Don't Let the establishment tell you how to vote!

I do not understand why so many Americans are so gullible. For over thirty years the Republican and Democrat Parties have promised us the same thing every election cycle and NEVER DELIVER!

Both parties have a candidate in 2016 that will promise to bring change and yet those that complain the most continue to support the old political bosses that have caused the problems. I am not a supporter of Bernie Sanders because I want nothings to do with Socialism or a Welfare State. I cannot say for sure that Donald Trump will deliver, but at least he has not promised me or you change for thirty years like the establishment and never delivered. I am willing to give him a chance!

I could care less what Mitt Romney thinks of Donald Trump it was Mitt Romney that failed us in 2012 not Donald Trump. I could care less what Karl Rowe thinks of Donald Trump he has failed us in every election since Bush and not Donald Trump. Rubio and Cruz can be bought if not the establishment would not be willing to get behind them. The establishment know they cannot buy or control Donald Trump. President Trump will take to the media and twitter if the Republican and Democrat establishment do not deliver and they know it.

If the Republican Party is to remain vital, then it is, in the truest sense, vital that we understand change is necessary and the establishment does not want change because they will lose control of the party.

The Republican Party must adapt to the needs of the people if it is to survive.  The Republican establishment must begin to listen to the people instead of giving us lip service. Anyone with a brain knows that things cannot continue as they are if America is going to have a chance to once again become the country it once was.

The establishment has done everything they can for years to prevent change and the Republican Party has slowly been taking it last breathes. A man like Donald Trump comes along and Primary turnout is greater than it has ever been before. He has given the party a chance for a new life.

The young people have left the Republican Party because it has become boring, unchanging, and irrelevant and does nothing to make their personal lives better. The Republican Party establishment is totally unconnected to the life experiences of the average American.

We became a party unelectable in 2008 and 2012 with establishment candidates and will do the same in 2016 if we do not take back our party.

Donald Trump brings hope to the American people while the establishment continue to backbite, point fingers and fall out blaming each other for the party’s failures. The ones at the top of our party have lost sight of the outside world (outside Washington) they figure if it is good for those running Washington it is good for all of us. Was it not Cruz on the floor of the Senate calling Mitch McConnell a liar – and Cruz speaks of RESPECT! It is the party establishment losing us elections not the party faithful. The institution is costing us elections. Cruz is a hypocrite, liar and snake!

In any organization if you are to keep the main thing the main thing it is inedible that at some point you have to initiate change. The people are no longer the main thing for the established party leaders Democrat or Republican. Let us gamble on Donald Trump and kick the establishment out and maybe at least have a chance he will deliver what we have been promised for decades and never gotten.

It is time Karl Rowe takes his little white chalk board and goes home. I am sick of his acting like a political pundit that knows what is best for America. You and your buddy Chaney gave us Iraq, McCain and Mitt Romney and they all cost us elections.

I opposed the war in Iraq at the time - Did Donald Trump?

Donald Trump is being attack by Republican politician’s for saying he opposed the war in Iraq and thinks it was a mistake.  I know this is probably shocking to many Republicans and some Democrats, but there were Republican voters back then who possessed the foresight to know that the Iraq War was going to be something we would regret for many years to come. We stood on street corners in front of Federal Buildings around the country carrying signs protesting our participation in the Iraq conflict. Those who opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning took no end of abuse for taking that position.  We were booed, threatened and had cigarettes flicked at us by fine upstanding people passing by who believed the lies being told them by politicians. We were often resented by other protesters because we were older, conservative and Republican – we were not one of them.  

It was not difficult for us to figure out that Iraq was about to become our next Iran. We understood that it was a religious dispute among Muslims that had gone on for generations and no outsider was going to fix it or end it. We felt sorry for the weaker Muslims, but were thankful the conflict had not been brought to our shores and knew if we interfered it would cost American lives and accomplish nothing. Saddam Hussein, just as the Shaw of Iran, had not caused us problems the problems in Iraq were internal problems and between Muslims. 

