Remember That America Is Bigger Than Any One Person

When an election does not go your way, it can definitely create an aura of uneasiness and uncertainty. This can especially be the case with a presidential election, and more so when it is an election that will not only change the party of the sitting president, but place into power a new president with some pretty different views than the sitting president. As someone who tends to not be a fan of change, I can definitely understand how people on the losing side of this election are feeling right now.

What can be even scarier about the outcome of a presidential election is if the two-term president that is outgoing is the only president you have ever known or can remember. Such was the case for me when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush’s three-term Republican presidency changed hands to Willy Jeff Clinton. Yes, I know that seems nothing like what the youth of today in America are facing now, but at the same time, hind-sight definitely eases in your mind today about what may have been perceived at the time as the potential for uncertain, drastic change.

But what has made this country the greatest democracy in the history of this planet is its ability to be pulled in different directions across the political spectrum and still bounce back, only to pulled the other way again, back and forth, back and forth, for generations, and still remain the most solid democracy in the history of our species.

With the exception of the War Between the States, following every presidential election, the fabric of our society has endured, and the framework of our democracy and the peaceful transition of power have remained. We may be a nation divided in principle, but our similarities still outweigh our differences, and with the exception of the most extreme on both ends of the political spectrum, to paraphrase our sitting president, we are all still on the same team.

Keep in mind that had this election gone the other way, the supporters on the opposite side of the fence from you would be feeling the same uncertainty that you are, which is also the same uncertainty that the losing side of the presidential elections in America have been feeling for 240 years. Yet, here we are, still the greatest democracy in the world. There will be another presidential election in four years, and then again, four years after that, and so on.

While you may not have experienced it personally, these presidential elections have occurred 60 times. 59 of those times, people on the losing side have been faced with uneasiness and uncertainty, yet the nation and society have prevailed, democracy has won out, and four years later, another election was held. Sometimes, the sitting president who caused all that uncertainty and uneasiness remained in power, and other times, that president was voted out of office.

The extreme fringes of society have been there over the course of those 240 years, and they will always be there, but remember all you have been taught about this country, its framework, its checks and balances, and its rule of law. This will mark the 27th two-year period since 1901 that the presidency and both houses of congress have been controlled by one party, yet, we’re still here. We got through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Cold War, and yet, we’re still here.

As Donald Trump takes office, just like every single president in the history of this country, he will be subject to a system of checks and balances that will keep him from unilaterally imposing his will on the people of this country. Now, I understand that a lot of you worry about things like gay marriage, legalized marijuana use, and immigration, but keep in mind that one thing the President of the United States cannot do, despite being the single most powerful person on the planet, is circumvent the law. He cannot wake up one morning and decide that a particular group of people, or activity is illegal. He must work within the legal system and our government’s framework to change the law if he wants to accomplish any single act on his agenda.

And that is exactly how it should be – as the constitution was designed – is it not?

Now, I know you are saying to yourself, what about all of those presidential orders that Obama signed that Trump can overturn? Well, that is the problem with a president acting unilaterally, isn’t it? That is the problem with a president deciding that something should be and then acting outside of the congress and the will of the people and just making something so. Because they are not laws passed by congress, they can be overturned. This is why you should have opposed presidential orders, even when the guy issuing them was someone you agreed with, because as we have now seen, maybe one day the guy issuing the presidential orders will NOT be someone you agree with.

But, as scary as this power Trump has to overturn Obama’s presidential orders might be, this is exactly how it should be. This is why laws need to be passed instead of presidential orders being signed. This is why Obama should not have taken the easy route and ruled by decree, but in fact, sought to work with members of congress from both parties to pass laws instead. This is also why we should, as a nation, come together to ban the presidential order. Maybe now that Trump’s the one issuing them, all of you more liberal leaning folks will join me in that feeling.

And while Trump can walk into office on that very first day and rip up each one of those presidential orders issued by presidents past, what he cannot do is walk into office and start ripping up laws that have been passed by congress.

With all of that being said, there is also another check and balance in place that you might not be thinking about, the career politician. Despite the presidency and both houses of congress being controlled by one party, as you saw in the Republican primary process, not everyone within the Republican Party is 100% in agreement with Trump on everything. Embedded, entrenched career politicians like McConnell are going to fight Trump on things like term limits because they want to remain career politicians. This will give them leverage to work against our incoming president and to keep him in check. People like Paul Ryan and John McCain, just to name a couple, will fight Trump when they know it is the right thing to do. I, for one, will do the same. And I know there are millions of conservatives out there who will also do the same.

Just because there are Republican majorities in both houses of congress, you will not see all of the members of both those houses of congress throw their hands up and not stick to the political process. This has never happened before, and it will not happen this time, either.

Everyone in office, every Republican, every Democrat, every Independent, is bound by the constitution, and that has not changed. Trump does not have the power to change that, either.

Also, Trump is going to be surrounded by cabinet members that, despite being chosen by him, still have a duty and an obligation to uphold the constitution. Trump will appoint people that will be the best suited to serve in these positions, and they will also serve as another check and balance.

And finally, while yes, there are some crazy extremists nut-jobs out there who voted for Trump because of their own agendas, most of the people who voted for Trump are extremely reasonable people, and while they were very supportive of Trump against Hillary Clinton, they will also be just as critical of President Trump. I count myself among those people.

And, I imagine that a lot of you who are die hard Hillary and Obama supporters, or are perhaps even further to the left than that, were raised by some really amazing people who are Trump supporters. Do you think that those people would allow things to get so far out of hand that the very fabric of our democracy and society would be threatened?

All I am saying is that while we are most definitely faced with uncertainty and uneasiness about our next president, it is no different than the uncertainty and uneasiness that the country faced 44 other times in our history. Stay aware, stay vigilant, and stick to your principles, but also, have faith in the 240 year history of the greatest democracy on the face of this planet which has proven time and time again that our system of government is far stronger than the person sitting at that big desk in the Oval Office.

Photo via Pixabay

It's Time For A New Choice!

So, I was thinking today…now that I feel I have diverged pretty significantly from the Grand Ol’ Party and many of its high-ranking officials who refuse to join the fight to keep “that woman” Hillar-ious Rodham out of the White House, should I consider myself to be an Independent? If I decided to seek office, would there be an (I) next to my name now instead of an (R)? I know that despite how muddled the party lines are right now, if I ran for office today, I’d have to choose either a (D), an (I), or an (R), right? And yes, I know there are a host of third-party designations out there to choose from, too, but we all know how their runs for office turn out. I’d truly love to call third-party candidates more than a novelty at this point, but here we are.

There is definitely one thing I can tell you for sure, and it’s that there won’t be a (D) after my name any time soon, if ever. I believe in small government, personal responsibility, personal accountability, immigration laws, tightly controlled borders, and not only no new taxes, but repealing existing ones. I don’t believe in wasteful government spending, the minimum wage, socialism, mandated insurance, and Ponzi schemes like Social Security. I believe in completely eliminating fraud from government spending. I believe in work for welfare, right to work laws, capitalism, free markets, restrictions on abortions, and the right of religious organizations to choose which forms of birth control they offer, or none at all, if they so choose. I believe in saluting the flag, that most police officers are good folks trying to do their best with the difficult circumstances our lax society has created, the right to protect your family with firearms, and above all, that it should be the responsibility of each one of us who is capable of working to go to work and handle our own shit instead of relying on the government and taxpayers to keep us sheltered, clothed and fed. I am entirely against affirmative action and other reparations for things that happened in the past that had absolutely nothing to do with me. I do not believe in the notion of “privilege”, but actually believe that every single human being of sound mind and body on this planet has the same exact abilities as every other human being, and should be treated exactly the same, regardless of skin color, birthplace, views on religion, etc. And no, I am sorry if you think so, but that is not what (D)s believe. I don’t believe anything is, nor should it be free of cost. And I believe that we should all have to pay the same percentage of taxes, regardless if we make one dollar or one billion dollars a year. So, yeah, no question there about the party to which I DON’T belong!

For the most part, all of my beliefs and disbeliefs would automatically qualify me for that (R) after my name, but here are some of the things with which I have a problem; an (R)-controlled congress that passed a budget with MORE spending in it than the previous (D)-controlled congress, (R) politicians that pass special interest- and personally-driven pork projects like they were a (D), a political party that cannot produce a decent presidential candidate any longer and whose leadership refuses to support the nominee its members have chosen to run for President, a party that is so mired in socially conservative issues that it is continually losing ground at any chance of appealing to anyone other than the most staunch social conservatives. Contrary to many (R)s, I do believe we are having a negative impact on our environment, especially our oceans and the planet’s water system. I believe the government should play a role in protecting the environment, but I also believe our government, especially when in the hands of (D)s, goes about it in a completely inefficient and misguided manner.

So, what letter do you choose to describe yourself if you’re not a particularly religious person, but believe people definitely have a right to be one, yet at the same time, do not have a right to force their religious views on others? What letter do you choose if you don’t care what consenting adults do to each other in the privacy of their own homes, think there should be a separation between a religious marriage and a legal marriage, that legal marriages should be between whoever anyone wants, yet have no problem with a football team praying before a game or newly arrived students being taught English before anything else? What letter do you choose if you understand that most people in the world who practice religion are good people, but that there are some who commit horrible acts in the name of their religion? What letter do you choose if you think it is a horrible mistake to not factor those people’s religious beliefs into understanding why they are committing those horrible acts? What letter do you choose if you believe we are fighting a large number of radical Islamist terrorists, yet understand that not all Muslims are terrorists, nor are all the terrorists we are fighting Muslim? What letter do you choose if you understand that sometimes the government needs to listen in on people’s conversations to try to find the bad guys and have no problem with them listening to yours, yet still will be upset because they are wasting tax money in doing so?

Then, while dealing with all of these questions, I also have to keep in mind something that is a huge flaw with our existing primary system, in particular the Taxifornia (R) primary. If I don’t register as an (R), I lose the chance to vote in the (R) primaries here in the grand state of Taxifornia, and will only have the option to vote in the (D) primary. Me voting in the (D) primary is about as stupid an idea as me having to choose between Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez to be my new Senator. Then again, since I live in such a (D) state, our primary seems to always land so late in the cycle that our (R) primary votes are mostly symbolic anyway. By the time the damned (R) primary rolled around this time, Taco Bowls was the only person still running. I waited two years to vote for Ben Carson, and I never got the chance.

So, with no chance of considering myself a (D) because of where that party stands on just about everything, and a growing number of issues that I seem to be parting ways with the (R)s on, is it time for me to consider myself an (I)? I took a little time to research exactly what the common perception and understanding of an (I) voter is these days, and it didn’t necessarily provide me with a cut and dry answer.

Wikipedia describes an (I) as “a voter who does not align themselves with a political party. An independent is variously defined as a voter who votes for candidates and issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship; a voter who does not have long-standing loyalty to, or identification with, a political party; a voter who does not usually vote for the same political party from election to election; or a voter who self-describes as an independent.”

Well, while I don’t always align completely with the (R), I definitely am more closely aligned to that letter than either of the other two. But, at the same time, I vote more on my conscience and my fiscally conservative views than anything else, regardless of what political party seems to be blowing that way at the time. Then, again, I definitely have more of a long-standing loyalty to the (R) than the other two. Over time, I have identified far more often with the (R). When I look back, I do usually vote for the same political party in election after election, though when there has been a better (I) choice, I have gone that way – case in point, Ross Perot.

Yet, as for that last point, I am definitely having a harder time self-describing as an (R) these days, but realistically, I wonder if that is because the party’s presidential primary and general election strategy was so lacking this time around. I think, too, that a good deal of the problem I have with blatantly slapping that (R) at the end of my name is due to the fantastically-successful campaign the (D)s have conducted in this country since 2006 to create a social stigma around that (R).

Meanwhile, I feel that the (I) means you vote with the (D)s about as often as you vote with the (R)s, but other than a few propositions here and there for which I might align more with the (D)s based on fiscal principle, I hardly ever vote with the (D)s, especially when it comes to any politician with that (D) after their name. The only time I EVER voted for a person with a (D) after their name was for Willy Jeff in 1992, and have I regretted the shit out of that ever since, especially now, since that vote helped play a role in enabling the crooked monster to rear her head today!

And thus, after contemplating and researching, I find myself in the same quandary now as I was in the beginning of this letter-based party alignment self-analysis. If you divide the political spectrum into just a (D) and an (R), then I would have to choose (R). But, if you provide the third option of an (I), I fit a little less into that (R), especially on some key social issues. And when I weigh all of this, no matter how I look at choosing a letter for myself, I really feel like I need a new choice.

And wanting a new choice brings me back around to what I like to call my core beliefs and wanting my new choice to be based upon those beliefs. My core beliefs are in fiscal conservatism. That means I believe in small government, less spending, lower taxes, strong capitalism, personal responsibility, work for welfare, controlled immigration, and the bottom line as the top priority, including government staying out of social issues to help reduce the cost to taxpayers. If I look at the person running, or the measure being decided, each and every time, I vote for the person or measure that is going to make the most financial sense, first for me, then, for the country. And this tells me that even though the (I) was created to give us an alternative to the (D) and the (R), I still am not comfortable slapping any one of the three at the end of my name right now.

So, in conclusion, the rules and politics can all be damned! It’s time for a new choice! To misquote Uncle Moe, “I was born a fiscal conservative (anyone who knows my grandfather can attest to that), and I will die a fiscal conservative”, regardless of what party or non-party seems to most closely align with those views at the time. So, for now, I will refuse to adhere to one of those pre-existing letters and go with my own choice, (FC) for Fiscal Conservative.

William L. Savastano (FC-TA). Done, and done.

Oh, and yes, the TA stands for Taxifornia, the state in which I was born and pay through the nose for the privilege of living.

Image created by William L. Savastano

Why The GOP Is Destined To Lose Yet Another Presidential Election

Hey, Old Man Savastano, where have your long-winded political rants been this presidential election cycle?! I know, I know, but to be honest with you, dear reader, after seeing the presidency go to The Messiah again back in 2012, I was exhausted with the whole process. I must admit, however, while I may have been more quiet than usual this time around, the volume of political press I consume on a daily basis has not subsided, nor have my opinions on what I have been reading.

I must also readily admit, my friends, that while I happily sent in my annual donation to the Grand Ol’ Party as recently as 2011, in the years since, I have become more disillusioned than anything else with party politics, overly-entitled American non-taxpayers, paying a butt load in taxes, and the general direction of the country as a whole as we move from praising and rewarding hard work to condoning then glorifying sloth. I feel that, as a nation, we are moving from hard-working, proud superpower to sitting on our asses with our hand out, whining, and making sure nothing we say ever offends a single solitary soul somewhere else in the world, including our enemies who would like to kill us.

So, why am I so disillusioned? What is the source of my silence? I think it should be obvious to anyone even remotely following American politics today. I am just so exhausted by the divisiveness, the unintelligible rhetoric, and above all, the lack of integrity, reasonability, and personal responsibility. While I may be looking back through vintage 1984 Reagan-colored glasses, I think folks on both sides of the aisle would agree, there was a time when there seemed to be a lot more reaching across that aisle going on. I know all you libs say we conservatives always remember things as more positive than they actually were and that, in fact, everyone has always triple-bolted their front doors, has always had alarms on their homes, and slept with a shotgun under their bed, but I find it hard to believe that American society has always been this divisive, especially since I seem to remember it differently firsthand.

But, beyond just an increased divide, we are living in a strange time where each side has grown so accustomed to combating the other that even when there is a chance for common ground, our politicians find a way to disagree. They seem to disagree, no matter what, even when it seems to go against their core principles. It’s like that friend you have that likes to argue so much that even when you agree with them, they flip and take the other side, just so they can argue with you. Granted, that argumentative friend is usually a screaming liberal, but in today’s political scene, this is happening on both sides.

Want proof? How about the fact that we have a Republican-controlled congress that has increased spending by passing a budget that is larger than the last Democrat-controlled congress. Come again? Yes, that is the Twilight Zone theme song you hear.

Or how about the fact that all of you anti-war, peace-loving, negotiate at any cost instead of dropping bombs, man, liberals out there sure seem to tolerate HisHighness Barack Obama using drones to kill U.S. citizens and a whole mess of civilians in other countries without uttering a peep. While I am sure you still cling tightly to your angst for that warmonger Bush, I really hope you aren’t still blaming him for the collateral damage that happens during the airstrikes authorized by your Messiah. I’m just saying that if you were out there protesting Bush and the killing of innocent civilians, you should still be out there right now, protesting against your Nobel Peace Prize-winning love-of-your-life that has a kill now ask questions later list of people who get vaporized the second they come into the crosshairs.

So, when you have a Republican-controlled congress increasing spending and a liberal Democrat President with a Nobel Peace Prize that has a standing order to rain death from above, even on U.S. citizens, I think it may be time for all of us to pause and to take a look at just what politics in America has become today; divisive, and quite frankly, insane.

When The Messiah does something I disagree with, all I hear is that I am a racist for not agreeing with him. Once Hillar-ious is in office and I disagree with something she does, I will immediately be labeled as a sexist. When I complain about having too much of my money stolen in taxes, I am labeled as an elitist and a racist. When I believe that we should enforce the laws of the land, including our immigration laws, I am labeled as a xenophobe and a racist. And when I try to explain to all of you liberals out there that the word “free” always comes with a cost somewhere down the line, whether the “free” is referring to healthcare, childcare, college, food, or cell phones, I am labeled as a classicist who hates the poor. Oh, and a racist.

So, maybe, I’ve been quieter this time around because I am tired of every single time I oppose any little thing that any liberal does, I am immediately labeled with some form of –ism and told that my deplorable beliefs do not have a right to exist.

Or, perhaps, my silence has to do with the fact that while Trump is still getting my vote, it now has much more to do with voting against Hillar-ious and the perpetual liberal spending machine than voting for him. It’s not like you are going to see me spewing out article after article in which I proclaim Taco Bowls is the greatest thing to happen to America. About the best I could muster would be to say that he is still a better choice than Crooked Hillary and the rest of the liberal political machine that has us spending towards oblivion. Either way, it is still very much a Giant Douche vs. Turd Sandwich election.

Nonetheless, I will say I am still desperately wanting to see if an actual businessman can get us out of this $20 trillion mess, or at worst, try a little something different in Washington for once other than politics as usual. I’d have preferred a Romney or Forbes, but at this point, I’ll take what I can get.

Then again, maybe I am sitting silent, not wanting to rock the boat too much as I dare to dream that we have a chance of electing a president whose tax plan will reduce my income tax bill by about $7,000 a year, as opposed to a president whose tax plan is going to add insult to injury by adding $189 a year to the already 27 cents of every dollar I earn that I don’t get to take home.

Then again, maybe my silence stems from the fact that it’s now been about five years or so since I began referring to myself as a fiscal conservative instead of a Republican. Either way, nothing has made me feel more like an independent or third party sympathizer than this damned election. And to quote Lieutenant Commander Cole, Virgil Cole, “Frankly, sir, I think we’re going to lose this one.”

And it’s not that I am sore loser. It’s more so that I simply cannot see how, given well over two years time, the Republican party could not come up with viable enough candidate to give Hillar-ious a run for her money.

The GOP, and its members, knew exactly what needed to happen to win the 2016 election the second the 2012 election was officially declared over and lost. The party needed to produce an experienced candidate with just the right combination of political insider-ship and anti-establishment credentials that appealed not only to conservatives, but also to independents and the soon-to-not-be-a-minority-anymore voter. It needed someone who could provide the necessary experience and fortitude to address the concerns of those who believe social safety nets are direly necessary as well as those who are sick and tired of paying vast amounts of their hard-earned money to pay for social safety nets they themselves seem to never use despite suffering their own financial hardships from time to time. It needed to offer up a candidate that made the right people feel secure in their government programs and the right people feel secure in their optimism about capitalism and entrepreneurship.

