President Obama stated in his press conference the he is willing to sit down with both Republicans and Democrats alike to listen, discuss, and help facilitate a failing economy.  With that said, the President suggested the notion of "doing nothing" was not an option,  which many house republicans have stated.  I for one, agree!  A long time ago,  the Republican party used to boast that it was the party of ideas!  So the notion of doing nothing in a failing economy is not an option for me either.  

With that said, I do not believe in this stimulus package.  The first reason, which can be arguably debated, is that a program of relief, implemented by the government, with creation and oversight, similar to FDR's New Deal, will not work.  FDR's new deal has been suggested was not what brought our country out of the doldrums of the great depression, but in fact the the manufuacturing, and labor needed for World War II was what allowed the economy to once again flourish.  

The second reason, which can not be disputed, is th notion that the govenment involving itself into free markets (socialism) is not the way this country was founded, and it because of this act alone, that over the course of 230 plus years, that the United States, is the most respected, admired and more imporantly most viable  over this time.  If our founding fathers wanted anything different from this notion, they would of set up "nationalized banking"  (Hamilton v. Jefferson).

So you might be at this point asking, if I dont believe in the stimulus package, what is an alternative plan? There are many ideas that house republicans can sit and discuss with this President.  The President discusses in this stimulus package, putting people to work, aided, and assisted and probably employed by the Government.  Why would you not allow the private sector to do this.  He talked last night about energy alternatives, to change the habits and creating new means of energy in the environment here at home.  Why cant the house republicans come to the President and say well if you offer Corporations, or small businesses, an incentive by decreasing (or eliminating) corporate tax and allowing them to depreciate more,  why would someone, not be interested in doing this?  President Obama talked about the failed tax cuts of the last eight years.  While that can be argued, I won't here in this blog.  The point is, you can offer alternative Tax incentives to businessess, whether it be the major corporations, or the small businesses.  If government can't lead properly,  why should I for a moment believe they can run a business properly?  Time and time again, that has failed! 

Bottom line,  President Obama gave us a golden opportunity last night.  Now its time to take advantage of it.  If the President is then stubborn,  well, he can then at very best stop calling Republicans Partisan, and we would show that he is Partisan, and not true to his word.

The leadership in this country has failed us.   Senator Harry Reid stated today in regards to the Auto Manufacturers bid for help-  "Congress needs to to do nothing" .  Very inspiring.  Thank you.  That makes me confident about our economy. 

Now I am not hear to state  my opinion,   but I will tell you this,  doing nothing is not a solution. 
Congress choosing to do nothing,  is their idea of putting this back in the presidents hand to make the decision.  What kind of leadership is that?  Are our elected officials that inept? Are they that worried about their jobs if things go terribly wrong with the decision they make?  Then they can blame the republicans in the next election that they have something to attack them on? You have a majority,  you can pass anything you want, but yet you decide to do nothing.

Republicans alike, your not off the hook on this either.  Your president sits their with a decision to make on how to use 300 billion for the financial crisis,  and you decide to leave the 300 billion for the president elect?  That's a decision?   We have a crisis now! So our democratic congress says to do nothing,  our lame duck president decides to do nothing", congress will be in recess soon, going home,  and our President will go to his ranch in Crawford, and more people will lose jobs!  How nice!    You should all be fuming at the way our government is handling this. 

Citigroup cut 50,000 jobs yesterday.  What does our governent do?   punt on 3rd down, and leave it to the next guy.    Great leadership!  It seems that no one wants to create a plan, in case of failure.  Our government has become that inept.  Nobody believes they can make a good decision?  C'mon! Cowards you all are.

I want to be inspired.  I want to believe in our government.  The president elect talks very eloquently.  That is not enough for me.  I want to see action.   This is beyond party lines.  This is about us!

Why are we looking for the next Ronald Reagan? 

Ronald Reagan, was the right president and the right time.  I am not sure that his ideas and principles apply in today's world.  Ronald Reagan's two most fundamental principles were Reaganomics, which implemented favorable tax cuts, with the idea that if people had more money in their pockets, they would have more money to spend in the economy. The second, was peace thru strength, which was the idea that building up our arms, would help bring down the fear of communism spreading thru the world.

I am not sure these core priciples of the the conservative movement apply today.  First let me say this.  We just lost the election of 2008, and everyone in the GOP is stating that we need fresh ideas within.  So I was thinking,  why does everyone in the party want to see the next Ronald Reagen?  His ideas were the right ideas at the right times.  But these are different times!

