The Parties
Posted at 10:57am on Jul. 1, 2008 Obama Gives Speech on Patriotism - Doesn’t Mention Freedom
By Bill Dupray
Got to hand it to him. It must have been tough to do. In a 29 minute speech on patriotism in which he invoked Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Adams, Truman, King, the Pledge of Allegiance, World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq, he does not mention America's greatest attribute and the single-most powerful beacon to the world: American Freedom.
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Posted at 10:43pm on Jun. 29, 2008 Billions, billions and more Billions
By laujenind
So, the point are:
1) "The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth."
2) "Geography - note
the world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe."
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Posted at 10:32pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Broadcaster Freedom Act....the time is now to get this to the floor!
By Jaded
Representative Pence NEEDS you all to contact your Representatives if they are on this list....
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27084
To date not one Democrat has signed this and I know some of you live in Blue Dog terroritory....so please call them and give them what for...These words are all you need to know about why Democrats don't want to sign and why you must make them.
“I think the Fairness Doctrine ought to be there and I also think equal time doctrine ought to come back. I mean these are the people who wiped out one of the most profound changes in the balance of the media is when the conservatives got rid of the equal time requirements,” said Sen. Kerry. “And the result is that, you know, they’ve been able to squeeze down and squeeze out opinion of opposing views and I think it’s been an important transition in the imbalance of our public…
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Posted at 11:04am on Jun. 10, 2008 Election 2008: Americans v. Anti-Americans
By Bill Dupray
Obama has succeeded in separating the wheat from the chaff in the Democrat party.
We hear about these groups of disaffected Hillary voters who are resolved not to vote for Obama. A full 59% of Hillary voters in the West Virginia primary said that if Obama got the nomination, they would either vote for McCain or not vote at all. Obama and the DNC are desperately trying to unite the party, and though intra-party squabbles are usually ironed out by November, this year is without precedent. One cannot assume, as they say, that past experience is an accurate predictor of future performance.
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Posted at 11:18am on Jun. 6, 2008 On the Need for a Change in Our Lexicon
By TheSophist
In one of the best blog posts I've read recently, Dafydd over at Big Lizards continues the conversation about our need to start engaging in ideological warfare with the Islamists. That is a fantastic discussion in and of itself. I strongly recommend reading not just that post, but the posts before it that engendered the discussion.
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Posted at 2:31pm on Jun. 5, 2008 Molon Labe
By Flyover Country
Below is a story of courage that we are all familiar with, and how the lessons learned there will enable us to achieve victory in the long war of ideological struggle for the American soul.
In 480 B.C., King Leonidas of Sparta led a small, rugged band of warriors against the mighty Persian army of Xerxes at Thermopylae ("Gates of Fire"). The Persians had already rolled up most of southern Asia, the Middle East and the eastern Sahara and Lower Nile regions, and were knocking on the door of Greece. If Greece fell, so would all of Europe. Thermopylae would be the keyhole that would unlock Greece, and allow Xerxes' forces to roll on through to Athens, the greatest of all Greek city-states, and the last refuge of the nation's hope.
Knowing this, Leonidas led three hundred of his best warriors to the pass at Thermopylae. He was joined in combat by roughly 5,000 other Greek warriors. 5,000 Greeks against a force that (by most current estimates) numbered over 700,000. The forces of Greece fell to the last man at the Gates, after a battle that raged for three days, and cost the Persians significant losses. Athens used the delay to gather their forces at Salamis (while the Persians sacked Athens), and eventually crushed the Persian navy at Salamis. Later, a Spartan-led force of Grecians annihilated the Persians at Plataea, finally pushing them out of Greece.
We all know the story, and the legend that has emerged from the mists of history about brave Leonidas and his three hundred warriors. Why do I bring it up here, after so many popular depictions and re-tellings have watered down the legend?
Read on...
