Famille Du Pentium

Well the Republicans were hoping for a little clarity, perhaps a front-runner to emerge from Michigan.  I guess that was too much to ask.  Mitt Romney, who has done poorly in other states so far, picked up Michigan’s Republican primary delegates.

On the Democrat front, Hillary Clinton ran unopposed in Michigan and due to the Michigan Democratic Party moving their primary forward without the national party’s approval, no delegates will be awarded in the Michigan democratic race.

Thanks, Michigan.  Jerks. 

Tommy Thompson, the former 4-term Governor of Wisconsin and DHS secretary under George W Bush, has dropped out of the Republican nomination race.

I said earlier that Thompson was a good man, but that now was the time for a conservative candidate who does not answer to the religious right.  I had concerns about Thompson’s religious backing and alignment with President Bush.

I wish good luck to Governor and Secretary Thompson, he did a lot of great things for the people of Wisconsin, and I hope he’ll go back there and do more for them.

For those of you who feel that Guiliani, McCain, and even Romney aren’t far enough to the right for your taste, you now have the heir apparent to the extreme right void left by these candidates – Tommy Thompson.

I like Tommy.  He was a four-term Wisconsin governmor during the years that I was vacationing up there.  He did a pretty good job.  And he’s very, very clear about what his candidacy is about: “I am the reliable conservative, my record shows that,” he said. “All that people have to do is look at my record, and I am one individual that they can count on.”

I wish I could rely on Conservatives practicing the Conservative values of the likes of people such as Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.  Unfortunately, today a “Reliable conservative” means someone who will kow-tow to the religious right, and we don’t need more Jerry Falwell clones in office.

So did you vote?  I did.  Here’s a recap of what happened in my district.

U.S. Congress: Jan Schakowski vs. Michael Shannon, 9th Congressional District
I’m no big fan of Jan Schakowski.  She’s a fairly typical liberal tax-and-spend Democrat, and this is her perfect congressional district.  I was researching her opponent, because I hadn’t seen one sign or seen any ads or heard anything about this race.  Michael Shannon starts out strong – opposes Bush’s heavy-handed diplomatic policy, wants to at least re-think Iraq if not take a step back, feels we should engage Socialist / Communist regimes in Latin America, yadda yadda yadda.  Then I clicked on a link on his website – “Ideas”.  Boy does he have them.  Too bad he’s nuts.  Turns out he doesn’t like the electoral system, and wants to amend it thusly:

• Remap every congressional district after each election, so that it’s exactly 50% Democrat and 50% Republican.
• Give parents votes on behalf of their children
• Require any person who enters politics whose parent is also a politician to run under a different last name

These are Mr. Shannon’s REAL positions on the electorate system, as found at: http://www.shannonforcongress.com/ideas.html.  These may seem like great ideas on the surface, but once you put the beer down, they are just plain nutty.  So as difficult as it was for me to vote for a tax-and-spend Democrat, even that is better than a nut.  Outcome: Jan Schakowski won the race, 75% to 25%.

Cook County Board President:  When longtime board president John Stroger suffered a stroke just after the primaries, the Democratic Machine in Cook County had a tough choice to make.  No, I guess they didn’t, because they’re a machine, so they chose John Stroger’s son, Todd, to run in his place.  Forget about the other primary candidates like Forest Claypool, who ran a close second to John Stroger.  No.  He won’t do.  Instead, in the finest of Cook County Politics, the Cook County Democratic Organization appointed Todd Stroger to run in the General Election against Tony Peraica.  To Todd’s credit, at least he’s a politician.  To Todd’s detriment, he’s a Chicago Alderman.  Peraica ran a tough race and almost pulled off the impossible – a Republican Cook County Board President – for the first time ever.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.  Result: Todd Stroger wins by roughly 55% to 45%.

In other races, the sole Republican (center leaning) State Congressman, Elizabeth Coulson, of my district, won easily again against the Democratic challenger, whats-her-name.

The Democratic sweep of the house gives us two opportunities: for those of us who are Goldwater conservatives and Reagan Republicans, it’s a perfect opportunity for our out-of-touch Republican leaders to get back to their constituents (us) and figure out what they are doing wrong.  For Democrats, it’s time to put their money where their mouths are, and fix things like Social Security, Homeland Security, Taxes, and Foreign Policy.

I wish them both luck.

You’ve read my blogs, ranting about the failures of both Democrats and Republicans.  I’ve probably confused you more than anything else.  My political views are hard to nail down.  But here is one very clear opinion tatement I will make now, and stand behind later:

GO OUT AND VOTE!

If you believe that the government is wrong, that the president is wrong, that the war is wrong, or that it’s all just right, go out and cast your vote.  Because if things get worse and you didn’t vote, it’s your fault. That’s right, yours.  And if you do vote, and things get worse, you can always put up a blog, like me!  🙂

I’ll see you at the polls, fellow citizen and patriot.

The political revelution that began roughly 12 years ago is officially over.

Dennis Hastert, speaker of the house, tenaciously holds on to his office despite calls to resign over the Foley sex scandal.  

Mind you, I agree with this decision – but not the reason he gave.

Says Hastert: "If I fold up my tent and leave, then where does that leave us? If the Democrats sweep, then we’d have no ability to fight back and get our message out."

So Hastert will hold on to power for the sake of having power.  

That may cause some to respond, "Well, Duh… of course the Republicans want to hold on to power.   They’re Republicans!"  But that’s not the way it always was.  12 years ago it was the Democrats who were the entrenched leaders of the legislature, and the Republicans (although they’d had equal success as the Democrats in the Executive Branch) were looking to change their message – and their goals.  It wasn’t supposed to be about power, it was supposed to be about the message.  And the message was simple: it was not about power, it was about shrinking government, lowering taxes, promoting entrepreneurial businesses, tort reform, and welfare reform.  

On those counts, since 1994, the US legislature has scored about a C; although taxes for working class families have gone down, so have taxes for the ultra-rich; tort reform has been accomplished (although not quite enough), welfare reform is underway, entitlements funded by the working class are down, but government is growing larger and larger every day.

As an ambtious government project goes, A "C" isn’t a bad grade.  But the contract is dead.  Government is growing, and the areas that needed improvement and acts that weren’t passed in 1994 haven’t been addressed in years.

And now, it’s not about the contract anymore.  It’s about keepng power, so they can get the message out.  Twelve years ago, it was about getting the message out, and gaining power was secondary to that.  It’s officially over.  The revolution is dead.