On 2012

What a year 2012 has been.  From a seemingly endless election cycle to natural distasters to the end of the world itself, there has been no shortage of things happening this year.  I suppose that is true every year, however the problems of this year seemed considerably more pronounced.

Obviously, the most prominent event all year was the presidential election.  On the one hand, I thank God it's over.  The primary season started so early in 2011 and never stopped after.  The election was mean and ugly to watch as the president and his surrogates continually tore down and attacked his opponents.  We wanted to roll back civil rights to Jim Crow, Mitt Romney killed a woman with cancer, we want old people and children to die, etc..  This wore thin in 2010.  It was nearly unbearable this year.

Yet, bore it we did.  And, for the other hand, it is unfortunate how it turned out.  Despite all that we fought for and the dire straits our country is in, we conservatives and the American people as a whole lost this election.  I know I am not the only one who has felt the past couple of months to be long and oppressive.  Unfortunately, this may be a preview of the coming year.  It makes this Tuesday seem far more dreadful than usual.

Then there were the natural disasters.  Hurricane Sandy come to mind for this.  Speaking of, I wonder how all those people on Staten Island are doing.  Haven't heard a thing about the recovery in a couple of weeks.  Though as I last recall, the response was still incredibly slow.

Of course, we can not forget the man-caused disasters, either (the lines kind of blur with the election, but I digress).  Anyone remember Benghazi?  I do.  Four men are dead and we still have no answers.

The list goes on.

Are you depressed yet?

Believe it or not, that was not my intention.  I fully intended on writing an article that balanced the negative with the positive.  An honest assessment of the year, however, recognizes just how bad it was.

There were positives, of course.  I'll get back to you when I think of them.  I think something can be said of all the little things that happen in our lives that we look to, however.  It's hard to find a big thing to look toward as a great positive this year.  At the very least, positives that counteract the negatives.  That pretty much leaves us with God and the blessings, big and small alike, that He bestows upon us.  That should be enough.

I'll leave you with this.  It's been a hard year.  There were a great many highs and much lower lows.  For the coming year and beyond, we'll have to work harder.  We'll have to focus better.  Fight more intensely.  This year was a harbinger of things to come, no doubt.  I think we conservatives are strong enough to handle it.  We have to be for the country we love.

So, for now, recharge your bodies and refresh your minds.  Periods of rest such of this will be more important than ever.

Happy New Year to you all!  I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield of ideas in the coming year.

I thought of a positive! The world didn't end! ...Well, a friend thought it up.

Christmas

Another year, another Christmas.  Amazingly, I managed to avoid discussing the antics of the anti-theists for the season, despite how much they disgust me.  I'm serious; that took a lot of self-control.  I really just needed to ignore them this year, especially after the debacle-that-shall-not-be-named.  There has been a lot stupid floating around since then and I need a break from it.

Instead, I shall talk about Christmas.

After all, the event that Christmas celebrates may be the most important in history.

For those of you who do not know (how?) or are being intentionally obtuse (why?), Christmas is the day that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.  This event single-handedly changed the course of world history and has touched more lives than any other.

Before Christ, there was sin and darkness in a fallen world.  The righteous who believed in the God of Israel, Issac and Jacob were few and far inbetween.  The Israelites were continually threatened by enemies who worshipped nature and demons.  The world was filled by those who gave no value to human life and tossed it away casually.  There was little hope in the world for reason, sanity, and, perhaps most of all, salvation.

That all changed on the first Christmas.  That night, a new era dawned.  The dynamics by which the world worked changed completely.  As the newborn lay in the manger, none knew of the lessons to be taught and the miracles to be performed.  No one foresaw the crucifixion or the ressurection.  None saw the millions of lives to be transformed over the centuries.

What began that night in Bethlehem was light and hope.  Instead of a world where people were slaves to their baser instincts and unredeemable, they now had a savior.  They now had a hope to be at God's side after death.  They had reason to be righteous in life and be good to their fellow men.  The world was given a promise by God that whosoever shall believe in the salvation in Christ will not die.

Ever since, the blind have seen, the lame have walked and the broken-hearted have been made whole.  People have experienced an unconditional love that could never be replicated on Earth.  They have experienced grace and forgiveness far beyond what they deserve.

And it all started in a stable in the town of Bethlehem.

Spend your Christmas, between and during the gifts, the family and the egg nog, remembering why we celebrate and be merry for it.  It is a beautiful season.

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

On George W. Bush - Governing Philosophy

Time to get into the weeds, it seems.

It's time to talk about everyone's favorite president, George Walker Bush!  Also known as 43.  Or Dubya.

You see, something that bothers me a lot is just how much the man is criticized, even four years out from his presidency.  President Obama continually uses him as a scapegoat (despite making the country demonstrably worse off than before).  Liberals constantly scream and cry how he was a moron who was two-steps away from becoming a tyrant (not sure how that works; idiots generally don't have the wherewithal to become tyrants).  Some conservatives even (particularly more libertarianish ones) believe he and Obama are equal amounts of bad.

So where does the truth lie?  Was president Bush some horrible, idiot man-child given hell bent on maliciously expanding the government until we were all made serfs?  Or was he something less than that?

I am actually inclined to agree with the libertarian, who saw Bush's "compassionate conservatism" as bad policy.  His solutions for societal problems, like education, was bigger [federal] government.  Following the September 11th attacks, the solution was the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security, both of which granted large of amounts of power to the federal government.

However, this does not make Bush comparable to Obama in any way.  It is ridiculous to suggest that the motivations and actions of one of comparable to the other.  When Bush pushed for the Patriot Act and DHS, he was not doing it in some crazy attempt to massively expand the government to curb our freedoms.  If you believe that was his motivation, you live in some other world entirely.  He believed it was the right thing to do to keep us safe.

Now, that's not to say it was not ill-conceived.  It most certainly was.  In the hands of 43, however, it was relatively benign, designed and used to protect us.  Clearly he and many others who do not understand constitutional restrictions did not realize that out of their hands, such power could easily be abused.  Even now, the current administration is using defense bills to try and grant itself power to spy on American citizens.  Not overseas foreign nationals suspected of terror ties, but Americans themselves.  The slippery slope strikes again.

Same goes for any other big government initiative proposed by Bush.  His heart was most certainly in the right place for things like "No Child Left Behind;" the proposed (and passed) solution was just as incorrect and constitutionally dubious.  This does not make him equal President Obama, however.  They do not have the same motivations for doing things.  Bush, as far as I can tell, believed the government was capable of doing good things for the people.  Obama, on the other hand, clearly believes that the government is better and/or smarter than the people and thus should be doing things it is assumed they can not, regardless of ability.

To Bush, government was the tool for a solution, that it could help the individual improve him or herself.  To Obama, the government is the solution, all the time.  In essence, it subsumes the individual.

I think that is a very distinct philosophical difference.

Preparing for Hatred

So, I've been spending the past couple of hours (I wrote this Thursday night, obviously) perusing my Twitter timeline and watching people batter Michelle Malkin repeatedly with misogynistic and racist slurs.  That woman is a true warrior.  She has learned not to care about the hate or the rape threats or the death threats.  At least, she does not let it show.  If only all conservatives could be like that.

But we can't.  Not all of us are in the trenches day in and day out, being told repeatedly that we are horrible fascists who want children to die and should go die ourselves.  Steven Crowder (remember, the guy who assaulted a man's fist with his face?) tweeted this out not long ago.

If most of us receive threats like this, we would be afraid.  We would not know how to react.  We would never have seen it or experienced it before.  We should not have to at all.  However, it happens and with increasing frequency.

You see, there is a bitter truth I think far too many people are afraid to admit to, whether it is for fear of offending people or being attacked: liberals are hateful.  No, I do not care that I am making a blanket statement and no, I will never care again.  It is irrelevant in the face of overwhelming evidence.  Time and again I have seen liberals spew vitriol at the smallest and biggest things.  Conservative women are whores who are going to be raped.  Black conservatives are Uncle Toms and niggers.  Supporters of Israel are Jew sluts.  We all deserve to die horrible deaths or should commit suicide.  Words like this, toothless though they likely are, can come from nowhere but a heart filled vitriol and bile.

Now, there are liberals out there who are not like this.  I follow a few on Twitter and know a few personally (I just had a pleasant conversation with one), but they are the exception, not the rule.  The hatred overwhelms those of good character and conscience who would never utter those slurs.

In the past year and after the election, in particular, we have seen a dramatic rise in hatred coming from the left.  It seemed that weekly some prominent conservative was libeled and viciously attacked for stating his or her opinion.  It has happened again tonight and will continue to happen as well.  In their arrogance, liberals assume their victories and "moral uprightness" means they will no longer be called out and challenged on their despicable views and behavior.  They take the filters off and what is truly in their hearts comes out.

Those filters coming off should tell conservatives everywhere that the game has changed.  These are no longer random events.  This kind of behavior is now the status quo.

We must be prepared.

We conservatives must be ready, willing and able to combat the hatred.  We must be warriors for our cause and be vigilant at the walls. We already recognize this combat will not be fun, but we must also recognize that it will come upon us eventually.  It most obviously affects those with a public spotlight already, such as the Malkins and the Crowders.

However, if we wish to defend our beliefs (and each other), then we must likewise be prepared to defend ourselves against these attacks.  It doesn't matter if you are a blogger, a student, a parent, a supervisor, a cashier; we must all be prepared for the anger and the vile behavior...and worse.  We will be tested and we cannot assume just because we do not garner much attention that it will not reach our doorstep one day.

The war of ideas will wear on us all.  We must be prepared to weather whatever is thrown our way.

