This week President Barack Obama, in a tough bid for re-election warned the American people that the 2012 race for the White House would be the starkest since 1964.  So let us re-examine that famous presidential election in light of the campaign the Obama team has in store for presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney:

They said he was crazy, mad, a loose-canon, an extremist, a warmonger.  The nation was warned over and over and over again, by Democrats and their friends in the media, that if Barry Goldwater won the presidency in 1964, Armageddon might be the ultimate result.  Surely he would plunge headlong into a war in Vietnam that might bring in the Chinese or worse, the Soviets.  Social Security and any aid from Washington would be taken away.  The country would revert back to the nineteenth century, if not the eighteenth.

The only logical choice was the sitting president, Lyndon Johnson, who assumed the office tragically on November 22, 1963 when the beloved John F. Kennedy fell to an assassin’s bullet.  LBJ would carry the nation forward, not backward.  Progress would be the order of the day. Continue reading “The Choice: 1964 and 2012” →

Last week, HBO, the home of the great intellectual Bill Maher, released its much-anticipated film about the 2008 presidential election, centered mainly on John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. It became clear during the course of the film that HBO’s main mission was to smear Governor Palin, brand her a stupid woman with no business on a national ticket, and blame her for McCain’s loss to Barack Obama.

It is true, McCain did need a game-changing pick for VP. He did not excite the base and without the strong rightwing of the Republican Party, his goose was more than cooked. He desperately wanted Senator Joe Liebermann, Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, which he saw as a national unity ticket of sorts, not a terrible idea in the abstract, but it would have been a political train wreck with a conservative wing deeply suspicious of him. So he went with Palin. Continue reading ““Game Change”: Historical Revisionism At Its Finest” →

From studying American political history, it seems as if liberals have a secret playbook and have been using it from the early days of the Republic, handing it down to each succeeding generation.

Liberals seem to know exactly what to do when any situation arises and history is full of interesting parallels.

1.  Use the Cover of a Crisis to Implement Your Agenda and Smash Your Political Enemies.

America’s first political party, the Federalists, the Party of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams, led the nation from 1789 to 1801, a period of twelve years that included control of the presidency and both houses of Congress.

The liberal party of its day, Federalist lawmakers imposed a wide variety of direct taxes upon the people, centralized the banking system, and ran rough shod over the new Bill of Rights with their crown jewel – the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.

With a quasi-war brewing with France, and with the hysteria it was causing, these acts were supposedly enacted to help secure and protect the homeland.  But the left has long used deceit to hide their true intentions, particularly during a crisis.  The real target was Thomas Jefferson’s Republican opposition.

The Alien and Sedition Acts consisted of four bills, three of which were specifically designed to weaken the Jeffersonians.

The Naturalization Act raised the period of residence required for citizenship from five years to fourteen years.  The reason for this was quite simple – a majority of new immigrants from Europe were joining the Republicans.

The Alien Act authorized the president to summarily deport any aliens, regardless of country, that he deemed dangerous “to the peace and safety” of the United States.  Under the act, aliens would not receive a jury trial and the president was not required to explain or justify his decision.  Jefferson considered the bill “worthy of the eighth or ninth century.”  Like the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act was one of pure political partisanship.

The most controversial was the Sedition Act.  It provided fines of up to $2,000 and jail sentences of up to two years for anyone who publicly criticized the president, members of Congress, or other administration officials, by publishing “false, scandalous and malicious” accusations.  It was a clear violation of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, taking aim at Republican newspapers, which were springing up all over the nation.

After the Senate passed the Sedition Act, ironically on July 4, 1798, Federalist leaders toasted the president:  “John Adams.  May he, like Samson, slay thousands of Frenchmen with the jawbone of Jefferson.”

Under this act, a number of Jeffersonian newspaper editors were charged with sedition, and those brought to trial were convicted, fined, and sent to prison.

Congress also established sunset provisions for most of these new laws, allowing them to expire just after the 1800 elections when Adams would have secured a second term.  If Federalists retained power, those laws would no longer be necessary.  This shows the level of politics attached to the new acts.

But despite administration efforts to maintain power, the people rose up against what Jefferson called “a reign of witches,” and ousted the Federalist Party from the White House and both Houses of Congress.  The party never again held power.

FDR used the Great Depression to “reform” capitalism with a litany of new government programs and newly discovered powers.  The social welfare state we now live in was born in the 1930s.

And as we well recall, Obama’s former chief of staff, now Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, famously said during the economic panic, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste.”  This is liberal thinking in its finest.  They simply cannot express what they really want to do so they use a crisis as a way to pass laws they know the people will not support, like massive bank bailouts, stimulus spending packages, and financial regulatory bills to take more control over the nation’s economy.

But we must always remember what James Madison once said, “Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.”

2.  When You Can’t Legislate Your Agenda, Use the Judiciary to Impose It.

Though the Federalists were routed in the 1800 elections, they were not down and out, but had one last trick up their sleeve – impose their agenda by judicial fiat, which is why liberals insist on a strong court system.

To keep Federalist policies in place, President Adams, in his last days in the White House, appointed a wealth of Federalist judges in the many new courts the out-going Federalist-controlled Congress hastily created.  They became known as Adams’ “midnight judges,” most of whom were named during the last night he resided in the Executive Mansion.

Adams also appointed John Marshall to the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court, a fierce proponent of nationalism.  Marshall used judicial power to solidify the Federalist agenda of centralizing power in Washington.  He never found a federal right he did not like.

Jefferson and Republicans in Congress fought hard to undue the Federalist-dominated judiciary with some success, but were unable to overturn it completely.

And for that, we have been living with a left-of-center judiciary nearly every step of the way.  The courts have imposed abortion rights, stripped prayer from schools, expanded eminent domain, limited property rights, interfered in state affairs, and generally caused mayhem, all in the name of liberalism.

3.  Smear, Slander, and Shame Your Enemies, Especially to Guard the All Important Supreme Court.

When it comes to conservative judges, especially for justices of the Supreme Court, liberals have vilified them in vicious personal attacks and smear campaigns in the hopes of protecting the one branch of government not subject to popular sovereignty.  By keeping the Court left of center, liberals can write laws from the bench and implement their unpopular policy goals with no opposition.

But to do that they must maintain control of the court system, especially the High Court, at all costs.

In 1888, in an effort to help end sectional tensions, President Grover Cleveland appointed Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar of Mississippi to an associate position on the United States Supreme Court.

Congressional liberals, mainly from the North, attacked Lamar, not as a Southerner, which they hated, but as “unqualified” to sit on the High Court.  One Massachusetts Senator opposed Lamar “not because I doubted his eminent integrity and ability, but because I thought that he had little professional experience and no judicial experience.”

The San Francisco Chronicle believed Lamar leaned “naturally and spontaneously to the side of the strong against the weak.  He is a friend of monopolies.”

The name Bork, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, or Alito could have been substituted for Lamar with little difference.  The attacks against conservative nominees to the Court have been nothing short of vicious.  And the left says it’s the right that is “mean spirited.”

4.  Use Deceit to Mask Your Real Intentions.

Liberals have always been disingenuous about their real goals.

In the 1890s, the left sought to implement an inflationary monetary policy based on the free and unlimited coinage of silver.  The nation was on the gold standard, but liberals wanted to inflate the currency supply with cheaper paper money and silver coins.  They claimed to want a system of bi-metallism, allowing both gold and silver to circulate, but in reality sought to replace gold, the money of the bankers they claimed, with silver, money for the poor.

Inflation, they contended, would help the poor, especially the nation’s farmers, who were in perpetual debt.  Inflating the currency with cheaper dollars would make it easier to pay those debts.

But Gresham’s Law states that “bad money drives good money out of circulation.”  This economic rule would allow the left to get what it wanted without actually having to legislate it.

They could not advocate a silver standard, so they sought a sneaky way to implement it.  If enough silver entered circulation, Gresham’s Law would kick in, eventually driving out gold, because people would hoard it, and the nation would be placed on a silver standard.

The plan failed, however, because the people did not want it and the gold standard was saved at the ballot box by electing a string of gold standard presidents.

Does this tactic sound familiar?

The Obama-Reid-Pelosi Administration did exactly the same thing with the 2010 Health Care Bill.  They wanted a “single payer” government run system but could not get it passed, so they instituted a “public option” in the name of “competition.”

But no private insurance company can ever hope to compete with the government, which does not have to worry about making a profit and can always draw from the public trough to make up any shortfalls.

Knowing full well that any government system would spike health insurance costs, Democrats hope that businesses will be forced, out of necessity, to drop their increasingly expensive private plans in favor of the cheaper public option, eventually placing the country under a “single payer” health care system.

Liberal Democrats claim they are against monopolies and the big insurance companies, which are supposedly in the pockets of the Republicans.  But it was conservatives who sought to end the state monopolies for health insurance companies, forcing them to compete nation-wide, a move that would dramatically lower the cost of premiums.  The left, as well as the insurance companies, have fought this idea tooth and nail.

So who really favors monopolies and the insurance companies?

5.  When All Else Fails, Use Class Warfare and Denigrate the Rich.

Democrats used a similar strategy of deceit to kill the flat tax proposal but eventually pulled out one of their oldest cards to finish it off – the Class Card.

The federal tax code is so dense and cumbersome that members of the House Ways and Means Committee do not even understand it, nor does the IRS.

One conservative plan is the flat tax, which would abolish the entire code and implement one flat rate for everyone.  Gone would be the thick and burdensome forms, to be replaced by a simple index card, whether for a business or an individual.  Wherever this plan has been enacted, the economy has soared.

Democrats immediately pounced on the idea as a sop to the rich.  But is it?

The plan gives generous personal exemptions for families and children.  For instance, under one proposal each adult would get a personal tax exemption of $17,500 and $5,000 per child.  The tax rate would be 17 percent.

So let’s look at two families, each with two parents and two children.

Family A makes $50,000 a year.  The exemptions would total $45,000 ($17,500 for each parent and $5,000 per child), meaning no tax would be assessed on that amount.  So Family A would pay 17 percent of the remaining $5,000 for a total tax bill of $850, much less than they are paying now.  If they added another child, the tax bill would fall to zero.

Family B makes $1,000,000 a year.  But they receive the same exemption of $45,000, meaning they pay 17 percent of the remaining $955,000 for a total tax bill of $162,350.  If they added another child, their tax bill would only fall to $161,500.

So who really benefits from this plan and who are Democrats actually protecting?

Liberals, even though they condemn Wall Street and the “rich,” have been among their strongest backers.  Remember, it was mostly conservative Republicans who fiercely opposed the bank bailouts and liberal Democrats who wanted to make the package larger.

These are just a few examples to demonstrate how liberals have been sticking to the script for more than 200 years.  They use tried-and-true methods because the right falls for it every time.  But Sun Tzu’s rule, “Know Your Enemy,” should be on the mind of every conservative when it comes to liberals and their playbook, and a working knowledge of American political history will provide that knowledge.

Presidents today are seen, not as statesmen, but as celebrities.   All too often we elect leaders based on style, personality, and even looks, but not on qualities that really matter.  And with that, our presidents act accordingly, not like the chief executive of a republic but more in the role of a monarch.

This was evident from the beginning.  George Washington, the Father of the Country, could have, had he desired it, become king of the new nation.  He had that kind of popularity.  Fortunately for America, he also had a wealth of integrity and would not assume any such position for himself.

But Washington did place himself high above the people when we served as the nation’s first president.

He dressed extravagantly for his inauguration and arrived at the ceremony in an elaborate carriage pulled by a team of six white horses, the fancy limousine of its day.  As president, he even refused to shake hands with people, preferring instead to bow.

John Adams loved the idea of being president and, along with Alexander Hamilton, desired the office to be like that of a king.  He arrived at his inaugural in a fancy, horse-drawn carriage and wearing a lavish ceremonial sword and cockade, along with a powdered wig.

Adams even wanted to give the president an elaborate title, “His High Mightiness, the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties.”  But Congress wisely rejected it.

When Thomas Jefferson became the third president in the election of 1800, he set out to change it all.  He feared the presidency was already becoming like a monarchy.

On inauguration day, he would not be driven to his ceremony in a carriage, but instead chose to walk from his boarding room to the Capitol.  He wore a simple suit and what he termed “republican” shoes, which did not have a buckle, considered aristocratic in his day, but laced instead.

As president, Jefferson refused to deliver the State of the Union message to Congress, preferring to send a written copy instead, because he felt the practice of a public speech resembled the King of England’s address to Parliament to open its sessions.

Jefferson had no servants to speak of in the White House, preferring to answer the front door himself, no matter what he was wearing at the time.  He dressed in plain suits and served food and wine to his guests rather than having a servant do it.  He also took out the rectangular dining table in favor of a circular one, so all who dined would seemingly be equal.  Jefferson always wanted to be seen as a man of the people.

After the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant, the great hero throughout the North, won the presidency in 1868.  He loved the pomp and pageantry of the presidency, bringing back much of its grandeur.  He owned an extravagant carriage, palled around with the rich and famous, and vacationed in fancy resorts.  He loved it so much that he earnestly desired a third term but could not get it, mainly because his two-term administration was thoroughly corrupt.  Had he been allowed to continue in office, it is quite likely he would have remained until the day he died, just as FDR did.

Chester A. Arthur, who served as president from 1881 to 1885, was even worse than Grant.  Arthur was a dandy who loved the finer things in life and was not shy about it either.  He loved nothing more than shopping for new clothes.  He wore the latest fashions, perfumed his aristocratic whiskers, and sported expensive jewelry, a top hat and cane.  After winning the vice presidency, he went on an elaborate spending spree at Brooks Brothers, purchasing over $700 on new suits, a massive amount of money in the 1880s.

When he arrived in the Executive Mansion, Arthur was disgusted with what he found and almost refused to live there.  To bring the White House up to his standards, he spent lavishly on new furniture and decorations for the home.  He added valets, butlers, a French chef, and other servants befitting his notion of a head of state.

Mrs. James G. Blaine dined one evening with President Arthur, writing later that the “dinner was extremely elegant,” with “hardly a trace of the old White House taint being perceptible anywhere.”  The “flowers, the silver, the attendants, all showing the latest style…in expense and taste.”

Grover Cleveland, a Jeffersonian Democrat, sought to bring back a degree of simplicity to the White House when he assumed the presidency from Arthur in 1885.

Cleveland did not like what he called the “purely ornamental part of the office.”  He personally did not like luxuries, but especially while serving the people.  He particularly detested lavish parties and gatherings.  He got rid of all the servants Arthur had hired, as well as the chef.

Once, when invited to the ballpark to attend a baseball game, he politely turned down the offer, telling the team’s manager, “What do you think the American people would think of me if I wasted my time going to a ball game?”

Oh how we need such a man in the Oval Office today.

But instead we have President Barack Obama, who has taken the concept of the “celebrity president” to new heights.

The entirety of his 2008 campaign, as well as his short stint in the White House thus far, is a testament to this irrefutable fact.

To gain the presidency, Obama spent lavishly and raised a record $745 million.  According to a report out last week, Obama is laying plans for a $1 billion re-election campaign in 2012.  This is more than obscene.  It’s downright repulsive.  Anyone who would spend that kind of money has no business occupying the nation’s highest and noblest office.

While president, Obama has also spent extravagantly on fancy parties and gatherings.  His inauguration alone cost $170 million.

Within three weeks of entering the White House, Obama threw an expensive cocktail party in which Wagyu steak was served, a Japanese variety costing $125 per pound.  It’s one of the most expensive steaks in the world.

Entertainers such as Jennifer Lopez, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett, Martina McBride, Alison Kraus, Brad Paisley, Charley Pride, Seal, Sheryl Crow, Smokey Robinson, and John Legend, just to name a few, have preformed for the First Couple.  The White House also put on a Fiesta Latina night.

He has also thrown two lavish Super Bowl parties, serving food the First Lady has preached that we should not eat – bratwurst, cheeseburgers, deep dish pizza, buffalo wings, twice baked potatoes, ice cream, and beer, all at his latest bash.

Obama also broke the record for first-year president in foreign travel, visiting 20 nations.  By the end of his second year, he had spent a total of 58 days in 33 foreign countries, another record.

While the nation has been in an economic crisis, and is now dealing with a crisis in the Middle East, Obama recently took his 60^th golf outing this past weekend, already more than the entire eight years of George W. Bush, who took a beating in the media for any trips to the links.

It was also announced recently that the Obamas fly in a personal trainer from Chicago every week to keep the family in top shape.

All of this while the unemployment rate climbed above 10 percent.

According to Nile Gardiner, of the London Telegraph, the Obama administration “resembles a modern Ancien Regime,” the corrupt, party-driven reign of Louis XVI that led to the French Revolution.

What we need is the return of a little Jeffersonian simplicity in the White House and elect a president unconcerned about his image or entertaining himself.  The 45^th President of the United States should be more concerned about the great problems facing the nation.  We need a man of the people, not a king.