Bread and Circuses ... J. D. Longstreet

Bread and Circuses
Panem et Circenses
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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"In modern usage, the phrase "Bread and Circuses" is taken to describe a populace that no longer values civic virtues and the public life. To many across the political spectrum, left and right, it connotes a supposed triviality and frivolity that characterized the Roman Republic prior to its decline into the autocratic monarchy characteristic of the later Roman Empire's transformation about 44 B.C."
SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

"Roman politicians devised a plan in 140 B.C.E. to win the votes of these new citizens: giving out cheap food and entertainment, "bread and circuses", would be the most effective way to rise to power."  SOURCE:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

If the above strikes you as being frighteningly like America today, in my opinion, you would be correct to be concerned and yes, frightened.

ROME'S CIRCUS MAXIMUS

How else does one explain the Obama Administration's exponential increase in welfare and food stamp rolls in America.  How else does one explain the sudden presidential executive order awarding certain illegal aliens  the right to remain in the US and even provides a pathway to citizenship.

It's bread and circuses.  Obama ain't from Rome but he sure as heck IS from Chicago (or, at least, he SAYS he is!)  and -- all things considered -- the pols from Chicago could teach the ancient Roman pols a thing or two about manipulating the voters to win an election or to stay in office once they secure it in the first place.  The Romans were no slackers when it came to stealing elections. 

I have often thought that America in decline parallels ancient Rome in decline.

It is striking, at least to me, how accurate those in politics are who assess the electorate's intellect.  It infuriates me that the political left, especially, tends to see the ENTIRE electorate as dumb and stupid, wandering mindlessly, and just waiting to be told what to do.  Then we have an election, as in 2008, and the results prove the left was absolutely correct in that assessment!  The democrats played the American electorate in  2008 as if were a Stradivarius.  And they are doing it again.  But this time -- the violin is out of tune.     

One of the advantages, or disadvantages, of a long life is that one lives long enough to see history repeat itself -- over and over and over again.  It never fails to surprise and disgust me at how easily fooled the general public is when politicians run a con game on the electorate with great success time and again.

Nothing much changes in politics.  Names, faces, dates change -- but the tried and true tactics never change -- because the voter, especially in America, is (sad to say!) basically dumb as far as how our republic is SUPPOSED to work.  Explaining that the US has a constitution is, for them, some sort of ethereal concept that has no equal in their consciousness.    Oh, they've heard about it, seen snapshots of the parchment page on TV, heard quotes from it, but -- they've never actually read it.  And they, sure as heck, have never studied it. 

FREE!

Dear reader, in a constitutional republic, such as America,  that is a death wish!  And America has just the people currently in charge of the government to insure a very nice funeral for a free America.   

With the Obama Administration, the constitution is an afterthought, a speed bump, a temporary impediment to be overcome with whatever means necessary.

If you like Obama's governing by fiat, or executive order, then you'd best be prepared for a cloudburst of new decrees from the man who would be king of America should we be so unfortunate as to have him reelected.

NOT FREE!

 The left not only THINKS you're dumb -- they KNOW you are dumb, and they KNOW, beyond doubt, that they are far superior than you in intellect and by some celestial right, it is they who should be caring for you, as one would a simple-minded child.  For the political left THAT is the NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS.  They believe that Providence would have commanded it so, had God had all the facts.  (Yeah.  There are a few on the left who actually believe in the existence of a god.... gender neutral, of course. While I'm at it -- the small "g" was intentional.)

So far as the bread and circuses for America is concerned, my deepest worry is that it will work.  Like the free cheese giveaway with people lining up down, and around, city blocks to get a hand-out of a huge block of cheese -- I am sorely afraid the beneficiaries of the bread and circuses actually believe, like the cheese, that it is free.  The left is counting on that. 

The taxpayers of the United States paid for that "FREE" cheese.  EVERYONE will have to pay for the "free" bread and circuses. The currency to be exchanged is freedom. Just freedom. That's all.

In the end, bread and circuses did not save Rome -- and it will not save the United States.  It will, however, hasten our demise.  Just as the Roman Empire eventually broke up into numerous countries, the United States will certainly do the same.

