A False Majority

Every once in a while I will take the dark plunge over to the liberal Iowa blogosphere. I can’t stand to do it every day but sometimes I feel a little frisky and take the chance. One that I often find myself going to is called Bleeding Heartland. The title about makes me sick to my stomach – and then I get to the content. There are some things to be learned by going to the liberal blogs but you have to sort through the failed logic and hostility towards personal rights and responsibilities.

Yesterday’s post at Bleeding Heartland lets us into the mindset of the Democrats. The author is trying to find out what went wrong, what is to be done, and who’s to blame for their failed prevailing wage bill. She looks to Speaker Murphy and Minority Leader McCarthy for blame and doesn’t put too much blame on the Democrats who voted against the bill. I find that somewhat odd since Democrats are known for banding together and ignoring principle for the greater good – a larger majority. I would have thought the Ds would be lynching the dissenters, not blaming leadership.

But since they did, I’ll gladly take a look at that. Was it arrogance that caused Murphy and McCarthy to bring up the bills without enough votes? Are they so used to a lockstep following in their caucus that they don’t coordinate with all Ds? Or did they underestimate the anti-union sentiment in Iowa? Ding, ding, ding…I think we have a winner.

Even though our government is made up of a bunch of liberal bureaucrats, Iowans still have pride of workmanship and hold an affinity toward free market capitalism – not government mandated wages or socialism. Many of you have read the quote from McKinley Bailey (Democrat who voted against the bill), “People were very, very happy," Bailey said. "I got applause when I went in. I didn't have a single person ask me to change my vote. I feel like I represented my district. While I feel bad about letting so many of my caucus members down, I think at the end of the day, I have to represent Wright and Hamilton and Webster County. ... My constituents seem to be happy with my decision."

This is what I’ve been saying for quite a while. Sure the Ds are in control at all levels of government but it is a false majority. On the issues, Republicans still win – and will for a long time. We just have to market our message better and reorganize and strategize our campaigns. Man am I excited for 2010!

Unions and Democrats Fail

Prevailing wage bill is dead - for now! Thanks to those Democrats that voted against it and a big thank you to the Republicans for standing on principle!

It has begun

A while back I wrote about how Republicans can get their mojo back after being defeated at all levels of politics in the past few years. Of course we have to change our strategy and stand on principle but we also have to let the Democrats eat their own.

This past weekend, we did a great job of doing just that. Majority Leader McCarthy either really sucks at whipping votes or bit off a little more than he could chew with this prevailing wage legislation.

We all know the legislation is junk and the only reason it is/was being debated is to feed the union dogs. The problem for the Democrats is those dogs are eternally hungry and won’t stop until every business in Iowa is unionized.

Minority Leader Paulsen now has to jump on this opportunity by calling out the failed leadership in the Democrat Party and also highlighting a Republican opposing plan. We don’t want to get stuck into just an opposition game. We must offer alternative legislation – even though we know it won’t pass this cycle.

This would also be a good time for future Republican candidates to speak up about their thoughts on prevailing wage legislation and organized labor as a whole. This is where I ask the question, what does Bob Vander Plaats do all day? I’ve looked on his teamVP website and there are no issues discussed and no current events. If I were running for Governor for the 3rd time, I’d probably change some stuff up…I’ve been waiting for BVP to do that and have been extremely disappointed. BVP is a smart man but if he is the only candidate for governor in 2010, he really needs to step up his campaign by actually talking about specifics. A candidate doesn’t get softballs like this too often and to let it pass by without taking a swing is a big missed opportunity. It’s also a bad sign to those looking for a change in our favorite perennial gubernatorial candidate.

Prevailing Wage

Since Krusty has the status of the legislation and the Republican amendments, I thought I’d jump head first into a quick diatribe of what’s wrong with this legislature.

This legislature is nuts. Have any of you actually read the prevailing wage bill? I did. It is the height of social engineering. Obviously those in charge in the state capitol don’t believe in free market capitalism. In 2004 could you have ever imagined in 5 years our state and national governments would go socialist…err…umm…communist?

