AMERICA'S QUEST FOR THE PRUDENT PRESIDENT

The multiplicity of challenges that confront an American President animate Murphy’s Law, to wit, "anything that can go wrong will go wrong". This adage should be indelibly ingrained in the Oval office ceiling a la Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco. In fact I suggest an amendment to Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution to state, “Any attempt to remove this warning from the Oval office ceiling is an impeachable offense”. This eccentric effort to caution America’s chief executives of the perils of the job may seem a smidgen over zealous, but it’s energy emanates from the seeming lack of prudentiality exhibited by the current occupant of America’s highest office.

If there is one quality that is essential for American Presidents to inhabit it is the virtue of prudence. Prudence is one of Christianity’s four cardinal virtues along with justice, fortitude and temperance. Prudence is known as the “mother” of all the virtues since it is both a moral and intellectual virtue and is considered the measure of the three other cardinal virtues. A prudent person recognizes their moral duty and the good means to accomplish it. They know the good and they do the good. St. Thomas Aquinas succinctly defined prudence to be “right reason in action".

Prudence is elevated as the supreme virtue endemic to the true statesman and for maintaining good government. To quote Russell Kirk from his book “The Politics of Prudence”,

“To be “prudent” means to be judicious, cautious, sagacious. Plato, and later Burke, instruct us that in the statesman, prudence is the first of the virtues. A prudent statesman is one who looks before he leaps; who takes long views; who knows that politics is the art of the possible.”

Prudence was distinguished by our founding fathers as the beacon for maintaining a stable government and ordered society. They memorialized this belief in the preamble to Declaration of Independence wherein it states, “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes”.

If the prudent person is one with the acuity to govern and lead through responsible deliberation and ethical and moral action, then the American presidency, due to its supremacy over economic, military and global affairs and it’s influence in societal mores, is the public office most demanding of this virtue. But prudence is surely not a ubiquitous characteristic that is readily representative in every sitting President or any given crop of presidential candidates. It is a virtue acquired and perfected by experience, and it is woefully absent in the character of America’s current chief executive.

President Obama’s apologists will deem his policy failures as a result of his inexperience or perhaps the misfortunes of an inherited economic calamity. Nevertheless his record as chief executive is an example of manifest imprudence rife with carelessness and partisanship bordering on the corrupt and the criminal. President Obama’s policy failures have taken America on the road to Avernus with his two-pronged strategy of (1) economic bankruptcy and (2) undermining America’s First Principles and the Constitution.

The litany of President Obama’s offenses is extensive, but among the nefarious accounts are his efforts to rectify a damaged American economy through a taxpayer-funded trillion dollar stimulus package rife with political cronyism; circumventing constitutional authority and congressional oversight by appointing a plethora of presidential czars; appropriating a sixth of the American economy through constitutionally-challenged health care reform; pitting state against nation on health care reform and immigration enforcement and citizen against citizen with his class warfare rhetoric. He ordered the Justice department to not defend federal statutes (DOMA) and abandoned America’s allies in Eastern Europe (Poland and Czechoslovakia) and the Middle East (Israel). While the world awaits a cogent foreign policy doctrine amidst global Arab uprisings and terrorist-state nuclear development President Obama tramples on the sacrosanct First Amendment rights of the Roman Catholic Church.

It is not simply President Obama's wrongheaded public policy that is troubling, but his honest disdain for those who venerate a divinity. He was recorded for posterity when he sarcastically described a faction of the electorate that “…cling to guns or religion”, attacking not only their belief systems but also their constitutional rights under the First and Second Amendments.

This is hardly the stuff of the prudent leader. No, these are not the missteps of inexperience or the product of a legacy presidency. These are the results of the careful planning of a foolish, close-minded and stubbornly selfish collectivist ideologue unwilling to recognize his mistakes and their lasting effects on the society he has sworn to defend and protect.

Of all the necessary leadership traits for an American President prudence is paramount since it fuses wisdom with good governance, and if not Mr. Obama to inhabit this virtue then who? As America faces the 2012 presidential election it approaches a crossroad of choices for the country’s direction and prudence is the virtue of choice for presidential consideration.

