Despite Their Bad Regard for President Obama—

01 MARCH 2012

THE REPUBLICANS CAN’T FIND AN ACCEPTABLE—AND WINNING—PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:

Gov. Mitt Romney is thus far the closest thing that the Republican Party has to an electable candidate in relation to President Obama. But a presidential election isn’t a game of “horseshoes.”

Sen. Rick Santorum has more consistency to his conservative values, but the extreme nature of his social-policy views would make him an easy target for “mad dog” representation in Democratic ads during the upcoming campaign.

Rep. Ron Paul has many unique views that resonate greatly with people on both sides of the aisle, but his singular greatest limitation is that his direct style of advocating for his views does not work well with a form of government that requires compromise, not dictatorship or obstruction, to get anything done.

Speaker Newt Gingrich hardly merits mention. His wide variety of ideas contradicts his recent efforts to reestablish himself as an authentic Conservative.

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We Americans Always Vote for our presidents as if we are choosing a dictator. We care most about his views, which leads us to believe that he will steer our country in our preferred direction.

But this is not the case: no elected official can impose his will in this way. Either he must compromise, or he fails his constituents with a gridlock stalemate in which everybody avoids the tough choices of what they don’t want, but nobody gets what they need.

(The debt-ceiling debacle demonstrated this perfectly: the Tea Party Republicans held their ground against paying America’s bills without future reductions, the future reductions were arranged in what turns out to be an imminently surmountable fashion, and all we got for their trouble was a lowering of our credit rating—We didn’t even get a lousy T-shirt!)

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Even as We Have Watched President Barack Obama implement numerous mainstream, conservative, Republican ideas—

His liberal, progressive, Democratic base has detested his betrayal of their “Hope and Change” values—

While the loyal, Republican opposition garnered great success with their consistent, repetitive, Frank Luntz-crafted messages of “lower taxes” and “too much regulation” and “no more Keynesian/Kenyan socialism”—

Until the economy started turning around.

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But a steadily rising economy pretty much threatens to change everything....

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This Puts the Republicans in a challenging spot right now: in order to win the Presidency in November, either the economy must go back to Hell in a handbasket—

Or the Republicans must come up with a candidate who is:

(A) Conservative-enough to pass muster with the base, and

(B) Reasonable-enough to pass must with the majority of relatively moderate Americans actually willing to vote for him, and

(C) Leader-like and charismatic-enough to bring enough of the people out to vote.

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Now That it Seems to be “Halftime in America,” maybe the former mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California would be interested in taking on the job.

You read it first here. 

Now announcing the soon-to-be, up-and-coming front-runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination:

The Man with No Name.

Regards,

(($; -)}

Gozo!

America: Dictatorship or Compromise?

23 DECEMBER 2011

In Forms of Government, you can have dictatorship, gridlock, or compromise. (Gridlock equals a dictatorship by the minority. Compromise is rule by the majority, with protection of the minority.)

A pledge not to raise taxes equals a dedication to the art of “Cut and Spend” government. The efforts of the Tea Party Republican’s to impose their minority ideology on the rest of us constitutes dictatorship by gridlock.

Our representative democracy can’t afford a government dictatorship by gridlock.

America Can’t Afford a Continuation of Republican

 “Cut and Spend” Government.

In 1789, the American people, having won our freedom from dictatorship through our Revolution, voted for a government of compromise.

In 2012, we, the people, will get to vote for a government of compromise once again.

Regards,
(($; -)}
Gozo!

An Ode Against “The Republican Oath for Failure”

08 NOVEMBER 2011

What part of “We want America to fail!”
don’t they understand?

When the Republicans wanted “this President to fail,”
which America did they think he was president of?

When a majority of the American people elected Barack Obama to succeed,
what part of “majority rule” did congressional Republicans
think their oaths of office excluded them from?

When Republican pledges to Grover Norquist
overrule their constitutional oaths of office,
what country do our Republican legislators think they govern in?
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Forcing America’s constitutionally elected President to fail:
what form of treason is that?

What part of “We want this President to fail”—

    during a time of great economic crisis—
    following an administration that started off-the-budget wars
        and an unsustainable Medicare program—
    with tens of millions of Americans unemployed—
    and pensions ruined—
    and teachers and police and firefighters laid off—
    and two wars waging—
    and Wall Street bailed out by America’s 99%—
 
what part of this ideologically obsessive partisanship
would ever make any American vote for any Republican ever again?
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When it comes to government,
we want a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Nowhere in our constitution does it say,
“Government for the good of the Republican Party.”

Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower knew that...
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We, the people of the United States of America want a government
by majority rule,
with protection of the minority
under the terms of the Constitution.

