God Bless Michelle Malkin For Saying What Needed To Be Said About Scott Walker

By Gary P Jackson

Conservatives thirst for a leader, someone they can rally around. Lacking a real leader, they manage to latch on to every “flavor of the month” that comes along, no matter how far from being an actual Conservative their latest heartthrob may actually be. And if the lamestream media attacks their latest love interest, oh boy, they cling to him even harder! It’s become very knee-jerk, with these Conservatives taking a media attack on their new love, as absolute proof that person is “THE ONE!” [The old adage “they attack who they fear the most” ~ which isn’t always true]

I like the fact that Scott Walker has taken on the violent Union Thugs™ in Wisconsin. I like that Wisconsin is now a Right-to-Work state. But fighting billion dollar unions isn’t a Conservative thing, it’s simply a human rights thing.

The fact is, on the issues that matter most to Conservatives: stopping amnesty for illegal aliens and reforming education, Scott Walker sucks!

Scott Walker has been OFFICIALLY pushing amnesty for these criminal invaders for over a decade. And by “officially” I mean in his capacity as an elected official. As I have stated many times, amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens is an act of TREASON against the United States and the American people. PERIOD.

Walker claims to have “shifted” his position on amnesty, but if you read his statement he only disagrees with HOW Obama is handling amnesty, not amnesty itself. Like all “progressive” Republicans, it’s not about actually stopping an evil deed, but simply claiming they can manage that evil better than the other guys.

Walker is also on the wrong side of the Common Core debate. He is all for the nationalization of schools that first began under Jimmy Carter. [and Ronald Reagan had promised to end] We’ve seen the quality of education fall off the proverbial cliff since Washington, and not local school boards, have been in control of education. It’s one of the greatest evils the federal government has ever done to the American people.

Recently in Iowa, Walker showed he is also subservient to Big Ethanol, another great evil the government has created. I could go on for days about the evils of ethanol, and the cost of taxpayer subsidies, but if you are reading this, you already know what an evil scheme ethanol is, and the damage it’s done to the environment as well as our national fleet.

We love Michelle Malkin because of her no-bullshit attitude. She never puts party over principle. She is a fearless warrior, which is what we need if America is to survive. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle, Malkin reminds readers that on every issue we, as conservatives, care about, Scott Walker is in lock-step with Jeb Bush and other left-wing Republican scum-bags.

From the article:

Nationally syndicated conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, founder of the website Twitchy, tells Breitbart News that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker—a potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate—needs to be vetted. She also says Walker’s “problems” run much deeper than the decision to hire—then quickly let go of—pro-amnesty communications aide Liz Mair, who had taken shots at Iowa.

“Scott Walker has much bigger problems than the ill-considered hiring and firing of one D.C. operative,” Malkin said in an email:

What does he really stand for and is he fully equipped to bear the slings and arrows of his enemies on a national and global scale? Yes, he fought Big Labor and has managed his state well. But grass-roots activists in his state have long been warning me of his ideological gymnastics on core issues: immigration and education.

He has been on the same side as the progressive Left and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Right: pro-amnesty, pro-massive legal immigration expansionist, and pro-Common Core. He’s been left, right, center, and all over the map.

She added that Washington-based GOP establishment forces are good at backing up establishment politicians, as they seemed to have tried to do to defend Walker and Mair.

“The D.C. consultant class and Capitol Hill GOP operators are adept at swooping in to ‘rescue’ the campaigns of neophytes and molding them into Beltway barnacle tools,” Malkin said. “They did it with Spencer Abraham and Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan. Face it: Many of the D.C. messaging ‘experts’ and ‘communicators’ DO have their own policy agenda and it is naive or stupid to believe they have no sway or influence on ambitious, outside the Beltway seekers of higher public office with no fixed principles.”

Malkin also stood up for the few reporters willing to pressure Walker to answer legitimate questions about Mair, and about his positions on issues like immigration and education.

“I believe conservative journalists should not be mocked for asking GOP candidates or their staffers unorthodox, ‘rude,’ and uncomfortable questions,” Malkin said. “That’s called vetting.”

This is a great article and a must read. There is much more here.

We thank Matthew Boyle, as well as Michelle Malkin, for standing up to those who are trying to pull one over on actual Conservatives who care about our nation. We MUST vet everyone who we consider for election to ANY office. This is something Sarah Palin has been preaching for years! Blindly following anyone who remotely sounds “conservative” is idiotic, as is following the crowd.

Michelle tweeted this a few days ago to drive that point home:

I hate groupthink on all sides of the political aisle. Fuck groupthink.

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) March 17, 2015

I absolutely agree with her! Groupthink is dangerous. Fuck groupthink!

As Conservatives, we’re supposed to have the intelligence to look past the bullshit and hype and figure things out. Let the other guys be sheep and play “follow the leader“!

The real and honest truth is, as Conservatives, we really don’t have a champion going into 2016. There truly is no one on the so-called “deep bench” of candidates that are champions of not only Conservatism, but Liberty and Freedom as well.

We are screwed, well and good.

And don’t give me, or anyone else, any of that “Reagan’s 11th Commandment” bullshit. Ronald Reagan famously ripped on Republicans who cared more about power than the American people. He ripped left wing Republicans a new one. And yes, I KNOW Reagan said that someone who agrees with you 80% isn’t 20% your enemy, and I agree with that. BUT when the 80% we agree on is inconsequential, and the 20% will destroy the very fabric of our society, then yes, that person is not just 20% my enemy, he [or she] is 100% my enemy.

Compromise is NOT a dirty word, and frankly, I think if we got partisan politics [and groupthink] out of the picture MORE than 80% of the nation [the entire nation] could sit down and agree on almost everything. BUT, there are some things that are not negotiable. One simply cannot compromise on core principles. If you are ready to throw away your core principles in the name of compromise, you are no better, and maybe even worse, than those who, if left unchecked, would destroy civilization, forthwith.

It’s funny, you NEVER see a democrat stray from their core principles, as evil as they may be, EVER. In fact, among democrats groupthink is mandatory and independent thought discouraged, and often punished.

I’m very disappointed that Scott Walker isn’t the “conservative savior” so many want him to be, but life’s hard. I suggest you wear a helmet!

