Level the Playing Field
Having lost both houses of Congress and the White House in two straight elections, Republicans are going through an identity crisis, its leaders holding town hall meetings to “listen” to the people.
“What should we focus on? Should we drop the social issues? How do we get the young people back?”
Such angst and soul-searching is not the mark of the leader, but the mark of a man suffering from doubt and despair.
Why is the party in trouble? Simple. Dubya got a hold of the keys, got high on neocon hooch, and crashed and rolled the family SUV.
He launched an unnecessary war against a country that had not attacked us. With his utopian No Child Left Behind scheme and his Medicare drug plan, he did his passable imitation of LBJ, and blew a hole in the budget.
Touting globalism, he presided over the loss of one in every four U.S. manufacturing jobs and ran up $5 trillion in trade deficits. He refused to defend the Mexican border against an invasion, then pushed an amnesty for the invaders.
This was no Reaganite. This was the neocons’ apprentice.
How does the party reconnect with Middle America? How does it win back the Reagan Democrats who went home disgusted?
Become again the party of Frank Ricci.
And who is Frank Ricci?
He is a fireman in New Haven, Conn., with 11 years in the department, who suffers from dyslexia, but nonetheless has pursued his dream of becoming a lieutenant and a captain.
Six months before the promotion test, Ricci quit his second job. He bought $1,000 worth of the textbooks he was told to study, had a friend read them onto tapes to compensate for his dyslexia, studied every spare hour he got, and sat for the test, to compete for one of eight lieutenant slots open.
Frank made it. Frank Ricci came in sixth.
It was after the results of the test were made known that the problems arose. For, of the officers who had made the cut, all were white, except for one Latino.
Concluding the test results would, if used by the department, have an “adverse impact” on the black community, New Haven tossed out the results and called for new exams to ensure a “fair” outcome.
Thus, because he is a white man whose people came from Italy, Frank Ricci is to be denied a promotion he worked for and won, and be robbed of his American dream by the liberal bigots who run New Haven.
Had Frank Ricci and half of the other top performers been black, all would be on their way to becoming lieutenants and captains.
What is being done to Frank Ricci is exactly what was done to black folks for decades.
Great black ballplayers who might have become legends like DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig never got the chance because they were black. Black students were denied admission to prep schools, colleges and military academies because of their color.
Now, what was done to them is being done to white folks. And it is just as wrong as it was then.
In 21st century America, race discrimination endures.
All we have done is switch the color of the victims with the color of the beneficiaries. Today it is white males applying for jobs and promotions as cops, firemen, government workers, who are held back because their color does not comport with the desired “diversity.”
What New Haven has done to Frank Ricci is like the U.S. Olympic Committee throwing out all the trial heat results in the 100- and 200-meter races because not a single white runner qualified.
New Haven contends the “disparate impact” of the test hurts the black community, proving discrimination. But does the relative absence of blacks in the National Hockey League prove discrimination?
If the Republican Party wants a future, it will become again the party that stands on the principle that “No discrimination means no discrimination,” that stands with the victims of state bigotry, and that stands up to hypocrites like the Jim Crow liberals of New Haven.
Affirmative action began as a mandate to cast a wider net and ensure all had an equal shot. It has become a mighty engine of state injustice that seeks to remedy the consequences of past racial sins and crimes, by committing new ones.
In Michigan, Washington and California, none of them red states, majorities have voted to abolish affirmative action. Only Colorado failed in a dead heat last fall. A Republican drive to write into federal law an end to all race and gender preferences, as well as to all race and gender discrimination, is a cause whose time has come.
This is a winning issue for the GOP, for it is rooted in principle and comports with what is written on the human heart. Down deep, even liberals know that what is being done to Frank Ricci is not right.
COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
At this point, the Republican’s attempts to follow their business and Zionist advisers has led to disaster.
They have nothing left to loose so the should go for broke with strategies such as these. They always have the tax issue as well.
What do the american people want from the republican party? TEDDY ROOSEVELT AND EISENHOWER!
