Hello, Texas! Let's 'Scare' Up Some Liberty!

Since today is Halloween and it's supposed to be 'scary', I thought I would share something else that some folks find scary; liberty.  Yep, you heard it here.  Liberty is scary, to some folks, not me.

I know you've heard about my own political background; not being involved beyond election day by casting a vote and then going home and praying that the person I voted for won.  A pretty sad existence, if you ask me.  Now, I'm a fully involved voting citizen; building relationships with my representatives and trying my best to educate those around me.  I saw the tea party effect in full-force during the 2010 elections and how the new energy of the tea party injected itself into the Republican party and together we took back the House of Representatives.  Notice I said, 'together'. 

To be quite honest, I thought that the Republicans versus tea party business was over, at least locally, until I had one such encounter just a few weeks ago.  Actually, make that two.  I guess it shouldn't surprise me, since Mitch McConnell was recently calling Freedomworks supporters, traitors.    Amazingly, there are still those in the GOP that thumb their noses at the tea party groups and efforts.  One of the top offenders in the mind some of the GOP is Freedomworks.  Now, I'm not saying we should get caught up in the hyperbole of that, but I guess it still exists.  I personally wanted to see what about Freedomworks was so darn scary.  From Freedomworks' own website under the 'About' section, this is what I found:

What We Do

FreedomWorks recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes millions of volunteer activists to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom.

Why We Do It

FreedomWorks believes individual liberty and the freedom to compete increases consumer choices and provides individuals with the greatest control over what they own and earn.

How We Do It

FreedomWorks' aggressive, real-time campaigns activate a growing and permanent volunteer grassroots army to show up and demand policy change.

Now, honestly, does that sound 'scary' to you?  If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, it is fair to say that I like the group Freedomworks.  Why, you may ask?  They. Are. Effective.  They put their money behind worthwhile candidates and they launch campaigns against legislation that they want to see defeated, and they usually get their man.  Yet, the GOP is still trying to take down Freedomworks.  

The mere fact that the establishment GOPers think that the goals of Freedomworks are a threat to them boggles my mind.  Some also say that since Freedomworks uses the word 'liberty', they immediately linked the group to Ron Paul and libertarians and that is offensive to them.  Alright, let's be honest, every group has some folks that go over the top for their cause, including Ron Paul supporters.  Hey, they have the freedom and the 'liberty' to do so.  However, you could say that Ron Paul knows how to message.  He believes in liberty and freedom and his supporters know it. 

Not only did this individual say that this message of liberty turned them off, they even started to use this information and THEIR opinion to scare other potential supporters from the Freedomworks group because of their own naivety.

I am a mom, if you did not know that prior to reading this and I try as a mom not to pass on my fears to my children.  For example, I am afraid of frogs and lizards, but I do not want my children to be afraid of those same things.  I want to give them the opportunity to decide for themselves.  Unlike the aforementioned parties.  Instead of letting the public decide about liberty for themselves, they started using scare tactics to ward them off.  This has got to stop.

Now, I know what you must be thinking, and no, I don't think that everyone has to agree with me in order to be right.  I also don't think that EVERYONE must support Freedomworks or that Freedomworks is the only way to accomplish things in Washington, D.C.  I still think it takes an involved citizenry of like minded individuals focused on a similar goal, to change things; Freedomworks or no. 

To the GOP, the tea party is NOT trying to start a third party and we are not saying that GOPers have never done anything.  Others would argue that the GOP has done too much and grown government just as much as the Democrats have.  To me, liberty equals freedom.

One more thing.   My good friend, Felicia Cravens is always challenging people to include an action item in blogs that are written, so I am going to do just that. We can all find the time to complain about group 'xyz', but rarely can we find the time to join group 'abc' and actually put our time and talents into it to improve the landscape around us.  So here is what you can do: find a group that you DO mesh with.  If it isn't Freedomworks or your local county party, then how about the county clerk?  Election day is next Tuesday here in the state of Texas and I KNOW that our county clerk here in Harris County, Stan Stanart would love to hear from you.  So call 713-755-6411 and ask if you can help at your polling location or any other polling location, for that matter.

So the next time you desire to scare someone, instead of yelling 'boo', just simply yell, 'liberty'!  That ought to do the trick!  Oh, and by all means, be a #happywarrior.

 

Keynes vs. Hayek: Round Two

Ever been aimlessly perusing the internet and get sucked into watching YouTube videos?  Nah, me neither.  Seriously, you're bored out of your mind, surfing the net and you start watching all kinds of crazy cat videos, dumbest stuff on wheels, or world's dumbest criminals.  Admit it, we have all done that a time or two. So, how does this relate to Texas GOP Vote?  Stay with me, I promise it does. 

Since I've been involved in politics, I have been introduced to a new type of video; educational political videos.  I'm not talking about the black panther voter intimidation ones, although those do exist.  What I'm referring to are videos made by individuals or companies in order to educate the public about our in-debt-up-to-our-eyeballs, over regulated, bloated,
too-big-for-its-britches-government in lay terms.

Personally, I wholeheartedly endorse these types of videos because not only do they cater to our society's attention span which consists of about thirty seconds; oh look, something shiny! These videos are also great at getting their message across. If they are really good at what they do, they will do it in an entertaining way, so that you don't even realize you're being educated.   

Which brings me to one of my all time favorite YouTube videos:  Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Part II.  It fits the criteria of entertaining, definitely educational, but it's a little longer than thirty seconds.  Yeah, it's about ten minutes long, but it's really well done.  EconStories put it together, and they are awesome.

The video is of Keynes and Hayek facing off in a court room full of reporters and jurists even.  The camera shot cuts away and the two are boxing in a boxing ring, sparring about their different economic theories, each delivering their own opposing viewpoints through 'punches' and 'knock-outs'.  They even have a rapping referee.  Did I mention that I love this video? 

A little back story might be in order here.  Ever heard of the two fellows mentioned in the title of the video?  John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek, both economists with two starkly different ideas of how the economy should work.   The video best describes Keynes in this quote: "My solution is simple and easy to handle.  It's spending that matters, why's that such a scandal?  Money sloshes through the pipes and sluices, revitalizing the economy's juices.  It's just like an engine that's stalled and gone dark.  To bring it to life we need a quick spark.  Spending's the life blood that gets the flow going.  Where it goes doesn't matter, just get spending going." Sound familiar?  This is sadly the economic theory that the vast majority of our federal government embraces and employs.

In contrast, one of my favorite ways and quotes from the video to explain Hayek, "Spending's not free, that's the heart of the matter.  Too much is wasted as cronies get fatter.  The economy's not a car, there's no engine to stall.  No expert can fix it, there's no 'it' at all.  The economy's us, we don't need a mechanic.  Put away the wrenches, the economy's organic."  Translation: let the free markets work!  Stop bailing out losers!  No one is 'too big to fail'.

One other of my favorites which happens to be the chorus: "What situation we choose.  More bottom up or top down?  The fight continues, Keynes and Hayek, second round.  It's time to weigh in, more from the top or from the ground?"  Again, it's the different economic theories, Keynes believed in a more top down approach, one that doesn't trust the private sector and the free market system to work on its own, where Hayek was a firm believer in a bottom up economy; completely trusting the private sector to develop 'organically' without interference from those at the 'top'.

I love this video;  I do!  It's fun, it's catchy and more importantly, I can relate to it.  I think you will, too.  There are other videos out there just like this one.  Hang with me and I'll introduce you to many more.  Until then, kick back, relax and fire up the crazy cat videos on the old tube; YouTube that is.

Congressman John Culberson Hosts Town Hall Meeting: We've Got to Stick Together!

Last night, Republican Congressman John Culberson of CD-7 hosted a town hall meeting for his constituents at Cy-Falls High School.  The crowd was sparse, about fifty or so in attendance.  The mood was relaxed, no crazy video taped confrontations or rude constituents, just concerned citizens waiting for an update from the Congressman.