The GOP candidates vying for their party’s nomination certainly trump Mr. Obama in terms of experience in governance. The question remains as to whether they possess the prudence to govern in a wise and good fashion. The sheer magnitude of this question should cause the electorate to look within themselves and introspectively search their very souls for prudence when selecting America’s next President.

RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE

HIPOLITIX

Listen to internet radio with HIPOLITIX on Blog Talk Radio

I was a guest on the Hipolitix radio show tonight hosted by Mark Jerrell. Please listen  to Mark and I discuss and debate the relevancy and influence of the Tea Party in the 2012 presidential campaign, how the GOP presidential candidates are being received by the Tea Party, the major campaign issues impacting the race for the White House and an assessment of the challenges President Obama faces as he ramps up his presidential campaign  

Please listen to a very lively, interactive and fair and balanced discussion on the above topics. 

Rick Santorum Is On Fire!

While he's been one of my favorites all along (as well as Cain and Bachmann, both of whom are sadly already out of the race), I didn't expect to see such a slam dunk performance by former Senator Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses yesterday. Congratulations to you, Sen. Santorum, and for God's sake, keep it going!

As I've mentioned before, we Republicans have been blessed with an awesome field of primary contenders to choose from. Unfortunately, however, the trend for the past several months - impacted in no small amount by the mainstream media political talking heads, of course - has been a rousing game of musical chairs. King Romney has been planted firmly in one seat and a slew of other (much, much) more conservative candidates taking the remaining seat. One by one they have been picked off, not only by strong media criticism, but also by the factions within our own dismal party.

Ever since Rick Santelli's iconic rant on CNBC, the sleeping giant within the GOP now known as the Tea Party Movement has placed a firm grip on the true conservatives of America, and placed themselves squarely at odds with the strangest of adversaries - no, not the bleeding heart liberals in the White House - our own stodgy, GOP political elite, also known as 'the Establishment.' Mwahaha! It sounds so powerful and daunting, doesn't it? The Establishment has become such by riding along with the status quo, compromising conservative values in order to stay in office, and racking up an enormous federal budget in the meantime.

The make-up of the GOP has been firming up for the past nearly three years, and it looks like 2012 could be (dear God, please let it be!) the year that the Establishment is kicked to the curb and conservatives grab the GOP wheel and yank us all back to the right.

What Santorum needs now is a solid New Hampshire victory next Tuesday to push him over the edge and into front-runner position. Hopefully right now he's getting floods of donations and Republicans all over the northeast are driving in to help his team go door-to-door and make calls. If you haven't gotten involved in this race yet (and I am definitely one of the folks that hasn't), now is the time! This next weekend/week is going to be fun!

Read more at www.GOPCampaigner.com!

Obama and the 2012 Presidential Race

by little tboca

Here’s a taste of what Americans can expect in the Presidential Race of 2012. Obama has already kicked his class warfare into all of his campaign speeches and will continue this strategy for the next 11 months. He’s pretending that he’s looking out for the “middle class” – what a laugh.

He’s the one who knocked the middle class off their feet in three years; he stopped any and all job growth, he redistributed 787 billion dollars known as the stimulus bill, which should have been called Obama’s “Dissuasion” bill.

He backs the Muslim Brotherhood, trashes Israel, supports the Wall Street Protestors and continues hanging out with “America’s Most Wanted,” Marxists, Communists and Socialists.

Our final decision in 2012 will determine the future of our children, grandchildren and future generations. We must be resilient, determined and give them a legacy that they can wrap their arms around with pride.

So the question for 2012 is do we want to vote for the person who can “take our Country back” or will we succumb to the Liberal News Media’s lies and propaganda and give Obama his second term?

There is one man who can restore our Nations weak foundation, give us back our Freedoms, Rights and our voice. We can beat him to death for his mistakes, or we can acknowledge that he is the one person who has learned from his mistakes, asked God’s forgiveness for his indiscretions and give him 100% support.

