After much contemplation of how to put into words the current struggle between the Republican Establishment and the ever growing disgruntled Conservative base I found this to be the best way to explain the situation as I view it…
A man walks across the street from his house to GOP Motors, a local franchise that he and his family have done business with for many years. One the lot are four vehicles, 2 new pickup trucks, one covered by a tarp, a beat up old blue pickup truck with a plow next to the garage. He spots a man in a suit and tie standing in the lot whistling to himself and looking for all intents and purposes a man who could be of some assistance. Walking over to the man our story begins.
Joe: Hi. My name is Joe Blow and I see you have 2 new pick up trucks for sale. That’s just what I am looking for. See, I got a good chance at landing this job that requires me to be able to negotiate rough terrain, haul tools and material, and be reliable. Another guy has been doing this job, but he is about to be fired and if I can get on over to the job site, the job is mine. With this economy I cant afford not to get it. So I am in a hurry and I want to buy one of your new pick up trucks. I want to look at the white one first.
The sales man listens intently, nods a few times, and extends his hand for a handshake.
Reg: Well how do you do Joe! My name is Republican Establishment Guy but you can call me Reg. Friend, I hear what your saying and I know I got the right vehicle for you! I know you think you need white pickup truck but I’ve got some thing better then that that’s gonna knock rock your world! With dramatic flourish he reaches over and whips the tarp off the vehicle it has been hiding. Suddenly confetti is being shot from a fake cannons. A marching band starts playing a catchy little pop tune. Balloons are released. Mini pyrotechnics are spewing sparks beside the uncovered vehicle. Reb is vibrating with excitement! He is grinning from ear to ear as he dances over to you.
Reg: Now that’s what ya want right there Joe! State of the art, high tech, and very popular with the ladies! The Romney Volt is exactly what you need! Lets get on into the office and do the paperwork. Reg starts skipping off to the office pumping his fist in the air. Joe stands there confused . He turns to the direction Reg is going.
Joe: Hey Reg! Lets slow down a second alright. Reg turns around and skips back over humming the tune the band was playing with a confused look on his face.
Reg: What’s the matter Joe? The color? Oh we can change that no big deal if that’s the issue. Hell this Romney Volt was designed with the ability to change its color to match whatever colorer the person looking at it wants to see. Watch! Reg closes his eyes, squints, and stares at the Romney Volt. Suddenly the color scheme of the car morphs into a sickly yellow with a pink tint.
Joe: Well Reg, thats neat and all but the color is not the issue. It’s the car. Actually it’s the fact that its a car and not a pickup truck like I need. I already have a McPrius in the driveway on cinderblocks that I bought from you a few years ago that doesn’t run anymore. What I need is a pickup truck.
Joe starts walking over to the white pick up. It is a Dodge Palin with the Alaska package. Big tires, lift kit, big shiny tool box in the back and a electric winch in the front. Just what Joe is looking for. Joe turns to Reb. Joe: This is what I want. I can get to the job site no matter where it is. I got a safe place for my tools, a big bed for the materials, and even a winch I can put to good use. Lets go into the office and discuss the terms and..
Reg: Oh come on! You don’t want the Dodge Palin. The Romney Volt is what you need. I mean look at that beauty! Its even eco friendly! All the chicks dig it! That magic paint job! You gotta get this thing!
Joe: Naw Reg. I want the pick up truck. Lets go get this done. I don’t want to lose a chance at getting this job. Joe turns towards the office takes 3 steps and hears SMASH! Turning around Joe sees Reg with a sledgehammer, breaking the windows, caving in the fenders, knocking off the mirrors. Shocked Joe runs over to Reg who is smiling as he walks away from the Dodge Palin, drops the sledgehammer , and wipes his hands briskly together.
Joe: What the hell did you do that for! Reg: I was saving you from yourself! Now that that’s settled, lets get you in that Romney Volt! Joe is dumbfounded. He doesn’t know what to say. He has heard a few stories in town saying that Reg has been acting a little erratic lately. Some say it all started when Tea Party Auto opened up a couple of years ago down the road. People had been telling Reg for a while now that they were getting tired of the limited selection he had on his lot for sale and promising things that he couldn’t deliver on. It was really bound to happen but Reg just kept ignoring his customers.
Joe thinks for a few seconds realizing he is pressed for time and doesn’t want to lose the job he starts to walk over to the black pickup truck. Joe: Alright Reg, I know you’ve been having a bit of a hard time with Tea Party Auto opening up a while ago so lets just put that incident behind us and take a look at that black Ford HurriCain. Joe walks over, kicks the tires. The Ford hurriCain is a bit smaller then the Dodge Palin. It does have a solid engine, no winch though, but its four wheel drive and it looks like it can do what he needs. He will just keep his tools in the cab. No big deal.
Over walks Reg. Reg: Joe, you don’t want that thing. It make look ok but I am telling you its not going to do what that Romney Volt can.
Joe: Ok, Reg. I know you want me to buy the Romney Volt. Like I said though Reg, I don’t want the Romney Volt. Its not going to do what I need it to do. I need this for a job. I don’t care about magic paint or that the thing is ‘eco’ whatever. I just want a pickup truck.
Reg: Its not what your looking for Joe. I know these things.
Joe: Enough Reg, I want the pickup. Lets just go to the office and get the paperwork done. Tell ya what. I will even do the registering with the state and all that myself. Ok?
Reg: Fine! But your going to be sorry.
Joe: I think I will be alright. Now you are not going to grab that sledgehammer again are you Reg? Reg smiles and shrugs.
Reb: Nope!
Joe: Good come on lets get to the office so I can get going. Joe and Reg head to the office. About halfway to the door Joe hears a loud WHOOSH! Turning around he sees three men dressed as ninjas slashing the tires, cutting brake lines, and finally lobbing a Molotov cocktail into the cab. As flames start engulfing the cab the three ninjas disappear into the woods.
Reg: Oh man! That’s some tough luck Joe! I cant believe that happened! That’s the zanyist thing I have ever seen. Lucky for you I still have that shiny Romney Volt!
Joe: What the hell is wrong with you Reg?! Are you flipping insane?! I don’t want the damn Romney Volt OK?! I need a pickup truck Rebg! What the hell is it about this freakin’ Romney Volt that has you destroying the rest of your inventory?! Jesus to Pete man!
Reg: Its because the Romney Volt is the best car ever! Its shiny! Its clean! Its been poll tested to show that independent car shoppers between the age of 18-45 might like it. Plus if you don’t buy it its your fault I will go out of business!
Joe cannot believe the words that just came out of Rebs mouth. My fault he goes out of business? What the hell? He could have just sold me the damn pick up and he would have the Romney Volt to sell to some professor from the Democrat University. They love these things. This man is bat shit crazy. I should just walk on down to Tea Party Auto but I don’t have the time. He walks over to Reg.
Joe: Ok that’s it! That beat up blue Chevy Newt with the plow on it.
Reg: That rusty old thing with all the dents?
Joe: Yes. That rusty old PICKUP with all the dents. I want it. I will give you the cost of your precious little Romney Volt plus the Chevy Newt on top. I will take care of the registration and all that crap. I am going to pay you in cash right here right now. On top of that I will plow your lot for free in the winter because I have a feeling the police are going to be showing up soon to take you into protective custody and you may be gone for a while. Lets just go get the keys so I can get the hell out of here!
Reg is beat red. His face is twisted into a snarl so contorted his eyes are watering. He looks as if he is about to explode. He blurts out. Reg: Your wife is ugly! You’re a backwater hick! You daughters a slut and you are not leaving this lot unless its in my Romney Volt! That’s final! End of story! Because if you don’t buy my Romeny Volt niether one of us is leaving this sales lot alive!
Suddenly Reg pulls a grenade out of his pocket and with a wry smile puts his finger through the pin ring.
Reb: So now what are you going to do now big guy!
A man in a big black bus drives by. Looking out the window between practice putts he has been sending down the isle he sees two men. One throwing his hands up in the air turns to walk away. The other is yanking something away from a round object in his hand and reaching for the other man. He smiles to himself as he settles over his next putt and whispers “Job security, gotta love it.”
A few seconds later, in the distance could be heard a faint boom.