I was surprised anybody made it out because as we all know, Senator Ted Cruz was in the throes of a filibuster to try and defund Obamacare in the Senate.  As you can imagine the topic of conversation was laser focused on Obamacare.  There were other concerns raised, such as the NSA spying scandal, in which Congressman Culberson denounced Edward Snowden as a traitor.  The Congressman also said that he wouldn't vote to repeal the Patriot Act, which was in large part the reason the government was allowed to spy upon innocent American citizens, although he'll tell you that wasn't the intention of the Patriot Act.

He stated he was in full support of defunding Obamacare and supported the most recent continuing resolution that came out of the House last week, the one that funded the government, but not Obamacare.  He was also fully supportive of what Senator Cruz was doing and even shared a personal text message exchange he and the Senator had. 

Speaking personally here for just a minute, the most frustrating thing to me about Obamacare, besides the fact that it is slowly killing jobs and the economy, is that we have no idea what is going to happen.  The bill is so awful, and the fact that we have unelected bureaucrats surrounding the future of our healthcare, is a recipe for disaster.

The Congressman did get a question from the audience, "What happens when Harry Reid strips out the defunding language from the House bill?"  Culberson's reply: "We'll send it right back."  Okay, Congressman, I'll hold you to that.

If you noticed the title, "We've got to stick together!"  That seemed to be the theme of the evening, an audience member even brought up was the 11th Amendment coined by President Reagan, "Thou shall not speak ill of any fellow Republican."  Not in public, anyway.  I see a lot of that done publicly when we are dealing with John McCain calling out Senator Cruz for being a so called 'whacko bird'.  We've almost come to expect that from McCain and his ilk.  Yes, he has an ilk, and I think it's safe to say that Harry Reid is part of it, especially after their theatrics at the end of Senator Cruz's filibuster.

On the surface, it seems that Congressman Culberson is 'with' Senator Cruz, and he might just be.  However, there was no talk last night of Congress being exempted by Obama from being forced into the Obamacare exchanges.  In a phone call I had with the Congressman, he assured me that Congress and its staff was NOT exempt, but I have found information that proves otherwise.  This link written by Loren Heal at Freedomworks says, "Congress has allowed itself to be exempted from this aspect of Obamacare. While the only insurance the federal government can offer its congressional employees must be in plans that are offered through exchanges, members of Congress and their staffs now have a benefit that the rest of America, by law, cannot have: their employer picks up the tab.  We should as citizen Dave Farrington said, "All have equal protection under the law."  So all of that talk of 'sticking together' just kind of fell flat, if you ask me.

The Freedomworks Obamacare Summit: Yes We Can...Defund It!

I don't know about you, but Obamacare is making me sick.  Yeah, the sweeping piece of legislation that was supposed to be the 'remedy' that was going to single-handedly save all of the people who were uninsured from the evil, capitalist insurance companies is making me and the rest of the country ill.  I'm personally sick of the national conversation being about Obamacare.  I am also sick of begging my Congressman to defund Obamacare.  So, you see, I'm really terminal here.

As if I hadn't had enough talk of the ACA otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, voted on and passed in 2010, I went to an Obamacare summit put together by FreedomWorks to talk about ways that Republicans in Congress can still defeat this monstrous bill.  While I was there, I was lucky enough to meet up with some great Freedomworks staff.  One Dean Clancy public policy guru also affectionately referred to as Father Freedomworks.  Also on hand to rally the troops was none other than Matt Kibbe to let us all know that yes, there is still hope for the American people, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Okay, I added the last part, but Kibbe is known for his ability to not only pick fights, but win.  I knew I liked him for a reason.