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Posted at 11:42am on May 29, 2008 Shining City on a Hill
By Flyover Country
This entry is a follow-up to my previous diary that floated the notion of the "Big Tent" concept. It was met with open arms by some, and a measure of hostility by others. I believe the hostility to have been by and large the result of some poor wording on my part(i.e. using phrases that appeared to attack the social con base) and an idiotic stubbornness on my part in sticking to my guns on phrasing. I owe most of the commenters a sincere apology for that. I'm on the Right's side 100%, and so I will clarify here a proposed, work-in-progress roadmap to utilizing first principles and strong conservatism as an outreach tool to a majoritarian political center who could be useful political allies.
You can call it mysticism if you want to, but I have always believed that there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage." -- Ronald Reagan, 25 January, 1974
Ronald Reagan is viewed by most on the Right as a political chimera, a man who infused the three legs of conservatism with a vigor and primacy of place never before witnessed in America. Reagan has since become a mythical creature of demi-god proportions, because he proved that a principled conservative politician could win - and not just win, but dominate this country's political landscape like no conservative ever has.
Under Reagan, the United States regained its economic swagger and its fearsome reputation as the defender of freedom. The question is now being asked, "where's our next Reagan?" I posit that perhaps the question is irrelevant. Ronald Reagan was only a man - an incredible, effective leader, no doubt, but still just a man. It was his pinciples that re-energized America. It was nothing more than a strong man, wielding unbeatable principles. I look at some of the leaders on the Right, and they too are capable of carrying on Reagan's true legacy (not the squishy, big-government "compassionate conservatism" of the succeeding Bushes).
I look at leaders like Bobby Jindal, Jeb Hensarling, Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin, and I see men and women who live and die by conservative principles. They are photogenic, incredibly intelligent and possessed of dignity and honor. They can be Reagan. It was not as much the man as his unswerving, eloquent promotion of first principles and conservatism. What can the next generation of conservative politicians do to raise the banner again, and carry a true majority mandate to shrink government and save the republic?
Read on...
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Posted at 5:56pm on May 27, 2008 The "Big Tent" Concept, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Center
By Flyover Country
Author's note: What follows will probably be viewed rather dimly by many here, but I have confidence that my suggestions for improving American politics will be met not with vitriol or anger, but will be viewed as a sincere attempt to promote honest discussion.
There is a growing trend in the discourse on the Right to disparage the idea of becoming a more inclusive group, more welcoming to loosely-affiliated political factions who tend to view certain primary issues counter to a pure conservative. This rejection of center-right politics is often in favor of a purer, more ordered approach to conservatism. While I'm personally a staunch conservative, I'm also a pragmatic individual.
Barack Obama is on the cusp of the most powerful office in the land; he will be backed by a strengthened Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, with at least two SCOTUS appointees in the next four years and a whole slate of activist judges to boot. His election will almost certainly push American policy and legislation to the Left for the next couple of decades. Conservatism will wander in the wilderness for another generation, seemingly waiting for its Reagan on a white stallion to bail it out again. Can we prevent this? Dare I say...Yes, we can.
Read on...
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Posted at 11:41am on May 18, 2008 Let's Cut To The Chase.
By Tim Schieferecke
"I pledge allegiance to the America that can be." This statement was given by Hillary Clinton on 'The Tim Russert Show', 11/24/01. On its face, this just sounds like Hillary being Hillary, the snarky elite leftist. But this quote is so much greater than Hillary. It represents what I believe to be the unifying war-cry of liberalism.
I used to believe that there was no effective way to decipher the enigma code of liberalism. I thought they somehow magically evaded the effort at reduction to component parts. This is not the case.
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Posted at 2:27am on May 16, 2008 The "Hyper-Partisan" Type
By BigGator5
[In responce to this article.]
