Friday, June 17, 2011

Modern Day Reagan

"Our founding fathers believed certain truths to be self-evident...but for those truths to prevail we must have the courage to proclaim it." President Ronald Wilson Reagan said these words, but better yet he lived them and that was and is the reason he is hated by the liberal/progressives and scorned by the elitist republicans(most also progressive). We have the same thing in a politician today, one that may just be hated and scorned even more, if that is possible. Those same vitriolic words used against Reagan in the 1970's and 1980's are used to attack this new Reagan today. We conservatives have been asking if we will ever be lucky enough to have another Reagan. We are that lucky. We have one out of the same mold, this one just wears heels and lipstick.

Sarah Palin burst onto the scene in 2008 as John McCain's running mate and took everyone by surprise in the process. Since then she has taken the political world by storm and has given the "lamestream" media fits. Just like Reagan she speaks plainly and honestly. She says what she means and means what she says. She does things her own way and while doing so proclaims proudly the messages of our founding fathers. She said, "as Reagan said, America was more than a place in the world; it was a world-changing idea, founded on a set of principles that had weathered many storms. Reagan restored our faith that those principles would prove themselves again." Funny Mrs. Palin gives us that same faith that we can weather the present gale sweeping over our nation.

She has the same beliefs of Reagan in our founding principles and echoes these words of Reagan often, "in our present crisis government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." She knows that the tinkerings of government only makes problems worse, and restrict our rights and freedoms in the process. She, like Reagan, knows this is freedoms last stand. Reagan said, "I think it is time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended to us by our founding fathers." She knows! She also knows these words of Reagan are  just as true, "if we lose freedom here there is no place else to go."

Her strength, character, unrelenting honor and morality, and extreme courage will see us through. Theodore Roosevelt said, "if a man [or woman] has a very decided character, has a strongly accentuated career it is normally the case, of course, that he makes ardent friends and bitter enemies." She has many of both. She keeps right on a going no matter what those bitter enemies throw her way and that makes them hate her all the more. They fail to realize that her that they only make her stronger. Who else could withstand such an onslaught from not on the "lamestream" media and the left, but also the elitist and progressive republicans as well. They have tried to paint her as stupid, an idiot, petty, narcissism, domineering, unqualified, and any other hateful verb you can imagine. They used the same against Reagan and look what he did. Journalists (and I use the name very loosely) have actually admitted an all out campaign to destroy her, for no other reason as they disagree with her, and are terrified of her. Then you have the journalistic terrorists like Andrea Mitchell, the rest of MSNBC, most of CNN, and those nice gals of the View that have attempted nothing short of media assassination. Just recently they forced the State of Alaska to release 24,000 pages of her private e-mails while she was governor (which they have never asked of Obama, no other governor, or politician), just knowing they was bound to find some juicy dirt. Heck they knew nobody could not have any with that much correspondence, so they were licking their lips. You could look at 24 pages of most politicians e-mails, even their beloved Obama and find enough dirt to start a garden. The real news is that after scouring those 24,000 pages, much to their chagrin they found no dirt. That is news, and these "journalist" seem to have gotten laryngitis now. Character has been defined at what you do when nobody is looking. Like maybe in 24,00 private e-mails. Even with this all-out and relentless assault on her and her family, she is still standing. Not just standing, but flourishing by doing it her way.

In the 2010 mid-term elections she showed her courage and character by backing anyone with a likeminded view. She didn't pick and choose like Obama and most other politicians, on only those they thought could win. She said, "I haven't played it safe. I don't play that game. I'm not wired that way." She didn't either, she backed them regardless of their chances, not worrying or caring over saving face. She did what she thought was right and didn't care who saw it or the heat she took for it. Mark Twain said, "always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." It sure made the "lamestream" media apoplectic, and in the process pushed some good conservatives into office, and made many races close that should not have been.

Sadly there are those in the republican party that can't or refuse to see her strengths. They seem terrified of her for no other reason as they may lose some of their long held power. These beltway elites are the same that blamed her for the flaws and the loss of the McCain campaign, when we all know that without her it would have been a massacre. They should be ashamed of themselves too, and so should these republican voices, some that are in the race now, for not stopping the political cannibalism. George Will is fond of saying to say nothing bad of other conservatives, yet at every turn he and his cohorts attack Sarah at every turn.

