Over the past few weeks a number of letters to the editor and several articles have appeared in my local papers about the ongoing disarray within the GOP ranks. Some writers have called for the firing of the state party chair and others continue to nibble away at the makeup of the rank and file like flesh-eating bacteria…but to compare those people to bacteria is to insult the germ.

While recovering in the hospital last week, I was visited by Ellen and Bill Spiegel. She is the new State Assemblywoman for my district, taking my place. She and her husband also happen to be Democrats, he more than she. I am still registered Republican, but I have often wondered aloud in conversation with Bill as to whether or not I should change my registration. The party has changed and not at all for the better.

Bill told me in no uncertain terms that I should not register Democrat. He is a consistent reader of this blog and in his opinion I am a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. It is his feeling that I would feel even more out of place in the Democrat ranks than in the GOP. Why is that? What is a Republican?

It used to be that to be a member of the party; one had to share certain common beliefs with the other members. Some of those beliefs were in the reality and rock solid foundation of our constitution. The constitution and not the casual interpretation of it by activist judges was the law of the land. To be a Republican you had to stand for freedom and civil rights, and for those rights to be available for all…equally. One group could not have additional rights or freedoms above another, period and regardless of politics.

You had to be in favor of allowing the market to do its job without governmental encumbrance. A business failed or succeeded on its merits, not because it was a better thief than the others. Understanding that the free exercise of religion was a paramount item in the formation of this country was also very important. How that religion was practiced was not so important, just the freedom to do so…and it did not matter where you did so, regardless of who became upset over your praying.

For myself, I believe that being a Republican means being honest, forthright, compassionate and pragmatic. Simply because someone has more than someone else does not mean they are a better person or have more rights and privileges within our society than anyone else. We are supposed to be a nation of law, not of lawyers. As for the free market, it is meant to be survival of the fittest, not survival of the fattest.  The government has no place in commerce outside of general regulation to keep everyone honest. Anything beyond that is a direct violation of our constitution.

Tammy Bruce opined the other day that a lot of people in Washington deserve to be behind bars. I tend to agree with her. She only mentioned Democrats, but I say that the crimes are bipartisan and we have more than enough villains in both parties to go around. Money has become the chief arbiter of power and legislation these days and today’s Republican Party cannot abide an honest man. I may not fit in the Democrat niche, but it is certainly no picnic here in the GOP closet either.

A Memorial to Common Sense:

Common Sense died this year in a tragic mishap. Common’s best friends, Responsibility, Morality, Ethics and Virtue seemed to have also been victim’s of the tragedy. Civil Rights, a close associate of Common Sense is currently in the ICU; the prognosis is not good.

An obituary such as this may seem cynically comical, but in actuality, it is not. Consider the current climate in Washington. Many think the election of Barrack Obama to the Presidency signifies a new era in American government. They see the elimination of poverty, sickness and corporate greed. Somehow, simply putting a black man into the seat of power solves all our problems. The Arabs will no longer hate the Jews. Slavery and oppression will cease to exist and every child will have what they desire waiting for them under the tree on Christmas morning. To many, Obama is not merely the President-elect, he is the Messiah.

The Democrat landslide that swept through this year’s electoral cycle removed even the pretense of bipartisanship that existed last year. Current stories in the press about Nancy Pelosi’s recent moves as Speaker give a good indication of what will be coming our way after the 2009 inauguration.

As a junior Senator, Barrack Obama had the most consistently liberal voting record in American history. Even Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi could not bring themselves to support some of the radical causes championed by their soon to be new boss. Partial birth abortion, friendship with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, and the elimination of the Second Amendment, all have a place at Obama’s table. His proposed tax policies will not create the universal wealth he claims, but drive the current recession we are now experiencing into a full blown depression.

There was a time in recent history where the state of New Jersey was one of the least taxed states in the nation. At that same time it was one of the few states where the Governor had the unique pleasure of dealing with an ongoing budget surplus. The New Jersey legislature, in an attempt to assuage certain special interests, decided to raise taxes on business. Surprisingly, to some, revenues went down, not up. The legislature was unable to learn from history, no surprise there, and raised taxes. Revenues fell a bit more and now New Jersey, rather than being one of the most prosperous states, is one of the least. They function in a state of continuous deficit.

There are some who think all our problems would be solved if the situation were reversed and the GOP held the reins of power. The problem with that sort of thinking is that we have already experienced that scenario and the end result was, after a brief economic expansion, a long steady slide into laissez-faire greed and corruption that culminated in the great depression of the early 1900’s. Now it appears that we are repeating history.

Common Sense would dictate that if doing things one way results in failure, then it would be wise to try something else…possibly in the opposite direction. Two problems with that sort of thinking are, one; it means admitting you were wrong, and two; being able to work outside of your own self interest.

 I have to preface this column with a background story. During the 2007 legislative session in Nevada, I was approached by a group of card dealers who worked in the casino at the Wynn Las Vegas. They had written to nearly every single member of the Nevada legislature trying to get one of the Assemblymen or Senators to even listen to them about their employer confiscating a portion of their wages.

Steve Wynn is the owner of this casino. For decades he has built up a network of politicians who owe him favors. One is Bill Raggio, then the Senate Majority Leader and a long-time legislator from Northern Nevada. Raggio is also a lawyer whose law firm happens to have a number of gaming concerns as clients. Can anyone spell “conflict of interest”? I was the only member of the legislature to respond. One member out of 63.

In 1971 a state law came into effect that plainly stated the illegality of any employer taking any portion of an employee’s tips. Card dealers, like many other workers in Nevada subsist almost entirely on tips, and a few make a pretty decent living. Apparently Wynn thought his employees were making too good of a living because, in violation of the standing law, he instituted a policy that took 20% of the tips, excluded any of the dealers from being present when the tips were counted, and used those confiscated monies to boost the pay of managers being paid an hourly wage several times greater than the minimum wage paid to the dealers. Because a few of the dealers took home the occasional paycheck greater than that of their manager, Wynn called his policy fair, new, and refreshing. To the people losing 20% of their pay off the top it wasn’t refreshing at all. To the Nevada Revised Statutes it was a clear and direct violation of the law as it was written. But when you have a few Senators, Assemblymen and judges in your pocket, the written law is no barrier, especially when you can get a judge or two to say that the law doesn’t mean what it says.

I wrote a bill that would have forced the state to actually enforce the law. Wynn went ballistic and Bill Raggio shouted at me for 10 minutes about attacking his good friend. It’s amazing how much “friendship” money can buy. Prostitution isn’t an exclusive female occupation.

Now comes the elections and Raggio no longer has his big office, the leadership position or the majority. He is relegated to just being one of the boys in the minority and can no longer tell people what to do. So, what does he do? He issues a press release saying that the Republican Party must move to the middle and abandon the far right attitudes that obviously caused this electoral calamity. As is usual, Bill Raggio could not be more wrong. What caused the problem wasn’t Republican conservative ideals, what caused the problem was years of broken promises, greed and infighting. The party doesn’t need to move to the middle, what the party needs to do is go back to the days of Ronald Reagan and reestablish a set of core principles that benefit all citizens regardless of age, race, sex, religion or income. Then the party needs to stick to those principles even if it inconveniences their leadership or the rich and powerful. Of course, several members of the party would have to step down to do this, because one of those principles would include being principled.          

Yesterday I heard the talk show host Laura Ingraham complain bitterly about the so-called “moderate republicans” ruining it for everyone. In her estimation, John McCain lost because he wasn’t republican enough. As much as I respect Laura, she couldn’t be more wrong and her attitude is just digging deeper the hole GW and the rest of the party purists dredged out with their 8 years of drunken sailor spending. If you add up all the debts every administration since George Washington and combine them with those of the Clinton administration you will not even come close to the back breaking deficit Bush junior has put us into. Every gutless pundit, every sycophantic talk show host, every liaise fair neo con, all have had their part in both the fiscal crisis we currently find ourselves in and in the distrust the American electorate showed for the GOP label.

