Newt-ering the United States…..

By: J Robert Giles

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“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”   - Benjamin Franklin

 

Come on…..you don’t get to be in the public eye with a name like “Newt” and escape creative license. Recently, Newt Gingrich claimed that a vote for Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, or Rick Perry was essentially a vote for Mitt Romney. I don’t necessarily believe that. In fact, I whole-heartedly disagree with that. While I can’t personally imagine the stress involved in running for any kind of high-profile office, I’m not ready to trim the list of candidates down to two men just yet. I can certainly understand why Gingrich would want the field narrowed a bit, but I think there is a lot of good that can come from a few more weeks, if not months of competition for the former Speaker of the House. I’m ready to cast my vote for the candidate I believe will lead this country so far beyond the mistakes of the current administration that history remembers Obama as “that guy who made way for [insert candidate name here].” Whoever gets the nod will be completely vetted and his mission will be understood. That doesn’t mean that we will understand HIS mission, but rather that he will clearly understand OURS. We’re not just looking for someone who can beat Obama. While the removal of Obummer is obviously a fundamental first step, it is not the only task our next President will be asked to complete. In other words, memorable speeches, large crowds, and poll results are not going to be the only qualifications of the next President of the United States Of America.

To look at Newt’s website you would believe that Gingrich is definitely the man to lead us away from the catastrophe over which we are now perilously dangling. Where the other candidates simply have an “Issues” tab at the top of their website, Gingrich has a  “Solutions” tab. If it was a CEO’s website, or a coach’s; you might think of the positive spin as a sign of hope but as it stands, on the website of a polished politician with a polished political machine cranking out his web presence, it just comes across as slightly pandering. No matter how sincere the motives behind the tab, it somehow comes across as playing on our negativity strings a little too heavily. The points that fall under the tab are fantastic ideas, but for some reason have been met with doubt until very recently. While Gingrich is surging ahead of the rest of the non-Romney-pack, I’m still not sure he has a complete grasp of what it is that he will be asked to do if he is elected to be our next leader. His mission is still too focused on the campaign and not the years after the campaign. Hey, Newt! We’ve seen what an excellent campaign can do. Obama ran an excellent campaign!

Some of Newt’s solutions include the “Optional Flat Tax Rate of 15%.” It’s an excellent idea, and one that would put so much power back into the hands of the American people where it belongs. Giving people the choice to file their taxes on a single postcard, or with the current system of over-documented, over-calculated, panic inducing, tree killing bureaucracy would surely save billions in annual processing costs and time. Reforming the Federal Reserve to Promote Transparency…..I’m all for it. Newt Gingrich’s “Solutions” include the repeal of several specific laws and acts the average voter couldn’t identify with ten clues and a Sherpa. Newt plans to repeal the Sarbanes / Oxley Act. The act was written hastily as most acts seem to be. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the calamities of Enron and WorldCom but it proved to be absolutely useless against the insolvencies and accounting irregularities of Bear – Sterns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, or Merrill Lynch. Before this act, and all of the confusing regulatory measures it brought with it from the panicked womb of illustrious leaders like Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), it took a company an average of 5 years to climb from creation to initial public offering. We now stand around twelve years with a majority of companies finding safety in their continued status as “privately held.”. Many companies we all know and love today could not have been created under this act. Newt also plans to do away with the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. This act requires banks to make loans in all communities in which they accept deposits but has instead created a bottleneck of bureaucratic red-tape and regulatory nightmares in terms of access to credit. No matter what the left may say, this act has contributed heavily to the confusion in our mortgage system as well. To that end, Newt plans to break up the cement slippers around the feet of America known as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and let their smaller successors fight it out in the free market. Excellent idea. Newt plans to get rid of wasteful government departments, especially those departments that so often kill jobs in the name of ideology like the EPA. Newt plans, in fact, to replace the Environmental Protection Agency with the Environmental Solutions Agency. (Sounds like more government involvement to me, but it’s worth a try because it infuriates liberals.) Mr. Gingrich promotes the idea of implementing a new Energy Plan for America. Okay, now you’re veering off course, Mr. Speaker and this is why you still require the competitive accountability imposed upon you by the other candidates still in the race. Any “Energy Plan” that doesn’t call for the complete and immediate evacuation of all government hands from the free market, private and entrepreneurial expansion of our nation’s energy options is quite frankly not good enough. Keep trying.

Newt Gingrich is a horrible husband. It’s no secret. He needs to embrace it, own it, and get past it. His website and his campaign have gone too far in trying to make people forget about is matrimonially challenged personal history. Every page and photo contains info about Callista Gingrich’s involvement in his life. Am I the only one that sees an eerie similarity between the public, almost scripted marriage of Newt and Callista Gingrich and another business-couple running for President in 1992? He keeps trying to draw similarities between himself and Reagan, but there will never be another Reagan. Someday we might be saying “there will never be another Gingrich” if he can get past this mentality that he has to be leading the campaign in January. I’m not asking you to marry me any more than I’m asking Romney to be my spiritual advisor, Newt. Stop the negative attacks and get out there and passionately defend and deliver your messages. Get behind the ideas you supposedly believe in. Nobody has heard you make mention of the acts you plan to repeal because they might not be popular in certain demographics. Get over that crap and get your message out there. As it stands right now, you have just put a bunch of words on a website. You have listed all the benefits of the grand ideas you have for your time in office, but you have failed to list how you will get any of the ideas passed.

Ron Paul has done exactly those things. While I believe Dr. Paul is smoking the pot of his supporters on many issues, I do believe that the man has a passionate reasoning behind his mission. He spells out that mission quite clearly throughout his own website. As unlikely as his presidency may be, Ron Paul does lay out a very convincing timeline and plan for balancing the budget. In fact, if elected, he swears he can get it done by year three. He’s got graphs, statistics, and well organized data to support his plan. Newt has none of those things. Ron Paul vows to end the Federal Reserve if elected. I’m all for that. The Federal Reserve was created under sneaky circumstances on Christmas Eve of 1913 and has operated under the cloak of secrecy ever since. Recently, the Federal Reserve convinced Americans that the economy would never recover without unprecedented bailouts. We now know, because of the efforts of passionate men like Dr. Paul, that at the peak of the Fed’s “emergency lending” over 90% of it’s discount window loans were made to foreign banks. In fact, there were a total of 70 loans made to the Bank of Libya. When pressed about the issue, good-old Bernanke reminded Congress that they do not have the power or authority to audit the mighty Federal Reserve. Ron Paul aims to change that drastically and he has a clear, if not ill-conceived, plan to do so. He’s passionate about his stance. Where’s Newt’s passion?

Newt’s passion seems to lie only in the title of frontrunner. He’s passionate about poll results, campaign numbers, and headlines. Those things win elections, but America is already looking far beyond Election Day. Right now, Mitt Romney seems to be the only one on our side with that same mentality. When Newt gets out there and starts spreading the word about his ideas for the future instead of his association with Reagan, his disdain for Bain, and his over-the-top defense of his marriage then maybe he will surge ahead of the Mighty Mormon but for now you remain in second place. You’re not ready for a two man race to the nomination just yet and neither are we. Your mission needs the spit shine of competition, Mr. Gingrich. Embrace it, use it, give us a choice.

As always, thanks for playing!

 

J. Robert Giles

 

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It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Does the Math…….

BY: J Robert Giles

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“Integrity is a bugger, it really is. Lying can get you into difficulties, but to really wind up in the crappers try telling nothing but the truth.”  - David Mitchell

 

It would appear that Mitt Romney is still the frontrunner. No shock there, but the attacks are ramping up with almost violent fervor as we head into the South Carolina Primary. Like I said last week, I’m not as much for Romney as I am against the manipulative, pandering ways of the left and the talking head they put in charge of this country. I’ll say it again……yes; jobs were lost at Bain Capital. Why is it though that when jobs are shed at ONE company it’s a travesty but when billions of dollars and millions of jobs are lost across an entire country, it’s “enlightened” or “visionary”? No, idiot……it’s neither of those things. You have failed conclusively and it is time for you and your heinous ideology to step aside. Your speeches have grown tiresome. Your promises have gone unfulfilled. Your record stinks. And your friends are pushing you to deliver unto them a  country that we simply won’t give away.