Rightly or wrongly some of us believed the reason for America’s involvement was oil. If that was the reason then China should thank us for getting involved because they benefit from the oil not us. I always believed some politicians feared a return of oil shortages as experienced during the Carter years and the oil corporation’s feared lost profits and assets in Iraq. The oil industry's political donations may have influenced politicians to make bad decisions. 

I agree President Bush was close to gaining a better Iraq, but he or anyone else would have solved the problems within Iraq and outside of Iraq among Muslims. If we would not have gone in to Iraq then Obama would not have had any American troops to bring home. I also agree that Obama made a terrible mistake in withdrawing our troops after we were engaged in the internal conflicts of Iraq. It did not take a Middle East expert to know that Iran would attempt to fill the vacuum when we were gone.

John Kasich, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have all said at one time or another they would not have invaded Iraq in the first place, but that they would not have withdrawn our troops after we were there as Obama did. Rand Paul said the same thing, but that's no surprise. Jeb Bush has even made statements that the Iraq war was not a good idea. Do you remember the Kelly question to Jeb Bush “… if you knew then what you know now would you have invaded Iraq” – it took five days for Bush to come up with a final answer? Trumps mistake in stating he opposed the Iraq war was he made it a personal attack on President “W” Bush to upset Jeb Bush. That would have worked if Trump was running as a Democrat, but he claims to be running as a conservative (progressive) Republican.

 With everything that has happened over the last dozen years, including events of just the last year, it's very hard to say that the invasion was a good idea. Iraq has loomed large over every aspect of US politics and foreign policy for more than a decade.

Republican politicians had moved the debate to the 'surge', where they had a much better argument to make. The ‘surge’ created an opening for a political solution, which never ended up happening and I personally never believed would.

 In the 2008 presidential race, the Iraq 'debate' was largely fought over who was right about the surge. Donald Trump has in 2016 brought the debate back into a territory that the Republican establishment does not want to go – should we have invaded in the first place. 

Public opinion has turned decisively against the Iraq war. But political fights recently have largely been fought over ISIS, whether there should have been a full pull-out from Iraq, chaos in Syria, Libya and Yemen and more. Most American I think would agree we have to stop ISIS and other terrorist groups, but Republican politicians and Democrat politicians, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry who supported the invasion of Iraq, would like to leave the question if we should have invaded in the first place in the closet never to be revisited again – Donald Trump has opened that closet door.

Would we have the ISIS problem we have today if we had not invaded Iraq – I guess we will never know? The invasion certainly destabilized the Middle East even further. Today we are in such a hellish situation in the Middle East that it is hard to defend the original invasion.  Did the invasion speed up the terror coming to our shores?

I am sorry it is not the ‘hawks’ in Washington that deserve any credit for Iraq it is those politicians who had the good sense to oppose the Iraq invasion from the outset. Iraq is a reality and we now must try to make the best of it and unfortunately that probably means leaving troops in the Middle East for many, many years to come – perhaps forever. It means increasing our military presences which means modernizing and increasing our military. It means it is going to be even more difficult to lower our National Debt. But, most of all we must consider Americans may have died and suffered for nothing.

Yes, some Republican voters were arguing at the time against invading Iraq, on the grounds that Iraq did not pose a threat to the U.S. imminent enough to justify an invasion. Some Republicans and I was one of them were publicly shouting themselves hoarse, pointing out at the time that, at the very least, there were serious questions about whether Iraq really posed the threat the Bush administration and other politicians claimed it did.

Jeb Bush said, "…the focus needs to be on the future." We should always focus on the future, but we should never forget the past. I do not think we should let the present moment pass without acknowledging that those who were most focused on the future during the run-up to the war in Iraq were the ones working to stop it from happening.  