On Peaceful Union Protests - Updated

Watch this dramatic video as union protestors peacefully and non-aggressively swarm and cut this American's for Prosperity tent down:

And watch this clip as comedian Steven Crowder launches his face at a man's fist like the violent psychopath that he is:

Now that I have completed my descent into the absurd, let us talk about my point in posting these videos.

What were these unions protesting?  After all, when unions march, it has to be for something important, right?  Whatever they're protesting  has to involve evil businesses or anti-worker conservatives trying to "screw the little guy," right?

Well, what these thugs (because that's what they are) were actually protesting is something called a "right-to-work" law, which Michigan is now the twenty-fourth state to pass.  These laws, simply put, allow workers to get a job without being compelled to join a union.  In other words, they are given the choice over whether or not they want to join the union and, consequently, pay dues.  That is all they were protesting.  No union "rights" are being curbed.  No unions are being busted.  People are just being given the choice over joining one.

And the prospect of choice turned these people into unhinged lunatics.  After all, AFP was doing nothing except being present as a counterpoint to the unions' antics.  And the unions got violent.  They vandalized AFP property and attacked Steven Crowder for merely asking why they opposed right-to-work.

Do you know why?

Unions are becoming irrelevant.  After serving a purpose early last century against the abusive practices of businesses, they are becoming relics of an era that no longer exists.  People do not join unions of their own volition today because they do not provide a significant benefit.  Abusing workers with excessively long days, pitiful wages or making children work is now illegal.  Those battles have been fought and won.  Indeed, they are detrimental to the workers' paychecks thanks to dues and those dues often go into (Democratic) political campaigns instead of the unions' coffers.

So now the unions are afraid.  They fear losing clout and money as less people join them.  The workers who are part of them see the writing on the wall and become unhinged in their fear.  The result are the videos above, with grown men acting little better than 8-year old children who did not get the cookie they demanded.

It's pathetic.

Updated: Hey, look at that!  Racism and hot dogism!  Who would of thought?

Besides me?  Could set your watch by the slurs and vitriol that comes from the left.

Is it any wonder why false charges of racism anger me when leftists ignore actual racism from their own side?

On Democracy Worship

"Pharaoh Morsi I...I like the sound of that."

For those of you blissfully unaware, on Thanksgiving Day, Egypt's new "president," Mohammad Morsi, issued several decrees to grant himself vast power over Egypt with virtually no oversight.  Now, under normal circumstances, I would take the next paragraph or two to mock the people who did not see this coming.  Only the willfully ignorant would have missed the signs (for example, Morsi being part of the organization that spawned both Al Qaeda and Hamas).  However, for those who fell for the deception of the "Arab Spring," there is a much more serious issue at hand than a few popular uprisings, which goes right to the core of their way of thinking.

That issue is "democracy worship."

What do I mean when I say that?

An opinion that seems to be very prevalent among liberals is that many of the world's problems would be solved if only it would embrace democracy more.  Hence, they tend to cheer any time a despot is overthrown to pave the way for "free" elections.  The most obvious example of this is the reaction to the "Arab Spring" uprisings, generally lauded by liberals while looked upon with apprehension by conservatives.

So, why was the latter so standoffish about these coups and rebellions while the former embraced them wholeheartedly?  After all, it sounds good when tyrants like Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak are overthrown, doesn't it?

Note: He was voted into power.

The thing that large numbers of liberals fail to understand is that democratic (or republican) forms of governance are neither inherently good nor bad.  Truly, no form of government is inherently good or bad.  It largely dependent upon the people placed in charge and the ideologies they carry with them into positions of power.  It is true that totalitarian forms of government are far more likely to result in abusive tyrannies due to the corrupting influence of absolute power.  However, that is the government itself that gets corrupted, not the form of government.

As such, elections, even those that are free and trustworthy, can result in great evil being voted into power.  This proved true in the early 1930s, when the citizens of the Wiemar Republic voted the Nazi party into power, which eventually brought about World War II and the Holocaust.  This proved true in the late 2000s when the people of the Gaza Strip voted Hamas, a terrorist organization, into power, effectively turning the region into a epicenter of terror against Israel.

And now it has proven true in Egypt in 2012, as the people there, in a free election, voted Mohammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood into power.

Democracy is not a cure for society's ills.  It is subject to the whims and desires of the people under it.  If those people desire more freedom, they will vote it in.

If they desire more government control over their lives, they will vote that in.

If they desire a theocracy, they will vote that in.

Whatever people desire in democratic forms of government, they will eventually get.

If we truly wish to cure the ills of societies under dictators around the world, then the cultures of those societies must be changed.  The reason the American republic works is not because of the form of government we are under.  It is because we have people living in the republic who understand the importance of being stewards of their freedom.  They are vigilant and protect it from those who would undermine it.

Without that mentality, democracy is just another form of government, subject to be abused by the people in and under it.