Action plan

Since the election, I have been giving some thought to what I can be doing to further educate myself about our government... how it works, what are it's shortcomings, where we go from here. To that end, I have joined with a friend here who is very well-educated in politics and conservatism, and we are going to be forming a Conservative studies group after the new year, and hopefully will be joined with other like-minded folk who want to become better educated in these areas. I am also looking into sources of information, mainly about our Federal government budget... where our tax dollars are going. I am very interested in what we can do to cut spending, stop waste and corruption, and I keep coming back to the need for vigilance on the part of the voters. This requires better understanding of the government... this means doing our homework. I will be posting links, book titles, and other information here as I find it, in the hopes I can help others to become familiar with our government. I am pretty sure that the government we have today, while it resembles the one originally formed by our founding fathers, is far more complex than the original one, and with complexity comes too much room for inefficiency and corruption. Is there a way to simplify it? Are there better checks, balances, and reporting methods that can be put in place to ensure that our government is doing what it was designed to do? Can we EVER pay down the deficit and get back to living within our means? Fiscally speaking, these are disturbing times... I hope that we can return to a way of life that includes living within our means, both personally and as a nation. Life is so much easier when we are not being crushed under a mountain of debt! I think the coming year(s) will bring much change, and I'm hoping it is positive, not negative change for us all.
One item of conversation lately has been about ear-marks: whether to ban them, call a moritorium on them for a period of time, or leave them as is. The argument against banning them is that they represent a very small percent of our overall federal budget. I agree that banning them won't wipe out our deficit, but principally speaking, we need to return to a fundamental honesty that says we don't go behind each others' backs or sneak things into bills in the middle of the night. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing in the light of day, with full disclosure. Politicians will tell you that things can't get done without deal-making and 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours'. I think that way of doing things is what has brought us to the brink of financial ruin, and even though a lot of bills wouldn't get passed without that mind-set, I think we would be better off right now if Congress did less, not more of the same, and maybe did a little soul-searching about how they should conduct the people's business going forward. This may be a little old-fashioned, but I would really like to see this country return to the mind-set that believed that a man's word was his bond, when deals were made with a handshake, and teams of lawyers weren't needed to flood us with hyperbole and double-speak in order to protect everyone's rights! Is that naive? Maybe, but we've tried the other way, and look at the state of the world today! Not the same place our grandparents lived, or our parents! Let's do a little thinking over the next month or so, and see what we want to do about our dilemma... more of the same? Or should we get back to basics, and think about what we really value in life! Then let's remind our elected officials what we put them in office to do... clean house!

Election results

Wow! Time has just flown, and it's hard to believe that the election was over a week ago! The good news is our candidate, Paul Gosar, won the election for our Congressional district! We had a celebration on the 3rd, and here are a few photos:

Dr. Gosar, who had a dental practice here in Flagstaff for 25 years, is anxious to head to our nation's capitol to join the others in the Freshman class and start working on reducing the deficit, cutting wasteful spending, repealing Obamacare (or at the very least, blocking funding!), and getting this nation back on track! He is a strong advocate of banning earmarks, and I think he will do a great job for us!

Statewide, we succeeded in sweeping the election with conservative candidates, and I'm very encouraged by how most of the nation also voted in conservatives. However, I am convinced that we need to remain vigilant and keep a close watch on our representatives. And our congressman-elect is anxious to tap into his base to help him stay on top of things... what a refreshing change! The coming years should prove to be very interesting, and hopefully we will see a strong turnaround to bring us back on course!

Fire Pelosi Rally

Yesterday, we had a 'Fire Pelosi' Rally at our new GOP Campaign Headquarters. Over 100 people showed up for hot dogs, hamburgers, great conversation, and the highlight of the event was a visit with RNC Chairman Michael Steele! They are touring the country on a bus, stopping at as many communities as they can, and will cover over 15,000 miles during the tour. Here are a few pictures of the event:

A shot of our Campaign office

This guy's got the right idea!

