Oct

26

The Independence Caucus

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I just joined the Independence Caucus. Check out their presentation at their website.

I am proud to say that my support of Jason Chaffetz puts me squarely in line with the principles of the Caucus, which has also endorsed Jason.

If it is not yet apparent to you how bad things are in Washington, maybe you need to find another source of news and information. The MOM (Move-On Media) is not telling you even half the story, and the part they are telling you is not even half true.

The answer is to simply stop listening to them. Turn off the TV; there’s very little of value on TV and a lot of indoctrination going on, even in the everyday sitcoms and drama series. You want news and information? Try talk radio. Yes, they are biased to one side of the political spectrum, but they will be the first to tell you that up front, unlike the MOM which pretends to be unbiased but isn’t. The broadcasters of Talk radio aren’t hiding things from you and aren’t twisting events to suit their worldview.

Most people I know, that listen to talk radio, are the most informed people I have come across. They take the news events that are described by the radio talkers and distill out the basic principles on their own. The more time they listen to talk radio, the more apt they are to being open to discussion on a host of issues.

What is truly ironic is that the proxies of the MOM almost always criticize listeners of talk radio as being stupid, uneducated, or brainwashed. Of course, the people who listen exclusively to MOM sources are never described in such condecending and patronizing terms. That, of itself, is proof that what I’m telling you is true.

So back to the orginal point, I would encourage you to watch the presentation of the Independence Caucus on their website. Find out what the MOM has not been telling you about the current situation. And join us!

Sep

15

Sarah Palin Cartoons

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections, Media | 5 Comments

A small collection of cartoons featuring Sarah Palin. Some of them are pretty good.

Aug

29

Sarah Palin of Alaska is John McCain’s VP Choice

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections | 1 Comment

Sarah Palin, current governor of Alaska is John McCain’s choice for Vice-President.

There are a lot of people excited right now. The folks at Townhall.com were “ecstatic.” Glenn Beck described the choice as “brilliant.” Even Karl Rove had many good things to say about the decision.

I had looked at Sarah Palin for only a moment, and then dismissed her a the choice because of her background. First, she’s from Alaska. Second, she has made some enemies among fellow Alaska Republicans trying to root out the corruption. Third, her husband works for an oil company. Fourth, she’s from Alaska.

I though she would never see the light of day in today’s Republican party. But then I remembered that John McCain has a habit of sticking it to the party. This time, it looks like it was in the right direction.

We don’t yet know a lot about Gov. Palin, and so Barak Obama’s first shot was to criticize her “lack of experience.” I know I didn’t hear that right.

Experience? She has more executive experience than Barak Obama, Joe Biden, and John McCain combined. Who is Baby Boy Obama to talk about experience?

Aug

16

Bennion Spencer: the Lord’s Anointed

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections, Religion | 2 Comments

I have heard several commentators, including Rush Limbaugh, voice their concerns about the state of today’s Democratic Party. Well, it seems the Democratic Party is in great shape after all. How could it not be with all those people intent on saving us from ourselves?

Read more

Jul

2

The Vision of the Anointed

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections | 3 Comments

I’ve been out of town for a couple of days. Time to catch up.

While I was on vacation, I finished reading Thomas Sowell’s marvelous book The Vision of the Anointed. It was a fantastic read! Many of my favorite current affairs books leave me wanting to strangle some liberal, just to make me feel better. So, I balance them with the heavy scholarly books, which are much more about principles, and take a lot longer to read. I get two benefits from these books–a grounding in true conservative principles, and time to cool off. Dr. Sowell’s book is a good balance of both.

In it, he explains that a good number of our population, especially of the academic variety but also many of those who simply have higher degrees, feel that they are exclusively qualified to lead us into the future; that only they have the vision to see what America really needs to be great. Right now you’re thinking, “Cool! A good book about Liberals.” Well, you won’t be entirely disappointed, but Dr. Sowell only occasionally mentions Liberals or Liberalism and does not point to them as the sole focus of his book. I came to realize, while reading the last few chapters of the book, that Dr. Sowell’s focus is on anyone who can be counted among the self-anointed, including Conservatives. No-one is immune from this self-aggrandizing vision.