Newt’s positive positions on economy, taxes, free trade, spending and regulations far outweigh his mistakes. We have the option of going to his website and asking specific questions, if we have any doubts on how he stands on certain issues. http://www.newt.org/news/letter-supporters-gingrich-urges-them-stay-positive or http://www.newt.org/meet-newt

There wouldn’t be a Republican majority in the house today without the Republican Revolution led by Newt Gingrich in 1994. Newt is the reason and the only reason that the GOP took over the house for the first time in forty years.

Newt Gingrich made mistakes, but the difference between him and so many of the Old Establishment Politicians is this; Newt actually revisited his errors while serving in the White House analyzing and correcting his mistakes in order to become the committed leader that he is today.

Two Quotes that come to mind about making mistakes:
1. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
2. All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.” Winston Churchill

Everyone has the right to decide who the next 2012 Presidential Candidate will be and pick the man or woman of his choice. We must be strong and arm ourselves against the lies, propaganda and political rhetoric and that can only be done by doing our homework.

If we want to sit on our butts and let Obama and the Liberal News Media spoon feed us lies about Obama’s ideology, we’ll face defeat due to our own complacency, negligence and ignorance.

May God Bless America
As Always,
Little Tboca

GOP IDEALISTS AND REALISTS HAVE CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES

President John F. Kennedy’s message of giving back to society instilled a positive cultural message of altruism and self-sacrifice

President Barack Obama's divisive class warfare message of taking from society has a negative influence on American culture  exemplified by the onset of the anti-American terrorist-like tactics of the Occupy Wall Street movement

In my previous article entitled The GOP Prerogative: The Idealist or The Realist I delineated two different approaches to leadership represented within the current crop of GOP presidential candidates. The idealists, represented by Gingrich, Cain, Bachmann and Santorum, are guided by venerating America’s First Principles inscribed in the Declaration of Independence. The realists, comprised of Romney, Perry, Paul and Huntsman, would take a more pragmatic approach to leadership. Each approach would manifest differently in their governance and policymaking.

But presidential leadership, governance and policymaking are not the only areas that would be impacted. Depending on whether America chooses an idealist or a realist for the White House, their respective presidencies would leave different moral and cultural impressions on American society for generations to come and America’s cultural landscape will be shaped around these different perspectives.

Some may debate the contention that a President’s leadership has a major influence on American cultural attitudes, but we need look no further than how the dissimilar leadership styles of two democratic Presidents inspired cultural attitudes and outcomes reflective of their messages. President Kennedy’s famous mantra “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” kindled young people to be excited about serving their country in public office and volunteering time to humanitarian efforts such as the Peace Corps. President Kennedy fostered a cultural attitude of altruism and self-sacrifice.

If Kennedy’s message was to give back to society, President Obama’s message is to take from society. Kennedy encouraging selflessness is in stark contrast to Obama enabling selfishness. President Obama’s reckless, divisive class warfare rhetoric pinning American against American incited a dangerous and disturbing culture of ‘takers’ manifested by the anti-American Occupy Wall Street movement. Sanctioned by President Obama, this movement even goes so far as to bifurcate Americans into '1%' and '99%’ categories.

American Presidents set an example for society. They cast a long shadow on America’s cultural attitudes, and as much as each GOP approach would undertake a shared mission to take America on the path to exceptionalism the philosophies that inspires each of them will cause differing cultural impressions.

An idealist President will have strong convictions that America has a providential purpose to present itself as an unyieldingly virtuous society and resound order, freedom and justice. This would arouse Americans to reflect on how virtues should be inhabited within their local communities, reflected in their workplace, instilled in school and the family unit.

A realist President would illustrate how compromise and coalition building resolves conflicts and bring results. They would influence Americans to take practical approaches to achieving results, even if at times moral concessions must be undertaken in the process.

The idealist would exemplify to the American people that decisions should be driven by uncompromising moral imperatives, and the realist would encourage Americans to acknowledge that, in some instances, noble ends justify less than desirable means. Leadership differences aside, a President from either GOP camp has a shared mission to lead America out from under the rubble of ruinous policies, dismal economic conditions and the divisiveness wreaked on America under the Obama regime.

