Good government will not come from bad people, it will not come from cruel people, and it will not come from foolish people. Our government will never be better than we are; and I have to say, there are a lot of bad, cruel, and foolish people out there, with their mouths open and their minds closed. Spend a few hours with the news (if you can stomach it) and you’ll see what I’m talking about – we’re getting what we deserve.
I am perfectly happy to listen to reasonable debates for and against changing the definition of marriage to include homosexual relationships. What I am not willing to tolerate is gay-bashing or people bashing the Christian Church. I am perfectly happy to listen to reasonable debates about systemic political and theological problems in Africa and the Near East. What I am not willing to tolerate is Islamophobia or Islamophobiaphobia (the irrational fear of the fear of Islam).
Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen Republicans bashing the ticket (as if this ticket was the lesser of two evils). It isn’t. I’ve seen a paid staffer of one statewide nominee bashing another Republican statewide nominee, but screaming from the top of her lungs that if you don’t show up to vote for one candidate, at least show up to vote for the other. I’ve seen people bashing all Democrats as if all Democrats are prone to Antifa-violence. I’ve seen people bashing Catholics and the Pope. I’ve seen people bashing Millennials.
Aren’t we tired yet?
Listen – do you know how we win elections and establish good policy? We find the best candidates we can and we put them through a primary. Then, we work within our communities by showing up to events, knocking doors, and making phone calls. We drum up support for the ticket. We make that support visibly loud and clear. Then we raise money off that excitement. Then we spend that money on political advertising and GOTV. Then we all show up at our precincts and we promote our Republican ticket. They get elected. Then we pressure them to keep their promises and stay true to their campaign message. We pressure them to work with the General Assembly. At the federal level, we pressure them to work with Congress or with the President. We save the data. We start over again.
If at any point we fail to do this – if we spend more time barking at each other or spewing hate on Facebook and Twitter than we do productively working to build a strong and conservative Republican Party, then the enthusiasm fades and the money goes away. Who wants to donate to a Republican Party engaged in a nasty war within itself? A war where none of the sides respect any of the others?
I’ve wanted to see a more conservative government for ten years. I’ve stood by the conservative movement as we’ve worked our fingers to the bone for change within the party. What did we learn from our failures?
We shouldn’t have been trying to destroy the party we wanted to change. We shouldn’t have been hating the party we wanted to change. We shouldn’t have created an image of conservatives as a class of angry old white men. We shouldn’t have tolerated people who quietly or vocally sympathized with White Nationalism and White-Identity-Politics.
Most of you are fantastic – but I know some of you are just as guilty as I am of turning a blind eye to the morality of the men and women standing next to us in our fight against “the establishment.” That’s right – I wanted to win. But what the hell did I win?
Good Governance starts with us, with our relationships with one another, with our respect for one another, and with our tolerance for one another. Good Governance starts with putting aside our pride and recognizing that big tents aren’t myopic little echo chambers like the ones we’ve built on Facebook and Twitter. Good Governance starts with dialogue, with a handshake after a lost election, and with our commitment to Federalism, to Capitalism, and to Republicanism. That is the bare bones of the Republican Identity. We can build around each other from there – from this point of common denominators.
You know…we all tolerate too much wretched behavior on social media. I know I’ve looked for alternatives to Facebook and Twitter out of a desire to get away from the mean-spirited and hateful rhetoric. Look, the Democrats have all the problems of the Republican Party and then some – but I’m reaching the end of my rope.
We have an election on November 7th. We need to get working on promoting Ed Gillespie, Jill Vogel, John Adams and all of our Republican Delegates. These are the only people standing between us and higher taxes, more regulations, and judicial activism. These are your best friends right now. For those who want to whine about our candidates, save your breath. Viciousness doesn’t win elections. Crudeness doesn’t win elections. Offending Catholics, Homosexuals, Hispanics (whatever that means), Muslims, Jews, Moderates and Independents doesn’t win elections. Being mean doesn’t work in politics.
You know what wins elections?
Money does. Organization does. Grassroots effort does. Kindness does. Optimism does. Intellectual honesty does. Commitment to core-principles does. Many of us are so committed to core-principles that we’ve forgotten that a handful of purists never changed the world for the better.
We all need to join our Republican committees, work county-events, knock doors, make phone calls, donate money, and for the love of God……behave with some self-respect on social media. We want to change the world for the better…and we’re going to need friends, neighbors, and allies. I can’t think of a good reason why we can’t be these things to one another.
I’ve been reading the blogs. Monuments…Racism…Antifa…History. We’re focusing on the wrong things. We’re letting Democrats and White Nationalists control our own agenda. We need good government that works to create an economic environment that is good for business, that funds our local governments and our school districts and promotes common-sense public policies there, and that looks to stimulate growth instead of simply punishing wealth.
This is a come-to-Jesus article. We need to refocus. Those that can’t – well, maybe we shouldn’t have been letting them distract us in the first place.
143 comments
All this bickering, yet I cannot get a response to a practical question. What are our best points of emphasis when we talk to our friend and neighbors about why they should vote Gillespie?
I want to know Ed’s policy on Executive order 24?
What is this order about?
It is v because of JLARC 427 and the fact that building contractors 1099 illegal aliens and others even though they do not have a contractor’s license , a VEC Account of Workers Comp for their illegal employees.
please read this story posted Feb 2015 then look a VOSHA/DOLI Policy change July 2015. They notify DPOR ,Dept. of Commerce , Dept of Taxation and I believe the VEC when a violation is issued to a unlicensed contractor , the licensed contractor is up for investegation.
This story broke the ice Michelle Malkin retweeted this story to over 800,000 followers.
http://watchdog.org/202012/subcontractors-shadow-economy
Well… he’s not Northam.
And, according to his commercials, he had jobs as a teenager. Also, according to his commercials, he would deport “illegals who have committed crimes” but he doesn’t seem to know that it is against the law to be in the US illegally so I am pretty sure he just means illegals who have committed additional crimes like rape and murder. Other than that, I got nothing.
Now I am going to beg. How do i sell my friends and neighbors on the Gillespie candidacy? I am trying to be positive. What are his strong points?
He’s a Republican and will sign and not veto legislation passed by bold conservatives.
So what is Mr. Gillespie’s message? What are some positions we should highlight to persuade our neighbors to vote for him?
Blatantly stolen from Ace of Spades (hat tip Misanthropic Humanitarian). This is what the left thinks of us and no amount of throwing away the first amendment with both hand to appease them will change that.
I am excited about Jill Vogel. She strikes me as having the right positions on the issues, while also making a good presentation of them. What I have heard from Adams is good, too. What is Mr. Gillespie’s message? I would really like to know what his strengths are and what he focuses on.
Excellent article! I couldn’t agree more. Whenever you don’t like the candidates, remember who the alternatives are. If the candidate isn’t conservative enough, remember that the Democrat is even less conservative and vote for the one closest to your values. No candidate is likely to be what you consider the perfect candidate. And if he’s perfect for you, he may be too-liberal or too-conservative or too-something for me.
The most important thing to do is to vote. Staying home in order to protest doesn’t make the next candidate closer to your values, so it accomplishes nothing. So vote – and make it a priority. Voting by absentee ballot (or “in person absentee” as we call early voting) is now available for the flimsiest of reasons so that almost everyone can qualify. If you can, vote early to be certain that you get to the polls.
Staying home elects democrats. The enthusiasm is on their side this election, and they will win if we Republicans are too lazy to get ourselves to the polls. We don’t need 6 more years of state government run by democrats. We also don’t need the legislature to turn blue. The legislature is the only thing that stopped McAuliffe from some of his worst ideas.
Very true, well put, and with this I take the first step in the interest of civility and progress: I apologize for my approach to all of you, wishing it had not offended you so, and explain without excuse that I came here to promote civility without practicing it in much the same way a drill sergeant promotes democracy without practicing it. It was intended as a provocative wake-up call to allow you to see what others see when they arrive and are greeted by the most extreme amongst you.
I wrote nothing I do not believe, but I put it in your face like a mirror, and I did so on the advice of those who sent me here for a look-see at the divisive forces within. It was intended as a kind of test, and it worked.
Wake up. Come to Jesus. SBT is correct here and we can only hope you stop letting your fringe define your center. It’s a losing strategy, a lowest-common denominator race to the bottom, and it has not only begun but is in full swing on the right. Whatever happens ahead, reverse this course and recover. The times demand a healthy conservative voice that is increasingly drowned out by Hate that manifests itself in anger with Republican legislators and leaders, most of whom have given everything they have as agents of constructive change, whether you agree with them or not.
Example: Warmac counsels the American Party, aka the Know Nothing movement, and expresses disgust with “every Republican legislator.” You cannot possibly defend this as agency of constructive change. It is the road to ruin for every one of you who think yourselves “Bull Elephants.”
Example: AmyH is ready to approve whatever Warmac says, a Greek chorus of approval, just as unhealthy as sycophantically supporting a divisive POTUS or actually suggesting that because antifa happens on state or local soil it is inherently a state/local issue and not a matter for the FBI. Fortunately, desegregation was seen for what it was: A federal issue.
Example: Their buddy “bob” declares respect for private, religious mosques as “morons.” Jim Portugal claims there is only one truth and one version of the bible. Really? This is religious tolerance?
Rave on. Reap what you sow. SBT says wake up and I agree. You have nothing to lose but your hate and everything to gain with progress.
Both the right and the left are racing to the extremes. It doesn’t bode well for the country or for any kind of working relationship in Congress. I fear nothing will be accomplished until one side or the other holds a super-majority and the White House, and we will then see extremism forced down the throat of the other side. We have forgotten that moderation is the key.
My personal views are very conservative. But I recognize that not everyone holds the same views. Our government requires compromise, which has recently become anathema to many.
Republican Party is a big tent. When it disappoints us, we need to figure out how to help it change. Luckily, it’s the burn it to the grounders who are staying home and will ultimately continue their record of failure.
Troll.
You prove my point with every post and rarely disappoint.
After your pathetic attempt to doxx me with matters of public record, known to most Republicans in my area, it is hard to take you seriously.
I watched, he didn’t. You asked if he was a lawyer, he asked if you were a criminal. He looked it up, posted the link, made reference to it and moved on. I doubt if you hadn’t asked him if it would’ve come up at all. It certainly didn’t seem he initiated that encounter and showed little proclivity for prolonging it beyond your taunting him and calling him a coward. It seemed he recited to you a classic no contact order for clarity and withdrew completely. Frankly I’d be more careful if I were you, though I must confess that I admire your resilience, persistence and ability to pick yourself up from what must’ve felt like rock bottom in your life. Nothing defines character more than picking yourself up. Bravo.