Patricia
one post give us the answer that you are right on the beam,
that is the POST ON WHY DO FELLON….. it has since it begun, over 250 some comments, and I was so shock to read in the last some comments that 30 millions TRUE AMERICAN HAVE THE BRAND on their profile making them practicly unable to get employed, it tell me that the jobs are being taken by immigrants or even illegals, how come this GREAT NATION HAS so many branded young AMERICANS, some are desperatly looking but even thinking of end it all. I ‘m not sure but I don’t think the 10 COMMANDS
FROM GOD are being study in school, that is what it’s telling me,
bye
MERRY CHRISTMAS
@Patricia: Great points Patricia. But my concern and others that I know fear that it may be too late to stop what our leaders set in motion decades ago. That this revolution will have to burn itself out so to speak. And in doing so many, many people will be hurt in many differnt ways, and our nation as a whole will be changed one way or another. People are waking up to the fact that we have some serious problems as a society that are not being addressed. Most if not all of these problems were started by the liberals so they could attain their goals. Many people are now looking around at the civil unrest, at weaknesses of our courts, our laws, our do nothing politicians, at the confusion of our children and young people many with no direction at all, at other countries having the same problems, and the other countries trying to impose just the opposite of socialism which are basically dictattorships especially in the ME, while we are told over and over by both parties, “Not to worry! We will fix it next month!” Which they have been saying for years now as they continue to drive us to the edge. How can they fix fiscal responsibility when many people now believe that the State owes them everything? They our leaders and others ignored social issues for decades telling us that they were not important, but you cannot have fisical repsonibility without hold that idea not just as a value but a firm belief as well. They our leaders tell us that they want fiscal responsibilty, but do their behaviors match their words? No. I see our only hope as the Tea Party and any other groups that are born as a result of it with the same agendas, and with more attention to social issues. But the liberals have made progress and are not going to stop till they have a socialist state. Not until the rest of Americans wake up and join the cause to stop them. Which as things get worse, and they will I think that more and more Americans will began to fight back. And on religion, the liberals will stop till they have crushed it completely. They want religious people to be treated like smokers, hated and despised and ridiculed. They are very close to that objective now. Religion teaches everything a liberal hates. Religion tells it people to honor the family and their parents, husband and wife, to be conservative with their money, and their sexual desires, to pay the state its taxes but not to worship the state, etc…. It teaches healthy values. Just the opposite of liberal values. But manily religion is a threat to the state. I am not religious but I always believed and still do that religion was one of the major sub groups that held our society together with its values, norms, traditions and beliefs. We used all of those in raising our own children. Merry Christmas!
@ilovebeeswarzone: Thanks BEE! You hit on many good points BEE. I do believe that what the liberal Master are doing is evil. And I would reckon that many of their followers act on evil impluses as well. But again many of the liberal minions are totally ignorant of what they are doing and why they are doing it. But in my book they are just as wrong as the ones who know what they are doing. We used to have a Law here in American and other nations as well that stated that “ignorance of the law was no excuse” for breaking a law. That person was held accountable for the wrongs that he/she had committed as a result. Not like now where people can use “not knowing about a law’ as an excuse to escape consequences. Just one more norm/law that the liberals did away with. But in regards to evil, liberals do not believe that it exists. That belief fits with their beliefs that people cannot do wrong, but be only be misguided, and or not educated. And that their is no God of course. They the liberals refuse to believe that we all have freedom of choice in our decisions, that God gave that right to us. Not believing in evil is saying there is no right or left, no up and or down, if you have good then you have evil. there have always been, and always will be two opposing forces in everthing, light and dark, young and old, the list is endless. Look at nature, its full of opposites. As to if that evil is the devil, I am not quite sure of that as of yet. But I do know that we as humans have an evil side of us, and a good side. And its my choice as to which side I will live for. And that I fight that fight on a daily basis with many choices both big and small. Our great nation was built on many of the religious and spiritual values, of the bible many of those values are now gone unfortunately. But we still have some left, and those are worth fighting for. If we can get some leaders with the backbone to fight with us. And I doubt that very seriously.
@ilovebeeswarzone: Bee! I forgot!! Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!! May you live long with good health and prosper!
Gary G. Swenchonis
you know about we all have both good and evil in us, I think you’re right,
sometimes I have develish toughts coming, and I have to delete them,
so they stay out in the darkness never to come back.
until the next one
bye
Westie
hi,
on 86, that was very well said and very funny
thank you
HAPPY NEW YEAR, we are on 30 of DECEMBER, and I ran in to this POST,
and read you’re comment bye
Ride A Pale Horse
hi,
best wishes for the year coming for you and loved one,
MAY IT BE A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
OK:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/02/131944/texas-school-district-bans-santa.html
Calif. School Reportedly Bans Teachers From Displaying Santas & Christmas Trees in Classrooms
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/calif-school-reportedly-bans-teachers-from-displaying-santas-christmas-trees-in-classrooms/
Washington State Bans Holiday Displays Inside Capitol
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977923570
Silencing Free Speech and Religious Liberty
http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2009/03/13/silencing-free-speech-and-religious-liberty
IRS Attacks Religious Groups for Exercising Free Speech
http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news282.htm
Not to mention the recent leftists and ESPN sports wonks who are whining and complaining about Tim Tibow’s Super Bowl ad and open displays of faith.
