Carly is surging. Here's her 2A views

[VMI77]

I am one of those who, last time around, strongly advised my (then) fellow republicans to hold their noses and vote republican. I am no longer a republican. I completely understand the electoral college math. But honestly, I'm not sure I care that much anymore.

What was it that Davey Crockett is supposed to have said.......something along the lines of "You can all go to hades, I'm going to Texas"? That is pretty much how I feel about politicians these days. Pretty much all of them. I am more discouraged today than I've ever been. When my own former party makes the likes of Boehner Speaker of the House, and the likes of McConnell Senate Majority Leader, why on earth should I have any faith in the republican party to do the right thing? Neither of those two clowns are any better than Reid and Pelosi.....if transparency and paying heed to the grassroots have any meaning at all. I know whom I was impressed with in the first debate, and whom I was disgusted with. Time will tell and shake them out.....and we'll get down to a small enough number of candidates that we can tell who stands for what. But if the republican party, nationally, can elect clowns like Boehner and McConnell, then they can easily come up with a Trump/Bush ticket..........and that is some scary stuff.

So this year, I'm going to mind my own business, and vote how I want to vote, and keep my vote to myself. I sure as heck am not going to let anyone try to scare me into voting for an inferior candidate, because I'm askeered of his opponent, and I most heartily apologize for having done the same to others in the last two elections.

[VMI77]

Given that the recent election put GOP majorities in both houses and they immediately betrayed those of us who voted for them and have been steadily advancing the Obama agenda ever since, what meaningful difference do you think it would have made, or will make? If any of the current candidates are honest and show any chance of getting the nomination the GOP establishment will knee cap them. No honest candidate that will actually try to change anything has any chance of getting the GOP nomination. And that assumes that he could change anything with a GOP Congress that has been carrying water for Obama. I have to agree with GWB when he said, fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, won't get fooled again.

So who would you suggest the next occupant of the WH be? Are you saying the alternative is Hillary, Uncle Joe, or comrade Bernie?

I'm not happy with the GOP leadership either. But I fully believe another 8 years of someone as incompetent and with as little disregard for the American people and the Constitution as BHO will lead to a civil war, or reveloutionary war. Not just civil disobedience, but the full understanding of the safeguard the 2nd Amendment provides. I don't really relish my great grandkids having to endure that. I just hope there is a candidate that can channel all the seething, just beneath the surface anger back into hope for the future. Maybe I'm just a dreamer and it is too late? You tell me.

Boy do I ever miss Ronald Reagan.

I responded yesterday but apparently I didn't get the submission right and it didn't post......not the first time I've done that. I'm pretty much like TAM above except I am totally pessimistic and cynical. I think we're in a nose dive, the control surfaces have jammed, and all the pilots are partying in the back of the plane. Actually, no, that's too generous. We're on that Lufthansa flight about to crash into the mountain and the pilot (the ruling class) has locked anyone who can take control and avert the crash out of the cockpit.

[ShootDontTalk]

Well I agree with you to a point, and it is just this, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Me just sitting back and letting my grandkids and great grandkids fight this fight is just not acceptable in my view. First, it may be too late for them to win by then, and second, I'm not willing to let the liberals win because I can't have everything my way. At this point in time, I'd settle for a 50% improvement. YMMV

[VMI77]

Well I agree with you to a point, and it is just this, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Me just sitting back and letting my grandkids and great grandkids fight this fight is just not acceptable in my view. First, it may be too late for them to win by then, and second, I'm not willing to let the liberals win because I can't have everything my way. At this point in time, I'd settle for a 50% improvement. YMMV

I don't disagree, I just don't believe selecting one oligarch candidate over another is actually doing anything. I don't know what you would consider a 50% improvement but no meaningful improvement is possible at the national level under the current system. A case can be made that electing the absolute worst candidate will produce more change faster because it will drive the system into the inevitable collapse sooner, when more people are prepared to do something about it. Poor people and rich people aren't going to do anything to change the system in the way we want it changed because they benefit from it. The objective of the ruling class is to eliminate the middle class because that is the only group that has the incentive and the resources to make the kind of changes you and I want to make.

