Why I Will Never Work with College Republicans
Posted on February 7, 2010 at 2:08 pm by
This past Wednesday I was unfortunate enough to attend our local College Republicans’ Student Town Hall. The entire meeting, with the exception of two panelists (BJ Lawson, Jared Fuller), was run by local Republican and conservative figures. Unfortunately, the entire meeting was nothing but a convoluted diatribe against immigrants, seculars, gays, and peaceniks. I was so infuriated by the absurdity of the meeting that I left early after hearing the crowd cheer for bills that would make English the official language of NC and would ban gay marriage in the state, respectively.
Here’s just a few of the misanthropic quotes that my friend Elliot Engstrom collected from the meeting:
“If I learn that I came from an animal, I’ll start acting like an animal.” (says the man who values freedom of education, apparently only as long as what is taught is what he believes to be true)
“I’m a Christian first, a conservative second, and a Republican third.”
“Someone has to draw the line somewhere. If I say a man can marry a man, what’s to stop a 26-year-old from having sex with a 7-year-old?”
“I’ll bet those Muslims countries don’t have too many murderers and thieves running around. Maybe we ought to take a lesson or two from how they govern.”
“Muslims think that everyone who disagrees with them should be killed.”
“The Founders were all Christians.”
“English is the official language of North Carolina.”
“The Constitution doesn’t say that the church and the State have to be separate, so the government is allowed to incorporate religion.”
Fortunately, a few of my libertarian friends were able to attend and spark a little debate towards the end of the meeting. Here’s a few of their comments/questions:
“How can you claim to be pro-life when you’ve said nothing about America’s wars that are killing far more people than are being killed by abortions?”
“If you value freedom, why can’t we have freedom on social issues?”
I put this video up to show what is basically an exact replica of the mentality displayed at the meeting. Sometimes its good for me to go to events like this just to remember how much I hate Republicans and conservatives in general.
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How not to Construct a Campaign Site……
Posted on February 5, 2010 at 1:29 am by Nathan
So, I’m going to stray from the normal path a little bit and entertain you with a bit of humor that my roommate and I stumbled upon while exploring NC District 4 Congressional candidates. I hope that you find this site as entertaining as my roommate and I found it. However, on a serious note, I would be willing to vote this guy into office simply because of his supernatural mastery of graphic design.
Here’s the site…
I’m just wondering if this is a joke???
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The State of Jefferson
Posted on February 4, 2010 at 5:36 pm by Nathan
While I’m pretty aware that most of these so-called “Liberals” that claim to understand their political philosophy would disagree with what I’m about to say, the right of secession is one of the greatest ideals to emerge from the wealth of great liberal minds. A long list of liberal political philosophers have touted this idea as something that is essential to the fight for better enforcement of human rights. Sometimes termed as self-determination (especially in the international sphere), secession is predicated on the idea that all unique cultures have a right to cultural autonomy, and by allowing these groups to secede they are better able to address their specific cultural needs while preserving the unique qualities of their culture.
Famous proponents of secession/self-determination include:
and…
And in honor of Thomas Jefferson a new sovereignty movement has been burgeoning on the west coast. Locals in northern California and southern Oregon are pushing for a new state appropriately named, “Jefferson“. As claimed in the video, the inhabitants of these areas are culturally and economically distinct, and these differences in beliefs and needs have caused locals to pursue a political movement that would guarantee that their needs are met by their own state government.
So maybe the movement isn’t huge, and maybe its not international in scope, but it is still important to know what’s going on in America. Even more, its good to know that people are still pursuing cultural sovereignty. The fact still remains, democracy works best on a local level where the individual’s vote and voice means more.
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Time to Start Rethinking the Message
Posted on February 3, 2010 at 11:12 am by Mike Ochoa
A new, and quite disturbing poll was recently released by the polling group Research 2000. It interviewed 2,000 self-identified Republicans and asked them several interesting questions regarding President Obama. Their answers give a little insight into how the Republican base is viewing our current political climate. There is no easy way to transition into these numbers so let’s just check out the highlights. I will divide these into 3 categories and comment on each.
Paranoid:
- 36% believe that President Obama was not born in this country with another 22% unsure. Wait, this one might actually be true.
- 31% believe that President Obama is a “racist who hates white people” with another 33% that are unsure. The other 36% believe that Obama does not in fact hate the other half of his own family tree.
- 63% believe that President Obama is a Socialist. No public option, no Medicare buy-in. Haha, I wish he was a Socialist.
Crazy:
- 39% believe that Barack Obama should be impeached with another 29% that are not sure. Reasons? We don’t need no stinkin’ reasons!
- 21% believe that ACORN stole the 2008 election and another 55% aren’t sure, even though the election was the biggest landslide in recent electoral history.
Bat Sh** Insane:
- 24% believe that Obama wants “the terrorists to win” with another 33% who are not sure. Wow, apparently not torturing people and subjecting them to the US justice system makes you a terrorist sympathizer.
- 23% of Republicans believe that their state should secede from the United States! Another 19% said they aren’t sure. Almost 1 in 4 Republicans are ready for Civil War part deux and almost 1 in 5 are still trying to figure it out. Join your local militia!
This polling data leaves me with a few conclusions. The fact that at least 1 in 3 Republicans in this country are living on a different planet goes without saying. More importantly however, it shows that the Republican message machine works extremely well, whether it be the conservative media outlets or members of Congress themselves. Ever since Obama took office, it has been a 24/7 attack calling him a radical, socialist, communist, etc., bent on destroying this country. This leads me to my next conclusion: No wonder there is no bipartisanship between the left and the right in Washington! After pushing this message non-stop and creating the numbers you see above, it becomes literally impossible for Republican members of Congress to work out deals with Democrats. They become politically vulnerable in their own party because they would be be seen as working with a socialist, racist, non-citizen that only holds power due to the illegal efforts of ACORN. Their base has become incensed with the rhetoric that the Republicans themselves have pushed so vigorously in order to score political points. The GOP needs to come back down to earth and start being real with their constituents so that we can start getting things done. Demonizing the other party and providing zero votes might get you elected next time around, but it’s not doing anything to help the American people in these incredibly tough times.
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Beginning of the End
Posted on February 3, 2010 at 12:28 am by Mike Ochoa
Yesterday, top Pentagon officials appeared in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, the two senior most officials in the Defense Department, testified that they feel it is time that gay troops in this country be allowed to serve openly in our military and called for an end to the 17 year old ban known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” They have asked for an 11 month time period in which to study and create the most effective way in which to bring this policy to an end. In the interim however, they have made it clear that enforcement on this current policy will be drastically reduced as they will no longer “aggressively pursue disciplinary action against gay service members.”
This is of course great news and many are calling this the beginning of the end of this discriminatory policy. However, a lot of work remains to be done. If any kind of repeal is going to happen, it’s going to have to come from Congress, which seems hard pressed to pass anything these days. Republicans, as one might guess, are not on board. John McCain is already starting to turn on himself so as to remain in opposition. As for the Democrats, the political will just doesn’t seem to be there right now, not to mention extended political pressure with the midterm elections fast approaching. While there is absolutely no reason for this policy to continue for even one more day (many other countries such as the UK and Israel have allowed gay men and women to serve openly with no ill effects), it seems DADT will be dragged out for at least another year. But on the brighter side, these recent developments have to be seen as a cause for celebration. Now with top military officials on the side of repeal, it feels like only a matter of time.
Admiral Mike Mullen drops some knowledge on Congress. In all seriousness though, this is very heartening.
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A Few Words on the Budget and Deficit
Posted on February 2, 2010 at 3:38 am by Mike Ochoa
President Obama is soon to announce his budget for the next fiscal year that will total $3.8 trillion and will carry a deficit of $1.6 trillion. Now you will hear plenty coming from the Republican Party in the next few weeks about how Obama and the Democrats are spending recklessly and destroying this country, etc. I wanted to take this time to put things in perspective.
When Obama took office, he was left with a $1.2 trillion deficit from the previous Republican administration. The same Republican administration that passed the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, two massive tax cuts (primarily for the wealthiest among us), and engaged in two extremely costly and dubious wars . All of these were completely unfunded. This Republican-led Congress and administration also raised the debt ceiling multiple times to deal with the massive debt they were racking up.
Fast forward to today. Republicans are deficit hawks again! They’re slamming any sort of spending measure Obama and the Democrats propose from the stimulus to health care as out of control spending by those liberal Democrats. They even criticized them for, yes, raising the debt ceiling. But if you think the GOP has your back on deficit issues think again. Recently, the Republican caucus unanimously voted against the reinstatement of PAYGO, which simply means that any new spending must be matched by some way to pay for it. Pay as you go. All the supposed fiscal conservatives all voted against it. The Obama administration also agreed with Republicans to create a deficit commission, a GOP idea. Still, the majority of Republicans voted against it, even Judd Gregg whose proposal it was in the first place! Do Republicans really care about deficit reduction or are they simply political opportunists, looking to harm Obama’s agenda in whatever way possible? Were they serious about these issues when they were in power or are they all talk? These answers should be obvious and I hope people take it into consideration when listening to arguments on the budget and its effect on the deficit.