USA Today: “Is Tebow victim of anti-religious bias?”
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/08/tell-us-is-tebow-backlash-religious-based/1
More reading: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2001/12/crche_test_dummies.html
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/state-dept-aims-denounce-offensive-speech-while-upholding-free-expression
NJ town: Permit required to exercise free speech
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/Home/ADFContent?cid=4822
@openid.aol.com/runnswim:
OK:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/02/131944/texas-school-district-bans-santa.html
Calif. School Reportedly Bans Teachers From Displaying Santas & Christmas Trees in Classrooms
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/calif-school-reportedly-bans-teachers-from-displaying-santas-christmas-trees-in-classrooms/
Washington State Bans Holiday Displays Inside Capitol
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977923570
Silencing Free Speech and Religious Liberty
http://www.focusonlinecommunities.com/blogs/Finding_Home/2009/03/13/silencing-free-speech-and-religious-liberty
IRS Attacks Religious Groups for Exercising Free Speech
http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news282.htm
Not to mention the recent leftists and ESPN sports wonks who are whining and complaining about Tim Tibow’s Super Bowl ad and open displays of faith.
USA Today: “Is Tebow victim of anti-religious bias?”
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/08/tell-us-is-tebow-backlash-religious-based/1
NJ town: Permit required to exercise free speech
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/Home/ADFContent?cid=4822
More reading: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2001/12/crche_test_dummies.html
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/state-dept-aims-denounce-offensive-speech-while-upholding-free-expression
@ilovebeeswarzone:
I do appreciate the compliment Bees, I’ve oft day-dreamed about running for office. But I’m not a local “mover & shaker”, I live in a poor section of town, and as I don’t work full-time I would have trouble even coming up with the filing fees. Despite my passion for limited governments that actually follow the Constitution, (rather than soulless bureaucracies that force their governance on the populous under the color of constitutionality,) I doubt I would be considered by most people to be a “serious candidate”
Oh, and happy holidays to you Bees, and have a Happy New Year!
Hi Ditto, Thanks for taking the time to collect those anecdotes. Just to make things clear, I’ve never had a problem at all with what I’d call “cultural holiday icons” being displayed anywhere. But I’m curious; how would you feel about a Muslim teacher displaying something like this in his public school classroom?
http://www.orkutscrap4u.com/app/webroot/scrap/eid_ul_fitr/011_eid.jpg
With regard to exchanging gifts in public school classrooms or “distributing personal holiday messages during class,” I’d hope that teachers would use some common sense, but I also understand a point of view which says that public school classrooms aren’t appropriate venues for exchanging gifts (what about kids who are left out; what about peer pressure on poor kids to give gifts — lots of details like that) and that kids ought to be doing classwork during class and not celebrating holidays. Again, it’s a matter of common sense and I truly haven’t been aware of any sort of systematic problems with stuff like that, in terms of complaints by parents and what all.
How many classrooms are there and kids are there and what evidence is there that there’s any sort of true abridgment of religious freedom going on.
With respect to a judge ordering a settlement in a civil case — judges have no power to order anyone to give up Constitutional rights to due process. Judges can’t order litigants to settle. If the photographer settled, maybe this was done to avoid further legal expense. It sounds like a nuisance lawsuit by someone out to abuse the legal system. There are tens of thousands of these cases, involving everything under the sun. This hardly signifies a major attack against religion. The same thing goes for the landlord lawsuit by gays. Whenever any type of statute can be abused by lawyers to make a buck, it will be abused by lawyers to make a buck. That’s why there are so many lawyer jokes.
But the topic under discussion is whether there has been any true erosion in religious freedom in this country. You give anecdotal examples of nuisance lawsuits and individuals and individual organizations trying to manipulate laws to suit their own purposes. These efforts produce odd news stories which get people’s dander up and which produce anecdotal instances of harm to individuals. But it’s always a case of looking at both bathwater and baby. Anti-discrimination statutes have done a lot of good — they’ve prevented a lot of real discrimination which hurt people in ways far more egregious than in the anecdotal instances of collateral damage caused by unscrupulous lawyers and groups taking advantage of these laws for their own selfish purposes.
