Common Sense Government Blog

Obama After Elections: Wins “Most Out of Touch” Award

by John Eberhard

By now it’s all over but the shouting, and the Republicans have taken a solid majority in the House of Representatives and made solid gains in the Senate.

In the lead-up to the election, pundit after pundit, even liberal commentators, have said that the polls showed that the public was unhappy with the Obama agenda, and that they would express their dissatisfaction by voting for Republicans and taking away the democratic majority in the House. Many said that this election was a referendum on the Obama agenda.

Exit polls showed the public was indeed unhappy with Obama and with the economy.

Also in the lead-up to the election, a number of commentators wondered how Obama would react to a clear election-day rebuke of his agenda. Most said that it would be one of two reactions: 1) He would show contrition, admit he was wrong, and move to the political center like Bill Clinton did after losing the Congressional majorities to Republicans in 1994, or 2) He would dig in his heels and stick to his far-left agenda, fighting Republicans all the way.

Obama held a press conference the day after the election and showed some humility and contrition – apparently. But then just hours later he made a phone call to far-left MoveOn.org. Check out what he said to them:

“We always knew bringing about change in Washington wouldn’t be easy, and it might get tougher in the days ahead. The message I took away from the elections is very simple: The American people are still frustrated. They still want change; we just have to work harder to deliver the change the American people want.”

Obama said he and activist organizations like MoveOn must work harder pushing the progressive agenda “until every American sees real change in their own lives . . . We didn’t sign up for doing what was easy, we signed up for doing what was right. We are going to continue to take all the time it takes –– and all the effort it takes –– to get our country back on track.”

“To those who began the journey with me almost four years ago, think about how far we’ve come. Think about the ups and downs we went through during the course of the campaign. There were times when folks counted us out and we always came back. The same thing is going to happen over the next two years, and the next six years.”

President Obama has just won my “Most Out of Touch President of the 21st Century” award, along with my “I’m in Denial and I’ll See What I Want to See” peace prize.

How about the line: “The message I took away from the elections is very simple: The American people are still frustrated. They still want change; we just have to work harder to deliver the change the American people want.”

Apparently Obama cannot indulge in any self criticism of any kind whatsoever. He apparently is incapable of seeing that his change is NOT what the American people want. The people have expressed this again and again and again. How about all those Tea Party rallies, with signs saying “No more taxes,” “No more bailouts,” “We are not all socialists,” etc., etc.? How about the polls, every one of which showed that a majority of the public did not want Obamacare?

And he continues to think that they really DO want the socialist transformation that he wants to make.

When Scott Brown was elected as Senator from Massachusetts, having run specifically as being against Obamacare, Obama said it was because people were mad – at George W. Bush!

Obama said recently (before the election) that if the Republicans gained the majority in the House in this election, that would mean that the people wanted the Republicans to work with him on his agenda.

So no matter what happens, no matter how strong a repudiation the people give him and his agenda, he continues to think they still, really, deep down inside, want everything he has to offer – his far-left, socialist, Marxist agenda.

I think he is really starting to lose all his credibility. He is not someone you can “work with.” Some commentators are saying today and yesterday that his fake “olive branch” to Republicans is so he can lay some of the blame for his failed policies on them.

I think the way the new House needs to work with Obama is just to ignore him, squeeze him out, defund Obamacare and other parts of his destructive agenda. Just keep him wrapped up to minimize his destructive power, until we can get rid of him for good.

The Election of November 2010 Part 2

by John Eberhard

I know everyone is probably getting election fatigue already based on the volume of emails, direct mail and even robocalls. But bear with me with some last minute thoughts on next Tuesday’s election.