Just like the 30s, they want the money changers thrown clear of the temple. In other words, they want a boring banking system and an economy that is not dominated by finance. They want these banks that are to big to fail to be broken apart in a TRoosevelt anti-trust movement, they want glass-steagal brought back.
Just like the 50s, they want Korea unified and troops taken home, they want US troops brought back from Europe, they want the NAVY, AIRFORCE and ARMY rebuilt and resupply but they do not want any more proxy wars for neocons or AIPAC. Eisenhower was the only US president to refuse the jews as they partnered with Britain and France to reconquer the Suez. Eisenhower kept the US out of everthing except Korea, paid down our WWII war debt and kept domestic peace and tranquility.
Here is the truth…Isreal had better make peace with Arabs because nuclear Pakistan is going to fall to radical Islam and somehow a there will be better relations with an anti-west Iran and Pakistan. The US is not going to invade and issue military rule over a swath of land from Pakistan to Egypt.
What does the Republican Party need to win? They need to break from open borders, legal and illegal immigration, H1B Visas, outsourcing, off-shoring, multi-national corporations, neocon proxy wars and BRING OUT BLOOD AND GUTS PATRIOTISM AND NATIONALISM.
Bush failed because he used Patriotism as a shield for everything the US citizenry didnt want.
The Republicans need to use patriotism in its true form NATIONALISM. In a time of recession / depression…people want to be US citizens first…and now is the time to chuck all this democratic communist global citizen…citizens of the world crap.
Nationalism in energy independence
Nationalism in closed borders
Nationalism in and end to immigration
Nationalism in an open invitation to statehood or union with Cental America
Nationalism in Fair Trade not Free Trade: no more currency manipulation or VAT Taxes adding costs to US exports, offshoring, outsourcing loopholes.
Nationalism in no more foreign proxy wars
Nationalism is rebuilding our NAVY, AIRFORCE, ARMY and NUCLEAR DETERENT all of which are aged and depleted
Nationalism in not letting the money changers dominate the productivity of the US economy
Nationalism in a real form of social safety net that doesnt reward feminism & unwed mothers
Nationalism that doesnt apologize for us being a christian nation.
National patriotism for our country is natural for us but…alien to the Karl Roves and the neocons of the republican party … that no doubt TRoosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower would spit on!
You see…TRoosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower were salt of the earth…they new the cost of mens lives and they knew the domestic and foreign lobbies acting against US interests.
Today…the republican and democratic parties either dont or they are complicit…bought and sold.
i’d hate to sound fatalistic, but there is little difference to either side of our ‘elite’ and the mindset is too far out of touch with America for the Republican elite to realize the folly of pursuing a ‘democrat lite’ policy.
I dunno. Pat started this one about town meetings and quickly segued into the New Haven imbroglio.
Sticking with his intro, going out and listening is always better than sitting at home self-reinforcing political suicide. That’s the Limbaugh gasbaggery into oblivion model.
Often it’s wise to figure out the “meta” problem first. I give Cantor and Jeb Bush credit. At least they are ruminating in a productive way.
The next Supreme Court justice will not be a While Male. The Republicans should shout Discrimination !!!!
Take a couple of Libs (pretending to be conservatives) out of the equation, and there are some excellent comments to this post.
PAT – disappointed that you used some liberal lies as a literary device (intellectual shortcut), to make your points. If you LISTEN carefully to the replies to your post, you will hear a common theme: We are tired of LIARS AND THIEVES, and the politicians who want to repackage the same-old/same-old with new labels, hoping we won’t notice. Let the REAL PITCHFORK MAN STAND UP!!!
“unnecessary war”? Debateable, and probably a good point.
“that had not attacked us”? LIBERAL LIE. Did you forget invasion of our ally countries like Kuiwait? Shooting at our planes? Sending $35K to families of suicide bombers? Stockpiling HUNDREDS OF TONS of yellowcake? Allowing Al Quida to run training camps in the open (although NO serious WMDs or connection to the Trade Tower Attack have so far been found).
