The Casualties of Alcoholism

The Casualties of Alcoholism

Al Ritter 

To the uninitiated meeting an alcoholic for the first time, you may be taken in by the outgoing fun nature, and you may even be in awe of their capacity to consume liquor with no visible outside effects. As time goes on and love enters into the picture the rationalizations begin. You figure if you are buying the alcohol you can regulate how much they drink, when in fact all you are doing is enabling the behavior. Because you are around them more, you are seeing more drunken episodes, but you tell yourself “because of our growing love, we can get through this.”

Through the ensuing years things don’t improve, you lovingly ask the alcoholic to enter into rehab programs or AA, and they agree. The program is over and they seem better, in fact they go back to the fully functioning life they had before. But as time creeps on they go back to “just one glass of wine before dinner.” They try to calm your fears telling you that they have cut way back and not to be concerned. A month goes by and now the alcoholic is up to 3 glasses of wine before and after dinner. Soon after, the drunkenness returns and the alcoholic is right back to the state they were before the rehab. Now abusive words are being spoken during the blackout episodes that the alcoholic doesn’t remember the next day but the damage has already been done. The loved ones are suffering but the alcoholic still promises that they will cut back the drinking. You stop buying the alcohol and tell them they can no longer drink around you. They rationalize their behavior by telling you that everyone is human and they all make mistakes and even question you by saying “are you perfect?”

The loved ones start to question themselves asking “am I asking too much of this relationship?” “Am I really this unflawed myself?” The relationship continues and within a few years you ask them to seek professional help again and they agree this time on an inpatient program. They progress fairly well and are released to an outpatient continuation program. The loved ones cautiously go about life again with the alcoholic once again. But they also notice that the word sobriety or sobriety date never creep into a conversation. Because of the alcoholic’s past and their secretive nature you become leery of broken promises. When things change and you view the person you love return to drinking the cycle begins again.

Once again you ask they seek help and they agree this time, but now you have the uneasy feeling they are only agreeing to appease you. Once again, no talk about sobriety or sobriety date as so many recovered alcoholics proudly know as well as their own birth date. The signs of alcoholism clearly show in their face and their health but mirrors either don’t work for alcoholics or the denial is so strong they can’t see it themselves.

They make up reasons that they don’t stop drinking…….”I can stop whenever I want”……”I can cut back”…..”you have problems too, and when you seek help for your problem I will stop drinking.” The excuses never stop and the loved ones begin to actually believe the root cause of the drinking is caused by their problems…..and they believe that for a while, but then they remember the ability of the alcoholic to consume massive quantities of liquor when they first met them, and that idea and the rationale falls apart.

Eventually everyone around an alcoholic becomes a casualty; love alone is not enough of a reason for the alcoholic to quit. The alcoholic is only looking for a reason TO drink, but never looking for a reason to quit. The trust has been broken, when is enough enough?

What Will Happen in January

What Will Happen in January

Al Ritter

This has certainly been a year full of political disappointments, and sadly we have all lost friends over their political stances both in Dem vs Rep contests but also Rep vs other Republicans. This weeks’ announcement by Ted Cruz to support the Republican nominee has brought about all new heated controversies. It seems the Republican Party has become so fractured now it’s hard to believe it will ever survive.

So you understand where I am coming from, I’ll tell you that I recently left the Republican Party for the sole reason that the RNC refused to renounce the practice of open primaries, allowing the Democratic Party to make the choice of the Republican nominee in the presidential election.

A lot of you will be angry at my views, but at this point in time, I really don’t care anymore, because my view is now that of an “unaffiliated party” voter.

I view the choice between the two present majority party choices as such. If the choice is between the lesser of two evils, I really don’t see a clear choice. Both candidates have taken advantage of the 2014 SCOTUS ruling of “Susan B. Anthony List vs Driehaus” where lying in political campaigns is now legal based on the 1^st Amendment. They have both lied continually, and in fact both are unindicted felons in different frauds perpetrated on the American Public, and the DOJ refuses to act on either! We as citizens would already be serving time in prison had we done the things that either Trump of Clinton have done, but we keep allowing it to happen, and neither serves the time they deserve in Federal Prison.