I don’t see it as insult. Either he is a lawyer, or he is not. He then went on to try to discredit me with the fact that 8 or 9 years ago I was convicted of traffic offense. I make no secret of it. Perhaps he wanted to shut me down.
Agreed, not an insult, but personal not issue-based inquiry nonetheless. I do not perceive any attempt to shut you down, so to speak. Simply an equitable exchange that went awry. He withdrew almost immediately, which was appropriate under the circumstances and nothing further.
In any case, it had nothing to do with the issue I was raising, which was the role of the VSP as an assisting agency. My view on the C-ville mess is that there were plenty of officers there, but were deployed horribly.
Also, sorry, I am an old man and had no idea what is “doxx” but now that I know I must observe he posted only two news links and did not post your address, phone number, bar card number, etc, which is apparently a “doxx.”
I suggest this kindly: Reread RPCs, remember you are always “on” and be careful with words and impulse control. You are clearly working hard and do not need the grief that might’ve followed the incident. Enough said. Balance. Persistence. Grace. Class.
I could not possibly agree more with a TBE opinion piece than I do this one. It is spot on.
Those who think I attack without message or purpose would do well to read this piece twice.
Focus on its every word. There are code phrases within. Take them to heart, if you still have one.
Yet another “the ticket sucks but vote for it anyway” article.
I guess we’ll probably see several dozen more of these between now and the election.
The ticket doesn’t suck.
So how do we advocate for the Gillespie candidacy? What are his strong points? It seems this is a unifying question. If my neighbor is undecided, how do I convince him or her?
I have to respectfully disagree. I think Vogel is a fine candidate, and Adams is to be commended for taking on a herculean task. I am not sure what Gillespie’s message is, but I am sure someone here will tell us how we can persuade voters he is the man for the job.
SBT speakers of Good Goverance.
Just Sunday on this same site a story by a young pup SBT claimed it to be a work of art. The young pup cried to listen to their stories YET when I started to bring fort my story he redirected the issue to hair braiding.
If a cause reaches out to the public for concerns and in the same breath shuts you down one may have to consider their unexpired motives.
I believe in good Governing that means running the Goverment properly , not overreach nor underreach.
This story I write is about two authors who are careless about their words and could care even less about *good governance*.
Two examples;
Republican Governor McDonnell
allowed illegal inns and *Va.licensed Contractors* to violate Va. Laws.
These same laws the ignorant Governor would not enforce under his power have now created some enforcement by Democrat Governor McAuliffe through Executive order #24.
Warmacc999 had a pig in a fence story the other day.So true especially to illegal immigration.
The laws (fence) to keep illegal immigrants and others from working *illegally* in Va ‘s Construction Industry have been in place for YEARS. We must stop allowing Republicans like McDonnell, SBT and young pup Cody to open the fence by talking about fiction lime Occupational hairbraiding.
yes Republicans want illegal immigration not legal employers or employment.
Challenge to SBT and Cody answer to this form of piss poor Governance
http://watchdog.org/202012/subcontractors-shadow-economy
The State took my licensing fees.
DPOR ran a 2.9 Million Dollar Surplus the same calendar year 200 violations issued to unlicensed contractors in my area alone , NO investegations.
Those hair braid chasing young wippnersnappers are not yet up for the challenges in leadership.
As much as I like you, I cannot allow to pass uncontested your call for artificial barriers to markets.
Most professional licensing and certifications is just this and has crossed the line to being declared “private property” now at issue as assets in marital dissolution matters.
Regardless of your views, which are of course valid as yours, the average conservative sees their real estate as theirs to rent, lease or AbirBNB.
If Warmac’s story made any sense we’d use it to kettle antifa. Clearly this has become an issue for the feds, not states and localities, a matter about which AmyH needs an education.
Sorry Mac, I am not speaking of inns but illegal commerce.
I do not believe licensing is intellectual property but a permit issued by the state to hold you compliant to the many laws the effect your business or the effects your business has on our state.
Mac,
Statute 54.1-1100 is my law.
This requires anyone wishing to perform building contracting to have a license.
Within this law is *Prohibited Acts*. One of the prohibited acts are Contracting with an unlicensed contractor.
Now out of these 200 Violations issued to those unlicensed contractors were also detected by The VEC that same year? The VEC audited some of the same licensed contractors that had employeed/subcontracted work to without a license.
More importantly those 200 violations issued to unlicensed contractors had no Va. Employment Commission Account. The VEC classified to see unlicensed contractors as bona-fide independent contractors.
Mac, At this point it is not the VEC job to regulate contractors that responsibility is beholden to DPOR.
The VEC should not be deregulating Statute
54.1-1100.
You believe that my license allows me to circumnavigate the Va. Employment Compensation Act, prohibited acts section of Statute 54.1-1100 by Subcontracting any or all aspects of my projects to anyone (illegal aliens) and roll with it and say that is Conservative?
What about the Workers Comp. Insurance for those other illegal aliens working under the one I hired?
What about their taxes?
What about the Federal Taxes the Commonwealth just allowed to be circumnavigated?
What about the legal licensed Va. Masonry Company and their employees I used to use? The cost of their unemployment? Oh that is the Commonwealths problem.
I was comparing certification to intellectual property: Both are the state undertaking to create a new kind of property. Famous essay worth reading: The New Property by Charles Reich, Yale Law Journal in the 1960s. Lots of discussion about it since. They are all entitlements that are now considered “property.” I am skeptical. I understand you might like them because they serve as entry barriers to your market, potentially enriching you, but as you observe they are not well-enforced and more trouble than they are worth, intellectually dishonest to boot.
PS
Mac,
What is the purpose of Delegate Minchews Bill HB253?
I may be wrong but it is requiring me to purchase Workers Compensation Insurance prior to a Contractor’s license Application? Why ?
1) Va. Laws do not require any workers compensation insurance with 2 or less employees.
2) If this bill has one damn once of credibility,*no good governance* should it also have a VEC Account requirement for those same employees coveted under the Worker Comp policy forced purchased by the Republican?
I think that bill is dead.
Thanks we will see what the Republicans that want immigrant labor will do next.
He T, Think though why mandate a workers comp insurance purchase without a VEC Account requirement or Tax ID Requirements in the same bill????????
Something else why did 2 years ago Senator Bill DeSteph desire to make it illegal for inter-departmental communication with SB483, that just was not about an VOSHA fine being issued to the Prime /General Contractor for the violation of the unlicensed contractors he hired but the part to stop DPOR notification??????
Oh yea DeSteph at the time was The Tidewater Builders Association Director.
For the most part, I am opposed to licensing and professional certification. I prefer freedom of contract, caveat emptor to a state-organized gatekeeping system. Angie’s List instead of a competency czar.
I am not a member of Angies list or a Home Builders Association. I feel they are clubs , organized for their behalf only.So now I have to join club.
My way is abide by current Va law , open up licensing to any *Juan Lee* now make ALL Licensed Contractors (myself,lumberstores and even Senator Bill Desteph) subject to Audits by the VEC under the Va . Employment Compensation Act. Do not allow the VEC to classify uniicensed Contractors as bona-fide independent contractors. No Santuary employment for tax fraud , insurance fraud or circumnavigating ones Court Mandated parental responsibilities/CHILD SUPPORT ,Santurary of illegal aliens.
Your way says Terry McAuliffe can obtain a loan sign papers stating he will use these funds for lawful purposes. Then he can go out of the bank and 1099 a 1000 Syrian Refugees and not give a shit.
Mac,
What about illegal aliens on State Jobs?
Search Attempted Abduction at Va. Tech June 2012.
What scum bag employeed this free marketer?
That’s ok with you?
Illegal aliens are illegal. Round them up, convict them. No defense here. If you are looking to defend the use of immigrant labor, talk with business leaders in pursuit of lower wages. Certainly the unions argued against immigrant labor for decades, but as they’ve weakened so too has the opposition to cheap labor.
Mac,
It will be a cold day in hell when I do not look for American workers.
All I am saying is law is here to prevent them as unlicensed contractors then if Republicans don’t get off of their bought and paid for complicit buts they will be screwing up Employee Misclassification legislation JLARC 427, it is all tied together.
So,
Ed wants to go after Santuary Cities but would he allow his VEC Commissioner to overlook unlicensed contractors , some illegal aliens as bona-fide independent contractors?
Would he have a Dept. Of Commerce/DPOR notification as for an investigation and the Contractor seen before the Board of Contractors.
You know that Scales of Justice thing.
Or if Ed is elected I should fire all employees and start 1099ing them, circumnavigating The Va. Employment Compensation Act , knowing he ain’t g to do crap spite of EXECUTIVE ORDER 24 or JLARC427.
And to think some Republicans say that they are the party of Lincoln when they exploit labor
State and local police enforce assault laws. Regardless of whatever involvement the feds might have, the state and local police are not doing their jobs and are allowing Antifa to stifle Constitutionally protected speech. And yet again you are trolling by bringing people who are not part of a conversation up by name.
The assertion: Antifa attacks the US and its constitution, depriving citizens of their rights along the way. This is far more than assault laws. You are part of that conversation, insisting it purely state & local, here, there, everywhere. Why not just admit you were wrong and move on? Why not agree: Sessions and the FBI should undertake to enforce those federal laws against antifa.
I am not wrong. All states have laws against assault, attempted murder, etc and it is a state and local matter to enforce those laws. That those laws are not being enforced is a huge problem. That local police departments (and state police) are standing down and allowing Antifa to be the enforcement arm of liberal governments is a monstrous problem AND THAT is where it becomes federal. Here: http://michiganradio.org/post/supreme-court-wont-hear-case-wayne-county-sheriffs-vs-christian-protesters and here: https://www.thomasmore.org/news/pastor-terry-jones-wins-case-against-the-city-of-dearborn-victory-for-the-thomas-more-law-center/ are just two examples of a federal CIVIL remedy citizens who are deprived of their civil rights by governments who would allow mobs of hecklers to veto their speech.
I never said that this is a purely local and state matter. What I have said is that assertion that Sessions has to be involved are false (and in particular, T Kane’s assertion that Antifa is FAKE NEWS if Sessions doesn’t involve himself is asinine.) It is up to state and local police to enforce state law and that is what should have happened in Charlottesville (and Berkeley and New York City). That is what DID happen in Boston and kudos to the police there for not allowing the mobs to beat people without consequence.
You are wrong and frankly worse than he is. He simply suggested the feds are the right path. You gave a truly inane response repeatedly, one that would make anyone with basic legal training blush.
AmyH a day ago: “The crimes are being committed locally… unless they are standing
DIRECTLY on a state line when the beat someone or they kidnap someone
across state lines, it is up to state and local police to control them.”
