A New Platform (if you want my vote)

     I've been meaning to log on and post something new for quite some time but obviously that didn't happen.  I constructed this list of planks (platform) last spring.  I was trying to think of a system of deciding who to vote for in the future and I thought I would need a list of things that a candidate would need to embrace (how's that for a lib-term) in order to EARN  my vote.  First of all, don't forget -- if the candidate is an incumbent then I'm concerned with how they have voted and/or governed in the past, NOT what they say now that a large contingent of the American people have wakened, but what their past actions say to me, the voter.  I'm not saying that they will have to agree with me 100% but that they be an high enough percentage of a solution that I individually have decided is acceptable.  That is an individual decision at which each American will need to arrive.

Plank #1

The U.S. is to remain sovereign in all aspects.  No submission to international law except when dealing specifically with other sovereign nations (historic int'l law).  Never in regards to our citizenry.  No submission to the United Nations in any way.

Plank #2

The U.S. Constitution should be amended with a Balanced Budget Amendment designed to protect the American People and its interests.

Plank #3

The U.S. Constitution should be amended with an Amendment limiting the terms of Members of the House of Representatives and Members of the U.S. Senate.

Plank #4

Overhaul of tax law (FairTax or a flat tax would be acceptable).  FairTax only to be implemented in the event that the 16th Amendment is repealed.

Plank #5

Immigration

a. SECURE the border(s)

b. Deport ALL illegals (not referring to Mexicans or other Central Americans specifically) - no amnesty = Fairness and Rule of Law re-established.

c. Overhaul quota system. After the uncontrolled flow of illegal immigration is halted we can assess the needs of our nation in accordance with current labor trends thereby allowing many more people in legally from around the world -- in accordance with the needs of and for the benefit of the American people.

Plank #6

Only legislate Constitutional environmental/conservation laws that:

a. Respects commerce - find solutions not simply problems!

b. Respects resources owned by the American people.

c. Respects private property.

d. Take power back for the EPA and establishing DUE Process into the environmental equation.

Plank #7

Begin to create legislation to return power to the several states.  Return to Constitutional principles (I don't mean original only but with 14th Amendment and all others, they too are the U.S. Constitution.)  Illegalize unfunded mandates for example.

Plank #8

In the interest of Plank #7:  Repeal the 17th Amendment.  Causing U.S. Senators to be elected by the people created a slightly more powerful House of Representatives.  It caused our country to go away from the Federalist model, the interests of the States were no longer represented in our system.  That is how the uninformed public have elected themselves so many freebies from the Federal Government, quite often at the expense of the states.

Plank #9

a.  Tie Congressional salaries to national economic performance, thereby making members of Congress shareholders in the interests of our nation as a whole.  I'm not enough of an economics guru to suggest a specific formula but it could contain things such as GDP, Wall Street, Rise and fall of things like national debt, deficits, trade deficits, etc.

b. Members of Congress must return to the private sector after serving.  Within the private sector they may not be employed by any entity over which they received campaign donations (unless they were employed with them before serving).  Furthermore, they may not be employed within any industry governed/regulated by any committees in which they served, and they may not perform as a lobbyist or be employed by any lobbying group. These restrictions will be in force for a length of time equivalent to that which they served in Congress.

c.  All unspent campaign finances will be returned to contributors on a ratio equivalent to (total contributions:contribution of individual contributor).

Plank #10

a. Require ALL legislation to begin with a Constitutional justification a line item #1, and line item # 2 should be a statement expressing the drafter's intent.

b.  During ALL debate the actual drafter (writer or writers) of ALL legislation should be present for Q&A.  The particulars of who/what/when/where and contact information to everyone that had a direct hand in drafting legislation should be available to the public.

Plank #11

ANY candidate that wants my vote MUST be a proponent of repealing unconstitutional legislation, starting with:  TARP I & II (any unspent funds at the time of repeal); Obama's stimulus package (any unspent funds at the time of repeal); Obama's and Pelosi's Health Care "reform" legislation in totality.  

This platform is designed to:

1. Unite

2. Create a U-Turn in America's direction.

3. Address the disease, not the symptoms.

I welcome comments and suggestions.  I want the reader however to keep in mind that my goals with this platform is not to address specifics but to return power to the states and the people in a way that we can begin to address the multitude of issues that ail our Republic.

Thanks for reading,

Tom 

What's in a name?

According to www.dictionary.com the noun "guerrilla" is defined as:

"a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc."

I feel this is a fitting name for the goals and strategies I believe are necessary for the USA at this time.

For those of you that don't know the picture posted here is of a statue of a Massachussetts Minuteman. On April 19, 1775 British troops were marching to Concord, Mass. to take control of the colony's store of guns, ammunition and powder because the British government felt that the people might revolt against their latest edicts. In order to show their displeasure, the men (minutemen) of Lexington, Mass. decided on the evening of April 18, 1775 that if the British troops marched by they would assemble on Lexington green. They did not have military issue weapons or supplies, they did not have any uniform whatsoever and they did not have any intentions or illusions that they would intimidate the British troops, they simply wanted to communicate their displeasure.

