I Believe in America

As many of you who know me well are aware, I am a bit of a history geek. This passion has led me to study intensively the history and founding of our nation. I believe deeply that it is important to remember that throughout our history, we as a people are responsible for the leaders we elect. The election we are now preparing for could possibly be the most important we have ever had, for it is a battle for the soul of

America, or rather, it is a battle for what America will be.
I believe in our country, I believe in our proud heritage and I believe that America has the ability to continue to be a great nation. I believe we can be the best force for good in the world, and stand up for what is right and good. We can understand believe that with the right leadership we can get headed in the right direction. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, we can be the shining light on the hill to the rest of the world.

As we consider leaders, we often seek ones with experience, with leadership qualities we admire, and with a good ability to communicate. Today I will focus on experience though. When we think about the United States of America, it is a very large and complex body, comparable to a very large ship. It has many varied moving parts, personnel that need leadership, and it needs direction and navigation both to move through the storms ahead, to reach the destination we seek that of an America that is the beacon of hope to the world.

America deserves a captain that is familiar with the ship, its parts, its personnel, and has a clear view of the greatness that America can achieve. That is where Mitt Romney comes in. His experience in such various roles, from businessman to governor has prepared him to be a great leader in America. He has weathered storms as captain of the 2002 Olympics. He has an intricate knowledge of the economy, and a clear view of where we need to go in our future.
Our current president, on the other hand has come into this office with little to no real experience and America has suffered. It is not his fault the economy was suffering when he came into office, but it is time that we realize, under Obama things have not improved as they should have. Why? The reason is because we have had a captain that hasn’t known how, where and when to lead. He relies on his advisors to lead, which has led to some of them being out of control and unaccountable. He has attacked business owners and business in general. FDR once said “the business of America is business.” It seems to me that our current president’s opinion is that the business of America is to attack business.

Financially Obama has increased our debt more than any president, and he has done it in less than 4 years. What has it accomplished? Are we safer than we were four years ago? Is our economy better off than it
was four years ago? No. Having a captain who doesn’t know how to turn the ship around has led to Americans suffering to survive. Attacking crucial mechanizms through over regulation, burdensome tax standards, devaluing our currency, allowing other countries to bully us on economic policies, and leaving future generations with a load of debt that seems insurmountable, does not strengthen america.
In simple terms, we can’t afford to spend four more years on a president who doesn’t understand how the economy works, who doesn’t appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit, and who doesn’t seem to have a  clear view of where America should be heading.

We need a captain, a leader, someone who has been storm tested and has a definite view of the destination. In the following posts I will outline both Barack Obama and Mitt Romneys views on certain issues, as well as their records, and the views of others as to their efficacy. I will show how if you believe in America, there really is only one choice for you.
I believe in America,

do you?


Some reading I encourage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/romneys-foreign-policy-the-opposite-of-obamas/2012/07/24/gJQAytNc6W_blog.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-did-the-state-make-you-great/2012/07/19/gJQAbZOiwW_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-the-imperial-presidency-revisited/2012/07/05/gJQAR66PQW_story.html

The Battle for the Soul of America

As we begin to consider national elections this year we must begin by understanding ourselves and what we wish for our country. The majority of our country believes that we are not heading in the right direction. I believe that we must seek for wise leaders who have correct priorities in their actions as elected representatives. The question becomes what qualities should we look for to determine said wisdom?

Recently a friend of mine Kyle stated "If you really want to change the country for the better then fix the family and study the founders. And I don't even need to say study conservatism because once you study the founders then conservatism becomes the obvious choice. It is the perpetuation of everything the founders stood for - most importantly freedom and individual liberty." I believe that strong conservative values have been the foundation upon which our country has been built.

As a conservative at heart I do believe that conservative values that promote individual liberty and limited government are essential to a free society. Our country was founded on the belief that hard work, strong moral values, and faith in God were essential to our success and prosperity as a country. Through the last few years we have struggled in more than just economics. We have struggled for the soul of America. This struggle on whether we are going to stand by the same values we have held for many years or let them fall.
Values are essential and we must not compromise our values. Our founders had varying opinions of what a free society needed in terms of government, especially the national government. What set them most apart, and what we remember them most for was their ability to compromise, and by so doing bringing to pass action, which in turn has brought to pass a prosperous country of over two hundred and thirty years. We have come to an age however that it seems that individual thought clouds the capability of many of our elected officials from being able of acting in the best interest of the country as a whole. While I do not blame either party individually I do blame both for playing to the extremes of their parties. However there does need to be compromise on the issues where we can come together.
What we most need are leaders who will unite us and lead us rather than divide us and follow others. We need leaders who understand how to inspire us to action and to be more than we are. We also need leaders who will lead us into the future.
I encourage you to consider these as you decide on who to vote for this year, I especially encourage you to research each candidate including and most importantly your local officials, and make a decision according to your conscience and vote.