To be perfectly clear, this is a complete falsehood and displays a real misunderstanding of the law. Do not take this as a personal attack, but you need to realize you did declare this a state and local matter. The above is a direct quote and it is a terrible indefensible statement about the facts, which make this a federal matter — if what you and others say is true about antifa.
In fact and upon reflection, Kane is correct. Attack the USA and its constitution and you are facing a federal judge with federal prosecutors. You hemmed and hawed and made statement that were both definitive and incorrect, and you called him a troll when he persisted.
SBT is correct in admonishing the lot here. It takes only causal observation to realize this is true. It cannot be supported by a rational Republican Party or conservative movement, but you’ve been clear as have been others that you do not support the Republican Party. Pity, that, because we haven’t an alternative, in spite of Warmac’s claim of support for the American Party.
Mac you are not correct about the meaning of what I said. You are not correct in your characterization of what I said and you are not correct about who enforces state laws.
But I used cut and paste. I am certain the quotation is accurate. And I made no reference to state laws. I specifically described the claim: Criminal organizations or individuals that attack the US and its constitution. Or is this like Alice in Wonderland, where the Mad Hatter says when he uses a word he means what he means it to mean? Under such conditions, there can be no rational discussion with you.
It isn’t your cut and paste skills that are lacking. It is your logic.
Logic? It requires no logical leaps and is a completely factual display of your mistaken thinking. I repeat, entirely your words and they could not be more incorrect. There can be no rational discussion with someone who will not stand by their own words, declaring you meant something else and that it is the person quoting them who lacks logical skills.
I cannot allow you to pass either.
Lincoln said; “capital is the fruit of a man’s labor”
Mac, you and I both know labor is not the fruit of capital.
So you have a loan to build or money to invest in building.
That is Commerce do it legally. If you don’t like the laws get enough support and change them, until that cold day in hell comes we must enforce them that is what makes us civilized.
Agreed with you on this and agreed it is policy proposal and the law should be enforced until it is changed.
My rules of engagement when it comes to illegal Commerce ( the delivery of goods or “services” for a cost) are much more bold.
I would like to see Republicans carry this flag also.
It is illegal for you and I to print fake money, well the next lucrative thing in line is illegal labor; black, white, brown, green American or International.
And to think the elected would like to cram E-Verify down my throat as an hourly employer but the same elected lack the will power to mandate the same verification process on their violations issued or audits by the VEC.
Then the continued loophole of unlicensed contractors.
Mac,
The pigs (complicit representatives, big Government ) now fenced in with their own laws.
Good Goverance? No Big Government caught in their own swamp.
If VOSHA/DOLI issued 200 violations in 2012 in my district why did the VEC not pick up on a minimal percentage and have them seen in court under
60.2-627 failure to produce records? ( scales of justice) They did not have Va. Employment Commission Accounts?
I am sick and tired of State run employment Santurary.
I’m all for getting along an all, but it’s almost like you want us to tolerate too much
wretched behavior from our elected repubican lightweights in Congress. I just want the people that campaign as conservatives to actually do what they say they are gonna do. I’ve listened to Ed, Jill and John this go around and will throw everything behind getting them elected because the alternative would be disastrous for Virginia. But, you can color me skeptical when it comes to taking them at their word. There has just been too much wretched behavior by too many elected officials in this GOP to tolerate over my 35 years of political activism.
When this ticket wins in November, I hope they will be the persons of action we need, and not another bunch of sniveling cowards that kowtow to the lame stream media that is always driving a negative narrative. Watching that kind of wretched behavior being displayed by so many of our supposed brethren on an almost daily basis since President Trump became the leader of the free world has been the worst. Peace be upon you.
I dunno. It’s like that saying, fool me once. We already know what Gillespie will do, he’ll do TARP, or worse, if he feels its necessary, because he already did. I’d take an unknown candidate over one that I know will screw taxpayers over. I don’t see what voting for someone who would do that helps anything. I don’t vote for people just because the have an “R” beside their name.
That’s like McDonnell, I don’t care who endorses him, who supports him, or how many “R”s he has beside his name … he and his voted to raise taxes in Virginia, so that’s the only time they get my vote. I’m not going to hope they’ve reformed, or mended their ways, or that they’d do something different next time … they had the chance, and they choked.
We don’t get to elect someone who isn’t running. We cannot elect the candidate who lost the primary. Our only choices are the two on the ballot. If you don’t like the Republican because he or she isn’t conservative enough, just wait til you see how the Democrat will govern!
Someone who meets your values halfway is far better than someone whose values don’t match yours at all.
As bad as those choices are at the top of the ticket, you are still correct. But it is also correct that the more we condone candidates’ bad behavior and weakness because the other guy is worse, we will continue to have bad, weak politicians. Ideally, though, that issue should be addressed during the primaries.
Meaning what? Expend large sums on primary battles? Is that your point? How does that help, two candidates gouging out each other’s eyes? Oh, that’s what you practice here, right?
Yes T Kane… that is what primaries are for.
Two candidates mortally wounding one another? Sorry, I do not favor that. I favor strategic unity with discipline towards winning the race. Northam and Perriello did not gouge each other. They collaborated and each got more votes than Gillespie.
You would know more about the Democrat race than I would.
Yes, of course, I can read and reason.