If you are sick and tired of being played for a fool then you have roughly a dozen weeks to pay attention to both sides of the argument and decide which side is playing to the lowest common denominator amongst us and which side actually thinks you are not a simpleton and that you have the ability to think for yourself.

Mr. Obama has already told you that you had nothing to do with making this country great.  Government did it -- not you.  He made a mistake.  He accidentally revealed what he and the left actually believe.

Romney KNOWS you did it because he was out there helping build the country along side every other working American and not in some ivory "think tank tower" improvising ways and means to force America to adopt socialism and Marxism.
America desperately needs this election to be not just a remission from the cancer of socialism -- but a cure. 

I was thinking the other day that the two "R's" in the Romney-Ryan logo could just as easily stand for "Rescue and Restore."  I would urge you to think of this election as a mission to rescue America and restore America to her place of greatness. 

The bells tolling America's death knell are growing louder.  But we can silence those bells by replacing Obama and Biden with Romney and Ryan -- and handing control of the US Senate to the republicans in November.

There is an old expression that says:  "It must be dark before you can see the stars."  Well, it IS dark in America and yes, we CAN see the stars of freedom and liberty piercing the shadows cast by socialism and Marxism.  If America resets her compass, takes a new bearing, and maintains her heading toward those stars, we will find our way through this present darkness into a new day with all the promise afforded us by all the Americans who went before us and dared to "build it themselves."

We can FIX this!  Lets get 'er done!

J. D. Longstreet
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The Undecideds ... Alan Caruba

The Undecideds
By Alan Caruba

We are now into the seemingly endless countdown until the November 6 elections and the agony of waiting is already wearing upon a vast portion of those people who know for whom the will vote. They have already made up their minds, leaving the outcome to a slim margin of those identified as either “undecideds” or “independents.”

These are the people who tend to forget your birthday and send a “belated” card to make amends, but it is always too late. They are likely the ones who file their income tax late despite months in which to prepare it. These are people who ignore parking tickets. They are not studiously studying the candidate’s positions on issues. They haven’t been paying any attention to them.

This election, like all elections, is deemed the most important one in the history of the nation, but despite electing some genuinely bad previous choices for President, there is an ominous quality to this election because the nation is dead broke and, curiously, arguing over whether to let Social Security and Medicare become insolvent in a few years or whether to keep the latest destruction of our health system, Obamacare. It is a piece of legislation that literally takes $700 billion from Medicare and includes some twenty hidden taxes.

So, yes, it really does matter who gets elected or reelected.

How America has managed to split so dramatically along partisan lines of division is something that I will leave to future historians to determine. We have spent the second part of the last century and first decade of this one swinging wildly back and forth between conservatives and liberals. The conservatives like Ronald Reagan were usually elected to clean up the mess left behind by liberals like Jimmy Carter.

Muddying the problem for conservative voters are men like Richard Nixon and George W. Bush who were nominally Republicans and conservatives, but who just as often left a legacy of a liberal expansion of government. In Nixon’s case, it is the horror of the Environmental Protection Agency and, in Bush43’s case, the failure of No Child Left Behind, the expansion of the federal government into the education sector; one that has been rendering generations of Americans ignorant of history, civics, math and science.

What makes this election so grotesque is the mind-boggling record of failure of the current incumbent, Barack Obama. He has literally imposed more debt on the nation than all the previous presidents combined! His “solutions” have been a string of costly failures. And his campaign is a series of lies and blunders that are setting new records for mendacity and deceit.

The wisest thing Lyndon Johnson did was to announce that he would not run for reelection in1968 after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary. He had blundered so badly in escalating the war in Vietnam that he stepped aside. He was arguably the most liberal President, remembered for his “War on Poverty”, until the advent of Barack Obama, a Marxist who is likely to be remembered for his war on America.

The Republican Nixon replaced Johnson, promising that he had a “plan” to end the war, but it did not end until his second term. Then he was forced to end his second term by resigning over an insane effort to influence his reelection, Watergate. Why do I cite such matters of history—because Americans in general seem to have no memory of history even when it has been fairly recent.

