Co-founder of GraniteGrok, my concern is around Individual Liberty and Freedom and how the Government is taking that away. As an evangelical Christian and Conservative with small "L" libertarian leanings, my fight is with Progressives forcing a collectivized, secular humanistic future upon us. As a TEA Party activist, citizen journalist, and pundit!, my goal is to use the New Media to advance the radical notions of America's Founders back into our culture.
Quote from Andrew Breitbart. All a minimum wage uplift is Progressives / Liberals / Democrats demanding that Government no longer has to provide welfare directly (and no hard votes to be faced later on raising welfare taxes). Instead, you and I are obliged to do so and Progressives get to blame “capitalism”
Which it isn’t. Italy in the 1930s perfected this form of Government control. Unlike the outright Communism of the Soviet Union or the Socialism typified by Germany in that same period, they figured out that complete control of an entity (but not having to own that company) was sufficient.
This is really starting to get wicked bad – one of the most seminal events in our US history and it is clear that these “college” students don’t have the actual history knowledge that was required to be rock solid by the end of elementary school back in my day. After all, how HARD is it to know that the Union / the North won the Civil War???? Seriously, only ONE knew (and that was after a lot of hesitation)?
And teachers unions believe they should be paid more – for turning out an absolutely horrible product as shown by this clip? It would be one thing if this was a solitary event, but how many times have I put up similar ones all showing how badly prepared our students are to take their place in society as “well informed citizens”. Year after year, clip after clip – at some point, the bony finger must be pointed at those to whom we PAY to prepare our students properly and say “enough of this nonsense – man up, do the job, or get away from our sons and daughters!”.
No matter where you happen to be or how many of them you cast.
Some people do a lot of analytical work on figuring out their prognostication of past voting models and results, changes in demographics, and how to use that info to determine how that all should be altered for the current elections’ results. I find it intriguing but I’m not going to spend my time doing it as it would take away from blogging. So, I sift through others’ hard work (and it is indeed exactly that) and try to synthesize my own outlook.
I called it on Walt Havenstein losing the NH Governor race – he did by 5.2%. I was wrong in that I thought it would be closer to 7-10%.
I called it on Scott Brown losing the US Senate race – he did by 3.2%. I was wrong in that I thought that IF he won, it would be by the slimest of margins (e.g., recount) and if he lost, it would have been been about a 5 – 7% margin.
John Stark and John Langdon – the number of “scatters” that the NH SecState is showing is inline with what I thought – and also within the margins of the above loses as well. Message sent – and done as a lark. Lots of folks hammered us for it but I still hold fast to changing the voting paradigm: no longer will I allow an Establishment Republican Party Elite demand obedience and attempt to strong arm a vote simply BECAUSE. No, you must earn it from the start of the Primary right up through me marking the final ballot. My vote is too precious to casually throw the GOP way to lie about supporting a candidate who insults the L&F wing of the NH GOP Party. Neither am I going to support candidates that violate core beliefs. Consistency breeds Trust yields Votes.Neither Havenstein or Brown showed me (or a growing number of folks like me) that they were Consistent or that they had earned my Trust. Deal with it.
What does it say about a man’s character that knowing the Democrat name for TEA Party folks was a sexual slur could not find it in his heart to simply say “sorry”? He deliberately alienated a large part of his base. I can now tell the story – a meeting was set up, like back in 2010 with the leaders of the L&F wing of the Party with Papa Smurf (John Sununu Sr), for Havenstein. Walt arrived – and only 4 people were there instead of the scores that had been invited. Each and every one of them, including me, said “No apology, no support. We will not be used as cover; we will not be there”. It is my understanding that Havenstein was PISSED – he was the Nominee so how DARE he not get that support and stomped out redfaced when told the reasons. He assumed that votes would be there – you know what “assumed” means. A lack of Consistency.
Leon Wolf over at RedState also echoes what we at the ‘Grok are telling our newly elected Republicans (emphasis mine):
As the reality of a Republican wave became imminent last night, a dangerous narrative began to take hold among the conservative talking heads on cable news and in the victory speeches of the victorious Republicans. The narrative was that now that the Republicans have control of both chambers of Congress, it is incumbent upon them to work with Obama and the other Democrats in the service of “getting things done” and “fixing the broken system.”