I was shocked that Tim Schieferecke said McCain accused Republicans of being "hyper-partisan". So I had to look for myself:
For too long, now, Washington has been consumed by a hyper-partisanship that treats every serious challenge facing us as an opportunity to trade insults; disparage each other's motives; and fight about the next election. For all the problems we face, if you ask Americans what frustrates them most about Washington, they will tell you they don't think we're capable of serving the public interest before our personal and partisan ambitions; that we fight for ourselves and not for them. Americans are sick of it, and they have every right to be. They are sick of the politics of selfishness, stalemate and delay. They despair when every election -- no matter who wins -- always seems to produce four more years of unkept promises and a government that is just a battleground for the next election. Their patience is at an end for politicians who value ambition over principle, and for partisanship that is less a contest of ide as than an uncivil brawl over the spoils of power. They want to change not only the policies and institutions that have failed the American people, but the political culture that produced them. They want to move this country forward and stake our claim on this century as we did in the last. And they want their government to care more about them than preserving the privileges of the powerful.
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Posted at 12:08pm on May 14, 2008 Fix It
By redscan
The Democrats and their "tax maggots" have screwed up this country
so badly, and they are taking the GOP with them.
Is it possible to fix it?
This President has presided over the greatest growth of
government since the New Deal.
For 6 years, with majorities in the House and Senate,
He spent like a drunken "liberal".
More government employees.
More deficit spending.
Where's the "conservative"?
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Posted at 11:13pm on Apr. 30, 2008 Will the Senator who would be President...march for AMNESTY for all?
By Jaded
I know you saw the title and thought which one? hehehe...
I am talking of Senator Obama who marched on May Day (International Workers Day) 2006...with many legal and illegal people who flew Mexican flags in solidarity with their country.
Tomorrow there will be a repeat of that...I am glad personally because my drive to work that last time was sweet...I shaved a good 10 minutes off my drive..but I digress.
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Posted at 10:26am on Apr. 29, 2008 The Inevitable Polarization of American Politics
By whiskeyboarder
Often I find that the material that I produce for a blog that I maintain solely for personal satisfaction is applicable to ideologies present here at RedState. As I am interested in intelligent, critical feedback, I often find it worthwhile to submit my material here. What follows is an example of such a case.
THE INEVITABLE POLARIZATION OF AMERICAN POLITICS
The following was encouraged by a comment posted in response to the most recent edition of Educated Soldier. Within the comment was a detail made in passing that, upon rereading effectively caught my attention.
The comment suggested that, perhaps, it would be useful to shed my current political biases. This is to suggest that one could choose to present and understand political discourse in a less segregated type of way. Perhaps, America would be best served to no longer exist along a deep Republican / Democrat divide. I respect this suggestion because it was framed around noble reasoning. As stated (and I am paraphrasing): the current situations facing the United States are too critical to become bogged down by political party divisions.
Abandon Right and Left wing biases. – This idea immediately struck me as surprisingly profound. The task seems so easy. But it is not. Indeed, to abandon such biases would constitute a paradigm shift in the way one perceives modern American politics.
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Posted at 3:00pm on Mar. 6, 2008 Are We Better Off...
By BobParks
Last week, I was approached by an official by the Massachusetts Republican Party and asked if I would consider running again for State Representative of our heavily Democrat district.
Man, was I torn.
You know me; I’m a fighter. So having to turn my back on my home district was very disappointing because all I would have to do is ask one simple question. A question that many around the nation should ask of their local representatives: “Are we better off now than we were two years ago?”
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Posted at 11:22pm on Feb. 3, 2008 Wondering about your thoughts on winner-take-all Republican Primaries.
By A Rational Liberal
In the world of progressives we're all abuzz about Super Tuesday, especially since polls are getting tighter by the second and it appears as if Obama may just catch and pass Clinton in California. (And Connecticut? Delaware? Missouri?)
But what makes it all more interesting is that all the Democratic primaries are proportional, most often based on congressional districts and so... even if he were not to win most of the states he could end up with, essentially, as many delegates.
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