Above all, the GOP needed to produce someone that a majority of America felt was a reasonable person who could compromise when needed, but could also be stern when it was time to stand up for what was right. It needed to run someone who we all felt would do better on transparency and hypocrisy and misleading or misjudging on the facts than the current Oval Office occupant. The Party needed to produce someone who was more willing to work with those on the other side of the political spectrum, and more willing to listen to the needs and wants of the America people.

For a party that seems to not go thirty seconds without praising Ronald Reagan and his electability during the 1980 race, the GOP sure seems to not have much of an understanding of just what made Uncle Ronnie electable to vast amounts of Americans that year, and again in 1984. Because when I look at the establishment candidates that were ultimately produced this election cycle, I sure don’t see that Reagan-style mass appeal. Little Marco was probably the closest, but it is obvious the GOP could not produce a single person who appealed to its base as well as the boarder American audience.

And because the party could not produce a viable candidate for the base, the base went out and found its own candidate. And while the party is quick to stand up and point fingers at the actual voters, and not the party itself for the reason conservatives ended up with such an unpopular nominee in the end, I would argue that it is, in fact, the party’s inability to produce a single stellar presidential candidate that is the reason Republican primary voters revolted against every single establishment candidate.

But, at the same time, primary voters themselves still bear some responsibility. When voting in a party primary, you should not only be considering a vote for someone you like, but should also be considering a vote for someone who stands an actual chance of winning the general election. It is quite clear that far too many Republican primary voters were not taking this into consideration during this election.

Every conservative, especially those who consider themselves Republicans, should know at this point that one of the most important influences on American politics and elections moving forward will be the Hispanic vote. Yet, primary voters really could not have picked a person more reviled by that group of people than Taco Bowls. Some of these folks may ultimately still vote against Hillar-ious because of their more conservative or religious views, but a nominee calling their family members still in Mexico murderers and rapists in blanket statements sure isn’t going to sway those voters to vote against Hillar-ious.

And while religious rhetoric might play well throughout the heartland and in select homes, it sure does not have mass appeal any longer to the independent voters that sway elections. As a party, the GOP really needs to learn this. Everyone has a right to his or her religious views and I’d never fault someone for sharing them, but candidates must understand that a shift in religious values has occurred, and their religious beliefs must be soft enough to appeal to the growing population of non-religious people in this country.

All of these reasons combined, regardless of how Taco Bowls ends up fairing, or regardless of whatever other skeletons jump out of his closet between now and the election, are why the GOP is destined to lose yet another presidential election. And unless the party makes some serious changes in the candidates it produces, it’s going to lose in 2020, too.

Now, before you paint me as a bleeding heart liberal turning his back on his values, I am more conservative than most on a lot of things, but I also know that you can’t win an election without appealing to a broad swath of the American public on a broad array of issues. Sadly, it seems that neither the GOP nor Republican primary voters, however, were able to wrap their heads around that. And that lack of foresight in electing a nominee that could actually win the general election, was the last puzzle piece needed in Hillar-ious finally realizing her goal of becoming the most powerful person on the planet.

All of that being said, there are very few things I have seen in life that make me roll my eyes and shake my head in disbelief more than the fact that our next U.S. President is going to be that woman, Ms. Rodham. Not because she is a Democrat, but because she is a liar, schemer, conspirator, opportunist, hypocrite, and even worse, probably cannot legitimately understand why half of the country can’t stand her. There is nothing worse than a horrible person who thinks everyone hates them because of everything else besides their own actions.

If you had asked me back in the 1990s why Hillar-ious stuck with Willy Jeff through all his womanizing and sexual assault allegations, I would have told you it was because it was her road to the Presidency. Mark my words; I have no problem whatsoever with a woman being the President of the United States of America. I just wish it wasn’t going to be that woman.

Where do I begin when it comes to Hillar-ious and what is wrong with her being the President? Well, for starters, unlike our next Commander-in-Chief, I do think Benghazi was a big deal – for many reasons. The clandestine nature of the covert arms mission in Libya, which was funneling Libyan weapons stockpiled by Gaddafi to anti-Assad Syrian rebels without the knowledge or consent of the American people, is one. The fact that our government left its citizens who were either knowingly or unknowingly supporting that arms mission to their own devices when their lives were in danger, despite the fact that we have this unbelievably huge and costly military, is another. The fact that for hours upon hours, our people over there sought help from their government and without a doubt, all of the phones in Washington, D.C. went unanswered “at three in the morning” that night is yet another. And of course, the fact that our Secretary of State not only lied to the American people about the nature of the deaths in Benghazi, but turned around and told that same lie directly to the faces of the family members of the Americans who died on her watch, is one of the biggest ones. But perhaps my biggest issue with Benghazi is the fact that despite us all knowing what happened, and who is at fault, it is not a big enough deal to the American people to keep the person in charge of the entire fiasco from becoming President.

Spend a little time reading about the actual facts surrounding the email scandal, and what is more troubling than a private email server in the basement of a home being used to handle national security information, classified or not, or the deleting of tens of thousands of government emails, are the tenets of what the FBI jokingly called an investigation. Who else in America besides a Clinton gets investigated by the FBI then has every key member of the investigation granted immunity, and to top it off, gets to dictate to the FBI what evidence can be reviewed, when it can be reviewed, as well as the point at which that evidence is to be destroyed so it can no longer be used when new facts come to light at a later time. Also, there is no doubt that Crooked Hillary lied to save her skin on this one. Even that weasel Comey admitted that. And it’s already coming out that key members of the investigation were shocked when no charges were filed. 

Anyone else who had perpetrated the same actions as Ms. Rodham did throughout the use of the server and the ensuing cover-up would have landed in jail. There are members of our military who sit in jail right now for far less. So, when Taco Bowls says that Hillar-ious oughtta be in jail, he’s not being a misogynist, he’s basically stating that if any one of us commoners had committed the same acts, we’d be behind bars. He is also referencing the fact that if he were President, unlike HisHighness did with Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious fiasco, people who committed crimes would go to jail, not end up running for higher office instead. I must say that I agree with that stance.

And if this all was not enough to keep that woman, Ms. Rodham, out of the Oval Office, take into consideration the fact that while serving as Secretary of State, even though she promised otherwise, Crooked Hillary had people on-staff at both the State Department and the Clinton Foundation at the same time. You definitely don’t get interests more conflicted than that! Now, take into consideration that it is apparently clear that donations to the Clinton Foundation got donors access to the State Department, as well as favors from that State Department. Also, take into consideration the hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation that came from nations that condone the stoning of women for adultery, don’t consider rape to be rape, and will happily toss gays, lesbians, and everyone in-between off the roofs of buildings, all the while, with the Clintons barking about how they are the ones who care about these people, not their deplorable opponent and his supporters. 

Finally, take into consideration that the Saudi government has been providing support to ISIS, as the latest round of WikiLeaks emails suggest, and that the Clinton and Obama camps knew this full well, but obviously, kept it from us. All things mentioned here considered, it really makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with the American people that they would allow this type of behavior from someone they are about to elect as President. Especially, while criticizing every move the other candidate has ever made, ever.

