The Lamp Goes Out

As posted on Conservatives4Palin:

October 5, 2011

Wasilla, Alaska

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.

From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.

Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country!

God bless America.


– Sarah Palin

The Time is Gone

Waiting For the Sun

When the sun set on November 4, 2008, the nation finished voting and settled in to watch the election results. We know the outcome. Barack Obama was elected president; and so began a long dark political night which has only grown colder and colder. Before it is three years to the day, we will know whether or not the political sun is going to rise again.

To cut through the metaphors, what we're looking at is something Palin supporters are now dealing with in their daily conversations: the question about whether Sarah Palin is running for president or not. October 31, 2011 is the deadline for getting on the ballot for the Florida primary. Other key primary filing dates come shortly thereafter.

Sarah Palin hit the campaign trail in 2008 like a bright flash of light. As hard as the liberal media tried to dim that light with the artificial curtains and blinds of unsubstantiated gossip pieces and articles written by ideologues with the agenda of destroying her persona in the eyes of the electorate, Palin remains viable and electable.

The smear campaign against her may have left enough brains washed to hold her back a few percentage points in national polls, but overall it has failed. The intense effort in yielded little out; and in many ways challenged her to sharpen her skills more than a normal potential candidate would have to.

With that said, the decision as to whether or not Sarah Palin runs no longer lies with the mainstream media or the Republican establishment. Though they may continue to try to stop her by conventional means (i.e. trotting out Karl Rove every now and then or encouraging more moderate candidates to run for president), the control has be wrested from them. Sarah Palin has successfully assumed control of her decision.

After all the battles and after all the help that the Palin army brought forward in defense of her and to promote her, it is safe to say that we bloggers and those activists who have come together to form Organize4Palin to position themselves in advance of her potential campaign have done well. The job is far from over, but the defense shield is firmly in place and we can go on offense now at a moments notice, or at the word of the lady for whom we have given our all.

The image of thousands of soldiers impatiently waiting in camps with fires burning, sitting on stumps cleaning weapons over and over again and keeping powder dry is etched within this writer's creative mind. Impatient, yes, but loyal beyond belief, these "soldiers" may sometimes have worried minds when their leader speaks of not needing a title or not wanting to be shackled to such a leadership position, but they don't have worried hearts. Their hearts are filled with confidence in Sarah, love of country and a yearning to make things right again in America.

Those who fear or believe she isn't running still hope she runs. Those who believe she's running regardless of how what she says is interpreted also hold that same hope. Both schools of thought now rest side by side among Palin supporters. They know the let down they could be facing, but they also continue to hold hope that she will ride in like Xena the Warrior Princess or William Wallace and order the troops to march toward that shining city - the beacon of freedom that seems to be dying in the distance - with the goal of renewing and restoring it.

If she doesn't run, they will still love her. But, they know that her power and influence will not be what it has been prior to this. She could go without a title and continue giving speeches, doing analysis on Fox News and writing in support of the cause. Yet, she will fall back into the chorus of other conservative voices that also do the same. Her sword will not be the pen by which she signs legislation repealing Obamacare, opening drilling, lowering taxes or repealing regulations. That sword is the Excalibur and one needs a title to wield it. Instead, her sword will be a regular one. Her name will hold more weight still, but not enough weight to change what needs to be changed unless the next Republican president decides he wants to let her run the country by proxy.

So why would she let it get to this point and continue dodging the question this late in the game? Whatever the reason is, this blogger must once again defer to Sarah just like he did after her resignation. It's tough to not go out on the ledge after seeing her on Greta Van Susteren Monday night. But there were some folks standing by the window stopping people. "Don't jump," they seemed to say. "Trust Sarah."

I've trusted her this far, so what's a few more weeks? By the end of October, we'll know for sure one way or the other. Jumping off the bandwagon now won't help any. If she decides not to run, then we all have to move on politically and meld back into the fold of the anybody but Obama crowd. Voting against him is still of utmost importance. But voting against someone or something is not nearly as spiritually fulfilling or as inspiring as voting for someone or something.

Jimmy Carter losing in 1980 is not what made America great again. Electing Ronald Reagan was. Sarah, can you hear us?

So here we sit whittling our sticks and cleaning our rhetorical weapons for the umpteenth time. She has to know that our impatience and the chomping of the bit in no way disrespects her tactics or her leadership. We are ready to fight for her harder than anyone in modern American politics have ever fought. This is not a campaign team she has at her disposal, this is a full blown army ready to use any legal tactic, any reverse Alinsky tactic and any other political weapon we can get our hands on to politically go after it for her.

Governor Palin, we are committed to you. Say the word and we are yours. The cause is greater than all of us, but you are as great because you embody the cause. You are the cause. We are the cause. Without each other we are none. We want our country back and we believe only you can lead us. So, lead us.

Until then, we sit here waiting for the sun. We ask that the Lord inspire that political sun to rise through the words of one Sarah Heath Palin.

Sarah Palin: A Whole New Game Plan

The 2012 election is a little over 13 months away. Politicos online and in the mainstream media are focusing on two related conversations right now: who will win the Republican presidential primary and can Barack Obama be reelected? This may be an opportunity to not only beat a weak Obama, but to completely chart a new game plan for how America is governed.

All the signs are there for further decay in our economic conditions and the morale of the American people. We continue to go further in debt. Unemployment continues to rise (although the government keeps telling us it's 9.1%). Gas prices are outlandishly high with no signs of coming down within the next year. Home foreclosures are continuing at a record rate. If we could save the country right now, it would be a monumental task. Can we afford to wait another 13 months? How much further in decline will our nation be by then?

Simply put, we will end up $14 trillion short and a year late. Many in the Tea Party and the Republican Party are gearing up for what is going to be a "must win" in November 2012. If Obama is reelected, the game is over. His policies will collapse our system and destroy our country. We will not be able to undo the damage after that.

Many tried to warn us in 2008 that electing Obama would be a mistake. A college friend of Obama's, John Drew, tried to warn us. He wrote:

The Obama I knew was nothing like the lifelong pragmatic centrist that he was pretending to be in the 2008 presidential campaign. When I talked politics with the young Obama, he expressed a profound commitment to bringing about a socialist economic system in the U.S. -- completely divorced from the profit motive -- which would occur, in his lifetime, through a potentially violent, Communist-style revolution. In this context, I saw my report on young Obama as a key piece of evidence suggesting a profound continuity in his belief system.

Others like Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck tried to warn us. As Drew so eloquently pointed out in his piece for American Thinker, it was the media that ran cover for the Manchurian candidacy of Obama. This is precisely why pounding it home relentlessly and repeatedly that the media lies will be a key component to any GOP strategy in 2012.

Getting the hard facts out to the electorate will require circumventing the big three nightly news shows and their networks. It will require circumventing the written media like the New York Times and the Washington Post. It will require telling people to not trust what they see on MSNBC or CNN. Some may not yet believe us, but the American people are quick to anger if it can be proven to them that they have been lied to by the news sources they have trusted for so long. It's hard to break viewing and reading habits, but break them we must.

Monica Crowley points out how Obama is trying to bankrupt America and why he is a radical.



One must understand Obama's radical associations to understand fully where Crowley is coming from. For more on his radical associations, read here and here.

During the 2008 election, the L.A. Times sat on a video of Barack Obama at a dinner with William Ayers where anti-Semitic jokes were being told. From a12iggymom's Blog:

So, the LA Times has video of Obama attending a Jew bash and toasting a radical former PLO operative, and they are not sharing it with the public. I think we all know they would immediately release the tape if it were Sarah Palin making the toast.

Where were the members of the media then? They were busy bashing Sarah Palin. They saw the writing on the wall. They saw that if they didn't politically kill her before she wrote "death panel" or talked about crony capitalism, that they would eventually be exposed for the socialist/progressive supporting lackeys that they really are.

The American people have been flooded with information about the progressive movement, Saul Alinsky and how the permanent political class has taken the control of our system away from the people in a way that softly and quietly undermines the U.S. Constitution. With all the safeguards our Founders put into the document, the key safeguard of it all is an educated citizenry. What we have become is a brainwashed citizenry. Nearly a century of progressive infiltration into the economic, political, social and academic culture could not be undone with 56 days of Sarah Palin on the 2008 campaign trail.