After being alerted in the early morning hours of April 19, 1775 by a rider (started by Paul Revere) they stood by to assemble. When the British were near the minutemen assembled on the green (a public, open, grassy public gathering area in the center of the village) in full military orderly fashion, in their homespun clothes and bearing the same weapons they used to hunt and feed their families. This was simply a "show of force." In hindsight, it was a show of "lack of force."

The British troops could have simply marched past the assembled farmers and merchants but instead the British officers ordered their troops to assemble on the green facing the minutemen of Lexington, Mass. The colonists were then ordered to lay down their weapons and return to their homes. At this point someone somewhere fired the first shot (later known as the "shot heard 'round the world." History has never totally decided which side, if either, fired the first shot. Nevertheless, one British troop was wounded and several minutemen were wounded and dead, and the Revolutionary War had begun.

Over the next several hours the British continued their march to Concord and many other important things happened but for my purposes today I only want to point out the colonists initial reaction to the incident on Lexington Green. Minutemen from all over the area began to descend upon the route of the British troops, they hid behind trees and fences and barns and houses. They shot at the British, guerrilla-style as they made their way to Concord and continued as the British withdrew all the way back to Boston, which took several hours, resulting in significant British losses.

Why am I telling this story? Because many Americans, those that call themselves conservatives and many that do not, have been treated just like those families that were represented by the men that stood on Lexington Green that fateful morning. The colonists of Massachusetts had for several years previous attempted to get the attention of the British Crown to have their grievances heard, to get justice for an ever-mounting list of injustices suffered by them at the hands of The Crown, Parliament and the British military. They attempted to cause change by using all the accepted methods of the time, in full public view. They addressed the Crown and Parliament through their duly appointed colonial governments, they used newspapers and meeting halls, all to no avail. Moreover, the abuses mounted and got worse, the assault upon their freedoms only grew stronger and harsher. The next-to-last straw was the British march to seize the arsenal at Concord; the last straw was face-to-face bullying on green Lexington.

What was their response? Guerrilla tactics. Playing by all the rules of polite society had proven futile. I feel that is where we are today in America. Me and those that are politically aligned with me spent many years helping take the Congress back for Republicans, which happened in 1994, only to see them slowly descend to behaving like those they had displaced. The McCain-Feingold Act (campaign finance reform), the Gang of 14, (thwarting the Senate's rollback of the fake-filibuster rule), the excessive spending of the Republican Congress under the adminstration of George W. Bush are only a couple of the large straws added to the camel's back that have led us to this point.

So what is my answer? We conservatives and the likeminded must change our tactics just like the minutemen that followed the British all the way back to Boston. If we've got to "fire from behind the trees" instead of standing face-to-face in Napoleonic fashion against those that are against us, then so be it. (This is only a metaphor, not a call to literal arms.) We must begin using guerrilla tactics, and I think that the Minuteman is an excellent symbol of what I believe is necessary.

Therefore, Guerrilla Conservative, in the steps of the Minuteman.

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One more thought on this topic: the minutemen of 1775 were NOT terrorists. Terrorism as defined by www.dictionary.com is:

The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

The primary difference between partisan fighters or minutemen and terrorists is that terrorists primary strategy is fear and terror and they believe that as a result of that fear and terror they will achieve a goal. Terrorists attack innocents and non-strategic targets and locales in order to instill fear. Partisans use guerrilla military tactics to attack strategic military and government targets. Fear is not the goal of the guerrilla partisan except in the heart of enemy forces, not innocents and noncombatants.

Welcome!

This post is very much like a new business owner's first dollar that we've all seen framed and proudly displayed in mom-and-pop stores.

The creation of this blog is an attempt to conquer my procrastination. I'm not sure if this is the correct location for such a blog or what the entirety of the limitations are of this host, however, I do know that at least, this is a start.

As the title suggests I'm hopeful that this will be a clearinghouse of conservative thought, opinion, information and a call to conservative activism.

The concept of conservatives being activists is fairly foreign, unfortunately. Since the 1960s (and arguably before) radicals and liberals in our society have been using extra-systemic techniques and the courts in order to attain their goals, i.e. demonstrations, sit-ins, intimidation of anyone on the right or Republican, lawsuits in the federal courts in order to go over-the-heads of the voters, etc.

Recent events have led me to the conclusion that in order to turn our nation back to OUR constitution we conservatives will have to begin to play by a different set of rules. It is now my belief that conservatives must take steps to change our strategy and tactics in order to stem the tide of unconstitutional liberalism in our nation.

Please bookmark this blog and revisit often.

Thank you,
Tom