Vote Republican
Anyone who has followed my articles knows I am a conservative. I think it is more important than ever to vote for every single Republican on the ballot this time. Here are some reasons on the federal level:

• Barack Obama is a radical socialist, and all the Democrats in Congress are more or less in lock step with him.
• Barack Obama has stated that the US Constitution is a “flawed document” because it does not allow for “social justice” which is a code word for redistribution of wealth (a concept originated by Marx).
• Obama stated to Joe the Plumber that it’s good for everybody when you spread the wealth around
• Obamacare was passed with 100% Democrat votes. Not one Republican voted for it. Every single poll showed a majority of Americans against it. Currently 55% support repeal.
• Currently unemployment is at 10%.
• The Democratic controlled Congress refused to decide on whether to extend the Bush tax cuts, before the election. If allowed to expire they will represent one of the biggest tax increases of all time.
• The actions of the Obama administration have represented possibly the biggest power grab for the federal government (and resultant loss of freedoms for Americans) of all time.

Here are some reasons to vote Republican on the state level in CA:

• The crazy state legislature, dominated by Democrats, has been hard at work to bankrupt the state. They need a Republican counter balance, particularly in the governor’s office. Governor Schwarzenegger has been far from perfect but he has been willing to veto the more crazy stuff coming out of the legislature. Does anyone really believe Gerry Brown would do that? No, but Meg Whitman would.
• What California really needs right now is fiscal conservatism. We need to stop spending so much and cut expenses. And we need to stop raising taxes, as the state already has some of the highest taxes in the nation.

I know that for some people, it offends them to just vote one party straight.

Although Republicans haven’t always fielded candidates whom you could call conservative, this year the Tea Party has caused a major shift toward conservatism, and there are quite a few conservative candidates on the ballot. So if you believe in:

• Smaller government
• Lower taxes
• Don’t like welfare
• Don’t like huge “stimulus” bills that stimulated nothing except the Democratic Party
• Don’t like having huge new laws like Obamacare stuffed down our throats, forcing us to buy health insurance

Then vote Republican.

Summary on Propositions

Here is a summary of my position on propositions. You can see more in my previous article.

Prop 19 - NO
Legalizes marijuana for adults over 21.

Prop 20 – YES
Removes Elected Officials from Process of Establishing Congressional Districts, Transfers That Authority to Recently Authorized 14-Member Commission.

Prop 21 – NO
$18 Annual Vehicle License Surcharge to Fund State Parks and Wildlife Programs.

Prop 22 – YES
Prohibits the State from Taking Funds Used for Transportation or Local Government Projects.

Prop 23 – YES
Suspends Air Pollution Control Laws Requiring Major Polluters to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Until Unemployment Drops Below Specified Level for Full Year

Prop 24 – NO
Repeals Recent Legislation That Would Allow Businesses to Lower Their Tax Liability.

Prop 25 – NO
Changes Legislative Vote Requirement to Pass a Budget from 2/3rds to a Simple Majority.

Prop 26 – YES
Increases Legislative Vote Requirement to 2/3rds for State Levies and Charges.

Prop 27 – NO
Eliminates State Commission on Redistricting, Consolidates That Authority with Elected Officials.

Vote on Tuesday. I know you’re tired of hyperbole too, but I really do believe this is one of the most important elections of our lifetimes.

The Election of November 2010

by John Eberhard

Here are my recommendations on how to vote in the elections next month.

Vote Republican at all levels
President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the heavy Democratic Party Congressional majorities in both the House and Senate, have gone all out over the past 19 months to move the country toward socialism and significantly increase the power of the federal government. They have taken over health care, the auto industry, large parts of the financial services industry, and student loans. They have done this by excluding Republicans from most bill writing, have used bullying and bribes, and have shown a complete arrogance and disregard for the wishes of the American people. As an example, every poll showed a majority of Americans were against passage of Obamacare, and it was passed anyway, without a single Republican vote in either the House or Senate.

So while Republicans are far from perfect, they are united in opposition to Obama’s socialist “transformation” of America, and the Tea Party movement has been moving the Republican Party towards smaller government, lower taxes, no more bailouts, no more stimulus spending, repealing Obamacare, and lowering budget deficits, which all fits with a classic politically conservative viewpoint.

But the overriding action of vital importance in this election is to take away Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, which will slow down Obama’s light-speed ride toward socialism.