Scott Walker, if elected president, would be an unmitigated disaster, just as would Jeb Bush, Rick Perry, or any of the other corrupt, pro-amnesty, Big Government crapweasels. If you are for amnesty, you are an enemy of the American people. Period.

2016 is going to be a tough election. The Republican Party “leadership” has been stabbing the American people, who gave them an unprecedented mandate to stop Obama, in the back [and the front] If we don’t get control of the party, and find a Pro-AMERICAN candidate, we’ll not only lose the White House, but Congress as well. And as evil as Barack Obama is, and as much irreversible damage as he has done, any democrat who would replace him, WILL be worse.

Vet every candidate, then re-vet them. Don’t be a sheep. The life of our nation is at stake. Act like it!

¡Sí, Se Puede! ~ Yes We Can! [hold EVERY politician accountable]

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Impeach, Convict, and Remove President Obama Today or Lose the Republic Forever

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
~ Benjamin Franklin

By Gary P Jackson

A Republic, IF You Can Keep It

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation, Benjamin Franklin was stopped by a Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia. The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention were held in strict secrecy. As such, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended, in order to learn what had been created behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. Mrs Powell reportedly asked Franklin: “ Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Franklin answered: “A republic, if you can keep it.” And here in starts the tale of the slow and steady decline of Liberty and Freedom in the United States. The slow and steady decline federalism, and the First Principles used to create these United States.

The original intent of the Constitution was to create a very weak federal government. A federal government that would be almost totally inconsequential to the average citizen in their daily lives. A federal government that was to live by the notion that he [or she] who governs least, governs best.

The Ninth and Tenth Amendments, the last two Amendments that make up the Bill of Rights, a covenant between government, and We, the People …. that guarantees absolute …. certain inalienable, God given rights from government infringement, state:

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

These two guarantees make it quite clear that We, the People are sovereign, as are the several states. Under federalism, the states are to be the main governing bodies that interact with the people. Obviously, under local governance, the needs, as well as the will of the People, are better served. Even in 1787, our Republic was too large and her people so varied, for a top down, “one size fits all,” central command and control government to work. With over 300 million American citizens today, spread out over millions of square miles, and with so many varied needs, that notion is even more valid today, than it was in Ben Franklin’s time!

An ever growing, overreaching federal government is nothing new. Almost from the start Presidents and Congress have pushed the boundaries, often crossing them. And, as we all know, Freedom lost, is rarely ever regained, without a revolution, of some sort or another.

The Civil War and it’s aftermath saw a major increase in the size and scope of the federal government, but it wasn’t until the so-called “progressive” era that started with President Theodore Roosevelt and hit the afterburners under Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt that the notion of an all powerful, central command and control government, not only grabbed the United States by the throat, and started strangling the life out of her, but also became accepted as the “new normal” for a small, but rapidly growing group of Americans.

By 1964, under Socialist Lyndon Baines Johnson and his “Great Society,” the United States was facing yet another constitutional crisis. [One could argue FDR’s entire four terms as President was nothing but one constitutional crisis after another!] So strong was the concern that Ronald Reagan stated in his iconic 1964 speech:

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

Unfortunately, the American people chose to allow this vicious cycle to continue, for the problem to fester. Now it has become a full-grown cancer on society. With so much overreach, with so many Cabinet level agencies in the Executive Branch, all run by, and staffed by, unelected, unaccountable little drones, it’s virtually impossible to live your live without being touched, in a very significant way, by the thoughts, deeds, and whims of the federal government. We, in fact, HAVE abandoned the American Revolution, and decided that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol CAN plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. Or at least SOME of us have!

Impeach, Convict, and Remove President Obama Today or Lose the Republic Forever

In the 238 years since our nation’s founding, we have never had a more vile, corrupt, lawless, Anti-American scoundrel at the helm. President Obama is someone who has called our beloved Constitution, the most enduring political document in history, a “charter of negative liberties.” In a 2001 radio interview, where he discusses this, Obama is angered because the Constitution is designed to restrain GOVERNMENT, not the people.

In other words, for Obama, the problem is the Constitution is designed to STOP the federal government from doing things TO the people, and doesn’t address doing anything FOR the people, such as Obama’s socialist dream of wealth distribution and “social justice,” what he might call the “ Rainbows and Unicorns” amendment, if such nonsense was actually written into the Constitution. BTW, FDR worked hard to created a “Second Bill of Rights,” but was, thankfully thwarted. [OK, FDR didn’t work as much as he copied those “rights” directly from the constitution of the Soviet Union]

Since being elected President, Obama has shown his hatred for America and our Constitution, on a regular, and consistent basis, but never more so than in the past two years. He has become so lawless [and unfazed by threats and sanctions] that we now have a constitutional crisis, the likes of which we have never seen, and a nation at her tipping point.

Any time one brings up the obvious, that Obama must be impeached, convicted, removed from office, and imprisoned; pundits, consultants, and weak-kneed Republicans come out of the woodwork telling you why that’s a “bad idea.” Some of my favorites are, in no particular order: “You CAN’T impeach the first black president.” “Remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment, the Republicans took a BIG hit, politically.” “Obama only has a short time in office, why waste the time?” and “Oh my GOD, Joe Biden would be President JOE FREAKIN BIDEN!!!!!”

OK …..

Joe Biden

Yes, Joe Biden is a national punch line. In so much as complete morons are quite rare, Joe Biden is a glittering jewel! That said, I have no doubt in my mind that Biden would NOT spend his time in office looking to purposely destroy the United States, as Barack Obama is engaged in daily. The fact is, Biden has wanted to be President for a LONG time, if there were actual LEADERS in the Republican Party, I suspect a deal could be made, wherein Biden SUPPORTED the impeachment, conviction, and removal of Obama, in exchange for not being held responsible himself, and also impeached and removed from office. That deal would also include, in writing, future President Biden’s guarantee that he wouldn’t pardon Obama before leaving office. As a lifelong, successful salesman, I would pitch that deal, if I were in a position to do so. The worst that could happen is Biden simply saying no! There are also a few democrats in the Senate, like Joe Manchin of West Virginia, that could be convinced to go along, if for no other reason than to save their careers come 2016, which could be another bloodbath for democrats both nationally, and across the fruited plain.