For the record, I do care about the deficits and the debt and think there are serious and practical ways to address them. However, at the moment, the sluggish economy is first priority, and attempting to balance the budget would make things worse. I disagree with the spending freeze, but at least Obama is waiting for next year to put it into effect while Republicans want it now, something Econ 101 tells you is a bad idea.
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Obama Dismantles House Republicans
Posted on January 31, 2010 at 4:01 pm by Mike Ochoa
This last Friday, something very unique to American politics happened. President Obama attended the House Republican retreat for a short speech and some questions. What shaped up to be a shallow exchange of talking points turned into a full on debate similar to that of Britain’s “question time.” It was really a sight to see for someone who loves politics considering we usually only get this kind of show around election time. Obama took question after question from the Republicans about all their pet projects and complaints. The GOP soon regretted allowing cameras to roll during this Q&A period as the President calmly dissected all their major talking points from the deficit to health care.
On the stimulus for example, Obama criticized Republicans’ inability to compromise and universal opposition to a bill that the vast majority of economists said was necessary and that a third of which was tax cuts, something that the GOP would normally support. Not to mention that many of the members of Congress in that very room attended ribbon cutting ceremonies and big check giveaways for projects that they actually voted against. On health care, he reminded them that the current bill is very similar to what the GOP was proposing in response to President Clinton’s health care reform and not some government takeover or “Bolshevik plot,” which is unfortunately how the Republicans have been presenting this legislation.
Most importantly, I think President Obama was able to, as he put it, “close the gap between the rhetoric and reality.” To say that this President is attempting to push some radical left-wing agenda is just not supported by the facts. Trust me, as a liberal, I wish he was pursuing a left-wing agenda. Many of us think that Obama is taking his base for granted and unwilling to fight for the progressive agenda. In fact, I would argue that his harshest critics outside of the people asking for his birth certificate would have to be liberals and progressives. As for Republicans, it’s time to be realistic and start meeting us on some issues instead of opposing for opposition’s sake just to score political points.
It’s lengthy, but I definitely recommend watching – video here
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The significance of Scott Brown
Posted on January 21, 2010 at 11:37 pm by Chris Yahnis
Quite frankly, I’m still reeling from the massive upset that Scott Brown pulled off earlier this week. I’m not alone though, it seems the same for the rest of the political blogosphere. One of my favorite political blogs, FiveThirtyEight.com, produced a graphic that shows exactly where Scott Brown will fit into in terms of political ideology. As you can see, he’s probably going to be the most progressive Republican in the Senate.
That’s absolutely fine with me! He’s replacing Ted Kennedy, who was obviously famously liberal. For Republicans, this is a big step up. He will be the 41st vote and Obamacare as we know it will have to be changed. With this predicted ideology, Scott Brown takes over the spot that conservative Democrat Ben Nelson had as the 60th most liberal member of the Senate. Brown has been thrown into a significant position of power. Needless to say, there will be a lot of lobbyists knocking on his office door. Unfortunately for his “available” daughters, they’ll be wanting to talk to dad.
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Downtown Scotty Brown!
Posted on January 19, 2010 at 10:11 pm by Chris Yahnis
Tonight, the biggest political upset in modern American History occurred. In a state that hasn’t elected a Republican Senator since 1972, former Cosmopolitan model Scott Brown (setting a new standard for dumb things you can do in your early twenties and still get elected to a high office) defeated heavy favorite Martha Coakley to take the seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy.
What exactly does the Brown victory mean? Well, it means that the Republicans can filibuster again, giving them a legitimate shot at challenging the Obamacare bill being debated in the House. It also means the Democrats have a serious dilemma at hand: Do they push the bill into law before Brown is inaugurated on the 29th or do they respect the voice of the people of Massachusetts and wait until afterwards? If they do not wait, they are going to lose a lot more Senate seats. Who knows if the Congressional Democrats will take the hint given to them tonight by voters of the Bay State… you can guess what I hope happens.
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Save a Nobel Peace Laureate
Posted on November 25, 2009 at 12:16 am by Nathan
Amnesty International has started up a write-a-thon to help save Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who has been imprisoned in Myanmar for voicing dissenting views. The write-a-thon is looking for 250,000 letters written to the Myanmar embassy in Washington DC on behalf of concerned individuals. Included in the write-a-thon are other political prisoners that AI is trying to defend; a few others include:
Alisher Karamatov and Azam Farmonov - tortured and unlawfully detained after defending local farmers who accused local farming officials of corruption
Mansour Ossanlu – trade unionist unlawfully sentenced to five years imprisonment for “propaganda against the system” and “acts against national security”
Join the write-a-thon here.
Mike Ochoa, senior, democrat from Sandy, UT. 
Chris Yahnis, junior, republican from Murrells Inlet, SC. 