My hope is that Republicans reject this patent nonsense for the poppycock that it is. Not only should Republicans not work closely with Democrats, they should instead keep them as far away as possible, preferably across a large moat filled with sharp stakes, acid, and alligators. That way, our side will be safer from friendly fire when we launch the flaming tar at the remaining Democrats in office.
No, the Proper Role of Government has already been laid out for us – it is just that our elected officials have either forgotten it – or have the hubris that they know better:
…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
Get that – it is NOT to “do things” ! Yes, we made you beat The Won. Now implement OUR agenda – not theirs. And OURS had better be YOURS.
Eric Cantor – the highest ranking Republican to be kicked out by his base – the conventional wisdom was that he had lost touch with those that put him into office. So they replaced him with a TEA Party guy: Dave Brat. So, Cantor shows that he hasn’t learned his lesson even now – from an interview on CNBC (really, CNBC? Avoiding your former base and not on Fox?):
In a veiled warning to tea party lawmakers Wednesday, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called on Republicans to work with Democrats and President Barack Obama before the end of the year on lingering spending issues.
Er, wasn’t this one of the reasons why you LOST – that you had been seen to be too much DC and not enough “back home”? And now you’re doubling down? And taking a whack at those that put you into your proper place?
Cantor, a seven-term Republican congressman from Virginia, lost his GOP primary race in June to David Brat, a tea party-affiliated economics professor. Brat ended up winning in Tuesday’s midterm election, which saw Republicans widen their House majority and win control of the Senate. In his first television interview since leaving Capitol Hill in August, Cantor said a “small minority” should not hold Republican leaders hostage like they’ve done in the past, “whether it was a fiscal cliff or whether it was a shutdown or the near approach to a debt default.”
Emblematic of the entire problem that the base sees coming out of DC –
Again, what happened to Giffords (shot in the head by a mentally ill person) was awful, but it seems that her husband, Mark Kelly, is intent on waging a 1 man jihad on all gun owners; from an email I received, he took quite the credit of the actions (so little they were) of their anti-gun / citizen disarmament group, the so-called “Americans for Responsible Solutions” after their “national tours” (here and here; Steve reminds us that Granite State Progress supports them). Well, they are trying to put a happy face on the awful results of spending millions on gun control:
Sometimes it can be difficult to identify a signal through all the noise in the hours after a big election. There were a lot of races called last night, each one with unique factors, local and national, influencing the final outcome. We felt it important to check in with you — today — on the progress of our shared work as an organization committed to keeping our communities safer from gun violence.
Rest of the email contents after the jump. Yeah 13 races – and their record was not good overall. Especially when you compare with the results that the 5 million members of the NRA (and yes, I renewed my membership before the election after an absence for a number of years) had. Big Government has a long list of the NRA backed folks that won their races (reformatted):
Gubernatorial level:
Arizona – Doug Ducey (R) beat gun control candidate Fred DuVaul (D) [Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly endorsed DuVal]
Florida – Rick Scott (R) beat gun control candidate Charlie Crist(D). [ Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly’ PAC gave $100,000 to Crist]
Yes, that old California rock ode to surfing – for it is clear the voters had had enough of the contentious bickering they brought to the Belknap County Delegation as they sat and bickered, sniped, kvetched, and yelled. Sullen to yelling to waging lawfare against Jane Cormier and Collete Worseman when they couldn’t get their way. Being in the minority, they proved that the Democrats are not just the Party for Government, they proved they were the Party OF and IN Government. At all times, unlike the Republicans who saw overextending costs and a disregard for the taxpayers, they showed that in every case, their primary outlook was to never let Government be diminished and that employees are merely the victims of Government (got that straight? Fer real, folks). And sided with the 2 Republican and 1 Democrat County Commissioner (note: pretty much, in this fight over power, the 2 Republicans acted little different than the Democrats when I went to a few of the budget meetings).
They waged their fights in all venues possible including in the local media. They were full of hubris as they figured that with all of this hooting and hollering, they had convinced themselves that the local voters would CERTAINLY reward them at the polls – after all, aren’t they the CHAMPIONS of the Aggrieved and Victimhooders?? The Social Justice Warriors!
Actual results? Well, two of the three battling Commissioners either retired or was ousted – replaced by REAL commonsensical conservative Republicans Dave DeVoy and former NH Rep Dick Burchell (yay!). And for the actual members of the Delegation:
Heh! Gotta love the Internet for never forgetting….and being the lawyer that Obama purports to be, he forgot the most basic rule of lawyering. “You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election.” So said a belligerent Barack Obama on Oct. 17, 2013. He … Read more
The Fat Lady has sung: Sandra Fluke did no better trying to peddle it [War On Women – Skip] in west L.A., even though the electorate there is presumably sympathetic to her values. It turns out that most normal adults are not that exercised about joining a crusade to use the force of government to mandate … Read more
Just got a phone call from Joe Barton who was an official poll watcher (signed slip by NH GOP CHair Jennifer Horn). He tried to challenge someone that did not have ID, did not sign an affidavit, and then was allowed to vote anyways as the supervisor of the checklist said “no problem – I know him”. … Read more
Fox JUST called Tillis over Hagan in NC – that’s now a +7. Truly now is Buh-BYE to Dingy Harry as the Obstructioner-in-Chief for the Obama Administration. Fox just called the Earnst / Brailey race – Rs have now flipped the necessary 6 seats to take control of the US Senate. Scott Brown has NOT … Read more
From Prof. Don Boudreaux over at Café Hayek (emphasis mine): I advise freedom-loving and free-market-appreciating Americans (of which I am unashamedly one) to be good Tullockians about the results of yesterday’s landslide wins for the G.O.P. The Republicans who won those elections are, after all, politicians – and it is the rare politician, of whatever … Read more
Again, as a reminder, she was ALL against Amnesty during her campaign and then hooked up with John McAmnesty in the Senate and voted in favor of the now infamous “Gang of Eight” group legislature on “comprehensive immigration” whose capstone really was all about Amnesty for all of the illegals that broke our laws to … Read more
Not the “BIG Republican night” part (although that’s what happened all over except NH) but that’s a headline over at IBD. It’s the “Now what?” that’s important. Mine? Winning is merely the precursor; what is important is what is done afterwards So what will it be, Republicans – especially NH GOP elected Republicans? What’s the agenda? How … Read more
Finally got my first call from the NH GOP GOTV (Get Out The Vote) process two nites ago. I could tell it wasn’t done from the State Committee Member list – on that, I am “Skip”. No, it was using my formal given name – so I knew instantly it was from the RNC official list. I also knew that the guy at the other end of the line had access to where I lived, what I do, what my interests are, and most importantly – how often I vote (just about every election except when an emergency biz trip doesn’t allow time for an absentee ballot) and all the like. So, I was expecting The Question:
“Can we count on your vote for the Republican races on Tuesday”?
No matter where you happen to be or how many of them you cast.
We’ve given out no ‘Grok Endorsement for the General Election this year. In fact, the subject didn’t even come up between the primary and now. But that doesn’t mean that each individual Grokster can’t make their own personal endorsements (and if they have the time….hint, hint) here on the front page – I’d be interested in seeing them where they can intersect with mine nearer to the top of the ticket.
But this year, this cycle, the bottom of the ticket is MUCH more important than ever before. As Grokster Susan is wont to say (heck most of us are): screw DC, save NH. And those that we can hold more accountable (after all, this IS New Hampshire – we can walk down the street and yell at them if we so desire (heh!)) are at the bottom of the ticket – THESE are the folks that I believe can help us save NH more than those at the top. Why?
As we saw this session, those higher in the pyramid have more resources that allows them to ignore us. How responsive, for instance, were the NH State Senate Rogue Republicans? As we saw in the Primary, they had enough $$$$ to wave the back of their collective hands at the grassroots (remember, GRINDING an ax is also SHARPENING an ax). The close the candidate / politician is to you, the more you can have of their ear. They also know that you are more able to bring about corrective action if they stray. But I digress.
So in order of importance (that is to say, from the Bottom up) here is how I am planning on voting tomorrow:
For NH House:
Glen Aldrich, Russ Dumais, George Hurt, Herb Vadney (Belknap County District 2)
#10. I vote Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I’ve decided to marry my German Shepherd.
#9. I vote Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon at 15% isn’t.
#8. I vote Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.
#7. I vote Democrat because Freedom of Speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.
#6. I vote Democrat because I’m way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves. I am also thankful that we have a 911 service that gets police to your home in order to identify your body after a home invasion.
