Official Endorsement: Mitt Romney for President

I haven't kept secret my intention to vote for Mitt Romney; I'm officially endorsing him because there are several issues on which Mitt Romney is better than recent Republicans.

First things first, it's important to understand that Mitt will only have two responsibilities as President: sign the legislation a conservative Congress sends him, and be a better Commander-in-Chief; any other leadership President Mitt shows will be pure bonus.

I've discussed National Security, and the continuous orgy of treason that is Barack Obama's administration, at length recently.  I don't want to re-hash ground I've previously covered.  Suffice to say, I like what I've heard from Mitt so far on this topic.  While I'm not (yet) sure that Mitt understands the threat from Islamic Cultural Subversion, I trust Mitt's instincts and ability to learn over time.  Trust me, I'll be watching.

On several other issues, however, Mitt has taken positions that are substantially better than anything proposed by recent Republican candidates or Presidents.  Consider the following:

• Energy -- This was one of Mitt's strongest areas last night.  In addition to supporting the Keystone Pipeline and expanded development in Alaska, Mitt wants to return permitting authority to the States. This is a huge shift from Dubya who, at best, reigned in a modest amount of Federal red tape.  In addition, despite the public perception of Dubya as an Oilman, he was actually a big green energy proponent.  Mitt, by contrast, has indicated a willingness to reign in these corrupt boondoggles.

• Entitlements -- Mitt put Paul Ryan on the ticket; need I say more?!?  Paul Ryan's proposal doesn't go far enough, but it's a huge shift in the right direction.  Paul Ryan's proposal will prevent a sovereign debt crisis; for now, that's good enough.

• Sound Money -- Mitt's view's on the Federal Reserve were the hidden bombshell of that (otherwise boring) 47% video.  Given those remarks, his support for auditing the Fed, and his pledge to not re-appoint Ben Bernanke, Mitt clearly intends to reign in the worst abuses.  I suspect, however, that Mitt is open to deeper structural reforms.  Paul Ryan has also been very critical of Bernanke.

• Spending -- Mitt Romney has released the most detailed plan to cut Federal Spending since Ronald Reagan, if not Calvin Coolidge.  Much like his endorsement of Paul Ryan's budget before putting him on the ticket, Mitt's proposal shows his understanding that spending reduction is a key component of economic revival.  Again, Mitt's proposal might not go far enough, but it's a major step in the right direction.

• Tenth Amendment -- Last night, Mitt discussed the role of states as 'laboratories of democracy."  Mitt has endorsed block granting Medicaid to the states.  Romneycare, for all its flaws, is a policy Mitt defends on Tenth Amendment grounds.  As discussed above, Mitt's energy policy is based on empowering states.  Who knows, maybe Mitt will even champion Uproot and Overhaul.

I harbor no illusions about Mitt Romney.  I don't think his election will be some magic elixir.  I think the real action is, and will remain, in Congress.  I do, however, think Mitt will sign the legislation a conservative Congress sends him, and I think he will be a much better Commander-in-Chief.  In addition, several of Mitt's policy proposals are dramatically superior to anything we've seen in at least 30 (if not 90) years.  For those reasons, Cahnman's Musings unapologetically and unconditionally endorses Mitt Romney for President of the United States.

Reviewing Obama's Record

Last night, I got into a conversation on Facebook about the election.  In the discussion, I listed all the elements of Barack Obama's record that he has to defend.  Looking over it, it's incredible how much Barack Obama has to defend.

Feel free to keep this post in your back pocket.  Anytime you need to refer back to Barack Obama's record, it'll be here.

Under Barack Obama, we've:

• Added 5 trillion dollars in new debt, for the net result of 41 months of unemployment over 8%; and this doesn't even get into the fact that unemployment would be closer to 11% if the administration wasn't cooking the books.

• Passed the largest tax hike in human history to ration health care with the final result being a protection racket for an insurance cartel he's given further protection from competition.

• Passed a corrupt financial regulation law that does nothing to unwind 'too big to fail' but does micromanage every consumer financial transaction in the country.

• Presided over skyrocketing violence on our Southern border and done nothing to stop it except running guns to Mexican Drug Cartels.

• Launched a war on the development of cheap and abundant energy while funneling our money to corrupt green energy companies that everyone knows are a crony capitalist scam.

• Added more Americans to food stamp rolls than ever before.

• Shredded 1000 years of bankruptcy law to to handover private automotive companies to a favored political constituency.

• Failed to Support the Green Movement in Iran.

• Taken a winnable situation in Afghanistan and, through failing to commit sufficient resources to ensure success, turned it into a killing field for our troops.

• Turned a blind-eye (in fairness, this continued a Bush policy) to an angry Jihadist in the U.S. Army who killed 13 people; after incident, covered up FBI report.

• Attempted to bribe a sitting member of Congress to stay out of a U.S. Senate race with a Federal Job.

• Re-appointed Ben Bernake.

• Interfered in attempts to end the Gulf Oil Spill in order to advance a radical environmental agenda.

• Squandered our hard-fought victory in Iraq.  This hasn't gotten nearly enough coverage in the media.  We're going to have to go back.

• Lost Egypt to the Jihadists.

• Launched an Unconstitutional War in Libya without Congressional Authorization.

• HAD OUR CREDIT RATING DOWNGRADED (and have I mentioned he re-appointed Bernanke?!?)

