Palin or Cain and a government Americans deserve

In a free society citizens deserve the government they vote for. As much as I might despise the everything the liberals stand for and are doing to this country, the truth of the matter is that they did not seize power in some coup d'état… except for maybe Stuart Smalley. Nor did they come to power legally and then change the rules once they got there as Hitler did. No, they were by and large voted into power promising to do exactly what they have done. The fact that most of America is unhappy with the way things are going says more about Americans in general than it does about the politicians themselves.

Although the dysfunction of government goes back for decades, 2008 provides a perfect prism through which to understand the failure of the American people. As most Americans now recognize, Barack Obama is a complete disaster as President. While this reality may have come as a complete surprise to some, the truth of the matter is that all of the signs were there for anyone who wanted to look. From being raised by self identifying Communists, to seeking out Communist professors, from spending two decades in Reverend Wright’s church to announcing his entry into public office in the home of two terrorists to being the point man for ACORN, all of this and much more was easily available to anyone who wanted to see it. Indeed, despite the mainstream media’s efforts to ignore or whitewash such aspects of Obama’s background, many Americans decided they were immaterial. He had after all been elected to the Illinois legislature and was a serving US Senator and he gave rousing speeches. Apparently that was enough to qualify him to lead the most powerful nation on earth.

To put this in perspective, that’s the equivalent of an NFL owner inviting a sports columnist to coach his team. Just because the columnist uses the lexicon of the game and knows how to criticize what others are doing doesn’t mean he has a clue how to actually run an offense, a defense or lead a team up of alpha male millionaires in their quest to outsmart and outperform 16 other teams made up of alpha male millionaires and led by professional coaches. Not only would the team get demolished, but anyone with a functioning brain could have predicted that outcome from the start. Appropriately enough Obama’s election in 2008 began America’s march to becoming the 2008 Detroit Lions... who went 0-16.

At the end of the day, Barack Obama being elected President of the United States is nothing more than a dereliction of duty on the part of the American people and is an example of the despicable state of the American body politic. To many Americans Barack Obama was an empty vessel into which they poured their hopes and dreams. And if he could assuage their white guilt in the process, even better! The problem is, he wasn’t an empty vessel. He was a filled to the rim with everything un-American and none of it was hidden from view. To not see it one simply needed to willingly avert their eyes.

It’s not a surprise that the Tea Party movement began even before Obama’s ineptitude became apparent. The election itself started to galvanize much of the population, particularly those who were dispirited by the GOP’s nomination of the squishy John McCain but pulled the lever for him nonetheless, just to watch the “electable moderate” lose. As President Obama’s incompetence became apparent and his anti-capitalist policies began to make it into legislation and the Federal Register, more and more Americans began to understand the threat that the left in general and President Obama in particular represent to the United States. On February 19th, 2009 Rick Santelli put words to the feelings that tens of millions of Americans were experiencing… viola’ the Tea Party was born.

The question for the GOP is, do they want the 2012 election to look more like 2008 or 2010? In 2008 they nominated a “moderate” who had been the darling of the media until he vanquished any real conservative opposition… what little there was. He then was morphed into a clone of the hated George Bush. In 2010 on the other hand, when voters across the country were given a slate of largely conservative candidates, the GOP picked up over 60 seats in the house and sent bedrock conservatives like Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul to the Senate.

Is the GOP going to once again bring to the dance a “moderate who can win the general election” like Mitt Romney or are they going to go with a true conservative who can make a case to the American people that the time for meandering down the road to socialism and fascism is over? Although a moderate like Romney might put on the brakes, the reality is that what the United States needs is a full stop and a return to a Constitutional government. Let community organizations run social programs; Let states and parents manage education; Let citizens focus on creating wealth and prosperity as they pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness while the government focuses on securing the borders, adjudicating contract disputes and providing for national defense.

Disgust with Barack Obama and his party is not going to be sufficient to change the direction of the country. If the GOP is going to victorious it will have to field a candidate who clearly articulates a different path and who will be able to stand up against the media’s coming full court press in support of Barack Obama. Sarah Palin should be the one making that case, but unfortunately she is not running… yet. Herman Cain is a close second. Until Saturday night his chances were rather slim. Perhaps things have shifted… we’ll see if the $25 I just sent him helps.

However things go for Cain, the debate thus far leaves much to be desired. The back and forth about how RomneyCare differs from ObamaCare is a red herring. Arguing whether the Ponzi scheme that is Social Security should be called a Ponzi scheme is a debate more appropriate for a kindergarten class. They distract from the central message of lower taxes, less regulation and basically getting government out of the way so that people can live their lives. The government that takes the oath in January 2013 will indeed be the government Americans deserve. Let’s hope GOP gives them a candidate to lead that government that they can be proud of as well.