The OP says don’t rip your own party, but isn’t that exactly what Democrats need to do right now ? Two halves of their party are fundamentally at odds with one another, on the one hand you have the traditional Democrats who were basically working class, backed unions, and was in their own words the party that “gave us the weekend”. Then on the other you have SJW’s who are all about identity politics, urban culture, and basically couldn’t care less about a bunch of coal miners from West Virginia, or plant workers in Wisconsin. Those two halves can’t coexist, because they don’t WANT to coexist. If the SJW’s had their way they’d throw the rest out, I mean that’s basically what they’ve already done, that’s why the Democrats keep losing seats, they don’t even care that small town people aren’t listening anymore. I’m sure a lot of Democrats and Progressives think a little internal warfare is not only possible, but absolutely necessary, because they can’t keep going on like they have been.
How did this piece convince you we need to focus on “what Democrats need to do right now?” Is that what it motivated you to do? Here on TBE? Really?
Christ spoke out against many things. Was He “bashing” when he did so? Do you think Christ would be willing to have the debate about gay marriage? Not one word against Antifa violence or Black or White Globalists? Not one word about locking them all up in Charlottesville.
Are you willing to have the debate about what it means to follow Christ?
Jim, dude…I began the article talking about my willingness to debate issues. How’d you miss that?
I didn’t. Certain issues are against the laws of Nature and laws of God. They is absolutely, positively, no way that any debate is acceptable on those issues which are really “non-issues” to those who know the truth.
Free will Jim. God doesn’t force people to obedience.
Which God? Which bible? Which laws?
“The” truth? One version? We know where that sort of thinking leads.
God is revealed to all of us, to each in their own way. You and me, we’ve discussed this before, over on BD — claiming to hear God better than others, to read God better than others. You walked away from the discussion because you know it is amongst the few completely untenable positions someone can take, and yet you persist.
Listen harder. Read more. There are many voices, a cacophony, and we are the better for that.
It was you who walked away from the truth, not me;
“Goodbye, Jim. God speed to you, wherever it is you are headed (and I have my thoughts on your path). Bless your pointy little head.”
After you simply would not address the questions I posed. You believe in religion uber alles, Jim Portugal. All good people find it offensive. You ask for debate and then assert there is nothing to debate, that there is one word of God. No discussion there.
Ok, best wishes.
Also, Jim: Why was yours a selective quote. I prefer the entire quote, which you do not and dishonestly edited:
“One truth? Heard that advocated before. Hundred million lives later we
confront and do not tolerate it. Ministers, priests, rabbis et al — all
get along and counsel against such dangerous thoughts. Goodbye, Jim.
God speed to you, wherever it is you are headed (and I have my thoughts
on your path). Bless your pointy little head.”
Thank you Steven Brodie Tucker for a thoughtful message of comity, honor and the right kind of tolerance. Join us to fix our problems, to work to a brighter future, to be grateful for our Republic, to trust in God, and to act honorably. We need the ticket we have. Sore losers act like the opposition, and we need unity. Virginia is sliding away from its values, and we suffer in division. We work better together, and we need everyone.
Michael P. “Moses” Berry
Republican Candidate for Spotsylvania County Supervisor
Lee Hill District
http://www.berry4leehill.org
Moses, Amen. Looking forward to you as a Supervisor to the North.
Nick Hobbs for Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney
https://www.facebook.com/NickHobbsHampton/
The founders said that the country gets the leaders it deserves and that is one of the reasons they felt the first amendment was so important. If you have good morals and good information, then you will elect good people. If you have neither, then the country will be ripe for a totalitarian takeover.
We still have the 1st amendment.
I sure hope so.
It would seem in certain states and cities, we effectively don’t.
Not in Charlottesville.
Because the 1st Amendment is Federal … oh, forget it. It is lost on you, pearls for swine.
“I am not willing to tolerate … Islamophobia or Islamophobiaphobia (the irrational fear of the fear of Islam).”
Who defines “irrational”? I’m pretty sure Thomas Jefferson would be horrified by your interpretation of the First Amendment.
“Was Jefferson thinking about Muslims when he drafted his famed Virginia legislation?”
“Indeed, we find evidence for this in the Founding Father’s 1821 autobiography,
where he happily recorded that a final attempt to add the words “Jesus Christ” to the preamble of his legislation failed. And this failure led Jefferson to affirm that he had intended the application of the Statute to be “universal.”
“By this he meant that religious liberty and political equality would not be exclusively Christian. For Jefferson asserted in his autobiography that his original legislative intent had been “to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Muslim], the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.”
“By defining Muslims as future citizens in the 18th century, in conjunction with a resident Jewish minority, Jefferson expanded his “universal” legislative scope to include every one of every faith.”
“Ideas about the nation’s religiously plural character were tested also in Jefferson’s presidential foreign policy with the Islamic powers of North Africa. President Jefferson welcomed the first Muslim ambassador, who hailed from Tunis, to the White House in 1805. Because it was Ramadan, the president moved the state dinner from 3:30 p.m. to be “precisely at sunset,” a recognition of the Tunisian ambassador’s religious beliefs, if not quite America’s first official celebration of Ramadan.”
http://www.newsweek.com/jefferson-constitution-and-quran-why-founding-fathers-defense-muslims-matters-619541
I am no Islamaphobic, but in your effort to be inclusive, you have erred in your history. When the Constitution was written, the sole experience the Founders had with Islam is with Muslim pirates. I seriously doubt he looked upon these vicious pirates as future Americans. When Obama stated that Muslims helped to found this country, he was displaying, at best, wishful thinking.
Jefferson studied the Qur’an in an effort to understand the pirates that were so unlike any other pirates our country encountered.
