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Commentary: Right Wing |
The Conservative's PlayBook for Gaining Absolute Power
by Bill Sizemore
Email: bill (at) otu.org (unverified!) |
Current rating: 0
23 Jul 2003 |
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Bush's disguise as a compassionate conservative prevents him from condemning the misguided Supreme Court decision on affirmative action and most city dwellers (and they are many) are still very much addicted to finding government solutions for every problem. |
ARE CONSERVATIVES WINNING OR LOSING?
Bill Sizemore, NewsWithViews.com, July 19, 2003
...For nearly 50 years, liberal Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Conservatives were routinely clobbered by the superior numbers of those espousing the liberal philosophy. Today, however, REPUBLICANS CONTROL both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, as well as the presidency. An entire generation of conservatives has never experienced such a phenomenon.
So. imagine how the liberals must be feeling about such a dramatic turn of events. Remember an entire generation of liberals also has never experienced a Republican House, Senate, and presidency. And they are in SHOCK.
On the other hand, however, it is not all rosy for conservatives. Republicans are in control alright, but they are doing such a lousy job of controlling spending and are doing such a great job of compromising with the liberals that many conservatives are wondering if it is even worth the effort to work for and support Republicans. I've wondered that more than once myself. But let’s look at the part of the glass that is half full.
Al Gore is not President. Al Gore is not sitting in the Oval Office vetoing conservative bills passed by Congress, like tax cuts and elimination of the estate tax. Al Gore is not the one standing before joint sessions of Congress and giving state of the nation speeches outlining his liberal prescription for stimulating the economy. We don't have President Gore lobbying the Senate for ratification of the KYOTO TREATY and throwing our economy into the dark ages. Be glad that the Bush administration is not focusing its attention and resources on some FOOLHARDY war to stop GLOBAL WARMING. Gore would be.
Yes, the glass is half empty, but it's half full. Conservatives should be discouraged by recent Supreme Court decisions regarding AFFIRMATIVE ACTION and GAY RIGHTS, but the news from the court isn’t all bad. For example, both decisions were both close. A small shift on the court could turn things around entirely.
More encouragingly, the candidates President Bush has nominated for the FEDERAL BENCH have been for the most part the kinds of strict constitutional constructionists that conservatives have been asking for. This bodes well for the future. We could be looking at eight years of Al Gore appointees; judges that would only reinforce the liberal bent of the judiciary for the next decade or two, but we're not. Things indeed could be worse. There is actually cause for hope.
Not only is there hope of turning the judiciary around, but also consider the progress conservatives have made in the MEDIA. For decades, conservatives have complained about the stranglehold liberals have held on the media. Today, the major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, the bastions of liberal bias, collectively have suffered greatly diminished market share; reaching a much smaller share of the American people with their bias. And the New York Times, another liberal stronghold has recently lost a tremendous amount of clout and credibility. ...Meanwhile, FOX NEWS, the INTERNET, and TALK RADIO offer serious competition for the traditional liberal propaganda machines.
...Let’s go back to the Bush administration for a moment. Yes, conservatives could be discouraged that the Bush tax cuts were not as big as we wished. But they were BUSH TAX CUTS, not Gore tax increases. The movement towards lower taxes, albeit small, is in the right direction. And how can conservatives not be encouraged that both the estate tax and the marriage penalty are on the way out. Thank you, President Bush and Republican Congress.
Should conservatives be upset that for political purposes Bush is trying so hard to be seen as a compassionate conservative that he failed to CONDEMN the Supreme Courts MISGUIDED decision on affirmative action; and has even lobbied for some of the social programs that the Democrats want? Of course. And we should let him know about it.
Don't misunderstand, I don’t want to make excuses for the president’s failures, but let’s put things into perspective. We conservatives tend to be purists. We want a conservative country with low taxes and a more limited government, and we want it now. That vision puts the fire in our bellies. But that’s also part of the reason we lost for so many years ... that's not the way to win a CULTURAL WAR.
Have we forgotten that we got into this mess one step at a time. Remember, it took the liberals more than fifty years to create the SEMI-SOCIALIST government under which we subsist today. It took fifty years to get into this mess, but we expect Bush in two or three years to turn the ship of state, which has every bit the momentum of an oil tanker traveling across the ocean at full steam, a full 180 degrees. It doesn’t work that way.
...In the world of politics, radical change it is not always a realistic option. It is a political reality that it is the SWING VOTERS, the apolitical ones in the middle, who decide most elections, not the true believers on the left and the right. Those voters in the middle are afraid of EXTREMES. They are frightened by sudden or radical movements in either direction, to the right or the left. Any effort to move the country too quickly in either direction will cause them to move the opposite way.
For that reason, President Bush may be wise to take smaller, measured steps. Are his steps too small or too measured? Perhaps.
In many ways, however, the Bush administration is merely a reflection of the times in which we live. Remember, George W. Bush became the president of the United States in an election decided by a margin that was as narrow as a gnat’s eyelash. Remember, he actually LOST the popular vote.
...Conservatives have indeed made great strides in recent years, but we have not yet overwhelmingly won the hearts and minds of the American people. Most CITY DWELLERS, for example, and they are many, are still very much addicted to finding government solutions for every problem. For them, the concept of individual responsibility is ENTIRELY FORIEGN to their everyday thinking and overall worldview. To them, every bum, dropout, and criminal is a victim and worthy of a HANDOUT at taxpayer expense.
Most of those folks are going to vote in the next election. Bush knows it and Bush’s advisors know it. Those moderate and liberal URBAN VOTERS almost defeated Bush in November of 2000 and if he is not careful, they will get him next time and we will have a Gore or Gore clone in the White House.