There were many different ideas and strategies discussed, but one of the things that we have to realize is that the victory or defeat of Obamacare is not about the republicans versus the democrats anymore.  This is about the insiders versus outsiders now and the American people need to be reminded of this.  This is becoming more and more about Chicago style politics as we are seeing personal favors aka 'campaign contributions' being repaid by the president through waivers making those who donated to the president's reelection exempt from Obamacare.  Not to mention the fact that Congress AND  its staffers were one of the latest recipients of those precious waivers.  Hmmm...if Obamacare is good enough for the American people, then why on earth wouldn't it be good enough for the lawmakers who made Obama's dream and our nightmare a reality? 

You could say that when it comes to the American people and the relationships that we have with our representatives, there is a failure to communicate, or better yet, a failure on the part of Congress to listen to us.  They all love to be the smartest person in the room with all of the answers.  The problem is that the answer usually consists of more government regulations meant to keep the people from prospering, not to mention the hefty price tag that the answer will cost the American people in rising taxes.  While reviewing my notes from this past weekend, something jumped out at me and I thought I'd share it with you.  Jackie Bodnar is my new hero, although she probably doesn't know it yet, put this in a handout: "This issue is simple and our position is reasonable: Why would you fund a bill with money we don't have, that nobody in this town thinks works yet including the President?  If you're not ready to implement the law, the American people should not be paying for it.  Period."  #BOOM.

Another point that I'd like to drive home is that not only has Congress continually turned a deaf ear to we the people, they forget who elects them and who pays their salary.  They need to realize that not only do elections have consequences, but the legislation they pass and fund does, too.  Hey, turnabout is always fair play in my book.  A vote to fund Obamacare is now like a vote to pass Obamacare.  To quote Senator Lee, "If you fund it, you're for it." 

Lawmakers have just returned to Washington this week after August recess, and don't think for a minute that those who didn't show for a town hall in their home districts went unnoticed.  There was a cardboard Cornyn town hall held courtesy of FreedomWorks with about 500 people in attendance.  Lindsay Graham was also a victim of a FreedomWorks town hall complete with cardboard Lindsay and the sad thing is, I think that Senator Graham folds easier than the cardboard version of himself.  Heh.

If you didn't already know, there is a lot of emotion when you are involved in politics.  When I say 'involved' I don't mean just watching the news and cursing the screen, although God knows I have done the same thing at times.  Involved means getting off the couch and calling your representative, talking to neighbors and friends about what's going on and really trying to make a difference.  I should know, because I am that 'involved' person and I have had some highs and lows over the past five years.  However, at this point I am on a 'high' because I can see that there is a grassroots tsunami rising up.  Again, from Jackie Bodnar, "The message from grassroots America to establishment Washington is clear: If you're not going to come to us to defend your policy positions, we will come to you."  Hey, Congress, consider yourselves warned!

FreedomWorks Introduces Come And Take It

Come and take it.  What do you think of when you hear those words?  If you’re like me, I immediately conjure up an image of a cannon with a star above it.  What about the story behind the phrase, though?  It has been used numerous times, but the most memorable time was during the Battle of Gonzales when the Texians had been given a cannon by the Mexican authorities to fend off attackers, but when the tide turned and the Mexican government decided to attack the Texians and the authorities wanted the cannon returned, well, you know what the Texians said.  You guessed it, “Come and take it.”


It is almost a dare, if you will, ‘come and take it’, and that’s why I love it so much.  I love to be contrary and if someone doesn’t think I can do something, well, all the more reason to try.  Now enter from the left, ahem, Battleground Texas.  Who?  You know, an arm of Obama’s OFA group of libtards who think that they are going to turn Texas ‘blue’ otherwise known as a democratic led state.
Thankfully, Freedomworks has beat me to the dare.  They’ve launched Come And Take It, their counter to the Battleground Texas folks.  With it they’ve brought their grassroots leader who is originally from Texas, Whitney Neal along with numerous regional directors and a whole army of volunteers itching at the chance to shut the door on BGT’s efforts.


Need a little motivation to get involved?  Think back to the effort we all put into electing Senator Cruz.  Hours, sweat and more sweat (I mean, it was a July runoff, right?) and energy and think of all of that for naught.  Yep, if BGT is successful, that’s what it will be.  No more Republican presidential victories, no more Republican majority in the Texas House of Representatives OR Texas Senate.  Things could get pretty bleak, so please don’t think that because I called them ‘libtards’ doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reason for concern.
All is not lost, though.  There is time to hold the line and the good news is that you can help, too.  Visit http://www.comeandtakeittx.com and sign up to be a volunteer.  We can all link arms and together with our voices loud and clear say, “Hey, BGT, Come and Take It”!

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Who was famous for saying that there is a "..never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way?"  Was it one of our founding fathers or was it the mysterious man wearing a blue and red cape and a large letter 'S' emblazoned on his chest?  If you guessed Superman, you are correct!

If you haven't been living under a rock you've heard plenty about the three scandals aka 'scandalpalooza'  that have rocked the White House over the last few weeks; the Benghazi hearings, the AP phone tapping scandal and the IRS targeting conservative groups by denying their organizations tax exempt status to stall their efforts during the 2012 presidential election cycle.

I am a new blogger for TexasGOPvote.com and I was lucky enough to be at the IRS hearing conducted by Committee of Oversight and Government Reform which is chaired by Representative Darryl Issa R-CA.  Now, a little background on myself might be helpful here.  I am a tea partier along with being part of the GOP.  I was at the first tea party held here in Houston, Texas in 2009 and all of the subsequent tea party rallies and helped coordinate a few of those as well.  I have personally worked hundreds if not thousands of hours on different projects, strategy meetings and helped block walk for campaigns, as well as run for school board in order to make an impact for the betterment of my community.  I have been shoulder to shoulder with other patriots and felt the sting of the left-wing media when they attempted to mock and marginalize the tea party message.   Don't think it isn't difficult working with others trying to paint you into a corner and trying to shut you down.  Sadly, some of those trying to shout us down have come from within our own party, but that's another story for another day.

So to hear the opening statement from Rep. Issa on Wednesday morning, it brought a little tear to my eye, feeling like someone else had finally taken offense for all of the lies that we had been beaten over the head with since day one.  Here is a quote from his opening statement: "Our democracy was created by people, for the people.  When government power is used to target Americans for exercising their constitutional rights, there is nothing we as representatives should find more important than to take it seriously, get to the bottom of it, and eradicate the behavior.  Since 2010, there appears to have been a targeting of people based on their beliefs.  These people, particularly those who used Tea Party in their name, were mocked by the liberal media, mocked by late night television, and referred to by this administration regularly with disdain..."  I concur.

There has been a number of findings from the Inspector General and lots of evidence to back up the fact that conservative groups were targeted.  I know my own tea party was targeted by asking for personal information about our volunteers and members.  There were requests made for future rally destinations to be reported, copies of handouts that would be distributed, etc. I personally think it's great that this is being investigated, but a lot of my fellow tea partiers want to know, to what end are these investigations taking place?  So, to find out a little more information, I spoke with Congressman Mike Turner the day of the hearings.
TX GOP VOTE: "What are the goals of this committee in the investigation?"
Rep, Turner: "There's the key issue of who, what, when, where, how and to hold those people accountable who were using an investigative arm of our government to persecute  people based on their political beliefs and their political affiliations."

TX GOP VOTE:" How many more hearings do you think there's going to be?"
Rep. Turner: "We're not giving in so there's going to have to be additional hearings.  We're going to get to the bottom of this whether people want us to or not. This goes to the heart of being able to preserve democracy and we're going to ensure that our fellow government isn't persecuting people."

TX GOP VOTE: "How far do you think this is going to go?"
 Rep. Turner: "We are going to take this wherever this leads.  I think that those who know and were complicit should be very worried."

TX GOP VOTE: "Has this investigation uncovered anything that hasn't been revealed yet?"
Rep. Turner: I think the scope and really the abhorrent actions are certainly giving greater fidelity as we go through this.   We just had, Mr. Shulman just said that he's not certain that this violates our democratic principles.  I was aghast.  Of course it does! This goes right to the heart of freedom and the fact that he doesn't see that, certainly shows an environment in which this could happen."

