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Friday, September 17, 2010

If Elected, Will the Tea Party Candidates Shake up Washington?/Restoring Honor Rally (Part 8)

YouTube - Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' Rally pt.8

This past Tuesday Tea Party and Republican candidate Christine O'Donnell scored an upset over veteran Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware.  Castle was a liberal Republican who supported cap and trade, healthcare, and some of the Democrats' liberal agenda.  O'Donnell's win was a crowning triumph over Republican voters's dissatisfaction over with politics as usual in the Republican Party.  Throughout this year's primaries, there have been some upsets scored in such states as Utah and Alaska.  In Utah, Mike Lee defeated three-term incumbent Senator Bob Bennett.  In Alaska, Tea Party candidate Joe Miller defeated Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski.  The Tea Party has scored victories in other states as well.  In Kentucky Rand Paul defeated establishment Republican Trey Grayson in the primary.  In Colorado, Ken Buck defeated Republican establishment-backed Jane Norton.  In Nevada, Sharron Angle was another Tea Party candidate who trumped two well-known Republican candidates.  The one person responsible in campaigning for these Tea Party candidates is none other than former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.  Palin's been traveling around the country campaigning for several Tea Party candidates in different states.  So far she's had some success. 

The first question that must be asked in regards to these Tea Party candidates is are they all winnable?  In some states they appear to be winnable and other states they're questionable.  In Kentucky, Republican Rand Paul has a great chance of picking up the retiring Jim Bunning's Senate seat.  In the state of Nevada, Sharron Angle is neck-and neck with Harry Reid.  Angle is not a very formidable candidate to run against Reid.  She's made several gaffes that haven't helped. her.  The best thing she could do is air adds linking Harry Reid to the Democratic establishment in Washington.  Anytime Angle speaks she doesn't help herself.  In the Delaware race, Democratic candidate Chris Coons has an 11-point lead over Christine O'Donnell.  Some pundits such as Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer don't feel her chances of winning the Delaware race are great.  One of the odds against her is that O'Donnell is a newcomer and the voters in Delaware don't know much about vision her nor what type of agenda she'll promote.  Given the voter angst against President Obama and the Democratic establishment's agenda in Washington, anything is possible.  However, these Tea Party candidates need to know how to connect with the voters as well as to articulate a vision for America.  Being opposed to President Obama and his socialist agenda isn't sufficient in and of itself.  They must articulate their vision and outline what kind of agenda they would promote as Senator or Congressman.  One of the mistakes some of these Tea Party candidates make is some such as Joe Miller will say they don't believe unemployment benefits are constitutional or Rand Paul's gaffe about a particular provision he didn't like about the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  I agree the government continuously providing unemployment benefits isn't good for America.  I also agree the government doesn't need to be involved with our nation's social security system.  However, saying you want to end government involvement in social programs isn't sufficient in and of itself.  There must be a plan to wean the American people from depending upon the government for benefits.  It's not something that will happen overnight.  Government needs to stop hindering the private sector when it comes to it's ridiculous taxation policy and some of it's foolish regulations.  The only way we'll wean Americans off the government dole is for the private sector to grow economically and hire more people.  That will stop Americans from being dependent on government services. 

If the Tea Party candidates win some of these elections, will they be able to shake things up in Washington?  I tend to be very cynical when it comes to politics.  I'm not very optimistic when I hear candidates from both sides of the aisle speaking about reforming government.  I've heard that same old line for years and years.  What one needs to take a look at is who are the contributors to these candidates' campaigns?  That's the problem.  There are numerous lobbyists who donate money to these candidates so these candidates will grant them special favors for their donations.  Many of the bills that are crafted include provisions that provide favors to those lobbyists who supported these politicians' campaigns.  Some of the donors that support some of these Tea Party candidates are some of the same donors who have supported other candidates in the past.  Republican candidate Rand Paul has received support from the Chamber of Commerce, for example.  These candidates that accept campaign contributions are bought by those who donate to them.  Therefore, instead of representing the people who voted for them, these politicians are beholden to those who donate to their campaigns, regardless whether it's Democrat or Republican.  With the corrupt atmosphere that pervades Washington, it will be very difficult for any of the Tea Party candidates to make much of a difference in Washington if they win.  Honestly, I don't know if a decent, upright honest man can run for office and maintain his integrity while in office.  It doesn't make any difference on what these candidates claim is part of their platform, they turn out to be part of the problem.  They spend their time making deals with their colleagues to vote for a certain project for their district so in turn those same colleagues will vote with them to bring projects into their own districts.  Most of these Congressmen and Senators involve themselves with pork barrel spending, which is bringing millions of dollars into their districts to fund various projects.  Former West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd was notorious for "bringing home the bacon."  These politicians will sell out this country to pay back favors to those lobbyists that support their campaigns.

Within the last several decades, there's only one former congressman that I knew of that never accepted a campaign contribution.  That was former Democratic Congressman William H. Natcher, who represented the 2nd district of Western Kentucky.  He represented that district for 40 years.  He died on March 29, 1994.  I didn't agree with some of his politics.  However, he had integrity in the sense he didn't accept campaign contributions, which is something that's missing in today's politicians.  Another problem is there are forces involved that are trying to collapse the economy of America to make us into a socialist country, which is something that the Tea Party candidates won't be able to control.  There's a new world order agenda that's being pushed in Washington.  That's something no politician in Washington has been successful in trying to halt.  I believe some of these Tea Party candidates have good motives.  I'm not denying they may have good motives.  However, having good motives and being able to shake up the one world government mentality in Washington is going to be nearly impossible.  The Federal Reserve controls our money supply and many of the things that take place globally are beyond Congress's control.  Despite how grim things are politically, I still believe we need to vote out the bad incumbents.  If the Tea Party candidates win and don't measure up once they're in office, then we need to vote them out in the next election.  The only answer is for us to be vigilant and vote out the bad incumbents.  Then we can elect a new set of candidates the next time.  We just need to make sure the door in Congress is a revolving door.

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