Then, to top this all off, you have the entities and professionals in this country who still somehow manage to call themselves news agencies and journalists while so blatantly favoring one party and one candidate, even during the debates. It seems that while every single past incident in Taco Bowls’ life has come under close scrutiny by the media, that same media seems to pretend that the entire Willy Jeff presidency, of which Hillar-ious was heavily involved, never even happened. Well, at least any of the negative aspects of it, that is.

The Clinton presidency was filled with things like the Clinton Healthcare Plan of 1993, also known as Hillarycare, which led to litigation surrounding secret backroom meetings and cost taxpayers untold millions, but luckily never came to fruition; as well as TravelGate, the scandal in which Hillar-ious wanted to award unfettered travel contracts to Clinton friend Harry Thompson, which resulted in her reporting members of the White House Travel Office to the FBI and getting them fired when they refused to comply with her wishes. As Wikipedia states, “Hillary Clinton gradually came under scrutiny for allegedly having played a central role in the firings and making false statements about her role in it.”

And we cannot forget about FileGate during which close Clinton friend, Craig Livingstone, who was long accused of not being qualified for his position as Director of White House security, was accused of improperly accessing the FBI files of folks who were obviously political enemies of the Clintons. Naturally, everyone involved was acquitted and it was brushed under the rug.

And, of course, let’s not forget about the granddaddy of Clinton scandals, Whitewater. Special Prosecutor Ken Starr was appointed because Hillar-ious was refusing to release documents surrounding Whitewater, a real estate venture during which Willy Jeff supposedly forced an illegal loan to be made to his business partners while he was governor of Arkansas. It was this investigation, at a cost of $80 million, that led to the discovery of the Oval Office intern blow jobs, that infamous blue dress, and a sitting President, who was also a lawyer, lying under oath in a deposition and, even worse, directly to the American people. Hillar-ious avoided indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice during the Starr investigation by repeating, “I do not recall,” “I have no recollection,” and “I don’t know” a total of 56 times while under oath.

And yet, here we are, ready to put these people back in the White House for presumably another eight years.

Consider, also, the fact that from 1988 to 2024, a span of 36 years, for 28 of those years, or over 77%, one member of two families will have occupied the Oval Office if Hillar-ious gets her way and serves for eight years. While we can debate all day long the intentions of the Founding Fathers on things like guns and religion, it is obvious that our entire system of government was designed to prevent the likes of this two-sided oligarchy from happening, yet here we are.

So, while this election is a contest between what the American people have obviously deemed to be the lesser of two evils, it is also still very much a contest between the two party establishments that seek to give us yet another eight years of oligarchy. On the Democratic side, the oligarchy is firmly in place, but on the Republican side, you at least have a candidate that has definitely proven that he does not answer to the establishment.

But, ultimately, in the end, I would argue that all of these things I have presented so far do not matter one bit when we boil the situation down to the true reason why people actually vote for a candidate. And that is…what’s in it for them. If I vote for Taco Bowls and he wins, over the next four years, I get to keep $28,000 of my money that will otherwise be sucked up into the wasteful, fraud-ridden welfare machine that our country has become. If I vote for Taco Bowls and he loses, not only do I not get to keep that $28,000, Hillar-ious is going to want me to pay an additional $756 over that same four-year period. Given that scenario, whom would you vote for? If you didn’t say Taco Bowls, then I admire your convictions, though I think you’re nuts!

And this, my friends, is what we can boil all of politics in America down to today. What’s in it for me? If your parents came here illegally, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you or your family relies on those checks from the government, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you can’t afford health insurance, and I don’t mean you’ve just been raked over the coals with increased premiums by Obamacare, but genuinely are deciding between health insurance and food, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you can’t afford, or simply don’t want to pay for college, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you feel it is the government’s job to take care of those who do not want to take care of themselves, you are voting for Hillar-ious. And, if none of these things apply to you, you are voting for Taco Bowls because more likely than not, you’re one of the dumbasses going to work everyday so you can pay for all of these free things for other people while still having to pay for them yourself, or you are one of the crazy bastards who would rather be working instead of living off the government.

So, like so many other Americans, I am going to vote for the candidate that is going make the most sense for me financially. I believe that is what most of us are going to do anyway. For me, that’s Taco Bowls because I am a producer and a taxpayer, and sadly, no matter what comes out about him between now and the election, it still couldn’t possibly be any worse than the things Ms. Hillar-ious Rodham has done while already in office.

Photo by Maret Hosemann via Pixabay

What If This Is What Happened...

Overheard on Jefffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express somewhere over the Southern Atlantic in 2002:

“I’ll tell you, Bill, here’s what we do – It’ll be yuge! – So what I’ll do, if Hillary ever decides to run for president – it’ll be great – I’ll run as a Republican – I’m a billionaire so everyone will think I must be Republican – They’ll all believe it – I’ll go crazy – I’ll go nuts – I’ll whip them into a frenzy over immigration, over China, over Mexico, over the economy – I’ll play the middle – fight both parties – No one will suspect a thing! I’ll scare the hard core Republicans and get them out to vote - win the nomination – Get this! – Then, I’ll get even crazier – Say even crazier things – Practically throw the election – Everyone will believe it! – They’ll think I’m just being me – my crazy self – And that I just couldn’t control myself – couldn’t keep my mouth shut! – They’ll totally believe it! – People will get scared – They’ll be really afraid of me starting nuclear war or something – Like I’m going to start nuclear war when I have a bad day! – They’ll totally think it! – They will be scared that no matter what Hillary’s done in the past – no matter how crazy liberal anti-American she was growing up – no matter how many laws she breaks or lies she tells coming up – she will win! – She’ll win because I will scare them all so much – And they’ll have to vote for her – I mean, they’ll have no choice – It’s either me or her – No one else will stand a chance – It’ a two-party system! – What are they gonna do? – With the supporters you guys already have and the people so scared of me being crazy – She will win no matter what – I’m telling you, it’ll be yuge! First woman President – you’ll be her First Lady! – I’ll loose – say the election was rigged – bitch for a bit, then go back to making money – Doing what I do - I’ll be more famous than ever – Maybe even get a TV show or something – Amazing shit! – I am telling you, it will work – People will believe it – No one will suspect a thing – It’ll do wonders for my business – You guys will be back in the White House! I guarantee you it will work!”

Photo by Khusen Rustamov via Pixabay

"If You're Not First, You're Last..."

“If you’re not first, you’re last…”

These immortal words, handed down from his estranged father to race car driver extraordinaire Ricky Bobby instilled in him a drive to win because they embody a stark truth about competition – if you are first, you have won, and if you are anything but first, no matter where you place in the field, you have lost.

So, in that context of stark contrast, I have a message for every conservative out there, be you a social conservative, fiscal conservative, or whatever brand of conservative you may label yourself – as it stands right now, if you are not voting for Donald Trump this November, then you are voting for Hillary Clinton.

Sorry, folks! I know you might not want to hear it, and I know you are doing everything you possibly can to justify in your heart and in your mind that this is not the case. Believe me, I am not faulting you for that at all, but whatever your reason for not voting for Trump, when you cast that ballot for the presidential election in November, no matter what box you check instead of Donald Trump, like it or not, you might as well just be checking the box next to Hillary Clinton.

No matter your reason for not physically checking Hillary Clinton on your ballot – the fact that she will never be held accountable for the deaths of four of her operators as Secretary of State during the attack in Benghazi – the fact that she flat out lied to the American people about the reason for that attack – the fact that she lied right to the faces of the families of those four men about the circumstances surrounding their deaths – the fact that she lied to the American people and to the FBI about her email server – the fact that she maintained that personal email server so she could delete and remove from public record any emails she desired – the fact that she lied to us that one time about her landing while her official government plane was taking gunfire. Or, if you want to go with some of the historical facts – the fact that she paid off woman after woman that her husband had either accosted or mistreated with his sexual advances while in office – the fact that her ultra-liberal operations long before her husband ever took office helped to advance the ultra-liberal agenda that has helped lead to so many of the issues that you, as a conservative, probably take issue with today – ALL those backroom deals like Whitewater – and let us not forget about the time that she told us that her and Willy Jeff left the White House poor and penniless, though now they are quite admittedly flush with cash after starting that crooked foundation that has taken in billions of dollars from governments that treat anyone that is not a straight male horribly, even flat out killing them for existing, and taken in millions from pay to play deals that exchanged foundation donations for State Department sitdowns, deals, jobs, and favors.

Geez, that is such a long list! I don’t see how any American could see that list, completely dismiss every single one of those things as being some conspiracy theory or orchestrated attack, then still somehow walk into that voting booth and vote for someone with that kind of track record. I do not see how someone could not see that every single move this woman has made in her life has been an orchestrated effort to end up exactly where she is today – all of the lies and all of the cover-ups, and all of the silence while her husband took blowjobs from interns and other women he manipulated through his positions of power – just so she could end up exactly where she is today – standing a real chance of becoming the first female president of the United States – the most powerful person in the world, most likely for eight years.

Make no mistake, my conservative friends, Hillar-ious losing the election in November becomes more impossible with each passing day. While third party candidates are going to abound by the time November rolls around, unless Donald Trump ultimately drops out of the race, every vote that is not cast for Trump is going to be a vote for Hillary Clinton. I’m not saying you should vote for Trump if you are not. Vote your conscience, but don’t kid yourself about what your vote means to Hillary Clinton when it is not cast for Donald Trump. No matter how much you tell yourself and everyone around you that you didn’t actually check that box, endorsing the track record of our soon-to-be queen, that it wasn’t your fault, that you had nothing to do with it, you and I both know deep down that it is just not the case.

So, please, keep doing what you are doing, working hard to promote your third party candidate and trying to convince Donald Trump to drop out of the race, but if Trump’s still in the race on election day, just remember who you will be helping win the election when you don’t vote for Trump.

As those immortal words, “If you’re not first, your last,” capture so well, all that is going to matter in November is who comes in first – who wins. Let’s hope you are not among those who will have helped elect our new queen.

Photo by Jiri Rotrekl via Pixabay

It's Unwinding...Can Mr. Taco Bowls Re-Wind It?

In March 2016, Rob Dreher reported the following in his article, “You Can See It All Over. It’s Unwinding”: “There is no way a man like Donald Trump has any business being president,” the man told me. “You can’t talk like he does and expect people to give you the authority to run the country. The problem is that there is nobody to vote for. Look at all the rest of them running. This is the first time in my life that I don’t feel confident voting for anybody for president.” And later, with a look of pained resignation on his face: “I tell you, people who don’t think this country is in serious trouble don’t know what they’re talking about. You can see it all over. It’s unwinding.”

I feel the 2016 primary season, especially the Republican side, is quite accurately summarized in this single quote from a self-professed Louisiana conservative. The sentiments were provided to Dreher in March, long before Mr. Donald Trump would find himself as the presumptive Republican nominee for the office of President of the United States.

And while I might not disagree entirely that an overly-emotional, reactionary, former reality TV star who doesn’t always think before he speaks has no business being president, I do tend to agree with the notion that perhaps what this country might actually need right now is someone who has no business being president. I guess I’d also argue that if you are a Hillary Clinton supporter, then you and I must be in agreement on something – you too must believe that someone who has no business being president should be our next president.

“The problem is that there is nobody to vote for. Look at all the rest of them running. This is the first time in my life that I don’t feel confident voting for anybody for president.”  While I might not have agreed entirely with this statement when it was made back in March, I will readily admit that as the Republican primary field dwindled down, I too, for the first time in my life, felt fairly uncertain of whom to vote for when the June California primary was going to finally arrive. Whether fortunately, or unfortunately, by the time it was our time to vote, the primary winner had already been presumptively crowned. Any vote other than a vote for Mr. Trump in the California primary would have been a symbolic gesture.

In 1992, I voted for William Jefferson Clinton. That often comes as a big surprise to those who know me, but I had just turned 18 years old, was in my first year of college, and worried H.W. was going to send me off to war in Iraq, plus at the time, Clinton represented youth and rejuvenation in America, so I overlooked the scandals, shady rendezvous, alleged forced encounters, and usual political stories that fascinate me now, and still voted for him for purely selfish reasons.

By 1996, I was heavily disappointed in the morally weak man Clinton turned out to be (though I really should have known that already when I voted for him in 1992), and I was disappointed in the fact that a man who claimed to be a lawyer still lied under oath, even if he was doing it to try to cover up an affair with an intern that occurred in the Oval Office. And while I liked Bob Dole and how he referred to himself in third person, which William L. Savastano tends to do quite often, I was so fascinated at the prospect of a businessman serving as our president – someone who actually stood a chance of being a fiscal conservative – that Ross Perot got my vote. As you know, according to the final vote count that year, Clinton’s affair and lying under oath still did not keep the man from getting re-elected.

Then in 2000, how could I not vote for Dubya over boring ass environmentalist and creator of the Internet Al Gore? And then in 2004, how could I not vote for Dubya over boring ass John Heinz Kerry? Granted, there was more to my decision than that, but long story short, in 2000, the conservative in me voted pretty solidly along party lines, and in 2004, because we had not seen another large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil and things were going well for me personally, four more years of Dubya just made sense. Plus, I did love how much he pissed off and befuddled all of the liberals out there who hated him so much! And let me make one thing clear about the 2000 election, though I am not as much of a fan now, had Colin Powell run for president in 2000, he would have had my vote hands down! I was really disappointed when the general decided not to run.