However, the bulk of the middle class is still in the grip of normalcy bias. The longer the charade goes on the smaller and more impoverished the middle class will be. The modus operandi of the left is gradualism. We're the proverbial frogs in the pot. Ruling class overreach....too much too fast....is the only thing likely to shock the middle class into action. The Federal government is a liberty swallowing leviathan. The withdrawal of consent is about the only tool we've got, but a lot of people have to withdraw their consent for it to be effective. The only way I see this happening is by states simply withdrawing consent by ignoring the Feds. That means not taking Federal tax dollars to start. When the Feds pass a law, states simply ignore it and refuse to enforce it.....already happening with marijuana laws and some gun laws in states like Wyoming.

For instance, if the Feds require a city to social engineer neighborhood demographics their only real power to make it happen is money. Local and state governments need to start saying no and refusing the Federal dollars. In some places, like the People's Republics, that isn't going to happen and probably can't happen. But it's not going to happen any place unless enough people in the middle class say enough is enough and start acting at the local level. The system is rigged to neuter opposition at the national level. The only way anything is going to change is from the bottom up, starting in towns and cities and reverberating up to the state level.

[The Annoyed Man]

What was it that Davey Crockett is supposed to have said.......something along the lines of "You can all go to hades, I'm going to Texas"? That is pretty much how I feel about politicians these days. Pretty much all of them.

The Davey Crockett reference is nice, but unfortunately Texas is just 1 of 50 now. Where is the "New Texas"?


jd

jd, what I care about now is, in this order:

1. My God
2. My family
3. My church
4. My neighborhood
5. My community

Everything else comes in a distant 6th place or lower to those things. God is everywhere (although there are parts of the east and west coasts that it doesn't seem like it). My family is mostly in Texas (those that aren't voted in California for this mess). My church is in Texas. My neighborhood is in Texas. And, my community is in Texas. So I've already gone to Texas........and, having lived for decades in California, I know exactly how Davey Crockett felt, and to hades with the rest of them.

Both major parties are utterly corrupt. There may be some good politicians in there, but they are a tiny minority. Most are corrupted by the power they've been given, and utterly corrupted by the power they've taken. They are never going to willingly surrender a single iota of that power......thus, there will never been any term limits passed, or any legislation passed which subjects politicians to the same laws they saddle the rest of us with. NONE of that power will pass from them back to The People, until The People take it from them.......and most Americans......even among self-identified conservatives.....have a price and can be bought. And personally, although I think it is needed, I don't want the country to ever get to that point.....for the simple reason that too many people will die before the situation stabilizes, and our enemies abroad can make a LOT of mischief for us while we are otherwise occupied. In fact, I would go a step further and say that politicians absolutely know this, and they count on rational people being more afraid of a revolution than they are of continuing along the current arc.

So, even if the republicans win the presidential election, I seriously don't think it will make that much of a difference.........not as long as a couple of chumps like Boehner and McConnell control Congress.

I am NOT endorsing either Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina, but it is going to take complete political outsiders like those two to change the culture of Washington DC...........IF it's not too late and it can even be changed. Donald Trump, for all of his running as a "maverick", has been way too cozy to major political figures for a very long time to be considered an "outsider". As he has bragged during the debate, he has them in his pocket. We need someone like a Carson or Fiorina who will sleep just fine if they don't get the job, who refuse to climb into anyone's pocket, who have full and interesting lives without craving the political limelight, and who aren't SO desperate to have the office that they'll say anything, and violate any principle, to get it.

My only advice is this: listen to what each candidate has said at the outset of the campaign, and then listen what each says at the end of the campaign, compare the two positions and judge if that is a candidate who has stood by his/her principles from the get-go, and then judge whether or not those principles resonate with your own. If that candidate has been steadfast in that, and if his/her principles resonate with your own, then that is how you should vote. And if they don't, then find the one that does.

