How do we unite?

Paul wants a revolution, the Tea Party wants less taxes, and the core wants to unite. What is the path to unification going to require this time around? It certainly was lost in 2008 because of fracturing, the same things happened in 2012. Romney got less votes then McCain. We could have come together for 2012 but the old guard would rather keep out the new blood.

How and why we didn't? 

 

When I stepped onto the convention floor it was impossible to miss the fearful uninspired old guard scanning the audience for invaders. They were swift to catch age, attire, and enthusiasm and do their best to replace it with frowns, scowls, and whispers of intolerance.
 
"Can you believe these disrespectful children."
"What is it they think they can accomplish with their signs."
 "I don't understand why they don't just give up, they've lost."


At least twenty comments in strategically hushed tones about how disrespectful and disgraceful I was by attending the convention passed my ears as the day progressed. The ignorance and total lack of understanding of politics, change, and the national stage was glaringly obvious. I knew if we didn't get a majority to Tampa this election would belong to Obama.

There is hope 

 

In six hours of attendance I was able to talk to two old guard delegates who actually wanted to know what my issues and experience was. Both were surprised to hear that I run a small business which is steadily creating jobs in Tucson. They were even more interested to hear I had been active in politics, contributed to multiple campaigns, joining rallies and meetings, and regularly writing my representatives, and more for nearly ten years.

One wanted to introduce me to her daughter and even smiled and whispered (really lightly) that she was worried the treatment of the new blood was going to lose this election. The gentelman I spoke at length with said he was tired of war and could get behind that sort of policy.

We can keep up the fight

Both conversations were candid and both ended with a smile and nod that seemed to be saying: keep it up and they will eventually listen. I agreed then and still do now. Even after the abhorrent treatment of Paul delegates across the nation we are still here and ready to negotiate. After personally experiencing just one of the party's blatant misinformed efforts to lose votes this season it was obvious the party didn't have the capacity to take the presidency in 2012.

Neither candidate was really worthy of a vote. Now the lashing in the 2012 election will open some ears. Eventually the old guard will get exhausted trying to hold together a ball of aging policy and social standards. They will have to let some new growth and change into the party and give them the edge they need to dominate a new decade.

What the doctor ordered

I'm no oracle and don't claim to interpret signals from the top of the Ron Paul movement but I know he is fighting harder and smarter and his movement is now positioned to gain steam for 2016.He left the race peacefully and gracefully. He withheld against massive pressure support of a candidate bought and purchased by big banking interests. He was silenced and again kept hidden from the nation at large. He stayed loyal to his principles and party be stating Obama is a terrible presidential choice.

It isn't and wasn't about bringing the party to its knees. It is about compromise and new relevant ideals. Unfortunate for the party it just seems that they might have to continue losing elections before they realize their outdated policy and lack of accountability aren't worth losing elections over.

Vote for Family, Homes, and Bacon

In the past six months of debates and campaigning some important issues have been generally overlooked. Now that are down to the wire it seems to be intended to stay that way. I decided to do a little research on issues that just aren't being discussed: engagement rings, homes, and bacon!

Hard work: 1970 vs 2011

Like hard work, engagement rings are something most every American understands. In fact, most families start with the purchase or inheritance of one of these these heirlooms. Anyone planning to buy one often asks the question: "How much should I spend?". For the sake of argument lets agree to spend three months of earnings on an gold engagement ring.

After three months work the average American can afford:

2011: A 9 ounce ring,
1970: A 53 (FIFTY THREE) ounce gold ring

This means For the same amount of work an American of 1970 would have enough gold for a ring, necklace, earrings, a tennis bracelet (maybe even a few diamonds). Imagine you glance over while paying at the jewelry counter and another person is getting 75% off the same ring because they were from a different generation. Homes prices are following a similar trend. **

To buy an average home with cash the typical American would have work and save every dollar they earn for:

2011: Well over 5 years.
1970: Under 4.

Basically a home buyer now has to work about a year and a half longer to put their family in a home. So the 1970s had about a 30% home discount. Could be worse, but for such a big purchase there are big implications. Imagine if instead of paying 1 1/12 more years you could put those earnings into a college or retirement account? Imagine if you could retire a year and a half earlier? Think of all the interest you could save! Lets look at a smaller purchase: Bacon.

After just one hour of work your average American gets:

2011: 4.8 pounds of bacon
1970 3.3 pounds of bacon

So the modern American finally wins and earns more pounds of bacon per hour. Is this a good sign... yes and no. With a little research similar food type items were skewed. Some went up, some down, many about the same.