Then, 2008 rolled around. Is everyone still as disappointed in that one as me? Not because we lost, but because even in the face of an inexperienced young Senator who obviously was not seasoned enough to serve as commander in chief, the best we could muster at the time to oppose him was McCain-Palin. Don’t get me wrong, McCain is deserving of our respect and is every ounce the war hero everyone makes him out to be, but while you can make the argument it was his time and he had earned the chance to be our president, that ticket was never going to live up to what would have been needed to win in 2008, especially with a whole mess of people voting for someone simply because of the color of his skin.

In 2012, I was Romney all the way from the very earliest days of his campaign, and was a Romney supporter through to the end. I also was a big fan of Hermain Cain that election cycle.

In 2016, had Romney run again, he would have been a strong contender for my vote. I was also a strong supporter of Dr. Ben Carson, long before he actually decide to run, back when he was still wearing glasses during TV appearances. And Scott Walker was someone I could have seen myself voting for as well. But, with Romney not in at all, and Walker out early, I was all set to vote for Dr. Carson in the primary for 2016, but we all know now how that turned out.

This all leads me to where we are today…mid-2016, just before the conventions that will finalize the results of the groundbreaking primary competition between the outsiders and the establishment…if you can consider a socialist career politician and a billionaire who built his wealth on a gift from his daddy to be outsiders.

Make no bones about it, I understand the difference between establishment and outsider in this election, but we’re not talking about a complete outsider, grassroots candidate who will be leaving his or her job at the tire shop to become president.

I do still see this election as a crossroads for our country, though. I know we say that about every election, but it is definitely the case this time as well. On the left, you can feel the socialists trying very hard to pull the established party even further to the left than our president has done over the past seven years. Social agendas are more important than security and financial responsibility at all costs on the left. On the right, you can feel the anti-establishment movement standing with a candidate that is already a little further to the right, or at least seems to be today, than the GOP’s previous presidential and candidate offerings. Are we actually really talking about banning entire religious or ethnic groups again in this country?

Either way, I doubt we will see a coming together on common ground for either side any time soon. And as much as I believe my fiscally conservative views are correct and don’t like to compromise those views very often, I also recognize that our country’s inability to find common ground these days is not a good thing.

This election is going to determine if the country continues its steep slide to the left, or if there is a steep pullback to the right. I personally believe there is nothing in the world Trump or any of his supporters can do to defeat the Clinton juggernaut that is propped up by the Democrat establishment, the liberal elites, and all that campaign money. The Trump campaign’s only chance would be a complete 180 degree turn to a more reasonable stance on a number of issues, which I don’t see happening. Plus, add in all the folks that are going to vote Clinton because of the chromosomes she possesses, and all the independent and centrist folks who are going to choose her as the lesser of two evils, and there will be enough votes to rocket her to the presidency she has been dreaming about since she first met Bill, or perhaps since she decided to stick by his lying, cheating ass for her own personal gain.

So, unless something new and groundbreaking happens at either of the two major party conventions, Hillar-ious and I Love Taco Bowls are going to be the choice I am faced with in the general election. Yes, there are all of those third party candidates out there, and my Perot precedence aside, unless there is a huge surge from someone like Gary Johnson to actually give him a real chance at electability, I’d hate to waste my vote as a symbolic gesture of defiance for Clinton and Trump being the best America has to offer as presidential candidates this time around.

So, with the primaries pretty much finalized, it appears all that remains for me now is to decide if I like Trump enough to vote for him, or if I dislike Hillar-ious enough to vote for Trump. And since I have said that I would rather vote for a rock I found on the ground than for Hillar-ious, and still feel that way, short of not voting, which I will never do, it looks like my ballot in November will be cast for a former reality TV star, even though no one hates reality TV more than me.

Putting aside his former stint firing people on TV, as much as I need to fear being accosted by bands of dreamers, anarchists and socialists for saying so, I do actually agree with a future President Trump on a number of issues.

My view on the wall is that the arguments about it are somewhat symbolic. While both sides scream about whether or not it should be built, if you travel to the border, you will see that the wall is already there. Any wall construction will actually be to extend it, and if we decide to do so, either in width or in height, make no mistake about it – we, the taxpayers are the ones that are going to be paying for it. And while I understand the arguments about providing everyone in the world their chance at the American dream, I also understand the necessity for a secure border, not just here in America, but for nations around the world. We have to at least try to deter mass undocumented illegal immigration in which our enemies can hide among illegal immigrants, and despite the ground the legalization movement has made, we still have to try to keep the drug cartels from operating on our soil. Anyone who thinks we can just tear down that wall without devastating our way of life lives in a dream world. Borders have existed for thousands of years and have helped protect the sovereignty and way of life for great nations far longer than any of us have been alive.

And while a future President Trump says he is going to round up and deport everyone in the country illegally, I think we all recognize that as campaign speak which is completely impractical in the real world. Yet, at the same time, people should not simply get complete amnesty for having broken our immigration laws. There is a middle ground that we can and must find. The real problem with immigration is getting our government to make a decision and then actually implementing what has been decided. I believe neither candidate will have the ability to resolve this issue, even given their potential to spend eight years in office.

On the foreign trade front, we should be concerned about China and our other trading partners and ensuring we have the best trade deals for American companies and American workers, but damaging international trade in any form goes against my core fiscal beliefs. I do believe, however, that a lot of Trump’s tough talk on China and international trade is campaign rhetoric that will subside to a more realistic stance once he is in office. That being said, I do believe that he will fight for American businesses large and small on both the world stage and here at home. Since so much of our job growth and economic prosperity rely on the success of our business community, a President Trump would be a much more business-friendly leader than would yet another Democrat two-term president who doesn’t understand how business and the economy work. I also definitely would trust a President Trump with my tax money far more than I would a socialist President Clinton.

In regards to the War on Terror (yes, I still call it that), we need to stop pussy-footing around with Russia, Syria, Turkey and ISIS, and I see a President Trump doing that with much stronger results than a second President Clinton, especially when you take a look at her foreign policy track record, which brought us the Benghazi fiasco as well as a larger fiasco in the rest of Libya. I very much believe that we need to work closely with the local freedom fighters in the Middle East and support them in routing out these ultra extremist factions that are sponsoring and committing acts of terror around the world. We need to use our military forces in a much smarter way and listen to the military commanders in the region, two things the current president has failed to do, and two things I whole-heartedly believe the next Democrat president will fail miserably at as well.

And while I will admit I don’t disagree completely with them on every issue, I also can really use a break from having the left’s ultra-liberal change-at-any-cost because your supposedly-rich-ass-makes-too-much-money social agenda continually rammed down my throat. I am definitely going to be pissed if they start taking more money from me to pay for other people to go to college when I had to struggle to pay for that shit myself, working three jobs at once at times to cover tuition, books, and my other bills.