But I'll never again advise anyone to accept having to hold their nose to vote for the least bad of two bad choices. It doesn't pay. And decades of conservative and libertarian holding their noses and voting republican out of fear of the democrat party has done nothing but give the republican party permission to take those votes for granted. They have come to believe that there is no limit to how deep they can pile the crap and the insults on the base voters and still have their votes.

So far, I have not said whom I would vote for (I'm not even sure myself); but I can state categorically that there is one person running as a republican whom I categorically will not vote for......even if it means handing the election to the democrats.....because THAT candidate would be just as bad.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

[mr surveyor]

What was it that Davey Crockett is supposed to have said.......something along the lines of "You can all go to hades, I'm going to Texas"? That is pretty much how I feel about politicians these days. Pretty much all of them.

The Davey Crockett reference is nice, but unfortunately Texas is just 1 of 50 now. Where is the "New Texas"?


jd

jd, what I care about now is, in this order:

1. My God
2. My family
3. My church
4. My neighborhood
5. My community

Everything else comes in a distant 6th place or lower to those things. God is everywhere (although there are parts of the east and west coasts that it doesn't seem like it). My family is mostly in Texas (those that aren't voted in California for this mess). My church is in Texas. My neighborhood is in Texas. And, my community is in Texas. So I've already gone to Texas........and, having lived for decades in California, I know exactly how Davey Crockett felt, and to hades with the rest of them.

Both major parties are utterly corrupt. There may be some good politicians in there, but they are a tiny minority. Most are corrupted by the power they've been given, and utterly corrupted by the power they've taken. They are never going to willingly surrender a single iota of that power......thus, there will never been any term limits passed, or any legislation passed which subjects politicians to the same laws they saddle the rest of us with. NONE of that power will pass from them back to The People, until The People take it from them.......and most Americans......even among self-identified conservatives.....have a price and can be bought. And personally, although I think it is needed, I don't want the country to ever get to that point.....for the simple reason that too many people will die before the situation stabilizes, and our enemies abroad can make a LOT of mischief for us while we are otherwise occupied. In fact, I would go a step further and say that politicians absolutely know this, and they count on rational people being more afraid of a revolution than they are of continuing along the current arc.

So, even if the republicans win the presidential election, I seriously don't think it will make that much of a difference.........not as long as a couple of chumps like Boehner and McConnell control Congress.

I am NOT endorsing either Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina, but it is going to take complete political outsiders like those two to change the culture of Washington DC...........IF it's not too late and it can even be changed. Donald Trump, for all of his running as a "maverick", has been way too cozy to major political figures for a very long time to be considered an "outsider". As he has bragged during the debate, he has them in his pocket. We need someone like a Carson or Fiorina who will sleep just fine if they don't get the job, who refuse to climb into anyone's pocket, who have full and interesting lives without craving the political limelight, and who aren't SO desperate to have the office that they'll say anything, and violate any principle, to get it.

My only advice is this: listen to what each candidate has said at the outset of the campaign, and then listen what each says at the end of the campaign, compare the two positions and judge if that is a candidate who has stood by his/her principles from the get-go, and then judge whether or not those principles resonate with your own. If that candidate has been steadfast in that, and if his/her principles resonate with your own, then that is how you should vote. And if they don't, then find the one that does.

But I'll never again advise anyone to accept having to hold their nose to vote for the least bad of two bad choices. It doesn't pay. And decades of conservative and libertarian holding their noses and voting republican out of fear of the democrat party has done nothing but give the republican party permission to take those votes for granted. They have come to believe that there is no limit to how deep they can pile the crap and the insults on the base voters and still have their votes.