The Reagen tax cuts of 1981, which brought the highest tax rate to 50%, and the tax cuts of 1986, which brought the rate down to 28% were much needed at the time.  Under President Carter the tax rate was over 70%.  We might as well have been living in a monarchy, and Ronald Reagen new this, and thus the theory of Reagenomics began.  We are now living in a time where Tax rates are comfortable.  We can always argue that taxes should be lower,  but does that need to be our platform?

We need other ideas to help fuel the economy.  Now I am no politician, but couldn't  we run a  campaign of tax incentives rather than everyone "get handed"  a tax cut?  Let the people earn it.  What if we all bought an American car.  If we did something for our country, couldn't our country then do something for us?  Buy a chevy, and be able to write it off our taxes?  Big savings for the people, and also simulateing the economy at the same time. 

What about buying a home?... Allow our downpayment or a portion of it be used as a write off on our taxes?  Would an idea like this, help stimulate the housing crisis?  Would Americans use more cash, thus living within their means? Seems simple to me. Seems better than handing money to greedy people in greedy corporations, who are irresponsible anyway.

What about air travel? couldn't people have the ability to deduct airfare from our taxes if they fly on an American airline?  especially if they are flying internationally, with competition from other countries?  Would our airlines then see more revenue?

The idea today, is that people should have to earn a tax incentive, not be entitled to it.

Reagen's peace thru strength was considered the right idea,  but it was also at the right time.  It was a time that our military was weak,    It was also a time when we feared the spread of communism.  .

Today, communism has collapsed.  So the idea of peace thru strength is no longer applicable.  Our enemies today will push us to our limits.  It is a different enemy,  we are fighting an idea of radical islam,  not necessarily a country. 

After our military barracks were bombed in beirut in 1983,  Reagen pulled our troops out.  He understood that this was a different hatred toward the United States, and could not be fought in the way a conventional war is supposed to. This is one of the few Reagan ideaologies that should still be applied.

We need to understand that fighting this war militarily, is a mere spec of what might need to be done.   This war is also a propaganda war.  People feeding their children, the idea that the United States is "the great satan".  The idea to fight this war with only our military, while I understand the need for it,  we never fought the propaganda war.  We need to talk with Arab countries throughout the region and to help them understand, and then sponsor pro-western ideas.  We need to dispute the propaganda that media such as Al Jazeera feeds the rest of the world.    The wars and the conflicts of today's time, can not just be fought with our military.

I find it troubling that our party who wants fresh ideas could not, and did not, have any new solutions to the problems our country faces in these troubling times.  The party has four years to the next presidential election.  If I was able to write this blog in a half hour, think of the ideas the party can contemplate in four years.  But they must start now.

We Just lost the presidential election, we lost more seats in the house and senate.  Congratulations to the Democrats on their historic victory. 

We can not be critical, but understand how this happened.  To answer that, we must look to ourselves, and to our party for accountability.

We used to be the party of ideas, and solutions.  However we have become the party that points fingers, and criticizes the Democrats.  Funny, I remember the Democrats doing that in the 2004 election,  guess what?  they lost! 

We were the party of controlled spending.....That is no longer the case.

We were the party of a limited government........How did we get so big in the last eight years?

Americans are smart, never underestimate the people.  They know a phony when they see one, and that was proven by this 2008 election. 

While Senator McCain is a true patriot, who I respect and admire,  should not of been the voice of our party.  After all, our party platform is much different, and more conservative.  However in the primary we decided to elect a moderate, most likely in fear that a conservative from our base could not win this election. I guess a moderate couldn't win either! Why were we so scared?  Were we afraid to answer the criticism that comes with the core values?  Why were we so scared to answer that criticism, if this is the core beliefs of the party?  Democrats would of been the ones criticizing, instead of hearing about their new ideas.  Well hats off to the Democrats, cause they got their idea out,  and we were the party to be critical.   

But please, I am very optimistic.  In every bad situation, we must see the day light.  We need to learn from this. We are not a sinking ship, but a ship that has only run off its course.  (words from Rep. Michael Pence, Indiana). However  the ship can be guided,  we can bring this ship back on course.  It is just going to take hard work, and that needs to start today. 

It is going to require a large effort, and everyone must join.  The message must be loud, and the message must be clear.  Let the 2008 elections be our wake up call.   Congratulations to the Democrats for running a fine campaign, and getting their message out,  AND LET THAT BE THE FIRST LESSON AFTER THIS ELECTION TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT.