Merry Christmas!

What is political correctness?

At the surface, it appears harmless. After all, what detriment could possibly arise from the practice of avoiding any language that could potentially offend another individual? In one-off conversations, the answer to that question is most likely, "not much." However, taken en masse, the consequence is what we now find ourselves battling with as an American culture.

When you look at some of our not so distant history, you can see the long-term effects of policies that seemed like good ideas with no adverse outcomes at the time they were implemented. The welfare system instated during the Great Depression to help people who couldn't find work eventually evolved into a program that rewarded people for remaining unemployed. Public housing left us with rough neighborhoods and burned out buildings. Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action - systems that were put into place to make a level playing field for all citizens - have enabled reverse discrimination. And if you think there aren't consequences to political correctness, I beg to differ.

You see, the price we're paying for political correctness is a relinquishment of one of our most basic freedoms, the freedom of speech. Do I seek to offend with what I say or write? No. But do I feel like I have to carefully choose my words and tip-toe around my true feelings so that I don't get fired, sued, or one day locked up by our own government? Absolutely. And it is sad that we've allowed ourselves to be sewn into this little box.

The spirit of America is an independent one. Independent people have ideas and opinions and they articulate them. One of the realities of the human race, though, is that not everyone is always going to like what the other guy has to say. There will be dissension and discord. So the choice that is out there is this:

Would you rather give up your freedom and be censored in what you can write, say, and think, or would you rather live with a little rub between you and whatever percentage of the population doesn't agree with your position?

I will take the latter.

And this is yet another reason why I will vote for Mike Huckabee. He is not afraid to stand up for what he believes and he will not allow himself to be silenced by the politically correct mafia. Did you happen to see his Christmas greeting? (Link below if you have not.) He said Merry Christmas and he happened to mention that the birth of Christ is the reason for the holiday. Heaven forbid! The way the media is beating on him, you'd think he'd called for the execution of a child. But he doesn't back down or change his position in response to the attacks and I respect him more for it. He even had the audacity (note sarcasm) to defend himself and restate his position on CNN. If you are tired of the PC crowd, you will love the second clip I've posted below.

I want to be free to say/think/write what I want and it is my dream that my children and grandchildren will one day enjoy those same liberties. An old proverb tells us that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and I think political correctness has taken us far enough.


You and I can make a difference. Join me in supporting Mike Huckabee today.

Merry Christmas!

For the Record, I'll Say it Again

Aren't You Ready for Something Different?

We all know the old saying about crabs in a pot. As long as all of them are on the bottom there aren't any problems. As soon as one tries to climb out, the others quickly reach out to pull it back down. As I watch this presidential race unfold, I am sadly reminded that our politicians, in spite of their much touted experience and enlightenment, have not yet evolved their behaviors beyond that of our pincered friends in the deep blue world of subaqueous crustaceans.

Huckabee is on the rise in America because he has a message and a platform that makes sense to us. And he is campaigning in a positive way; speaking about his record and his ideas rather than trying to air the dirty laundry of every other politician on the debate floor. And you know what? It's working. I don't want a leader whose best attribute is his ability to put another man down. What kind of person is that and who in their right mind would want to follow them? A leader builds up the people around him.

In response to Huckabee's recent success in the polls, we're seeing negative attack fliers in Iowa funded by the Romney campaign, bad-mouth-mercenaries funded by Ron Paul, the DNC Drudge leak, and the "anonymous" South Carolina fliers that both smack of Romney. And it's not just in the Republican camp, either. The Dems are doing more than their fair share of crab-clawing.

Again I ask, who would want to follow people who campaign like this? Do you expect they'll suddenly change their ways if we vote them into office? I don't.

I like Mike Huckabee because he is campaigning on who he is and what he believes. He's not out there to tear down the other candidates. He's there to build America up. It sure would be nice if all the candidates were as ethical in their approach as Governor Huckabee. Then again, their negative actions sure make my voting decision a lot easier.

Say no to the pinching politicians!

Give a dollar to help Mike and our country get out of the crab pot today!