As a result America will be the largest loser regardless of who wins this election.

Now this is how I view the results of the election based on who wins. If Trump wins; I see 100% aggressive behavior from the Democratic Party to ANY actions Mr Trump makes, and I hardly think this can be a statement that anyone can argue. Furthermore I can see an act of aggression of maybe 20% of the Republican Congress against Trump. You may disagree with this percentage but the fact is there WILL be some, call them RINO’s or whatever you wish. If Trump wins there will be NO primary challenge in the 2020 Presidential election unless Trump himself doesn’t want to run for another term, and to be honest I can’t ever see that happening. If Trump wins the SCOTUS is still a toss-up. Far smarter Republican Presidents have made poor choices in appointing conservatives to the court. But Trump has a history of supporting candidates that want to destroy the conservative cause so whether he appoints conservatives is NOT a given at this point. Trump says he wants to repeal Obamacare but only to the point of replacing it with a single payer system like Obama originally wanted. Trump has already abandoned his aggressive stance against illegal immigration and it’s only a matter of time before his claim to build a wall disappears too. There are so many stances that Trump had in his campaign that have already been either abandoned or reversed, everything he now considers to be mere “suggestions” with no clear policy standards and certainly no clear fiscal path to achieve those vague goals. His reluctance to ask for help on subjects he clearly knows nothing about have signaled to many Republican foreign policy experts that his questions on the use of nuclear weapons has alarmed many in his own party.

If Hillary wins; she will continue to lie and forward the same agenda her predecessor has done for the last 8 years. She will never be prosecuted for Benghazi nor will she be prosecuted for the Clinton Foundation money laundering or pay for play schemes. She will have the support of 100% of Democrats in Congress and about 20% or the same RINO’s that have supported every agenda that Obama has put forward in the last 8 years including Obamacare. Her Supreme Court appointments will most certainly be all liberal Justices. There is however a strong possibility that there could be health issues in a Hillary Clinton Presidency that could end her career prematurely. Although her political career has been plagued with falsehoods omissions and outright lies much in the way Trump’s has, her past history shows very few signs of mental instability but rather an insatiable quest for more power.

Both candidates show signs of being pathological lairs but Trump has clearly set the path of a 91% lying record, placing him at the top of the falsehood heap, so to pick either one with the idea that one isn’t as bad as the other is an asinine idea that will destroy America!

Congress; If Hillary wins I believe the seats in the Senate will become filled with more Democrats but I doubt they will take the majority, at least not until the next election cycle. The House will continue as the stronghold for Republicans. If Trump wins I see the senate staying in Republican control, but only temporarily as the public’s faith in the Republican President will quickly erode and the Senate will be lost in the next election. The public will place even further blame on the remaining Republican Senators and they will lose their seats to the left. The balance of legislative power will be in the hands of the President to either gain or lose power based solely on their performance. The public already knows what a Presidency under Clinton will be; it will be like a third term of Obama with only small changes. The public has NO idea what a Presidency under Trump would be like, his character is not consistent, his temperament is far from mature, and his policies and how to pay for them are totally devoid of logic or reason.

Some people are upset with Ted Cruz’s endorsement of Donald Trump, but they need to understand one thing. Ted Cruz wants to run for President again in the closest possible time frame.  Cruz has no choice other than to run as a Republican, he would flounder as a 3^rd party candidate, and he can’t risk spending time building another party while running for President at the same time. Understand that he hasn’t given up his principles, but instead is being blackmailed by Reince Priebus. He is a victim of the RNC and Donald Trump, and his supporters shouldn’t feel betrayed by him, they should vent their anger at what the RNC has done to a conservative rather than to label him as a traitor. If you can’t see your way to continuing support of Ted Cruz the conservative idea WILL die in this election cycle never to return, there will be no torch bearer into the next election cycle.

In short, this Presidential term will be filled by either Trump or Clinton…………how long the misery continues will be up to the voter, but understand that under either candidate there is NO guarantee there will be ANY conservative policies either introduced or passed. You lost the ability to vote for a conservative in the primary when your party allowed Democrats to vote in that contest!

Why the Republican Party Deserves to Lose Everyone!

Why the Republican Party Deserves to Lose Everyone!

Al Ritter 

In 2014 the Conservative movement reached its high spot in the Republican Party when their voice was heard to the point of increasing Republican representation in the House and replacing the Democratic majority in the Senate. It seemed that Conservatism had finally come into its own as the people had finally said “enough is enough” with the past movement towards left center.

The elections of 2014 did several things; it empowered the conservative Republican voters to finally think their vote DID matter and that when 2016 rolled around the party would move farther to the right. Sadly that wasn’t the story to be told though. The “leadership” of the Republican Party (and I use that term loosely) was happy with the business as usual and the Conservative upstarts had to be silenced. The Conservative power play worked only to a point as John Boehner was forced from his Speakers position in the House only to be replaced with Paul Ryan. Ryan who has only proved slightly better, has shown that he in fact is also part of the establishment and has an aim to downplay all the Conservative ideas he can.

He has also continued the establishment Republican stance of giving President Obama anything he wants. On the Senate side Mitch McConnell continues an uninterrupted establishment role of pushing Conservatism to the back of the bus, and giving President Obama’s agenda a front seat. Republican leaders of both the House and Senate have acquiesced power to Obama for fear of another government shutdown because of the administrations continual threatens to do so.

Because of the Republican establishment threats to push conservatism to the back of the bus, the revolt movement within the party (and also outside the party) has taken off. Open primaries where Democrats, and independents can pick the nominee in the Republican Party was allowed to continue in the RNC Rules Committee meeting this year. During that same meeting Reince Priebus along with Trump delegates continually shouted down any dissenters to force Trumps eventual nomination even though he has the lowest approval numbers of any Republican Nominee in recent times.

Sadly along with this nomination comes a newly acquired reputation of being racist, misogynist, and uneducated. I don’t wish to be known for any of those character flaws and I hope a majority of Republicans past and present feel the same way. IF Trump wins the general election there could be a backlash that will be felt for decades. If Trump were to hold true to his contentious nature (which he has shown no intent of halting), he will alienate the entire Republican base which is already showing a major exodus. The biggest loss in the House and the Senate will occur when the inevitable foreign and domestic policies fiascos occur from the Narcissistic nominee that accepts help from nobody and assumes that only his opinion is what matters. Not one successful person in this country can survive with no help.

It seems sad to me that the Republican Party has sought a direction that frankly has been farther left as was proven by the rules committee when they allowed the Democrats to continue to pick our nominee. People ask me when I left the party…...my answer was simple, I left when the party voted to allow  Democrats to pick our candidates. If you think for one minute that the decision to allow that horrible policy to continue is a minor problem, then it’s YOU who are part of that problem. Secondly the RNC voted to remove the vote from a large consensus (over 1200 delegates) to a small (under 200) group of Republican party rules makers.

My decision was made to leave the party LONG before Trump was even nominated! They have proven that they are now the party of EXCLUSION not inclusion! That’s right and Trump supporters think it was about the party’s hatred for Cruz or my dislike for Trump. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, it’s about letting problems continue, it’s about disenfranchising the Republican members and substituting the power of many for the power of a few. And I shouldn’t be the only one who feels that way………..in case nobody has noticed the Democratic Party has done the same thing …….are you noticing a pattern yet? “When you aren’t offered a seat at the table, you are then served on the menu.”