Obama was trying to change history. He also did it when referencing the Christian Crusades and healthcare and a lot more.
Name a president who didn’t try to make history.
Calvin Coolidge? I really like him, because i think he tried to mind his own business.
Coolidge is my very favorite.
What do you think about T Kane’s assertion that he has “enough material” on AmyH? Do you have an idea what he means by that?
It seems obvious he is a reporter, writer of some sort — perhaps an academic or professor. I felt that was clear from the beginning, so I was fascinated. Who else would talk with Republican leaders and get pointed here? Like the police, writers have no duty to tell the truth or properly ID themselves while pursuing inquiry, even provocative inquiry, which is obviously his MO.
Look, I agree with him on lots of what he’s said, but I wouldn’t say it the way he’s said it. Nonetheless, when he calls it a mirror (it is less light than a reflection) I think he’s correct — he puts it back in the face of those who attack him in much the same they put it to him. Perhaps this is an experiment of some kind and TBE folk are his subjects.
I must have missed where he announced his purpose. Could you point me to that post? He does seem to be a judgemental sort.
I remember it pretty well but haven’t the strength to hunt it down. He stated early on that he was sent here by Republican leaders who offered it as evidence that they were victims of division within the ranks, which he said he came here to test.
Which I confess fascinated me. It was a hook. I hadn’t intended to stay long, but it hooked my interest.
I have been around the Party for a fairly long period of time. There are always going to be divisions. It may be worse these days, but I would not commit to that proposition fully. The 1993 Convention was pretty wild, if i recall correctly. Then we had North against Miller in 1994.
Actually, he said he would put down Christian piracy as readily as he would Muslim piracy, IIRC. He felt both could be Americans, even president of the US.
Oh, he did not.
AmyH, constitutional scholar, history expert, and arbiter of good and evil. Ladies and gentlemen a round of applause please.
He did NOT say that. Produce any letter of his where that is written. You can’t because it did not happen.
“Jefferson would perhaps have been just as eager to send a squadron to
put down any Christian piracy that was restraining commerce.”
https://www.city-journal.org/html/jefferson-versus-muslim-pirates-13013.html
Those are not Thomas Jefferson’s words. They are Christopher Hitchens’ imaginings of what Jefferson might do in a scenario where the Barbary pirates were Christian. But they weren’t. They were Muslim.
In fact, the passage that is an actual quotation from Jefferson is from a letter he wrote where he describes a meeting he and John Adams had with Tripoli’s Ambassador to London. Jefferson (and Adams) had inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American merchant ships. Jefferson records the Ambassador as replying, “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have
acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and
duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all
they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be
slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”
Reading comprehension is fundamental T. Kane.
Enough of your insults. You are blocked. It will be better for everyone here and I have enough material about you.
Oooooo, you’ve got MATERIAL. I am sooo scared.
“Material”! He may pass it on to his superiors. It might even find its way into a “dossier”.
OH NO! It might now be in my “permanent record”.
Whatever will I do!?!
Citation please.
He never said that… Christopher Hitchens wrote that Jefferson might have thought that about Christian pirates too… if he were fighting Christian pirates… which he wasn’t. (Hitchens article was about Jefferson’s dealings with the Barbary pirates.)
And that has nothing to do with anything. No one here has ever claimed that freedom of religion only extends to Christians.
Goengo: “When the Constitution was written, the sole experience the Founders had
with Islam is with Muslim pirates. I seriously doubt he looked upon
these vicious pirates as future Americans.” Thus my response. Should someone hold your hand and read you the dialogue here?
Portugal, for one, says there is only one bible, one set of God’s words. Bob says anyone who thinks mosques are religious is a moron. No need to fashion a complete list, else the page fills.
I am a Christian so I consider that Koran to be false teaching too… that has exactly jack all to do with either the government’s stance on what is a religion or the Constitutional protections that extend to groups that anyone of us may consider false or even “not a religion”. So, can you name anyone who has said that the 1st amendment does not cover Muslims?
Asked and answered previously.
NO it wasn’t. You have shown zero cases of people claiming the 1st amendment religious freedom only applies to Christians.
Lol. The first amendment is about laws, not personal principles. You really need to study the Constitution.
It is a Bill of Rights not a Bill of Laws.
Those rights are the law. They are only applicable when it comes to the law. Whose first amendment rights am I violating here?
The law implements the rights.
Rights are above individual laws, which are ruled unconstitutional if they run afoul of the constitution and/or its Bill of Rights. Some laws implement rights, others deny them, they must all answer to the courts.
Wrong… rights are given by God and only recognized by the government through the Constitution. Our rights are inalienable even by the government.
Good luck enforcing those in courts of law.
Your entire article is based on the premise that good “governance” begins with us. Among a few good ideas for improving civility in political discourse, you interject a completely antithetical idea… you simply won’t tolerate certain kinds of speech or opinions. You decide that “hate speech” is unacceptable. That idea is incompatible with any kind of governance in this country. Hate speech is undefined, and always in the eye of the beholder. Refusing to address ideas you find objectionable and labeling those ideas as “hate speech” is a tactic of the left and is not a recipe for good government.
People have a Constitutional right to be hateful awful people, but they don’t have a right to my tolerance, or yours. If you tolerate it, then you offer tacit support. I’m encouraging folks not to do that, to stand up for their principles and to get to work.
If you can’t refute objectionable ideas with better ideas, then you aren’t encouraging a model for good government. If your personal debate consists of labeling your political opponents as hateful awful people not even worthy of debate, then you are making the problem worse.