The 'Fire Pelosi' bus arrives

Chairman Steele addressing the crowd

We had a great time, with more events in store this week! Today is a Meet and Greet with Dr. Paul Gosar, our Congressional candidate for District 1, and on Friday there is a Meet and Greet with Governor Jan Brewer, a very gutsy lady who has taken on some really gnarly issues with the state budget shortfall, the unsecure border, etc. I will post more pictures of these events soon!

More evidence we are on a parallel course...

with the Great Depression! Read this article from the Wall Street Journal. Another indication that business will not be expanding any time soon, unless Washington backs off and lets the free market do what it does naturally!

Recommended Reading

This has been a year of study for me... considering I wasn't that thrilled with learning about history while I was in school many eons ago, I have become a real student of history of late! Among the books I have read so far are two worth mentioning:
"America The Last Best Hope, Volume 1" by Willima J Bennett - covers our history from the Age of Discovery to World War 1.
"The Forgotten Man - A new History of the Great Depression" by Amity Shlaes - a real eye-opener about what the New Deal did and did not accomplish.
What's that saying? "Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it"? Or something along those lines... I am a real believer of that now! Observing what has gone on in Washington since the current administration took over, and comparing to especially FDR's methods of trying to deal with the Great Depression, there are some eerie similarities, and I am convinced that the 'Progressive Movement' is no different now than it was 80 years ago. They say these days that the GOP just wants to go back to doing the same thing they were doing under 'W', but they are trying the same tactics that were in vogue in the 30's! Didn't work then, won't work now. However, I think 'No' can make a positive difference if it is used and backed with action often enough! Back to my book...

Another Letter to the Editor

My latest rant got published in today's paper... after reading it, you will probably be able to guess what I was ranting about:

To the editor: I continue to be amazed at how few people in our county are willing to do their civic duty and vote in elections. People, look around and ask yourself if you are satisfied with the state of our nation today. Whether your answer is yes or no, the only way to have a representative government is to participate in the election of our representatives!

In this primary, less than one quarter of us decided who would be running in the November election. Considering how easy it is these days to request an early ballot so you don't even have to go to a polling place, I find it very distressing that so few of you took the time to cast your ballots!

Wake up, Coconino County, or keep your mouth shut if you don't like the way things are being run. The only way to make things better is to let your voices be heard and vote. Let's see if we can't have a little better turnout this November, OK?

I was responding to an article that talked about the low voter turnout at our primary election, and it really frustrated me! We have been through two very stressful years with an administration that is trying to steer us in a direction I really don't think we want to go, and yet people can't be bothered with taking a few moments to cast their vote! Then yesterday, I was working at our local GOP booth at the county fair, and kept hearing all these people complain about the encumbent and how they didn't want him to win re-election... wonder if they remembered to vote? So... forgive the rant, but I'm at the stage of my life where it makes no sense to keep my mouth shut, even if it ticks people off!

Catchin' up...

I've been a real slacker! Can't believe it's been almost two months since my last post here! Well, during that time, we had a severe forest fire in the San Francisco peaks about a mile from us (aka, Shultz Fire), followed by flash flooding, roads washing out... I have to give kudos to a host of agencies who really put themselves out to deal with all of this! Our firefighters, forest service, county agencies, law enforcement, search and rescue, were right on top of things working to help evacuate us and get control of the fire. Then when the floods hit from some severe monsoon storms, the utilities and public works folks were there, as well as neighbors with equipment to dig trenches to divert flood waters, and countless volunteers from the community who filled sand bags, and again the county, particularly our County Supervisors Liz Archuleta, and Mandy Metzger and their staffs, who kept us informed daily on conditions and what services were available; and most recently, the Coconino County Public Works folks who came out and repaired severe erosion on our roads, even though we live on roads not normally maintained by the county. This is local government at its best, responding to the needs of the community, and I want to again thank them all for the incredible jobs they did, working long and hard to help folks whose homes and property were in jeopardy.
I think all of us who live in this area know that we have several more years to get through before the forest growth takes hold and flooding will subside, but I for one am encouraged by the efforts that have been made on our behalf so far, and I have hope that we will get through this a lot better than I originally anticipated. Thanks to all who pitched in for us!