But, over the past three years, much has been said and much has been written about this. Many more Americans are understanding how this works now. Defeating the media myths means changing how one views their sources of information, not by simply making them feel bad or deflating their egos. Millions of Obama voters and Sarah Palin skeptics can be brought into the fold if we can just get them to understand that they are not stupid; but rather that they based a well rationalized belief in hope and change based on some seriously flawed information. Once they realize they can no longer trust the source of that information, these people will resume normal intelligent lives.

Sarah Palin continues to be a threat to the progressive movement as well as the inside the beltway establishment. When she talks about crony capitalism, she talks about a system that has been growing like weeds around our Constitutional government. Liberal cronyism favors environmental and socialistic redistribution of wealth by rewarding the companies of donors who have earned their millions in a capitalist system for the sole purpose of destroying that system. Republican cronyism favors control over the establishment so that it can pick and choose which capitalists succeed and which capitalists fail.

Republican cronyism unintentionally gave us what we ended up with today: a radical President hell bent on fundamentally transforming the system. Republican cronies aren't socialists. They want Obama ousted, too. But, they don't like Gadsden flag waving Americans who want to open up businesses in a regulatory environment that's not weighted in favor of the friends of the establishment. Allowing banks and mortgage companies to be bailed out because they are too big to fail tells the little guy that, conversely, he's too small to succeed. And, it is because of this constant psychological programming that people don't go into business.

We claim to be a capitalist country, but we have nothing that resembles true capitalism anymore. Eliminating socialism by not reelecting Obama is a noble cause, but we must go far beyond that. Taking the system out of the hands of crony socialists and giving it back to crony capitalists will not change the breeding ground for future Obamas.

Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity last night (emphasis added):

Knowing, Sean, how important it is that we get this country back on the right track; knowing, Sean, that it's not enough to just to change up the uniform, we need to change the entire game plan and we need to change the entire team that's been there at the White House doing such great damage to our economy. We need to make sure that we have the best and most qualified the most vetted candidate to come forth and rise to the surface after this primary process.

I do agree with that [Sean Hannity said other candidates have things they can do to strengthen their positions and that anybody on the debate stage would be infinitely better]. I agree, too, that what you’re suggesting is many of us who are supporters of ABO, anybody but Obama, that’s what it’s going to come down to. But, at the same time, as I said though we need to make sure we’re not just switching up the uniform. We need a new team; we need a new game plan. That’s the only way that we’re going to save our country.

Governor Palin is the only potential candidate who effectively and efficiently defines the real problem and offers real solutions to it. Some may come somewhat close. Others may feed us platitudes. But ultimately, it has to be the person who came up with the idea that implements that idea. To do that, she will need a title.

Returning to business as usual after defeating Obama need no longer be an option. It's no longer about the crony capitalists versus the socialists. Sarah Palin gives us a fresh new alternative. She offers us a true free market and a chance for "we the people" to finally break down the barriers and the frustrations that separate us from our government.

Our system needs a complete repeal of many of the regulations and burdensome laws (including many tort laws) before true grassroots capitalism can emerge again. This will not happen until after 2012. And it probably won't happen ever if Sarah Palin isn't elected president.

There are many who are uncomfortable with the idea of a Palin presidency. This can be overcome by learning the lessons of Ronald Reagan. He, too, was seen skeptically by many until they were finally convinced that he was a competent and capable leader who was able to articulate his ideas and surround himself with smart people while earning the support of an army of followers who would go to the mat for him.

Palin's success will be directly related to the ability of those in the new media to effectively convince skeptics that the perception of her has been diabolically crafted by a mainstream media which would rather have acid poured all over them than to see Palin destroy their dream of seeing a socialist America.

When Sarah Palin talked about her journalism degree and set out to use Facebook as a primary means of communication, she wasn't doing it to show everyone how great she was. She was doing it to be an example for millions of Americans who felt they had no way of having their voices heard. This is leadership. Because of what Palin has done, thousands have taken to blogging and millions have taken to social networks to discuss Alinsky, radicalism, the Tea Party movement and the dangers of crony capitalism.

We have become our own media. In doing so, we have now become analysts of the facts. We are not brainwashed lemmings. We argue amongst ourselves, sometimes bitterly. But it is through this dialogue that real myths are debunked and real truths are exposed.

When Glenn Beck is ostracized because he talks about Van Jones and the progressive movement, there's a reason for it. When the Tea Party is falsely accused of being violent racists, there's a reason for it. When Sarah Palin is called unelectable or not intelligent, there's a reason for it. The only way liars can stop the truth from being told is to lie about it. That's why the mainstream media does what it does. That's why the Democrat Party is incapable of convincing the American people any longer to go with stimulus programs and tax hikes.

The question remains, what kind of country will the United States of America be by November 2012? Psychologically, until we can see light at the end of the tunnel and victory as a possibility, we will be, as Sarah Palin has called us, an "anxious nation." Solving our worries is going to require us to accept that it will still get darker before the dawn, but that there is at least a dawn coming.

We may be near economic death, both individually (I'm unemployed and I see it coming unless I find a job) and as a nation (our GDP is anemic and the deficit continues to rise). As people evaluate the GOP candidates, I hear support for different candidates. But, that support comes with addendums like "I like Perry but I have my reservations about Gardasil and cronyism" or " I like Romney but I have my reservations about RomneyCare." Each candidate comes with a caveat. Support is soft to mild at best.

But, with Palin, support is hardcore and entrenched. Her army is stout with informed activists who can help any doubter borrow their confidence. If Americans can believe that she is the dawn we are looking for, we can capture that same spirit that Ronald Reagan captured. It is with that spirit that a downtrodden and economically abused electorate can find its way back to the shining city on a hill.

We may not have much of a country left by November, 2012. But the enthusiasm and real hope America needs to reignite a revival of growth and a restoration of opportunity in this county will have to come long before we actually start to see the results of our labor. This psychological exercise will require that we have an inspirational leader who, like Reagan, is a lightning rod for those who would otherwise sit at home and wallow in their mire. It will also, unfortunately (as history has shown us), require a leader who is reviled by the true enemies of real capitalism and real free enterprise. Because of that, we will have to be strong.

Unbridled capitalism doesn't mean that we will be running roughshod over the marketplace or allowing companies to defraud Americans or exploit their workers. Unbridled capitalism can succeed when good people use the Constitutional system to prosecute fraud and use the power of the Internet to do consumer reviews of companies and products. Government can play its proper role of referee by getting out of the regulation business and back into the oversight business like it was originally intended to.

Using the legislative process to pick winners and losers and pass cushy laws for some at the expense of others must become a thing of the past. Just as Sarah Palin undid the influence of cronyism in big oil in Alaskan politics, so can she undo the influence of cronyism in American politics. Enforcing laws that protect the rights, property and persons of citizens is the appropriate role of government. Micro-managing businesses and regulating lemonade stands is not.

Don't let the Left convince you that capitalism is a heartless system or that being for small government means we hate the poor. Much of the new poor in America have gotten there because of big government, not in spite of it. The Federal Government can shave trillions of dollars by shutting down useless programs, bureaucracies and government agencies. Entitlement programs can be reformed. Liberals will scream bloody murder. But we will either be forced to reform them by the realities or we will reform them ahead of time in advance of problems that we're being warned about now. Don't let Liberals demagogue you by saying these programs can't be reformed.

In addition, we can open America up for business by eliminating the corporate income tax (which would encourage international investment in America and stop the outsourcing of American jobs overseas), unleashing our energy exploration and development programs en masse (which would create over a million new jobs and create real wealth based on energy commodities rather than paper), repatriating trillions of dollars now sitting off shore and reducing the burdensome regulatory costs that go with running businesses.

A richer nation means we can do more for the less fortunate and provide more efficient safety nets. In fact, the more Americans we put back to work and encourage to become wealthy through entrepreneurship, the less poor we will need to attend to.

Now, that's real hope and change. This is the basis upon which a renewed optimism for America can be built. Knowing that Sarah Palin can deliver on this should encourage the business community and all Americans that help is on the way. While we suffer over the next year or so, at least we can suffer knowing that someday the pain will be over and the light will shine brightly again on our blessed nation.

We Need Governor Palin

An army sits in their camps keeping their powder dry, cleaning their rhetorical weapons and preparing for a massive boots on the ground grass roots operation with air support from the more technologically savvy among us who can post youtube videos and blog posts that will get the message out to the American people. That army awaits their marching orders. To make this happen, we need Governor Palin to give us the go.