So the nation now finds that its future is in the hands of a slim margin of voters who, we’re told by pollsters, are undecided. How can one be undecided about a President who has not solved unemployment for the past forty-two months?

# Who has waged war on Wall Street and Main Street.

# Who has waged war on the energy sector of the economy, coal, oil, and natural gas.

# Who has ignored the advice of his own commission on ways to turn around and save the economy.

# Who has engaged in the worst examples of crony capitalism, all of which resulted in the loss or waste of billions.

# Who now allows his surrogate super pacs to engage in the most scurrilous slanders of his opponents, claiming that they are literally murderers!

# Who lies about their efforts to save Social Security and Medicare, saying they intend to end these programs.

In the 1980s, Americans understood how poor Jimmy Carter’s term in office had been and turned to a sunny, optimistic, and unapologetic patriot, Ronald Reagan. One has to wonder if the current generations of voters—old and young—understand just what a disaster Barack Obama has been?

That is why we must endure more weeks and months until we learn the answer. For most voters, the decision has already been made. Some care deeply about the future. Others care more deeply about their welfare checks and food stamps in an economy driven into the ditch by politicians they have blindly supported.

America teeters on financial collapse and there are people who will vote for a man who is telling them that whatever success they have had in their lives is due entirely to a government that is too large, too intrusive, and a growing threat to their hopes and dreams.

It should be a no-brainer. It isn’t.

At times like this, I am reminded of John Adams, a Founding Father, who said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

It is an apt description of those who will vote to reelect Obama.

© Alan Caruba, 2012
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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" and shared on dozens of news and opinion websites. His blog recently passed more than 1.7 million page views. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. For information on his professional skills, Caruba Editorial Services is the place to go! You can find me on both Facebook and Twitter as well.

Taking Away America's Big Stick ... J. D. Longstreet

Taking Away America's Big Stick
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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"Speak softly and carry a big stick."  Those words are attributed to US President Theodore Roosevelt.  It was, as it turns out, a fairly effective policy for Teddy, and it would seem, for the US for many decades.  Then we let our guard down and Pearl Harbor went up in flames with well over two thousand Americans killed in a Japanese sneak attack on a beautiful Sunday morning in December of 1941. 

For six months after American took up arms to fight the Japanese, US forces lost battle after battle, conflict after conflict, piling up the bodies of dead patriotic Americans who, for the most part, voluntarily made the ultimate sacrifice. 

America's big stick had been allowed to shrink because, as our national legislature came to believe, there were things far more important that national defense.  They were wrong then, and as we shall see, they are wrong now. 

Eventually, we won that war with both the Japanese and the Germans.  But the price was far higher in lives of American soldiers than it should have been, and would have been -- had the United States been prepared.

You would have thought the US government would have learned it's lesson.  You would have been wrong.  As soon as the victory celebrations were spent, the trash swept away, the red, white, and blue bunting taken down and placed in storage, we immediately began cutting our military forces -- both in man power and in materiel for war-fighting. 

In less than five years the US was at war again.  This time in a place called Korea. 

Again, American troops, many green, many Reservists and National Guardsmen. were chewed-up by the enemy because the US was not prepared.  We didn't have the troops. Worse, the troops we DID have were not properly trained -- and -- we didn't have the war-fighting materiel necessary to go to war and expect victory. 

We did not win the Korean War.  At best, it ended in a tie.  To this day, the US maintains some 30,000 to 40,000 combat troops on the border between North and South Korea to help insure the "ceasefire" holds.  Technically, we are still at war on the Korean peninsula.

Before the decade of the 1950's was finished, I, myself, was in the US Army.  Every so often we would hear of a place called Vietnam.  Nobody, it seems, knew where the heck that place was.  We heard rumors of "special" troops, Rangers mostly, being trained in the jungles of Central and South America to be sent to that "place" as advisors to the military forces of that country's dictator.  In another five years the name Vietnam was on practically every Americans lips.  The US lost some 58,000 young Americans in the steaming jungles of that place -- and we didn't win there either.  We just threw up our hands and walked away in disgust.  Combat troops came home telling stories about rules of engagement that would not allow them to win the war.  In fact, America won every battle -- and still lost that war. 