Well, how interesting that Chris Cannon refers to the everyday folks here in Utah as boors (props to Brad Reneer at reneer.org). Here is a fine example of what Dr. Sowell writes about. Chris Cannon thinks the reason he was beaten in the primary was the low voter turnout. That Utahans don’t care enough to vote in numbers great enough to ensure a cannon victory. Well, after doing some analysis on the Utah County clerk’s Statement of Votes Cast, it appears that low voter turnout had little to do with Cannon’s ouster.

For example, in Provo’s 8th voting precinct, of 1366 registered Republican voters, only 6 made it out to vote and all 6 voted for Cannon. Conversely, in one American Fork precinct, the voter turnout was over 40%, yet Jason Chaffetz won that precinct with 60% of the votes.

Some other interesting results came out of Mapleton. You’d think that Mapleton would have been locked down for Cannon, but Cannon won in only two precincts there (I’m guessing the one in which he lives). Additionally, the Mapleton precinct with the highest and lowest turnout rates (24% and 16%) went to Cannon, but the 2nd and 3rd highest (21% and 17%) went to Chaffetz.

Overall, voter turnout was very low at less than 10%. But when the results are broken down by precinct, it becomes obvious that it would not have mattered if the voter turnout were higher. Cannon still would have lost. Perhaps Mr. Cannon should reflect on this truth. Over the years he has become one of the “anointed,” and out of step with reality. One of the things Thomas Sowell teaches us is those with the vision of the anointed find myriad ways to insulate themselves from reality. Chris Cannon is doing exactly that now.

I said in an earlier post that it was time for Mr. Cannon to step aside, in large part because he had reached the pinnacle of his power. Judging from his reaction to the election, I’m comfortable knowing I called it right.

(On a side note, I told Jason that we was going to win the nomination back at the Convention)

Jun

25

Congratulations, Jason!

Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

On a great win in the face of tremendous odds.

Chris Cannon seemed to have everything going for him: endorsements of most of Utah’s Republican leadership, name recognition, a bigger budget, experience from previous campaigns, PAC money from outside Utah, all that and yet volunteerism and a great grass roots effort were able to unseat him in a near landslide.

Everyone thought that the 59%-41% vote at the State convention was a fluke, but here it is again repeated in the Republican primary. Obviously Jason has something to say that resonates with voters. Too bad Chris Cannon was more interested in listening to outside voices.

Jun

24

Mr. Cannon, You’re Fired!

Filed Under Campaigns, Elections, Government, Politics | Leave a Comment

I spent the evening at Chaffetz Headquarters in Springville. At about 11:00 PM, Chris Cannon called to offer his congratulations, and to concede the race for Utah’s Third congressional District.

The totals as of right now (with all but one rural precinct reporting) are:

  • Jason Chaffetz - 59.96% (27,266)
  • Chris Cannon - 40.04% (18,208)

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Chaffetz thanked Mr. Cannon for his service to the community, which was a nice gesture.

There was a point during the evening where Mr. Cannon said something that served to solidify our feelings about him. He told a local reporter that he was disappointed in the low turnout, and said that it aserved as a lesson to the people of Utah; that if they want good representation, they’re going to have to get out and vote. The comment drew a lot of cat-calls from people at Chaffetz headquarters.

To me, it was reminiscent of another comment that was made several years ago. When Al Gore lost the presidential election in 2000, one of the Democratic leaders was interviewed at the State Capitol. Her comment made my blood boil. She said, as closely as I can recall, “The people have spoken, and if they want to drive this ship of state into the ground, that’s their business.”

