In my view, there is an enormous overburden of crap that the GOP could be criticizing about the Democrats.  They spend too much, they have a warped view of what freedom is, they are bullies.  Every one of their policies have the opposite effect of what they are supposed to do.  With such a target-rich environment, you would think that everyone in the Republican Party would have more than enough to complain about long before they made their way down the list to another Republican.

You would think wrong.

Senators McCain and Graham, still exhausting the flatus from a fine meal with President Obama raced to the cameras to scold Senator Rand Paul for the filibuster heard ’round the world.  Ed Martin, the MOGOP Party Chair, rebuked McCain and Graham for their diamond-like political hard-headedness.  I think these two old bulls had a sock in the eye coming.  As I said, there is more than enough to critique about the Other Guys. Taking a snark at Rand Paul was just two old Republican hacks giving a little love to a core constituency – the media.

I thought Ed made a strong argument about how the Republican Party needs a lot more Rand and a lot less McCain and Graham.  Paul took the fight to the Obama administration. McGraham was taken by the Obama administration.

Throughout the various privations visited upon our nation by the most liberal president in history, John Danforth has been largely silent, content to have his various and sundry foundations cash their cut of the largess from Uncle Sam.  What then would rouse this old Moderate Lion from his slumber?

Ed Martin rebuking the rebukers.

Apparently it is OK for fossilized moderates to swipe at their juniors, but Thou Shalt Not Speak Ill of the Speakers of Ill.  What a load of balderdash.

Bill Hennessy has done a bang-up job of deconstructing Danforth and the problems with the Old Guard of the GOP.  I know I spent the last five years trying to stem the hemorrhaging freedom promised by the ginormous expansions of government ushered in by President Obama.  I am sick and tired of the Establishment GOP being too afraid to take on anyone but conservatives.  I am delighted Ed Martin called out The Maverick and his sidekick.

Our side needs to use some of that boldness on the other side.  Keep swinging, Ed.

The reality is that traitorous Americans are going to engage in activity that threatens the US. I feel no particular sympathy for a dead terrorist that just happens to be an American by birth. In World War Two, a large number of Americans went to Nazi Germany to fight, and ended up being killed by GIs, bombed by the Army Air Corps or sent to the deep by the Navy. That’s what happens when you choose sides against your countrymen – your countrymen may kill you in the heat of battle.

In WW2 we were in a declared war against other nations. Terrorists are in non-state organizations and due to their actions are not entitled to protections like those found in the Geneva Protocols. The Geneva Conventions were written to reward signatories for following the laws and customs of land warfare by affording them privileges. Terrorists violate all the rules of civilization. Being vaporized in a fireball is a perfectly good end given who they are and what they do.

That said, we are not killing Americans in pitched battle. We are targeting them with, deliberate forethought. It is also being done entirely by the Executive branch, with no controlling legislation from Congress. This means there is no judicial review that guidelines set by Congress are followed or that the guidelines are constitutional. The further insult to America is the lack of thoughtful debate about the practice. I personally don’t have a problem with wiping out actual terrorists without warning, even if they are Americans. Lets see Congress debate the issue and provide a law that the President must follow and the Courts can review.

We have three co-equal branches of government to keep power in check. President Obama, by arrogating to his office the power to decide when, where and under what conditions he can choose an American, call him an imminent threat, and blast him out of existence all by his lonesome has gone too far. It’s not the drone strike, it is not the lack of a Miranda warning, it is the lack of involvement of Congress and the Courts that are disturbing. I may not like some parts of the PATRIOT act, but at least President Bush asked for and received a law for which the actions taken under its authority can be reviewed.

Congress needs to act to challenge the President, and either authorize the terms and conditions under which President Obama can whack an enemy and surrounding non-combatants.

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” ― Marcus Aurelius

I say that this is odd because it has a number of flawed suppositions that I would think would be self-evident.

“Good life”, “virtue”, “noble” and “just” are words that have variable definitions, depending on your culture.  For instance, in colonial India, the locals believed it was just, virtuous and noble to throw a living widow upon the burning funeral pyre of her dead husband.  The English governor of that province thought it just, virtuous and noble to erect a gallows next to that pyre and warn the village that a noose awaited those who would throw a living human onto a burning pyre.

If there is a god that takes note of man and has an opinion of what is right and wrong and has both the will and power to punish the wicked and reward the just, then what we think is wicked and just would not matter.

The values expressed by the widow and the funeral pyre and the gallows are both informed by an ideation of god that are in obvious conflict.  Perhaps neither the god of the English governor nor the god of the Indian villagers exist, but they cannot both exist with equal power and authority over us.  Aurelius avoids the question of who god might be if god exists and what the demands of that god might be.  Morality becomes “things I like” without ever considering that maybe the things he likes are objectively immoral in the eyes of some god.

Aurelius was an emperor in the early years of the ascendancy of Christianity, about 90 years after Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  Even though Jerusalem had been sacked, the Jews were being dispersed and the apostles were long dead (only John dying of natural causes) his empire was still abuzz with the work and philosophy of Christians who believed in a God who had an opinion about right and wrong, with the power and will to do something about it.  To my ear this sounds like something Aurelius might have said in response to one of the increasing number of nobles who were Christians, and recorded by a fellow skeptic.

As a chunk of philosophy, I think Aurelius’s formulation is meaningless.  It is not a statement about either the existence of or nature of god.  It is a statement about Aurelius being his own god and not being interested in any competition.

Let that sink in for a minute.

The former chairman and the choice preferred by the GOP Establishment lost Saturday to Ed. The entire GOP delegation to Congress lined up behind the other guy. Normally when you are the head of an organization that puts up an epic fail like that suffered in 2012 here in Missouri you are politely invited to find another way to serve. Instead, the GOP-E backed the loser, which goes a long way to explaining how Speaker Bohener still has his job.

See, the establishment is not about winning, they are about not losing and so long as they have a seat at the table, they don’t seem to care about how wrecked everything surrounding the table gets.

Ed has his work cut out for him, but his victory started several years ago with even smaller victories all across the state. Men and women began paying attention. They began getting involved. They began running for the functionary posts that are the beating heart of a functioning political party.

They began to win.

I am as discouraged as anyone about the re-election of Barack Obama, the success of the Democrats and the incompetence of the Republicans, but bear in mind the GOP has only been a principled conservative party since Reagan, and candidly the Establishment has only been conservative enough to keep people like you and me voting for them. We have been bleeding principled conservatives to third parties for decades.

There are at war on the fronts of culture, politics and education. While these are inextricably intertwined, they are distinct enough that we need to look at Ed’s election for MOGOP Chair as an indicator of how the tide can change under the feet of the opponents of freedom. Ed is a marvelous cheerleader, and very generous with his efforts. He’s been behind the scenes of many successful state House and Senate races doing important work increasing our lead in Jefferson City. The farm team he has helped put together is impressive. As Chairman, Ed will put in the time to smarten’ up candidates. Before we know it, the Progressives will not be running against milktoasts, screwballs, mealy-mouths and candy-asses. They’ll be running against men and women who are brave, bold and can communicate, willing to be genuine citizen leaders.

I worked with Ed for over four years, helping him run for the House and Missouri’s Attorney General. I’ve been amazed by his human Energizer Bunny work ethic. The man is a force of nature.

The old guard lacked the needed fighting spirit for our times. We are in an existential battle for the very soul of our nation. Ed said many times that America as we know it is never guaranteed. Every generation must advance it or risk losing it. I am confident now that the uncertain trumpets of the MOGOP will become a thing of the past, and we’ll have the sound of guns to which to ride.

Brothers, hear me. Your wife or girlfriend may come to you with a pair of meggings and will say something like “Put these on, you’ll look hot in them!” If dumping her on the spot is not an option, you need to look that chick in the eye and say “No.”

Better yet, do not say “No” but rather “Hell No.” Make sure you say “Hell No” like Samuel Jackson being asked for a drink of water in the desert by a Klansman.

Meggins – Not Even Once

In fact, just to be clear you should say “Not ‘No’, not even ‘Hell No’ … not even ‘over my dead body’ – If you so much as approach my corpse with a pair of meggings, I will implore the nearest Archangel to spontaneously combust the body and destroy everything within a two mile radius.”

