July Update from the Bartow County Republican Party

This past Tuesday was the primary elections for partisan races throughout the state of Georgia. More than any other time in my life that I can recall, people are becoming more aware and involved in the political process. We have seen the rise in influence of the TEA Party movement, especially among the Republican Party, as everyday citizens that had always been at best peripherally interested in politics now become active in response to the massive growth in the size and scope of government under both parties.

True, President Obama and the Democrat-controlled congress have drastically accelerated the slide into a statist government which enacts policy from the top down. We have gone from a collection of fragile states having newly won independence from the world's greatest economic and military power of that time, to becoming the greatest economic and military power ourselves.

The problem is that we have reached a point of complacency, a point at which we assume that America will always be the biggest, baddest dog on the block. We forget that America became great not because our people were inherently greater than all others, for they were not, but because of our system of government, a government which enacted the groundbreaking philosphy that we, as individuals, are inherently sovereign, with rights granted by God, not by earthly powers.

Everything that we hold dear branches out from the root of the tree of liberty. While communist, socialist, fascist and collectivist societies have risen and fallen, America has been the world's constant for more than a century. We have grown to become the world's sole superpower because we have always championed the cause of freedom, and because we created a divinely-inspired system of government which allows the will of the majority to govern, but not when the will of the majority encroaches on certain "unalienable rights" of the minority or the individual.

Or rather, that is the way it HAS been until now. Over the last seven decades we has slowly and apathetically become complicit in our own demise. We have allowed those that we elect to represent us in government become our taskmasters. We have forgotten that they answer to us, not we to them. We have allowed them to dictate every aspect of our lives, to take our hard-earned wealth and redistribute it to favored constituencies. We have allowed ourselves to become a nation of Gullivers, bound by the silken threads of oppressive taxes and tens of thousands of regulations that no one could possibly keep up with.

Yet Tuesday, voter turn-out was less than 20% statewide, and under 10% in some counties. With the damage that his been done to this nation by government, especially over the last 18 months, and with the decisions to be made on critical issues in this state, it is disheartening to see so few voters come out and let their voice be heard. For all of the energy of the TEA Party, that energy is meaningless unless it is converted to action within the political process.

In a few more months the general elections will be upon us. Nationally, Republican turn-out will be critical. The only way that we can stop the implementation of ObamaCare, cap-and-trade, rising entitlement spending, union-friendly card check legislation, tax increases, and a myriad of other policy issues is if the Republicans pick up at least 3-4 more seats in the Senate (to offset the 59 Democrats and Republicans Snowe, Collins and Brown, who often defect on major legislation) and take control of the House (so they can block funding for many of Obama's initiatives).

All too often we complain about Republicans that don't stand up for principle or become "part of the establishment", yet what a voter turn-out of less than 25% tells politicians is that they can get away with what they want if they are willing to put up with the occasional angry call or letter, because come election time, few people really care.

We need to do our part in this process. We need to study the candidates and the issues and let our voices be heard. Those elected that have abided first and foremost by the Constitution, and then by the will of their constituents, need to be supported and encouraged. Those that refuse to should be replaced by those that will. But we can't tell the difference if we are not involved.

November elections are just a few short months away. Will you be ready?

Health Care Reform

Opting to avoid exposure from his appointment of a man who is enamored on the British National Health System and who is a proponent of rationing health care, President Obama has issued a recess appointment to Donald Berwick to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which have a budget larger than the nation's defense budget. This is a man who talks glowingly of redistributing wealth through rationed health care.

Further exposing the lies that were peddled to get ObamaCare passed, we now find out that taxpayer money has been approved for abortions in Pennsylvania.

Not all taxpayer dollars are being wasted in health care: illegal immigrants are getting sex enhancement surgeries they desparately need.

The Economy, Taxes and Deficits

Anyone struggling to pay their bills right now is all too familiar with the state of the economy. The stimulus package has failed to stimulate the economy despite the grandiose promises made by Obama and the Democrats. Unemployment remains near 10% and is only that low because many jobseekers have simply quit trying to find a job. There is no point in rehashing the various policy blunders this administration has made in the financial arena (and that generously assumes that getting the economy healthy again supercedes their desire to increase government power), but if you want to see more specifics there is plenty to read:

At a time when the Gulf coast economy is reeling from this administration's incompetence in overseeing the repair of the BP oil spill, Obama has taken steps to further cripple the economy in that region. Defying two separate rulings by the courts, the administration has passed moratoriums on off-shore drilling which has directly led to the loss of thousands of jobs in the region. Making matters worse, several major rig operations had left the region to drill for other countries, citing the current "political instability" in the United States. Because these operations take immense time and resources to get underway, it will be years before they can return.

The CBO's long term budget outlook is "dire:.

Church and State

Finally finding an issue where a liberal can actually support federalism, U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro overturned the gay-marriage ban when he ruled earlier this month that DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act), passed almost 15 years ago, violates the right of states to define the terms of the marriage contract (in the process allegedly denying federal benefits for same-sex partners in Massachusetts) under the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment. One can only hope that this is a sign of new respect among liberals for the 10th Amendment, and that they will now honor the right of states to determine law in other areas where they have typically disagreed with the majority.

Four Christians arrested in Dearborn, Michigan are now facing trial. Their crime? Passing out leaflets at the Arab Festival. Video footage of the incident shows that the Christians were not proselytizing (and so what if they were?), but were engaging in discussion only after they had been approached. However, police have refused to review the footage of the incident, and they have not released a detailed report giving reasons for the arrest. This is clearly a de facto enforcement of Shar'ia law within the United States, which forbids the teaching or practice of non-Muslim religions.

Bowing to political correctness and pressure from Muslim groups, the American Academy of Pediatrics now supports the practice of female genital mutilation, which is meant to deprive women of pleasure in intimacy. Many U.S. Muslims send their daughters overseas to have the practice performed, but now the cowardly AAP has begun advocating changes to U.S. laws to allow the practice. One can only imagine the outrage from the left if this was a Christian practice...but then again, Christians don't typically torture, kill and behead those that disagree with them.

I hear Christians have done a few good things too...NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently revealed to the Muslim world during an interview on Al-Jazeera that he was charged by Obama with the primary objective of making Muslims feel good about their contributions to math and science ("Okay class, if little Achmed is wearing a vest strapped with one pound of C4, and upon detonation it will travel at a speed of 900 feet per second, how long will it take for..."). Space related research and activities are somewhere down the list.

Must-See TV

SC-nominee Kagan has expressed anti-2nd amendment views, banned military recuiters from campus when she was dean at Harvard Law, and reveres one of the most openly activist jurists in the world. Yet this is what passes for senatorial "advice and consent"? Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) spends her time for questioning Kagan ...by asking about her views on Edward vs. Jacob in the Twilight movies.

Did John Boehner switch parties and become a Democrat? Discussing Soc. Sec., he talks about needing to raise the retirement age and cut benefits, and says "if you have substantial non-SS income while you're retired, why are we paying you at a time when we are broke?" Umm, how about because we are forced to pay into it our entire working lives with the promise that we'll bet benefits back when we retire? Otherwise, this just becomes yet another welfare program.

And Justice for All...

The Obama administration has shown that it has no respect for equal protection under the law, and Attorney General Eric Holder is Obama's hand-pciked henchman assigned to go after Obama's enemies and protect his friends.

To add insult to the injury of federal refusal to enforce our laws and protect our borders, the Obama Justice Department is filing suit against Arizona, attempting to block enforcement of its recently signed and immensely popular anti-immigration law. This law adheres to the doctrine of concurrent enforcement already upheld on several occasions by the Supreme Court, and allows state and local law enforcement to determine the legal status of those suspected of immigration violations provided they were stopped in the course of a separate infraction. Instead of upholding the law, Obama is attempting to block those who will. Apparently, under Obama, border protection is one of those jobs that Americans won't do. AG Holder, revealing his true agenda, has already stated that he will file a second suit alleging racial profiling if the first suit fails (which it will).

This comes on top of Holder's dismissal of a suit against the New Black Panther Party, which received a default judgment after intimidation of voters outside of polling precincts in Philadelphia.

Laughably, Holder was recently in Afghanistan advising President Hamid Karzai on how to rid their government of corruption, graft and bribery. Here is a novel idea...why don't we get rid of it on our own government first?

In another section of the Obama administration, the corruption continues as well. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis spoke to a Latino voter registration project, and to great applause stated that "We are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not." Ummm, no ma'am we are not. If you are not legalized you are not an American. Of course, this comes from the same woman that is using department resources (she is hiring 250 field investigators to make sure that illegals are paid), and therefore taxpayer money, to assure illegal aliens that her department will help them get their "rightful pay", regardless of legal status. Of course, if they are illegal they have no rightful pay because any money they earn while here are fruits of criminal behavior and therefore not protected under the law.

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In other news, J. Christian Adams, former official with the Justice Department, testified earlier this month before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that the Justice Department had instructed attorneys in the civil rights division that they are to ignore cases in which the defendants are black and the victims are white.

As if that were not bad enough, he also testified that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes has stated that she will not be enforcing the provision of the "Motor Voter" law (Section 8) which requires her department to purge all felons from voter rolls, as well as deceased voters and those that have moved. Fernandes did not even try to hide her flagrant deriliction of duty, declaring "We're not interested in those kind of cases. What do they have to do with helping increase minority access and turnout? We want to increase access to the ballot, not limit it". Apparently that includes obvious violation of the very laws they are charged with enforcing.

The Supreme Court

The nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan rolls on, with Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Lugar declaring that they will support her nomination. While Kagan has clearly shown disdain for the clear text and intent of the Constitution (as with her hostility to individual gun rights), not enough Republicans have shown a willingness to defend the Constitution by refusing to confirm the appointment of someone so hostile to many of its most fundamental precepts.

The only two bright sides to this nomination is that Kagan will replace the ultra-liberal John Paul Stevens (so there will not be an ideological shift in the balance of the court), and that "conservative" justice Anthony Kennedy (conservative in comparison to Ginsberg and Sotomayor, but certainly not compared to Thomas, Alito, Scalia and Chief Justice Roberts) has announced that he will not consider retiring until at least 2012, when presumably a Republican president will take office.

Good News and Comic Relief

I don't know whether to be entertained or depressed...witness the pathetic lack of knowledge by average citizens on an Independence Day edition of "Jaywalking" with Jay Leno.

Joe Biden: VP and a real class act..." - Having gone into a Wisconsin custard shop asking for ice cream, the VP asked the shop manager how much he owed him. The manager said it was on the house, then followed up with the comment "Lower our taxes and we'll call it even". The VP then asked the man "Why don't you say something nice instead of being a smart-ass all the time?". Like I said, a real class act...

Watch this hilarious animated parody about Obama's handling of the oil spill which reminds us that, for all the hysteria about "Hope and Change", this administration proves that Washington is still the same as it ever was.

Judging from Obama's plummeting ratings I was not sure if this was a joke or a news story. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was comedy:

The Post Office recently created an Obama stamp, but workers were complaining that it was not sticking to the envelopes. Upset, the president demanded an immediate investigation. After a month of testing and $1.73 million spent on the investigation, the following conclusion was reached. 1) The stamp is in perfect order, and 2) There is nothing wrong with the glue, and 3) People are spitting on the wrong side.

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George Bush, Queen Elizabeth, and Vladimir Putin all die and go to hell. While there, they spy a red phone and ask what the phone is for. The devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth.

Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 5 minutes. When he is
finished the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so
Putin writes him a check.

Next Queen Elizabeth calls England and talks for 30 minutes. When she is finished the devil informs her that the cost is 6 million dollars, so she writes him a check.

Finally George Bush gets his turn and talks for 4 hours. When he is
finished the devil informs him that the cost is $5.00. When Putin hears this he goes ballistic and asks the devil why Bush got to call the USA so cheaply. The devil simply replied: "Since Obama took over, the country has gone to hell, so it's a local call."

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Reading for Extra Credit

Keeping Up With the World of Politics, Government, and the Social Issues of the Day .

Though this should come as no surprise, Democrats are now saying that they are not bound by President Obama's promises while campaigning and after being elected that taxes would not be raised on anyone making under $250,000.

Another brilliant piece by Thomas Sowell once again points out that the Great Depression dragged on because of FDR's policies, not in spite of them.

Heritage Foundation's Ed Feulner gives an insightful analysis of what American can do to reform welfare if the true goal is to provide a helping hand, and not just to foster dependency on government.

May God Bless You,

Louis DeBroux, Vice Chair of Communications

Bartow County Republican Party

Michael W. Huneke II, Chairman

Bartow County Republican Party