Page 1, Line 17-25: It is in the public interest that public improvements are completed by the best means and highest quality of labor reasonably available, and that workers working on public improvements be compensated according to the real value of the services they perform. It is the policy of this state that the wages of workers working on public improvements should be at least equal to the prevailing wage rates paid for similar work by responsible contractors in the community as a whole in order to accomplish all of the following…

They follow that up with a bunch of bs about community standards and well being. Seriously folks, this is the road to communism. Again I’m going to use the quote by Nikita Khrushchev, “We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.”

Does this mean I think there are those in our state legislature who believe in Communism? I don’t think so. I just think they don’t have a grasp on what Communism is and how societies gravitate toward or away from it.

We already have massive redistribution of wealth. We already tell people what they can and cannot do in their private time. We are trying to nationalize (socialize) every major institution in the nation. We have one party constantly trying to tear down the production and individualist side of our society. I mean really – we have a Marxist for a President!

Talk about having your work cut out for you. Can Republicans stave this off this election cycle? Can Republicans get this back in two years? How about four? Who’s the Iowan or national leader who is going to stand up to the liberals and lead us out of this disaster we call government?

Awesome Video!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good
The best news story I’ve seen in some time is North Dakota’s House passing a law defining life at conception. Republican Rep. Dan Ruby of Minot sponsored the legislation and worked its passage. The bill passed the North Dakota house 51-41 which is somewhat disturbing since there are 61 Republicans and 33 Democrats. The North Dakota Senate consists of 26 Republicans and 21 Democrats. I don’t know if this will pass the Senate or not but if it does it will be signed by Governor John Hoeven. He has signed similar pro-life legislation in the past.

The Bad
Yesterday, Iowa’s House approved a proposed amendment that will make three-eighths of our state’s next sales tax increase be used for natural resources. My first thought is - absolutely no sales tax increase, ever. Second, the last thing we need to do with our Department of Natural Resources is to involve politicians. If they are involved in DNR policy, you can say goodbye to any sensible hunting and fishing regulations along with the potential for crippling livestock production in this state which is still hugely reliant on the health of the ag economy. If somehow the politicians can’t get their hands on this money, it is still a bad idea. We can’t continue to raise costs on our citizens. When was the last time you heard a politician in power have a plan to cut taxes and regulations?

The Ugly
California is beyond broke. Currently, moderate Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state is $42 billion shy of covering their expenses. Since the budget needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority, Republicans actually have to be consulted for the bill to pass. Last night the Republicans ousted their Senate Minority Leader, Dave Cogdill, for his tax raising negotiations with Democrats. They replaced Cogdill with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth is an anti-tax conservative from the right leaning 36th Senate District. Hollingsworth doesn’t want a tax increase passed but apparently hasn’t offered an alternative. By the way, the plan Democrats and Gov. Schwarzenegger are proposing – raises taxes by $14 billion - cuts spending by $16 billion, and increases the state’s debt by $10 billion. Some of the taxes they want to raise are increasing the gas tax by 12 cents and increasing vehicle license fees from 0.65 percent to 1.15 percent, and finally they want to raise the sales tax rate from 7.25 to 8.25 percent. Sound a little familiar? My philosophy in life so far is to do the exact opposite of whatever California’s doing. Hopefully our state legislators feel the same.

This reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago where an employee (government) went to his boss (taxpayer) one day to ask for a raise because he and his wife just found out they were expecting. The conversation went something like this.

Government: I really need a raise. See I just found out my transmission is going out of my car, my roof is caving in, and my wife is pregnant, again…

Taxpayer: Well government, I didn’t screw your wife.

This simple, somewhat crude, little story proves a great point. The employee felt he deserved a raise just because his living costs were going up. Obviously the boss didn’t think the employee was going to make more money for him just because his wife is pregnant. The government continues to offer shoddier service while asking for more money…and trust. This can’t continue in California or the rest of the country. Maybe government should just quit getting knocked up!

Iowa Legislature – Failing Majorities

So while I’m driving to work this morning I hear on the radio all the issues the legislature is either debating now or will be taking up. It about makes me sick to my stomach.

