Damn! Ya gotta love them Libs. Know what I mean?

By Joseph Walther

Getting into matters economic for this week’s topic was not even a blip on my radar. Then something happened and that all changed. Let me explain.

Each Sunday morning at 11 AM I sit in front of my computer, bring up MSWord, and begin to write the week’s article. Most of the time, I will have settled on a topic by the previous Wednesday. Sometimes, though, things happen between Thursday and Saturday that will cause me to change my mind.

In fact, on more than a mere few Sundays, I had NOT settled on a topic until roughly 20-minutes prior to sitting down to write about it. This drives my editors batty—though I’ve never missed a deadline.

However, it does not bother me. While I’ve been accused of many things in my life, being short on words has never been one of them.

Unless you’ve been in a recent DEEP coma or have devoted your entire attention span to watching the Entertainment Channel, two things have become apparent.

First, our economy is in deep trouble and second, there must be an election looming on the national horizon because you can’t change the TV channel without seeing a “debate” being moderated by self-aggrandizing, talking-head twits.

Between this past Tuesday and just about 3-hours ago, I had received 1,300 emails about an “impending” economic collapse. Nine-hundred of those emails came from staunch Conservatives soundly blaming the “damn” Liberals; implying that we should deport ALL Liberals immediately.

Two-hundred and seven of the emails came from Liberals blaming everything on George Bush; implying that we should castrate him… without anesthesia… using a dull-bladed, rusty serrated knife.

The remaining ninety-three emails were from people that seemed quite confused about things. In fact, I’m not sure that most of them have any awareness of what’s going on around them at all.

I’m a Conservative, a registered Republican since the day I became eligible to vote, about 45-years ago. For the record, though, there is nothing “Neo” about my conservative slant.

In fact, on social issues I tend to fall slightly left of center. On fiscal issues, I fall a bit more to the right of center. On balance, though, I wobble about the middle of the political spectrum the same as the majority of American voters.

In this article, I’m going to address the Conservatives’ attack on the Liberals and challenge their absolute praise for such political luminaries as Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Oh, ye clueless ones, prepare to be shocked.

Since our country’s beginning in 1776, we have amassed a national debt of about $9.2 TRILLION! If you click here, you can see a perpetually running tally. All you have to do is click the reload button on your browser to see a current total.

The point is that over half of the total came about during a Bush’s term in the Oval Office. Add in Ronald Reagan, and you’ll come to the realization that over 70% of our national debt was created by just three Republican Presidents: George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush.

To add insult to injury, the Republicans in the United States Congress under all three of these men—but particularly under George W. Bush, did NOTHING to stem excessive spending.

In fact, they have not even tried doing anything during George W. Bush’s terms, in spite of the fact that they’ve held veto-proof control about 75% of the time. These three Presidents submitted a total of 19 budgets of which only two were balanced.

Extremists on both sides of the political isle are dangerous. Whenever either of these is in the national preponderance, we’re in for some dangerous periods of collective fiscal and social hell.

This country needs a healthy balance of liberal and conservative voices to remain in a state of relative productive balance. Otherwise, we could either lose most of our personal freedoms to the whims of the fanatical lefties or end up in a state of brutal indifference, an unavoidable by-product of laissez-faire economics.

I don’t think that any of the three men I’ve spoken of here are indecent, uncaring, or intentionally detrimental to the best interests of America. I knew Ronald Reagan on a personal level and I met George W. Bush in 1975, long before he became a viable political force.

I lived in California for a number of years. I met Ronald Reagan through his daughter, Maureen, with whom I was friends. When Mr. Reagan announced his candidacy for Governor of California, I was there. He made the announcement in 1966 from the second floor balcony of the U. S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego.

Maureen had invited me to attend. Standing with him was Nancy, his wife, 25-year-old Maureen, 21-year-old Michael (the adopted one), 14-year-old Patti, and 8-year-old Ron. I stood deep in the background as we all listened to his speech.

I respected him both personally and politically, although I did not totally agree with some of his political stances. He was a decent, principled, and honorable man who held the best interests of this country above everything else in his life.

I voted for him in his bid for California’s Governor and later for his initial run for the presidency and his reelection. I’d do so again if he were alive and viable.

I met George W. Bush during a seminar in 1975. I spent close to three hours in a group conversation with him covering a multitude of business and scientific topics.

He struck me as affable, topically literate on a conversational level, witty, and quite likeable. However, his holding capacity for voluminous amounts of Kickapoo Joy Juice was legendary.

But he held it well and most folks considered him a typical, happy-go-lucky imbiber. Not many people considered him anywhere near a potential candidate for ANY national office, let alone the United States Presidency.

As the President of the United States, though, he’s been an unabashed personification of the Peter Principle. In my opinion, he’s been a monumental embarrassment for the United States and a devastatingly lethal destructive force relative to the near-future viability of the Republican Party.

The sooner he’s out of office, the better off this nation will be. He’s proven—at least to me—that just because a person’s voice can be heard throughout the world instead of just to end of the bar, does not mean its owner is any wiser.

I have no idea who I will vote for in November. I mean this in the party sense. At this point I could go either way: Republican or Democrat.

For the sake of the Democrats, I sincerely hope that Hillary Clinton does not represent that party’s best. If she’s the nominee, I will NOT vote for her. John Edwards just cannot seem to get away from first base.

I’m not sure about Barack Obama; he’s an atypical candidate… bright, energetic, and a rousingly impactful and articulate motivator. He’s also relatively inexperienced.

On the other hand, if he surrounds himself with capable, advisers—NOT of the “yes-men” caliber—I think he could take us in a positive and productive new direction by stimulating a well-balanced Liberal/Conservative agenda. I’ve not ruled him out.

On the Republican side, it’s even worse. John McCain is a temper time-bomb looking for a place to go off. As for his current run for President, I’ll defer to a quote from the late Illinois Republican Senator, Everett Dirksen.

Many years ago, Johnny Carson asked him about the possibility of his running for President. He was 70-years old and not well. He replied in part, “…In my case, I think the vessel has already gone away from the pier.”

Mike Huckabee is painfully honest with voters. He’s quite likeable, politically moderate, and capable. He scares the daylights out of me, though.

He strikes me as being just a tad too chummy with Jesus; a bit prone to permitting the Bible and Ten Commandments to trump the Bill of Rights and Constitution.

The rest of them are not worth talking about—again, in my opinion. Although, I have direct experience with Giuliani and I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.

So, with the possible exception of Barack Obama, I fear the upcoming election may well boil down to a section process aimed at choosing the lesser of several bad choices. But who knows… geez, where the hell is Pat Paulsen when we need him?

Oh, wait… people are talking into my earpiece. They’re telling me he’s dead! So, what does this have to do with running for President? Given our national propensity for not voting, who would know?

I mean, even dead, Pat Paulsen can’t be any more of threat to this country as has been the 30-year-old myth that the GOP is absolutely fiscally responsible. Think about it. I’ll see you next week.

Joseph Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. Copyright laws apply to all material on this site. Send your comments. Just click here.