Besides the little "brush fire conflicts" we managed to stay out of a major war until our little incursion into Kuwait in the early 1990's to liberate that tiny desert country from the forces of a Middle Eastern nut case, Saddam Hussein. This time we HAD the highly trained manpower and the materiel and it took us about a week to win that conflict -- decisively.  But, we stopped too soon.

In September of 2001, the US was attacked by Islamofascists and we were off to war in a place called Afghanistan, which, by the way, is next door to Iraq. 

Instead of going in and cleaning out the terrorists in Afghanistan, then pulling out, our government decided to stay and build a new democratic nation in Afghanistan. DUMB mistake! 

Then Hussein, next door in Iraq, began kicking up his heels and making hegemonic utterances again, so the US military was directed to invade and topple his government and liberate Iraq -- all while trying to root out terrorists in Afghanistan and build a new democratic country there.   

America found itself fighting those two wars simultaneously.  Turned out we could do that, just as we had claimed.  It also became clear that we absolutely sucked at nation building.  

The US government decided to use the military as ambassadors rather than soldiers in that program of "nation building."  It was, for liberal's, equivalent to a paroxysm of  ecstasy.  Soon nation building was in full bloom in both Iraq and Afghanistan and -- nation building proved fatal to our war efforts in both countries. 

Again, we simply walked out of Iraq, our nation building an abject failure and we are currently headed toward the same exit strategy in Afghanistan.  Both countries will soon return to their former "hell hole" conditions. Of course, the official accounting of how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended will not reflect the failure of nation building, nevertheless, the truth is right before our eyes.  

Already, Iraq is slipping right back into the cesspool it was before we yanked their dictator out of a hole in the ground and hung him, and Afghanistan, well, let us just say that Afghanistan is showing so signs of conversion to anything approaching a democratic form of government.  In all likelihood, the US will throw up it's hands, again, and walk out of Afghanistan in 2014 -- in failure.  Even today the Taliban is reasserting itself and the government of that country, such as it is, will fall within hours of the exit of US forces.

The problem is as clear as day:  Our government does not have the will to use the "big stick."  That's problem one.  Problem two is that program from hell -- nation building.

The military is for destroying nations -- not building nations.  The conflict between the two is blindingly brilliant, and yet, our leaders, most of whom have never spent a day in uniform, can't see it.

We are sending our troops into meat grinders because the civilian government of the US will not allow them to do their jobs and destroy the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible, declare victory, and leave the former enemy sitting on a pile of rubble that used to be his country.  Fixing it should be HIS problem -- not ours! 

There MUST be a price to pay for attacking the United States.  There must be a price to pay for bringing the might of the US military down on your country. As it is, these days, war with the US is turning out to be a form of "urban renewal" with US troops and US taxpayers footing the bill.

While our troops are busy trying to prop-up the government of Afghanistan the US is nearing completion of a massive build-up of military forces just off shore of Iran.  A Middle Eastern regional war is just a button push away. It could come at any moment. 

Look.  Fighting wars in the Middle East is akin to playing "catch" with a tar ball.  Once you pick up the ball, you can never drop it again. 

Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States said:  “We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.”   As it turned out, a celestial commission was not needed and America got the job by default.           


There are times when the nation upon whose shoulders the burden of global sheriff has fallen, finds it must wield the "big stick."  When those moments come, and they seem to be rolling around far more often than they have in the past, it is incumbent upon the US to have a formidably "large cudgel" to wield.

Today the US military is engaged, in one way or the other, in at least 100 countries around the globe.  We have seen, within the past three and a half years, what happens when the US attempts to withdraw from it's role as global police.  Large portions of the world go up in flames that threaten the entire globe.

Now.  Let's talk insanity.  With all this ongoing, our government is set to gut the US military to the tune of five hundred billion dollars over the next decade, or so.  That figure will be added to cuts approved earlier.

 
With sequestration set to take effect beginning the first of the year (January 2nd, 2013) the US is looking at the expectation of a hollowed out military unlike anything this country has experienced since before World War Two.   If this were medieval times we'd be lowering America's draw bridge, draining the moat, and throwing open the gates of the city.  Yes, it's THAT bad. 

"The Defense Department's senior leaders strongly warned Congress Feb. 16 that doubling defense spending cuts would leave the military without a workable strategy to counter staggering global threats."  SOURCE:  http://article.wn.com/view/2012/02/22/DOD_Sequestration_would_defeat_military_strategy/  

THIS is taking away America's big stick --  and don't think for one second our enemies will not take advantage of this lapse in sanity. 

Look.  It is a simple equation:  Pay for war in piles of money, or pay for war in piles of dead Americans.  Stark -- but true. 

For all the reasons above, and far more, Congress should de-trigger sequestration immediately.

J. D. Longstreet
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Romney Picks 2011 Conservative of the Year... ... JB Willims

Romney Picks 2011 Conservative of the Year

By JB Williams

jb.uspu@gmail.com

Weeks of speculation over who would become Mitt Romney’s 2012 running mate ended with a bang, as the Romney Campaign announced Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan standing on the deck of the WWII battleship USS Wisconsin.

Human Events named Ryan Conservative of the Year for 2011. On one hand, with so few real conservatives in congress these days, he didn’t have a lot of competition for that title in 2011. But on the other hand, Ryan’s steady record of core conservative values and the backbone to pursue the right solutions for America in the House, well-earned Ryan that title, as Human Events chronicles.

Ryan seems to have the right stuff -- an intellectual grasp for the details and still a Midwestern common sense understanding of the most basic American concepts, like saving America from fiscal bankruptcy, economic stagnation and a European-style Marxist entitlement state.

“Just look at what happened across the Atlantic,” Ryan told Human Events in a year-end interview.  “We have to avoid that.  We must reclaim our founding principles of economic freedom and free markets.  We must preserve the American Idea.”

No one in government today has worked as hard as Ryan to develop a detailed and realistic Path to Prosperity. No one in government has demonstrated the backbone Ryan has, to stand toe-to-toe against the international socialist Obama regime and call them out for their con-man accounting and fuzzy-budget propaganda used to trick unsuspecting citizens into voting for national bankruptcy.

As a result, over 500,000 Drudge readers gave an overwhelming approval of Paul Ryan as VP running mate for the 2012 GOP ticket, with over 82% of respondents supporting Ryan enthusiastically. Drudge has a broad cross-section of readers, which makes that poll of over 500,000 very significant, as opposed to polling data from hardcore right or left web sites.

Romney has struggled with the conservative base of the GOP. But Ryan brings to the ticket the kind of conservative values GOPers had hoped for in a Romney running mate. With 82% approving, only 10% opposed and 7% uncertain, no GOP candidate since Reagan has received this kind of support from American voters.

Ryan is likely one of only two people in America today who could have pulled this much support from American voters, the other also being from Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker, who has turned Wisconsin around in short order with tough choices and put down numerous assaults from left-wing labor unions while doing it.

That good ole fashioned Midwestern conservative backbone is exactly what our nation is in dire need of today, when Americans of all political stripes are frightened of their future, and sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Moreover, voters have already grown sick of Obama’s left-wing agenda that has driven our great nation to the brink of catastrophe, and his endless excuses for the legendary list of policy failures over the last four years.

The fact is Obama-Clinton is a failure on a scale never before seen in America. Not only were his leftist notions of wealth confiscation and redistribution doomed to fail from the start, as those concepts have left many nations around the globe in ruin, he is not even popular with his Marxist core anymore.

Even the people who foolishly elected Obama to destroy America for their personal gain are unhappy that he has not totally destroyed America yet, listing his many broken left-wing promises online for all of the left-wing brethren to admire.

Not since Carter and his self-inflicted economic calamity, gasoline crisis and Middle East disasters, has any administration been so unpopular across all political divides. Even the left-wing labor unions that put Obama and Democrats in power have pulled their funding from Obama and Democrats heading into the 2012 election. Obama has far surpassed Carter in terms of total failure across the policy spectrum, driving America into bankruptcy and placing the Muslim Brotherhood in charge.

Despite all media efforts to prop up the Obama regime with false economic and unemployment reporting, the people can feel the pain created by left-wing policies aimed at propping up left-wing causes at the expense of prosperity that can only come from individual economic freedom.

Like most American conservatives, my first choice for GOP presidential candidate was not Mitt Romney. Had Romney chosen a running mate who was more moderate like himself, or even worse, someone ineligible for office like Obama, I could not have cast a vote for Romney in November even though I know that four more years of Obama would most certainly end America as we have always known her.

While Romney and Ryan may not be as sexy on the campaign trail as the current Teleprompter-in-Chief, they are very real men with very real convictions towards turning America in the right direction, away from international Marxism and towards good ole fashion American sovereignty, security and free-market prosperity.

The 10% of voters who supported Ron Paul are not happy with Romney or Ryan, and they wouldn’t be happy with anyone who does not wear the modern secularist libertarian label. However, I do recommend that Ron Paul be named to the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve.

82% of Americans seem the think Ryan was just the right pick for Romney and the last 7% will likely come along as they get to know more about Romney-Ryan 2012. I agree…

Americans who stand for God and Country will stand with Romney and Ryan. Leftists will continue to hope that Obama will change and hardcore libertarians will always want it their way or the highway.

Most importantly, Romney-Ryan represents a very real contrast to Obama-Clinton. (Biden is just an old DNC village idiot who never added any value to Obama or played any significant role in Obama’s administration. It has always been the Barry & Hillary show. Biden is around just to make Obama look smarter than he actually is...)

In stark contrast, Paul Ryan took Obama head-on and exposed him for the lying fool he truly is. While Obama’s Democrats dive deep into Washington D.C. political sludge tossing, Romney and Ryan take the high road, speaking simple truth to the American people and promising to lead America back to the principles and values that once made America the greatest nation ever known to mankind.

There is a clear choice now for the American people, two private and public sector success stories compared to an empty suit with a blank résumé and a history of failed policies and broken promises.

Are Romney or Ryan perfect candidates? There is no such thing as perfect politicians because there is no such thing as perfect human beings.

At a time when I was almost without hope for a GOP ticket I could support with enthusiasm, I find that the combination of Romney and Ryan strikes the right balance for not only a successful GOP ticket in 2012, but a solid administration to begin reversing the damage done to my country by Obama and Clinton over the last four years.

That’s something I can get excited about….and 82% told Drudge the same thing!

I don’t endorse candidates because my endorsement is meaningless. But I will be in the voting booth on November 6^th, casting my vote to remove Obama-Clinton from power and right after that, I will spend every day that follows, lobbying Romney and Ryan to bring criminal charges of treason against Obama, Clinton and many more, who have worked around the clock for the last four years to destroy my kids future.

Join me in that worthy cause!

 

 

JB Williams
Co-Founder
www.PatriotsUnion.org
www.VeteranDefenders.org
www.ThePatriotsNews.com

Ryan Great Choice For Romney ... J. D. Longstreet

Ryan Great Choice For Romney
Now -- Get 'er Done!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*************

Romney's choice of Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate was a tad unexpected by this scribe. 

I had concluded that Romney would dismiss a Romney/Ryan duo to by-pass the democrat's firestorm that is sure to rain down on the GOP campaign for President with Ryan on the ticket. 

I was wrong.

Though some will, undoubtedly, say this was a dumb move on the part of Romney, I disagree.  In fact, I believe it to be a courageous move and one that will focus the attention of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party on the economic disaster that is America today.  That will, in the end, be a good thing for the GOP.

There can be absolutely NO DOUBT that the Obama first term has driven America deeper into the abyss of economic malaise and depression -- not to mention the ever-growing pile of debt that will require the on-going attention of our grandchildren, and even our great-grandchildren, to bring to heel and (hopefully) manage.

Yes, Congressman Ryan IS young.  He is 42 years of age and, if my math is correct, he has been in Congress since he was 28 years of age having been elected some seven times to represent his congressional district in Wisconsin. (That particular district is overwhelmingly democratic!) Apparently, the people of Wisconsin had/have faith in his abilities, even at a young age, to represent them in the nation's legislature. No mean task, that.

Some of us old-timers will recall that President John F. Kennedy was only 43 years of age when he was elected to the office of President.  Ryan will turn 43 just days after he is sworn-in as the new Vice-President -- if the Romney/Ryan team wins, of course.

Ryan has been seen as something of a "wonk" -- a policy wonk, at that. From all reports he is just that, but a whole lot more. The caricature of an elderly man with a green eye-shade pulled down over his furrowed brow, with sleeve garters clasping his shirt cuffs above the ink splotches on is bean-counter's desk does not apply to Paul Ryan.   He is young and athletic and extremely active.

Congressman Ryan strikes me as the person in every business office who seems to be a walking encyclopedia of information on the topic at hand and, in turn, he seems to simply soak-up information in the manner of a thirsty sponge and, most importantly, he retains that input until it becomes useful.

My primary problem with Congressman Ryan (at first) was my concern that he might not be able to connect with the average voter.  That fear was completely erased on Saturday as I watched his speech when Mitt Romney announced Ryan had been chosen as his running mate.  In minutes, Ryan had the crowd eating from his hand.  He has a masterful ability to work an audience from the speaker's lectern and he amply  demonstrated that "gift" Saturday.

As a public speaker since I was nine years of age, I know the feeling of a speaker when his audience is hanging on his every word.   And I know the "high" generated by the ability to take his listeners anywhere he wants them to go -- in their imaginations.  I also know the dejection a speaker feels, the "low" he feels, when he does not sense a connection with those to whom he is speaking.  Believe me, it can get very lonely on the podium -- no matter how many people are sharing it with you -- when you don't have a connection with your audience.  As I learned Saturday, Congressman Ryan will not experience that "low" feeling if he can maintain the level of interconnectedness he displayed Saturday.


By the time you read this article, the Mainstream Media, will have begun their de-construction of Congressman Ryan.  Like the Democratic Party lapdogs, that they are, and the Obama Pep Club, that they are, they will go after Congressman Ryan with everything they have or can get hold of.  If it is possible for this campaign to get any nastier, any dirtier, than it already is -- it will.  The friends and family of Ryan will not recognize him when the Mainstream Media REALLY latches on and applies their unique talent for destroying a human being.

The ad which aired months ago featuring a Ryan look-alike pushing a "grandma in a wheel chair" off a cliff will seem like child's play.  Ryan has truly entered the infamous "hurt-locker."

The lies, slander, skullduggery, and scurrility already employed -- and deployed -- by a desperate and deeply frightened political left in America has forever marked this Presidential Campaign as the dirtiest ever in the history of the country.  But, just watch and listen.  The preceding political nastiness of the democrats will seem as pure as a clean room at NASA before the next few weeks conclude.

This election is a clear choice between socialism and capitalism for America.  You would think that as Americans sit on their unemployed behinds, barely peering over the wreckage of what used to be a vibrant ever-growing economy with horizons that were truly undiscovered, the choice would be clear and undebatable.  Capitalism delivers -- socialism destroys. 

Yes, you WOULD think that. Any intelligent human being would think that. But America has changed.  Her population is no longer the objective independent thinkers of the past.  Now she is starkly divided.  Emotional reactionaries on the left have created an entitlement society within the heart of America carving out great chunks of both the young, the elderly, and the minorities.  It is this entitlement society that is powering the drive deeper into a form of socialism that will doom America to become a has-been nation where "might have been" will be the national motto.

Obama's first term has almost emasculated America. Another Obama term will utterly destroy this country.

The Romney/Ryan ticket offers America a chance to reclaim her dignity and her rightful place as the leader of the free world.  It offers a chance to re-start the great capitalist engine that drives this republic.

Make no mistake:  The election on November 6th is America's last chance.

J. D. Longstreet