Some are saying Obama won more so than McCain lost. In one thing they are right, Obama did win, but not because McCain lost, but because the Republican Party lost. You can’t make promises for 8 years while lying through your teeth and then expect people to believe you when the chips are down. Sure you may have cost a CEO or two a bonus here and there if you kept your word, but you’d still be in office. Sadly, I think this is yet another one of history’s lessons you won’t catch on to.

Ronald Reagan never made a campaign promise he did not at least try to keep. That is why he is remembered so fondly. Being a man of your word is not a weakness, my late GOP acquaintances ( I can no longer use the term friends), it is a matter of honor. Because the law says something that may cost your business a portion of its profit margin, that doesn’t mean that you as an elected official can ignore it. As you see, the American people can and will do something about it. Your problem is that if a Reagan came along today, you and yours would pan him as not being Republican enough, when in reality, it is you who have lost your way.

 Sarah Palin kicked Dem butt during her appearance on Saturday Night Live. The fact that Alex Baldwin, the rabidly liberal member of the Baldwin brothers, mistook Palin for Ms. Fey, is just icing on the cake. Unlike Obama, Palin can handle herself in any crowd and she has proven that.

Unfortunately, some in the GOP feel that Mrs. Palin has made her self unclean by doing the SNL appearance. Where the liberals have their religion, apparently so do some in the conservative ranks. For them, in order to be considered a “true conservative”, one has to adhere to a narrow interpretation of what the Republican credo should be. This bunch also considers Joe the Plumber to be unclean…for what reasons, I can’t imagine. Perhaps they think because he’s a regular guy he’s supposed to shut up and let his betters speak for him. The GOP, just like the Dems has it’s own elitists, but where the Dems want to use Marxist philosophy to further its aims, the GOP elitists prefer the NeoCon, Laissez-faire capitalism message, where the corporate board replaces the sheriffs department. Both extremes have been proven disastrous to the average Joe.

The Paluxy River in Glen Rose Texas runs through the middle of Dinosaur Valley State Park. This park is famous for its dinosaur tracks. Those who deride Christians like Sarah Palin would rather not have this park mentioned because human tracks have also been found, not only in the same formation, but on the same bedding plane and in some cases overlapping the dinosaur tracks. Both sets of tracks have to been placed into the mud where they were formed at nearly the same time because of how fossils are made. It is somewhat like putting footprints into a wet concrete slab. Once the concrete dries, that’s it. No more prints.

What is sad is that there are both liberal and NeoCon elitists out there attempting to “erase the footprints”. Here in Nevada laws have been created to further remove the general public from the political process. Members of the Republican Party have been driven out because they made the unforgivable sin of attempting to represent every member of their constituency instead of just the rich and powerful, and the same has happened to a few Democrats. I personally know if members of both parties who have experienced this purging. Is there any wonder why an average of 15% of registered voters bother to vote?

The media elite, the old-line politicos in Washington and the phony experts in the universities have no idea as to what is going on outside of their country club existence. After nearly 60 years of observing human behavior, I can say that I have met more than my share of PHDs who knew nothing. The focus of this collective of idiots is so narrow that they are incapable of seeing reality. Alec Baldwin’s tirade about Sarah Palin, when he thought Palin was Fey, is a prime example. An orthodoxy has to be followed. Whether or not it actually works is beside the point. If you are a Democrat, you have to be for taxes and spending and silencing any voice that disagrees…in spite of that inconvenient first amendment. If you are a Republican, you have to be in favor of treating board members as above the law and everyone else as a serf…in spite of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

These people react, they don’t think. Unfortunately, a significant portion of voting citizens does the same.