How Open Primaries Kill Conservatism
Open primaries kill conservatism by contributing to the dilution of conservative thought.
How Open Primaries Kill Conservatism
How Open Primaries Kill Conservatism
Where do Republicans send conservative campaigns to die? Open caucus and primary states. Open primaries are the quickest way to turn a red state purple and a purple state blue. Does it concern you that both New Hampshire, a mixed primary state, and South Carolina, an open primary state, play such pivotal roles in determining the nation’s presidential candidate? It should. These states winnow the field almost immediately. Open primaries inevitably produce moderates who pander to the left, support big-government policies and have blurred ideology.
Can you explain why John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte are in the U.S. Senate? I can. Open primaries! Let me be clear. I have nothing against the senators personally. I’m sure they’re great people, but they’re not ideal Republicans – far from it. Open primary states cause you to settle for a candidate because you end up compromising, perhaps subconsciously, on principle with your Bernie Sanders-loving neighbor. By knowing that a socialist has the potential to dilute your vote, people in open primary states could be inclined to choose the most acceptable Republican to the left, rather than the one that’s best for the country. This is why “bipartisanship” is so dangerous; Republicans often choose their job security over their principles. Voters are no different. Not many people can stomach being disliked by friends and family, apparently even at the expense of freedom.
America has a mixed economy; we’ve intertwined socialism and capitalism with our entitlement programs, namely Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Imagine the pressure that must exist for politicians in Washington to continue funding these programs. How much more for the beneficiaries of these programs that are dependent upon them? What can we do to ween so many Americans off the government teet? The answer is nothing, if we stay on our current course.
Listen, I know that there are proposals that exist to raise the age of entitlement recipients, but with more states turning purple, that’s going to be increasingly unlikely. Big government has become acceptable to Americans because we’ve incentivized compromise with things we have no business compromising on – compromise of values, compromise of principles, the compromise of capitalism, compromise on tax policy, compromise of our military power. Open primaries cause conservatives to argue from the middle.
What do I mean? If you understand the “Art of the Deal,” the concept is, you go for everything you could possibly dream of in a negotiation; if necessary, you let your opponent talk you down to everything you want. It’s a win-win! Unfortunately, open primary states force Republicans to start their “deal” in the squishy middle. Closed primaries allow the most conservative people in the GOP and the most liberal to iron out their differences, while avoiding the squishy middle. Therefore, in open primaries, to use Bill Buckley’s language, we choose the most conservative that’s electable. But, because of open primaries, the most electable conservative in New Hampshire is Kelly Ayotte. God help us! As a result, we chip away at our own ideology.
Does anyone know what the Republicans stand for nowadays? I know what Ted Cruz stands for. But today he’s considered an extremist for practicing the type of conservatism most people practice behind closed doors – faith, family, finances. Open primaries have contributed to blurring ideological lines. It’s impossible to defeat a liberal at the ballot box if you have to out liberal him. Why wouldn’t voters want the real deal if they’re not given a clear choice? Closed primaries encourage people to think through their belief system, because the choices are stark.
If Republicans hope to re-establish their brand, it’s time for them to open their minds and close their primaries!
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/how-open-primaries-kill-conservatism/#uLb66XG25GVjmpKF.99
Sixteen Reasons Why Cruz Is The Better “Anti-Trump” Than Rubio
You won’t beat an “outsider” with an “establishment” candidate in this election cycle. It’ll take an anti-establishment candidate to defeat an anti-establishment candidate in the next 16 primary and caucus states.
With the exception of former President Bill Clinton, aka the “comeback kid,” no one has won the White House in modern history that hasn’t first won Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina. At this point, Marco Rubio is running to preserve the Republican brand, with the hopes of taking this race all the way to the convention, where he’s convinced the delegates will choose him. The problem with that scenario is that it’s likely that Rubio won’t win any states come Super Tuesday. He also won’t win his own state of Florida- a winner take all state, or Ohio, on March 15th. If Rubio fails to win any of the 14 states next week, “Marcomentum” will be a thing of the past, before he ever reaches Florida.
Keep in mind, that even with all of the prestigious endorsements Rubio racked up in South Carolina and Nevada, he still lost significantly to Trump in both states! To top it off, he only beat Cruz by razor thin margins. Honestly, I suspect if Cruz got half the endorsements and positive media coverage as Marco Rubio, it would be a two man race between Cruz and Trump by now.
Nevada was supposed to be a must win state for Rubio – his “firewall.” He lost badly! Yet, if you listen to the pundits, Cruz is the crazy one for staying in the race because “evangelicals” aren’t flocking to him. Evangelicals are fickle, many are new to the arena of politics, and most are nominal in their beliefs at best. Not to mention, Donald Trump threw a wrench in everyone’s plans this year. Cruz miscalculated just as Rubio did in Iowa and New Hampshire. That’s nothing that one solid debate performance can’t fix!