Day before yesterday, Barack Hussein Obama appeared courageously in the foyer of the White House with a squadron of unidentified men behind him. They were the CEO’s of companies that had agreed to “insource” jobs to America. Now, most of these men appeared to be the CEO’s of companies few of us give a flying fornication about. That detail, coupled with the investment record of our liberal leader leads me to believe that the men with whom he had just finished his “inspiring” meeting were the leaders of companies that further Obama’s vision of a liberal fairy tale world. They were most likely the leaders of companies that would provide some kind of components for electric cars, green energy ideas, and more bollocks that will never provide the real progress we so desperately need. The funniest part of the whole event was not the fact that he has the audacity to stand before us and claim to have a clue what is best for the country’s future. The funniest part was the wide angle shot of the room as he delivered the speech. NO ONE was there to see it. The press room was largely empty except for a confused Vice President Biden who had wandered into the room inadvertently while looking for a place to nap. I’ll spare you the details of his vague speech but suffice it to say, it consisted of more self-praise, creation of accomplishments, twisting of history, and bowing at the feet of all unions. Step aside and take your little blankey-wrapped friend with you!

All week, we’ve been hearing from not only the left, but also from those campaigns on our side which have entered the blistering flames of desperation that MItt Romney loves to fire people. I’m sure by now you’ve seen the absurdly out of context quote of him saying such. Romney’s opponents (except Ron Paul) seem to believe there’s traction for the tires of their failure-buggies in the sands of this inaccurate and pitiful accusation. We’ve heard time and time again that “Romney destroyed the lives of so many families during his time at Bain Capital…..” but when we liberate ourselves from the mental parameters to which the media restricts us, it’s easy to see that this is a colossal manipulation. Here are the facts: Romney was asked to become CEO at Bain & Company after serving as a consultant and pulling the company from the brink of disaster. Yes, dead weight was cut. Jobs were lost and it’s sad, but the overall mission was successful. He then started a spinoff company known as Bain Capital. He raised the company from nothing to dominance in a short period of time. In comparison, Obama forced his way into a leadership role at GM and Chrysler. During that time, a net loss of 287,000 jobs has been continuously swept under the rug or countered with more confusing and manipulative figures. Chrysler is now owned by Fiat yet Obama brags about his courageous battle to save the the American Auto Industry. The bailouts cost the taxpayers $14 billion in losses which we will never recover. How is it that Obama is touted as the successful one in this comparison? Seriously…..if someone can explain it to me, I will post it in my next article.

Our government can no longer afford to base its decisions on individual family stories. We need a government led by a CEO’s mentality. Men like Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are loyal to this country, not the ideological buffoonery that we’ve endured throughout the current administration’s reign. These men are leaders. They understand that success requires pain. They understand that the overall success of this country is not going to make everyone within it’s borders happy and wealthy, but it will insure that the country is still standing for my grandkids to enjoy. We, as the people living in this country, have become too sensitive as well. We have bought into this idea that everyone deserves a big house and respect and equality but that’s just not the way to get things done. When everyone’s equal, no one’s a leader. When there is no leader, there is no direction and that’s sadly where we find ourselves today. We need to start behaving like one, big, collective CEO. No longer can we afford to give handouts to everyone who learns to milk the system. No longer can we afford to question the feelings that may be hurt in the execution of logical ideas. Yes…..all people receiving welfare checks should be required to take a supervised drug screening before funds are distributed to them, This shouldn’t even be a debate, yet there are groups out there who heavily oppose the issue. And you know what, they’re winning because we let them. Government is not the CEO in our lives, we are. It’s time to behave as if we truly believe that. We must learn to take the emotions out of our decision making and go with what seems truly right or logical. When names are added to the decisions, emotions get tossed in and then we get stuck in the land of indecisiveness and it sucks here. I want to relocate to Prosperity-Ville. I lived there when I was a kid and it was a great place.

Mitt Romney cut some dead weight at a company that survived. I truly believe that’s what we need at the head of our government today.  The American Spirit cannot be crushed. It can only be fueled by extended periods of failure. Right now, the country is sick of political grandstanding and well written speeches. We’re ready to work. We’re ready to be free to invent, cure, invest, and advance. We simply can’t do that in the over-regulated world we have allowed to spring up around us. For example, Solyndra……the company that took $500 million of our money and is now in liquidation……they are now holding out their hands and asking us to give their executives $50,000 bonuses. No! You failed, you get no bonuses. You go work for someone who knows what they’re doing and you offer your limited expertise in whatever fashion they see fit. That’s how the real world works. You don’t always get what you want and you certainly don’t get it just because it was in a contract that should have been voided the second you accepted money from the US taxpayer.

Obama continues to talk down to Wall Street, pandering to the Occupy bunch. He continues to blast Romney as “big business” and “exactly the kind of leadership the American people don’t want.” Mr. President, we would accept almost any kind of leadership over the complete void we’ve endured in your glorious term. The fact is that Romney accepted $34,000 dollars in campaign contributions from various employees at Bain Capital. That’s not surprising, right? He founded the company and built it up. There’s bound to be a few supporters among the payroll, right? Obama accepted $76,000. Obama has accepted more money from Wall Street firms than Romney, Paul, and Santorum combined, yet he continues to promote himself as the voice of the concerned protestors.

