I encountered a few entries that bear an uncanny resemblance to what I just remitted; they are invoked
both in response to the reaction of a Dem/Lib thereto [and thereafter]:
I am not moved from my overarching premise that disappointments with and acknowledged misjudgments by the President suggest a fatal flaw in the tenet underlying the party: Democrats believe that we're greater together than we are on our own. While I do not fully discount individual rights (I am sure to your relief), I believe we have a collective responsibility (probably to your dismay) to address a broad array of domestic issues. Leaving aside foreign policy, one could argue on a case-by- case basis whether a particular program should be developed and/or implemented by the federal government, on a state level, or in localities. But, in my view, the federal government has a clear role at a minimum in setting the direction and providing oversight for domestic policy. As I listen and read, I struggle with the constitutional conservative viewpoint that appears from where I sit to place individual freedoms above societal needs. I say above deliberately perhaps, it would be somewhat more palatable if the individual and society-at-large were seen as having equal value. Gun control is a clear example of that misalignment.
I disagree with absolutely nothing, except to note the fundamental underpinning of the US Constitution, namely, that WE the People have not delegated unlimited authority to the Feds; it must abide by delineated empowerment [Article I, Section 8]. Thus, except for issues related to national-security, the rights of the individual must dominate. Note that this does not discount collective responsibility for the general welfare, but it allows for setting the direction and providing oversight for domestic policy without dominating its natural history [from conception to executionalbeit rarely to death, for RR noted that a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!]; as noted, the tug-of-war that constitutes federalism should energize. Thus, regarding Gun Control, the 2 nd Amendment must set-the-tone for the public:
GUN CONTROL PROPONENT: GUNS NO SOLUTION TO SEXUAL ASSAULT EPIDEMIC [He did not explain why his group is pushing a ban that will disarm law-abiding female gun owners who go through an extensive personal background check before being issued a concealed carry permit for self-defense because he cannot offer an alternative beyond good ol fashioned self-defense.]
While youre struggling, you are invited to grapple with the implications of gun-rights (invoking circumstances that are unaltered over the centuries):
Gun Control opponents often claim the 2 nd Amendment follows the 1 st
Amendment in the Bill of Rights to emphasize the fact that the former protects the latter. Thats why it was OK for an art-gallery-owner to make a free-speech-statement-by-leaving a vandalized-obama-painting- in-place and thats why a Facebook 'like' merits free speech protection; thats also why a Pro-Gun 17 Year-Old Girl Unseated a GOP-Incumbent, thats why republicans feel a KU-prof should be fired for having tweeted his desire for National Rifle Association members children to be the next victims of a mass shooting, and thats why it is reprehensible that 46 of 99 U.S. Senators Voted To Give Your Constitutional Rights To UN. {Recall also how a rodeo-clown [tuffy-gessling] was initially lambested by the liberal-fascists for having donned a BHO-mask (as he had done for other POTUSs), prior to his return to an enthusiastic-crowd, with some-wearing-shirts-supporting-him-and-free-speech.}
Then ask yourself whether 71-year-old Miguel Pilotos [in Miami-Dade County, Florida] would wish he had been able to defend himself against 17-year-old Jamal Jackson, who murdered him after the teen-rode-up-on-a bike and, this kid casually riding up to the old man, then without provocation, shot him in-the-head from only a few feet away as he was getting in his vehicle [per a mall surveillance video]; and then put yourself in the shoes of a man innocently riding a NYC Bus whose face was smashed as the attacker Called him A Cracker. [Recall the alternate-definition of a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, and then recognize how, again, the Constitution protects individuals.]
Another example Education: I can appreciate (although I am not fully in agreement with) your desire to have education driven locally and hence your opposition to Common Core. I can recognize inherent problems with teaching to a national test (for educational reasons, not related to content per se). I suppose I can agree that educators tend to be more liberal in their leanings and are not always tolerant of conservative viewpoints although I fail to see this as brainwashing. But I believe that Common Core opponents must advocate (as you appear to be willing to at least consider) meaningful national oversight in addressing problems in education. It is this type of middle ground that must be proactively discussed rather than just railing against those in federal/state government who are trying to address a very real problem with the poor quality of education in many schools. I feel strongly that we cannot simply fall back on charter schools as the answer to failing schools. Leaving a community without a functional school only perpetuates other social problems. In other words, the needs of one student (who may be able to escape to a better school) do not take precedence over the needs of the community for a good school, which can serve as an anchor for positive change. You may see all of this as a desire for small government and a fear of indoctrination of liberal views. Without some federal intervention, I see it as a limited recognition of societal needs.
The functions of the Department of Education should be assumed by HHS, recreating HEW; this worked just fine until Carter created the foundation for the Feds to become empowered to implant socialist thoughts within the minds of young-uns [a tendency you acknowledge when you note educators tend to be more liberal in their leanings and are not always tolerant of conservative viewpoints]. Even if you do not fear this is brainwashing, there is no necessity to create the possibility that this would transpire; noting Gates quotes envisioning universal use of Microsoft to disseminate curricula, reasonable parents would shudder to think what would dominate their kids days [absent their approval, let alone their input]. Common Core threatens the fabric of America, even before the USA was established, and it sacrifices values that made America great [flexibility, innovation, competition] to central command and control.
While you follow this statement - "This is not to say that one need become obsessed with [inter]national concerns to the expense of what is occurring at-home with a discussion of state issues, I wonder about your intent of using the phrase at-home. Somehow it feels directed here. Perhaps, I am personalizing too much based on my sometimes selfish and narrow attention to personal challenges. But frankly at times, I simply cannot get beyond the walls of my own house. You must find bridges with mainstream Rs if you want to make inroads for your point of view. Not sure I recall the issues related to paycheck protection. If you oppose Medicaid expansion, how would you propose that folks with limited means to access healthcare?
The at-home phrase was included as an umbrella to encompass all the state/regional hyperlinks that followed; it carried no import [overt/covert] regarding the ability of an individual to rule his/her castle and, indeed, threaded throughout these blast e-mails is emphasis on privacy-rights. The challenge, indeed, is to convey these concepts [plus those to follow, focused on social-issues] effectively, initially to the county-level GOP; emphasizing a search for common-ground rather than any compulsion to compromise. Paycheck-Protection would ban government[s] from collecting [private] union dues; Medicaid-Expansion is not the only way to help people who claim to have limited resources [both to access and to finance the acquisition of quality medical care]; first, they are currently functional and, second, the cost would be lower if insurers could revert to the policies extant prior to imposition of BHOs expendable mandates.
The more we learn via Gowdys Benghazi investigation, the closer we are to Martial Law [dire prediction] Obama supporters feel that if Boehner doesnt like Mexican food, he must be racist and should be removed from office [although they cant explain why]
BHO still stonewalls IRS scandal documents [suggesting Congress should invoke FOIA].
White House chief of staff was grilled by CBS'S Major Garrett over BHOs silence on VA Scandal [got nowhere] and by CNN's Jake Tapper [probing Obama's usual posture in matters involving scandal: indifference, no one held accountable, and calculated outrage without any action]. Transcript via RCP:
TAPPER: How many stories like this, how many letters like this, how many dead veterans do you need before somebody asks the question within the White House, maybe this guy isn't the best steward of these veterans? MCDONOUGH: The question, Jake, is, are we doing everything we can every day to get the veterans the care and the opportunities that they deserve? TAPPER: But you are not. This letter was sent a year ago. And you guys ignored it. MCDONOUGH: And we have been working aggressively to ensure that not only is health care expanded, opportunities made more ready to our vets, but that people are held to account, as Ric is doing in this case. We will continue to do that.
Jon Karl of ABC News, was also aggressive in the White House briefing room; after presser-Carney spouted talking points, Karl seemed dazed and a little disgusted by the his happy talk dissembling. {Also, Obamas VA Bosses blew $500 Mil on office furniture while Vets died (n.b., attitudes are set at-the-top).}
House Majority Leader Cantor backed away from stealth amnesty plan [recalling hes being primaried, the only true prod available to discipline those tempted to deviate].