Now I know Mr. Cannon didn’t say exactly that, but it certainly felt a lot like it. I am convinced that Washington has historically attracted people who think like that; who think they know better than us benighted masses. Chris Cannon has called for transparency in earmarks. What is really needed to overcome this effect is transparency in government. Washington needs to be a fishbowl, not an opaque bubble. Then nobody could say, “Well, you just don’t understand how things work back there.” That’s always a red flag for me. It says three things, 1) Washington is a closed society that, 2) the politicians think we aren’t bright enough to understand, and 3) we couldn’t get things done there because we aren’t part of the clique.

Here’s hoping Jason Chaffetz breaks it wide open!

Jun

24

Chaffetz Takes Early Lead

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9:40 PM

With 30% of precincts reporting, Jason Chaffetz has taken a sizable lead.

Current results:

Chaffetz: 61% (10,583) Cannon 39% (6798)

Watch current results on-line at

http://www.electionresults.utah.gov/xmlData/30003.html

Jun

24

Primary Day

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Today is the Republican Primary.

Do the right thing, and vote.

I voted Jason Chaffetz for US Congress in Utah’s Third District. I think it’s time for a change, and I’m not talking about the empty change-for-the-sake-of-change that Obama wants. I mean substantive change.

Chris Cannon has served Utah reasonably well, but he now seems to have picked up whatever germ has infested Washington DC that causes our public servants to become arrogant and cocky, to rise up against the people and take an attitude of “I know better than you.”

Jason’s positions more closely match my own, as does his feelings on the immigration question. Leaving in place the incentives that cause people to come here illegally, only to be caught up in the web of deceit laid by our leaders wherein these people cannot lift themselves out of poverty is wrong. We are a country that has prided itself on the equality of opportunity. But these people are shut out of that opportunity cycle by their legal status. The solution is not to make categorical changes to their status, but to encourage them to come to America the right way, in accordance with the law. Luring them here with promises of free health care, better income, whatever, is an evil that must be abolished.

Both Jason Chaffetz and Glenn Beck have rightly named this the new slavery–a community of non-citizens upon which our economy supposedly hangs. That argument was wrong during the revolution, and it is wrong now.

Get out and vote.

May

13

Chaffetz Campaign Launches Grass Roots Effort

Filed Under Elections, Government, Ideology, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Politics, Ron Paul, Technology | 2 Comments

Jason Chaffetz kicked off the next phase of his campaign today. Jennifer Scott, Chaffetz’s Campaign Manager, said today that they are kicking off “the biggest grass roots effort in the history of [Utah's] Third District.”

The campaign plans to take advantage of new technologies to help distribute news and information, similar to the methods used by Ron Paul and Mitt Romney in their respective bids for the Presidency. Ron Paul has demonstrated that such a movement can be powerful. He remains in the race despite insurmountable odds largely because of the support he gets from his on-line efforts.

Jason has an uphill battle on his hands as he faces Chris Cannon in the June 24th primary. Cannon isn’t going down easily; he has the advantages of name recognition, federal monies reserved for incumbents, and the infamous legacy of John McCain–the McCain-Feingold Act, which places restrictions on advertising for candidates by supporters in the month previous to an election. But those restrictions don’t apply to the media, so any media coverage Cannon can get is basically unrestricted advertising.

But Jason is not to be underestimated. He pulled off a stunning upset at the convention, and I’m betting that the mood for change is contagious; people want to see new faces and new ideas in Congress, and have demonstrated quite forcefully already that they are tired of Republicans acting like Liberal Democrats.

Chris Cannon says we shouldn’t change the status quo when it’s working so well for Utah. He has earned the respect of the movers and shakers in Washington D.C., and it would be foolish to give that up. From my personal perspective, the fact that Mr. Cannon claims to have the respect of Washington insiders speaks volumes. I mean, what does it say when some of the most corrupt, crooked politicians in the country respect you? Ultimately, it is the respect of the people, not of Washington politicians that Cannon should be seeking. That seems to be one of many differences between Jason Chaffetz and Chris Cannon. Please tell your friends about Jason Chaffetz.

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