“he presided over the loss of one in every four U.S. manufacturing jobs “? Then you didn’t work for NIKE in the 80′s, or Microsoft in the 90′s, where a LARGE PART OF THEIR SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MODELs moved MANY jobs overseas. This movement has been fallout of the LIBs’ fiscal policies, and would be reversed with a FLAT-TAX on SALES to REPLACE the INCOME TAX.
Call TECHNICAL SUPPORT or even SALES for DELL (tech suppt in INDIA, sales in PHILLIPINES). This is NOT on BUSH’s doorstep, but is endemic to the entitlement sheltering UNIONs and TREE HUGGERs that have been penalizing big business since the 60′s.
And every time we try to correct unfairness to BIG BUSINESS, thieves from BOTH PARTIES are there to profit from half-hidden excesses.
We would be happy to help you attack YOUR ENEMIES, “Dubya” and the REPUBLICANS that ignored you, but, as you say, “How does the party reconnect with Middle America?”?
The problem is WE CAN’T BE TRUSTED if we send THIEVES to Washington, when the pendulum swings our way. Our REBOOT of the REPUBLICAN PARTY is to start locally, elect SERVANTS, not RULERS, and POUNCE ON CORRUPTION AND LIES!!!
Reform usury laws.
Break up the oligopolies.
Dump the neocons.
Declare Israel an enemy of the United States.
Sign onto anti-discrimination principles.
Important article by Pat Buchanan.
In your country and here in canada identity is and becoming more a driving motive behind who gets jobs, promotions, opportunity, this or that.
Just watch and score commercials. Blacks are one in four, Mexicans, one in five, Asians one in four, and women at least one in two.
The images and actuals actors jobs is selected based on identity.
I don’t agree with Pat that the minor places of banning blacks is the same as banning Yankees etc as is done done now across the board and very professionally. In the end the blacks were just immigrants who didn’t post civil war get full treatment like other immigrants. Its not the same as not getting a promised gift as taking away the possession of the man who created it.
Interfering with unhyphenated Americans is a robbery like any from a invader or a tyranny from the government.
Its rejecting basic values behind basic legal rights.
Any interference with a American based on details of how they came out of their mother is a act of war of the old stamp.
America was built by and inherited by and exclusively possessed by Americans. Thats the only legitimate identity.
A foreigner simply inherits all this by contract. The contract includes they deserve nothing because of their former identity.
This is the great equation.
This is today being not enforced.
From the justification for the present president to the affirmative action complex.
This should be a driving cause of true Americans and so aggresive conservatives.
Robert Byers – We assume you know that the YANKEES are a baseball team, and the refusal of baseball to allow blacks probably prevented many great black athletes from being recognized early in the sport.
We assume you know that many blacks were part of early US, before 1776 and our split with England. The 3 grievances of many blacks is:
1 – the treatment of those individuals who were treated as slaves (in some cases better, in some cases worse, than the similar treatment many women/wives received).
2 – the treatment of blacks in society in general, both before and after the civil war, due to racism.
3 – the inherent disadvantage financially, professionally, and socially, from having been “kept poor”, both during the period of slavery, and due to society’s racism since.
People who are black, and who are also racist or ignorant, will forget that many people who are white, came from similar backgrounds from Europe and other places, where many whites were treated as little more than slaves. They may forget that the US has no plans to compensate white people who are economically disadvantaged because their “breadwinner” was killed in the wars keeping the rest of our country free.
Finally, we hope that you hate “stealth bloggers” as much as the rest of us, who may slip into this site and try to portray conservatives as “racist” in some manner.
I am saddened as I read some of these comments. Closing the borders, remaning a true Christian nation, etc, etc. Its whining like this that allowed the neocons to infest the party. They aligned themselves with the Republican religious fanatics, of course after they had been working with the left-ACLU type for years.
What I’m saying is being a moderate is not a crime. Being a moderate doesn’t mean we have moderate views on every topic/issue. It just means that we are willing to listen to and consider other ideas. It means we are REALISTS.
Religion should be ignored, not by law, but by us. Who cares what religion some believe in, as long as they don’t try to push those beliefs on everyone else.
