The Capital Times Rant

What a joke. They complain that the Republicans want to freeze out the moderates with Resolution 25, while ignoring the fact that the Democrats have been freezing out moderate voices in their party for many years.

You will receive no respect from the Democrat Party:
If you don't believe it's just a blob of tissue until it is delivered, you're out.
If you don't believe in killing babies, you're out.
If you don't believe a serial killer should be protected from death, but a pre-born should die, you're out.
If you don't believe in gay marriage, you're out.
If you don't believe gay activists should teach your kids about gay sex in public school, you're out.
If you don't believe God is dead or should be, you're out.
If you don't believe the actors in Hollywood or the Dixie Chicks have all the answers, you're out.
If you don't believe President Bush is Hitler, you're out.
If you don't believe that our troops are the cause of all the evil in the world, you're out.
If you believe the world owes America a debt of graitude for all she has done, you're out.
If you believe God is responsible for all that is good in America and the world, you are out.
If you believe in God. You are out as far as they are concerned.

Now, you Dems who are trying to dismantle this great nation and take our God from it, choke on these words:

I believe in God, Hollywood is not my god, the Dixie Chicks are dumb as door knobs, Ted Kennedy is a jerk, our men and women in the armed forces are the greatest in the world and Mark Green will be elected as Wisconsin's next Governor.

Booster Seat Law for 8 Year Olds

First we were told we would lose $2.5 million dollars in federal highway funding unless this law was passed. This could not be further from the truth. The truth is that if this law was passed, we would receive additional funding from the feds over the next six years. Well, what a win for the taxpayers of Wisconsin. This means that each of our 5.5 million citizens will receive the equivalent of 4.5 cents per year for the next 6 years. Does that mean that all of us will receive our check each year for the 4.5 cents? No, that means the bureaucrats will have the extra cash each year for their pet projects.

Meanwhile all the parents with small childern over the age of four years old and under the age of 9 years old will have to buy car booster seats at a cost of around $19 or more to be in compliance with the new law. A cost to Wisconsin parents of around $3.00 each year for a long time. But what about the parents who can't afford this new cost? What about the parents of large families? How about the friends or family who need to transport other children? What about visitors coming in from outside this state to visit? Maybe they will stay home and not spend money in this state. Should a larger family be required to buy a bus to legally transport their family? How about two or three cars? Maybe hire drivers. Where was the common sense in this law? The answer is there was none. Just a feel good law.

Now lets look at some of the effects of this law:
1) Loss of more parental rights. Just what we need, huh?
2) Additional costs for large/poor families.
3) Larger burden on law enforcement. As though they don't have enough to do now.
4) Turning law-abiding citizens in law breakers.
5) And bigger vehicles mean more fuel and more cost for the car and more cost to families.

Now my rant:
You might be thinking, what will the Democrats think up next? Well I am sorry to say this law was supported by Democrats, but was in fact introduced by a Republican. That's right!! State Senator Carol Roessler started the whole thing. She and all who voted for this law sold our parental rights away for 4.5 cents per year for the next 6 years. How can we stand by and allow our rights be sold away by so-called Republicans like Roessler? It is time we draw a line in the sand! And with Resolution 2006-25 we did just that. I would advise our elected officals to take heed. No more feel good laws that take away our rights. We, the people, will be watching.

Conservative Direction for the GOP. It's about time!

Here is another great resolution for the Wisconsin GOP. I would advise the makers of silly laws such as the 8 year- old car booster seat law to take notice of this resolution. I will have plenty more to share about this law when I have more time to rant and rave.

2006-25 Conservative Direction: GOP WHEREAS, the Republican Party of Wisconsin at the local, district, and state level at the Convention, has passed numerous resolutions of a conservative nature; favoring a smaller less intrusive government, a right to bear arms, and a directive to secure our borders, etc.; and WHEREAS, these resolutions are the direction that the people of the party want their representatives to adhere to; and WHEREAS, the people of the party recognize that while they cannot compel their representatives to vote in this manner, they can and do expect them to: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, urge the Republican Party to withhold all promotional and financial support of those candidates that do not consistently subscribe to this overall conservative agenda, be they incumbent or new candidates, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party actively and vigorously seek candidates that will go in this conservative direction, and respect the wishes of party members.

Who is the real Civil Rights Party?

I have posted this Resolution from our 2006 Republican State Convention to once and for all set the record straight as to which party is the party of all the people in this great country.


2006 Convention Resolutions

Resolutions 2006 Republican State Convention (As adopted)

2006-32 Civil Rights WHEREAS, the Republican Party was formed in March of 1854, in Ripon, Wisconsin, to address the issue of slavery, and addressed racism as a moral issue in its first platform in 1856; and WHEREAS, Republicans single-handedly passed the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution to guarantee the rights of citizenship and voting for all Americans, with not one Democrat in Congress voting for either of those two constitutional amendments and in its first 14 years of controlling Congress, Republicans passed 23 civil rights laws each over almost unanimous opposition of Democrats, and WHEREAS, The 1964 Civil Rights Bill and the 1965 Civil Rights Bill were passed because of strong Republican support and the Republican Party has a proud record of standing for moral issues and for the inalienable rights of every individual: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, reaffirms and renews the Republican Party’s historic and moral commitment against racism, and continue to welcome Americans of every ethnicity to take a seat at the table in our Party as we work together to preserve our heritage of equality, religious freedom, and strong moral values.

Migration or Invasion?

I would like to share some thoughts from a conservative friend Roger Bardoel. I find this to be a great piece of work and am happy to share it with all of you.

There have been many mass migrations/invasions in history. To list but a few: the expansion of the Roman Empire; the later Germanic invasion of the Roman Empire, resulting in its fall; the Mongol migration/invasion from Asia under Genghis Khan and his successors, which penetrated Eastern Europe; the expansion, often through force, of the Muslim religion and culture from the 7th to17th centuries, that reached parts of Europe and spread into the Indian subcontinent and Eastern Asia; the period of European colonization from the 16th to the 19th centuries, which included the expansion of the United States across the North American continent in a conscious effort to fulfill its "Manifest Destiny"; and most recently the mass migration of Mexicans into the United States. Obviously, not everything about these migrations/invasions is ultimately bad, even though they result in painful social upheavals. As the historian- economist Thomas Sowell points out in his 1998 Conquests and Cultures, when a more technologically advanced culture expands, the descendants of the overwhelmed indigenous peoples often benefit by inheriting superior "cultural capital."(Capital is here used in the economic sense.) The 18th century British philosopher David Hume called the lives of aboriginal peoples "nasty, brutish, and short" (how outmoded is that notion?), which is hardly the case with their descendants.

Now, the problem is that we obviously are facing what can be called aninexorable historical migration from Mexico, people seeking a better life in the United States. Although we can sympathize with the migrants, the situation is obviously out of control. There seems to be no solution, as many liberals concerned with "social justice" are opposed to restrictions on immigration,with the illegal immigrants themselves being bold enough to join in making such demands, while conservatives concerned with national sovereignty want controlled legal immigration and gradual assimilation. Even if liberals and conservatives were of like mind, it is questionable whether or not this migration can be contained, any more than the above examples of mass migration could be altered, which is not to say that no effort should be made to control it.

The Romans could not stop the migration by Germanic barbarians either.The so-called barbarian invasion of the Roman Empire didn't happen overnight with the sack of Rome (twice) in the 5th century by both the Goths and theVandals. (Goths and Vandals are still with us, in a manner of speaking, as those words still have derogatory meanings.) The invasion really was a gradual process taking place over several centuries, in the form of mass migration that the Romans tried to adjust to and absorb until it finally overwhelmed them.Naturally, the Germanic barbarians were attracted to the more advanced life style afforded by the Roman Empire. The Romans couldn't resist this migratory invasion because they had become softened by affluence and had lost their old virtues. In the early days of the Roman republic, citizens who were mostly farmers left their plows to defend and expand their state in highly disciplined legions, to return to the land at war's end. (Sounds a little like the Minutemen in the Revolutionary War and soldiers in American wars into the 20th century.)Also, excessive affluence brought about extensive urbanization, the decline of the family farm, and too-small families as the Romans elected not to have inconvenient children and divorce became the rule rather than the exception. Affluence made it less likely that Roman citizens were willing to die on the battlefield in defense of their state. Entertainment, vast and violent spectacles accompanied by bread and circuses, became decadent. Abortion and homosexuality were also part of this picture of degeneration (this sounds politically incorrect, but at least the Romans never thought of gay marriage). This should sound familiar to anyone paying attention to American cultural trends in the in the past 50 years. As early as the first century AD, during the golden age of the empire, the wise emperor Augustus, alarmed by the decline of the family and realizing that the family was the foundation of the state, passed various forms of legislation through the Roman senate to reverse these trends, unsuccessfully. (Probably leading to the first example of the axiom: “you can't legislate morality.”) The great American historian Will Durant describes this process in Caesar and Christ, vol. 3 of his 10 volume The Story of Civilization, published in 1944.

Now to expand on a problem that seems to me to be inherent in uncontrolled Mexican immigration. It would be hard, if not impossible, to name a Hispanic country in the Americas that historically has enjoyed uncorrupt government, a viable economy, and the predictable rule of law. Governments in Mexico and South America have often been subject to revolution and overthrow, with the cycle repeating itself to this day. The resulting instability has impoverished the people of many of these nations, giving impetus to the mass migration that is our concern. The American historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, in his acclaimed 1965 The Oxford History of the United States explores the roots of these problems and attributes them largely to the founding of these nations on the basis of Spanish autocracy and misrule which left behind corruption and unstable institutions that have been passed down generation to generation. He contrasts their plight to conditions in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia, which benefited from developing English ideas of constitutional and democratic governance and the rule of law, all of which has led to the stability and economic growth in these nations.

Let us return to Thomas Sowell's idea of "cultural capital." When amigration/invasion brings with it a more advanced cultural capital in technology, economics and government, it brings with it obvious benefits, as when Rome spread its superior institutions culminating in the Pax Romana that endured for centuries. But with the barbarian invasions, Roman civilization was eclipsed by the Dark Ages and feudalism. It took centuries for Europe to recover the superior institutions that it had enjoyed under Roman rule. It is unclear what kind of cultural capital uncontrolled Mexican migration will bring to the United States. Surely, Mexicans have a strong sense of family and other strengths, but we should keep in mind the cultural weaknesses cited above. It seems to me to be common sense that that we should make a serious effort to control Mexican migration so the Mexicans can be gradually assimilated, as was the case with earlier immigration into the U.S. It is alarming that illegal immigrants are waving the Mexican flag and demanding the rights of citizens, and that a significant number wants to "take back" the Southwestern United States.

It is impossible to know for sure how all this will turn out, but we are at a turning point in our history, for better or worse. The Romans, having lost their ancient virtues, lost their national pride and will to resist. In this regard, we also may be at a historical turning point in the war against Muslim extremists, which could expand into a clash of civilizations. A strong argument can be made that such a clash is now reality. I am beginning to think that we Americans, affluent beyond the dreams of the Romans, have lost much of our national character. If so, that would be a terrible thing. The United States has long been a force for good, and the best hope for mankind. (Why else would all these immigrants want to come here?) Those Americans who think this country, together with Western Civilization as a whole, is the world's problem are undermining their own country. For shame.

Rodger Bardoel
West Bend, WI

The great one.