The cost of living and the quality of life

Sadly bacon alone can't save our financial situation. Bacon savings, and other exceptions are quickly outweighed by the skyrocketing costs of medicine, homes, education, and families.

This general disparity between the generations is not only bad, but it continues to just get worse. Before the 70s, quality of life and prices were improving or stable for over 100 years. People lived longer, retired earlier and had more year after year. Even with all of the advancements in communication, science, medicine, and so much more!

This is the first time America has ever seen a multi-generational decline in the quality of our lives. 40 somethings are worse off then their parents and their children are looking at an even worse situation. This is much much more significant then a depression, a housing bubble, unemployment, or social welfare. Our households labor just as hard and much longer for less. How did this happen?

It couldn't be the Republicans and the Democrats?

Over the past hundred years the two parties we know today have formed and dominated politics. Both parties and their candidates funded by members of the elite and massive organizations. This group generally includes financiers, industrialists, media moguls, and foreign interests. Of course there are also private donors, but our personal contributions are peanuts, (or Bacon) compared to money coming from the super PACS and commercial interests, and in general, the top .1%. Many of these mega-rich companies and individuals play it extra safe and donate to both parties!

Whichever party is elected: war, monetary and other policy is dictated by the mostly the same group of individuals and their entrenched bureaucrats year after year. Regardless of which party we elect, the majority of our senate, house, department heads, executive branch, and judges don't change. A different party in the driver's seat doesn't make a difference.

The problem and the constitutional solution.

Deflation of currency and loss of wages isn't something that just happens. History shows this sort of thing comes from the tyranny of unchecked leaders and governments.

Who or what is to blame? The loss of the gold standard, the federal reserve, foreign policy, costs of war, exploitation by the finance industry, corporate greed, and many other explanations have been proposed. Sadly Washington bureaucrats just tend to turn their heads and ignore it.

The biggest issue American has in this and the next election needs to be our declining quality of life. This issue can't continue to be ignored by the media or out-funded and quieted by opposition. Something has to take up the cause!

Who will champion this cause for the American people?

In the end I am saddened and amazed that such extreme exploitation of Americans continues quietly to erode our happiness and security. We revolted against the British over far less! The policies of the past 40 years make the Stamp Tax seem trivial in comparison.

Fortunately we have a constitution which allows us to revolt without bloodshed.We can use our American rights and change our government. How? Elect candidates who aren't afraid to address the real issues. Diminish the power of the two parties until they start providing candidates that will.

**I'm not calculating taxes, interest, or other means of skewing the truth here. If I did you would find greater economic disparity. I simply use the cost in dollars divided by the average American wage and all my numbers are coming from the social security, census and other government tracking sources. SSA, the Us Census, and Consumer Price Index.

Campaign for liberty is more important then Ron Paul for President

Today's announcement is just what the doctor ordered.

Campaign not suspended

Ron's campaign decision to step out of the battle for presidential nominee is timed perfectly.

The curtain was closed months ago.

Having long been a huge supporter of his cause I realized early on that Paul could never become the Republican presidential frontrunner, not in 2012. I realized early on the media curtain wasn't going to lift. Especially once I realized the talk radio hosts were ignorant and intolerant of his candidacy and message. Even after being called out by Jon Stewart and others the veil wasn't lifted but instead secured like an iron curtain across the national media. This infuriated and drove me and many other supporters into a frenzy of anger and disappointment. Dissalusionment with the system, with the media, and with the party. As a result People were and are being drawn to the cause unlike any cause since Americans were shackled with a draft.

My lifetime has borne witness to the greatest consolidation of centralized power and influence this nation has ever seen. I also saw all too clearly that there is a small percentage of people in this nation with an unholy amount of power and influence. There is no question they do not like Ron Paul. They don't even bother to try and hide their blatant manipulation of the parties, candidates, and media. But instead of letting a candidate fail they added martyrdom to his message, which is all the better since America isn't quite ready yet.

Acceptance is the first step towards recovery

These issues are difficult for people to accept. The thinly disguised elitists are being revealed in their pillage and squander. The economic impact of their greed and terrible policy is being felt in high, middle, and low income households across the nation. However it is still sinking in with Americans. Even without the media blocking the american people, Paul and his ideas are a bit too much becoming a winning platform unto themselves.

Do we get healthy or just take the pills?

American's simply aren't yet ready for what the campaign called a Revolution. His views are too outside of the typical prescription. His approaches require a massive reorganization and restructuring of the nation. He preaches the natural cure and the powers that be would prefer to sell us pills.

America loves to watch TV and take their pills. Why do anything when you can just let others handle your problems? Why not just let your government handle the big issues? Why go through the pain to cure something that seems like it can just keep being postponed? Perhaps it is a matter of preference or maybe too many are still caught up in denial. Everybody knows what happens, long term, when the root of an issue isn't resolved. Eventually they will admin it.

This is the meaning of the revolution. The revolution is a rotation that requires the pendulum makes a full circle and change comes with a swift definitive stroke. The revolution is about rebirth and renewal. It's about throwing off the shackles and once again rejoicing in our core values and ideals. Now that he doesn't have to pretend to want the presidency he can get back to step one. He has grown his troops of adept, effective, and organized supporters into strong strategic government positions to bring the next battle to the GOP.

Convention Conclusions

Some conclusions and ideas for moving forward

There is still a great divide between the factions who came together at the 2012 AZ (and other) State GOP Convention. Lets talk about what there is to learn and how we need to grow.

No Education

If there is a single general observation to be made about this primary cycle is that the resistance to change and lack of purpose or unity in the Republican party is going to be the only force to keep keep if from winning this election. Americans are watching the austerity madness in Europe. They are watching the continued consolidation and growth of government in Washington. They see inflation, unemployment, and how little entitlement measures actually help anyone. They also seen and are beginning to understand the converse shrinking of jobs, freedoms, retirements, and our economy. They are sick of war, and they want to go back to the Capitalist ideal.

The ideal of the Regan years has drawn a lot of people back to the GOP just as the reality of Bush years drove many away. The steadfast GOP members who stayed with the party say they hate flip flopping. They need to understand, historically, the party itself has flip flopped. It was the party of federal unity, isolationism, the party of Lincoln, the party of the North, the party of the South, the party of fiscal responsibility.

The Republican party and its members want to spend big, then reign in. The party is built and acts, like all successful things in this world, as a growing changing entity ready to adjust and succeed. In some ways, I would credit those who left and came back with being more conservative because they, like myself, felt that the party needed a slap in the face hard enough to turn it around and back to its core values.

I'm not here to educate on the history of the party, but I am here to tell them that there are many factions and it is important that they are all respected and heard. If the party is to succeed then they need to unify before the federal elections. Now is the time to educate ourselves about what these factions want and can do for the party. Now is the time to understand the best path forward and choose it together.

No Dark Sarcasms

The beauty of the GOP is that all factions and ideals are all to be heard and respected. From there, we create the platform that will do its best to satisfy everyone and bring them together. The Romney faction, which is touting themselves as the conventional republican faction, is dominant. The problem and benefit of being the dominant faction is it has little to no stance or particular plans. This means it will likely not offend anybody, and it will not really inspire anybody.

I was asked many times with biting sarcasm, 'What do you think you all will achieve here? Don't you realize you are just fracturing the party?'. 'Why don't you guys get behind Romney like the voters who have already spoken?'. 'Do you guys even care about the party or do you just want attention?'. These were just a few sarcasms and there was much more name calling and snide stabs.

Why are we here?

My response was to explain to each of them carefully and slowly a few simple facts. We are here because we share a similar, if not identical set of morals and ideals. We believe in this party and its procedure and its tenants. We are here so that we can explain that there are some issues that we do not agree with: particularly recent directions the party has taken. We want to express our disagreements and hope only that we can influence our party to take some new directions and approaches. In short, we want the party to make small adjustments to its national platform and then we will continue to respect and support it.

We don't care who the candidate is, we care what they do. This is what it means to be American and this is the beauty of a two party system. We make the plans and concessions now and then run on the ideas that satisfy the conservative ideal. We aren't fracturing the party, we are sharing our ideas with it in the way the party intended. The only fracturing will come from turning a deaf ear on fellow party members.

No Thought Control

Nobody is perfect and we all know that change is not easy and it certainly not always pleasant. The important thing to understand is that we are a group of like minded individuals that rejoice in our freedom of speech, life, thought, and responsibility. Just because some party leadership says unite, this doesn't mean we should stop talking and fighting for the ideals and platform. If you haven't fought for either then start listening to the arguments. Let your mind open up and consider that the direction from Washington and the Romney campaign is only one way to look at what this party means.