What the party must concentrate on is conservative fiscal and monetary policies, and logically justified foreign policies. If those types of policies are implemented and they work at least 70% of the time, then not too many will be complaining. More people would be enjoying their lives, living to work (not working to live). Then religion and other issues won’t be brought forth on the front page. They will be handled at local levels. People won’t feel like they have to force federal level to force the entire country to adhere to and follow certain beliefs.
Not sure if any of this made any sense
… what I’m trying to say is that let’s be objective and realists when approaching the current problems. the last thing we want to do is to whine and cry and put our emotions behind our strategies … similar to the liberals … and similar to the Limbaugh followers.
TomT – Its sad that you actually fell for the Bush lies about the Iraq war … ““that had not attacked us”? LIBERAL LIE. Did you forget invasion of our ally countries like Kuiwait? Shooting at our planes? Sending $35K to families of suicide bombers? Stockpiling HUNDREDS OF TONS of yellowcake? Allowing Al Quida to run training camps in the open (although NO serious WMDs or connection to the Trade Tower Attack have so far been found).” ….
Bush Sr. responded accordingly and appropriately to the Kuwait invasion. he did what a true Republican would do, which is protect its assets and not create additional liebilities.
Regarding the shooting at our planes. Well, as a nationalist (unless its the Limbaugh nationalist version) I assume that you would do the same thing when military jets of another country fly over our skies.
In terms of Iraq allowing al-queda to train in Iraq … that statement just tells me that either 1) you have been fooled; or 2) you just haven’t been educated about that region and its history. In fact, if approached correctly, Saddam (and even Iran) could’ve been our best asset in that region to fight or limit the growth of al-queda. Saddam hated the al-queda. And by the way, you should know that Saddam was a great asset to the US for yrs.
There was no al-queda in Iraq until the 2003 invasion. That invasion created instability and basically the breeding ground for those animals. they came in from pakistan and saudi arabia (our great allies) and made promises to the angry Iraqis. Our invasion created al-queda’s base in Iraq.
And lastly, you say “no serious WMDs or connection to the Trade Tower Attack have so far been found”????? Of course not! You sound like a neocon that got showered with the shyster-love. There are no WMDs there. We forced him to get rid of them. And neither Saddam nor Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. Again, those al-quda freaks were from countried which we consider as our allies.
The attack on Iraq was for two reasons 1) Israel; and 2) oil. It is as simple as that.
TomT
Thanks for the reply but your wrong. where to start.
Yes yankees are a actual people on earth. its the term for puritan Englishmen and those who immigrated to them and became them. It separates from other immigrants who did not assimilate or the Southerners etc.
There are no legitimate charges against Yankees from blacks.
They are a immigrant people and only can complain aas a identity if legal rights are denied. otherwise complaiints are as citizens of no identity relevance.
Until the end of the civil war they were a African slave population with no rights to American rights or stuff. They were foreigners without moral claim on American stuff.
after they became citizens they had legal right as any immigrant but no moral right still. Immigrants can complain about unfullfilled legal rights but not say its moral rights. they are immigrants who moved to another mans home.
No right to complain because some people don’t accept them or play fair.
Blacks never were kept down and certainly not in any important way in a century. This is a accusation against America without evidence.
Especially in the Yankee land blacks got as fair a deal as any immigrant.
Their failure then and now is there own patent.
Most Americans treated everyone good enough for people they saw as a different people.
It is in fact African Americans and other who demand that identity determines who gets what.
They, and others, do not believe in equal legal rights but try to say they have greater moral rights to this or that because of accusations about the past.
my point is not to justify discrimination but to agree with Pat Buchanan that there is great discrimination against American citizens based on identity.
I just add blacks, or as they call themselves Africans, have no moral claim to America any more then any immigrant. Its all a gift from the American man.
Its a legal denial to stuff in minor ways but not moral.
To deny a American (especially Yankee) is a moral and legal robbery.
let all citizens be judged on ability and nothing on identity. AMEN.
Not that way in the Obama government or much of America.
I can’t see where what I say is wrong.
Correct me on moral and legal rights.