This is racist!

Look, if you disagree with Obama, even in the slightest, you are automatically “racist,” according to the democrats and their media partners at MSNBC, and the networks. After six years, the word now has no meaning whatsoever. The Republicans need to stop seeking the approval of those that hate them, and America! [yes, they are one in the same] It ain’t gonna happen, EVER. Even when Republicans capitulate, completely lay down for the democrats, they are still viciously attacked, and lied about. Republicans consistently fail to understand we are at war for the soul of our nation. Our enemies, and the enemies of America, are armed with nuclear weapons, while Republicans have water pistols! [and not very good ones, either]

The bottom line: You can’t defeat evil with timidity. Go hard, or go home!

This isn’t the Clinton impeachment, not even close

William Jefferson Blythe Clinton was impeached for, among other things, perjury and suborning perjury. Both are felonies, and both can carry up to six years in prison …. each. Of course, the corrupt, lying-ass media managed to make it all about Bill chasing a chubby, misguided, immature girl around the Resolute Desk. The Republicans didn’t help, by choosing Ken Starr, who focused on the lurid, and compromising acts, instead of the simple case of Clinton lying under oath, and talking Monica into lying under oath for him. Yes, having sex in the Oval Office, with someone he barely knew, was dangerous and a real threat to national security. Had Monica been a foreign agent, instead of a mixed up kid with stars in her eyes for a serial rapist, our most important and vital secrets would have been at risk. There is no doubt in any reasonable person’s mind, that HAD Monica been a foreign agent, and blackmailed Bill, he would have done ANYTHING to keep the American people from finding out, including handing over the keys to our most vital secrets. The Clinton impeachment was serious, and seriously bungled.

One thing it DIDN’T do though, is harm the Republican Party in any way. It’s time for Republicans to stop falling for these idiotic myths, concocted by the very people who want them destroyed.

President Obama has committed real crimes. SERIOUS crimes. The same crimes, in fact, that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation from office, just ahead of impeachment, sure conviction, removal from office, and possible imprisonment. Obama has committed international crimes that not only directly led to the murders of two United States Border Agents: Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata, but hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens as well. Operation Fast and Furious was not only illegal, it was a cynical attempt by Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to subvert the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, the very Constitution they both swore and oath to God to uphold and defend. Most sane people would consider this an act of treason.

There are numerous cases that can be listed in the Articles of Impeachment. The document could read like War and Peace, at least in length.

Obama can do a lot of damage, completely destroying these United States, FOREVER, in the next 25 months

The fact is, Obama doesn’t have “just a short time left” in office. There are over TWO YEARS left in this tyrant’s reign of terror, unless he’s stopped! The amount of damage Obama can do in the next two years is incalculable. If Obama isn’t sent the message, that only impeachment can send, there is literally NOTHING or NO ONE who can stop him from doing ANYTHING he wants to do, by executive fiat. He will have effectively become a fascist dictator [for real] and Congress [a co-equal branch of government] will be rendered null and void.

Need an example? Obama is part of the “climate change” scam. He already has his EPA destroying entire industries, like coal, and destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs [and innocent lives] in the process. Obama’s War on Coal™ has contributed greatly to the record poverty and record unemployment the American people face today. He’s already been overseas proposing ludicrous regulations that no one, but America, will adhere to.

What’s to stop Obama from waking up in January and deciding he will just put a carbon tax in place, by Executive Order?

As we noted back in May of 2010, Obama, along with Al Gore, Maurice Strong, George Soros, domestic terrorist Bill Ayer’s brother, and others, had invested heavily in the Chicago Climate Exchange, what would have been essentially the Wall Street of carbon credit trading. This scam looked to bring in as much as $10 TRILLION [gross] annually, making Obama and company wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, off of a HOAX.

Again, what would stop him? Obama has plenty of billionaire [and would-be billionaire] cronies in the “alternative energy business.” We’ve already watched companies like Solyndra not only steal billions of dollars from the American people, without producing a viable product, but IN the case of Solyndra, leave a massive toxic waste dump at it’s factory, after filing bankruptcy, something that will cost millions, if not billions more to clean up! Paid for, of course, by you and me, the American taxpayers. This isn’t just corrupt, it’s pure evil!

But you know what? Forget Obama for a minute. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t even about Obama. In reality, this is about defending the Constitution, and the Rule of Law. This is about saying that there is INDEED a line we won’t allow to be crossed. It is a reminder that we elect a President, not a king or an emperor. It’s also about serving warning to future presidents who might try the same illegal, unconstitutional gambits Obama has been engaged in, for years. Impeaching Obama is far bigger than Obama. It boils down to whether we can actually KEEP the Republic, or stand by, as it ends, right before our very eyes.

With Obama, Past is prologue

Though this may not be grounds for impeachment, it certainly points to a pattern that will not stop until Obama is forcibly removed from office. Obama has written Executive Orders, illegally declared the Senate in recess [when it wasn’t …. not that he has the power to declare anything Senate related] and so on. The United States Supreme Court has UNANIMOUSLY declared Obama’s actions unconstitutional on 12 occasions. Yup, even the far left extremists Obama himself placed on The Court have declared his actions unconstitutional a dozen times!

A normal person would get the hint, at some point.

If having the Supreme Court clip his wings didn’t give Obama some pause for reflection, you’d have thought the historic ass-whipping the democrat party took nationwide on November 4th would have! Instead it’s: “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

I think Obama has proven, without a doubt, that neither the Constitution, nor the rule of law, or even the will of the American people, mean a thing to him. Obama is on a mission and has no intention of stopping. So, he must BE stopped.

Thankfully, our Founding Fathers left us a simple, CONSTITUTIONAL remedy for tyrants and wanna-be dictators like Obama. Currently Republicans have retained counsel and are suing Obama over his illegal deferments of sections of the ObamaCare legislation. Obama illegally changed the law to suit political purposes, namely trying to hold off the painful and devastatingly expensive portions of the law, until after the 2014 elections. More than a few constitutional scholars doubt Congress even has what the courts call standing, to even bring the suit. Courts are not inclined to get involved in a pissing contest between the Legislative and Executive branches of government, as all three are co-equal, under our Supreme Law of the Land.