It's a big commitment. She has a family to consider. But, her country needs her. We are calling out to her.

Listening to those people yelling out her name, chasing her down for an autograph or a word with her after the Iowa speech is spine tingling. These are not people just looking for a keepsake. The tone in the cries of "Sarah!" has the intonation of that of people crying out for help. It's not a lazy cry for help. These are people who are willing to lift the car off the American body politic. But they need her to help. If she jumps in and helps, these people will pull muscles and rip tendons to help her move that car.

Contrary to what the media says, the Palin army is not a fan club. This is our lives. There are people who are suffering because of what the Obama administration is doing. This ain't no party. This ain't no disco. This ain't no foolin' around. The American dream is at stake. People's livelihoods are at stake. People's children's futures hang on the outcome of the 2012 elections.

Ending the chokehold that both political parties have had on a system that regular people once felt helpless about changing or affecting requires a discussion of how the insider game hurts the regular guy regardless of which side of the aisle he or she sits. Sarah Palin effectively started that discussion and gave it a voice when she articulated clearly how lobbyists and good ole boys from both parties affect legislation in their favor by defining the difference between crony capitalism and true free market principles during her speech in Iowa over Labor Day weekend.

For the diehard Palinista, removing Obama is not enough. Changing the way business is done in Washington is also a key component to that. We've spent decades frustrated by the inability to beat city hall. Now we have a shot to do it, and it can't be done without her.

There are many who believe that without Palin, ending crony capitalism and putting America back on a permanent track toward restoration and renewal can't happen. Anyone can beat Obama. Only one can implement the true vision needed to insure that something like Obama never happens again.

Governor Palin, there are still millions of us out here that want it to be that way; that want it to be a shining city on a hill. Candidate Palin, please step forward.


Listen to Patrick's World USA tonight on Blogtalk Radio at 11pm ET 8pm PT.

Robert Wiles: The Game Begins When Sarah Palin Lights The Torch

In a guest submission to Conservatives4Palin, Robert Wiles pens a terrific piece that resonates with the the theme of this blog.

Yes, as with the Olympic Games, they do not begin until that flame is ignited from the one who carries the torch. The games within America and basically around the world do not begin until that flame is ignited. The flame as of yet has not been lit, but we have seen for these last three years who carries that torch. We have seen over these last three years the following of that torch bearer, wherever she goes she is followed by her supporters, wherever she goes she is followed by the media, wherever she goes the one question is asked to the one who carries the torch. That question being, “when will you ignite that flame for the games to begin”.

Yes Americans, I talk about the one who is surrounded by all walks of life, that one being none other then Sarah Palin. Oh how much have we seen within these last 3 years the mystic of Sarah, the coverage of her. We have seen the contempt from the liberal media, democrats, progressives, liberals and left in hoping that this torch bearer would just drop that torch. We have seen within our own republican party and talking heads the contempt as well for Sarah and their displeasure in knowing that she has climbed the ladder to the top within their own party. We have seen the elites degrade her because of one simple reason and that being she is of the people, the paupers, the citizens of this country who just live to survive and are looked upon as just pawns on a chess board. Sarah has captured the hearts of many Americans, she has done something more then any other I have seen, she has become the icon for a culture of values and principles that many have recognized we need to relive so to make this country great once again.

Awhile back we saw Sarah begin a bus tour, we saw the frenzy from the media, we saw the mobs of people who wanted so much to just be in her presence. We saw the coverage that was like no other. We have seen the frenzy over Sarah’s postings on her Facebook page and Twitter account by not just the liberal media, but from everybody. What Sarah writes is NEWS, what Sarah SPEAKS is a story to behold and what Sarah DOESN’T do is more worthy of news coverage then her even doing. Friday, August 12th at the Iowa State Fair we saw once again the drawing power of Sarah Palin. For months we have been reading stories of flash mob youths raising havoc across this country, we have seen violence rage within these mobs of youths and the emptiness of the human spirit. That friday in Iowa, we saw another kind of flash mod and it wasn’t violent, it wasn’t empty of the human spirit, it was a mob of compassion, a mob of serenity, a mob that wanted to be among the one who captures the hearts of a people. These mobs of people who follow her is for a reason and that is puzzling to the power brokers of this country. They can’t comprehend that she is one who we the people can relate to because she is one of us.

...

Yes Sarah Palin is you and me, one who believes we as a people stand on values and principles and in that she connects as no other. For the masses, they see Sarah’s political being as secondary when comes to admiration for her values and principles. What the people see as their primary reason in admiring Sarah is so simple, they see themselves standing there. Yes, Sarah is the people’s candidate, one who wants to know us rather then own us. I remember back in the 1970′s there was also a period of time when Americans were captured by the presence of a being. That being was a horse called Secretariat. Now I am not putting Secretariat in the same category as a human being, but when it comes to sparking the human spirit, even an animal as a horse can give a people the mindset of serenity and happiness.

When Secretariat came upon us then, we were living the horrors of the Vietnam war, we were experiencing the class warfare as well, the clash between not just races but also among the youth and the elderly, the clash between the people and the government. We also had Watergate upon us as well as the turmoil of the 60′s cultural revolution. Back then the people needed hope, they needed to grasp onto an entity of comfort and strength to cure their lives. The people needed that spark once again within that human spirit, we were searching for purity and we saw it in Secretariat. Secretariat gave America that peace, that comfort, that identity within one’s soul. Many today will ever know that feeling back then, many will say that is quite stupid knowing a horse could do that, but if one lived back then, they would know what I am talking about. America was lost back then and living in an abyss of darkness. Secretariat changed all that, he won the triple crown in 1972, and people actually cried seeing his victory in the Preakness that year to win it all.

...

Sarah has yet to light that flame, but for many we have seen that hope she has given us and right now we are hoping she wins that triple crown as well…….mayor, governor and president. Secretariat gave us what we needed at a time of despair, he made us feel good once again. Sarah is giving us that strength in knowing we the people are the only vision for a great country, and in that we feel good about who we are. There are times through out history where someone or an event will come along that touches millions. I have witnessed two of those events. One took place back in 1972 when a country and people were lost as we are today. Back in that time period America was on the brink of disaster and a horse made us cry in lifting our spirits. Today I see another in Sarah Palin. We flock to one who has taught us we the people are somebody. I guess i can say I have seen a horse and a mama grizzly come forward during times of turmoil and make us feel good about who we are as a people. This country and the world awaits for one person, then the strategies and political furor begins. With Sarah, the people have the control, not the elites of the country. Now that is CONVENTIONAL, the politcians, media and elites are now playing by the rules of WE THE PEOPLE….!!!!

Governor Palin, we wait for you to enter the stadium and light the flame.

Did Ronald Reagan Write This?

Read this and tell me who wrote it.

We need to get this economy moving again, and the real stimulus we’ve been waiting for is domestic energy development. We must reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil by responsibly developing natural resources here. This will provide good paying jobs, reduce our trade deficit, increase federal and state revenue, ensure environmental standards, and actually stimulate our economy without incurring any debt. That’s real stimulus! Affordable, plentiful, and secure energy is the foundation of every thriving economy. Let’s make it the foundation of ours. Let’s do the opposite of President Obama’s manipulation of U.S. energy supplies. Let’s drill here, build refineries, and stop kowtowing to foreign countries in asking them to ramp up energy production which makes us even more beholden to them as we rely on their foreign product. Let’s move on tapping our massive domestic natural gas reserves. Natural gas is the perfect “bridge fuel” to a future when more renewable sources are available. It’s clean, it’s green, and we’ve got a lot of it. Let’s drill. Let’s build an infrastructure for natural gas cars and power plants. Energy development can help kick start our economic engine.

In addition to energy security, I embrace a pro-growth agenda that can make American corporations far more competitive on the global stage. (I will be writing more about this in the coming days.) We need to tell the world, “America is open for business again!” And let’s welcome industry by reducing burdensome regulations. The Obama administration keeps strangling businesses in red tape. From the EPA’s rulings to that nightmare known as Obamacare, the Obama administration is hanging one regulatory albatross after another around the private sector’s neck. Let’s get government out of the way and give the private sector room to breathe, grow, and thrive. We can provide businesses confidence to expand and hire Americans in a stable environment.