Inspiration

Do you know what really amazes me about our democracy? It's the fact that in spite of all the big money, the corporate sponsorships, the lobbies, the main stream media, and the special interest groups, little folks like you and me still have a say and the ability to make a difference.

I hear the talking heads say things like "Oh, he's not electable" or "He can't be president because he hasn't raised enough money." I get irritated by the constant chorus of naysayers, but that quickly passes when I remind myself that none of them have any more of a say in this election than you or I. Money can buy media personalities and endorsements, but it can't buy the presidency. I take a lot of heart in that.

I picked up a really interesting book at the airport this week called "The Alchemist" (Paulo Coelho) and I found some insight and inspiration within it. The premise is that as humans, we have the ability to live a life of fulfillment and happiness if we are willing to listen to our hearts and follow our true callings. Many of us fail to confront our dreams, however, for four main reasons. I think two of them are extremely relevant to this entry.

1. We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible.

2. Fear of defeat.

The newspapers, radios and televisions continue to tell us that our candidate can't win this election; that it's impossible. They think that if they repeat this message enough, we'll give up before we begin to believe we can win. And they try to play on that innate fear of defeat that lives in each of us. They want us to take comfort in the fact that if we never believe and if we never try to make a difference, that we will find a place of refuge in our decision to not make ourselves vulnerable and our choice to not take a risk. They want us to believe that it is a better choice to trade our true convictions for the shelter of an old excuse ("we didn't really want that anyway") that we can cower under in the event we do not succeed.

And to that I challenge you to think differently. We will never succeed if we believe those who tell us that we will not. We will never succeed if we are afraid to take a risk and stand for something in which we believe. BUT, if we are willing to stand up, if we are willing to believe, and if we are willing to participate in the democratic process of this great land, we can make a difference.

Please make a contribution to Mike Huckabee's campaign today. If your dream is to have a choice in next year's election and to have a candidate who can unite this country once again, please take a stand. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL.


Do You Believe?

Are you willing to stand up?

Will you be the one who makes a difference?

Moving Upward

In my last post, I mentioned that as a nation we've become disengaged in our political process and have often neglected our privilege and duty of voting. After I finished writing and walked away, the point stayed with me. I started to really ask myself why it is that such a large part of our populace has lost interest in such an important process. How could you not care who our next leader will be? Why wouldn't you want to know what your elected representatives in the government are doing on your behalf? Why do you know and care more about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton than you do about your own elected officials and the decisions they're making every day; especially when those decisions will have an immediate impact on you, your future, and the futures of your children. Why don't we care anymore?

Well, it seems to me that you don't have to go very far beyond the daily headlines to begin to understand why our nation is on auto-pilot. There is mud-slinging from both sides of the aisle and, now that it's campaign season, even within each party. The Dems all hate Bush and the Republicans all hate Hillary. Left-wingers can't stand the right-wingers and vice-versa. Bills are passed and killed in partisan warfare. And in the midst of all of this, is anything actually being accomplished for us, the American people? Our government is so focused on beating up on itself that it's no wonder many of our fellow Americans have resigned themselves to the opinion that no matter who they put in office, the same scenario is likely to unfold. Years of this nonsense has actually started to reinforce a belief of "Why vote? It won't make a difference anyway."

Frankly, in the defense of Ms. Hilton and Ms. Spears, I can see how one would almost prefer to read about the life and times of our Hollywood elites on some days. At least the escape to fantasyland would take their minds off the fact that their paid and elected representatives are doing very little to move the country forward.

Here is my thought on Mike Huckabee for today. He believes in something he calls "Vertical Politics." It's about dropping the rhetoric, tackling the issues as a team, and actually getting something done for once. Here is a guy who is actually clued in to the fact that you and I don't care if somebody is right, left, blue, red, or green for that matter, as long as they are acting in our best interest and working to lift America up and make it a better place. Don't you think that's something we could all use a little bit more of in Washington?

Go Mike, Go!