Again, our Constitution provides the answer: Impeachment.

It should be noted that President George W Bush tried two very stupid things while in office: Grant massive amnesty to illegal aliens, and put an unqualified Harriett Myers on the Supreme Court. Both times the American people raised Holy Hell, melting the phone lines to the White House and their congresscritters. Bush wisely gave up, on both ideas. Contrast this with Obama. When ObamaCare was still being shoved down our throats, the American people rose up, en masse, to protest. ObamaCare was NEVER popular among the people, and as the years have passed, it has become even less so. Obama’s response? The legislation was “deemed passed” in the middle of the night, via illegal procedures, without a single bi-partisan vote for it. That has never happened in American history. The Republicans’ response? Boehner shouted, then cried, then sat down and shut up! With Obama threatening this amnesty for illegals, the American people sent a message, loud and clear. Obama’s response? A big middle finger to the entire nation!

We’ve discussed Speaker of the House John Boeher’s idiotic, and lame-ass lawsuit before. In our article, we also lay out the various crimes Obama has committed, including High Treason. Many, including myself, consider Obama’s recent granting of executive amnesty, which amounts to a refusal to enforce the law of the land, for an entire class of people [laws he swore an oath to God to uphold] yet another case of High Treason, and grounds for the most severe of punishments allowed by law.

The bottom line is this:

If Obama isn’t stopped, and stopped NOW, the United States, as we know it, will cease to exist

The only way to stop Obama is impeachment, conviction, and removal from office. It will be an all out war, but so was the Revolution that gave birth to the Republic we love so much. More simply put, America can’t survive under Barack Obama. She will indeed fall, if this tyrant is allowed to remain in office.

They that can give up essential Liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor Liberty
~ Benjamin Franklin

A Republic, IF You Can Keep It!

Sarah Palin: Please Never Forget the Meaning of Memorial Day

By Sarah Palin:

Enjoy this long, glorious spring weekend, and please never forget the true meaning of Memorial Day. We set this time aside to honor the men and women who for generations have ensured our safety and our ability to spend a day like this in freedom and peace. They are more than just names on gravestones in national cemeteries and battlefields. They were someone’s child, sibling, spouse, parent, and friend. As President Reagan said, on Memorial Day we remember “those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.”

Thank you, God, for instilling the passion for freedom in these patriots. Thank you for equipping America with the resources to defend the liberty You have given us.

Please remember our active veterans today as well as those who have fallen. Every American should feel outrage at any injustice done to our veterans seeking what was promised them when they volunteered to defend the homeland. They are owed the health care they have already paid for. Friends, be determined to right the wrongs our vets face today.

President Lincoln knew our military heroes as “those who gave the last full measure of devotion” for our freedom; let’s continue Lincoln’s legacy of respect and always keep faith with our veterans. They, more than any, deserve our country’s unending respect and gratitude.

(photo by Meghan McCarthy)

President Reagan’s Radio Address To the Nation On the Observance of Easter and Passover April 2nd, 1983

By Isabel Matos

Nearly 25 years after he gave this radio address, President Reagan’s words still resonate in our hearts and minds, and his message of hope and courage serve as an inspiration and an example for us to follow.

H/T Mariah May for clip posted in GOPAYL

October 27,1964: Remembering Ronald Reagan’s Most Iconic Speech

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

~Ronald Wilson Reagan,
40th President of these United States [1911-2004]

By Gary P Jackson

On October 27, 1964 at the Republican National Convention, Ronald Reagan gave what would become one of his greatest, most memorable speeches. A speech that would become, along with Reagan himself, an American icon!

Entitled “A Time For Choosing” it would come to be known as simply “The Speech.”

Every year, as we remember this great speech, and reflect on it’s importance, I find myself filled with a combination of joy, inspiration, and sadness.

Joy and inspiration because it’s Ronald Reagan. The Great Renaldus Magnus in all of his glory. This is Ronald Reagan at his finest. He is telling the American people like it is. No punches pulled, no sugar coating. But this isn’t an angry, fire breathing speech. This is a hopeful speech. Reagan is speaking about the greatest evil mankind has ever faced, rabid liberalism, both in America, and of course, from communist states like the Soviet Union, but he counts on the intelligence of the American people to prevail. Rather than just raising hell about the viciousness and destructiveness of the policies put forth by the democrat party, Reagan offers up common sense, and a future less dire and more Free.

I’m sad though, because today, 49 years later, Reagan could give this EXACT speech. The only changes would be to some of the names mentioned, and of course, the dollars amounts are astronomically higher, as are the dangers America faces at the hands of rabid, anti-American liberals, in BOTH political parties.

Ronald Reagan is famous for fighting and eventually defeating the Soviet Union, which he called an “evil empire” but he also warned of the evils of liberalism here at home. He warned of out of control spending, corruption, and the growing welfare state. Reagan was able to put the destruction caused by liberalism in human terms, which is what makes this speech so powerful.

Every year I tell readers that “The Speech” should be required learning in every grade school, high school, and college. In fact, one shouldn’t be able to graduate high school or college, without a working knowledge and understanding of this speech, and the concepts espoused within. This year I’d like to add that NO ELECTED OFFICIAL should be allowed to hold office, without that same knowledge and understanding! [Yes I know, I’m living in a fantasy world … but… ]

Ronald Reagan always said the answers are simple. Not easy, but simple. Reagan’s conservatism was built on common sense and pragmatic solutions, both of which are in short supply these days, and not just in politics!

I love to think how much stronger America and the American people would be, had the country listened to Reagan in 1964, and followed a true Conservative path, rather than allowing rabid liberalism to take hold and lead us to where we are today, staring into the abyss.

The best way to honor Ronald Reagan on this day, and every day, is to listen to these words, and take heed. We ALL need to be inspired, and STAY inspired. We ALL need to work TOGETHER to save this nation we love so dearly from the evil that has us by the throat.

We must ALL be inspired to send liberalism, and all of it’s evils, to the ash heap of history. We must ALL look for leaders who will go to Washington, end the corruption, end the out of control spending, and end the era of Big Government, once and for all….