...When we look at the big picture, however, we see that conservatives have made great strides in recent years. We have gone from way behind to maybe a little bit ahead. This is hardly the time to give up. This is the time rather to push harder than ever before. The tide is moving. Momentum is shifting to our side...
Do not judge where we are today by the victory or loss of the moment. Look at the trend. See the shift in momentum. And remember, it is not necessary that we score a touchdown today. It is only necessary that the ball be advanced, one yard at a time, down the field in the direction we want it to move. As long as that is happening, we're winning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Sizemore is a registered Independent who works as executive director of the Oregon Taxpayers Union as a self-described "Anti-tax activist." Bill was the Republican candidate for governor of Oregon in 1998 where he and his family live on 36 rural acres. Bill was raised in the logging communities of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state and is a graduate of Portland Bible College where he taught for two years. |
See also:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Bill/sizemore6.htm
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Commentary: Right Wing |
Ridiculous
by Anthony
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Jul 2003 |
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1. ALL CAPS: This seriously detracts from the author's credibility.
2. The author is an anti-tax activist: This suggests that the KC Indymedia site has just received its first piece of right-oriented spam.
3. The private sector is not a realistic alternative to government activity; with all do respect, cut the privatization crap.
4. Semi-socialist government? Get real. The libertarian agenda that government activity smacks of socialism is ludicrous.
5. "Conservatives should be discouraged by recent Supreme Court decisions regarding AFFIRMATIVE ACTION and GAY RIGHTS." That says it all about the author. Against gay rights, against affirmative action. |
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Commentary: Right Wing |
JUDGE JUNKS SIZEMORE'S FOUNDATION
by Roberto
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Jul 2003 |
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JUDGE JUNKS SIZEMORE'S FOUNDATION
William McCall, Associated Press, May 1, 2003
PORTLAND - In a sharply worded ruling, a judge on Wednesday effectively dried up the main source of funding for Bill Sizemore's decade-long career as Oregon's most prominent TAX ACTIVIST by shutting down a "SHAM" charity that Sizemore used "for his own financial gain."
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Jerome LaBarre said Sizemore "acted in concert with and CONSPIRED with" the Oregon Taxpayers United Education Foundation to ILLEGALLY FUNNEL MONEY money from the foundation into the initiative petition-gathering efforts of a political action committee and a PRIVATE CORPORATION Sizemore created.
Sizemore, who was not in court to hear the ruling, later said he plans to continue his work as a tax activist.
"We're still free to raise money and collect signatures and put measures on the ballot," Sizemore said. "Even this judge recognizes there is still a First Amendment."
His attorney, Greg Byrne, said Sizemore would appeal.
"This is no surprise considering the judge's previous rulings," Byrne said. "But this is a case that should never have been tried in the first place."
Sizemore founded Oregon Taxpayers United in the early 1990s to draft anti-tax ballot measures that have appealed to voters but pitted him against LABOR UNIONS- who helped bring about his downfall with a RACKETERRING lawsuit that resulted in Wednesday's ruling.
The judge expanded a $2.5 MILLION jury verdict against Oregon Taxpayers United last September by ruling that "Bill Sizemore was actively involved in the WRONGDOING which occurred."
The jury found the education foundation and the PAC guilty of FRAUD and FORGERY, and determined Oregon Taxpayers United engaged in a pattern of racketeering to obtain signatures on initiative petitions for tax measures.
The jury also found the foundation and the committee filed FALSE campaign finance and tax reports.
Sizemore had insisted at his trial that sloppy record-keeping was to blame for mingling contributions to the education foundation - which qualified as a charity - with the PAC.
But LaBarre ruled that "he large amounts of money which were donated to the CHARITY by his supporters were SECRETLY funneled to the PAC and to Mr. Sizemore's corporation, I&R; Petition Services, in order to serve Mr. Sizemore's own personal and political goals."
"In effect, Bill Sizemore ran a sham charity," LaBarre said.
LaBarre DISSOLVED the education foundation Wednesday and also issued an injunction preventing Sizemore from organizing any similar charity "to avoid the type of racketeering violations which have occurred in this case."
The judge also BLOCKED the PAC from receiving any donations for the next five years from any similar charity or tax-exempt organizations defined under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The ruling, in addition, prevents the Oregon Taxpayers United Education Foundation and the PAC from doing business with I&R; Petition Services for the next five years or from transferring any assets until the $2.5 million jury award is satisfied.
Kris Kain, president of the Oregon Education Association, called the ruling "a great day for Oregonians."
She said Sizemore had a "negative impact" on public education with various tax cut measures and a measure to tie teacher pay to student performance. "He misused the initiative process, and the things he did try to get on the ballot were just appalling," Kain said.
Asked whether the ruling could end Sizemore's political career, Byrne said it was certainly a serious setback.
"But he's not going to allow this judgment to silence him politically," Byrne said.
Byrne had claimed that the Oregon Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, which filed the racketeering lawsuit that led to the ruling, were targeting Sizemore for his ANTI-UNION ballot measures and violating his constitutional right to free speech.
Gene Mechanic, an attorney for the teachers' unions, called that claim "outrageous."
"This case was not about trying to suppress Mr. Sizemore's speech or his involvement in politics - he should be allowed to do that," Mechanic said. "But if he is going to be involved, he must play by the rules - and for years he abused the process."
See: http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/05/01/a1.sizemore.0501.html |
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Commentary: Right Wing |
Re: The Conservative's PlayBook for Gaining Absolute Power
by mpb
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 Jul 2003 |
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Portland Bible College, eh?
nuff said... |
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