A Better America

Some people might call me nostalgic. To some degree, I suppose they're right. I miss a lot of things about America that I never lived to experience. Sure, there were challenges of wars and economic depression and civil inequalities that had to be dealt with, but those were but a few frayed threads in a larger and otherwise pristine patchwork of American life. Things were simpler. Families mattered. The general population had a moral sense of right and wrong. People immigrated to our country to assimilate and become part of it, to make it stronger; not to terrorize or take over from within. There was pride in hard work and an honest dollar. We were one people and we stood behind our military as a collective whole in times of distress with more than lip service for political gain. We bought bonds, our women assembled our heavy armor, and we sacrificed our own food at home so that the boys on the front lines could be fed. We flew our flag in the morning and respectfully took it down at dusk. We were admired by other nations for being the kind of people that we were.

So what happened?

Too much to sum up here, for sure. Somewhere along the line though, we lost our guiding light. "Anything Goes" up and went and it took us right down the tubes with it.

Marriage became a contract rather than a commitment. Children were downgraded from people to possessions. If there was a buck to be made, we made it any way that we could. Even if making it meant lowering our standards or slighting someone. We became a sue-happy society filled with frivolous lawsuits. We allowed our civil liberties to be used against us to the point that we have become legally encaged in a world of political correctness. We lost our trust in one another and in our government. We worshipped our criminals as heroes and allowed our policemen to become villains. We traded true patriotism and national pride for a bumper sticker and a burning flag. Instead of taking advantage our our greatest right and voting, we became disengaged from our political process. And we wonder why other nations think we're laughable?

We are a great people. I know that in my heart and I can see it in your eyes when we pass in the street. We're not strangers. Somewhere down deep, we still have that conscience and that pride that makes us Americans. I can sense it in our children - they want to know that great America - and I can see the ever-dimming twinkle in the eyes of our elders. We're all right here and we all want the same thing. But we're polarized. We need a leader who can unite us.

Mike Huckabee has my vote because he gives me hope that a better America is still out there.

It is up to you and me to find it.

My Beginning

I have been a conservative all of my life, but aside from voting and getting fired up over the talking heads on TV or left-leaning callers berating the hosts of my favorite talk radio shows, I've never been overly involved in the political process. I've never campaigned for anyone and I've certainly never taken a shot at blogging. So why do I now find myself going overboard?

Well, to make sense of it all, you might want to understand a little bit about me. I am the eldest of three children and I come from a working class home in my native Pennsylvania. I wasn't poor - could always pick somebody who had things a little rougher than we did - but I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth, either. My parents worked long hours and stretched a lot of pennies to make sure that we were always clothed, warm, and fed. I was raised as a Christian and I identify myself as such, but you will not catch me on a soapbox telling you that my religion is better than yours or that your actions and choices are less holy than mine in the eyes of God. That's your business and the way I see it, we all fall short of the glory so we might as well leave the judgements up to Him. When I was 12, my parents separated and then divorced. My brother and I stayed in our home with my father and my sister moved away with my mother. I went through my teenage years as a pretty good kid (had my moments) and a decent student. I went on to college with the assistance of a merit scholarship and have since had a successful life in the business world. I am married and am expecting my first child in February.

So, now that we're all square on the background, I'll continue with the topic that caused you to stop at my blog in the first place. Why am I such an advocate of Mike Huckabee? Yes, I identify with his beliefs. I identify with his values. And I identify with his something out of nothing rise from the normal blue-collar American life that most of us know to his position as a leader today. I'll write about more of these great things in another post, but this is where my excitement about Mike Huckabee began...

I had my first opportunity to hear Mike Huckabee speak during the Republican debate in August. My initial reaction was, "Wow, this guy is actually answering questions honestly." The more I listened to him, the more I started to identify with his message. Before I knew anything about his history as a pastor or his beliefs, Mike Huckabee sold me with his stance on energy independence. He recognizes that our dependence on foreign oil is indirectly financing the extremists who seek to exterminate us as a people. I was hooked the moment that he said, "If we can feed ourselves, if we can fuel ourselves, if we can manufacture the weapons to fight for ourselves, we're a free people; if we can't do those three things, we're not free."

This was my beginning for Mike Huckabee and hopefully it'll be yours, too.

Republican Debate Clip, August 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAklv1Z-ZEg

Segment begins at about 3:00 mark