Unfortunately, the establishment hates him so much, it appears they’d rather have Trump or Hillary win the White House just to keep him out of it. I’ve heard journalists and radio hosts alike disparage Cruz relentlessly over his campaign tactics, his relationships with other politicians, lack of appeal to moderates, and his inability to win “evangelicals.” What hasn’t been mentioned on many of these shows, or in columns, is that with a good debate performance, he’s the only “anti-Trump” candidate that is likely to win any of the Super Tuesday states next week. He’s also the only other candidate, and first Latino ever to win a caucus state as a presidential candidate. A celebration GOP leadership, conveniently forgot to acknowledge.
In a head-to-head matchup against Trump, Cruz would fare better than Rubio. Cruz has shown a proclivity to go after Trump, while Rubio has played it safe for fear of being embarrassed by him. Another slip up like New Hampshire, and Rubio knows his presidential aspirations, and those of the GOP establishment could be gone for 2016.
One can only tout 2nd, 3rd, and 5th place finishes for so long, before voters figure out you’re not winning! Rubio constantly reminds the media that the polls show that he’s the only candidate that can beat Hillary in November. Not true! Polls show that he’d have a slightly larger margin of victory than the other candidates, except for Trump, who loses to Hillary. Polls also show that he won’t win a primary race anytime soon! If he believes the polls, which have been inaccurate at best, why hasn’t he mentioned the primary polls?
On March 1, Minnesota will hold a closed caucus, while thirteen other states will hold their caucuses and primaries as well. Alaska, Colorado, North Dakota, and Oklahoma will hold closed caucuses. Wyoming will hold a primary on Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia are “open primaries,” where even Mickey Mouse can vote.
Open primaries are favorable to moderates. Therefore, Donald Trump should have lots of success in those states. Unless he has another bad debate performance, Cruz is projected to win the states of Texas and Arkansas. Alaska and Tennessee could be in play as well with Dr. Ben Carson slipping so far in the poles. Rubio’s best chances to do well on Super Tuesday appear to be in Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia and Tennessee. However, current polls show, he won’t win one of them!
Like Nevada, Florida is a must win state for Rubio. He’s polling a distant 3rd, after Trump and Cruz! I’m sorry, with Trump in the race, no one can go an entire month without winning a state and expect to become the GOP nominee! Not even if you’re the media and establishment favorite! The projection of Rubio’s inevitability as the best “anti-Trump” candidate would be laughable were it not for major news outlets and talk radio host forcing the narrative.
Listen, I like Rubio! He’s an undeniable talent, and I believe he’ll be president one day. But, facts are a stubborn thing! The “Gang of Eight” bill hurt him! Ted Cruz isn’t practicing a “pattern of deceit” by calling him out on his bill! His lack of private sector experience also hurts him. Good looks, and a smooth tongue all wrapped up in a GOP establishment package, can take you to a lot of places, but the White House in 2016 isn’t one of them.
If you buy into the narratives of the GOP establishment and the media, they’ll have you convinced Rubio could be the only GOP candidate ever to lose the first 20 primary and caucus states, yet remain “the most electable” candidate in an insurgent year! It’s crazy! How out of touch do you have to be!? In the year of the “outsiders,” all I can say is sorry, ain’t happenin’ cap’n!
Democrats Wage Energy War On The Poor
Corn belongs in peoples’ bellies, not their beemerz. If the left really cared for the poor as they claim, they’d use warm weather to grow food rather than government bureaucracies like the EPA. Green isn’t just the new red, it’s the new god!
Leftists have bought into “man-made” global warming hysteria, not due to scientific reasoning, but out of moral necessity. Everyone wants a moral cause to champion; we all want our lives to matter. This is particularly true when you worship yourself rather than God.
Hollywood hypocrites live some of the most immoral lifestyles, yet, they find solace, in believing they’re saving the world and others from certain impending doom due to carbon emissions. When you live by subjective truth, as most liberals do, the modus operandi is to denigrate and replace those who hold traditional values for people who will accept new values, or, what I like to call the “new morality,” to feel better about one’s self.
As a result, those who buck moral relativism for traditional values, become necessarily evil. Unlike God, big government has become more appealing to liberals because it doesn’t judge one’s motives. Therefore, liberals flock to Uncle Sam because he’s easier to please – albeit, more expensive to maintain. And, of course, there’s the added bonus of not having to attend church on a perfectly good Sunday.
Unfortunately, those who suffer most at the hands of this new morality, which is no morality at all, are the poor. While Hollywood elitists continue to fly on their private jets, drive their SUVs, Bentleys and sports cars on the way to their next lucrative job or awards ceremony, average Americans are watching their monthly budgets expand while their purchasing power decreases. In a Daily Signal article titled, “Finally, America may be catching on to ethanol racket,” the columnist wrote, “The results of the Iowa caucus proved that even Iowans – long seen as fervent proponents of ethanol – don’t view Washington’s favoritism to it as necessarily still required.” Hence, the victory of Ted Cruz, the first Republican Latino ever to win the Iowa caucus or any presidential primary, while arguing for a five-year gradual elimination of ethanol subsidies.
One has to ask: How did Iowans arrive at their conclusion? According to the column, they realized that the mandate is harmful in numerous ways, particularly to the working class. For one, ethanol only has two-thirds the energy content of petroleum-based gas. This causes drivers to pay more at the pump even though they’re logging fewer miles on the road. In Hollywood and Washington, this may not be a big deal. But in everyday America, gas prices can drastically affect a family’s lifestyle. Additionally, the Renewable Fuel Standard imposed upon Americans by the GOP Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and doubled down upon by the Democrat Congress in the 2007 Energy Independence Security Act have neither reduced our dependence on oil nor protected us from fluctuating prices at the pump, as politicians claimed.
The Daily Signal also reported that the Renewable Fuel Standard artificially diverts food to fuel, driving up prices at the grocery store.
Just a few short years ago, 40 percent of America’s corn crop went to ethanol production. Today, the amount of corn used to produce ethanol in America surpassed the entire corn consumption of Africa and any single country except China. Sadly, producers aren’t converting corn to fuel because it’s profitable, but because it’s a government mandate. Consequently, since corn is such an important ingredient in so many foods for humans and feed for animals, Americans are paying more for their meals – home cooked and otherwise.
I can imagine some of you global-warming moralists might be saying, “But at least we’re keeping the environment clean, moron!” Ooh, sorry. Unfortunately, the First Leftist Church of the EPA in Washington has projected that nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, ground level-ozone and ethanol vapor emissions, as well as other pollutants, do increase at varying points in both the production and use of ethanol.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/democrats-wage-energy-war-on-the-poor/#UO4gCyobTj5lU0w3.99
From a Black Conservative: Dr. Ben Carson It’s Time to Leave the Race
It’s been hard to sit back and watch the first bi-racial president systematically dismantle our constitution over the last seven years. It’s only natural for a black conservative like myself to want to see the first black Republican president reverse the course. This is why it pains me to say what I’m about to say: it’s time for Dr. Carson to get out of the race if we stand any chance of nominating a constitutionalist to stop the Democrat’s reign in November.
Dr. Ben Carson is a successful, honorable, intelligent and godly man. Having said all of that, he will not be president! As much as I would’ve loved to see him ease the burdens imposed on Americans by President Obama, such as Obamacare, he won’t get that chance for the reasons I outline below.
Dr. Carson’s campaign infrastructure is in shambles! His spending (aka burn rate) is astronomical, and his staff appears to be resigning or abandoning him like he’s contracted the Zika virus. He’s made too many amateurish mistakes. Including, beginning a two-week book tour as his campaign was surging in the fall, scolding his staff in public, showing an inability to adapt to the debate format, and lastly, condemning Ted Cruz’s campaign for the Iowa debacle, when frankly, it was his campaign that made the crucial error of tweeting out plans that he was leaving Iowa to return to his home in Florida, then attending the prayer breakfast in D.C. later that week. Does that sound like a candidate taking the New Hampshire primary seriously?
Whether you agree or disagree with the aggressive actions taken by the Cruz campaign by retweeting the CNN report, Cruz’s campaign did us all a huge (say it like Trump) favor. Hillary or Bernie could only dream of inheriting such a dysfunctional campaign to battle for the general election in November.
If Dr. Carson was so “disappointed” that Ted Cruz exploited the disorganization in his campaign, how much more will the Democrats expose him were he to become the GOP nominee? His political rise and fall is no one’s fault but his own. It had nothing to do with “dirty tricks,” but rather sheer incompetence on behalf of his own campaign. It’s time for Dr. Carson to put his country first, get out of the race, and endorse the only other viable GOP candidate that shares his constitutional values.
Dr. Carson was never my first choice amongst the GOP field of candidates. However, after his surge, he quickly became my second choice, despite his lackluster debate performances. As you may recall, his surge only began when he joked about being the “only one to separate Siamese twins.” He also joked that he was the “only one to take out half a brain – though if you go to Washington, you’d think someone beat me to it.” The audience and the media went nuts! The only problem is, when the media makes you, they can break you. So, I was skeptical. Nevertheless, judging by his social media prowess and his rise in the polls, I assumed Dr. Carson’s campaign infrastructure was solid. I was wrong. His success came too quickly, and he didn’t manage it well.