There will be a common cause effort by either an idealist or realist GOP President to take immediate action to right America’s course. The long view is the leadership style that accomplishes that task will leave a lasting impression on American society.

Aaron Opine's Headline Rewind

Headlines from the week of October 10, 2011

The United States of America is now a Dictatorship

Photo by Steve Jurveston

Facing mounting Congressional gridlock, President Obama realized his dream by declaring the United States a dictatorship – of which he is the dictator.  Although toying with the idea since the time of his youthful interactions with Marxist mentors and bringing it into fruition via his cornucopia of regulatory czars, his sagging poll numbers and uncooperative legislature finally pushed him over the edge, “My instruction to…all the advisers sitting around the table is…identify all those areas in which we can act administratively, without additional congressional authorization, and just get it done.”

So much for being a uniter and working with Congress.  Of course, it is difficult to speak with members of congress when you are constantly traveling across the country for your reelection campaign.

Herman Cain Becomes GOP Frontrunner in Latest Poll

Photo by John Trainor

Captain Underdog, Herman Cain, rises from obscurity to top of the GOP presidential candidates according to the latest poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.  It remains to be seen if he can hold his lead, but his success has drawn the ire of the establishment black community.  Apparently, Cornel West and Harry Belafonte have never seen a black man who wasn’t a victim.  Moreover, Cain’s success and conservatism has prompted some in the black community to label him an “oreo.”  This doubly racist label is intended to deride Cain for being “black on the outside, but white on the inside;” that’s in contrast to Barak Obama who is just white on his mother’s side.

African Antelope Tackles Mountain Biker

In an online video-gone-viral, an antelope is seen tackling a mountain biker during a bike race.  Although the details are sketchy, it is suspected that the antelope was hired by PETA to provide footage for their latest over-the-top ad campaign following in the footsteps of their now infamous “Save the Whales” and “Payback is Hell – Go Vegan” campaigns.  PETA is well known for reaching beyond social norms in efforts to promote eating habits that are motivated by their lack of ability to distinguish between animals and humans.

Several U.S. Cities Discover Voids in their Downtown Areas

Across the country several cities have discovered voids in their downtowns.  Thankfully, they are only intellectual voids caused by the vacuous intellect of the self-named “Occupy” protestors.  After a month of occupying Wall Street in New York, the protestors are yet to offer a cohesive message; although hatred of large corporations and a masochistic love of totalitarian government and welfare society appear to be common themes.  Lacking anything concrete from the protestors, the following list may be a helpful summary:

Photo by David Shankbone

 1) Big corporations are bad – but their social media, smart phones, telecommunications networks, bullhorns, sleeping bags, tents, markers, cardboard, clothes, shoes, cameras, and food are okay to use for protesting against them.

 2)Millionaires shouldn’t have so much money – unless they are a celebrity supporting the protests in which case they’re cool.

 3)People who earn their money lawfully and don’t want to give more of it to the government are greedy – people who do nothing but want other people’s money are not greedy.

4)  Big banks that got bailed out are evil – big unions that got bailed out are good because they support the protests.

5)  Big corporations that lobby government officials to gain power are evil – democratic politicians who take that money to gain power and give government money to the same corporations are good because they support the protest

6) Democracy is apparently a process whereby no one is more important than anyone else (except the guy directing everyone else with a bullhorn), everyone repeats everything the one important guy says, and all decisions must be decided by unanimous vote.

The protestors, very many of whom are college students, are also doing an excellent job illustrating the decline in U.S. universities by virtue of their clear inability to formulate a logical or coherent message.  Their protests should be directed at their universities for charging insurmountable tuition while simultaneously draining their brains of reason; of course, their ultra-liberal professors already told them it was Wall Street’s fault.

In addition to other celebrity appearances, famed documentary filmmaker Michael Moore visited the protests.  It is not known if he will produce a new documentary about the protests but, if he does, it is sure to be a “Twilight Zone” meets “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” expose.


Like this post?  Visit Aaron Opine to read more like it.