Interesting news this week.

Huntsman and Gingrich campaigns are now in Debt with very little to show for it.

Perry and Romney are swimming in money and moving in the wrong direction.

What do all four have in common?  They learned bad management in the government!

This week Herman Cain has shot to the front, the establishment is saying he can't be a leader without spending more money on the ground. But he has managed his lead, with good communication using the new media and honest messages that don't feel like they were focus group tested and shrink wrapped for our protection.

Remember when the establishment says "you need a ground organization," they mean you need to curry favor with all the establishment political operatives we have in place in states like Iowa and New Hampshire.   What if Cain bypasses the blessing of an establishment trained to trade power and money for votes and influence and just talks to the people and earns their votes the honest way?

Cain is leading the pack, with less money and no debt!  Isn't this just the model we want for America?
Effective, restrained spending that finds new ways to do what others assume takes big money.

This is a record we need to pay attention to!  How a man leads his campaign is going to tell you a lot about how he will lead America.

It’s been a while since I have written.  Family and job searching, then job starting all takes a ton of time.  But I have a moment and I wanted to talk about Herman Cain.
Early on I was drawn to him.  I like his attitude; we need someone who looks at America and smiles, even when times are tough.   Cain doesn't do this because some focus group measured how much smile would help him, he does it because he has seen how bad it can get and he has seen what work and faith can create.

Cain's Life Matters
Herman Cain didn't grow up in the isolation of the tropical paradise of Hawaii or even the comfort of an establish political family.  He grew up in the cold, hard ugly that was the segregated south.  He hasn't had it easy, he has worked his way to success by being smart and getting along with people, even as he changed what need to be changed to turn around struggling businesses. He earned his success from real action, not charisma and politics. Then after all that success he was hit with multi-organ stage-four cancer.  I am a firm believer that attitude is key to surviving the attack of cancer then the poison of drugs that are used to kill it.  It is a measure of a person to survive and then take on life without fear.
I hear stuffed shirts like Bill O'Reilly dismiss him because of his lack of governmental experience.    This lack of vision has made me angry; I hated it when people like O’Reilly censor poll results because they don’t see what is possible. I apologize to Bill for some of my tweets, but he really abdicated his obligations for a while when it came to reporting Cain’s successes. Report the news honestly, then tells us what you think I am fine with that, but don’t hide the news you don’t like.
What Bill and others in all the media outlets seem to miss is that the government is only about 25% of the economy.  Yet no one questions electing someone who has never worked outside the government.  Today, we need someone who understands the other 75%.   They can hire someone who has worked in politics to advise them how to get real solutions passed.

Cain's Vision and View of Himself Matters
If I got the idea that Cain on his election would erect roman columns and stand alone on a stage as if HE won without the hard work of thousands and as if HE was smart enough to know it all, I might be worried.  But Cain clearly is comfortable with his own skin and with his limitations and is running to save the nation for his grand-kids, not as some teenage fantasy of success to fulfill. He is there because he feels a need the nation has, not because he needs to prove something.
He knows what he wants, a strong America that is loyal to its allies and an economy that can grow and offer opportunity to everyone on their terms, not the terms of a government program.  A smart man with a clear vision, who is honest, can build a team to get things done.
Both of those key visions are missing from our current president and even from some of the GOP candidates.

Where I Disagree
Do I agree with him on everything? of course not. 
I think he is smart to watch for the slow creep of Sharia law into our system, like it has in parts of Europe.  BUT I think he has over stated the problem and has gotten off message.  I suspect most Muslim immigrants are here because they can worship in their one faith without fear of attack from a competing sect of Islam, just as the pilgrims came here to avoid persecution by other Christians.  And most of those who choose the faith as Americans are just looking for a relationship with God that works for them.  For many Muslims the politicization and even militarization of Islam is as big a problem for them as it is for us watching on the outside.  It’s too easy to use broad language that sweeps these devout Americans into the wrong part of the discussion.  BTW, when a Muslim is elected I expect him to swear his oath on the Quran as I want the oath to protect our Constitution be sworn on what he olds holy in his life.
I also am very libertarian on Gay rights.  The legal term of “marriage” is woven throughout our laws and contracts.  It is a waste of money to rewrite everything to say "marriage and domestic partnership.”  Gays who want to commit and create a legal bond in their relationships should be able to do that.  But only if it comes from a vote of the people or an elected legislative body, it’s too important a change for judicial fiat. 
That said, I understand concerns people have in trying to protect marriage.  But the assault on marriage is not coming from people who value it, and are different from us.  It comes from those that avoid it and raise children without the protections and commitment of marriage and those that change spouses as often as they buy a new home.  And while I respect the faith of those that I disagree with politically on this issue, I ask that you at least get honest in your reasons.  "Biblical marriage" is often one man and several women, but I don't see you working for polygamy.  This is about what you feel is best for marriage and what you feel God wants from you.  The problem is the government is not God, and has not been since we got rid of the monarchy so let’s not return to that idea of the government enforcing the laws of God. 
I hope Cain is smart enough to know the Constitution is best when it limits the federal government’s reach, not when it is used to enforce a unified standard.  Marriage is an issue for the states, not an issue for our Constitution.

Back to Cain
This nation is depressed and scared.  Its current leader only shows passion when he is attacking other Americans for political gain.  Much like Reagan, who showed us a new morning in America, I think Cain can show us the light breaking at the end of this storm.
Humans are flawed; some give and some are selfish.  Some are honest and some are crooked.  Sometimes we see angels among us and sometimes humans create evil.
What the founding fathers knew is that liberty allows for us to adapt to our failings and that the opportunity for great success only happens when there is opportunity for failure.  Each time we have tried to either engineer the race to perfection as in the progressive eugenics movements of the early 20th century or tried to engineer the society as in the Soviet Union or even a socialized Europe we create failure, because we also control the greatness that we can achieve.