First, unions will be the downfall of Iowa’s businesses. There is no way we can compete with surrounding states if unions get their way. This prevailing wage baloney is enough to make smoke come out my ears. On WHO Radio they played audio of a businessman who says his union company can’t compete with nonunion companies that don’t offer pensions, vacation days, holidays, and sick leave. I suppose the average listener may have thought that made sense but it is a line of BS. Do any of you work a nonunion full-time job without any of the aforementioned benefits? If so, why? There are plenty of nonunion places to work that offer great benefits and you don’t have to put up with the union bosses and fees.

Then the next issue mentioned is the gas tax increase. I’ve covered this before on this blog so I won’t go into great detail but at a time of substantial economic challenges, the last thing we need to do is increase taxes on anybody. This isn’t just a tax on the family driving to the in-laws; this is a tax on businesses. Make your cuts where excessive spending is occurring and shift that money to our roads.

Then I do hear some good news. Our fine State Auditor, Dave Vaudt, has gone through Culver’s budget line-by-line and found Culver and the Democrats aren’t being truthful about decreasing state spending. Vaudt has found out the proposed budget will only cut spending by $43 million - not the $400 million dollars Culver spouted to the press. Culver is just simply incompetent and is the last guy we need during a time of distress.

Our most important right

Last month, the County Attorney in Linn County (Cedar Rapids) charged 12 voters with election misconduct, a Class D felony carrying a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. The Linn County Auditor is also investigating 46 others who are believed to have given a false address when they registered to vote on Election Day.

Gotta love that same day registration given to us by Chester and the Democrats.

I do tip my hat to the Linn County folks for actually investigating and getting charges filed for voter fraud but why stop there? At least a third of our vote is cast before Election Day in the form of early voting at satellite locations or via absentee ballots. We have no possibly way of finding all the fraud in the system but we can make examples out of those we do catch. Since Secretary of State Michael Mauro doesn’t want anything to do with finding voter fraud, Republicans need to take on the task.

I’ve heard rumbles of Congressman King and Rep. Paulson diving into investigations of their own. I don’t know if either have the resources to do a full scale investigation into the matter but hope they can. Someone has to do it.

Democrats not only won’t investigate voter fraud, they actually invite it and institute policy that will only make fraud easier. They say they want to make voting easy. We should make it our mission to protect the one man/one vote system. The best step toward achieving that standard intended by our Founding Fathers is requiring a picture I.D. and purging the list of fraudulent registrants.

So Republican Party of Iowa, I have two missions for you this election cycle. First, investigate voter fraud at the largest scale possible and second, sign up as many new Republican voters as possible. We are still at a 100,000 voter registration disadvantage before you factor in rampant fraud the majority party not only ignores, they promote!

Obama Wants Control of the Census

With all media outlets focusing on the stimulus bill, news of Obama’s move to take over the U.S. Census is almost nonexistent. For those of you who haven’t heard about this, Obama wants the Census Director to report directly to Whitehouse Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel – not the Director of the Department of Commerce, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg.

This really burns me. We all know Obama is one of the most political presidents this country has had but this is completely ridiculous. If Obama gets a hold of the census, we can count on losing more Republican seats in redistricting in 2010 and the Democrats gaining seats. The census results are also used for federal and state funding. Is there anybody out there who really believes Obama won’t do all he can to send more money to those who will most likely vote for a Democrat. Tell me that’s not profiling.

We also have this underlying problem with the census and redistricting. Currently we count every man, woman, and child no matter if they are U.S. citizens or not. So with estimates of 20 million illegals in this country, with most of them congregated in our border states, places like California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, all will gain Congressional seats while our central, traditionally more Republican states will lose seats.

The best example of this is Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s Congressional District in California. The vote totals for the last two non-presidential elections were 66,847 in 2002 and 75,619 in 2006. In contrast, Rep. Tom Latham’s Congressional District vote totals were 210,774 in 2002 and 218,620 in 2006. So each voter in Sanchez’s district has three times the representation of a voter in Latham’s district.

Most of us have read about Iowa losing a Congressional District in 2010. We would not lose a district if illegal immigrants weren’t counted in the census. So we will potentially lose a Latham or King and gain another Sanchez or Barbara Lee. And that is without Obama’s influence on the process.

I think the only good thing that can come from Obama’s blatant political power grabs may be getting the public’s attention and turn the tidal wave in the Republicans’ favor.

This will take a massive effort just like the anti-amnesty effort that shut down the switchboards in the US Congress. It’s our country. We need to regain control.

A Conservative Governor

After yesterday’s news cycle focusing on news of Congressman Steve King mulling a bid for governor, I starting thinking how much better off this state would be with a true conservative at the throne. I’m not talking about if Steve King were Governor how everything would change – because we know that isn’t possible. What I’m talking about is the junk the Democrats wouldn’t be able to do and how much the political arena would change with a guy like King holding the reigns.

There wouldn’t be any talk of Fair Share or unions getting any more power. We wouldn’t have to worry about the left eroding the sanctity of life and marriage. Illegal immigrants would be dealt with swiftly and appropriately while at the same time businesses would be offered a friendlier climate. All departments would offer materials in English and only English, saving taxpayers’ dollars. We would have a crop of conservative judges and other appointees established for decades to come. Iowa would finally have a realistic and rational approach to farms and rural communities. Four-lane Highway 20 would be completed. Wasteful and unnecessary spending would be all but eliminated.

There are so many more advantages that could be listed. I’m getting all excited just thinking about it. What are some things you’d expect to be changed with a true conservative as our Governor?

King for Governor?

In yesterday’s taping of Iowa Press, Congressman Steve King seemed to have floated the possibility of running for governor in 2010 – at least that is what all the headlines are saying. When you actually read the article, King just said what most politicians say when asked about running for higher office. He basically said he isn’t ruling it out.

The headline for the Des Moines Register is “Citing 'duty,' King weighs run for governor.” When you read the actual quote in the article you will see that King has given that answer before numerous times. King said, “"There's a duty for me, I think; I've made no decisions….it would be constructive for me at this point to say that the most important job right now is to bring together and reunify the Republican Party in this state."

I think the best quote from Cong. King I’ve seen about a possible run for higher office is in the Spencer Daily Reporter. In March of 2008 King was asked if he had thought about running for governor in 2010. King responded, “That's always a hard thing. If I would say 'no,' then I would preclude an opportunity that might emerge at some point between now and 2010. If I said I'm thinking about it, then it starts the rumor mill churning along. I can just give it to you the way it is, the way my wife understands it -- and actually, she doesn't ask me about this: I don't get out of bed in the morning thinking about it. I don't go to bed at night thinking about it and I'm not planning my strategic moves with that in mind."

So you can either believe him or not. But there is no good answer unless King absolutely doesn’t want to run for Governor. But if there is any chance, he must say that it is a possibility.

What does it mean for Iowa if he does run? Or if he doesn’t? Sound off in the comments. Let’s get the discussion started.

The Iowa Department of Education

Last week I briefly discussed the huge amount of cash sucked up for education in Iowa. Well that got me digging a little deeper into our tax dollars at work. There is a really nifty webpage that allows us to see our state employee salaries. I’m sure there are potentially thousands of blog articles hidden in the pages of that website but I’ll start with my favorite, the Department of Education.

According the Iowa Department of Education’s website, the following is basically what the Department does.

“The Iowa Department of Education (the Department) works with the Iowa State Board of Education (State Board) to provide oversight, supervision, and support for the state education system that includes public elementary and secondary schools, nonpublic schools that receive state accreditation, area education agencies (AEAs), community colleges, and teacher preparation programs.”

So just to get this straight - at no point do they actually teach a child anything. Now that we all know what they do (or don’t do), we can take a second to look at the amount of money we waste in wages.

First, there are around 700 employees of the Iowa Dept. of Education. That is 700 employees to provide oversight, supervision, and support. The total spent in wages to these 700 employees is just over $38.4 million dollars. The average yearly salary is $54,000. For every K-12 pupil, we spend $80 on a Dept. of Education bureaucrat. Another way to look at is for each teacher in Iowa we spend $1,166 on a Dept. of Education bureaucrat. Oh, and remember, they don’t produce anything.