Be wary of the efforts President Obama makes to “fix” the debt problem. The more he tries to “fix” things, the worse they get because his “solutions” always involve spending more, taxing more, growing government, and increasing debt. This debt problem is the greatest challenge facing our country today. Obviously, President Obama doesn’t have a plan or even a notion of how to deal with it. His press conference today was just a rehash of his old talking points and finger-pointing. That’s why he can’t be re-elected in 2012.

Our economic news is disheartening and the task before us can seem daunting, but we must not lose our sense of optimism. People look around today and may see only the negative. They see a culture and a nation in decline, but that’s not who we are! America must regain its optimistic pioneering spirit again. Our founders declared that “we were born the heirs of freedom.” We are the heirs of those who froze with Washington at Valley Forge, who held the line at Gettysburg, who freed the slaves, carved a nation out of the wilderness, and allowed reward for work ethic. We are the sons and daughters of that Greatest Generation who stormed the beaches of Normandy, raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. By God, we will not squander what has been given us!

Our destiny is still in our own hands if we pick ourselves up and act responsibly and quickly. We must all get involved. Concerned Americans must seek truth, work harder than ever, and be willing to sacrifice today to ensure freedom tomorrow. Please get engaged in 2012 electoral politics and support experienced, vetted, pro-free market fiscal conservatives who will dedicate all to preserving our Republic and protecting our Constitution.

See who wrote this here.

As the liberal light flickers out, ours grows brighter

The journey back has been a long, tiring one. We thought we hit rock bottom after the financial collapse in 2008, but the solutions to that problem only prolonged our descent. The kicking of the can down the road has led us to today where our debt is unsustainable and our political deals are unacceptable. Are we at rock bottom now? The Dow drops as does our nation's financial rating from Standard & Poor's. Unemployment is high. Gas prices are high. Consumer confidence and the housing market are at all time lows.

Normally, it is at this point in the journey that the desert wanderers forge Aaron's calf out of gold and start worshipping it. Unrest begins to grow. But, conservatives know that despite how low we are as a nation right now, there is a light that has burning in the distance since we started this journey back in 2008. There is a sense that the light is growing closer.

Clarice Feldman at American Thinker describes the latest rage coming from the left as a sign that the liberal flame is dimming.

As time has passed, I have come to believe that the reactions I received represented a rage at the dying of all that which these men had embraced in the absolute certainty of the righteousness and soundness of their views, and their right to have them automatically accepted as the approved model for all right thinking people.
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In fact, the tea party, Sarah Palin, and all of us who eschew bigger government and demand accountability and self-determination are beginning to expand our reach. We are, as reporters in England and Australia note with regard to the debt limit negotiations, showing up worldwide socialism as a foolish and bankrupt notion.
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I suppose if I had coasted through my adult life secure in the belief that I was destined to rule others, that my thinking was the height of sophisticated reason and scientific logic, and I began to notice that that game was up, I'd be rude at dinner parties, too. I mean they are just raging at the dying of their light, aren't they?

As the liberal light dims, the conservative light grows brighter. More and more Americans are becoming disillusioned with the empty promise of hope and change. President Obama's approval ratings are on the verge of plunging under 40%.

Americans are sick of high gas prices. They're sick of being unemployed. They're sick of seeing their childrens' futures being mortgaged away with back breaking debt. They're sick of out of control spending and regulations. When this happens, it is always a sign that the party in power is just one election away from being booted out on their behinds with their stuff thrown in the street beside them.

John Smith writes at Conservatives4Palin:

We can no longer accept it. We no longer can just hope for the best. No matter our differences, the one thing that unites Americans is a common belief in wanting to be let alone, in wanting to make better lives for ourselves and our children, in wanting to have as little intrusion in our lives by others and by government, in wanting the rules to apply fairly and equally to all, in wanting a chance to pursue our American dreams, and in wanting our government, to the degree that it does affect our lives, to act constructively and in service of our constitutive principles.

So, this is my time for choosing, and I will choose Sarah Palin.

Knowing what we know about her governorship, if we can get people to put aside the media myths and leftist lies about her, we could have great confidence in her ability to turn this sinking ship around and bring it back to life. Ronald Reagan said it best. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way. Governor Palin holds the lamp.

Stacy Drake at Conservatives4Palin envisions it best:

Just imagine if this country opened up energy production, while simultaneously taking bold steps, – such as Governor Palin did in Alaska – to get it’s fiscal house in order. As you can see, it produces exactly the opposite outcome of what we are currently facing today. In the words of Governor Palin, “2012 can’t come soon enough.”

While Standard & Poor's was lowering our nation's financial rating, Moody's increased Alaska's to AAA. That says a lot about the potential of Sarah Palin as president.

At the same time, we see the failure of liberalism repeated again. In 1976, Jimmy Carter was elected president. We tried the big government approach then. It failed. The communist countries of eastern Europe tried socialism. It failed.

Today's Europe is now admitting that its hybrid model is failing as well. Governor Palin tweeted a link to an article by in The Telegraph where Janet Daley writes:

This was the heaven on earth for which liberal democracy had been striving: a system of wealth redistribution that was merciful but not Marxist, and a guarantee of lifelong economic and social security for everyone that did not involve totalitarian government. This was the ideal the European Union was designed to entrench. It was the dream of Blairism, which adopted it as a replacement for the state socialism of Old Labour. And it is the aspiration of President Obama and his liberal Democrats, who want the United States to become a European-style social democracy.
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Also collapsing before our eyes is the lodestone of the Christian Socialist doctrine that has underpinned the EU’s political philosophy: the idea that a capitalist economy can support an ever-expanding socialist welfare state.
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We have arrived at the endgame of what was an untenable doctrine: to pay for the kind of entitlements that populations have been led to expect by their politicians, the wealth-creating sector has to be taxed to a degree that makes it almost impossible for it to create the wealth that is needed to pay for the entitlements that populations have been led to expect, etc, etc.

History repeatedly has shown us its glaring examples of liberal socialism's failures. American history has shown us glaring examples of how unbridled conservativism has always been the antidote for the statist sickness whenever it befalls our nation. Ronald Reagan gave us the blue print the last time this happened. Sarah Palin knows that blueprint.

There is a sense of faith that our future is bright despite the current indicators. Sarah Palin's words continue to burn bright. With hope and dedication nothing is impossible, and the Almighty never abandons those who seek the light.

It may seem the darkest its ever been. It may look to be the lowest we've ever fallen domestically. But if you look off into the distance, the light does look brighter. Sarah Palin can bring us to that light. Her lamp of liberty guides our steps.

Sarah Palin the Great Communicator

When Ronald Reagan was dubbed "the Great Communicator," it ushered in an era when it became cool to be a conservative again. During the rise of liberalism during the 1960's and 1970's, the "silent majority" was made to feel as if their views were antiquated and outdated. We were moving into the modern age and we were expected to be "open minded" and "sophisticated." Conservatives were considered stuffed shirts. We've come a long way. We have a new communicator who demonstrates that the conservatives of today are really the fresh minded thinkers while liberalism is becoming old and stale.

When conservatism was on the ropes in 2008, there was a false sense that our country was moderating - moving to left. The election of Barack Obama created a moment when progressives came out into the open declaring an end to conservatism's "outmoded dogma." Even Republicans had been gravitating toward the center and taking more moderate positions out of this false sense that we were becoming a more liberal nation. The Republican Party nominated John McCain whose ACU rating of 83% had him straddling conservatism lite and moderate centrism.

Talk after the 2008 election was that the Republican Party would have to move more toward the center if it wanted to forge majorities necessary to win elections. This writer and many other conservatives disagreed. It has always been my position that the Republican who could best articulate the conservative philosophy would be the best person to lead our nation. Their articulation would allow the citizenry to continue clearly understanding the philosophy as younger people who were not alive or were too young to remember Reagan were entering the electorate (and it had better be explained to them correctly if it was not to be perverted, watered down or misunderstood).

Between 2004 and 2008, we lost our way. The conservative philosophy was not properly articulated. Yes, we had talk radio. But most of our political leaders were looking for different ways to box it up, market it, hide it or simply give it lip service. It was during those years that this writer can honestly say he saw the philosophy slipping away.

On September 3, 2008 in Minneapolis, MN, the demise of conseravatism was halted and the restoration of the Reagan philosophy had begun. We heard one of the greatest articulations of the philosophy ever given  since Ronald Reagan gave his final speech in 1992. Just when I thought conservatism was dead, that speech changed my mind.

The speech was given by a woman who speaks with a funny accent and uses colloquialisms in conversation. One wouldn't think that the next great articulator of the conservative philosophy would be someone who speaks with a working class Alaskan accent whose conversation is more down home regular folk than it is the king's English. Could we really get the best articulation of the conservative philosophy from a person who sometimes has a tendency to talk really fast when she gets excited or has had one too many Redbulls? You betcha.

Put a pen or a keyboard in her hand or put her on stage in front of thousands of people and she is as articulate and electrifying a speaker as anyone you will find. When she gave her VP acceptance speech, her cadence was correct, her pitch was perfect and she even navigated a tough part of the speech without a net after the teleprompter froze on her. She never missed a beat.

Sarah Palin is a trained broadcaster and journalist who understands how to communicate via both the spoken word and the written word. Her speech in Minneapolis was as Reaganesque as they get and her Facebook response to President Obama's comments about her Statement on the Current Health Care Debate was written like a post graduate college paper.

When her emails were released, analysts found that she wrote on a level that is excellent for a chief executive.

When you go back to footage of her as a broadcaster (she did the sports on a local television station), a city council woman, a mayor and a governor, the professional Sarah Palin was always able to put the redneck away and speak clearly and concisely when required. This is not new for her despite the comments of many that she is more polished today than she was four years ago. When Sarah Palin, the private citizen who some mock for her speaking style steps into a business situation, it's like she takes the gum out of her mouth and becomes this clear, consise, straight to the point crowd rallying speaker.

She has mastered the art of the sound bite. Death Panel. Hit me baby one more time. Palling around with terrorists. Don't retreat, reload. All of these are intentional articulations that her detractors mistake as the words of a gum chewing redneck. She is in fact masterful at the art of communication. If she wasn't so good at explaining her conservativism, the liberals wouldn't be so afraid of her.

Jedediah Bila explains why Sarah Palin is so effective.

SHE’S SCARY BECAUSE SHE’LL ACTUALLY DO WHAT SHE SAYS. That’s right, folks. They know she’s the real deal. They know that if she says it, she means it. And that scares the living daylights out of them.

She is so masterful at the art of communication that despite nearly three years of being constantly mocked, smeared and made the target of hateful diatribes, it's extremely rare than any written piece or verbal commentary designed to attack her ever goes near the facts or the crux of her arguments. It's always personal or about the family. It's always a twist, spin or an outright lie.

John Kerry and Barbara Boxer tried to debate her in the Washington Post by taking her on in the arena of ideas, disagreeing with her op-ed on Cap and Trade. They lost. Cap and Trade was later killed after emails surfaced showing that scientists were gaming the facts for political purposes. Charles Krauthammer, one of the most intelligent men of our times once asked her to leave the room during a commentary on Obamacare. He turned out to be wrong. Obamacare is in serious danger in the courts and is scheduled to be repealed the minute Republicans get control of the government again all because of a couple of words written by Sarah Palin: death panel.

She owns Facebook and Twitter. End of paragraph.

The liberals and the media that brain washed the American people into thinking she's a ditz knew full well to stay away from the facts and never let the truth get in the way of a good smearing. But when they did get close to the facts, they would get burnt. Her effectiveness and ability to communicate with her staff and the media was exposed when liberals tried to look for dirt while scouring through her emails from when she was governor. The only smoking gun they would find would be the one they held in their own hands as they danced off the pain of a self inflicted bullet wound to the foot.

She has won every debate she has participated in. She became governor of Alaska with her own version of "there you go again." The Wall Street Journal quotes debate moderator Christopher Clark's take on how Palin stayed above the fray during a primary debate with John Binkley and Frank Murkowski:

"Binkley and Murkowski went after each other, almost ignoring her, bickering back and forth," Mr. Clark remembers. Finally, he continues, "Ms. Palin interrupted and said 'Don't Alaskans deserve a better discourse than that?' It became the defining moment of the campaign."

She won both the primary debate and the general election debate. She defeated Joe Biden, a seasoned Senator, in the 2008 vice presidential debate.

So the next time you hear a high pitched voice screaming out "do you love your freedom?" just remember that this is the same woman who could calmly sit before ethics violation committees and be cleared of every one. This is the same woman who could bring a house down in Minneapolis, MN or a desert to life in Searchlight, NV.

We know exactly where Sarah Palin stands on the issues. She talks the talk and walks the walk. She has stood firm in her position on Obamacare and Cap and Trade. More recently, she has not wavered on the issue of the debt ceiling despite the carping of moderate Republicans and whining Democrats. What you see is what you get and what you get is right for America.

Palin's communication skills are covered brilliantly in a must read article by Bradley A. Smith at National Review Online:

The Sarah Palin who won Alaska’s governorship in 2006 came perhaps as close as any Republican in recent memory to recapturing the Reagan formula. She never wavered in or ran from her conservative positions on social issues, but she addressed them with understanding, compassion, and respect for opposing views. Like Reagan, she emphasized competence, economic issues, taxes, and frugality, and, again like Reagan, her instincts on taxes and spending were libertarian and deregulatory, though not dogmatically so.

She added to this social conservatism and political libertarianism a Reaganesque dose of populism, spotting symbolic issues (such as pledging to sell the state government’s jet) and exploiting an attractive, folksy public persona. Her approach was inclusive, seeking the support of moderates, independents, and Democrats, and it worked. Though substantially outspent in both the primary and the general election, she took out two former governors to become the first woman and the youngest governor in state history.

Sarah Palin is a voice for millions of Americans sick of the status quo business as usual politics of Washington. Hers is the articulation of everything many Americans feel and believe. She can take the hopes and dreams for our country and deliver it back to us in a beautifully spoken or written package. She can explain our frustrations to the press and to the voters.

Her ability to connect with so many makes them feel that pang of total agreement when she delivers our philosophy, the American philosophy, back to us in a way that would make Ronald Reagan proud. He's the only other great communicator in my lifetime who has ever been able to do that. That says a lot about Sarah Palin, the great communicator of our time.

The Flame of Youth Burns Bright

For a young person, it’s both an anxious and hopeful time. Not fully versed yet in the intricacies of how a culture or a society works or how government functions, the young person goes on an instinct which drives an intellectual curiosity that leads them to answers. I hear on the news how bad our economy is and how our military standing in the world is in decline. There is inflation, unemployment and talk of hard times ahead. What does this really mean?

In the search for answers, I find there is a leader out there who is talking about getting government off our backs and reawakening our sense of self reliance and entrepreneurship. As a high school student, I am eager to listen to anyone who is talking about getting authority off my back, and love the frequency with which this leader uses the word freedom and other variations of the word free.

Always misunderstood, the youth of America are looked upon as naive or ignorant. The more I'm told that the adult world is a functional place which requires me to behave myself, the more confused I become. The more I think about it, the more something doesn’t look right. I am beginning to question the adult world and in my own mind, I’m thinking its a bunch of bull. But what does a snot nosed kid know anyway?

I was taught through a Catholic upbringing and through the values of my parents about this functional world where people could have fun and get a little crazy from time to time, but for the most part most (in my mind at least) it was supposed to be about operating with a moral compass, working hard, developing healthy relationships and eventually getting married and raising a family.

I later find out that the adults gave it to me all wrong. They told me I'd be growing up into a world where people have to be moral, ethical, mentally focused, disciplined and be able to handle freedom with responsibility. Instead, when I open up the door and look outside into the adult world, it's nothing but people just getting by and a bunch of liberals running around with their moral relativism, antipathy toward prayer and religion and reckless ways of spending the public's money while running a "gangsta government." Even the culture is a mess. This isn't what I was told it would be like.

All the thoughts in my mind were changing. My view of the world was becoming more reality based and less fantasy based.

Ah, to be young. Young people like to rebel. To me, non-conformity meant being different than the norm. What I didn’t realize is that the norm was actually no longer the norm anymore. In so many people's quests for non-conformity, they have become the norm. The counter culture in essence has become the culture.

Tie dye shirts, pink and purple hair, freaky rings in people’s faces became too status quo for me. The world was becoming a freak show until I realized, hey wait a minute, I'm the freak. I’m the one who thinks these crazy things about a functioning world where freedom comes with responsibility. I’m the one dressed funny in jeans and a polo shirt. I stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of tie dyeds and nose rings. Ah, but I have a major edge here. In a world of morally and ethically challenged morons, being what we used to call "normal" now automatically makes me a non-conformist. I'm the counter culture now.

I would eventually go on to college and be told how wrong and crazy I was after embracing a political philosophy that doesn't match a dysfunctional world. Logic tells me it should work, but there are so many morons out there doing it a totally different way, I can't help but to wonder if I'm the one who's nuts. As people tell me I'm the loon, I begin to question my own sanity. Am I really the only one who gets it or am I really that far off base?

Then one day my political science teacher in college gave us a research project. We were to pick one of the candidates in the upcoming presidential primaries. I picked the leader I was already following. Everyone was laughing. You picked that person? That person is an idiot, a moron.

One student got so enraged that she threatened violence and wished that my leader was killed. The professor stopped her and corrected her by telling her that she should never say stuff like that about anyone even if she disagrees with them. All around me it seemed there were a lot of people who hated this leader. I knew I’d have to be strong.

In studying this leader, I found that the leader gave a stunning speech at a Republican Party National Convention which matched every crazy thought I had in my head. I read what this leader was saying and watched this leader speak on television. One night, this leader gave a speech and I and was overwhelmed with an eye watering, warm sentimental feeling of “wow, this person gets the deal.” I’m really not crazy after all. I’m not alone.

Finally, I thought, there is someone out there who believes exactly the same thing I do and who sees it the way I see it. Whoa, how’s that for validation of one’s world view? And this person is a person of influence with power, too.

From that day forward, I would never doubt my sanity again. The uncertainty and angst I felt about my philosophy was replaced with a strength that I drew from my leader. I'd never be uncertain again. I studied it. I looked more into it. I made sure it was right. I was tired of reading the lies in the New York Times, so I started reading a wider range of other publications and learning about how conservatism works.

Now, let me let you in something I didn’t tell you until now in this article. I’m 47 years old. That experience I just described happened over 25 years ago. If you're in your 20's or late teens, you may be experiencing something similar to what I wrote. You may have a leader that you look at the same way I looked at mine.
But, you have not been where I have been. There is so much you haven't experienced yet.

You never had the honor, the privilege and the most beautiful life experience of watching a great nation being led by a great leader. You never knew what it felt like to wake up every morning knowing that when you went to work things were only getting better with each passing day. You never knew what it was like to cry tears of joy as you watched this great leader on TV stand before the Statue of Liberty on the 4th of July and talk about how great America is and then watch as fireworks are blown off like they've never been blown off before.

It was 1986 when the Statue of Liberty was restored. The statue was restored and so was our country. America really was a shining city on a hill. It really was a beautiful place. It was everything that people my age and older tell you it was.

I have been to the shining city on a hill. I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. I’ve experienced it. I weep every day when I see what’s happening to my country today. I watch videos of my leader’s speeches and can’t go more than five minutes without the waterworks going off.

My leader was Ronald Reagan.

Let me take something back here that I said earlier. I said you never experienced what I experienced. Let me correct that. You are now starting to experience first hand what I experienced.

When I look out over the youth of America and I see kids who are the age I was when Ronald Reagan was coming into the presidency, I beam with an overwhelming sense of hope and optimism. I watch today’s youth struggle with the Obama years much the same way I struggled with the Carter years.

I watch today’s youth experience an awakening much like mine was in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. Go study the Carter and Reagan years. You will be amazed at the striking the similarities are to how it is now.

If you want to know what my leader was like, look at your leader. Know that your leader can be a part of a similar experience to what I had when my leader brought us home to morning in America.

If it is going to happen again, the youth of today are going to have to fight harder than they ever have. They are the new hands that will write today's modern updated version of the American story. My leader was Ronald Reagan. Your leader is Sarah Palin. She needs your support.

Your leader knows my leader. In fact, your leader is the same age as I am. Follow her. She knows how to get back to the shining city on a hill because, like me, she’s been there already.

I can’t tell you what a thrill it will be to see it happen all over again through your youthful eyes.

Why It's So Important We Get People to See 'The Undefeated'

This is a transcript of Patrick's World USA BlogTalk Radio show that will air today.

I’m not one to be defeatist, but the closest thought that threatens my optimism is the notion that the American people could potentially fail at the ballot box again in 2012 just as they did in 2008. The outcome of the 2010 elections gives me hope, yet considering that Harry Reid and Lisa Murkowski were reelected to the Senate and that Jerry Brown was elected as Governor of California leaves room for angst about what could go wrong in 2012.

Thomas Jefferson believed strongly that a well informed electorate was necessary in order for our system of government to work properly. He also recognized that there would be times when the citizenry would not be well informed. He wrote:

The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty....

Many of Jefferson’s statements would be considered radically right wing by today’s liberal standards. In fact, many of our founders’ ideas are attacked regularly by progressives and undermined by President Obama’s policies. The mere thought that people would be in such open opposition to the ideas of our founders would have been political heresy 25 years ago. Today, this opposition is not only open, it is in power.

Our presidential elections are no longer a national referendum on patriotically based competing ideas. They have become an up and down vote on the actual letter and intent of our nation’s very founding. The fact that we are even talking about the possible reelection of a man who has filled his administration with people who think like Van Jones is just bone chilling.

Alexis deTocqueville may have written about tyranny of the majority, but what about tyranny of the minority. How is it that we ended up with ObamaCare against the will of the people? If he was alive today and asked, he would probably observe that the judicial branch would eventually be the check on that tyranny as well in the same way by overturning it (which it is in the process of doing now). But would he or any of the other great analysts of the American democratic experiment ever foresee its demise in the complete and utter collapse of its very underpinnings and the outright ignoring and dismissal of its foundation documents?

World history shows us a disturbing pattern when examining the rise and fall of global super powers. From ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome through the British Empire, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, history is littered with stories of the rise and fall of powerful nations. The only two countries which have not succumbed to this trend are China and The United States (although The United States is showing signs that it’s next).

China is not the best example of a government which values human rights and affords its citizens a wide array of freedom, but it is an example of how a country that remains true to its historical and traditional roots is able to survive for eons in a world as volatile as ours. If America is to survive as long as China has, it too must remain true to its founding values and historical traditions.

America, though, seems more intent on following the model of ancient Rome where the empire grows to the point of complacency and decadence before losing its nature and status. N.S. Gill at About.Com The Fall of Rome writes:

Many say the Fall of Rome was an ongoing process, lasting more than a century. Since Rome still exists, it is argued that it never fell. Some prefer to say that Rome adapted rather than fell.

The scariest word in that quote is the word adapted. The Fall of America is an ongoing process, lasting more than a century. Since America will still exist if Obama is reelected to a second term, many will prefer to say that America adapted rather than fell.

The America that adapts will also lose its economic and military superpower nature and status as well. America’s founders loathed tyranny and warned against it emphatically and repeatedly. When historians look back on the 2012 election, will they mark this time in our history as confirmation that 2008 was the time when tyranny triumphed and American exceptionalism died or will they see it as a wake up call which America heeded just in the nick of time?

Liberals and statists think big government is good because it can save us from ourselves by controlling our behavior right down to the french fry we eat or the lightbulb we use. But like chemotherapy, government bureaucracy and nanny state laws make no distinction between bad cells and good cells; nor does statism cure the ill it is designed to stop. It is this scorched earth policy of regulating everything for the good of all that strangles our small businesses and eats away at the dollars we earn and the productivity that allows us to earn them.

Jay Clarke at American Thinker gives more examples of how tyranny has grown under Obama. He writes:

By definition, tyranny is the "arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power." Whether it's Congressional oversight, court orders, or the American People, Obama is well-versed in circumventing any authority that may seek to limit his acquisition of power.

Though unpopular, unwanted, and un-Constitutional, he rammed a $2-trillion healthcare bill down the throats of an unwilling American people and then defied court orders restricting its implementation. He has violated the War Powers Act in Libya and has ignored court orders regarding his moratorium on offshore drilling.

In a move worthy of any would-be tyrant, Obama has proposed illegally requiring businesses competing for government contracts to disclose their political contributions.

Clearly in violation of the 4^th Amendment, Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano applaud the TSA's warrantless groping of men, women, children, the elderly, and the infirm during airport screenings that reek of police state tactics.

The Justice Department has gone rogue too, ceasing defense of The Defense of Marriage Act and prosecution of hate crimes when the victims are white. Attorney General Eric Holder refused to prosecute the New Black Panther Party when members brandished clubs, made ethnic slurs, and threatened white voters attempting to enter the polls.

Obama's federal power-grab has expanded into suing and threatening states. He sued Arizona for daring to enforce immigration law and joined a lawsuit against Indiana's defunding of Planned Parenthood. The ATF is pressuring Montana and 7 additional states for passing the Firearms Freedom Act which restricts Federal regulation of firearms made and sold within the states' borders. Obama even threatened to declare the entire state of Texas a "no fly zone" should the Texas legislature criminalize TSA screening procedures.

As a raw, political tactic Obama has refused to secure the southern border while Americans die on American soil at the hands of criminal illegal aliens. Undaunted, lawless Obama used executive powers to enact immigration policies through the back door, bypassing Congress and the rule of law.

When Obama's Cap and Trade carbon-taxing scheme failed in Congress, he simply had the EPA declare carbon to be a toxic pollutant and open to regulation.

There are still too many in the electorate who fear the media perpetrated myths and misperceptions of what a deregulated business environment or entitlement reform would look like under a conservative president than fear the reality of skyrocketing unemployment, the destruction of the housing market and the ever growing dependence on foreign oil at the expense of our ability to create jobs, wealth and security by drilling more here at home.

Defeating Barack Obama in 2012 should not be viewed as having to chop off our leg to save our body. It should be viewed as making a difficult but rewarding change to American life similar to that of an addict who faces his addiction head on, seeks help and comes out a better more successful person. America can be like Glenn Beck or it can be like John Edwards. It has a choice.

Luckily for America, voting trends show that Americans vote their pocketbooks. In 1992, it was the economy, stupid. In 1980, Americans voted against Jimmy Carter more so than they voted for Reagan during that disastrous economy. What’s puzzling, though, is that the complicit media and uninformed citizens still believe Obama can win in 2012 despite presiding over what appears to be the beginnings of a depression. I share Newt Gingrich’s assessment that we are in a depression. The housing market is worse than it ever was during the great depression and real unemployment is anywhere between 16% - 22% depending on which economist you talk to.

Republicans should use this opportunity to renew and restore its party just as much as our nation has an opportunity to renew and restore itself. If the GOP doesn’t present a gutsy and clear contrast to what Obama stands for, the message will be muddled and the voters will go about the election as if it’s business as usual or become apathetic. It will be important that the Republican nominee articulate the conservative philosophy effectively and renew and restore the party’s platform while exciting the country about solutions that can bring an end to our economic woes.

Despite concerns about the “electability” of some of the candidates, whoever gets the GOP nomination is going to win it because they are the hardest worker, most effective campaigner and has the most energized and enthusiastic base. If It turns out to be someone the establishment is uncomfortable with, too bad. We have had over a century of leadership from elites and establishment types and look at where we are. Returning to business as usual after Obama is out is not going to fix our problems long term.

But, at the same time, regardless of whom the Republicans nominate, if the people don’t recognize Obama’s disastrous presidency as an existential threat to the future of America as we know it, it won’t matter. If Obama gets reelected, you can fold the board up and go home. The game will be over.

The Republicans will not lose the election because of who they nominate. The only way they will lose the election is if the American people allow themselves to be duped again the way they were in 2008. We may wake up the morning after the 2012 election and see Reagan-like electoral numbers or we may wake up the next morning and begin our new lives in a declining European socialist-style democracy, learning to live the way people do now in Greece.

It’s imperative that our electoral strategy should focus on educating the public on the current state of the economy and linking it to Obama’s radical agenda. Republicans should focus on defusing media myths and convincing the public to do their own research. The only way to make this sale is to make sure the American people know that the media lies.

Choosing a strong, energizing and charismatic leader that can bring the Republican Party back in line with its Reagan roots and the basics of Constitutional government is not only key to victory in 2012 but key to long term recovery and return to excellence. In the general election, the stakes will be high. Whoever defeats Obama will have to take on the daunting but feasible task of restoring America.

Ultimately, whoever wins the presidential election is going to win it because America is going to make a final choice as to which direction it wants to go in: Constitutional limited government or big government nanny state. Ronald Reagan said that given the facts the American people will make the right decision every time. Let’s hope he’s still right.

Now let’s talk about Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin Has Walked the hot coals.

We need a time tested warrior to fix our country. Don’t be fooled by the demagoguery that lurks in the Republican Party. Replacing Obama with just another Republican, or a generic Republican as the polls suggest, may end the socialism and reckless spending, but it won’t fix our systemic problems long term. Returning to business as usual means a continuation of crony capitalism – a false brand of capitalism that relies on the lobbying and the legislative process to choose winners and losers based on who you know rather than what you do. Crony capitalism exists under both traditionally Democrat and Republican systems. A truly conservative system with a libertarian flavor almost came into full existence under Ronald Reagan, but was not allowed to take root and grow past the elections of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. We need to pick it up where Reagan left off.

It will take the election of a citizen politician like Sarah Palin who has run businesses, regulatory agencies and governments in order to de-institutionalize all the nonsense we have in our system and re-institutionalize in our culture a sense that governing ourselves from the bottom up rather than the top down is the key to restoring American exceptionalism and to providing a perpetual path for growth for future generations.

It will take someone who has already been battle tested and has who survived the ridicule of the Left and the doubters in the establishment to prove beforehand that they have the courage to flip the tables and upset the apple carts that need to be upset in order to clean house so that a new philosophy and strategy can take root. It will take a spine of steel for our next president to make this happen. We can’t roll the dice on unproven candidates or those who have not walked across the coals already.

If We Fight, The Future is Bright

As we journey toward our future, we take solace in one great notion: socialism and statism is a failure. Under the regulation of liberals, our financial system collapsed and we now head more and more towards government control over our economy. Punishing, over-taxing or over-regulating honest businesses or destroying the capitalist environment in which they flourish is not the answer. If an incompetent, corrupt and insolvent government regulated the private sector into incompetency, corruption and insolvency, what makes anyone think the government is still the solution?

We must remember, many of these banks failed because of government regulation, not because of the lack thereof. Government forced them to write bad loans. We must consider how many businesses fail because they are overly regulated or because they were destroyed by ruinous legal proceedings that occurred in the grey areas and fringes of the regulatory and legal tort system. These are the techniques liberals have been using to encourage the destruction of the capitalist system since the New Deal. They now call on their messiah to finish the job.

Because of capitalism's cyclical nature, recessionary periods are viewed as prime opportunities for the destroyers to come back out of their holes and repeat the same old Keynesian failures of the past. They bring their old style socialism dressed in a new style suit. Once again, they offer no new alternatives, just recycled garbage dressed as something different.

Sarah Palin writes in her latest Facebook post "The Sugar Daddy Has Run Out of Sugar; Now We Need New Leaders":

The same “experts” who got us into this mess are now telling us that the only way out of our debt crisis is to “increase revenue,” but not by creating more jobs and therefore a larger tax base; no, they want to “increase revenue” by raising taxes on job creators who are taxed enough already! As Margaret Thatcher said, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” That’s where we are now. Hard working taxpayers have been big government’s Sugar Daddy for far too long, and now we’re out of sugar. We don’t want big government, we can’t afford it, and we are unwilling to pay for it.

The stimulus plan has failed. That flushing sound you heard in 2009 was $800 billion dollars in stimulus money going down the drain. As Mark Levin said on his radio show Friday, we pissed that money away. The next flush you hear are jobs going down the toilet.

Conservatives are optimists. We believe in the American people and confidently await the day they wake up and reject this "Obamanation." We must realize deep down inside that's where we're headed if we don't stop Obama's radical agenda with a positive and courageous message that can capture those who are soon to be disillusioned. We can optimistically tell our fellow country men that there is a correct way to do things, and if we are willing to embrace the correct way of doing things, we once again can rise to the greatness we once were.

The first step is to defeat the media. They lied to us. They gave us Obama. The next step is to be courageous. If we are willing to take the risk to go with a leader who is gutsy enough to take the system apart, renew and restore it, we can win. If we are willing to fight, our future is bright. Sarah Palin is that leader. The new movie, The Undefeated explains why.

Rob Cunningham at American Thinker nails it dead on.

The Undefeated "brilliantly serves as a modern-day case study, and clearly illustrates how our agenda-driven news media, entertainment industry and political power brokers brazenly operate, in plain view and with cold-blooded intentionality, in a tireless attempt to destroy a very decent fellow citizen. When presented with basic facts, Americans will recoil in disgust."

Despite our election loss in 2008, we take solace in the words of Ronald Reagan: "Don't get cynical because, look at yourselves and what you were willing to do and recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there that want what you want, that want it to be that way, that want it to be a shining city on the hill."

If you don’t listen to anything Sarah Palin says, listen to this one part from her Facebook note. The entire answer, yes the entire solution to our economic problems is in this one paragraph. It not only gives us the answer, it gives us the reason to be optimistic. Remember this line, go to her Facebook Page and study it, and understand why this is exactly what Ronald Reagan meant about unleashing our industrial giant when he give his inauguration speech in 1981. Sarah Palin writes:

Real hope comes from realizing how God has blessed our exceptional nation, and then doing something about it. We have been blessed with natural resources, hardworking entrepreneurs, and a Constitution that preserves the greatest form of government ever devised by man. If we develop those natural resources, allow our entrepreneurs to keep and invest more of what they earn, and adhere to the time-tested truths of our Constitution, we will prosper and endure.

It’s time to wake up, America. The binge is over. Had we had the fortitude to go through the shakes and withdrawal symptoms necessary to fix our problem three years ago, we’d be through the worst part of the pain by now. But because we kicked the can down the road, it’s only getting worse. It’s now or never. Fix it or die. The answer is common sense and it’s right in front us.

Go take people who are not yet convinced about Sarah Palin to The Undefeated this Friday. Go online and look up where it’s showing and where you can get tickets. It’s imperative that we convince Americans why Sarah Palin is our next great one and why it’s so important for her to lead us as our president.

This is not a fan club. We’re not campaigning for Sarah Palin because she looks good in a jogging suit on the cover of Newsweek. We’re campaigning for Sarah Palin because our country’s life is on the line. This election is do or die. While there are other good strong conservative candidates out there, Sarah Palin is our best and greatest hope.

Memories of the Fourth of July - 2 Years Later

-from Patrick's World USA

It's been two years since Sarah Palin resigned as Alaska's governor. It's incredible how so much has happened since then. What she has accomplished these the past two years while withstanding the most intense smear campaign ever against an American citizen is simply amazing.

Sarah Palin with son Trig, and daughter Piper holding grandson Tripp Johnston watch fireworks on 4th of July evening at a beach near Todd's parents house in Dillingham, Alaska on Sarah Palin's Alaska.

Let's look at the last two years in order to explain why Sarah Palin is extremely qualified to be president. Her work ethic is astounding. In the past two years, she has written numerous Facebook Notes which delve deeply into policy (her critics called her a lightweight two years ago and still do today). She has written two books (her critics didn't even think she read newspapers). She produced and starred in Sarah Palin's Alaska, a television series that educated America on Alaska while allowing them to get a glimpse of her and her family interacting with her state's natural beauty (her critics thought she was turning her back on Alaska). She has appeared numerous times on the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business channel. She has given speeches, many of which were done on a charitable basis or for the purpose of fundraising for some very great causes besides her own political cause.

Oh, let's not forget that in between tweets, speeches, Fox News appearances, book writing and Facebook posting, she managed to put together this thing called SarahPac and was instrumental in helping a lot of conservatives and Tea Party candidates get elected in the 2010 elections.

There is probably a lot more that I've overlooked or forgotten. But, the point is this: who is humanly capable of doing all that in two years and if someone is capable of handling that kind of a workload and accomplishing so much of what she's done in two years, wouldn't that person make a great president?

Her accomplishments clearly outshine those of Barack Obama who has made vacationing, golf and basketball his only real accomplishments outside of signing off on the killing of Osama bin Laden. Yes, I give him credit for that. It took less than an hour to complete a mission that was prepared for by the Bush Administration. What has he done with the other 1 year, 364 days and 23 hours? He has given us the disaster that is Obamacare and he has implemented policies that are destroying the American economy.

The Palin army has come a long way since two years ago. Her resignation didn't destroy her. It made her stronger. Her army didn't shrink; it grew. She is considered a top tier candidate for the presidency should she decide to throw her hat in the ring (writers note: please do, please, please). The smear campaign didn't ruin her image; it backfired into 24,000 pages of emails which demonstrated how effective a governor she was and it motivated the creation of "The Undefeated." There's egg on all faces there, lefties.

So let's party like it's January 21, 2013 this Independence Day. I hope and pray that everyone's 4th of July is not just to celebrate the past but to look to a future when we renew and restore the United States of America.

And let's also remember what it was like two years ago when I wrote about it last year :

Last year was the roughest Fourth of Julys I can ever remember.  I had my Palin shirt, my Gadsden flag and a cooler full of cold beer and good food all ready. Even though it was the beginning of the Obama years, I wasn't going to let his America - a lackluster apologetic weak excuse of a nation - interfere with my celebration of my America - the shining city on a hill. It was going to be my way of declaring Sarah Palin as my real leader and the successor in my heart to Ronald Reagan. I was at Virginia Beach when a friend of mine called me on the beach to tell me that Sarah Palin had resigned.

When I went up to the deck, Stuart Varney replayed Sarah Palin's speech on Fox News. I watched stunned as the pundits talked about a possible FBI investigation and how the frivolous ethics violations had cost her and the state of Alaska a fortune. I was alone in the wilderness. Obama was leading my country off a cliff and my leader just stepped down from her position of power. I felt like I wanted to throw up.

There was a 5 minute period during the entire time I was at my friend's condo when his son was not on the laptop, so I read everything I could about her resignation the next morning which was July 4, 2009.

Sarah Palin called her minions in off the ledge with a tweet (link no longer available - emphasis is mine): "Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again...." On her Facebook page, she wrote (emphasis is again mine):

I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!

She put her resignation speech on her Facebook page underneath the headline which included these words: "it is good, stay tuned." I read the speech and this line jumped out at me (emphasis not mine - Sarah capitalized the word TRUST):

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision - but it's no more "politics as usual".

I'm a political science guy who was taught from the textbook in college. It would have been easy to draw a conclusion that she was done. A friend told me it was her "Checkers" speech. It would have been just as easy to get off the emotional rollercoaster of being a Sarah Palin fan at that point. But she said the right words when she was talking to her fans. She was talking to us. She was talking to me. She was asking me to hang in, join her, TRUST her. And like I did before when the media lies were going un-debunked before the Palinista presence we have on the web today, I decided to listen to her.

I wrote:

Take a deep breath. There are 3 1/2 years left until the 2012 presidential election. A lot can happen. Sarah Palin holds the answer. Whether it works or not is totally up to her now. With more freedom to control her brand, her future will no longer be in the hands of an unchecked hostile media that spreads lies about her.

We will be participants in a future political science lesson that has yet to reveal its answer to us.

I deferred the future to Sarah, knowing that the only way to explain the resignation could not be done until after the fact. Now that it is after the fact, I can explain it. I also know that I was right to trust her.

I put on my Sarah Palin shirt last Fourth of July and flew that Gadsden flag that day. When someone commented on my shirt "looks like your girl's in trouble," I hid my concern and simply told him, "nah, she's just getting ready to run in 2012."

Now that the emotion and the uncertainty of last year's Fourth of July is over. Let's do this again right this time. I'm wearing the shirt again this year and this time I'm really going to enjoy it.

It's a year since Sarah resigned. Since then she has made over $12 million dollars and her PAC has donated tens of thousands to political campaigns across the country. She is a best selling author, Fox News contributor, professional speaker and a documentarian. Did I mention she's in the top tier of contenders for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012? Resignation, smesignation.

In 2010, I will shoot off my fireworks off at make believe Taliban and al Qaeda strongholds in Afghanistan. And despite my disgust at the Obama administration, I believe in the American people. I believe we will get the bum out of office. Five years from now, it will be morning in America. And kid's who weren't alive when Reagan was president will be able to graduate college and go wide-eyed into a world with unlimited potential. The economy will be cranking, the job market will be great and we will be militarily strong. The terrorists will be on the brink of collapse.

It will be morning in America again. Sarah Palin will give her "Statue of Liberty" speech and we will beam with pride and joy over our great nation and the great woman who will be leading it.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! And God bless Sarah Palin and the United States of America.