• Passed a Defense Authorization that, even if some of the internet conspiracy theories are untrue, still gives the government waaaaaaaaaay too much leeway to detain citizens without cause.

• Turned a blind-eye (at best) to the ongoing infiltration of the U.S. government by operatives of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

• Enabled a newly aggressive Russia by caving on missile defense, unilaterally disarming our nuclear weapons, and promising greater flexibility in a second term.

• Lectured Israel to return to the Auschewitz lines.

• Usurped the Constitutional authority of Congress to make recess appointments when Congress wasn't in recess.

• Enacted an abortion mandate, as part of the a fore mentioned Health Care law, that represents one of the greatest assaults on faith in American history.

• Insulted our allies in Great Britain, Czech Republic, Poland, Canada, and Colombia.

• Halted Production of a pipeline that would lower energy prices and create tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of jobs.

• Declared an amnesty for selected illegal immigrants that usurps Congresses' legislative authority.

• Leaked crucial National Security information for political purposes; our enemies read this stuff.

• Launched unprecedented Federal Interference in State elections.

• Grounded firefighting planes in the middle of the Colorado Wildfires for no good reason.

• And, by the time November rolls around, Iran could have the bomb.

On the other hand, Obama DID stay out of the Navy Seals' way long enough for them to kill bin Laden, after he made them write a memo covering HIS ass if the mission went bad.

This is the record Obama has to defend.  Feel free to refer back to this as you need over the coming months.

In the meantime, PLEASE share this on FB and Twitter.

Update: Feel free to list anything I missed in the comments.

Farm Subsidies: The Continuing Failure of U.S. House Republicans

 

This morning, I received an e-mail from Americans for Prosperity, money quote:

It’s hard to believe, but the numbers show that a whopping eighty percent of Farm Bill spending goes toward food stamp and nutrition programs.  The rest is welfare of a different kind: corporate welfare. The bill includes pork-like programs that do more to support special interests than small farmers, since the benefits go toward the biggest and best-connected farms that know how to navigate the Washington maze.

Every five years Congress must vote to reauthorize these USDA programs or watch them expire, meaning that the so-called Farm Bill is an opportunity to make serious reforms and real cuts to the billions we waste on farm subsidies and food stamps.

The Senate already rammed the Farm Bill through, and they failed to make meaningful cuts. The
House of Representatives is expected to take up the issue this week, and they need to hear from you that you oppose spending hundreds of billions of dollars on even more food and farm welfare.

With all due respect to AFP, the real outrage isn't the content of the bill, it's the fact that a group of allegedly conservative representatives, who were elected with an explicit mandate to cut spending, are doing a farm bill in the first place.  Our government has operated has operated exclusively via continuing resolution for three years now (*).  Nothing ever gets done under normal business these days, yet the House GOP is taking the time to do a farm bill.  Why?!?

The answer, of course, is pork.  Much like the Highway Bill House Republicans passed earlier this year, farm subsidies are a favorite tool for big-spending Republicans to continue business as usual.  I've written about dismantling the U.S. Department of Agriculture before, because nothing good comes out of Federal farm programs.  That Congressional Republicans have chosen to make agricultural pork a priority clearly demonstrates how little they've learned.

After 18 months, the failures of Republicans in the 112th Congress are myriad.  They caved on the Debt Ceiling.  On Fast and Furious, they have combined buffoonish rhetorical bluster with far too little action far too late.  They've caved (multiple times) on the Keystone Pipeline.  They haven't (with the notable exception of Congressman Pete King) lifted a finger to address the ongoing infiltration of the U.S. Government by the Muslim Brotherhood.  Heck, they caved on defunding Obamacare.  On each of these examples, the Republican position has enjoyed public support, yet Republicans in Congress have allowed Barack Obama to psych them out using Alinsky's first rule.  Given countless opportunities to go for the jugular against Obama, House Republicans flinch every single time.

In the 113th Congress, this cannot continue.

As long as the conservative grassroots continues to do what we've been doing for three years, Republicans will win bigger in 2012 than they won in 2010.  Simultaneous with winning the current election, the conservative grassroots needs to lay the foundation to hold President Romney and the 113th Congress accountable in 2013 and 2014.  On a practical level, that means a post-election, mid-November, leadership fight.  John Bohener (along with Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan) and Mitch McConnell have repeatedly demonstrated inept political judgement combined with spines on linguine.  In 2013, Louie Gohmert and Jim DeMint must run Congress.

Returning to the original topic of this post, you can help AFP kill the Farm Bill here.

* I apologize for linking to Wikipedia but it's the site that presents the data most clearly.

Bohener caves on Keystone Pipeline (yet again)

John Boehner's underwhelming performance as Speaker continued today.  Once again, House Republicans have caved on the Keystone Pipeline.  As a result Americans will continue to subsidize deadbeat twenty-somethings, but won't receive cheap and abundant energy in return.

This is consistent with Boehner's M.O. since he became speaker.  Republicans have a politically popular position, Obama has a politically questionable one.  Last year's disheartening 'fight' over the debt ceiling was the main example; today's cave is proof that John Boehner has learned nothing since last year.

John Boehner has proven himself an ineffective leader in opposition.  He cannot be trusted to maximize the majority this upcoming election will yield.  Unfortunately, I'm going to have to address this more systematically before the convention.