Firing people is not fun. Any of you that have ever been in a position where such actions were required of you know that it’s a horrible task. Reality and survival often call for tough, unpopular decisions. When Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys he made the decision to fire legendary head coach, Tom Landry. Landry was the only coach the Cowboys had ever had. He was an icon. His fedora cap, his suit, and his stoic expression were as much a part of the Cowboys’ identity as the Blue Star. Jones then came in and traded Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings….another devastatingly unpopular decision at the time. What followed were three Super Bowl titles, a continuous flow of Hall Of Fame inductees and an eventual acceptance of the fact that the game of football had sadly caught up to legendary Coach Landry.

The kinder, gentler, more harmonious form of capitalism being offered by Obama and those GOP candidates trying to gather votes from the center doesn’t work. That kind of capitalism requires government involvement and more regulations to make sure that everybody plays nice. Free-Market capitalism is cut-throat and competitive. The strongest win, the luckiest get to witness the victory, and the weak demand the fruits of another man’s success. While it pains me to compare my childhood hero to liberalism, there is a definite comparison to be drawn. Coach Landry had what I’m sure he considered to be an innovative and successful playbook as he entered the final few seasons of his career. A 3-13 record in his final season proved that the rest of the league had finally caught up to his genius. The emotions I felt as a young fan told me that I should be angry. I should demand that this putty-faced man from Arkansas go back to the oil-fields where he belonged; he had just fired a legend. The same can be said of Obama and his campaign if his supporters would allow themselves to see the wisdom and truth behind the idea. Let go of the emotional side of your vote and cast like a CEO. Your loyalty to this man is based on emotions, most of them fed to you by the media and manipulated sound bytes. Look into your heart and vote this country back to dominance. I guarantee you that an honest inspection will not lead you to vote Obama. The hype is over. We simply can’t afford to elect a man based on skin color, empty promises, daydreams, or charm. We need someone who will step aside and let us work that magic that only Americans possess. We need someone who will cut entire programs, departments, positions, and policies; even in the face of emotional outpourings, in order to save this country.

As always, thanks for playing!

 

J. Robert Giles

 

P.S. I realize many of you may think of Jerry Jones as Satan himself, but I would strongly urge you to take a look at what he has done for the bottom line of not only the Dallas Cowboys, but for the entire North Texas region. We could learn a thing or two from men like Mr. Jones, even if you don’t necessarily pull for the team he owns.

 

 

 

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We Take Issue With Your Issues….

By: J Robert Giles

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“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”   - Jim Rohn

 

With the results of the New Hampshire Presidential Primary still buzzing around the screens of almost every major news outlet, we are reminded yet again of the fact that a president is only as capable as the people he represents. All the political change in the world will not do us a bit of good if we, the people asked to carry out the bold  predictions of those seeking office, are not willing to put in the work necessary to get there. Right now, we’re not at that point. That’s not to say that we’re lazy. We’re not. The world likes to paint us as lazy, unhealthy, greedy, narcissistic morons but the world is jealous. The world is jealous of the freedom we so often take for granted. The world is jealous of the advancements that freedom has bestowed and the creativity it has possibilitized. (That’s right! My beautiful bride is not the only one who can make up a word and then use it with emphatic authority.) The issues our government identifies as the ones that are important to us are the ones on which campaigns are run, but the changes the candidates promise to deliver are not the changes we need. Even the mighty Barack Hussein Obama missed the mark……I’ll give you a moment to gather your emotions……today when he delivered his pathetic speech about “insourcing.” The changes we need have to start within our own homes and they will start at a time of our own choosing. I think we’re all on the verge of making that choice. The bottom line is that in order to get to where the candidates promise to take us, we have to get government out of our way. Are any of them truly capable of delivering that order? (Settle down, Ron Paul supporters…..it wasn’t an invitation to scream and type a lot! You’re getting there, and I know I’m speaking your language, but this is not necessarily a political article.)