We, the people of the United States of America
want America to succeed. That’s why
we, the people,
voted for President Barack Obama
in the first place.
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As for what the leaders of the Republican Party of America believe they were doing?
By setting out to make this President fail?

That’s anybody’s guess.

On November 6, 2012,
that’s for “we, the people” to decide.

How do others look at this Republican goal of failure?
What do you think of it?
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For me, the next election can’t come soon enough:
I plan to take America back.
One more step
back from the brink of “Just Say No.”

What part of “we want America to fail!”
don’t we understand?

Regards,
(($ ;-)}
Gozo!

Tea Party People: Spoiled Kindergarteners or Angry Adolescents?

18 SEPTEMBER 2011

Over the Past Year, I have spent a good deal of time on a Topix forum titled, Tea Party Rallies: ‘Impeach Obama’. At first, I found it interesting to read the vehement, anti-Obama sentiments, all of which seem to be based on a set of imaginary grievances.

My Purpose for continuing to visit this site is the same as what I do here: I work to clarify some of the ideologically beclouded thinking which seems inimical to the best prospects for our shared future, and which seem to be running America’s greatness into the ground.

My Struggle, as I See It, is to help wean America from its intellectually lazy and easy ideological blindness. We need to winnow out the fallacies that drive both sides, Left and Right. If we can get more of this “chaff” out of the way, then, left with the “wheat” grains of valid opinion that remain, we can choose among them, try different courses of action, and restore American preeminence—from a jingoist slogan (“Americans are the champions!”) to a fact-based reality—before it’s too late.

Otherwise, We Can Leave our preeminence prospects to China or India.

It’s Our Choice....

Here Is a Link to my Topix post:

Tea Party Rallies: ‘Impeach Obama’

You Might Find some of the other posts there insightful.

Best regards,
(($;-)}
Gozo!

Fear of Failure or Fear of Success ?

17 SEPTEMBER 2011

Why are our people in Congress so fearful of everything that President Obama tries to do?

What makes Congress so afraid of President Obama’s “American Jobs Act”? Are they afraid it might fail?

Or Are They Afraid it Might Actually Work?

Some 46,000,000 of our fellow Americans are either unemployed or under-employed.

How about if our leaders in Congress get out of the way and give President Obama a chance to fall on his face?

.....46,000,000 Americans. And our senators and representatives fear success? Or failure?

President Obama has gone out on a limb with this jobs bill thing. What’s the best that Congress can do?

Pass this Bill.

Congress should let the chips fall where they may. But: Congress should finally take a chance and:

Pass this Bill.

Regards,
(($;-)}
Gozo!

For Pete’s Sake, Why Won’t They Hire????

 

16 SEPTEMBER 2011

 Getting to my local coffee shop the other day, I was surprised to see the place overflowing with customers. The line of people waiting for their coffee stretched out the front door, down the steps, around the building, and halfway across the parking lot. There must have been two or three hundred people out there. All waiting in line, looking at their watches, growing disgruntled, wanting to buy their lattes and espressos.

Skipping the line, I went in to talked to the manager, who happens to be a friend of mine.

I asked her, “What happened? Did some of your baristas not show up?”

“No,” she said. “I don’t have anybody else. These are all the baristas I have.”

“Oh?” I asked. “Why not? You can obviously use the help. Can’t you find anybody to work?”

“Oh, I guess I could find plenty of unemployed Americans and put them to work,” she said.

Then she added, “I just feel too uncertain about taxes and regulations and the economy to hire anybody else right now. It’s just the uncertainty.”

Yeah. Right.

Regards,
(($;-)}
Gozo!
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Please see my related post on uncertainty and job-creation, at the following link, below:

Democratic Obstructionism: What Is It This Time?

Ode to Wide Freeways at Rush Hour

14 SEPTEMBER 2011

It doesn’t take much brain time,
while sitting at rush hour on a 12-lane freeway
that was just 6 lanes wide forty years ago,
to realize that it will have to be 24 lanes wide in another forty years.

In eighty years, when it grows to 48 lanes wide,
it will probably butt up against its neighbor freeway,
with rush-hour traffic going in another direction,
and equally slow.

Will America keep doubling the size of its roads?
Or might we come to our senses
and begin rebuilding our rails?

It is commonly said that “government doesn’t produce jobs.”

Tell that to the builders of the First Transcontinental Railroad
from 1863 to 1869. (Started during the Civil War.)

Tell that to the builders of the NASA space program
and to Al Gore (who invented the Internet).

Tell it to our future generations of Americans—
our grandchildren and their grandchildren—
as they stand on a railway platform at rush hour

Waiting for their high-speed trains.


© 2011 Gozo Rabat
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