….or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

And now, a thoughtful address by Ronald Reagan:

A TIME FOR CHOOSING (The Speech – October 27, 1964)

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn’t been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own words and discuss my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks.

I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance of peace and prosperity. The line has been used, “We’ve never had it so good.”

But I have an uncomfortable feeling that this prosperity isn’t something on which we can base our hopes for the future. No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income. Today, 37 cents out of every dollar earned in this country is the tax collector’s share, and yet our government continues to spend 17 million dollars a day more than the government takes in. We haven’t balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years. We’ve raised our debt limit three times in the last twelve months, and now our national debt is one and a half times bigger than all the combined debts of all the nations of the world. We have 15 billion dollars in gold in our treasury; we don’t own an ounce. Foreign dollar claims are 27.3 billion dollars. And we’ve just had announced that the dollar of 1939 will now purchase 45 cents in its total value.

As for the peace that we would preserve, I wonder who among us would like to approach the wife or mother whose husband or son has died in South Vietnam and ask them if they think this is a peace that should be maintained indefinitely. Do they mean peace, or do they mean we just want to be left in peace? There can be no real peace while one American is dying some place in the world for the rest of us. We’re at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it’s been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening. Well I think it’s time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms that were intended for us by the Founding Fathers.

Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, “We don’t know how lucky we are.” And the Cuban stopped and said, “How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to.” And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there’s no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.

And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man’s relation to man.

This is the issue of this election: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down—[up] man’s old—old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.

In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the “Great Society,” or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people. But they’ve been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves; and all of the things I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations. For example, they have voices that say, “The cold war will end through our acceptance of a not undemocratic socialism.” Another voice says, “The profit motive has become outmoded. It must be replaced by the incentives of the welfare state.” Or, “Our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th century.” Senator Fullbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is outmoded. He referred to the President as “our moral teacher and our leader,” and he says he is “hobbled in his task by the restrictions of power imposed on him by this antiquated document.” He must “be freed,” so that he “can do for us” what he knows “is best.” And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as “meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government.”

Well, I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me, the free men and women of this country, as “the masses.” This is a term we haven’t applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, “the full power of centralized government“—this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don’t control things. A government can’t control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.

Now, we have no better example of this than government’s involvement in the farm economy over the last 30 years. Since 1955, the cost of this program has nearly doubled. One-fourth of farming in America is responsible for 85 percent of the farm surplus. Three-fourths of farming is out on the free market and has known a 21 percent increase in the per capita consumption of all its produce. You see, that one-fourth of farming—that’s regulated and controlled by the federal government. In the last three years we’ve spent 43 dollars in the feed grain program for every dollar bushel of corn we don’t grow.

Senator Humphrey last week charged that Barry Goldwater, as President, would seek to eliminate farmers. He should do his homework a little better, because he’ll find out that we’ve had a decline of 5 million in the farm population under these government programs. He’ll also find that the Democratic administration has sought to get from Congress [an] extension of the farm program to include that three-fourths that is now free. He’ll find that they’ve also asked for the right to imprison farmers who wouldn’t keep books as prescribed by the federal government. The Secretary of Agriculture asked for the right to seize farms through condemnation and resell them to other individuals. And contained in that same program was a provision that would have allowed the federal government to remove 2 million farmers from the soil.

At the same time, there’s been an increase in the Department of Agriculture employees. There’s now one for every 30 farms in the United States, and still they can’t tell us how 66 shiploads of grain headed for Austria disappeared without a trace and Billie Sol Estes never left shore.

Every responsible farmer and farm organization has repeatedly asked the government to free the farm economy, but how—who are farmers to know what’s best for them? The wheat farmers voted against a wheat program. The government passed it anyway. Now the price of bread goes up; the price of wheat to the farmer goes down.

Meanwhile, back in the city, under urban renewal the assault on freedom carries on. Private property rights [are] so diluted that public interest is almost anything a few government planners decide it should be. In a program that takes from the needy and gives to the greedy, we see such spectacles as in Cleveland, Ohio, a million-and-a-half-dollar building completed only three years ago must be destroyed to make way for what government officials call a “more compatible use of the land.” The President tells us he’s now going to start building public housing units in the thousands, where heretofore we’ve only built them in the hundreds. But FHA [Federal Housing Authority] and the Veterans Administration tell us they have 120,000 housing units they’ve taken back through mortgage foreclosure. For three decades, we’ve sought to solve the problems of unemployment through government planning, and the more the plans fail, the more the planners plan. The latest is the Area Redevelopment Agency.

They’ve just declared Rice County, Kansas, a depressed area. Rice County, Kansas, has two hundred oil wells, and the 14,000 people there have over 30 million dollars on deposit in personal savings in their banks. And when the government tells you you’re depressed, lie down and be depressed.

We have so many people who can’t see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one. So they’re going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer—and they’ve had almost 30 years of it—shouldn’t we expect government to read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn’t they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing?

But the reverse is true. Each year the need grows greater; the program grows greater. We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry each night. Well that was probably true. They were all on a diet. But now we’re told that 9.3 million families in this country are poverty-stricken on the basis of earning less than 3,000 dollars a year. Welfare spending [is] 10 times greater than in the dark depths of the Depression. We’re spending 45 billion dollars on welfare. Now do a little arithmetic, and you’ll find that if we divided the 45 billion dollars up equally among those 9 million poor families, we’d be able to give each family 4,600 dollars a year. And this added to their present income should eliminate poverty. Direct aid to the poor, however, is only running only about 600 dollars per family. It would seem that someplace there must be some overhead.

Now—so now we declare “war on poverty,” or “You, too, can be a Bobby Baker.” Now do they honestly expect us to believe that if we add 1 billion dollars to the 45 billion we’re spending, one more program to the 30-odd we have—and remember, this new program doesn’t replace any, it just duplicates existing programs—do they believe that poverty is suddenly going to disappear by magic? Well, in all fairness I should explain there is one part of the new program that isn’t duplicated. This is the youth feature. We’re now going to solve the dropout problem, juvenile delinquency, by reinstituting something like the old CCC camps [Civilian Conservation Corps], and we’re going to put our young people in these camps. But again we do some arithmetic, and we find that we’re going to spend each year just on room and board for each young person we help 4,700 dollars a year. We can send them to Harvard for 2,700! Course, don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting Harvard is the answer to juvenile delinquency.

But seriously, what are we doing to those we seek to help? Not too long ago, a judge called me here in Los Angeles. He told me of a young woman who’d come before him for a divorce. She had six children, was pregnant with her seventh. Under his questioning, she revealed her husband was a laborer earning 250 dollars a month. She wanted a divorce to get an 80 dollar raise. She’s eligible for 330 dollars a month in the Aid to Dependent Children Program. She got the idea from two women in her neighborhood who’d already done that very thing.

Yet anytime you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we’re denounced as being against their humanitarian goals. They say we’re always “against” things—we’re never “for” anything.

Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.

Now—we’re for a provision that destitution should not follow unemployment by reason of old age, and to that end we’ve accepted Social Security as a step toward meeting the problem.

But we’re against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments to those people who depend on them for a livelihood. They’ve called it “insurance” to us in a hundred million pieces of literature. But then they appeared before the Supreme Court and they testified it was a welfare program. They only use the term “insurance” to sell it to the people. And they said Social Security dues are a tax for the general use of the government, and the government has used that tax. There is no fund, because Robert Byers, the actuarial head, appeared before a congressional committee and admitted that Social Security as of this moment is 298 billion dollars in the hole. But he said there should be no cause for worry because as long as they have the power to tax, they could always take away from the people whatever they needed to bail them out of trouble. And they’re doing just that.

A young man, 21 years of age, working at an average salary—his Social Security contribution would, in the open market, buy him an insurance policy that would guarantee 220 dollars a month at age 65. The government promises 127. He could live it up until he’s 31 and then take out a policy that would pay more than Social Security. Now are we so lacking in business sense that we can’t put this program on a sound basis, so that people who do require those payments will find they can get them when they’re due—that the cupboard isn’t bare?

Barry Goldwater thinks we can.

At the same time, can’t we introduce voluntary features that would permit a citizen who can do better on his own to be excused upon presentation of evidence that he had made provision for the non-earning years? Should we not allow a widow with children to work, and not lose the benefits supposedly paid for by her deceased husband? Shouldn’t you and I be allowed to declare who our beneficiaries will be under this program, which we cannot do? I think we’re for telling our senior citizens that no one in this country should be denied medical care because of a lack of funds. But I think we’re against forcing all citizens, regardless of need, into a compulsory government program, especially when we have such examples, as was announced last week, when France admitted that their Medicare program is now bankrupt. They’ve come to the end of the road.

In addition, was Barry Goldwater so irresponsible when he suggested that our government give up its program of deliberate, planned inflation, so that when you do get your Social Security pension, a dollar will buy a dollar’s worth, and not 45 cents worth?

I think we’re for an international organization, where the nations of the world can seek peace. But I think we’re against subordinating American interests to an organization that has become so structurally unsound that today you can muster a two-thirds vote on the floor of the General Assembly among nations that represent less than 10 percent of the world’s population. I think we’re against the hypocrisy of assailing our allies because here and there they cling to a colony, while we engage in a conspiracy of silence and never open our mouths about the millions of people enslaved in the Soviet colonies in the satellite nations.

I think we’re for aiding our allies by sharing of our material blessings with those nations which share in our fundamental beliefs, but we’re against doling out money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world. We set out to help 19 countries. We’re helping 107. We’ve spent 146 billion dollars. With that money, we bought a 2 million dollar yacht for Haile Selassie. We bought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives for Kenya[n] government officials. We bought a thousand TV sets for a place where they have no electricity. In the last six years, 52 nations have bought 7 billion dollars worth of our gold, and all 52 are receiving foreign aid from this country.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. So governments’ programs, once launched, never disappear.

Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.

Federal employees—federal employees number two and a half million; and federal, state, and local, one out of six of the nation’s work force employed by government. These proliferating bureaus with their thousands of regulations have cost us many of our constitutional safeguards. How many of us realize that today federal agents can invade a man’s property without a warrant? They can impose a fine without a formal hearing, let alone a trial by jury? And they can seize and sell his property at auction to enforce the payment of that fine. In Chico County, Arkansas, James Wier over-planted his rice allotment. The government obtained a 17,000 dollar judgment. And a U.S. marshal sold his 960-acre farm at auction. The government said it was necessary as a warning to others to make the system work.

Last February 19th at the University of Minnesota, Norman Thomas, six-times candidate for President on the Socialist Party ticket, said, “If Barry Goldwater became President, he would stop the advance of socialism in the United States.” I think that’s exactly what he will do.

But as a former Democrat, I can tell you Norman Thomas isn’t the only man who has drawn this parallel to socialism with the present administration, because back in 1936, Mr. Democrat himself, Al Smith, the great American, came before the American people and charged that the leadership of his Party was taking the Party of Jefferson, Jackson, and Cleveland down the road under the banners of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin. And he walked away from his Party, and he never returned til the day he died—because to this day, the leadership of that Party has been taking that Party, that honorable Party, down the road in the image of the labor Socialist Party of England.

Now it doesn’t require expropriation or confiscation of private property or business to impose socialism on a people. What does it mean whether you hold the deed to the—or the title to your business or property if the government holds the power of life and death over that business or property? And such machinery already exists. The government can find some charge to bring against any concern it chooses to prosecute. Every businessman has his own tale of harassment. Somewhere a perversion has taken place. Our natural, unalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation of government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.

Our Democratic opponents seem unwilling to debate these issues. They want to make you and I believe that this is a contest between two men—that we’re to choose just between two personalities.

Well what of this man that they would destroy—and in destroying, they would destroy that which he represents, the ideas that you and I hold dear? Is he the brash and shallow and trigger-happy man they say he is? Well I’ve been privileged to know him “when.” I knew him long before he ever dreamed of trying for high office, and I can tell you personally I’ve never known a man in my life I believed so incapable of doing a dishonest or dishonorable thing.

This is a man who, in his own business before he entered politics, instituted a profit-sharing plan before unions had ever thought of it. He put in health and medical insurance for all his employees. He took 50 percent of the profits before taxes and set up a retirement program, a pension plan for all his employees. He sent monthly checks for life to an employee who was ill and couldn’t work. He provides nursing care for the children of mothers who work in the stores. When Mexico was ravaged by the floods in the Rio Grande, he climbed in his airplane and flew medicine and supplies down there.

An ex-GI told me how he met him. It was the week before Christmas during the Korean War, and he was at the Los Angeles airport trying to get a ride home to Arizona for Christmas. And he said that [there were] a lot of servicemen there and no seats available on the planes. And then a voice came over the loudspeaker and said, “Any men in uniform wanting a ride to Arizona, go to runway such-and-such,” and they went down there, and there was a fellow named Barry Goldwater sitting in his plane. Every day in those weeks before Christmas, all day long, he’d load up the plane, fly it to Arizona, fly them to their homes, fly back over to get another load.

During the hectic split-second timing of a campaign, this is a man who took time out to sit beside an old friend who was dying of cancer. His campaign managers were understandably impatient, but he said, “There aren’t many left who care what happens to her. I’d like her to know I care.” This is a man who said to his 19-year-old son, “There is no foundation like the rock of honesty and fairness, and when you begin to build your life on that rock, with the cement of the faith in God that you have, then you have a real start.” This is not a man who could carelessly send other people’s sons to war. And that is the issue of this campaign that makes all the other problems I’ve discussed academic, unless we realize we’re in a war that must be won.

Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy “accommodation.” And they say if we’ll only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he’ll forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer—not an easy answer—but simple: If you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based on what we know in our hearts is morally right.

We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, “Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we’re willing to make a deal with your slave masters.” Alexander Hamilton said, “A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.” Now let’s set the record straight. There’s no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there’s only one guaranteed way you can have peace—and you can have it in the next second—surrender.

Admittedly, there’s a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face—that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand—the ultimatum. And what then—when Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we’re retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary, because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he’s heard voices pleading for “peace at any price” or “better Red than dead,” or as one commentator put it, he’d rather “live on his knees than die on his feet.” And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don’t speak for the rest of us.

You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin—just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard ’round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn’t die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it’s a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, “There is a price we will not pay.” “There is a point beyond which they must not advance.” And this—this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater’s “peace through strength.” Winston Churchill said, “The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits—not animals.” And he said, “There’s something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.”

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We’ll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we’ll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny.

Thank you very much.

Breaking: Governor Sarah Palin to Hannity I Won’t Stop Until Americans Have the Good Government They Deserve!

By Gary P Jackson

A great interview with Governor Sarah Palin on a Tuesday afternoon.

Sounding very much like George Washington, the rather reluctant leader, Governor Palin ends the interview with a bold statement about leading the party.

Ronald Reagan was a democrat for most of his adult life. He famously said that he didn’t leave the democrat party, the democrat party left him.

Governor Palin is saying what the rest of us are thinking. We’d MUCH rather revitalize the Republican Party than go in another direction, but …. and what else can be said but …. we haven’t left the GOP, the GOP has left all of us!

This is a long interview. Governor Palin talks about how the Republican Party has failed. She talks about starting a third party vs revitalizing the GOP. She also tells Sean that we must get new blood in the government, and save America.

Governor Palin also gives a VERY interesting answer to the question if she WOULD consider running for the United States Senate out of Alaska. This is the kind of answer a true leader, who cares about her nation, would give. Vintage Sarah Palin too!

All of this, and much, much more:

Audio courtesy SarahNET.

Sarah Palin: The American Flag Flies as a Symbol of Liberty and Justice for All

By Sarah Palin

Whether outside our homes, inside our classrooms, or alongside our courthouses, the American flag flies as a symbol of “liberty and justice for all.” On this Flag Day, we pledge our allegiance once again to the ideals that define this most exceptional nation. We vow to defend these ideals out of respect for those who have come before us and out of love for future generations.

Please follow the link to read President Reagan’s 1986 Flag Day Radio Address. It reads in part:

“As the American Republic grew and prospered and new stars were added to the flag, the ideal of freedom grew and prospered. From the rolling hills of Kentucky to the shores of California to the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon, our pioneers carried our flag before them, a symbol of the indomitable spirit of a free people. And let us never forget that in honoring our flag, we honor the American men and women who have courageously fought and died for it over the last 200 years, patriots who set an ideal above any consideration of self. Our flag flies free today because of their sacrifice.”

What powerful words from our fortieth president! Happy Flag Day, and God bless America!

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=37452

Radio Address to the Nation on Flag Day and Father’s Day
June 14, 1986

My fellow Americans:

Today we celebrate Flag Day, the birthday of our Stars and Stripes. As we think back over the history of our nation’s flag, we remember that the story of its early years was often one of hardship and trials, sometimes a fight for simple survival.

Such is the story behind our Star-Spangled Banner. It was 2 years into the War of 1812, and America seemed to be teetering on the edge of defeat. The British had already taken our Capital and burned the White House. Baltimore was the next target in a grand design to divide our forces and crush this newly independent nation of upstart colonies. All that stood between the British and Baltimore were the guns of Fort McHenry, blocking their entry into Baltimore Harbor.

The British bombardment lasted for 25 hours. Through the dark hours of the night, the rockets fired and the bombs exploded. And a young American patriot named Key, held captive aboard a British ship, watched anxiously for some proof, some sign, that liberty would prevail. You can imagine his joy when the next morning, in the dawn’s early light, he looked out and saw the banner still flying—a little tattered and torn, but still flying proudly above the ramparts. Fort McHenry and the brave men manning it had withstood the assault. Baltimore was saved. The United States, this great experiment in human freedom, as George Washington described it, would endure.

Thinking back to those times, one realizes that our democracy is so strong because it was forged in the fires of adversity. In those dark days of the war, it must have been easy to give in to despair. But our forefathers were motivated by a cause beyond themselves. From the harsh winter of Valley Forge to the blazing night above Fort McHenry, those patriot soldiers were sustained by the ideals of human freedom. Through the hardships and the setbacks, they kept their eyes on that ideal and purpose, just as through the smoke of battle they kept a lookout for the flag. For with the birth of our nation, the cause of human freedom had become forever tied to that flag and its survival.

