This is More About The Republican Party Than it is About Gingrich

A good online friend has been firing off blog after blog just ripping Newt Gingrich. I know he reads my stuff and it probably irks him to no end that I am endorsing Newt. If it's any consolation, the reasoning has a lot more to do with a Reagan-Palin-Tea Party view of the Republican party than it does with any deep feelings or loyalty to Newt Gingrich. Only Sarah Palin is the true voice and captain of my ideological wing of the GOP. Without her or any charismatic true conservative in the race, this blogger finds that victory can only be found in the defeat of that which is wrong with America (Obama) and that which is wrong with my party (the GOP establishment).

Shortly after Sarah Palin announced that she would not run, I appeared on the Roderic Deane Show where we had a lengthy discussion about the direction of the Republican Party. It was there that I pointed out the clear contrast between the establishment party of Rockefeller and the people's party of Reagan. I strongly advocated that Constitutional conservatives, Tea Party members, grass roots activists and the rank and file move toward taking back the party.

Mark Levin said on his radio show on 1/25/12 (13:00 mark):

Our first objective has to be removing Obama at the ballot box, hopefully replacing him with the most conservative candidate running in the Republican primary...

I've talked before about the need to change the Republican Party. I'm not the first and I won't be the last.It's the Republican Party that must be the vessel through which we Constitutional conservatives operate. And, it's to the advantage of those who run the Republican Party to allow the Constitutionalists to take it over. Because otherwise, I believe the Republican Party's going to die.

If the Republican Party has no answers for what's going on in the society,then it has no reason to exist. If it's a go along party or a dance around the edges party or even worse, if its politicians say one thing and do another it won't be long when the people have no regard for it whatsoever, including its members. First and foremost, we must reestablish Constitutional government.

The next night, Levin gives context to what is happening with Gingrich and Romney. Read about it here and listen to what he says here (the first hour is worth your time).

What you are seeing is the battle for the Republican Party. The choice is between going with the establishment and supporting Romney or going against the establishment and sending a message that we want our party back by going against Romney. Newt Gingrich is best positioned to be the one to take on Romney and the establishment. As such, we have to push him through even if some of us have to hold our noses doing it.

If either Bachmann or Santorum was where Gingrich is right now and they had the best shot of defeating the establishment, this blogger would be using the same argument for either of them.

This entire election cycle is about taking out the garbage. We can worry about making the room smell fresh again another time. We can think about the thrill of supporting a candidate who we can call our ideological soul mate another time. Right now, we must defeat the Republican establishment and go on to defeat Barack Obama. Take back the party; then take back the country.

If Newt Gingrich wins the nomination and goes on to become president, we can never lose sight that it will be the halls of Congress that will need to be filled with people who agree with Constitutionalist and Tea Party principles. Fear not a Gingrich presidency knowing that the Tea Party is right down the block ready to help him bring our country back to greatness or to stop him from doing something wrong. Newt's smart enough to respect that. Hopefully, he'll be smart enough to know this isn't about him, it's about us. If he listens to us, he will be a successful president. If he doesn't, he'll be "primaried" in 2016.

Either way, it will be a hell of a lot better than what we have now. Therein lies our optimism for America.


Listen to my show Saturday 1/28/12 at 11pm ET 8pm PT on Blogtalk Radio! Special edition.


Writer's note: I was so busy today that it wasn't until after I wrote this post that I found out that Sarah Palin had written an awesome Facebook Note which also talks about the establishment. Read it here.

But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on. In fact, the establishment has been just as dismissive of Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Newt is an imperfect vessel for Tea Party support, but in South Carolina the Tea Party chose to get behind him instead of the old guard’s choice. In response, the GOP establishment voices denounced South Carolinian voters with the same vitriol we usually see from the left when they spew hatred at everyday Americans “bitterly clinging” to their faith and their Second Amendment rights. The Tea Party was once again told to sit down and shut up and listen to the “wisdom” of their betters. We were reminded of the litany of Tea Party endorsed candidates in 2010 who didn’t win. Well, here’s a little newsflash to the establishment: without the Tea Party there would have been no historic 2010 victory at all.

She must be listening to Mark Levin, too.

Why We Need an Angry Voice to Take on Obama

Some have been criticizing Newt Gingrich for being a bomb thrower or for showing his anger at Mitt Romney's super-PAC running those ads against him in Iowa. When you look more deeply into the source of Newt Gingrich's anger, it goes far beyond just Mitt Romney. It goes to the state of our nation and to what Barack Obama has done to our country. When general election time comes around, we must consider whether we want a technically well spoken textbook politician or if we want someone who can go up there and be the voice for what we really think and feel.

America as we knew it is gone. When you look at the job numbers, the housing market (American homeowners continue to watch the values of their homes drop and a record number are going through foreclosures, short sales and modifications), what the financial companies have done with the bailout money, the type of indifferent customer service you get on the phone, the lack of capital in the system, inflation, high gas prices and the general apprehension you see in the eyes of the people you deal with everyday, reality hits and you know that all that we have come to expect as Americans is gone.

Top this off with the sheer outright stupidity of Obama's rejection of the Keystone pipeline, a regulatory environment that destroys businesses and stifles the growth of new businesses and the fact that only crony capitalists are capable of surviving in today's environment, there's no wonder that the anger and the hair pulling that goes on in the minds of those who have common sense and who adhere to traditional values of quality and accountability to the consumer as well as to business leaders who could be running their companies more effectively and efficiently if the mediocrity caused by the demotivating that comes from the regulation was not part of the equation.

Call it shrill. Call it undisciplined. Call it angry. But it is a reflection of how Americans feel. We are no longer content to stand by and let the idiots who are running our country continue taking us down the toilet. There is no reason to look down on or to describe as unacceptable the actions, words and feelings of a presidential candidate who clearly articulates what we are all feeling just because it might be harsh.

When Newt Gingrich lashes out at the media, it's a fist pump moment. This blogger has been pushing the notion for over three years that the path to Republican victory is to push the meme that the media lies. Defeat the media and you can take on Obama. When Newt Gingrich calls on Mitt Romney to explain Bain Capital or to release his tax returns, it's because we need to have our candidates vetted. The continuation of the primary process is an opportunity for the candidates and those of us who comment on them to keep the conservative dialogue front and center. Winning America back means saying it over and over again until it sinks it with enough people to make it happen.

This writer doesn't see anything wrong with what Romney did at Bain Capital. Nor does he see anything wrong with someone making a lot of money and paying the legal tax rate for that money. Romney's rich. That's not the issue. The issue is that he did it in an America that no longer exists. We need that America back.

My criticisms of Romney are that he is a flip flopper and that he is the one who started the whole negative campaigning thing to begin with. He can be mealy mouthed when he is in trouble. But, he has business experience, can handle a debate and is capable of of president. But do we want a textbook candidate this time around? I want someone who can flip the tables.

When people on our side criticize Gingrich by saying he'd be a bull in a China shop, I cringe at the thought that that bothers some of us. I want a bull to go through the China shop that is Washington. Americans are pissed. We should want our nominee to get on that debate stage with Obama and just rip him a new one. Newt can do that.

Gingrich is far from perfect. If I had my way, Sarah Palin would be our nominee and she would lead us back to that shining city on a hill. But reality is reality. We must face the fact that America is on its last legs. This is our last chance to wrestle it back from the hands of Obama and the progressive movement. We can always come back later and fix it. But lets get it back first.

If we don't, it's over. We can prepare to spend the next thousand years in darkness just as Ronald Reagan had said. Or, we can all work together to take back our country. If Romney gets the nomination, fine. But for now, Newt seems to be the best we have poll number wise and brain-wise. This is not about nominating a savior. It's about saving our country with what we have, even if it doesn't measure up to our standards. Nothing measures up to our standards anymore in America. Let's not kid ourselves.

What Tim Tebow Shows us About God and Man

As our political battle lines up more and more as an establishment Republican candidate against an establishment socialist Democrat incumbent, we learn that conservatives outnumber liberals by nearly two-to-one according to Politico. Despite this, our government and our institutions are run by non-conservatives. Why is this? Because the lesser numbered liberals have infiltrated our culture, our media, our academia and most of all our government. Conservatives haven't fully embraced what it takes to win yet, but we're starting to understand.

Hope is on the way for the plurality of Americans who call themselves conservatives and the majority of Americans who call themselves non-liberals. We can still beat the progressives at their own game. In order to do that, we must understand the nature of the game. We will need people of our persuasion to gain traction in the same areas the liberals infiltrated: the culture, the academia, the media and the government. Their example of infiltration shows us the strategy and our ideology is the solution.

Many see our country's battle as being between left and right. But, look more deeply. It really is a battle for positivity versus negativity. It is a battle of right and wrong. More simply put, it is a battle of good and bad. Theological and mythical writings along with historic imagery consistently tell us that our past is a succession of battles between good and bad.

In order to understand this, we must look past the simplistic understanding of what good and bad is. Good means more than just something that's nice; it means something works properly. Bad means something isn't working properly. People can misunderstand the why behind the "rules" that religion gives us because they are not looking at the historical wisdom behind those rules. They are not restrictions, but rather warnings which have arisen from the underlying existential factors at play as man navigates his way through life.

We are mere fleas on an elephant's behind as we stand before the universe, yet we all claim to know what's right. It doesn't matter what differing opinions of right and wrong are. It matters only that our society, our system and our culture works properly. What's right and wrong can be learned from history and natural law. More so, these concepts can be better applied when people in our democratic system give up on trying to use the government to buck those concepts and instead try to force the square peg of liberalism into the round hole of existence.

Because we have allowed people who are nothing like us to represent us for over a century, we have allowed our government to be taken over by people who are incapable of fixing a dysfunctional approach to our Constitution. Because we have been taken in by a pop culture that thrives on all kinds of wacky approaches to lifestyles, sex, fame and voyeurism, we are marginalized in perception as the minorities. We have become the freaks.

Yet we outnumber them almost 2-1!

We're losing their game. Yet, we are capable of beating them at their own game in order to take it back. They own the board. Once we take back the board, then we can set it fair and straight where everyone has a shot and it doesn't depend on the government or rule makers who have no real basis in Constitutional power.

When Tim Tebow becomes the most popular athlete and one of the most reviled personalities at the same time, we learn something powerful about the dichotomy of our nature. Following the right set of values and being a role model for all that's good in life is working for him. There are success principles that apply to one's spiritual life, one's family life, one's financial life and one's career. Admonishing someone for demonstrating any of these principles is just an easy way for one to justify why they're not successful.

Those who hate Tebow do so because they revile the mistaken thought that God is a Denver fan or because he kneels down in prayer. They see imperfections in themselves that they are unable to reconcile. This frustration with one's own lack of clarity and morality causes them to lash out at Tebow. It's easier to blame the neighbor for spending too much time on his lawn than justifying why yours is brown from lack of effort. Even worse, in their minds, what if this God stuff is true and it means they have to swallow their pride and admit they've been living a philosophical lie?

They also hate him because its just not right that a clean cut kid can shoot to the top of a pop culture that is so dominated by show-offs and egotists. We live in a culture where deviance is the norm and the norm is deviance. With all the screwed up things going on in the street, at our jobs and in our government, it only makes sense that someone who kneels down to pray to God is the freak. Our society is going to hell in a hand basket.

But, like I've said, there's still hope. You gotta love the role Tim Tebow plays in our counter culture. Yes, we are the counter culture. We are what the hippies of the 60's used to be viewed as, the unwashed masses. Only we come with a different ideology and set of values. Those who were in the counter culture in the earlier days of the progressive movement have become the culture and now we are the politically oppressed. If you study how they did that, you can learn how we can do it, too, and flip it back to normal again.

As for the Tebow phenomenon, one can find stories about the power of prayer. One can find stories about how the principles in the Bible have been key components of successful people. Regardless of one's religious persuasion or how deep or shallow one believes, the laws of the universe are the laws of the universe. No flea on an elephant's behind can in all intellectual honesty argue with the laws of the universe.

Statistics tell us that Denver will probably not win the Super Bowl this year. But statistics also told the Jewish people that there was not enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. Statistics told the Christians that they would be defeated at the hands of the Roman empire. Statistics told the United States that their hockey team couldn't defeat the Soviet Union in 1980. Having heard of so many miracles, this writer would not be so quick to dismiss the hand of God in their occurrences.

Tim Tebow has tapped into the most powerful force in human consciousness: a devotion to God. Belief in a higher power is used successfully to treat addiction. Belief in a higher power has helped people overcome diseases and injuries; and has also helped people prolong life through the power of positive thinking. Those who do things that don't work often screw themselves up. In the case of politics, they screw up the country. You will find that a lack of devotion to natural law (many of us call this lack of common sense) and a pure understanding of the power of belief is always behind the fall of a great venture.

If by some stroke of luck, divine intervention or its bi-product personal power, Tim Tebow leads the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl victory, you can't say the combination of that and a man who died on the cross coming back to life 2000 years ago isn't sufficient enough proof to justify the existence of God. If Tebow doesn't win the Super Bowl, we still have the man who died on the cross. Either way, Tebow wins. Either way, God wins.

This blogger sees the reality of a blue sky, a clear horizon on a dry sunny day and the power of God. Having studied religion and philosophy, its easier to see what it looks like on all sides. Having lived a few years, it makes better sense now as well. Without the power of positivity and belief, things fail. I see our country failing now. With the power of positivity and belief, people succeed. I can see our country succeeding again. Flip the coin. God or no God? If you pick God, it doesn't change the bumpiness of the ride; it just gives us a better understanding of how to make decisions during that ride.

If we are going to take back our country and take back our culture, we have to understand that the devil's work is in the detail. It's in how our society was infiltrated by a secular progressive movement and watered down our collective values. We outnumber them practically 2-1, yet they're winning because we don't see that reality that infiltrating the pop culture, the media, the academia and the government is how it works. We were meant to work for it. We were designed to fight for it. Therefore, we must go after it.

Fighting for it doesn't mean flailing our arms in echo chambers. Fighting for it means educating those around us by leading by example. Fighting for it means embracing the cultural exploits of Tim Tebow. We will not win until Saturday Live is funny again. The only way that is going to happen is if a bunch of us get into acting. We will not be a shining city on a hill again until a bunch of us start becoming the citizens and activists that made that city shine under Reagan.

You'll notice it's the godless and the self loathing who last out at Tim Tebow. The idea that someone can become successful without being an atheistic drug and sex addicted show-boater is simply holy water on Linda Blair in The Exorcist. For some reason, the most vile of those who trash Tim Tebow because of who he is reminds me of why that holy water burns only the evil.

In the biblical days, they would say these negative spew-spitters were possessed. Today, we just think they're a bunch of negative, dead-butt, disillusioned butt heads. But if they really are that negative and there really is a God, I don't encourage anyone to take the ideological elevator with them down to the gates of hell.

If Tim Tebow wins, it's not because God is a Denver fan. It's because Tim Tebow understands the most vital component of being the best man he can be lies in his belief and faith in God. It's not magic. It's simply how God works through us when we let Him.

Endorsing Newt Gingrich (Updated)

The posts are not as frequent due to my work schedule, but it doesn't mean I'm not keeping up on things. For several months, I have been uncertain and somewhat unhappy about the 2012 presidential field. The political science major in me had to default to a candidate that would be capable of running the government and someone with an intellect that demonstrated a working knowledge of historical perspective. Yet, having read columns and blogs both pro and con, I could do nothing more than lean in Newt Gingrich's direction but never enough to lead me to an endorsement.

Some who read me will not like this endorsement because those who support Newt Gingrich will see that I am merely picking him as a bandwagon candidate because the political science textbook says he's the best fit and because Todd Palin endorsed him. Those who don't support Newt will rip me for choosing a candidate who is anti-gun, pro-global-warming and too moderate. I get it. It's rhetoric (Newt is a conservative but the points made in the labels have some basis in hitting on his weaknesses), but its nothing different from rhetoric that is being thrown at all the other candidates.

No matter who I or anyone else chooses, someone else will have a problem with it. The party is now divided as we vet our candidates. But, we already know what we what we have. Out of what we have, Newt Gingrich is the best. That's not saying much. Obviously, this endorsement I make is not a ringing one. But, it is my pick given the field.

I am my own thinker. Yet, because Todd Palin endorsed Newt Gingrich, I had to go in that direction. All other directions had nothing pulling me. It will always be a staple of my belief that because I share the Reagan philosophy in much the same way as the Palins do that there is an attraction of thought to how they view politics. As such, their endorsements and opinions hold extremely high weight with me. I consider Sarah Palin to be the closest thing America has had since Ronald Reagan. If Sarah runs in the future, America will see a bold Reaganesque leader. Until then, all we have his Newt.

UPDATE: Thomas Sowell also gets high regards from this blogger. He makes the best argument for Newt here (h/t @ginthegin):

There are no guarantees, no matter whom the Republicans vote for in the primaries. Why not vote for the candidate who has shown the best track record of accomplishments, both in office and in the debates? That is Newt Gingrich. With all his shortcomings, his record shows that he knows how to get the job done in Washington.

Art Laffer, one of the founding fathers of Reagan economics, also endorsed Gingrich (h/t libertarian neocon).

(end Update)

Newt will competently remove the presidency from the hands of Barack Obama and immediately begin turning America in a positive direction. But, the trek back to greatness requires a second step. Gingrich clearly is capable of taking the first step and winning the presidency - which would result in stopping America from going down the road to socialism. Yet, none of the candidates are Ronald Reagan. Only a bold Reaganesque leader can handle step 2.

Without an end to crony capitalism, corporate incompetence and ridiculously high government regulation, we will simply return to the country we were before the Obama socialists got their hands on it. Returning to the Rockefeller GOP establishment days of running the party is not the answer. At some point, Tea Party and conservative grassroots activists have to help take back the Republican Party and make it perform like a legitimate political party that is responsive to the people. But lets get our country back first and deal with the rest of it through the Congressional elections.

Gingrich is good for now. Let's focus down the road when the country is beginning to make its comeback so we can continue searching for that next great one who can lead us back to the prosperity and exceptionalism we enjoyed in the Reagan years. That dream could be clouded by years of recovery or, even worse, further collapses in the banking industry; but we must never stop going after it.