad name. Many of us are trying to improve our standing in the public eye by supporting true conservatives and those that take their oath to uphold the Constitution with integrity and commitment.  People like Joe keep setting that effort back.  Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll join his friend, fellow Floridian, Charlie Crist, and go Independent where its easy to sit on the fence and nod in agreement with those on both sides, never standing with our Founders and sticking to their guns.

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