AZGOP National Convention

AZGOP Convention

Impressions

Today was my first time at a GOP convention. As an event, it was incredibly disorganized and riddled with traps, preferential treatment, confusion, and voting pitfalls. One comical example, was how Romney delegates were marked with asterisks and markup on the ballots themselves. On top of this, the arena where the group voting and meetings took place was also covered with Romney banners, messages, and endorsed candidates. No mention of the Tea party or Ron Paul on the walls of the Grand Canyon University Arena.

All I can really gather from my first experience is that the Grand Ol Party convention is not a place for party members to exchange and express ideals. Nor is it a place to generate comprise and unite the party through common ideals and concessions. The convention is a a media marketing outlet to brainwash members into support of a non-specified platform that they themselves will have no part or say in developing.

Why is convention and why does it matter this time?

The GOP conventions are intended to allow individuals and districts to best express their desire and wants for the GOP. The intention is that a fractured base can work together to find common ground and to make concessions to appease the base required to win the federal elections. This requires compromise and a free exchange of ideas.

This time around the Republican party is in dire need of a shakeup and the Tea Party and the Ron Paul factions came out in force to speak their minds and to exert their influence over the direction, platform, and representatives of the GOP. The combining of these faction, as a convention is intended to facilitate, means negotiations, concessions, and the definition of a platform. It is about sending people and messages to the national conventions that will work to ensure that the party is not fractured and instead stands together for common goals.

Shifting platform is far from the alien concept the Romney campaign makes it out to be. Countless times the GOP has re-branded, adjusted platform, and even totally shifted in demographic in its incredibly successful lifetime. This is one of those times. I doubt it was ever easy, but I don't doubt the shifts were to better serve a large diverse base. A diverse base with eerily familiar core values.

The real message

Today needed to be about defining the new GOP of 2012. Instead today was a bunch of pressure to forget your own ideas and get behind Romney. I understand being conservative means we don't always promote change in policy and politics, but the Romney unity message was fluff and a complete lack of consideration for the factions. Essentially the message from the Romney folks was 'Don't speak out and put blind faith into the Romney campaign. They know what you need and want. They also have pizza'.

I can only hope that the party can grow out of its single minded ignorance and listen to its constituants to drive the national platform. Otherwise, who is the party representing? How can it expect to win elections as an aging core unthinkingly abides as another new generation of conservatives is ignored and alienated.

I ask every republican to consider that change requires a lot of work and strong ideals. What your fractured elements want is to NOT overthrow, but to influence change in a big, rickety, ready for an oil change, party machine. If your true ideals are in freedom, self responsibility, and strong core values, then why ignore and ridicule those with the same values. Why try with such passion to rid your party of those who share all your primary ideals?

If your true goal is to beat Obama, then you need this fanatical support base, and you need it soon before it gets tired of being ignored and breaks away and begins to throw its support and money into other parties and candidates that would have them.

AZGOP Media Followup.

Convention media follow up

I was at the AZGOP convention today and went online this evening to see results and instead found lies and deception.

Lies from a Random Blogger found on Google News
Lies from the Arizona Republic

Oh the Water

Both links above are perfect examples of bought and paid for terrible journalism. It was a badly organized and run convention. That is the real news. There was an occasional shout from promoters and dissenters of all factions at many moments during the convention. The report that Josh Romney was booed off stage is a disgusting example of smear journalism and total lack of competence as reporters.

Here is the real story. Josh Romney's presence was booed at first by one or two people that were quickly quieted. He was also hailed very loudly by the Romney faction. The convention rules clearly state that the crowd is not to promote or offer dissent during the time he spoke. When he left the stage the same thing occurred. Any other account is a blatant lie from Josh Romney and his supporters. What a cheap shot and a show of utter disregard for the 1000s that witnessed that was not the case.

Ron Paul and Tea Party ideas may be a bit extreme but the party needs to adapt and grow its base. Being ignorant and lies like this are just another way the Romney camp has made unity nearly impossible. Simply saying the word unity 1000 times is not the answer. There needs to be a convention which considers the requests and ideals of its delegates and potential new voting base. The national convention needs to create a platform which is truly built on core values and consider requests from all factions. That is how you creates unity. Otherwise, why convene? What is grand about a predetermined platform developed by a Washington strategist? What does 'I support Romney' even mean?

Hope it don't rain all day!

To the many Romney supporters with whom I enjoyed one-on-one and group parlay with today. People whom I share a common set of ideals with. People I look to as leaders and builders in my community and state. I hope these folks uphold their integrity and respectability and abide a moral code to expose these and other lies. I also hope they keep thinking about whether they want to win, build an awesome national platform, or just stand and shout Romney while the party its core values and new fanatical supporters slip into the gutters.