There are situations which are really tough, I’ll admit. The only drugstore in town has a pharmacist who works the late shift who thinks that the “Plan B” morning after pill kills babies (because he believes that a fertilized egg is a baby and because one way that “Plan B” may work is to prevent implantation of the fertilized egg). Should a licensed pharmacy to be required to have one pharmacist on duty at all times who does not have a moral objection to dispensing “Plan B?”
Then there’s the situation of the religious couple who don’t want to rent their apartment to a gay couple. I’m a landlord, myself, and I don’t like rent control and I certainly wouldn’t like being told to whom I may rent or not rent. But there was formerly a huge problem in housing discrimination against minorities. There was a time when it was literally impossible for a black person to buy a house or rent an apartment in a white neighborhood. So on what basis is housing discrimination allowable, under the law? Well, it depends upon how the law is written. But I think that the example of a gay couple wanting to rent from a religious landlord is more a case of an unintended consequence of otherwise good laws (the 14th Amendment; fair housing laws designed to combat racial discrimination, etc.), than it is a case of a law being written for the purpose of abridging religious freedom.
With regard to the “silencing free speech” (John Kerry) example, I’m not familiar with the details of this case, but this doesn’t sound like a case of silencing free speech. From the way you describe the case, apparently political organizations are subject to certain taxes, from which purely religious organizations are exempt. So here you had an ad hoc organization, outside of the Church itself, claiming tax exemption as a religious organization, yet engaged in frankly political activity (trying to defeat a particular candidate).
So the issue was whether the organization could have its cake and eat it, too. Claiming freedom from taxation on the grounds of religion, yet engaging in activities which make it subject to certain taxes.
Publicly lobbying to have a national politician barred from receiving Holy Communion does not seem like an expression of religion to me. The individual members of the organization could have spoken or written to their Priests or Bishops as individuals. But when you have a group publicly staking out a position against an individual politician, with clear political motives (or why else issue press releases and the like), this seems to me as if they did cross a line. They want to make a political statement — fine. But if this makes them subject to an excise tax which is paid by other political organizations, then they should just pay the darn tax or else confine their public activities to purely religious matters.
- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
@Ditto:
As to the 2008 case of Eric Wollod who wanted to pass out Christian literature on a public sidewalk, that case went through the courts and was settled.
He won.
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/Home/ADFContent?cid=5009
The city paid his $15,500 in legal fees as well.
http://oldsite.alliancedefensefund.org/userdocs/WollodSettlement.pdf
More bothersome was the public school in CA where the students had to pretend to be Muslims for several days.
Boys sat in front, girls in back.
Prayer rugs were knelled on.
Words in a foreign language were parroted which are usually only repeated as a person converts into Islam.
Christian parents went ballistic.
And even though they lost at the 9th circuit court, public opinion killed the program.
Otherwise it would still be going on every year.
The Sacramento Bee dropped this old story, but a copy of it is still up at Stop the ACLU.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13874657p-14713955c.html
http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2005/11/18/9th-circuit-court-says-teaching-children-to-be-muslims-ok/
@openid.aol.com/runnswim: First of all, I know you didn’t ask me, but I wanted to chime in.
I have no problem with a teacher displaying a sign such as you linked to – with the caveat that it not be the ONLY religious sign or poster. Exclusion teaches nothing in regards to this issue.
You said:
I went from Kindergarten to 12th grade in the same public school system where we celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, and probably a holiday or two that I am forgetting right now. My education was well rounded, we got the three R’s and Social Studies and PE and, well you get the idea. Celebrating a holiday takes nothing away from a child’s education, and I would argue that it enhances it. Learning about one’s own culture and about the cultures of others is admirable.
As for gift exchanges, we had them and there were “rich kids” and “poor kids,” but none of us kids looked at one another that way. Popularity aside, we all seemed pretty much equal to one another – at least as far as kids think about such things. What I am saying is that sure, there were kids who might not be able to afford the gift exchanges, but the teachers took that into account and made sure no one felt left out of giving or getting the gifts. You don’t need a law to tell folks how to be fair and equitable – at least you didn’t when I was in school.
That’s all – just my two cents.