Please don’t get me wrong. I do think education is one of the most important areas we need to focus on as a civilization. My problem is, increased government involvement has only hurt education over the years. The more money we dump into education, the more money goes to government bureaucrats and needless administration. When you couple these statistics with the statistics in my previous article, it really makes your blood boil. The cost of education as ordered and administered in Iowa presently is absolutely absurd and must be slashed.

Obviously more money going into a failed system hasn’t been working. It is time our Republican gubernatorial candidates start talking about meaningful ways to cut the size of government – and our taxes. Hopefully one of them will take on the Department of Education.

Harkin to HHS?

With rumors swirling regarding Iowa’s Junior Senator being considered as a possible replacement for Tax-Dodging Daschle as Obama’s Secretary of HHS nominee, joy bubbles in my veins.

Though Harkin just won re-election, a role in Obama’s administration could offer him the graceful exit he wants for his Senate career and leave his successor’s appointment in the hands of Governor Culver who’s ever malleable in his hands. Who would Culver appoint? Himself? Braley? Gronstal?

The end result? We can certainly expect another D to serve with Senator Grassley, however, they will not have Harkin’s pocketbook, fundraising ability, team, or entrenched support which sadly includes deluded Rs who see dollar signs whenever they see his face.

Let’s hope Harkin gets the nod from Obama and we get the chance to have a heck of a Senate race in five years.

Alleluia. Amen.

King Takes on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

This is classic Congressman Steve King. RFK tries to insult King and all of Iowa and King fires right back. This is definitely worth watching to the end. For those not familiar with RFK, you can read up on him here.

Government never ceases to amaze me...

Stimulus Packages - Apparently the first request for state stimulus money is for a freaking bike trail from Waukee to Perry and back. The trail has a price tag for the state of $2.1 million. Supporters say it will provide jobs and recreation. This is ridiculous. Yep – it will provide a few jobs while it is built but has no long term economic payback - unless we have the nation’s first toll bike trail. Who out there has the gall to say this is a good idea? If we are going to try to spend ourselves into prosperity, at least build roads and infrastructure to make us more efficient. How about fourlaning every road we can.

Increasing the Gas Tax - The gas tax increase is another no-brainer. First, there should be no talk of increasing taxes during an economic slowdown. Second, there should be no Republican ever talking about raising taxes (see our platform). Third, if we all agree we need good roads, cut a department and shift the money from there. I’ll start with the Department of Education.

Speaking of cutting the Department of Education, here are some figures that should make you cringe. In 2008, in public schools, Iowa taxpayers spent $7,480 per pupil on average ($6,760 taxes, $720 local option sales tax). That is a total of $3.6 billion. So if your daughter has a class of 30, our state tax dollars pump $222,000 into that classroom. State universities are even worse. In 2008, our state tax dollars forked over almost $12,000 per college student. Doing the math on that really makes it hard to cheer for the Hawkeyes. A class of 300 students adds up to $3.6 million. If you add tuition into the bill it comes out to $5.49 million just for that class of 300. This isn’t taking into account tax dollars for research or hospitals or the millions of dollars in private donations to our colleges.

Freezing Legislative Salaries – An Iowa legislator makes $25,000 per year. Most of you know the hours and headache involved in being an elected official. For those of you who don’t, imagine a business owner working everyday from 7am-9pm and also working on the weekend. And then wake up and read a negative article about yourself in the Sunday edition of the Des Moines Register. Would any business owner in his right mind ever do that? I say we increase the salary of our elected officials to something respectful. In doing so, we may actually get some younger folks in there who don’t have 1,000 acres of farm ground paying their way through. Oh yeah, and we might get some better ideas. I’m thinking $40,000 might get us close.

And finally, Rep. Rod Roberts, Republican from Carroll, is talking about a possible run for Governor. Roberts is a fiscal conservative and somewhat socially conservative. He isn’t the type of candidate who talks about social issues or even a candidate who will really get you fired up. He is levelheaded and respected by those who know him. His addition to the Republican field will definitely make an impact.

Sioux City Council Passes Traditional Marriage Resolution

Monday in Sioux City the city council passed a resolution defining marriage between a man and a woman. I wrote about this a few months ago and pointed out that Dave Ferris was the deciding vote to table the discussion until an attorney general could take a look at the resolution.

Just when I was starting to think western Iowa may be shifting to the left, they do something great. As many of you know, Sioux City is getting more and more left-leaning every day. This is a good move by the council and a great example of leading by conviction and character by Ferris.

Ferris commented today about his position change, saying, “I have an obligation to my faith. … My faith is more important than being politically correct. When I die, I have to answer to someone who is more important to me than an editor writer (insert liberal Sioux City Journal here) or blogger. … We know we are being aggressively lobbied to change the definition of marriage.”

Back in December I wrote how conservatives haven’t been able to count on Ferris lately. I don’t know why Ferris didn’t recognize his faith back then but I’m glad he does now. Thank you, Dave!

I also want to thank Councilman Brent Hoffman for introducing the resolution and Councilman Aaron Rochester who voted for the measure. I suggest contacting the council and voicing your support for their leadership. I’m sure they are getting plenty of heat by the gay lobby. You may email them at ccouncil@sioux-city.org.

Republicans Under Democrat Control

After last week’s news of Republicans in the U.S. House holding lockstep against the socialist bailout bill, I began to get a little teary eyed with pride. That is the first time in a very long time all Republicans held together on pretty much anything.

Now the Senate is taking up the legislation and Republicans there are starting to voice strong concerns on the basic premise of the legislation. Turns out since the last election, Republicans are starting to realize these bailouts are socialist and just new ways for the government to get a bigger slice of the pie. Where were these folks last October and what effects would good strong Republican leadership have had on the 2008 election?

I know now isn’t the time for talking about Republicans in the majority or at least with a Republican in the Governor’s office or White House, but why do we scrap our platform and principles whenever we get any of the power?

But for the meantime, these are good signs for things to come. The first step for anyone in the minority is good opposition to bad bills. The second step is to offer good alternatives. Republicans have always had a hard time offering good alternatives. I hope this time we do a little better.

Michael Steele is now our new national chairman.

Michael Steele first jumped into the national spotlight in his run for U.S. Senate against Ben Cardin. I remember at the time I was very impressed with his creativity in his ads and rhetoric. They are definately worth watching again. Steele ended up losing that election by 9 percent.

Krusty has the possible political ramifications from Steele’s victory today. A word of caution, don’t read into the comments too much. There are some angry folks with ulterior motives posting some derogatory stuff. The million dollar question for Iowans is will we keep the first in the nation status. I don’t think anybody but Steele knows right now – but it is definitely something to keep our eyes on.

So now that we have all major Republican Party elections over with, what was the best outcome and what was the worst? I don’t know that any of us will be able to answer that right now but so far it looks pretty good all around. Out state legislative leadership is doing well, our RPI Chairman seems to be taking it very seriously, we finally had lockstep Republican opposition in the U.S. House, and we have a likeable, memorable National Chairman.

I’m feeling better and better about the future of our Party and our country!

True Leadership

A couple days ago Rush Limbaugh released an op-ed about Obama’s stimulus plan. As usual Rush delivered a simple, logical, conservative answer to our economic slowdown. But he didn't stop there. Rush challenged the reader to question Obama’s policies and politics - two points every national Republican should do with each thought.

The current debate in the cable news networks is whether or not Rush is the leader of the GOP. I think this op-ed may answer that question. McConnell and Boehner have had weeks to conjure up a response like this. Instead Boehner says this.

I've pasted Rush’s article here. Please take a look.

My Bipartisan Stimulus
Let's cut taxes, as I want, and spend more, as Obama would like.

By RUSH LIMBAUGH

There's a serious debate in this country as to how best to end the recession. The average recession will last five to 11 months; the average recovery will last six years. Recessions will end on their own if they're left alone. What can make the recession worse is the wrong kind of government intervention.