Missing in every account of the administration's reaction to the breakdown of the Middle East Peace talks is introspection. Never do we read of any serious internal effort to assess what BHO, Kerry or Indyk may have gotten wrong, for it seems easier to blame Israel and "settlement announcements." [correct] OBAMA 'MADDER THAN HELL' AT VA SCANDAL [and what has he done about it???]
Michelle Bachmann wants Israel to Rebuild the Temple [sends a message, but exploitable].
New "journalists" are political activists disguised as journalists, and full of hatred; they see themselves as foot soldiers in a revolution and, as a result, they are giving journalismespecially Palestinian Arab journalisma bad name. [This is a component of the PR-campaign they continue to wage, and it should be differentiated from how the libs are trying to delimit journalism domestically by attempting to define who-is-a-journalist to puncture Constitutional protections for most any other whistle-blower; thus, although some claim Bloggers Should Support Media Shield Bill, others simply dont trust the Dems.]
Those who Want Peace should support Changing UNs Refugee Policy; Guzzardi and I wrote of the UNRWA-issue a decade ago, noting its unique carve-out for the Arabs.
POPE FRANCIS SAYS CHRISTIANS DO NOT EXIST OUTSIDE THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH; this illustrates why reports of his having liberalized the Holy See have been greatly exaggerated for, even as john xxiii and paul-ii were canonized, ignored was their strong ecumenicalism [including denying the ability of the Vatican to acknowledge the wisdom of billy-graham-speaks-out-for-pastor-saeed].
It is difficult to counter those who are anti-abortion when they see premature-babies considered-medical-waste; when they read that a Nursing manager failed to call social services after girl, 14, turned up for an abortion 'with a bloke in his 40s in a white van'; and when Dr. Gosnell says he is 'spiritually innocent' and Sends Abortion-Inspired Poetry from Prison. [And they are gratified that Nancy Pelosi still cant receive communion.]
Remember that they feel we are witnessing the moral-collapse-america, promoted in pop-culture both generically [Daniels Wins Emmy for Anti-American Diatribe on 'Newsroom'; justin-bieber-makes-first- public-comments-about-anne-frank-controversy] and, in-particular, sexually [Haunted House Encourages Visitors To Get Naked To Heighten Fear; EMMYS OPEN WITH SAME-SEX KISSES, SEXUAL BANTER; emmys-full-of-vulgar-sex-shows-what-american-pop-culture-has-deteriorated-into; miley- strips-down-and-twerks-again; vulgar-miley-cyrus-wears-stickers-on-nipples-sings-into-banana] and via promotion of illegal-drugs [Emmys to Honor Late Drug Addict, Not TV Icon Jack Klugman].
They recoil when learning Vandals Toppled a Ten Commandments Statue Near the Supreme Court Building, even as they honor a New York Giants cornerback [who doesnt drink, doesnt have sex and was raised Catholic] as the black Tim Tebow. Some recoil when reluctantly learning of increased post-SCOTUS recognition of gay-rights [george-h- w-bush was witness-at-same-sex-marriage; Labor Dept: Same-Sex Spouses Must Receive Benefits Regardless of State Laws; abercrombie: marriage-equity-the-right-thing-to-do- for-hawaii; and Texas attorney general pulls back threat of legal challenge to LGBT non- discrimination ordinance]. Their ability to cite statistical advantages [stability, etc.] of the traditional nuclear-family has eroded to the point whereby they would presumably have difficulty identifying a majority of American households that fit this set of criteria; this portends both an ongoing battle over freedom-of-speech [even regarding porn] being won by libertarians, and an ongoing battle over gay-marriage [but no triads, etc.] being won by a subset of the population that is said to represent 10% of humanity.
This blast e-mail closes by citing a few tantalizing items: Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness Confirmed in Large-Scale Swedish Study; Beatty puts reputation on line for 'last film' [about howard hughes]; mike-tyson-drops s-bomb on-fox-news-and-then-playfully-growls-at-host; new-york-uses- fake-yogurt-shop-to-catch-fake-online-reviewers; and NJ 'Joking Judge' Resigns After Losing Ruling.