We often complain about government’s constant interference in our lives yet we seem to stop caring right about the time an opportunity for justified action presents itself. Ron Paul, with his consistent rise in popularity, throws around the phrase “Restore America Now” wherever he may be speaking. It’s all over his website, and all of his merchandise. It’s a great slogan and one that I’m sure Mr. Paul actually believes in. The problem is that the phrase, in it’s use as a presidential campaign slogan, assumes that the restoration process will begin within the hallowed halls of a government building. It will not. The restoration of America will start at your dinner table. It will start with the ideals and the morals you pass onto your family. The only way the government will be involved is by stepping aside and watching with a proud tear in it’s eye as the people of this country make it great once more. Restoration starts in the hearts and in the minds of those people. The restrictions from which we are so desperate to free ourselves are not exclusively those imposed on us by our own government. but rather the mental restrictions we have placed on ourselves. We doubt our own abilities so we see no reason to take the first step. We fear that our actions won’t make us gazillionaires, so we don’t nurture our own ambitions. Our greed allows us to believe that no salary is worth our precious attendance so, like Cousin Eddie, we “hold out for a management position.” Pessimism has run rampant for the better part of the last decade and it’s time to pack it up, toss it in the attic, and enjoy a few years of optimism. Not the kind of optimism that gets described from the stage at a political event but the kind that infects and entire family. The kind that then cause that family to go out in the world and infect more families. How do we start? Well, as is so often the case, we start with the kids.

Kids are the most abundant source of positive energy known to man. Their world has not yet been poisoned with the travesties of greed, responsibility, sexuality, or hatred. Their world is one in which their own imaginations shelter them. Their innocence protects them, and their naiveté grants them pardon. If we’re not working to secure a better world for them than the one into which they were born, then what is it all for? What are we striving for? Is this as good as it’s ever going to get? Have we ‘begun our initial descent?’ I don’t believe that we have. I believe we have been in a decline for a number of years, but I also believe that all great changes are usually preceded by chaos.The changes we make today must be enforced by our children in the future. We must pass on the lunacy that terrible ideology delivered to our country, but only as a lesson, not as a lifestyle. We must educate our children to the farthest extent to which they, as individual children, are willing to travel. For decades, the idea of a voucher system for public education has been kicked around in heated debates and closely contested campaign battles. Unfortunately, once the votes are counted, the issue is thrust back into dormancy where it will remain until the next election. No more, it’s time for change. Union control of our children’s education is literally destroying their brains along with the future of our country. The dumbest kid in my school would be on the honor roll, possibly pre-writing his valedictorian speech, in today’s public school system. Good teachers are silenced by those with unionized tenure. It’s time to allow our kids to study among children who will encourage their success with their presence alone. More importantly, it’s time for our children to be able to go to a school specifically tailored for their abilities, aptitudes, and strengths. The days of “all for one” are over. If your kid is more interested in video games, lethargy, and public indecency then he/she should not be receiving the same education as the kid who’s interested in becoming a cardiovascular surgeon. A voucher system would allow such progress.

My grandfather died in 1985. If he were to return, would I be able to justify the enormous decline in decency that floods our streets today? Could I look him in the eye and say “this is what we’ve done with the world you left us”? In so many ways, we view ourselves as so far ahead of where we were then. Technology has boomed. Medical  advancements of today might very well have saved his life back then, and communications are today what science fiction films were back then. Seriously, has anyone watched Back to The Future II lately? My grandfather, and I’m guessing many of yours. would be appalled if he saw what children today are wearing, or heard how they speak to adults. The world my grandfathers left to me still had quite a bit of it’s decency. Today, that’s all gone. We’ve come to accept disrespect as a “phase.” Dirty and uneducated has somehow come to mean “courageous.” Disruptive is now funny, while intelligence is frowned upon.kids are afraid to succeed because of what the process would take away form their social calendar. There are changes needed in that regard for which a president simply can’t impact, no matter how big of a check he may write.

I want my son to grow up with the same pride in America that I felt when I was about his age. There was hope. There was laughter. They have to see an example of someone pulling themselves up from the depths of a brooding, nationwide depression and smack the snot out of those who hold us down. Our kids need to see us say “enough is enough” and take this country back from the dangerous hands in which it is now entrusted. We can no longer afford to sit back and hope that someone else delivers change to our door, it’s time to build the change behind our own doors, and then deliver it to someone else when it’s perfected. Living within the guiding coordinates of God’s compass is a great way to live, even if you’re one of the unfortunate souls who hasn’t seen God’s work in your life yet. It’s a great way to raise your family. It’s a great centering point for the confused, often scared minds of your kids.

 

As always, thanks for playing.

 

J. Robert Giles

 

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