NLRB and the American Jobs Act

As Americans across the country have been suffering from high unemployment and low job creation, our nation's leaders have been charged with finding ways to create and keep more jobs within the U.S. 
Recently congress has been considering two different bills that could both affect job creation in the United States. the first of these is the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act which was passed by the house on Thursday. This bill is in response to the National Labor Relations Board's actions to prevent Boeing's production line for the new 787 Dreamliner, due to alleged misconduct with unions in Washington State. The bill would reign in the NLRB and prevent them from being able to tell a company to close or relocate a workplace.
Democrats argue that this bill would take away much of the real authority that the NLRB has and would eliminate any responsibility that Boeing would have for the said misdeeds and strangely claim that this would make it easier for a company to ship jobs overseas, which seems to be more of what the NLRB is currently doing, discouraging job growth in one state in order to protect workers in another.
While the constitution gives congress the authority to regulate commerce among the many states, I do not believe it should delegate so much authority to regulatory agencies in order to dictate where they can conduct their business. This is something that, if enacted will keep jobs in the U.S. and will make it easier for American companies.
The second thing with job creation is president Obama's 450+ billion dollar American Jobs Act. Which while it will produce some jobs or save some jobs if enacted, and work to improve the infrastructure with roads, etc. It does not do enough to fix the real problems and will increase taxes more than 467 billion dollars. The three things that need to be done are, reform the tax code to simplify it for American companies and individuals, reduce the business tax and regulations against American companies, and work to building our infrastructure including our digital infrastucture.
By doing these things and more, our government can help fuel job growth within the U.S. and continue to strengthen our economy as we recover from a recession.

Independence Day

As we near the day of our independence I wanted to take time to say a few words about our great nation. We live in a nation that was born of a desire to be free. Through representative democracy we have established a nation where the people rule, one of the first of it's kind. Through the blood and tears of men and women we established a nation where we could have all freedoms here including that we should be entitled to the life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Through a Constitution and Bill of Rights which I believe to be divinely inspired we have insured more freedoms. Some of these include the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the right to due process, the right to bear arms, and the right from unlawful search and seizure.
Throughout the history of our nation we have sought for more freedom, including to free slaves, give equal rights of voting, housing, employment, and schooling to all of the people of our nation no matter their race, religion, birthplace, gender or sexual preference.
These freedoms have come at a dear price, from the graves of Gettysburg to the shores of Normandy, freedom has been our goal. We have been called on by many nations to stand in the face of tyranny and injustice and we have fought for those freedoms. The blood of our soldiers both past and present stands as a reminder that the freedoms we now enjoy come at a price.
We must remember as the battle rages on that our nation is a great one and that in order to maintain the liberty we now possess we must continue to make it great. We must remember the words of our former president, John F. Kennedy who said “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
As we celebrate our day of independence tomorrow let us remember what has transpired to make this nation great, let us remember in our hearts the sacrifice of the men and women who have made it great. That we must be "one nation under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." 
God Bless America

Death of Usama Bin Laden, War on Terror

On Sunday night (May 1st) we received news from the president of the United States that Usama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. military forces in a compound in Pakistan. To address a few concerns that some people have wondered about I decided to tribute this post to answering a few of these questions. The first, is he really dead? Although a very few people are doubting this, and a lack of a public burial/photos of the dead Bin Laden may promote some few doubtful people I have a few threads of thought that several professors I have discussed the issue with support concerning these issues. 1st as to the quick burial, although I have not studied it myself I am told that Islamic law declares that the burial must be done as quickly as possible, and we are told that every islamic rite was followed concerning his death. 2nd if he were brought to another country what country would he be buried in? Would we really want him buried in the U.S., and surely some major event would be sparked wherever he would have been buried. 3rd what benefit could there possibly be for lying? There would be no possible benefit other than a momentary spiking in poll numbers over a year before a presidential election, if Obama were wanting to use this as a lie to bump his numbers, why not wait until next year, when a momentary bump would actually help?
As for the second issue of why the pictures have not been released, I have two concerns. The first is that of proper respect for the dead, as some americans have little respect for other people's practices and surely would have defamed the photo within minutes of it's release, and therefore would enrage his followers and possibly others(ex. the Florida church who burned a Koran and the aftermath in Afghanistan).
The second issue i wanted to address is that of the War on terror. We must remember that this is not the end of the war on terror. While this was one step and one major leader of terrorism we must not stop in our efforts to end terrorism. I believe this begins with education, and an increased understanding of others cultures, customs, and belief systems. It begins with building bridging social capital(for more info see Putnam, Bowling Alone 2000). We must support our government and trust each other, because without trust we can not accomplish anything. United we stand, and divided we fall. This applies not only to our nation, but to the world. If we are to rise up from the dust and seize our potential we must learn to share ideas and work together, seek for ways to help build a stronger world for all. As we seek to rise out of the recession we have been in, we must look for ways to innovate and make changes that will increase our ability to make the world better, rather than to line our own pockets.
IN GOD WE TRUST

-Tim

President's Day thoughts

The last few days have been fairly unsettling to me. With the attacks made on things that are valued by the other party I have been a little disconcerted with the actions of our nations leaders. We have been promised change but instead what we get is the same continual bipartisanship that is dividing this country. More than ever we need to end the divisive actions, such as ending the defense of the DOMA, as well as the attack on state employee unions in several states. These actions show me blatantly what is wrong with our nation. We are continually becoming less trusting of each other, as well as our leaders. If we really want change as the American people we need to start changing things. We need to start working together, learning from each other and get involved in our communities. We need to meet our neighbors, and start developing the bridging social capital necessary to bring our nation together. So my President's day wish is that we return to a president from my parent's days who said "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"