None of them, left or right, can understand why it is we love her. Their elitist attitudes won't allow them to. We love her because she is not one of them, she is one of us. She does not have to claim to be from working class roots, she is. She said of the TEA Party, "these people aren't an angry mob- they are Americans. Why do some feel they need to demonize them?" They demonize her as well, because she is the TEA Party. She understands us, because she lived it. Like Reagan she speaks with us, not at us, or if you are Obama, down at us. She may not fit in a straight republican box, or even a conservative one, but we don't want her in a box. There is no box that can hold here, but America can sure hold her. We love her because she does not play by their rules, she won't let them control her. She is unorthodox, just like our founders were. She said, "the process may not always be pretty or perfect, but the message is loud and clear; we want a government worthy of the fine Americans it serves." She meets her detractors on her terms and instead of surrendering she reloads and fires back with both barrels. This "stupid" woman has the "lamestream" media following her around like puppy dogs, and she is the one controlling the dialogue. That is exactly why we love her, and she can win. And yes Mr. Krauthammer, we want her carrying the football.

Sure there are lots of folks that believe otherwise, repeating the media mantra of she can't win or that Obama would love to run against her. That could never be further from the truth, the Obama Administration is terrified of her. If they weren't so scared of her, why waste the time, money, and effort on such a loser. Rush Limbaugh always says they will tell us who are candidate is by who they attack the most. You don't destroy something you don't fear. They fear her, because against her their progressive agenda will be pointed out and highlighted. Shown for what it really and truly is, socialism. Now as for the elitist republicans who say they are afraid she can't win against Obama, are really afraid she can win, and if she does they lose their juice. So they joined forces with the progressive devil to destroy this honorable lady.

There are also some out there that has bought into all the propaganda against her and doubt her ability. Why? You say all the time how tired you are of the liberal media being the driving force in republican politics and tired of our politicians always seeking their approval. You always say how you want someone who is not of Washington, someone with character and courage, to be our candidate. You have one now. So why is it that you are letting them manipulate you into believing all the political propaganda, spin, and outright lies they push against her. Her detractors are now pushing a new mantra. It says how they love her, but the liberal media has destroyed her. They haven't destroyed her, she is still standing after they have taken their best shots and still proudly proclaiming her message. They can only destroy her if you allow them to.

She said, "if people are tired of what they get out of big money and big machines running campaigns and candidates who have to compromise, then the American electorate would look to someone like me." We are looking. I have no idea if she is running, but I do know she can win and our country would be a far better place for it. At the end of his presidency Reagan said, "we meant to change a nation, instead we changed a world." She will do the same. We need her. So I have just three words for you and her...

Run, Sarah, Run!!!!!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Hibernating Bear And The Caged Tiger

Both sound pretty harmless, but history has proven time and again that sleeping bears wake up and caged tigers eventually get out, and when they do they can cause lots of havoc. Especially when both of them are ambitious, and ambitious they are. One wants to regain their world power status, and the other wants to claim that moniker and both want to do so by getting the U.S. out of the way.

First we need to look at just what it is to make a nation a world power. There are many things that it needs, far too many to ever list. There some absolutes though, that without no country will ever rise out of the regional power status. Those things are: resources, a strong army with modern weapons (air force is included in this), a blue water navy, and the desire, wherewithal and know-how.

Resources are a must and the need for them have led to most of the wars ever fought since the beginning of time. They are things like land, oil, minerals, water, food supply, and even people. A few of the great powers of old has used the other three to gain resources, Great Britain and France were the ones with the greatest staying power. Japan and Germany during World War II almost pulled it off as well using the old adage of the unarmed rich man (or country) being the poor soldier's booty. These two bit off a little more than they could chew, not being content with enough. Although you can get them by force, it is far easier and less costly to get them from you own soil, like we can, but no longer do. Russia  and China both have resources abundant, but Russia has unlimited. Although China has found themselves a ready supply in Africa without the use of arms, they only needed our money.

A large and strong army with modern weapons is pretty self-self-explanatory. You need all the necessary weapons of war, from pistols to planes. Almost every country has an army, and many can lay claim to large, strong, or modern, but only three can claim all three. The U.S. of course, but also Russia and China.

A blue water navy, which in a nutshell is a navy capable moving around the world in force. This is an absolute necessity, because no matter how advanced a country gets, it can never move man in machine with enough supplies to fight a sustained battle without a navy to get it there, planes cannot do it. We are the only true naval power in the world for now. Russia once was, but they let their fleet become dilapidated and old, but they are refurbishing it at a break-neck speed. As for China she is still a brown water navy, which pretty much means that their navy is confined to their coastline and their region. Their aims are anything but regional. They are building their first aircraft carrier and they have the money, our money, to buy a navy from any source, like France or Russia. Heck they may even buy our own, with the Administration we have in power, sailors and all. seriously though, they could ask for a couple of aircraft carriers and destroyers, and cruisers as payment for all these loans we can't pay back and continue to add to.

Lastly we come to the desire, wherewithal, and know-how and this is a little harder to discern. Most would think that the desire would be a given for all the countries and more than likely is save for a select few. The wherewithal and know-how is a different story. Not many nations have them both. We had all three, but seem to be losing the wherewithal, we want all our wars to be nice, clean, and fast. Without our dominance in strength we would falter. Two other nations have it all though, you guessed it, Russia and China. Leadership could fit in here as well, but we seem to be lacking here too with our waffling, pandering and appeasing commander-in-chief. He can't compare to the former KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin or the The leaders in China.

You are wondering about nuclear weapons and although these make nation look formidable, it is far from a must have. MAD assures us that no nation will ever use them. What is MAD? It is an old cold war acronym for mutually assured destruction. It means that if any of us push the button, all will follow suit and all will lose. They are used as a deterrent, nothing more.

Never think for a second, that just because Russia and China are our "allies" now that they pose no threat. They are more of a threat than they have ever been, because now they are in close. They want our spot on the world stage and both are working toward that end. They are building their militaries to rival our own and all their war games are against us. That Chinese submarine just didn't pop up too close to our Carrier by accident, nor was the "unexplainable" contrail off the coast of California, that looked an awful lot like a missile, a UFO. The same goes for the new games of cat and mouse that use to go on in the cold war against Russia just them having fun. They are planned and used to gain information on our reaction. We need to wake up to the fact that we are in their crosshairs.

Russia has more resources than even they know about. They have more undiscovered than most countries have in total, and they are exploiting them as fast as they can, and using them. They have been a world power, and desire to be again. They have everything it takes and they are the people that defeated Napoleon. They are truly a force to be reckoned with, not to play with by giving them a ludicrous "reset" button.

Napoleon said, "let China sleep, for when she awakens the world will tremble." No other country is branching out the way China is. They are exploiting Africa's resources as fast as they can and using them to grow powerful and needed on the world stage. They also have one of the world's largest merchant fleets, if not the largest, that needs only a little protection.

Both are threats and need to be paid attention to. An even scarier thought would be them joining forces. There is an obscure intelligence theory that has them joining together to defeat the US. Apart they are formidable, together they are untouchable. Who could stop them? It wouldn't be pretty.

Do we have another greatest Generation to do the job?  Thank goodness it is still winter and the bear is still hibernating in his cave and the tiger is sleeping in a cage. Both getting very restless, because spring is just around the corner. We better be ready.

The Syrian Tragedy

The happenings in Syria are not only a tragedy because the violence is causing a massive refugee crisis and government is massacring the people, it's also a tragedy because it didn't need to happen. Through the bungling of the Obama Administration this tragedy has been enabled and they should be ashamed of themselves for it.

Just like Dwight D. Eisenhower with the Hungarian uprising in 1956, George H.W. Bush with the Kurdish uprising in 1991-92, or Barrack Obama and the Iranian Uprising in 2009, in all three cases we encouraged them to rebel and then left them dangling in the wind to be crushed by their respective governments. We are doing that again in Syria and this "arab spring". We jumped in full force in support of Egypt and actually got involved militarily in Libya. When the people of Syria, Bahrain, and even Yemen seen this it encouraged them to throw their own party and stand against repressive regimes only to be slaughtered like sheep. Sure we enacted some worthless sanctions and gave some high sounding tough words, but the people there were still and are still being massacred.

They may have still decided to stand against the regime if we hadn't enabled them, but we will never know that now. We set a precedent by coming out and supporting those other nations and cruelly gave the Syrian people false hope that we would do so for them. This precedent is one that should have never been set, we can't be the policemen for the world; but if we are to be, we need to do so for all that need the help and not pick and choose. Are the Libyan people more deserving of freedom than the Syrian people? That is not for us to decide, and it is for sure not for us to encourage them to be massacred.

Another part of this tragedy that nobody is talking about is the role of the Iraqi fugitives and refugees are playing in the whole affair. Iraqis flooded into Syria in droves as we invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein. Some of them were the Army Officers and men that seemed to just disappear. They went somewhere, with the weapons that everyone knew they had; Biological and Chemical, which are WMD"'s by the way. There was also evidence of a pipeline of not just people, but also the nuclear technology that makes all the liberals foam at the mouth and cry, "Bush lied, people died." The whole world thought they had them, not just Bush. Plus what in the world was a country with no nuclear reactors doing with over 550 tons of yellow cake uranium, which was quietly sold to Canada. Funny how the Media did report much on that.

Then on top of all that, just like in Egypt and Libya, nobody is talking about the involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood (Who just renamed their political part to the Peace and Justice Party, and coincidentally California's SEIU Labor Union just named a group the same thing that deals with the plight of the Palestinian People. Things that make you go HMMMM! Tell me  why would a teacher's union in California have such a group anyway?) and the other radical Islamists. Who if any were to ever gain power would turn the "arab spring" into an American nightmare.

This and the others happening all over the Middle East are tragedies that may well have been avoided. Let the people of the Middle East rise or fall on their own. George Washington said that you can't give freedom to a people, it has to be attained by them. George W Bush couldn't do it, Barrack Obama can't do it, and neither can his buddies (AFL/CIO, SEIU, and even William Ayres and Bernadine Dorn) that are over community agitating, oops organizing.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

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Golf Summit And The Debt Ceiling

All of this is nothing more than political theater, just like it was for the budget, spending, stimulus, TARP, etc.. Both sides are playing to their base and that is it. Neither of them are planning to do what they are saying, they just want us to believe that they do. Just like the recent budget battle, each side will come riding out on their white horse and proclaim proudly they got the best deal they could. When in truth they got the best deal for themselves and their reelection campaign account. Just like Michael Savage calls  them "demicans" and "republacrats", both are in it together and we are the ones that will end up paying.

Thank goodness for Barrack Obama though, because without him we would not have a TEA Party and we would not have those TEA Party backed folks in Congress we gained in 2010, that just may break out of that mold. So thank you Barrack, you did what no one since Ronald Reagan did, you got that often spoken about "silent majority" to speak up. And if you keep up what you are doing they will be loudly heard again in 2012.

Interpretation Of The Constitution

"On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of prying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or inventing against it, conform to the probable on in which it was passed."
                                                                                                                  Thomas Jefferson

It's too bad that our government, our politicians, our judges and even our people no longer hold to that sentiment. We even laud people such as President Obama for being constitutional attorneys. Have you ever asked yourself what that really means? It means that since you are not smart enough to read and understand the constitution, you need these great minds to interpret it for you. They think they are the only ones able to understand it, and it is their duty to "perfect" it.

Why do we allow this corruption of our founding documents? We, and they seem to forget that we are their boss, they are not ours. But we have grown weak, complacent and subservient. We have allowed our rights to be interpreted by these great geniuses; the lawyers, civil rights groups, politicians, and judges are all putting in their two cents. They have joined together in a right and freedom stealing quest and disguised it as "interpreting" a piece of parchment that our founders gave us already interpreted. We did not guard our rights like the founders and many great patriots warned us to.

Ronald Reagan said, "freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction. We did not pass it along to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what is was once like in the United States where men were free." Have we fought for, protected and handed on freedom to our children like "the Gipper" told us we should? Was it even handed to us? Nobody has seemed to protect it from the onslaught of all the smart people interpreting it into things which it does not say.

With these interpretations they have given us such great institutions as welfare, income tax, bailouts, stimulus, printing un-backed money, affirmative action, bussing, right to terrorists, anchor babies, and coming to a state near you, gay marriage (even though it has been rejected in every place it has ever been put to a vote, even in the progressive bastion of California.). Samuel Gompers said, "year by year man's liberties are trampled underfoot...rights are invaded and law perverted. In all ages wherever a tyrant has shown himself he has always found some willing judge to clothe that tyranny in the robes of legality."

We have allowed these progressives to pervert our history and to feed us a line of crap that says we have a "living constitution that is constantly evolving. Allowing them to constantly change through the courts and even fiat what the constitution means whenever it fits their purpose. Our founders gave us a way to change their document, and that is through constitutional convention. Not at the will of the all the "smart" people, but the will of "we the people." Our framers meant it as they wrote it and our country would be in far better shape if we would have followed it. Their document was not open for interpretation, there was no need for it. It states plainly the rights and duties of all concerned, and they felt to a man, that if it no longer worked to tear it up and start again new, but we need not take such drastic measures. We only need to return to the common sense society our founders intended us to have.

Ronald Reagan said, "I think it is time we ask ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by our founding fathers." Because if we do, it is far past time for us to regain that lost spirit handed on to us, and to once again let the powers that be know that they serve at our pleasure, that "we surround them." Tell them we will no longer accept their invalid and immoral interpretations they have forced down our throats. Let them know once and for all, that "we the people" are the final say in this Republic.

Government Intrusion

There has been two stories in recent days that have really caught my eye. Many would find no correlation, but it is there. The stories are the drug testing of welfare recipients in the Florida and the American Airlines vs. Orbitz story. You are wondering how they relate? It's simple both are government intrusion (i.e. Progressivism), and if one is going to be consistent you should not like either. Alexis de Tocqueville said, "when government grows too large the people will be reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals."

Some of you may not think that the welfare story is government intrusion, especially since it is coming from the right. Never think for a minute that the right don't have their own big government progressives, look at folks like John McCain and Lindsay Graham, they are cut from the same mold of one of the father's of progressivism, Theodore Roosevelt. Who incidentally, helped another progressive, Woodrow Wilson get elected by splitting the rights vote. Some of you are probably even in agreement with it, no matter it is still big government. But what else would you call it when government is telling a group of people that the must submit to a drug test. It matters nothing that they are on welfare (If that is a problem, maybe you should look at welfare), because if they can make them take drug tests, who's next? Maybe it will be something you do, like say a driver's license or hunting permit.

The other is a more classic example of big government intrusion. A court in the progressive bastion of Illinois, said that American Airlines, must put their prices and schedule back up on Orbitz. Tell me, how can government tell a business what and how to do it. Just like with the Labor Dept. fighting Boeing from moving their plant to South Carolina. It was nothing but a move to protect their union buddies, and this incident is cut from the same mold. I have no clue who will benefit from this, or what politician Orbitz has in their pocket, but maybe that needs looked into, instead of making these outrageous intrusions, in a person's private life or in business affairs. How can any government tell any business what to do, whether it be smoking, salts, transfats or calorie counts? Government has absolutely no business in business.

So you see progressivism and big government can and does come from both sides, and no matter the side it comes from it is the same. They are two sides of the same wrong coin. No matter if it comes from the right wing like McCain and Theodore Roosevelt, or the left from the likes of Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, or even Obama, it is wrong and it endangers our freedom.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Taxes, Tariffs, and Protectionism

“A wise and frugal government shall not take from the mouths of the men the bread which they have earned.”

Thomas Jefferson

Our founding fathers left this great and honorable nation for us.  They intended it to offer us freedom, order, prosperity and hope.  These great men knew that the new nation they brought forth needed funding, but they had also saw the idea of a personal tax as evil as the chains that bound them to England.

To avoid this evil they came up with a system of taxation that worked - The tariff system, where the burden was not placed on the people.  For over 120 years this system was kept in place, until our Congress, without the consent of the people, chose to change that system to one that placed the burden squarely on the shoulders of the people.  Supreme Court Justice John Marshall said, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy.”  The country those great men built is the victim of that destruction.  A mere 25 years before being smacked in the face by the income tax of the 16th amendment, the United States Supreme Court declared income tax as being unconstitutional in the case of Pollock V. Farmer’s Land and Trust Company.  Yet in 1913 with the ratification of the 16th amendment, our founder’s plan, the court’s declaration, and our nation had come undone.

What started as a bearable 1% quickly grew higher and higher as our leaders began to spend more and more and found that they could not only grow rich themselves, but control the people with the money they take from them.  Alexis de Tocqueville said, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”  Our founders fought a war over a 3% tax.  We now pay ten times that amount with national, state, local, and land taxes.  This does not include fees and sales taxes.  Congress’s uncontrolled spending has led to burdensome tax.  King George III would never dream of doing to the colonists as Congress is doing to us.

They argue the need for all the money, but they don’t.  We need to get spending under control and streamline the system.  Then we can return to the system our founders intended us to have: The Tariff system.

James Madison, who is referred to as the Father of the Constitution, said, “sir, a national revenue must be obtained; but the system must be such a one, that, while it secures the object of revenue, it shall not be oppressive to our constituents: Happy it is for us, that such a system is within our power; for I apprehend that both these objects may be obtained from an impost on articles imported into the United States.”  Our founders, like James Madison, were deeply concerned with keeping the burden from the people.   This system not only did that, it also made our industry, therefore our economy, thrive.  Not to mention it taking far less to administer.

Abraham Lincoln said, “The tariff is the cheaper system…by the direct tax system the land must be literally covered with assessors and collectors going forth like swarms of Egyptian Locusts.  By the tariff system the whole revenue is paid by the consumers of foreign good, and those are chiefly the luxuries, and not necessities of life.  By this system a man who contents himself to live upon the product of his own country pays nothing at all.”  He went on, “I don’t know much about the tariff.  But I do know this much.  When we buy manufactured goods abroad, we get the goods and the foreigner gets the money.  When we buy manufactured goods at home, we get both the goods and the money.”

So not only do we keep the tax burden off the people, we protect and promote industry here at home.  This very concept is what made us into not only the world’s ultimate military power, but also the world’s premiere industrial nation.  In less than 100 years after abandoning that proven system, we went from a creditor nation to a debtor nation.  Henry Clay warned of this, “poverty befalls any nation that neglects and abandons the care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers – There is a remedy and that consists in – adapting a genuine American system accomplished by the establishment of a tariff – with the view of promoting American industry – the cause is the cause of the country, and it must and it will prevail.”

The detractors of such a system scream that we can’t do such a thing, calling it protectionism.  Like that is a bad word.  They warn that other countries will do the same to us.  Which they may, but what is it that they are making that we can not ourselves?  Heck, that we did not outsource to them?  So if the same product is made here, who cares if they do the same?  What are they actually buying from us anyway?  We also must look at this: they will need us more than we will ever need them.

These same detractors all claimed that the banks and even auto industry needed a bailout.  “They are too big to fail.”  Where was that when they were outsourcing the rest of America’s industry to Third World Nations?  They say we have to protect those jobs, and we do.  But what of the jobs already lost?  We can bring them back and protect the others in one shot, without any bailout, by imposing the tariff system and giving businesses enticements to return their industry here to the United States.  Daniel Webster said, “the true way to protect the poor is to protect their labor.  Give them work and protect their earnings: that is the way to benefit the poor.  Our artisans…were the first to be protected by the Constitution…the free labor of the United States deserves to be protected, and, so far as any effects of mine can go, it shall be.”

What is wrong with a little protectionism?  Is it not better than selling our country and its people to the highest bidder?  The government is supposed to be for the good of the people of the United States, not of India.  So called conservatives are wringing their hands right now, crying “free Market!  Free MARKET!!!”  What of OUR market?  The founders they claim to adore are the very ones that gave us the tariff system.

Tariffs and protectionism are not bad things.  They helped build this nation into the strongest, most respected nation in the world.  We went from English Colonists, who knew nothing but tobacco, to the largest, most powerful nation the world has ever known in less that 200 years.  That meteoric rise was enabled by both protectionism and tariffs.

True, we may have to sacrifice, maybe even cut down those bloated Union wages to cut costs.  But is it not better to take a pay cut than a job cut, because if we continue down this road American industry will not be in America.