So far, I have not said whom I would vote for (I'm not even sure myself); but I can state categorically that there is one person running as a republican whom I categorically will not vote for......even if it means handing the election to the democrats.....because THAT candidate would be just as bad.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

TAM

I certainly understand your frustration, and what you are saying. I was just being subtle in pointing out that there are no horizons .... we have only what we have and that's what we must deal with. Mr. Crockett had the opportunity to relocate in a new territory that was ripe for "colonization". We still have what we have. In my opinion, our society in general has reached the breaking point in morality, civility, honesty and about every other true character trait imaginable. Every thing that the political system was originally designed to do has been totally soured by what is the majority of voters that have reached the low point in those character traits.

It seems to get more difficult every election cycle.


jd

[J.R.@A&M]

...A case can be made that electing the absolute worst candidate will produce more change faster because it will drive the system into the inevitable collapse sooner, when more people are prepared to do something about it...

I think it is very important not to make this case in a vague sort of way. If you think it is even remotely valid, you better make it very explicitly. And while you are doing it, you better contemplate the implications for 2nd Amendment rights. A democratic POTUS reinforces a liberal SCOTUS.

[gljjt]

...A case can be made that electing the absolute worst candidate will produce more change faster because it will drive the system into the inevitable collapse sooner, when more people are prepared to do something about it...

I think it is very important not to make this case in a vague sort of way. If you think it is even remotely valid, you better make it very explicitly. And while you are doing it, you better contemplate the implications for 2nd Amendment rights. A democratic POTUS reinforces a liberal SCOTUS.

A democratic POTUS sets the makeup of the SCOTUS for a generation...

[ShootDontTalk]

So far, I have not said whom I would vote for (I'm not even sure myself); but I can state categorically that there is one person running as a republican whom I categorically will not vote for......even if it means handing the election to the democrats.....because THAT candidate would be just as bad.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I agree. I believe I know of whom you speak. Let's pray he/she/it implodes, or explodes, whichever is more painful, before we reach that point. I hope the Lord looks on our requests with favor.

I have exchanged emails with Ted Cruz and though he hasn't said anything directly, I believe he is beginning to understand that this might be the last gasp for the Republican Party. My philosophy should not be confused with the notion of just handing the election to someone I don't feel will get anything done. I intend to write a LOT more letters and be very frank about my expectations. They better get unafraid of losing their power and start doing what is right or they're going to lose, big time.

[The Annoyed Man]

https://www.conservativereview.com/Comm ... gop-voters

Rank-and-file GOP House members are now confronted with an important question: do they want to head into a presidential election with a leader who is unpopular with their own voters and hated by Independents?

Gallup released a poll today showing that just 23% of Americans view Speaker John Boehner favorably. A clear majority have an unfavorable view of him.

{——SNIP——}

What is more revealing is that Boehner is under water in terms of approval with his own party.

Just 37% of Republicans have a favorable view of the Speaker, while 42% view him unfavorably. His numbers are atrocious among Independents – 17%-57%. Gallup notes that McConnell is also unusually unpopular with his own party.

These numbers are based on a Rasmussen poll.

[SewTexas]

So far, I have not said whom I would vote for (I'm not even sure myself); but I can state categorically that there is one person running as a republican whom I categorically will not vote for......even if it means handing the election to the democrats.....because THAT candidate would be just as bad.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I agree. I believe I know of whom you speak. Let's pray he/she/it implodes, or explodes, whichever is more painful, before we reach that point. I hope the Lord looks on our requests with favor.

I have exchanged emails with Ted Cruz and though he hasn't said anything directly, I believe he is beginning to understand that this might be the last gasp for the Republican Party. My philosophy should not be confused with the notion of just handing the election to someone I don't feel will get anything done. I intend to write a LOT more letters and be very frank about my expectations. They better get unafraid of losing their power and start doing what is right or they're going to lose, big time.

I will say that of the crowd, he does seem to be one that has a backbone.

Many people think that Trump does, but I think that all he has is a voice, oh, and fish lips.