And while some of you libs would argue this point until your last breath, I still have some reasonability in my noggin, so I don’t think we need to ban every Muslim from coming to this country. Though I would like to see a much stronger screening process for every single person we allow in, regardless of his or her nationality, race, or religion. And, I have absolutely zero confidence that the Obama administration is capable of properly vetting refugees of any origin before allowing them to walk the streets among us.

As for his rhetoric and the left’s continual accusations of Mr. Trump’s ability to create divisiveness, I do agree somewhat that the rhetoric and divisiveness could be toned down a bit, but what I hear from White House briefings when HisHighness gets on his high horse about something is pretty damned divisive as well.

And lastly, rather than re-hashing all of typical conservative stances that go against the socialist beliefs of soon-to-be-President Clinton, let me just address the following: Of course I am all for lower taxes, more efficient and practical use of the money that both the state and the federal government steal from me, providing the unemployed with education and employment opportunities as opposed to just handing them my money, harsh sentences coupled with rehabilitation programs that actually work for criminals, a strong national defense that includes actually eliminating ISIS, as well as still allowing personal liberty for law-abiding citizens, while encouraging every immigrant to assimilate into America’s culture, and shipping you back to your ancestral homeland when you put your ancestral homeland over the country in which you live. If you fly your homeland’s flag above the stars and stripes, it’s time for you to go back to your homeland.

So, if there were a different option, would I be supporting that option? Probably…but the fact remains, there is no other option. So while I never watched his stupid TV show and have honestly never been too big of a fan, I do find myself more aligned politically and in belief with Mr. Taco Bowls than I do with the other option.

And speaking of the other option, I’ll also spare you the details of what is wrong with lying to the American people, conniving to conspire to cover your ass when you have violated the handling of top secret information, as well as the abuse of non-profit status, using your elected office for personal financial gain, and leaving American operatives hung out to dry and die instead of protecting them. I’ll also spare you the explanation of what is wrong with marching in a gay pride parade while at the same time accepting tens of millions of dollars in donations from countries who would either jail or murder the people you are marching with. I’ll just ask that if you are voting for Hillar-ious, you at least take the time to read up about things like Benghazi, our policy towards Libya, Syria, ISIS and what the email scandal is actually really about. I truly believe that only 1% of her supporters have actually read up on all of the things that people say are wrong with the idea of her being president. Don’t let your view on one or two issues completely cloud your judgment on the bigger picture. Read and watch as much you can between now and the election with an open mind. And for God’s sake, if you are only going to vote for Hillar-ious so we can finally have a female president, you truly do not understand what democracy is about at all and should do us all a favor and not vote any longer. I also find it funny that the very people who are saying that we should no longer pay attention to gender are the ones who are screaming the loudest for a person of a particular gender to be president.

Oh, and I didn’t forget to address the last part of the Louisiana conservative’s quote from way back in the beginning, I was just saving it for last. And later, with a look of pained resignation on his face: “I tell you, people who don’t think this country is in serious trouble don’t know what they’re talking about. You can see it all over. It’s unwinding.”

I read multiple articles each and every day about the current state of the economy, politics, business and many other aspects of our life here in America and I have yet to read a better summary of the plight of this country than this man’s words. The average American has either no idea how much debt our government holds, or worse, has no concept whatsoever what all of that debt actually means for the economy and each one of us. With only 66% of us working and true unemployment well into the teens when you factor in people who are working less hours than they desire or for far less pay than they should be, we are in serious trouble. With a weakening foreign policy and even weaker leadership in dealing with those who want to harm us, we are in serious trouble. You can definitely see it all over. It is most definitely unwinding.

And that, ultimately, is why we need to do something different – why we need to make a drastic change instead of eight more years of the same shit – of the steep slide to the left that has helped to dig us into this hole where everyone just puts their heads in the sand, steals more from the producers and borrows money from other countries to give away things for free. It is time to stop spending our time concentrating on everyone’s feelings and coddling the whiners and get them all back to work. It is time to put America and Americans first again. It’s time for ALL OF US to be better off four years from now than just SOME OF US. It is time for us to move on from the anchors and weights tied around our neck by this divisive administration and it’s ridiculous view of America and Americans. To misquote the Joker, “This country needs an enema!”

Doctor Hillar-ious is just going to give us the same medication that hasn’t been working and hope somehow doing the same thing yields different results – and we all know what that action defines. Doctor Taco Bowls is at least going to try something new, something different. I argue that we should give him a chance. Worst-case scenario, we vote him out in four years if he hasn’t performed. Best-case scenario, a fiscal conservative and businessman actually fixes some of our overwhelming problems.

Photo is a screen capture of Donald Trump's Twitter post

Buzz Is Hermain Cain Stands A Real Chance In 2012

"There's nothing behind the voice or the message. The administration is in free fall. The country is in a state of anxiety and the administration doesn't have a handle on it all."

This is a recent quote from Herman Cain, a former chairman and deputy chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza.

When Herman Cain walks into a tea party event, he is greated with excitement, and you can even hear people say, "It's him, it's him." Cain has a radio show in Atlanta, does quite a bit of public speaking, is the author of "They Think You're Stupid" and is the first of many potential 2012 presidential candidates to form an official exploratory committee.

Cain has started his possible campaign by attending a number of small gatherings around the nation, last year speaking at 40 Tea Party rallies, and recently attended the Tea Party Summit in Phoenix.

Cain is looking to focus on national security, a fair tax, domestic energy, and repealing and replacing what he calls "health care deform".

When asked about being a long-shot candidate for 2012, Cain says, "Bill Clinton, another long-shot candidate. People would be nuts to think that a long-shot candidate didn't have a chance to win. He also points out that our current president was a long-shot candidate as well. "He was able to knock off the Clinton machine, that's what I call it, because people got excited about a fresh face and a fresh voice."

Cain's rise to political fame actually came in 1993, when during the Clinton health care reform push, he confronted the then-president at a town hall meeting in Kansas City. Cain tried to explain to President Clinton that his proposed mandate that all employers be forced to provide health insurance for all workers would actually cost some people their jobs. President Clinton tried to explain to Cain that government subsidies would help small businesses to meet the health care mandate and not have to lay workers off due to health care cost increases. Cain responded by saying, "Quite honestly, your calculation is in accurate. In the competitive marketplace it simply doesn't work that way."

Cain supports replacing our current federal income tax system with a federal sales tax. He also believes replacing federal income tax with federal sales tax will help stimulate the economy.

Cain credits Sarah Palin for the success of the Tea Party movement and its impact on the 2010 midterm elections, and says that he sees the influence of the Tea Party growing as we move into the 2012 elections.

Many sources agree that Herman Cain is a candidate to learn more about today so you will know who people are talking about when it comes time to vote in November 2012.