In closing, I would like to give credit where credit is due Vice President Al Gore and Illinois State Senator Obama and twenty-one other Democrats like Teddy Kennedy opposed the Iraq war from the beginning and publicly stated they did at the time – all politicians that I would have never voted for.  Bernie Sanders an Independent who was in the House at the time was against the invasion. I only know of one Republican who spoke out loud and clear against the invasion and it was Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island who is now a Democrat. I have no recollection of Donald Trump saying anything whatsoever in public about invading Iraq before the war began, although I am not sure I even knew who Donald Trump was at that time.

It was not just those in the Bush White House who were responsible for the tragedy, but leading Democrat members of Congress as well, some of whom are now in senior positions in the Obama administration supported the invasion of Iraq. There is enough blame to go around in both parties.

The United States does not need Bernie Sanders.

I think Hillary will have to start attacking Sanders for his 1980 era. He was a representative for the Socialist Party which at the time had ties to the Communist Party. He was actually part of the revolutionary Socialist Party. He was tied to a guy name Pulley. They called for solidarity with Iran and Cuba. They wanted President Carter to turn over the Shah of Iran to the mullahs. They both called for eliminating all U.S. Military operations and the C.I.A. They also wanted the rail, oil and automobile industries nationalized. They supported Ortega.  You would like the fact they wanted people to work a 30 hour week and be paid for 40 hours. Sanders said in the 80’s the U.S. was a dying society and the sooner it died the better the world would be. Sanders has proposed raising payroll taxes, income taxes, estate taxes, and capital gains taxes to help cover all the stuff he wants to give away. I think he may have mellowed since the 80’s, but I am surprised since Hillary is losing to him they are not using the 80’s against him. Of course the young voter would not remember those things and probably would not care. 

I am really surprised the Republican candidates are not going after him harder.  If they think he will be easier to beat than Clinton I think they are wrong. People love the myth of getting something for nothing.

Regardless of what you may have thought of the Shah of Iran he supported the interest of Americans for over thirty years and our relationships in the Middle East were certainly better than they are today. If you do not like the present government medical care you really will not like Bernie Sanders medical care. If the government cannot run V.A. Hospitals how do you expect them to run all the hospitals in the United States? If you work or have friends or relatives working in the oil, rail, automobile industries how well do you think they will do with the government taking control of them? Are you really pleased with Obama's secret Iran deal - Bernie is! If you are upset with the present National Debt how happy will you be with Bernie adding 19 trillion more to it to pay for all his freebies. I don't know about you, but I do not want increased taxes and that is how Bernie will pay for his birth to grave guarantees. 

==The Democrat elitists in the party decided they definitely did not need Bernie Sanders. Even though what they did to keep him out was dishonest it was probably the smartest move they have made in nearly eight years.

Socialism/Communism or Capitalism

I wonder how many of the 68% of Americans polled who said they would not object to a socialist president know that communism is an extreme form of socialism. "Socialism" is sometimes used interchangeably with "Communism", but the two philosophies have some differences. Communism is a political/economic system and Socialism is an economic system. Obama has attempted to transform the United States into a Socialist/Capitalist country with heavy emphasis on Socialism.

Communism claims to deliver free-access to consumption articles through advances in technology that allow for super-abundance. Socialism claims to deliver access to consumption articles through redistribution of profits among the workforce (Obama).

Communism believes the government should own all means of production and land and everything else. People should work for the government and the collective output should be redistributed equally. Socialism believes large-scale industries are collective efforts and thus the profits must be return to society as a whole. Socialism attempts to control the economy through social control.

Karl Marx and Lenin supported both Communism and Socialism.

Communism the government owns the economy and in Socialism the government controls the economy. Socialist actually believe Capitalism can be a stepping stone to Socialism and can work if the government has control instead of the wealthy.  

Communism abolishes religion and Socialism encourages secularism.

Communism and Socialism both desire to control immigration.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was designed to be a socialist economic system, but it did not work.

Socialism and Communism does not necessarily reward on one’s natural ability or ambition. They believe all should be rewarded equally (If you have worked in a Union shop as I have you know your co-worker could be lazy and make the same amount of money as you – a product of Socialism).

Bernie Sanders is a Socialist. He is constantly speaking of free healthcare and free education. Socialism offers free healthcare and education (that are not actually free) because they are funded by taxation. Perhaps that is why Bernie Sanders is proposing tax increases of at least 13.6 trillion dollars on the wealthy and middle class.

The following countries have some form of Communism – China (Communist/Capitalist), North Korea (Communist), Laos (Communist/Socialist/Capitalist), Cuba (Communist) and Vietnam (Communist/Socialist/Capitalist). These are not government that I would not particularly want to live under.

Denmark (highest taxes in the world) and is a Constitutional Monarchy – Socialist.

Some of the most Socialist countries in the world today are: China (starvation), Finland, Netherlands, Canada, Sweden (national debt has gotten so high the government has been forced to take more control of the economy), Norway, Ireland and Belgium (welfare programs have become a burden and a major contributor to their debt).  Not all these countries claim to have a Socialist Government, but they do have Socialistic programs the same would be true today of the United States. It is also important to note where Socialism appears to be working they are countries with smaller populations compared to the United States. There is probably not a true Socialist country in the world today. If there was the people would have to own, manage and divide industry profits.

Capitalism itself is not bad, nor is all capitalist bad. Capitalism is good. People confuse capitalism with corporate America and do not consider the alternative socialism for what it is, fake. The poor in America would be the super-rich in most places in the world. If you think capitalism is wrong, live in a post-communist country for a few years. Most people who make a lot of money give a lot to charity – there are exceptions. Look at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates give away a lot of their money.

People fill their heart with resentment towards capitalist because they feel when someone wins someone else must lose. I have found generally when someone wins someone else wins. Corporation profits create more jobs. A capitalist is creative and risk taker and wants to add value to society. Corporate warriors (workforce) are more about a paycheck and bonus, two different things. Nothing is wrong with either for each needs the other.

Next time you ask the question is capitalism good or bad consider Capitalism like we have in America and the Socialism that Poland or Russian had during Communism. I think you will see that capitalism is not all that bad.

Capitalism allows you to express yourself and gives you the freedom to choose. It does not promise to make everyone equal, but rather lets you decide what you want to do with your life. Self-expression does not sound too bad to me. Capitalism allows you to set up a yoga school or write a book, open of a variety of small businesses or work for a corporation.

People should be careful what they wish for and especially who and what they VOTE for! If you want to find out how socialism can destroy a country read up on Venezuela. 

Climate change is more of a threat than terrorist - really!

Forty thousand delegates from 190 countries, 130 heads of state, were in Paris this week, not to debate the ISIS terror attack that killed 130 people. They were not there to honor the dead, although they did take time to do it. They were there to develop strategies that will defeat the biggest threat the world faces (according to Obama) climate change.

ISIS or Turkey’s shooting down a Russian jet, which puts both the Kremlin and NATO on the road to war are not as important as climate change according to Obama. If we have World War III or cannot contain the terrorist we will not need to worry about climate change. Oh, I know Obama says he has contained the terrorist – I guess he has them contained in Paris, the United States, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Palestinian, Columbia, Thailand, Philippines, Yemen, Russia, France, India or Thailand for all those countries have been attack by terrorist and continue to face terrorist attack as all countries in the world do. We should also note Obama’s own military advisor told Congress this week, “U.S. forces have not contained ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The terror threat is growing.

Fighting climate change seems more like a cult to me and President Obama is its Grand Wizard. He has replaced Democrat Al Gore. Obama and others in his administration have said 23 times over the years that climate change is a grave threat to the world.  In July 2008, Al Gore called climate change a more dangerous threat than terrorism. Al Gore said, “I think that the climate crisis is, by far, the most serious threat we have ever faced.”  I have to cut Gore slack that was in 2008, but Obama continues to say it in 2015.

Secretary of State John Kerry said this about the threat of climate change, “If our military vehicles are unable to move anywhere in the region here or elsewhere because they’re up to their axles in water and all the roads leading into and out of the base here are flooded, that affects military readiness.” If the terrorist continue on the path they are on we will not need to worry about flooding, but according to Kerry we have to solve the climate change problem before we address solving the terrorist problem.

I really do not know what part of the world Kerry is talking about when he speaks of flooding. I have visited eleven different countries in the last fifteen years all countries I had visited previously when I was younger and frankly I did not witness any changes in their weather. I certainly did not witness any great floods in the Middle East.

I think the craziest statement made about climate change in the past six months was made by Bernie Sanders an Independent running in the Democratic primary election – he believes climate change CAUSES terrorism! Dear old Bernie agrees with Obama that it is the greatest problem the United States and the world faces. Dear old Bernie even repeated his claim the day after the latest terrorist attack in Paris. I guess Bernie does not know that ISIS killed more in Paris on that day than Hitler’s troops did when they occupied Paris in 1940.

The world temperate has raised about 1 degree and to combat that 1 degree increase Obama has spent 90 billion dollars of tax payer’s money on green jobs and he spent 5 billion dollars on electric cars. The Federal Food Stamp program costs an estimated 75 billion per year that is 15 billion less than Obama has spent on companies that have gone bankrupt trying to encourage green job industries in the United States. That should tell you where Obama and the Democrats priorities really are. They are more interested in their cronies that want to open green job industries than the poor.

No one can deny that Obama knows how to waste tax payer’s money. He is the King of Waste. It is estimated 175 billion dollars a year could end world hunger. Obama has increased our welfare food stamp budget to 75 billion dollars a year and we still have people going hungry in the United States. Just one more failed Obama program.

Do you remember in 2008, Obama Said adding $4 trillion to the National Debt was "Irresponsible" and "Unpatriotic” - shame on you President Bush? Obama had a program to reduce the National Debt, but in 2012, four years, not eight, he had raised the National Debt by 5.4 trillion. In 2009 Obama presented a program that was supposed to, "Cut the Deficit in half by the End of [His] First Term in Office.” I don’t think that happen, but I could be mistaken. Just one more failed Obama program.  Obama presented a plan that would Prevent 7 to 9 million families from foreclosure. Currently 5.6 million residential mortgages are either 30 Days delinquent or in foreclosure. Now I have to admit they claim Obama did help save 2 million from foreclosure. OOPS! Another failed Obama program. I am not going to waste time talking about ObamaCare. That is obviously a failure – you cannot keep your doctor, insurance is not cheaper, you have to pay for service you do not need or want and if you choose to opt out you have to pay nearly $1000 a year in fines and penalties. Obama was going to reduce college cost, but the cost of college is currently at "an all-time high." Nationally, the cost of a full credit load at a state college has passed $8,000. Throw in room and board, and the average cost for a state college now runs more than $17,000 a year. His education programs have failed. President Obama had a program to solve the energy crisis once and for all. His failed plan was to invest in clean energies like solar, wind, and biodiesel. Obama had a plan to restore America's standing in the world. Bowing to the Saudi King did not work! His plan included once again leading the world not just militarily, but diplomatically and economically. Maybe I have missed something, but I do not think any of the three happen. Need I say more?

We can rest easy though because all these failures do not matter much because our only major problem according to Obama is climate change.

I am beginning to wonder if climate change is not being used by some  in powerful places to prevent them from having to address the terrorist problem. It's as if the terrorist problem may be part of their agenda to reach a goal.  What could possibly be their goal  could it be- too weaken the Christian faith, too keep the economy weak, to bring about confusion among the people, to distract the people from what is happening in government, to create an energy problem or too start a major war or is it all of these things or a combination of them.

I have noticed that when the American Stock Market takes a nose dive it is not the upper 1% that gets hurt. It is the middle class that have their pension funds invested in the market. The upper 1% buy depressed stock  and make a hefty profit when stocks go up again.

It just does not make sense to me that powerful nations like the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, England and France cannot wipe out a bunch of thugs in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Africa and Afghanistan.