[VMI77]

...A case can be made that electing the absolute worst candidate will produce more change faster because it will drive the system into the inevitable collapse sooner, when more people are prepared to do something about it...

I think it is very important not to make this case in a vague sort of way. If you think it is even remotely valid, you better make it very explicitly. And while you are doing it, you better contemplate the implications for 2nd Amendment rights. A democratic POTUS reinforces a liberal SCOTUS.

I'm not going to make an explicit case on here. One reason is that even if I did and it was a good one, I still have no certainty that it would provide the "best" outcome. I don't know what the best way forward is but at the same time I'm not convinced it matters all that much. I think we're past the point of no return by practically every measure. Voting in a Republican because he's slightly less toxic than a Hillary is not going to overcome decades of public school and college indoctrination. GWB and a Republican Congress helped put us where we are economically and is only second to Obama at increasing the national debt. GWB presided over the "Patriot Act" and the imposition of the surveillance state.

But on the question of 2nd Amendment rights.....we all should expect to face the fact that eventually the Feds are going to try to eliminate them, and it's probably not going to matter much when the next SC lackey is appointed. There are plenty of anti-gun wackos on the Republican side and the chances of a Republican president getting someone like Scalia confirmed are probably pretty slim. Widespread door-to-door gun confiscation is extremely unlikely. That didn't even happen in the UK and Australia. You can still own some types of guns in the UK, they're just highly restricted. MORE important than what kind of guns you can own is the right to use them in self-defense. That right was extinguished in the UK. We're not on the verge of that happening in the US, but that is likely to be gradually eliminated before any widespread gun bans.

The first recourse is with the States. The Feds pass, say, another assault weapons ban, and the individual states like Texas state categorically that the law doesn't apply in their state --otherwise we're lost and headed down the same path as the UK. Like the residents of New York, all of us at some point are going to be forced to decide whether we obey a draconian gun law or not. OTOH, even with a change in the disposition of the court, I'm not so sure it will be that easy to overturn the 2nd Amendment precedent that has already been established, so any anti-gun measures will probably remain around the margins for quite some time. Expanding the definition of "mental illness" will probably be at the forefront of those efforts. After all, if you oppose Obama's policies, you must be a racist, and racism is a form of mental illness, is it not?

This all presupposes a continuation of more or less the same path we're on now. If something catastrophic happens, like an economic collapse with lots of ensuing violence and chaos, there will be very little support for gun control measures for at least another generation.

[ShootDontTalk]

Snip.....

jd, what I care about now is, in this order:

1. My God
2. My family
3. My church
4. My neighborhood
5. My community

Snip........

I think my list pretty much is identical to yours. Last night I took a little survey of how much has been lost in a few short years:

My God - the vast majority of Americans are "practical atheists". To them He might exist, but His teachings are either ignored or given lip service only. There is a large, and growing, segment of society that want all mention of God removed from the public arena. Emboldened by the apathy, I believe they will soon go after private speech and thought.

My family - at first I thought we have not been affected. That is an illusion. Our healthcare used to be excellent. Now we are on a pay as you go scheme. We don't go to the doctor when we're sick, it costs too much. Our children, grandchildren, and soon to be of age, great grandchildren are, by and large, not really "educated" by schools but indoctrinated to a socialist system and welfare state. We don't eat healthy food like we used to. Food is way more expensive. My family is not suffering - yet.

My church - has been told we'll be fine as long as we don't exercise our beliefs outside the church building. Our members are dismayed by the lack of concern for a lost nation on the fast track to heck. Churches spend millions on "religious vacations" to exotic places while their Jerusalem rots from the inside out. They're confused by the notion some churches hold that sin is relative and certainly not a serious issue. They've been told that Jesus must have been joking when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light, and no man comes to the Father but by Me." Don't we know that all religions are just peaceful alternative paths to the same destination? People in my church are considered "right wing terrorists" who threaten the American way of life while in the name of Mohammed, people strap bombs to their children and send them off to Allah in a blaze of glory. Oh, but those who do that just need a job.