Considering all of that, I salivated at the idea that if a black conservative were to win the White House, particularly, one as smart and knowledgeable about American history as Dr. Carson, the Democrat party as we know it would be finished. I knew the left would eventually throw the kitchen sink at him. What I didn’t know is that Dr. Carson would throw it at himself first.
I used to fear that whites in America would be hesitant to give another black man a chance to run the country for fear they’d turn into another race-baiter that just happened to be Republican. Forgive me. I was wrong. You gave Herman Cain a shot, and you were just as eager to propel Dr. Ben Carson into the national spotlight, but it’s time to let him go, at least for this cycle.
Ironically, I’m convinced that Dr. Carson would’ve made a great president. However, the fact that he won’t be president is no one’s fault but his own. If there were ever a time for Dr. Carson to return to his home in Florida, it’s now. Who knows, maybe Ted Cruz will call him to be a part of his cabinet. Lord knows we could use his brain and conviction in Washington.
A free country or free crap?
If Obama’s economy is so great, why are kids concerned that they won’t be able to pay back their student loans? Is it just greed?
I’m beginning to wonder why so many of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ younger supporters even bother with college. Don’t they understand they could potentially become a “1 percenter” in this rigged economy? Don’t they understand that aspirations of higher earnings and a secure future are morally unacceptable? Who forced them to go to college and take on loans to improve their plight in life anyway? Whomever it was that motivated them to succeed should be flogged! Hasn’t anyone told them that their 401k plans might be handled by the greedy scumbags at the big banks? Sounds crazy, right? This is what you must believe to support the real Democratic front-runner, Bernie Sanders.
When you stop and think about it, socialism is the only government-run lottery system that makes you poorer when you win.
So what’s Sen. Bernie’s appeal? How did a 74-year-old white Jewish male, who looked frail and sickly in the latest Democratic debate, garner so many votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, particularly with college-aged voters? I contend it’s because he’s both genuine, and he probably looks and sounds like left-wing professors all across America that kids are accustomed to. He’s existed in Washington’s bubble, just as university students live in their socialist utopian bubbles we call college campuses.
As media outlets and the workforce become increasingly flooded with liberals, it’s more likely than not that America as we knew her will never be the same. I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist. I don’t believe America will fall off the face of the earth; however, if we don’t put a constitutionalist in the White House, the gap between what America once was and what it’s become will be too wide to close.
Therefore, the question becomes: How do you beat Santa Claus, as Rush Limbaugh puts it? How do you convince two generations of Americans that have not been taught why America is so exceptional that free money isn’t as prosperous as a free society? For conservatives like myself, your initial answer may be “economics 101.” Wrong! The answer is morality. That beautiful “M” word we like to avoid because we mistakenly believe we won’t get independents to vote for our guy.
I hoped Hillary Clinton would be brave enough to tell the audience at the Wisconsin debate Thursday that Bernie was lying to them; or at the very least, extremely naive. I know, that sounds dumb on my part, but a brotha’ can hope, can’t I? Listen, giving students “free” college tuition is akin to stealing their credit card out of their back pockets to buy them Christmas presents, receiving accolades from your victim, then waiting for their bill to come in the mail, with interest, while you skip town. To put it succinctly, free college is theft.
I never think about the money I’ve earned without considering the time and energy it took me to make that money. Why is it morally acceptable for anyone to spend half of his work life funding corrupt politicians in D.C.? Why does anyone have a right to my time, my life? They don’t! Why is it OK for money-hungry Democrats to say “you work, I eat”? It’s not! Someone needs to really stand up for college students by saying it’s stupid to go into debt for something you can’t afford. Rich people get rich when they learn that lesson early.
God has generously dispensed talents amongst all of us. Some of us will make more money than others. Personally, I’m working hard to become an evil “1 percenter,” but I’m a long way off. No matter. I’ll keep trudging along because it’s the fight as well as the struggle that challenges me, and it’s the thought of providing for my family and my elderly dad that motivates me. To top it off, I like to believe I’m pleasing God by using my talents.
Grow up, Americans! There are corrupt people in every facet of industry! Do business elsewhere! There are crony socialists in D.C. that count on large donations from bankers, corporations, etc. Take your vote elsewhere! You don’t fundamentally transform the greatest nation to ever exist because your butt is too lazy to do a few minutes worth of research.
In America, government was never intended to be the solution for your personal problems! You are the solution for your personal problems! We don’t need politicians to dream for us. That’s the surest way to make sure your dreams never come to fruition.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/02/a-free-country-or-free-crap/#cGiOLsRiPblje0IH.99