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Requiem for a Heavyweight

Al Ritter 

I sit here a mere twelve hours after Senator Ted Cruz bowed out of the 2016 Presidential race, in total numbness. We started with 20 candidates all vying to be the President of the United States. Now we end the primary season with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the final two. 

There are a lot of firsts as this race ends. For the first time we have two of the most despised contestants in the history of our country squaring off for the final prize. We have two CONFIRMED liars in the last contest. We will have a woman for the first time as a candidate in the general election. Finally we have two Democrats for the first time in American History running for President. 

I have a lot of respect for Ted Cruz, he has been a principled candidate who always spoke the truth regardless of whether it was what you wanted to hear or not. He had specific plans for every segment of our domestic and foreign policy. He stayed true to Texas voters and has done what he was hired to do. Sadly he didn’t fight back against the lies and smears by his fellow candidates in the Republican Party. 

Presidential campaigns used to step on uncertain ground in the past about being honest for fear of liable law suits, but in 2014 the SCOTUS ruled in a unanimous decision, Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus that lying in political campaigns is legal based in the First Amendment and freedom of speech. So this has been the first time that lying has been declared legal in a Presidential Election. 

Unfortunately or not depending on your view, Senator Cruz still believes in the truth and nothing but the truth, but Trump and Clinton, I am certain were VERY aware of the new SCOTUS ruling. This is where morals come into play, Cruz played by rules of God, while Clinton and Trump play by whatever rules it takes to win, honestly or not. 

I’m done with politics for the next 4 years, because this next Presidency regardless of who wins will cause such degradation in America that even the uneducated voter that caused this problem will have had enough! Be forewarned though, I WILL remember the Trump voters that caused this problem and have ruined the next 4 years for my grandchildren, we aren’t buddies, we aren’t pals, we aren’t even friends anymore……enjoy your first female president!

 

POLITICAL FREEDOM OR SLAVERY, WHAT WILL IT BE?

POLITICAL FREEDOM OR SLAVERY, WHAT WILL IT BE? 

William G Burmer 

 

 For many months now President Obama has been plotting to declare martial law, this according to several political commentators in the Internet.  One has to wonder if this is not becoming a reality when we see left wing ideologists' such as Move On.org,  Black Lives Matter and radicals such as Bill Ayers  popping up in the news lately.

 

      They are bent on creating the impression that The Conservative Movement under the leadership of Donald Trump are the instigators for their  protests. Nothing could be further from the truth. Their very  existence lives within  the radical Left Wing of the Democratic Party, or as I refer to as "communist revolutionists or agitators." Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders are at their head funded by the likes of George Soros. 

 

    This all becomes a form of life repeating itself from a historical prospective.  When President Lincoln was elected in January 1860 several of the southern  representative in the Congress walked out and by 27 March after taking office, several more southern states representative walked out leaving the southern States void of proper representation.  All of this because the South disliked Lincolns views on slavery. 

 

     So it is with the RINO Republican, and Left Wing demigods in the Democratic party. Donald Trump's views on the southern border security and  "radical Muslims" threat to our nations security are just as volatile in subject matter as was Lincolns political views on slavery.  If Trump should be elected the status quo would be severely interrupted.

 

     Interestingly the actions of the southern Representatives created a situation for Lincoln requiring Martial law being imposed in order for him to run the country and the military. You can find this in Rule (A) codified in UNITED STATES CODE number 95. This meant that our country would be ruled by "Executive Orders."  Sound familiar?  President Obama would like nothing less for himself than to do this.  If his crowd of dissenters along with Bill Ayers can create enough havoc it might happen. 

 

     As a side note, not many citizens are aware that as a result of Lincolns actions after declaring Martial Law one of his Executive orders included the creation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, or as referred to today as the IRS. This happened in July 1 of 1862. His Military officer for enforcing the collection of taxes to support the Civil War was given to a Man named Lafayette C. Baker. Commissioned to the rank of Colonel he was is noted to have instituted a reign of terror unparalleled  in history  upon the Northern and especially the Southern states after the war ended   See Law That Never was Vol: II, pp.188-189.  As we are all aware this organization has become more tyrannical in power and scope than the government itself.  It has been and is used by our elected officials to their advantage to breech all Constitutional Principle in America and enslave all of its citizens. Lincoln might have corrected this event given the chance to do so, however he was conveniently eliminated.   

 

     Think Obama is not capable of doing something similar?   Think, again! Donald Trump, and Senator Ted Cruz are a real threat to the power elite in Washington DC. They will do all they can to use these two good men as an excuse for any chaos created in order  to retain power and continue to enslave each one of us.  Liberty, Freedom be dammed.    

Ethanol Mandate Lies

Ethanol Mandate Lies

Al Ritter 

It’s never easy when you find that you’ve been lied to, but it’s that much more painful when the lie comes from someone you should have trusted. Such is the case in my home state of Maryland, but it isn’t much comfort to find out that we aren’t alone in our plight. 

In 2007 the George Bush Administration pushed the ethanol mandate on us at first as a program of security, claiming it was in our best interest to decrease our dependency on foreign oil by mixing corn based ethanol with gasoline to achieve a government based goal.  

We have basically two mixtures available in large scale in the United States. E10 is a 90% gasoline 10% ethanol mixture and E85 is 15% gasoline 85% ethanol. I have explained the detrimental effects of any ethanol blends in the past, but as you can imagine, the higher the ethanol content the worse the effects become. E85 can only be run in vehicles that are specifically manufactured to run such fuels commonly known as “Flex Fuel” vehicles. 

When President Bush started this ethanol mandate it began as just for government owned vehicles but quickly expanded to a mandated program for all gasoline burning vehicles in the USA. By 2011 80% of America was burning some sort of ethanol blended fuel. 

There are many problems associated with ethanol based fuels, but the largest is that ethanol attracts moisture (water in the air) in an unsealed fuel system such as lawn equipment and small engines that vent their gas tanks directly to the atmosphere. Water was never designed to be burned by internal combustion engines and even in small percentages can destroy engines. 

I first noticed drivability problems in my cars and massive problems with my lawn equipment as far back as 6 years ago as it takes a little while for the detrimental effects to show. Last year I had to rebuild three carburetors on my small engines and I had to flush the gas tank in one of my cars. 

The latest trend if continued is for the government to move to an E15 fuel even though multiple automobile manufacturers have already told the government if E15 comes to the market place it will void warranties. Undaunted the government is moving forward on this mandate regardless of what the manufacturers of internal combustion engines tell them. 

Enough about the political end of this football…….let’s talk about the lies to us the consumer. I’ll talk about Maryland first. In 2005 the “Renewable Fuels Act” was signed into law by Gov. Robt. Ehrlich formed from State Senate bill 740. Like the federal bill it started as a mandate that government vehicles had to run blended fuels. Sadly it morphed into a program that offered monetary incentives to fuel suppliers to blend ethanol into gasoline. But here is where the lies began. I can’t find out when this changed or if it was from the beginning, but in Maryland and 14 other states it’s ok to lie to the consumer and NOT have to place E10 stickers on the gas pumps whose fuel contains ethanol. In other words it’s ok to tell you the fuel doesn’t have ethanol when in fact it does! Let that sink in a moment.

California, District of Columbia - DC,  Indiana - In,  Kansas - KS,  Kentucky -KY,   

Maryland - MD,  Michigan - MI,  Minnesota - MN,  Missouri - MO,  Nevada - NV, 

* New Hampshire - NH - New Jersey - NJ,   Ohio - OH.

 

This is a list of the states that can legally lie to you about the content of your fuel that you buy for your vehicle. Each state seems to have its own bizarre rules on fuel reporting, but the really distressing part of all this is, that unless we pressure our State Legislatures to force gas stations to be truthful about the content of their fuels, we could have E15 forced on us with NO notice! 

 

I called and talked to a HUGE local fuel supplier with close to 100 gas stations in the Maryland Area and he confirmed what I had suspected. The legislature from the very beginning has NOT required them to mark gas pumps as to their content from day one in 2005, so this lie has been going on now in Maryland for 11 years! The gas stations on their own may choose to mark them or not, sadly making them just as complicit in this fraud perpetrated on the people of Maryland as our state legislature. Customers have for the last 11 years had been led to think they are buying ethanol free fuel when in fact they haven’t. 

Go here to read more about the massive lies being perpetrated on us by our state governments. Send this article to your state lawmakers and ask WHY they have seen fit to allow the lies to continue (11 years in Maryland.) Maybe your state has been lying to you even longer.  

Go here to find your state legislators and ask them why this is allowed

“I Think, I Observe – Therefore I Worry”

“I Think, I Observe – Therefore I Worry”
By: Ron Boat

Election 2016; A turning point in America that presents us with the end in sight. It will either be the end of America as we know it or… the end of a socialistic slide that started years ago but was hastened over the last 7 years with our current white house occupant.

As for the “D”s running for office…

We pretty much know the Clinton story. Lived off the government her whole life; Couldn’t pass the bar in DC to get a law license so moved to Arkansas. Lived off the people as the wife of the governor, then as first lady. Then after stealing the white house blind of artwork, furniture, china and other things (which were forced to be returned) lived off the people again as a senator, then as Sec. of State. Now she enjoys the high life, private jets, fancy living at the expense of billions paid to their many foundation endeavors, speaking fees and other sources hidden or otherwise accounted for. And those foundations give about 15% to causes while keeping the bulk “in house” for salaries, lavish traveling and other expenses a charity? You decide. People might be interested in this Hillary retrospective:  http://www.rense.com/general80/hopes.htm

And on the other side of the “D” list – Sanders, a radical and agitator in the ferment of 1960s and '70s Vermont, a tireless campaigner and champion of laborers who didn’t collect his own first steady paycheck until he was an elected official pushing 40 years old.

He went to Brooklyn College, before transferring to the University of Chicago, where he joined the Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Student Peace Union and the Young People’s Socialist League. He read psychology, sociology and history. He read Marx, Lenin and Trotsky. He demonstrated against the city’s schools – getting him arrested and charged with resisting arrest. Just another Chi-Town socialist hoping to carry on the legacy of our current white house “Commandant-in-Chief.”

He was always poor, virtually unemployed, living off unemployment insurance. In subsequent Liberty Union campaigns he advocated for “the doing away with all limitations for unemployment  benefits.”

Sanders decided to run for mayor of Burlington — and then, by 10 votes, he won: His first paycheck. He was the socialist mayor who somehow had gotten elected in the immediate wake of the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. “Yeah, OK, I’m a socialist,” he told the Globe. “We’ll charge $10 a head to come see the freak mayor of Burlington.”

It’s truly amazing and interesting to me that the lemmings who live in the Democratic party will choose either an obvious liar who was incompetent in her job as Secretary of State, and is laden with multiple FBI investigations for lying, incompetence, and putting our country’s secrets at risk – or... an admitted socialist who has accomplished nothing in his life, lived on welfare till elected to the Congress, never had a bill passed, and wanted to give everyone everything by taxing the “rich” at 90%.

Here’s a fact: If the IRS grabbed 100 percent of income over $1 million, the take would be just $616 Billion. That’s only a third of a year’s deficit and our national debt would continue to explode. As John Stossel says, “My $616 billion assumption above is absurd. Rich people wouldn’t work if government takes all their earnings.” And "Fox News analysts" found that "taxing millionaires at 100% would now run the federal government for only two and a half to three months." There just aren’t enough millionaires and billionaires to pay the government’s bills.

Let's look at this hypothetically, based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) statistics and the 2012 level of federal spending.  If the government were to ...

1. Nationalize the entire wealth of every billionaire in the country ($1.3 trillion) by liquidating all of their hard and soft assets, thus rendering them broke.
2. Seize all income earned over $250,000 (no deductions, gross pay), you would have $1.4 trillion.
3. Confiscate 100% of the profits of the Fortune 500 ($400 billion), thus making them non-profit enterprises ...

You would have enough money to operate the U.S. Federal Government… for maybe 10 months.

Get the picture yet?

Maryland created a special “tax on the rich” that legislators said would bring in $106 million. Instead, the state lost $257 million. Maryland’s rich just left the state. When New York hiked its income tax on millionaires, billionaire Tom Golisano moved to Florida, which has no personal income tax. “My personal income tax last year would’ve been $13,800 a day,” he said. “Would you like to write a check for $13,800 a day to a state government, as opposed to moving to another state?”

Even Donald Trump gets this one right. He says of rich people, “They’re international people. Whether they live here or live in a place like Switzerland doesn’t really matter to them.”

I write this to show that either Clinton’s stand on “redistribution” or Sander’s idea of just “taxing the rich” is not good for America and will have no positive effect on our debt or spending – only attempting to keep the voting masses happy. But when thinking about voting D this year, just think about all that. Which of those two could you really support?

On the “R” side of the electoral ledger….

We have the leader, Donald Trump. Drawing crowds, drawing support from many, drawing the ire of those not in love with a democrat turned republican. A man whose background is filled with enough fact and fiction to fill many reality shows. But a true success story no matter how he started out, for he has proven himself a survivor, a mover and shaker bettering himself and others.

The more he rants and raves about things… the more his numbers go up. Is the electorate really that pissed against the establishment ruling? Is he awakening a sleeping giant of discontent that will move this country to vote for him and “make American great again?” Or, as has been presented, is he really a distracting democrat plant stirring the pot to ensure a Hillary win?

Personally, even with some of his actions and words which disturb me, I rationally think that 1) with his wealth, assets and future potential growth, he would not mess up America, thereby hurting himself. And 2) if he were to mess up, destroy things and embarrass himself and this country, it would be a worldwide blow that I don’t think his ego could take or allow. He’d fight that with every ounce of gold he owns.

I dismiss some of his furious dissertations as a guy who is “self-made, successful and rich.” I say that having had a couple of billionaires and several millionaires as clients over the years. I learned that in general they are nice people, caring people, giving people (which Trump has proved many times) and, they just think different than us “common people.”

They think faster, more thoroughly, on many simultaneous levels, and more completely. They consider the ramifications of their actions they are looking at alternatives, consequences, outcomes all while considering the benefits and problems of a situation and at the same time carrying on conversations. Their thought process has brought them much success so it must be working and often causes them at times to “shoot from the lip.” This is true of Trump as he’s a fast thinker, gets out part of a thought then moves on to the next one sometimes leaving many to assume or judge the conclusion to his thoughts.

Others on our list are the Texas senator Cruz, who many have accused of everything from illegal citizen and money taker from Wall Street to fake Christian and liar. And the Florida senator Rubio who has been on both sides of issues so much, no one is sure where he stands today. For me personally, years ago I’ve learned not to trust people who smile too much especially when it’s forced – enter Joel Olsteen.

For others on the list, we hear chants of “read my lips – No More Bushes,” Dr. Carson is a nice gifted man but not for president, Kasich who? And No Christie hugs for me. Carly had many great points and worldwide connections most never acknowledged but… gathered no moss on her downhill roll.

Are becoming so demanding that no one can possible meet our needs and desires for a leader? Were we spoiled by Reagan and blinded by Obama that we’re confused in our expectations and tolerances? Here’s a thought… God isn’t running for president. He doesn’t need or want the job so it’s up to us to find the next best person – as best we can.

Personally, I have not 100% decided yet and promote no one. I am tired of holding my nose to vote for a McCain or other second best choice in order to avoid a socialist takeover of America. (whoops, too late). And if people are going to harshly judge, or blindly ignore the Republican choice, and stay home as they did for Romney, we’re doomed to repeat our history of electoral failures.

This year it’s not just about a president for 4 or 8 years, it’s SCOTUS appointments which can affect this country for the next 30 or 40 years… and that is an insufferable option that will destroy this country with more left leaning, socialistic decisions that could strip 2^nd Amendment rights, religious freedoms, the rights associated with free speech, assemblage, and our capitalistic society.

If you think that 8 years of a semi-congress-controlled president were tough, think about 30 years of a Justice Barry Soetoro in your lives. Think of him sitting beside an Erik Holder and Loretta Lynch. Think of 8-1 decisions changing America into the third world, tyrannical landscape of socialism that these power hungry, anti-white, anti-capitalism, anti-American, oppressive despots wish for their “subjects.”

When it comes to this process of electing a leader, steeped in well thought out methodology of our founders’ visions and established in law, I think that it’s becoming more clouded, more complicated, more involved that it used to be in the days of JFK or Ronald Reagan. I almost think we’re doomed.

I find that I'm observing a change in America’s recognition of, and tolerance for dishonesty and lack of reason. I'm seeing a country I don’t even recognize, and when observed and reviewed in the microscope of history, will appear ridiculously rampant with stupidity, blind “sheepliness,” greed and disingenuous, illiterate, uniformed actions and loyalties.

Therefore after thinking and observing… I can only worry. Will this be the final nail, the proverbial straw, the clutch play that continues and accelerates the fall into historical oblivion? Will 2016 be the last year we enjoy our freedoms, the ability to grow and achieve, our joys of family and friends without fears of total intrusion, oppressive oversight and control?

God bless, God HELP America.

Has the Tea Party Vanished?

Has the Tea Party Vanished?

Al Ritter 

The scene in 2014 was a revolt in a way, it pitted the establishment GOP against the “people.” Those people had enough of the good old boys’ network and set a course to elect candidates who promised to change the way things were done in DC. 

Although it never really gained a full momentum the results held the House and retook the Senate. Some candidates have actually done what they were elected to do under the umbrella of the Tea Party, others not so much. 

We call those who didn’t actually follow the direction of the Tea Party push, RINOs (Republican in Name Only.)  

The Republican side has plenty of mainstream candidates, ones who borderline on the RINO idea, but as we are finding out, not everyone identifies with the Tea Party. They are the moderates or independent voters who see the political landscape as being right center. Most are happy with big government and just want to see everyone get along.

These same voters like to claim they are tired of the way government works, but they vote the other way. 

Although there are a few candidates who were the darlings of the Tea Party in 2014, one defected from a stance of no amnesty to working in the “Gang of Eight” and supporting amnesty along with his democratic counterparts in the Senate. Another Tea Party favorite has slowly moved away from the Republican and Tea Party values by taking a decidedly libertarian stance and now has faded into the same obscurity suffered by his father’s cultish following. 

We have two political outsiders, one of which is a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. This man is a gentle soft spoken person, he has lots of good ideas, but his stances and specifics are often muddled to the point of not really knowing which side of an issue he rests. 

The other outsider is a loud brash bombastic businessman, who uses profanity and vulgar insults at his campaign stops much to the glee of his rather strange group of followers. He rarely speaks in specifics of how to fix America’s woes, instead claiming he will “hire the best people” and “you will really be happy!” His insults and falsehoods rarely seem to be aimed at the Democratic candidates, but rather at his fellow Republican Candidates. 

Only one candidate was elected as a Tea Party favorite and has done what he promised to do. He has defended the Constitution not only in the Senate but also in the Supreme Court as Solicitor General of his home state. He has adhered to the Republican values even when the leaders of his party seem to have abandoned them.  

Has the Tea Party just become a footnote in history and along with it the values we fought so hard for in 2014? Or do principles, values, and honesty still matter to the voters who have chosen the Republican Party?