My neighborhood / community - there is simply too much wrong here to list. But suffice to say, many of us are just one incident away from a major riot because our government, by design and practice, has decided that the "hope and change" we need is to burn the place down. I grew up in the South and saw racism first hand. I hated it. I spent a lifetime proving to everyone I ever met that I treasured the idea that "God created all men equal" and I have practiced that truth daily. Now I see that I was wrong. Only black lives matter. Unlike Dr. Ben Carson, I have only seen humans inside when they have been shot, run over, or blown up. But he is exactly right. We are all the same inside - in our essence. My Bible tells me that one day all believers, regardless of race, will stand before the throne of God clothed in the righteousness of our Savior. No racial divide. Too bad our government doesn't believe that.

Every aspect of my life is under attack. I think I'm in trouble.

EDIT: I apologize as this may be OT. Important, but not really about Carly surging. I'm glad she is.

[Texas_Blaze]

It has taken 4 presidential election cycles, and several midterms for me to gain a pure disdain for Republicans. I've turned off FNC, all political websites, etc. done with it.

I once had hope for Rubio & Rand.
I hope Cruz remains steadfast, but I believe either he will cave or be burned at the stake by his own party.
I am convinced that the beast of Washington would make the Apostle Paul himself crooked if enough time was had.
There is no hope in ANY mortal man. None.

On the SCOTUS... I've seen what Republican appointments have provided. Thx for Obamacare and gay marriage.

This nation has a rapidly increasing acceleration towards Godlessness.
Gonna serve my God, love my wife, and raise my kids to fear and love Him.

[JALLEN]

Keep in mind how and to what extent power is diffused in our system. It was done that way on purpose, to minimize, as much as possible, the risk of tyranny.

The people eventually get what they want, but it might not always be what you want, and it might not be "for their own good."

Electing a President who stands for everything you want doesn't get you very far, because the President has little power. As Truman pointed out,

"All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway."

You should remember that El Diablo appointed scores of exceedingly well qualified men and women to the Federal courts, most of whom were left dangling, and a few of whom were confirmed because the Senate, almost equally divided, was neutered by a gang of liberal Senators, Kennedy, Schumer, Leahy, Durbin and others who absolutely would not permit any vote on any nominee who had ever expressed the slightest sympathy for any hint of thinking that maybe it might be useful to consider rethinking Roe v. Wade. Those who were confirmed were good men and women but too few made it through confirmation.

That old political scientist Lyndon Johnson knew that "when you have the votes, they do things your way. When they have the votes, you do things their way." Nothing much happens in the Senate until you can get 60 votes. If the President approves of what those 60 are doing, fine. If not, you need 67.

Faced with these realities, conservatives wring their hands and form up into a circular firing squad. Socialists seldom kill off their own like conservatives do. As a result, they win a lot of elections and hold office, while the purists on the other side fret that their candidates aren't good enough and stay home, free of the burdens of holding office which gives them more time to complain.

I've come to admire Ted Cruz. When something stinks, he says "Phew." That's great, but in doing so, he has almost certainly offended so many of his colleagues, many of whom stink, that he will have a hard time getting things done. "When you have the votes, they do things your way."

Furthermore, things seldom change overnight, from dark to light. It takes awhile. Voters have been turning to Republicans in local and state offices in ever increasing numbers in recent years. I remember when the county Republicans here could meet in one man's living room and none held elective office. A small man showed up in my dad's business one day and said he would like some help meeting the locals. He and my dad had gone to college together. That man was John Tower and he took advantage of LBJs vanity, and Democrat chutzpah, to take a Senate seat, the first GOP Senator from the old south in nearly 100 years. It took a couple of decades, but now almost every seat is in GOP hands.

The doper dirtball hippies of the '60's have been running wild for some time, some have been in jail and some are headed there. Our day will come, if we keep working on it, not stay home in disgust.