The other sad thing is that the IRS would have you to believe that the reason for all of this targeting that was going on was due to two 'rogue' agents at the Cincinnati, Ohio IRS office.  Yeah, tell that to the four Americans that lost their lives in Benghazi over a You Tube video. So the never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way wages on and it's us versus them.


  

Priorities: Republicans Haz 'Em

Think about the things that Texas is known for.  Oil, trucks, cowboys, cows and big city life.  Also, a gun loving governor and a booming economy.  Oh, yeah and the myth that everything is bigger in Texas, right?  We've got big trucks, big hair and...big government?  Big government, you say?  Sadly, yes.

Back in 1999, the Texas Legislature signed a bill into law that granted a panel of doctors, appointed by the hospital in which they work, to help with end of life directives.  What does that mean, exactly?  Well, if you wanted to go all Sarah Palin, then, I guess you could call these death panels.

As we all know, the 83rd legislative session of the Texas house is coming to a close.  This year proved to be a fairly quiet one, until now.  The current legislative body has apparently being working on drafting what they would have you believe is an improvement to the law already in place.  My state representative, Bill Callegari happens to be one of the co-authors and he is down right proud of his work on this bill, according to his staffer, Steven, Representative Callegari feels it would be 'morally wrong' not to pass this bill.  They are selling this as an upgrade, if you will.  SB 303 and
HB 303 are up for consideration, and from my own personal research, along with others, this bill is just as bad.  Hey, don't take my word for it, take a look for yourself.  Texas Right to Life is an organization that believes that this bill should not be passed in it's current form.  You can even read their own pro-life stance here. I would tend to agree with their philosophy on life.  Life is sacred.  It's so sacred that it's enumerated in our Declaration of Independence, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Also for your viewing pleasure, I have a side-by-side comparison of the current law and the proposed bill and Texas Right to Life's stand on the bill.

There are other groups here in Texas that have raised some legitimate concerns about the passage of this bill and Texas Home School Coalition is one of them.  You can read their own blog about this bill here.  This bill could also prove to hinder the rights of parents to decide their own child's fate when end of life decisions need to be made.  That's a sobering thought.

I called Representative Callegari's office and I started off the conversation with a question that seemed simple enough to answer.  I asked him that since Representative Callegari is a Republican representative, what does he see the role of government in every day citizens lives.  He tried to roll me with an actual story that he thought would sell me on the idea of this bill needing to be passed.  I thanked him for the information, but wondered if he would answer my original question.  He couldn't.  His answer was that Rep. Callegari doesn't feel that this bill creates death panels. 

I also called a few other representatives and they relayed that they had met with and interviewed a number of doctors and talked to groups like Texas Alliance for Life and after that, they were more comfortable with the bill.  My question is, what about the constituents?  Where do they factor in?  They are the folks who got you elected, are they not?  The answer that the staffer seemed hung up on was that Representative Callegari felt that it would be morally wrong not to pass this bill. 

I also asked where this bill had originated; why it was authored in the first place, and he assured me it was his own constituents.  Well, I'd like to meet some of those liberty lovin' folks!  #sarcasm, people!  He also assured me upon my questioning that Rep. Callegari isn't beholden to any lobbyist groups because he doesn't need their money to win elections. 

One of the other things that concerns me is that Steven told me that these 'end of life' situations usually only crop up two times a year.  Yeah, TWO times a year!  So, let's knee jerk legislate this problem away, shall we?

This is why it's so important to stay active and vigilant when it comes to government on all levels, whether it be local school boards and mud districts, our state government, or all the way to the nations capitol.  It's called tyranny 'creep' for a reason, ya'll.

Believe it or not, I have yet to hear from Representative Callegari himself.  Hey, I'm still waiting....

*This article was originally published on the Texas GOP Vote website and you can view it here.