Look, I don’t want to get all Adam Carolla here, but meggings are a trend that needs to be stopped. For the love of God, Justin Bieber wears them. That ought to be enough, but if somehow you are wondering if meggings are for you, here is a way to find out. Get invited to a costume party and wear meggings. When people ask you what you are dressed as, tell them “This is my douchebag costume.” Their uncontrollable laughter will validate the unadulterated rightness of what I say.

In a just world, meggings ought to be a immediate man-card revocation with a follow-up beatdown. Not a “hospital” level beatdown, just a black-eye beatdown with a side order gut-shot. Once you are healed up, you can apply for your man card back after a month of wearing flannel shirts, blue jeans and watching The Military Channel. Skinny jeans will invite a fresh beatdown.

I suspect skinny jeans is how this cursed trend got started and is just another step in the relentless campaign to un-man us. Your girl says you’ll look hot in meggings, but she is subconsciously trying to turn you into her gay friend who will help her drink red wine and weep.

She will eventually dump you for a man who won’t wear meggings.

Want to wear tight clothing? Take up scuba diving, surfing, or cycling in cold weather, though the last option carries grave risks of debilitating douchebaggery if not performed carefully. I recommend courtesy shorts for cyclists no matter what the weather.

You have been warned, you have a plan of action, you know what to do and what not to do. Man up. Say “Are you out of your &^%$# mind?” to meggings.

Neither do I, and that’s a huge problem. At the Federal level, progressives run the show. Establishment GOP is spineless, the media are mendacious and the people are deeply confused about what should be done by the Feds. Part of the problem, candidly, is a moral failing of the electorate. Too many of us have our hand out and are wanting the government to do those things that ought to be done in our communities and families or by ourselves. Another part is a lack of leadership.

Ed Martin is a leader. I have had the privilege of working with him for over four years through two campaigns. While he lost both the house seat and the Attorney General’s office, he demonstrated an amazing ability to motivate people to a good cause. He is an indefatigable organizer, something I cannot say about anyone else in the MOGOP leadership.

Overrun in Washington DC, conservatives are going to have to retrench at the state level. It would be wonderful to have Ed fighting Washington DC from the attorney general’s office, but having Ed in the bully pulpit of the MOGOP chairman’s seat would provide an energetic shot in the arm for a demoralized, moribund party.

Over the years, the Tea Party has been ramping up, doing more than showing up and waving around Gadsden Flags. Many have been running for committee chairmanships, serving as precinct captains and the like. You can’t see it, but things are changing in the GOP at the grassroots level.

Ed Martin was at the very first tea party rally in April of 2009 (as was I) and while some have come and gone, he has remained faithful to the cause. Ed is no sunshine patriot. He has sacrificed a great deal in a difficult environment to make a difference, foregoing four years of his career to run for office. If you consider his campaigns as incubators for grassroots action, the value of his leadership has been incalculable. Ed has a volunteer following who will do almost anything for Ed. Imagine if a true-blue consistent Tea Party conservative becomes the GOP chairman!

Ed is as frustrated with the bullsh*t as are you and I. The GOP owns the House and Senate, but we waste our time and effort on crony projects and ignore important fiscal issues. They fail to work to protect Missourians against the intrusions of the Federal Government. The Missouri GOP delegation passes on one opportunity after another in communicating the value and power of liberty.

Ed will not have that problem.

The establishment has lined up behind the other guy, but Ed is courting votes and could win this Saturday. If you know any of the 68 committee members who will be voting on the next chair, get in touch and encourage them to reform our state party by providing a proven leader with impeccable conservative credentials.

I went with my wife to meet with a family member who helped organize the meet-up.  I was going to talk about making and using a rocket stove, an innovation that allows third world residents cut their consumption of fuel. My wife was going to demonstrate canning.

As we drove up, we were met by two plump, but serious-looking middle age men wielding long guns at port arms, one a shotgun and the other an AR-15.  I am a gun nut, and was not particularly alarmed, but having sentries patrolling the perimeter seemed silly to me.

Around the campfire we bitched about everything we thought was wrong about America. The conversation went on for hours.  Eventually I asked questions of everyone there.  What do you do for a living? What do you do for fun? Married?  Kids?

A pattern emerged on the family front.  Most have had at least one divorce, some several.  A couple gents were just bachelors.  There were plenty of kids mentioned, but few of the kids were in an intact family.

I have reflected on this experience for months, and I am still not sure what to think about it.
I do know that I want my kids to be married for life.  I want my grandkids to see an example of love between husband and wife.  I want them to experience the lifelong love of a spouse like I have.

We cannot have a strong America with weak families.  We cannot have a strong America with men who are ill-equipped to be good husbands and women unable to be good wives.

Culturally, we have totally lost our way on what “good husband” and “good wife” even mean.  Decades of slow, steady erosion of what constitutes a healthy marriage and a healthy marriage have taken a terrible toll on who we are as a people.  There is no doubt that the siren song of the all-provident State is heard by men and women who have needs unmet that ought to be met through the family.  It is telling that the when Obama’s campaign extolled the cradle to retirement life of “Julia” that little was said about the role of family or husband.

Guns, ammo, prepping, a library full of books, tracts and pamphlets extolling the virtues of a Constitutional Republic are meaningless if a citizen cannot successfully form the very bonds of family and community that the Constitutional Republic was formed to protect.

Before pledging our lives, fortunes and sacred honor to our nation, we must first pledge those things to our marriages and our families.  To have all the liberty, and no family would be a hollow victory.  With a strong family, we can weather any storm.

This year, the pending holiday season found me feeling out of sorts. Black Friday turned into Black Thanksgiving Day, a sure sign we are losing our balance. Then came a raft of bad news, sad news, and outright horrific news that made this December feel bleak and ugly.

The economy is performing worse than was reported in the runup to the election. The president seems determined to run us over the fiscal cliff. Then reports came in from Newtown that broke our hearts.

In these weeks before Christmas, I kept asking myself how exactly can we honor what is the great mystery of the birth of Christ?

This is how I felt last weekend as I was shuttling kids to basketball practice, birthday parties, and other assorted activities. This cloud followed me as I ran my own errands shopping for a Christmas gift or two. It was a stone in my shoe I could not get rid of, which is a sure sign the Father is trying to get something through the distracting din of life.

Scanning the radio, I stopped on a Christian station. The preacher was explaining the story about the storm on the Sea of Galilee and the reaction of the men at that time. The preacher painted a vivid picture of making a living on the sea in that day. It was perilous, and storms were fierce and destructive. He explained how seasoned fishermen feared these storms. The preacher then brought to the listener the application.

The preacher said, “The storms will be all around us. Our problems will seem beyond solving. But God can settle it all down. We will want to panic – or at least we will feel panic – just like the guys in that boat on the Sea of Galilee.”

Indeed. I am not panicked, but I can see panic on the horizon. I can feel the drop in temperature as the wind of fear begins to pick up. The preacher continued his thought.

“But we need to have faith.” he said plainly.

That night, I read the verses in Mark (4:35-41) to the kids and talked about storms and boating. Our four children are under 8 years old. They somehow believe I know EVERYTHING, including all there is to know about seamanship and meteorology! Oh the questions they asked!

The question I asked myself is this – “Why am I afraid, do I not have faith?”

This man had the power to silence the wind and the waves. This man slept soundly in the storm, at peace knowing the Father had His loving hand on him. This man when roused from slumber rose up, calmed the storm and challenged his disciples to believe in His sovereign power and provision. The Christ was not indifferent to the storm, he was setting the example of knowing peace in the midst of the storm.

Our world is always at a critical moment. 2000 years ago was critical. So is today, and so will be tomorrow. We need to trust that the abyss of fear is not for the faithful. The storms have no power over the life we have been given by the Holy Master of the Sea.

The sweet baby boy heralded by angels, worshipped by wise men and shepherd alike, is the same man who broke the power of the storm, the man who destroyed utterly the eternal power of sin. We are offered peace in abundance. May you have His gift of peace on earth within your heart.

All the best.

Ed Martin

Ed Martin is a close friend. I am delighted to have him as a guest blogger.

As calls for a ban on “assault rifles” ring out, a little knowledge about the most popular “assault rifle” is in order.

The AR-15 replaced the heavier M1 Garand rifle that fired a powerful 30.06 (pronounced thirty ought six) cartridge, in Missouri, the 30.06 is a favorite among deer hunters. The weapon that ultimately became the main battle rifle of US forces fired a much lighter, higher velocity 5.56 mm cartridge.

There is a long spring in the back of the AR-15 that is compressed by a metal cylinder when the gun is fired. This spring and buffer soak up recoil from the fired round. This in turn keeps most of the “kick” of the rifle off the shooter’s shoulder. This innovation makes the AR-15 a relatively painless rifle to use. Being easier to shoot makes it easier to master shooting accurately. A combination of synthetic parts and sturdy, aluminum made the AR-15 rifle much lighter than equivalent firearms.

Over the years, the modular AR-15 platform has allowed various manufacturers to expand what sport shooters and hunters can do with the rifle. The upper receiver can be swapped out to use a heavier hunting round like the .308 or replaced with a .22 Long Rifle upper for cheap target shooting.

Replaceable foregrips and rails on the “flattop” of the gun make adding scopes and other aiming devices easy. Shooters can add all manner of accessories (often to comical extent) to make their rifle uniquely suited to whatever they choose to do with it, from hunting to target shooting to shooting competitions.

The popularity of the AR-15 revolves around the fact that it is a great design, not that it is particularly suited for nefarious purposes. It is comfortable to shoot, very accurate, easy to maintain and easy to customize.

Some non-shooters are put off by its looks, but the bad-assedness of an AR-15 is form, not function. A Ruger Mini-14 is a fine firearm that is generally the equal of an AR-15 in average hands, but looks much more like a traditional rifle. The functional difference is negligible.

Much of the debate revolving around an assault weapons ban is focusing on cosmetic differences and capacity. An AR-15 has an external box magazine that can carry as many as 100 rounds, though these magazines are heavy and unreliable. The AR-15 fires with each trigger pull. Limiting magazines to 10 rounds will do nothing meaningful to impede a spree killer. It takes at most about five seconds to swap a magazine. A high capacity magazine ban will only add ten seconds to the time it takes a killer to fire 30 rounds.

The AR-15 is a great rifle for all sorts of shooters and its ability to take an external magazine does little to make it more dangerous. All guns are dangerous if used improperly. It is improper use of the gun, not the gun itself that is the problem we need to address.

Right now, the progressive spending agenda is being funded by investors buying America’s debt. Eventually, nobody is going to be stupid enough to lend us money. We just do not know when they’ll stop, but stop it will. Inflation is already here, and it’s pretty bad – just the media does not harp on it like they did in the 70s. Billions that could be investment capital to create jobs is being soaked up in precious metals as a hedge against inflation, taking money out of circulation. Government policies are prompting a mis-allocation of capital – billions in successful investment have been traded for worthless government subsidised boondoggles like green batteries and solar energy.

People I depend upon for my livelihood – business owners – are vilified by the President as not doing their fair share, as if there is nothing special or valuable about providing jobs for others. They are afraid to spend money, anticipating a tax shock.

Jacking up taxes never works out like progressives say it will. We raise taxes on cigarettes to discourage smoking, why would we not expect raising taxes on business activity to have a similar discouraging effect? They only take a larger slice of a shrunken pie.

When our debt is no longer being bought, the Fed will begin printing it, which will make the dollar in your pocket worth less. A great deal less. In postwar Germany, currency bought half the goods in the afternoon as it did in the morning. How will the people respond to that?

My family has meaningful skills and is clever enough to barter. The millions of Americans whose lifestyle was supported by government checks will be in deep trouble. What will they do? To what extent will civil society crack up when food stops being shipped to cities because producers shut down, unable to keep pace with inflated costs?

I do not think our civil fabric is anywhere near as strong as it was in the 1920s. Then, bad government policy lead to both the economic collapse and agricultural catastrophe of the Great Depression. Then Americans had a much deeper reserve of faith and community. Still yet, only the global apocalypse of WW2 and the untold millions of lives lost broke the economic death spiral.

I look at America’s balance sheet, both fiscal and cultural, and I know that something has to give. When it gives, I fear it will bust ugly.