What I See in Herman Cain
In Cain I see someone who knows this truth.  He sees the greatness in all Americans and might even feel anger when some are "brainwashed" to believe their only hope is a strong, controlling government.  He knows from his own life that even in the face of what can be cruel circumstances, Americans can achieve greatness when they are accountable to themselves and their community.
When Cain speaks, I hear the voice of an America that has seen hard times but knows it can be great again when it puts aside fear and once again is excited by the idea that we can do the impossible.  Cain is trying to do the impossible, put a child once told to drink from a "coloreds only" water fountain into the White House as the leader of the free world.

I am excited about doing the impossible and support Herman Cain as our best choice for President in 2012.

 
The message of last night's election is pretty clear.  America does not like they way Democrats lead by Pelosi and Obama ruled the land from on high.  The message to the Republicans is don't give us fake conservatives. The message to the Tea Party is vet your candidates better! Agreeing is just not enough, learning some personal editing and decorum is needed also.

Lets talk about Delaware.  O'Donnell losing probably says more about Delaware having standards for candidate credentials higher than say the fools in Minnesota.  This is the state that elected Jessie Ventura and Al Franken.  Al Franken is no more qualified to be in the Senate than O'Donnell and yet there he sits. Problem was Castle was ready to "cross the isle" and be Obama's fig leaf on some key issues, and exit polls show he was not a sure thing either.  We need to make it clear to America what the Democrat progressives own and not add a single name to the list from the GOP.

We can all smile that the face of the Democrats in the Senate is Harry Reid and Al Franken, that should be easy to run against in 2012.  Harry is now impotent, with Nancy gone and the jar she kept his man treasure in gone with her

Unlike some conservatives, I am not opposed to crossing the isle if they are meeting me half-way.  For me as a libertarian thinker, Obama is a nightmare.  He is a progressive, which is not the same as a liberal.  Progressives are about power, personal power and agenda power.  If you look at his agenda it always skews to more control for him, for government, and for his operatives in the unions. This is why he is pro-war and slow to deal with "don't ask don't tell."  This is why he removed the ability of poor kids in DC to have a shot at the same schools his daughters are in.  This is why he has admitted that he knows raising tax rates can hurt real tax revenue for his programs, but he wants it more fair (meaning "let me spend the money").  This is why he has over and over in real action curried favored to Wall Street and helped them recover while many of us are out of work.

Liberals have a desire for more liberty and a feeling that we can all just get along if you buy everyone a free lunch and hug.  That is an over simplification for course, but it is very different from the use of government money to buy votes and favors to gain power vs trying to actually help people who are down and out.  If Democrat liberals are wondering what happened, its simple.  You mistook progressives offers of gifts paid for with the money of others for an actual social conscience.  This is why things like gay rights, help for illegal immigrants who you see as Americans in waiting and Gitmo have had nothing but lip service. Obama and Pelosi don't care about these as they don't advance real power.  They have gained a lot of power from fighting rules asking for proof of citizenship in voting, and they know that pushing too hard on amnesty will cost power from other places so they pretend to care and that is where it stops.

Finally, if you look at what they forced through the congress related to health care.  They did not guarantee coverage so much as guaranteeing that we will all pay more for coverage.  Unions may not see this until their next contract, but your benefits will cost you more in real pay to keep and soon Obamacare will tax you for having such nice plans,  What the bill did do is let the progressives tell us what we can't choose like lower cost plans and health savings accounts.  In the bill they protected control and took away more choice.


Now Republicans need to be clear on what they want to do.  Health care needs some changes.  Insurance companies have violated morals by using technicalities to remove people in crisis.  Their executives do make too much for what they do.  And we as a people do have a moral obligation to make sure there is access to basic and emergency health care for all our people.  Some of this should be the work of active shareholders who need to police pay for executives with votes from their shares.  But some of this might take government, because morals do have a place in government.  However, anyone who knows the reality of "free" government health care knows it is not a moral choice.  (I am close to someone who lost a friend waiting for a test in a good UK hospital, but still his access was slower than in the US.)

GOP HEAR US NOW!!! This is not about you spending on your projects or even you legislating your social agenda where it limits the rights of others.  This is about liberating our economic engine so there is real opportunity for success for all, not a system of Washington DC choosing winners and losers.  Let the people choose.

The Tea Party was smart in not going the third party route.  But the GOP needs to know they failed in what they had become and only succeeded with Tea Party principles of fiscal restraint and expanded power to the individual.  The new GOP needs to stand tough, because it will take years of real restraint to let the economy catch up to the size of government and the debt.

Even today Obama is talking about debt and credit cards for the next generation.   The shopping spree is over!! The truely needy need protection, but programs like we have had here in WA state that helped families making almost 90K buy homes must end.  Things like that just inflate the market and raise prices for everyone.

I am sad to say in Washington State the Kool-aid is still potent. But also the GOP candidate, Rossi, while a generally good man, doesn't get it.  He did not utilize the grass roots of the Tea Party and he ran the same campaign he ran that split the state and cost him the governors race twice.  Both the "I always vote (D)" crowd and the state GOP need to realize no more politics as usual.

My last message:  This is just the start!  Democrats you need to take your party back from the progressives and get it back to where it can work with a strong free market to empower all people and help the needy without punishing success.