I believe the wrong kind is precisely what President Barack Obama has proposed. I don't believe his is a "stimulus plan" at all -- I don't think it stimulates anything but the Democratic Party. This "porkulus" bill is designed to repair the Democratic Party's power losses from the 1990s forward, and to cement the party's majority power for decades.

Keynesian economists believe government spending on "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects -- schools, roads, bridges -- is the best way to stimulate our staggering economy. Supply-side economists make an equally persuasive case that tax cuts are the surest and quickest way to create permanent jobs and cause an economy to rebound. That happened under JFK, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. We know that when tax rates are cut in a recession, it brings an economy back.

Recent polling indicates that the American people are in favor of both approaches.

Notwithstanding the media blitz in support of the Obama stimulus plan, most Americans, according to a new Rasmussen poll, are skeptical. Rasmussen finds that 59% fear that Congress and the president will increase government spending too much. Only 17% worry they will cut taxes too much. Since the American people are not certain that the Obama stimulus plan is the way to go, it seems to me there's an opportunity for genuine compromise. At the same time, we can garner evidence on how to deal with future recessions, so every occurrence will no longer become a matter of partisan debate.

Congress is currently haggling over how to spend $900 billion generated by American taxpayers in the private sector. (It's important to remember that it's the people's money, not Washington's.) In a Jan. 23 meeting between President Obama and Republican leaders, Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.) proposed a moderate tax cut plan. President Obama responded, "I won. I'm going to trump you on that."

Yes, elections have consequences. But where's the bipartisanship, Mr. Obama? This does not have to be a divisive issue. My proposal is a genuine compromise.

Fifty-three percent of American voters voted for Barack Obama; 46% voted for John McCain, and 1% voted for wackos. Give that 1% to President Obama. Let's say the vote was 54% to 46%. As a way to bring the country together and at the same time determine the most effective way to deal with recessions, under the Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan of 2009: 54% of the $900 billion -- $486 billion -- will be spent on infrastructure and pork as defined by Mr. Obama and the Democrats; 46% -- $414 billion -- will be directed toward tax cuts, as determined by me.

Then we compare. We see which stimulus actually works. This is bipartisanship! It would satisfy the American people's wishes, as polls currently note; and it would also serve as a measurable test as to which approach best stimulates job growth.

I say, cut the U.S. corporate tax rate -- at 35%, among the highest of all industrialized nations -- in half. Suspend the capital gains tax for a year to incentivize new investment, after which it would be reimposed at 10%. Then get out of the way! Once Wall Street starts ticking up 500 points a day, the rest of the private sector will follow. There's no reason to tell the American people their future is bleak. There's no reason, as the administration is doing, to depress their hopes. There's no reason to insist that recovery can't happen quickly, because it can.

In this new era of responsibility, let's use both Keynesians and supply-siders to responsibly determine which theory best stimulates our economy -- and if elements of both work, so much the better. The American people are made up of Republicans, Democrats, independents and moderates, but our economy doesn't know the difference. This is about jobs now.

The economic crisis is an opportunity to unify people, if we set aside the politics. The leader of the Democrats and the leader of the Republicans (me, according to Mr. Obama) can get it done. This will have the overwhelming support of the American people. Let's stop the acrimony. Let's start solving our problems, together. Why wait one more day?

Obama Chooses Arabs Over Americans

Pres. Obama didn’t choose ABC, NBC, CBS, or even CNN for his first official interview as leader of the free world. Nope, he chose Al-Arabiya, an Arabic network based out of Dubai. You may read one of the articles by clicking here.

Now I realize that might not seem like a big deal but if you remember back in March of 2008 where King (and others) brought up Obama’s middle name and got bashed by Obama, McCain, the Register, Sioux City Journal, and most national news stations for even thinking about Obama’s Muslim heritage. Then last week Obama used his middle name while being sworn in (while no other politician could use it during the campaign) and now he chooses an Arabic station to conduct his first official interview…unbelievable.

And finally, after reading the interview, doesn’t it seem like Obama completely forgets about 911?