Frank, meet Amy and Warmac.
Advocating tolerance for hate is irresponsible and it encourages the hateful. This isn’t about ideas, Frank.
All you are doing is labeling ideas you don’t like as hate. There is no definition of hateful ideas. When you refuse to engage political speech you don’t like, you actually encourage the violence you don’t want. Thomas Jefferson wanted free speech specifically for the kinds of unpopular ideas that some consider hateful, because political discourse is the alternative to violence and war. So you can virtue signal all day long that you are against ‘hate’, but you are not advocating a better government, you are just making things worse with you labeling.
You are continuing to miss the point (which I’m confident is deliberate) – we aren’t taking about differences of opinion here. We’re talking about productivity, respect, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Those that lack these are simply getting in the way and distracting those around them from more constructive action. Debating emotional, irrational people is a waste of time. Pearls before swine. Our focus ought to be constructive. Following your advice is what got us to where we are today.
And where do you see us being, SBT?
Playing into the left’s narrative and ignoring the most pressing issues.
Fair enough… I will point out, though, that part of what plays into their narrative is conservatives or Republicans tripping over themselves to disavow things that were never part of us in the first place (and by doing so tacitly seeming to admit that the Democrat’s name calling was accurate to begin with… sort of like answering the question have you stopped beating you wife. Yes or no.)
In your haste to disavow “Nazis”, you are feeding into the progressive narrative that some speech is beyond the pale and is, therefore, not protected by the Constitution. Which was their goal all along.
It also feeds into the bizarre idea that nazis, fascists, etc. are hiding behind conservatism. I don’t give half a rip about David Duke or his facelift. It has nothing to do with conservatism.
I know no one who would’ve denied them a permit. No one. You are concocting a narrative out of whole cloth to support your ego-driven commentary. You are driving good people away — and without apology or explanation for doing so.
Errr… the City of Charlottesville did. They only issued a permit after the the court forced them to
Which is why Judge Conrad entered an Order against the City.
You are incorrect again, AmyH, keeping your record intact. Often wrong, never in doubt!
Kessler applied for a permit for Emancipation Park on May 30. It was approved. On Aug 7 the city modified the permit to move a now larger group to a larger park, McIntire Park. On Aug 10 Kessler with ACLU filed for an injunction they received on Aug 11 which moved the group back to the original park approved.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/first-amendment-grounds-charlottesville
The first permit was revoked, Mac. They refused to issue another permit for the location that Kessler was having the rally. Kessler then went to court and they were forced to issue said permit by a judge. I was NOT wrong and you seriously need to stop being an ass.
Not revoked. Location modified. Look in the mirror.
REVOKED… go read the article that YOU linked.
Again — and you are tiresome in your attempts to defend your inaccuracies — this is cut and paste from that article:
“On Aug. 7, the city revoked Kessler’s permit, “modif[ying]” the application to allow a rally in the larger McIntire Park.”
This is the exact cut and paste. I changed nothing. It makes clear you are wrong.
More proof. Your exact claim: “They only issued a permit after the the court forced them to”
This claim is FALSE. They issued a permit in response to the May 30 application. Now you use the phrase “revoked” so you concede they DID issue a permit before the court forced them to accept the original location, which negates your first statement that there was simply NO PERMIT issued until the court forced the city’s hand. If you were correct, there would be nothing to revoke or modify.
This is proof you claim was in fact incorrect and FALSE. There was a permit. The court forced the city to accept its first decision, thus the reversal of the “modification.”
Amy, you have a problem. It is serious. You deny, deny, deny instead of admitting error. And then you call me names. It is offensive. Get help.
From the court pleadings of the plaintiff, page two: “On June 13, 2017, Defendants granted Plaintiff a permit to hold his rally in the Park on August 12, 2017.”
They note in their pleadings that modification of that permit occurred on August 7, 2017.
As a result, it is factually incorrect to state that no permit was granted until the court forced the city’s hand. In fact, the city granted a permit on June 13, 2017.
End of discussion. You are wrong. Admit it. June 13, 2017, occurred well before the August court injunction.
Further refutation. I am now in possession of Plaintiff’s Exhibit B, a letter from the City of Charlottesville written on August 7 which is in fact a modification and not a revocation — both interpretations concede there was a permit before the August 11 federal court order — and its exact language it makes clear it is NOT WITHDRAWING A PERMIT but instead repeats that there is in fact a permit: “… the City has decided to approve your application for a permit to hold a demonstration on the day and at the times requested, provided that you use McIntire Park, rather than Emancipation Park, for your demonstration.”
Further proof you are completely incorrect. The permit was granted on June 13 and the letter on August 7 simply changes the location. The federal court simply changed the location back to the original location. It did not need to force the city to issue a permit, which was first issue on June 13 and modified on August 7.
Deliberate indeed!
Gotta agree with Frank Underwood (who, BTW, said nothing about tolerating hateful ideas)
I never advocated for removing anyone’s right to speak. You’re swinging at strawmen.
No I am not… not when many here (not you perhaps but certainly some of the co-bloggers) have equated refusing to condemn any group who were explicitly exercising their Constitutionally protected free speech rights with tacit or explicit support of Nazi-ism.
No, it is not tacit support to fail to reply to bizarre ideas, and even evil ones. There are only so many moles a person can whack, and unless one has been affiliated with a speaker or cause, why give them the attention?