As the American Republic grew and prospered and new stars were added to the flag, the ideal of freedom grew and prospered. From the rolling hills of Kentucky to the shores of California to the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon, our pioneers carried our flag before them, a symbol of the indomitable spirit of a free people. And let us never forget that in honoring our flag, we honor the American men and women who have courageously fought and died for it over the last 200 years, patriots who set an ideal above any consideration of self. Our flag flies free today because of their sacrifice.

And I hope you all will join Nancy and me and millions of other Americans at 7 o’clock this evening, eastern daylight time, when we pause a few minutes to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Though separated by many miles, we will be together in our thoughts. These anniversaries remind us that the great American experiment in freedom and democracy has really just begun. They remind us of the terrible hardships our forefathers willingly endured for their beliefs. And they challenge us to match that greatness of spirit in our own time, and I know we will. We are, after all, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

If we ask ourselves what has held our nation together, what has given it the strength to endure and the spirit to achieve, we find the answer in our families and those basic family values of work, hope, charity, faith, and love. So, it’s appropriate that this year Father’s Day falls on the same weekend as Flag Day, for in commemorating fatherhood, we’re also expressing a basic truth about America. What does fatherhood mean today in America? I guess the same as it always has.

Fatherhood can sometimes be walking the floor at midnight with a baby that can’t sleep. More likely, fatherhood is repairing a bicycle wheel for the umpteenth time, knowing that it won’t last the afternoon. Fatherhood is guiding a youth through the wilderness of adolescence toward adulthood. Fatherhood is holding tight when all seems to be falling apart; and it’s letting go when it is time to part. Fatherhood is long hours at the blast furnace or in the fields, behind the wheel or in front of a computer screen, working a 12-hour shift or doing a 6-month tour of duty. It’s giving one’s all, from the break of day to its end, on the job, in the house, but most of all in the heart.

Now, if you are thinking, “Look who’s talking—he’s a father himself.” Well, that’s right, but on today I think we could all remember—this weekend, at least—that every father is also a son. So, on this day for fathers, we, too, say thanks to America’s dads—for the labor and legacy of our families and our freedoms.

Until next week, thanks for listening, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:06 p.m. from Camp David, MD.

Video: Ronald Reagan’s 1984 Memorial Day Speech

By Gary P Jackson

On Memorial Day 1984, President Ronald Reagan gave a moving speech honoring the Unknown Servicemen who died during the Vietnam War.

Remembering Those Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice

By Gary P Jackson

Today as we go about the many celebrations, awesome racing, and other traditional Memorial weekend events, let us all take a minute to remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion so that we can enjoy all of these things in peace.

No one has done more to advance Liberty and Freedom around the world than the American Service men and women. Far too many have died in service to our nation. We must never forget that sacrifice.

America is the greatest force for good in this world, and that is because of those who serve in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and National Guard.

Please take time today to pray for those we’ve lost, and their families. Pray for those who currently serve as well.

Peggy Noonan Wins No Converts

By C. A. Bamford

I once admired Peggy Noonan. She was a worthwhile voice in the political arena, who when she was good, was very, very good, writing the words so famously uttered by President Ronald Reagan as he spoke of “The Boys of Pointe du Hoc” on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. After the Challenger explosion, America wept when Reagan read her quote from poet John Magee in a moving tribute to the heroes who had “slipped the surly bonds of Earth…and touched the Face of God”.

But when she was bad, she was horrible. It was Noonan who wrote the “Read my Lips” speech that lost President George H.W. Bush the election. Sadly, Peggy Noonan loosened her grip on mainstream Republican ideals and leaned fawningly to the left, lending her talents to those harshly critical of President George W. Bush. She has chosen to embrace the liberal media and entertainment industry, while virtually abandoning the values of her beloved President Reagan.

During the 2008 campaign, Noonan angered a great many conservatives by denigrating Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. Now a firmly entrenched elitist, Noonan raged that Palin “did not demonstrate the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office.” Noonan compounded her embarrassing rant, by saying Palin’s candidacy marked a “vulgarization in American Politics” that is “no good… for conservatism…or the country.”

Her apparent ignorance of Governor Palin’s popularity and record of outstanding accomplishments reminds one of the fact that looking at things through the bottom of a glass of gin tends to distort them.

With her knowledge of Alaska’s geography apparently learned from Tina Fey comedy bits, she seemed unaware that Alaska spreads across 4 time zones (combined into one for expediency) and has a coastline that exceeds the combined coastlines of all other US states, including Hawaii. Clearly, she did not understand the huge challenges and enormous responsibilities of governing this vast and diverse land.

But Noonan has gone too far this time. In trying to excuse her establishment friends for the GOP election loss, she ignored the rampant corruption and incompetence that is overwhelming our government. In a rambling lecture she tried shamefully to lay blame on hardworking citizens of our country – citizens who have given endless hours of their own time and money that they often cannot spare, to defend our freedoms.

Noonan doesn’t understand that the “Tea Party” is not a party. It does not have gangs of uninformed and violent thugs like the left she asks us to emulate. It is the best of America in all its facets. The tea party is male, female, young, old, rich, poor, middle class, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, Arab…all demographics from all regions of America. It is comprised of individuals; all standing up for our country in their own way because they know freedom is not won or kept by compromise with those who care nothing for our freedoms.

It’s not rage that you hear, Ms. Noonan. It is outrage. Outrage that those who live grandly on our money are not even attempting to do their job. Outrage that they are lining their pockets while letting the country we built be destroyed and perverted into a weak and dependent debtor nation. It is impatience and disgust with condescending pundits telling us what is wrong with us, while ignoring a prostituted press, a corrupt and incompetent government, and an electoral process so riddled with fraud that our votes have become inconsequential. Rage? No, Ms Noonan. You are seeing determination to do all we can to protect this nation for the future generations who will inherit it from us. Vulgar sentiments, Ms. Noonan? No doubt you think so.

You urge Americans to change our public face and “Move Forward”? Unlike you and your associates, we do not have two faces. Our public face is the same as our private face. We have taken a good look at ourselves, Ms. Noonan, and we are not the ones who need to change.