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Why isn’t the American Public believing its institutions?  Certainly, a crushing indictment by Matthew Continetti  at the Free Beacon aimed at the Big (and normally unaccountable) Government that Progressives have built.  While we hear that the United States is ungovernable, that the Federal Government is unmanageable, the result is the same – a total lack of actually admitting and DOING the right thing  and an unwillingness to realize that “gridlock” is THE safety brake that the Founders intended and should be a siren call to ask “hey, according to Constitutional Principles, are we on or off course?  Instead, we get “Same old, same old” and a double down on status quo.  Matthew gets it right and why people are just tuning out because the Ruling Class has tuned them out (the supreme mark of Progressivism (and incipient Totalitarianism) – “we know better what’s needed than you so sit down and shut up” (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Over the last few years the divergence between what the government promises and what it delivers, between what it says is happening or will happen and what actually is happening and does happen, between what it determines to be important and what the public wishes to be important—this gap has become abysmal, unavoidable, inescapable. We hear of “lone-wolf” terrorism, of “workplace violence,” that if you like your plan you can keep your plan. We are told that Benghazi was a spontaneous demonstration, that al Qaeda is on the run, that the border is secure as it has ever been, that Assad must go, that I didn’t draw a red line, the world drew a red line, that the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups involved not a smidgen of corruption, that the Islamic State is not Islamic. We see the government spend billions on websites that do not function, and the VA consign patients to death by waiting list and then cover it up. We are assured that Putin won’t invade; that the Islamic State is the jayvee team of terrorism; that Bowe Bergdahl served with honor and distinction; that there is a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.

And those are just the easy ones.  Simpler and simpler – they believe that they can tell us that the yellow rain is simply that – rain.  They know better.  Shut up.  Sit down.  Behave as expected.  We’ll tell you what that is.  And we will always tell you the truth and do exactly what we’ve told you we will do. And then they are surprised

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Yeah, One Note Skip – as I told Steve on his Shaheen posts, I’m on a “post roll” – a post, followed by another one, by another on the same topic; yer on a roll!  And I believe, on a very important topic that is splitting the NH GOP apart – more this cycle than most other.  I ran across this post over at American Thinker by Sally Zelikovsky that says it well – why the Establishment Republicans are ticked that the grassroots aren’t going for the “Unity” schtick.  Why should they?  For well over a couple of years now, the Elites have been doing everything they can to make fun of their base, to denigrate their base, (and the phrase that keeps on giving) “Crush them” (thanks, Mitch!), and had the Establishment use tactics against members of their own party that formerly were used only by Democrats.

…Rove’s admonition [“Just give me more money!!!  -Skip] is a mere band-aid and not the cure for this malady.

…To glean the answer, all one needs is a finger on the pulse of the conservative grassroots — the actual donors and volunteers who will not precinct walk or phone bank and have withheld donations. I am not convinced that the GOP leadership is at all in touch with the grassroots. Fundraisers, book tours, speeches, luncheons, meetings, and conventions are important events that connect candidates and leadership with cash-rich constituents. But millions of supporters are foreclosed from participating in such events. Their only outlet is the occasional town hall, the rare publication of a “letter to the editor,” and, if they’re lucky, a once-in-a-lifetime 20-60 second comment on talk radio. These are the conservative voices lost in the wind.

For those with their ears to the ground who have been listening to persistent grumblings among the grassroots, there is no mystery here. Grassroots conservatives feel marginalized, underappreciated, mocked, and, all too often, denigrated by their own party. They do not feel they have a place

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“So who’s right? The educators who insist on making the fundamentals of mathematics as complex as a Rubik’s cube, or the kid who probably has secret access to his mom’s old flashcards and sees this as a foolish waste of time?”

My mom’s flashcards taught me the answer was 13.  Period.  The kid gets it – and the teacher is leading him/her astray.  Or, given that most teachers were nearer the bottom of the SAT scores than the top than other college students (I’ve posted about the hour of my life trying to teach a School of Ed student that was in my EC 101 class  what Y=MX + B meant for graphing homework), this teacher hasn’t grasped the error of this way.  I’ve put up examples like this before – what our kids are now being taught, a curriculum / testing regime that has NEVER even been beta tested.  I have followed some of the money – and it leads to folks that are quite happy to keep upending what used to be the best educational system in the world (and if not THE best, certainly one of them). 

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From CNN (reformatted, emphasis mine):

In one of the most closely-watched Senate races of the year, incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina holds a narrow three-point advantage over her Republican challenger, according to a new CNN/ORC International survey. But the poll indicates that Thom Tillis, the GOP nominee, may be falling behind Hagan because a Libertarian candidate could be siphoning off Republican votes.  Hagan edges Tillis, 46%-43%, while Libertarian Sean Haugh has support from 7% likely voters, according to the poll.  The three-point gap between Tillis and Hagan, however, is well within the poll’s sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points among likely voters, meaning the candidates are about even.

… Hagan’s favorable rating is 46%, indicating that everyone who likes her is going to vote for her. But Tillis gets a 47% favorable rating among likely voters, yet only 43% of the vote. “That suggests that there are voters who would probably choose Tillis in a two-way race but aren’t going to vote for him in a three-way contest,” said CNN Polling

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More and more, I am seeing posts at the national level on a topic that I have been writing and talking about for months now: Trust.  The lack thereof.  From the grassroots to the Republican Establishment there is little Trust (or as I told someone tonite (so many calls tonite, very little blogging!) that having zero Trust would be a large step up right now).  Each of these posts by others is now echoing that sentiment even as the Establishment (nationally and certainly here in NH!) is tearing their collective hair out – “WHY aren’t they falling into line like they always have???  Why are we being told “nope, no interested in voting“?   And that is their large problem – but we have told them why (certainly *I* have  and I know that I am not alone).

They simply are not listening.  But their words are heard and their action speak even louder – it’s deafening.  They have made themselves clear – and they don’t get that WE have been listening closely and watching even more intently.  They have brought us upon themselves.  Anyways, I have a few of these bookmarked and will share them over the next few days.  This is from IBD Editorials (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Republicans, in an orgy of expectations, believe the key to taking the Senate was getting “electable” candidates nominated. And get them nominated they did.  The Establishment got their candidates. Now they’re looking at a potentially disastrous election where their chosen ones dramatically underperform all reasonable expectations, the result of attacking their own party’s base to cement primary victories.

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Once in a while (a rare while, I will post up a complete post from elsewhere – this time, from Bill Quick at Daily Pundit (via Instapundit) (emphasis mine):

Stinking Chickens Coming Home to Roost for Gentry GOP

Republicans See Money Drying Up in Final Weeks – NationalJournal.com

The disparity has led to mounting frustration among political operatives running Republican campaigns. And they are issuing a blunt warning: In a year with a half-dozen tight Senate contests, the party could easily squander most of them.

“I am worried about it for the first time in a long time,” said Rob Jesmer, who ran the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2012 and 2010 and continues to work on behalf of Senate campaigns now. “I think in some of these places, it could be the determining factor.”

The party, Jesmer says, still has a good chance of taking the Senate from Democrats. “But if we don’t, the story is going to be that outside money saved these guys.”

Yeah, that will be your story, JIsmer.   Of course you won’t mention the scorched earth war, and the oceans of money, you and your organization spent to “crush” the Tea Party, whose donors are taking their wallets and going home.

Just like the base here in NH that watched the NH Senate Republican Majority PAC drop oodles of money into

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This is funny!  Hysterical even!  Doesn’t Arturo Carmona know where Jeanne Shaheen lives??  Yeah, New Hampshire.  Which means:

• White alone, percent, 2013 (a) – 94.2%
• Hispanic or Latino, percent, 2013 (b) – 3.2%

So why am I chuckling?  This (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Senate Election 2014: New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen Criticized for ‘Appearing Anti-Immigrant,‘ Missing Senate Hearings

…”In siding with Senator Cruz, Senator Shaheen has relayed the message that she is willing to throw Latinos and other immigrant communities under the bus for votes,” said Presente Action Executive Director Arturo Carmona, in a statement to Latin Post.  According to Carmona, Shaheen re-election bid has made her evaluate political efforts to “appear more socially conservative and anti-immigrant.”

“We have voting power and we’re going to use it in the upcoming elections to

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This from Instapundit on the topic of someone in the act of carry at work:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Oklahoma City beheading: Will jihad-style attack boost ‘bring gun to work’ laws? “Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis told the Associated Press that Vaughan’s decision to carry a weapon to work made a big difference in the outcome of the attack. The situation ‘could have gotten a lot worse’ if Vaughan didn’t have this gun, said Sgt. Lewis. ‘This was not going to stop if [Vaughan] didn’t stop it.’”

Plus, some no-nonsense thoughts from Tam: “While a gun in the parking lot might be a few minutes closer than the gun in the holster of a responding cop, the fastest response is the gun you have on your person right then.”

The Natural Right of Self-Defense.  I do dryly notice that Moms Demand Action’s FB page has NOTHING about the Oklahoma beheading where a good guy with a gun on the premises stopped a second Mom from losing her head. Nein, nadda, nothing, zippo.

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 “We can’t let divisions between conservatives cause us to forfeit elections to big government.”

In the midterms “everything is at stake,” he [Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)] added, and “arguments within the family” should be laid to rest to get the party past the finish line. “The appropriate time for it has passed, at least until after the general election,” the senator said, noting that once the GOP gets the majority the party can then have “robust discussion about what our priorities should be.”

Seriously??  You don’t know what you’re gonna do until you win?? Even just to say that before the election?  And then they wonder we in the base keep having WTF thoughts?  This is supposed to engender Trust? You want us to vote for you and you don’t know what you are going to do?? Is it only me that thinks this makes sense??

Winning is merely a precursor – it is what you do afterwards that is most important.

So according to Cornyn, we in the base are just supposed to

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