Prop 19 - NO
Legalizes marijuana for adults over 21. First of all this legalizes a person smoking marijuana for as long as he wants and then climbing behind the wheel of a car. Second of all I think this opens the door to lots of abuse, from people being stoned at work (it’s harder to detect than alcohol) to being a gateway drug to harder drugs. Just because prohibition of marijuana has not been totally successful is no reason to make marijuana legal. Sheriffs, police chiefs, firefighters and district attorneys oppose.

Prop 20 – YES
Removes Elected Officials from Process of Establishing Congressional Districts, Transfers That Authority to Recently Authorized 14-Member Commission. Prop 20 and Prop 27 are opposites and whichever gets more votes will go into effect. Vote Yes on 20 and No on 27, because I think Prop 20 will tend to lessen gerrymandering.

Prop 21 – NO
$18 Annual Vehicle License Surcharge to Fund State Parks and Wildlife Programs. I am one of those people who thinks we are taxed enough already and that politicians are particularly susceptible to the disease of un-controlled spending. So unless something is really urgent I always vote no on props that propose new taxes or borrowing more money.

Prop 22 – YES
Prohibits the State from Taking Funds Used for Transportation or Local Government Projects. At issue are state fuel taxes and local property taxes which currently the state can take. This is good because the current situation gives the state too much power.

Prop 23 – YES
Suspends Air Pollution Control Laws Requiring Major Polluters to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Until Unemployment Drops Below Specified Level for Full Year (5.5% for 4 consecutive quarters). After the recent Climategate scandal it should be clear that global warming advocates have been cooking the data, more than greenhouse gases have been cooking global temperatures. The law that this proposition suspends was a bad idea, based on at best questionable data, so this proposition is a good idea. It basically says we’re not pushing global warming regulations to the degree they crash the economy.

Prop 24 – NO
Repeals Recent Legislation That Would Allow Businesses to Lower Their Tax Liability. Since the state unemployment is currently 12.8%, we need measures that will increase jobs, not increase the tax burden on small business. This prop would repeal a tax break for businesses. Nuff said.

Prop 25 – NO
Changes Legislative Vote Requirement to Pass a Budget from 2/3rds to a Simple Majority. This proposition would allow the majority party to just pass a budget with whatever they want in it, without having to even work with the minority party. That in itself would be bad enough. But remember the recall election a few years ago when voters threw out Governor Gray Davis? The reason for that recall election was that the Democratic Governor plus the heavily Democratic controlled state legislature had practically bankrupted the state. Well the legislature is still heavily controlled by Democrats and this proposition would give them more power, power with which they have proved they can’t be trusted.

Prop 26 – YES
Increases Legislative Vote Requirement to 2/3rds for State Levies and Charges. This forces the majority party to work with the minority on passing any new hidden taxes. That makes it harder, which is good.

Prop 27 – NO
Eliminates State Commission on Redistricting, Consolidates That Authority with Elected Officials. Vote No on Prop 27 and Yes on Prop 20. We can’t trust elected officials with redistricting, because of gerrymandering.

CA Primary Recommendations 2010

By John Eberhard

The CA primary election is Tuesday, June 8th. I think this is one of the most important election years in our lifetime, in that it will determine whether the Obama-Reid-Pelosi secular-socialist-statist political machine will be allowed to continue to impose their radical socialist agenda on us.

On the state level in CA, we have had a far-left Democratic-Party-dominated scene for many years. This culminated in a recall election a few years ago for Governor Gray Davis, after he and the state legislature had practically bankrupted the state by dramatically increasing spending while revenues were tanking. Since then, Governor Schwarzenegger, whatever his faults, has at least acted as a brake on the crazy left-wing state legislature (if you want a shock you should look at some of the bills they have passed which Schwarzenegger has vetoed).

But Schwarzenegger can’t run again because of term limits. So it is vital that we elect another Republican Governor, not let Democrat Gerry Brown back in there. The primary will determine who gets to face Brown in November, as well as determine the nominee for many other positions, including the candidate for US Senate.

Here are my recommendations: