If Bush is so unpopular, then why...

is Obama putting in place a Republican, supply-side economic team?

If Bush is so unpopular, then why is Obama asking Robert Gates to stay on as SecDef?

If Bush's preemptive foreign policy is so wrong, then why is Obama making Hillary Clinton --a Democratic warhawk--Secretary of State? She not only voted for the Iraq War, but voted to make the Iranian National Guard a "terrorist organization."

Let's see: so far, Obama has given the middle finger to the extreme Left, the people that raised his profile almost 2 years ago.

I'm kinda liking this guy, at least on the foreign policy front (maybe on the economic front as well. we'll see.)

Of course, I worry about three things now: FOCA, amnesty legalization, and the Fairness Doctrine. If we can fight him on these, then the differences between him and W will be miniscule.

Honeymoon? What honeymoon?

Consider the case of poor President-elect Obama. The bloom is definitely off the rose. [Insert your own tired cliche here.] The economy continues to tank as evidenced by the massive sell-off in the stock market. Any why not? What sane person would remain in it?

The one thing markets always like is stability. And they ain't getting it from The Most Munificent Lord Barack, Spreader of Wealth and All That is Good (May He Live for an Eternity and a Day). Instead, the investor class (all those people with 401Ks) gets mixed messages: Gov Jennifer Granholm of the People's Republic of Michigan appears on a stage with him and several economic advisors. Wink-wink, the Big Three Auto Makers are going to be bailed out. Quick! Buy GM stock which is now at $2! But wait, what's this about RFK jr as head of EPA? Talk about a jack-booted thug whose going to have us all driving golf carts by the end of 2010. And then there's Eric Holder, the Savior of fugitive financier Marc Rich in the closing days of the Clinton Administration. The man who also recommended pardons for the FALN, a Puerto Rican terrorist group.

We gotta raise cap gains! Maybe we wont let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010! Get rid of Don't Ask/Don't Tell! Support anti-gay marriage amendments! Get out of Iraq by who knows when? Who knows what I'll do? All of this is having a deleterious effect on confidence.

They say all new presidents get honeymoons. Poor Barack, he won't even get a wedding night.

Liberals... what are they good for?

One of the things that pisses me off about liberals is how they like to lord it over the great unwashed about how wonderful they are. Well, they ain't. You want proof? They rarely give of their own money, but even when they set up charities, they usually turn out to be nothing but con games.

According to this post I found on instapundit (http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/nonprofit/2008/11/ny-post-reviews.html), you wou.d be wise to avoid getting taken in by charities that have big names attached to them. Among the worst offenders: Yele Hait (Wyclef Jean Foundation), Tyra Banks' TZONE Foundation, Petra Nemcova's Happy Hearts Fund, etc.

What's going on is that either the money is not going to where it's supposed to go, or it's being squandered exhorbitantly, or overhead costs are through the roof. You remember this stuff: About 8 years ago, William Aramony, president of the United Way was caught with his pants down. He gave his mistress a six-figure job as some muckety-muck. Ditto Jesse Jackson with his Rainbow/PUSH coalition. Blah, blah, blah.

One of these funds, Bono's DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) Foundation spent over $350K on flying a whole bunch of The Beautiful People for a "learning and awareness-raising trip to Africa in May 2006. (BTW, I think Bono's a class act but he did screw up here.)

Anyway, who to give to? How about IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities), a relief organization associated with the canonical Orthodox jurisdictions in North America. According to one auditing firm, for every $1.00 you give, 91 cents goes to where it should: poverty, charity, disaster relief, etc. Their overhead costs take up the remaining 9 cents. (These figures were from 2 years ago, I haven't seen the latest.)

Basically, what I'm trying to say is give to those charities which you KNOW do good work: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Salvation Army, Goodwill, Catholic Charities, etc. Or to churches which have disaster relief organizations that are know for their rectitude. (I.e. usually not those that are in the NCC/WCC nexus.)

Or you can do the best thing, which would be to sacrificially give of your time and treasure directly to someone in need.

Courage and the Church

Recently, a bishop in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America waxed eloquently about the election of Barack Obama. Malign intentions were imputed to those who voted for McCain. This is sad on so many levels and a few have already commented on the speciousness of some of his arguments. (A hint: there is NO WAY IN TARNATION that anybody with half a brain could call Bush and the GOP "social Darwinists." That's like calling Hitler a closet Zionist.)

Upon reflection, I can't decide what the saddest part of this enconium is: whether it's the uncritical acceptance of the totalitarian governmental intrusion into all aspects of charity, or the apparent apathy for the protection of the unborn. Let's be honest: there are many reasons why I could not vote for Obama (even though this country desparately needs to get beyond race) but when all is said and done, it was his unstinting support for abortion at all costs --even up to and including post-birth--that sealed it for me.

Although I trend definately towards the free-market, libertarian, small government, NRA side of the spectrum, I would have voted the other way had the GOP candidate been 100% libertarian but pro-abortion, while the Dem candidate was 100% socialist but pro-life. At the end of the day, I'm a Christian, not a conservative, libertarian, Republican, or whatever. At the dread judgment seat of Christ, I'm not going to quizzed on who was the better candidate for president in 1912, but whether I aided and abetted evil. Whether I was like Christ or like Genghis.

Where am I going with this? Basically here: where was the Orthodox Church during the recent election? It took a dive, especially the GOAA. I'm tired of hearing people justify the inaction and apathy of our bishops by saying "well, the vast majority of the Bulbanian/Lutonians/whatever are Democrats." That's absolute BS. The Catholic bishops took a principled stand against abortion, calling out buffoons such as Biden and Pelosi when they started pontificating on what they believed the historical Church taught. Good for them. Archbishop Daniel Chaput of Denver and others like him is a hero in my book.

But you know what? 56% of Democrats voted for Obama, and it didn't matter a whit to the Catholic bishops. Some of the bishops have courageously called for the excommunication of politicians and voters who enable this great evil to continue. One priest in South Carolina has told his parishioners that anybody in his congregation who voted for Obama needs to repent before they take Communion. And it's not because he's a Republican --he said if the positions were reversed, he'd still condemn those who voted for the pro-abortion candidate--but because as St Paul says in First Corinthians, those who partake of the Eucharist not discerning the Lord's body and blood, invite condemnation upon themselves.

And guess what? 90% of his congregation agree with him.

I guess here's ultimately where I'm going with this: as long as Orthodox bishops continue to play their byzantine bootlicking games, they're never going to be taken seriously in America. I pray that with the election of Metropolitan Jonah the OCA will have turned this corner, but as long as the GOAA doesn't get on the principled Christian bandwagon, it's always going to act as a drag on Orthodoxy in America. Better to have resolute bishops with no congregations than congregations led by irresolute bishops.

007

Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed how Daniel Craig, the new 007, looks like Vladimir Putin?

Just wondering.

So far, so bad...

All new presidents make mistakes during the early days of their administration. They usually recover from them. So far however, Obama has made three mistakes that can only be called "unforced errors." Unforced errors are indicative of what a man truly believes, his essence, or errors in judgment, as opposed to tactical mistakes which usually are inconsequential and due to forces beyond one's control.

An example: Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath was not Bush's fault, but relying on cronies such as FEMA director Michael Brown from the get-go was.

Obama made three errors which I think reflected poorly on him. The first was when he poked fun at Nancy Reagan accusing her of conducting seances. The second was when he spoke with the President of Poland and assured him that he was likeminded, but then turned around and said the opposite. The third was when he leaked the results of his private meeting with Bush.

A lot of this is inside baseball, it won't really matter that much to the great majority of the people, but it does give us insight into his character. The first mistake was tactless and betrayed a heartlessness towards a beloved woman who has suffered mightily the last fourteen years. Not to be too blunt about it, but it shows a heartlessness or an indifference to people.

The second has greater import because it causes world leaders to wonder how good Obama's word is. Is the US now a paper tiger? Will it say one thing to Sarkozy but another to Medvedev? Such double-mindedness makes the world a more dangerous place, not safer. Consider: the Israelis may decide that they have nothing to lose and launch a preemptive strike against Iran, after all, what good is Obama's word? And so on.

Third, Obama was the only other person in the Oval Office with Bush, so we know that the leak came from him, who leaked it to a subordinate (probably Rahm Emanuel). What does this mean? For one thing, world leaders are going to be very chary about discussing things with him. So will his allies on Capitol Hill. There is something about such a leak to a lackey which says more about his character. It's almost as if he desires the sympathy of his subordinates. Let's say it was Emanuel, what hold does the future chief of staff hold over him that he could pry out such high-level private discussions with the incumbent president? Let us say that Emanuel wore him down, and got him to spill the beans in a weak moment. That can happen to all of us. It should never happen to the president however. Obama owed no such favors to any lackey, no matter how valuable he feels they are. The meeting in the Oval Office was between one president and his successor, arguably the two most important men in the world. If what was discussed was substantive (and what is not in the Oval Office), not even their wives should be privy to what was discussed. Aides, even high level aides know where the boundaries are and know not to press their advantage. The purpose of a hierarchy is to insulate those in the chain of command and to create an aura of authority. If someone like Rahm Emanuel can breach this innermost circle, then Obama risks the very real possibility of being viewed as a figurehead or puppet.

How should Obama have played this? If he was asked what went on, he should have responded: "none of your goddamned business." He would have looked like a forthright leader, one not to be trifled with. On the other hand, if he spilled the beans willingly, then he runs the risk of looking like an incurable gossip. In the first instance, he looks like a real man, in the second, like a teenage girl.

Still giddy with delight!

The election of His Beautitude, Jonah Paffhausen, formerly of Ft Worth, is in my humble opinion, providential. It speaks many things, not the least of which is a complete break with the past.

I'm so happy I can't stand it.

That being said, we all know that it's not going to be easy. But Jonah laid down some interesting markers. His speeches reflected very much his writings and it can be said that ecclessialastically, he's got his priorities spot on. For one thing, he praised the Diocese of the South, the one diocese in the entire Orthodox world which is based on the tithe. Parishioners tithe to their parish, the parish tithes to the diocese, and the diocese gives it back to new missions to help them in their first years. If this isn't biblical, I don't know what is.

His Beatitude stressed this, even going so far as to call our diocese, "the miracle of the South." He's right. The Diocese of the West is well on its way to copying the Dallas template and in time, we can hope that all of the other dioceses follow suit.

more to follow...

Habamus episcopum!

Brethren of the Orthodox Christian Faith in America, I am delighted to announce that His Grace,Bishop Jonah of Ft Worth, lately auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of the South, has been elected as Archbishop of Washington, DC and Metropolitan of All America and Canada. Eis polla eti, Despota!

Join the Resistance: Part 2

I guess you could call Spartacus' letter the first part of Joining the Resistance. Mike Adams, "The President is Black, Hide the Confederate Flag," has another way to defund the Left: You can read it for yourself at www.townhall.com, but here it is in a nutshell:

Send a check for $0.02 (yes, that's 2 cents) to:

The Office of the Chancellor
Alderman Hall/UNCW
Wilmington, NC 28403.

In the memo line, write "Confederate Flag Incident," then for tax purposes, ask for a receipt for your contribution to UNCW. This will mean that the university will lose $0.40 for every "contribution."

Adams goes on to say that if you don't want to do this, send them Confederate money.

More on the Election...

There is no longer any real doubt that fraud on a massive scale occurred last Tuesday.
Besides ACORN, illegal aliens, and felons voting, there appears to be invisible votes coming forward. This doesn't mean that McCain/Palin didn't lose, but it is very possible that those states that barely went Dem (NC, Indiana, Nevada, etc.) had artificially inflated Dem votes cast.

How can I say this? Look at Minnesota's recount. Right now, votes are magically appearing for Al Franken. Nobody knows where they're coming from. That's just one thing. There is a more important indicator though of widespread vote fraud. I call it the "Oklahoma Conundrum." Let me explain:

Oklahoma's 77 counties went for McCain by at least 60%. Is Oklahoma more Republican than say, Texas or Arkansas? Hardly. In fact, Democrats have a slight edge in party registration. So why did Okies for McCain in such consistent, state-wide numbers?

1. Early voting is tightly controlled in Oklahoma,
2. There is no same-day registration in Oklahoma,
3. Every voter must show a photo ID at the polling place before they can vote.

Only Oklahoma has all three strictures in place. And because of these strictures, there was little or no vote fraud, spoiled ballots, or magical ballots appearing out of nowhere. It is very possible that throughout the US, Republicans who voted for McCain did so in the numbers projected, but that many thousands of ballots cast for Obama were fictitious.

That doesn't mean that Obama didn't win. I still think at the end of the day that Obama got more votes than McCain. Even if McCain had picked up NC, Nev, Indiana, and Florida, he still would have lost. But, this should put to rest the urban myth that the nation repudiated the GOP.

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's Day, formerly called Armistice Day, which celebrated the truce with Germany in World War I. It is incumbent upon us to remember that "peaceful men are able to sleep at night because warriors are ready to do violence for them." I can't remember who said that, but it is apt. The first, best function of government is to protect the nation. Everything else is secondary. Thank a veteran, go to a cemetery, say a prayer for those who took up the sword on our behalf and have fallen.

May their memories be eternal.

Regarding the All-American Council

As most of you know, our bishops, priests, and lay delegates are meeting in Pittsburgh this week for the All-American Council. One of the major orders of business will be to elect a new Archbishop of Washington, DC, who will be the Metropolitan of All America and Canada.

It is obvious that Orthodoxy in America is at a turning point. The present condition of separate jurisdictions is untenable (no matter what the Ecumenical Patriarch and all other Old World patriarchs thinks). Along these lines I think we should prayerfully consider electing perhaps the most dynamic bishop in North America. That would be Bishop Basil Essey of Wichita.

Even though he belongs to another jurisdiction, his reputation is well-known. I would like to quote Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna, another dynamic young bishop, so that you may see what he thinks about Basil:

"I believe that the bishop should be both the father and brother of the priests of his diocese. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen very often. If a diocese is too large or a bishop too vusy, it is difficult to establish a kind of family relations built on mutual trust and love. I have seen, however, a very inspiring example of such relations in one American diocese, the Diocese of Wichita of the Antiochian jurisdiction...I was a speaker at their annual retreat and was able to observe their life for several consecutive days. I must admit that I had never seen such a strong bond of friendship and spiritual lve between the clergy and their bishop. Since then I have regarded Bishop Basil of Wichita as a model of a true shepherd."

Let us pray that Bishop Basil, or someone very like him is elected Metropolitan.

And another thing...

Regarding the vaunted "youth turnout," horse---t! Not only were the numbers of voters almost identical to 2004, but the youth didn't vote in any higher appreciable numbers.

sure, people were disgusted with President Bush and 80% think the country was going in the wrong direction (as do I), but until Sept 15, when the stock market crashed, McCain/Palin were well on their way to winning this thing. Carville was right way back in 1992, "it's the economy, stupid."

I know the paleo-cons and the Lew Rockwell types like to castigate Bush, but where were they when he tried to reform Social Security, the biggest entitlement enchilada of all? Sitting on their hands just like everybody else. Now that the Dems are going to come gunning for their 401Ks, I wonder if they'll give Obama a pass, as long as he pulls out of Iraq and treats with Iran. Somehow I kind of doubt it.

As much as I'd like to admit that culture and values are significant to the well-ordering of a society (and they are), people vote their pocketbooks. It doesn't matter if Bush was another Caligula, if the stock market had been in the 12,000 range, it would have been Johnny Mac in the White House. Period, end of story. And guess what? If Obama comes to the center and the stock market rises appreciably, he'll win reelection. It's just that I think he's a hostage to the extreme Left and he'll do their bidding.

Have you hugged a Mormon today?

Ok, I admit it, this isn't original to me. I plagiarized the title from somebody on the AOI website. Go to it, read it for yourself.

Regardless, the reality is that as Spartacus wrote (below), we have to pick and fight our battles carefully. The increasing homosexualization and secularization of our culture is one of those we are enjoined to fight. On this front, we may have an easier time of it.

As noted, Proposition 8 in California passed. This was the amendment which overturned the California Supreme Court ruling legalizing "gay marriage." (I put it in quotes because there is no such thing as a marriage between two people of the same sex. Coupling is one thing, marriage can only be between one man and one woman, even in polygamous societies, each of the women are married to the one man, not to each other.)

Anyway, this proposition passed with the overwhelming support of African-Americans (71%) and Latinos (55%). Caucasians and Asian-Americans were only 49% in favor (shame on us). The heavy lifting though was done by the Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon Church). To the credit of the Orthodox in California, the four Orthodox bishops issued a strong condemnation of the Supreme Court and lobbied heavily in favor of Prop 8. Kudos to Bishop Benjamin (OCA) who spearheaded the intra-Orthodox initiative. Likewise, a pat on the back to the evangelical pastors and Catholic bishops as well. But when all is said and done, it was the Mormons who provided the shock troops that turned out the vote.

God bless 'em.

--Monomakhos

p.s. on a side note, it's interesting to see how the gay grievance lobby has turned racist. The "N-word" has been hurled incessantly at many black people. Some homosexuals have even threatened violence against blacks should they shown up in gay enclaves such as West Hollywood.

This is further evidence (as noted by Spartacus) that the coalition that elected Obama is not a principled one, but a collusion of grievance groups who are united at best, in only one issue: how to get more goodies from the producing class.

Serves 'em right.

worldliness

Recently, on the American Orthodox Institute blog, His Grace Bishop Savas of Troas, the chancellor of that jurisdiction, wrote a blog entry regarding the recent elections. The giddiness of his praise for the President-elect to my mind reflected that of a schoolgirl in full hormonal rush. It almost approached that of Chris Matthews, a man whom I fervently believe is an unrequited homosexual.

Unlike Matthews however, His Grace was not bitter and angry towards Republicans and conservatives, but this was thin gruel indeed. I'll let you read it to decide on your own. My own observations fall into this category:

1. I always thought that clergymen (especially High-church ones) should not be obvious about their politics.

2. Even if they take a stand on a grave moral issue (such as abortion), they should never marginalize those who vote the other way. (Note: excommunication is not marginalization, but correction and it is based on love.)

3. A fellow named Andrew responded to Savas with this trenchant point: why are priests like John Peck silenced for stating eternal truths in a non-political fashion but bishops like Savas allowed to pontificate on things outside their realm?

4. Does His Grace understand the nature of the State and the Church? Does he not realize the differences between the imperium and the sacerdotium? Any perusal of the Church Fathers should set him aright on this matter. What Savas proposed is no less than the merging of both entities into one missionary activity. This is no less than what Muslims believe about their vaunted caliphate. The closest Orthodoxy approached this was during the Romanov period after the "reforms" of Peter the Great, who viewed the Church as a department of state and himself as its supreme head. Peter got his ideas from traveling to the Protestant West where every monarch was the supreme governor of the national churches. Bad move.

Prayer for the President-elect

I think it is incumbent on all Christians and patriots to pray for the new president. After all, Scripture enjoins us to. Here is a little prayer I say every night for the new president:

"Lord, I pray for President-elect Obama that his heart will be softened toward the unborn and that he will lead this nation in all righteousness and truth. Amen."

Who knows? Maybe Obama is is his own man and won't be held hostage to the loonies in the Congress and the Third-world coalition that placed him in power.

gratitude to St Nectarius of Aegina

Today was the feast day of St Nektarios of Aegina (+1920). It is because of the intercessions of this fervent man of God that I am alive today. I pray that I am worthy of his solicitude. May God have mercy on me, a sinner.

Never Give Up

Or, How to Fight a Successful Insurgency

-- By "Spartacus"

Near the end of the 1959 movie Spartacus, we find the subdued army of ex-slaves awaiting punishment from the Roman legions. The Roman commander, Gnaius Pompey, wants to punish their leader, but he doesn’t know which one of the thousands of men is Spartacus. He asks the prisoners "which one of you is Spartacus?" Kirk Douglass, the actor who plays the title character is obviously sweating. Should he stand and declare himself and face crucifixion, or remain seated and hope for the best? When he realizes what he must do, he begins to stand and declare himself: "I am Spartacus!" He is surprised however when at the very same time, one by one, the other prisoners stand up and speak as well. Soon every one of the captured men stands and yells: "I am Spartacus!"

In this vein I think all of us who went down to defeat yesterday can likewise say “I am Joe the Plumber,” or ”I am Tito the Builder.” We can also say “I am Sarah Palin” as well. I am any man or woman who comes from humble circumstances and by sheer grit and hard work, makes it on our own, with no handouts or grievance counselors. We can also say that –in the words of the eminent African-American economist Thomas Sowell—when America went past a point of no return, we went down fighting.

OK, it’s over. Let’s get rid of the myths first of all. We should not blame McCain except in two respects: he foolishly held to his principles to not accept campaign donations, and two, he pulled his punches. McCain was outspent three-to-one in the battleground states. That’s why he lost them by razor-thin margins. Second, the media turned out to be a propaganda machine for Obama. We never learned anything about him or the evil men who have mentored and nurtured him throughout his career. Avowed Leninists like Saul Alinsky, Frank Marshall, and Bill Ayers. We knew more about Sarah Palin’s dating habits during her college days than we still know about Obama. There’s no way anybody could have overcome those disadvantages, even Reagan.

Let’s not blame Palin either. She was the one true bright spot in this sordid affair. Unlike the top of the ticket, she was a true movement conservative who wasn’t afraid to pull her punches. In her speeches she emasculated both Obama and Biden. This woman is one tough cookie. She could easily be the American Thatcher. (Let’s hope she doesn’t go to the Senate, the graveyard of ideas and reputations.) If it wasn’t for her, it wouldn’t have been as close as it was.

And we should not blame Bush. When he became president, our nation was attacked. Unlike any of his predecessors, he chose to fight back. Because of his resolute leadership, we’ve won n Iraq and pacified Afghanistan. The Muslim world and its terror network have chosen to subdue themselves while on his watch. That is no small thing. Am I happy that W enacted Medicare Part D or No Child Left Behind? No. I wish he hadn’t. But when he became the first president to try to fix Social Security nobody was there in his corner. Neither can we blame him for the aftermath of Katrina. It is not his fault nor ours that New Orleans had become a Third World city ruled by thugs and kleptocrats –Democrats all. From his inauguration on, he was dealt a bad hand which he played as best as anybody could given the circumstances. In fact, he may have played it better as we may see in retrospect

When all is said and done, we must remember that this was a toxic year for Republicans and conservatives. Rarely has a party held the White House for 3 consecutive terms even in the best of times. This certainly wasn’t the best of times.

At base, Barack Obama has cobbled together a Third-World coalition of African-Americans, Latinos, gays, guilty white liberals, young single people, Jews, American Muslims, the unemployed, and those who are on some type of government assistance. All this, coupled with the stock market collapse of 2008, and willing propagandists in the media, enabled him to be dragged across the finish line.

As Christians and patriots, we should wish Obama Godspeed and goodwill. It was a hard-fought campaign. We should pray for him, perhaps the Lord will enlighten him and soften his heart, especially regarding the unborn and the secularist agenda he and his party wish to impose on us. Unfortunately, there is no more loyal opposition and the liberals have nobody to blame but themselves. Over the past eight years they have been atrocious to our incumbent president. They’ve called him every name in the book and have tried everything within their power to undermine our war effort, even though many of them voted for it. In a more civilized time, this would have been called giving aid and comfort to the enemy and they would have been clapped in irons and left to rot on Alcatraz. They cannot expect the Right to now treat them with the respect that they think they deserve. As C S Lewis said in another time and place: “We scoff at honor and are surprised when we are surrounded by traitors.” I’m afraid to say that after a perfunctory honeymoon, the producing class, the warrior class, the working class, in other words, the patriots, are not going to be there for Obama. This isn’t sour grapes, it’s just the way it is: you can’t go poking your finger in people’s eyes by ridiculing their folkways and the cumulative experience of civilization and expect them to be there for you when things are bad.

Therefore, I’m not so hopeful about the future. As Christians and patriots, we should hope for the best and prepare for the worst, particularly if the Democrats act like the neo-Leninists they are. Barney Frank wants to cut the military budget by 25 percent. He won’t succeed of course but the mood is set: watch recruitments and reenlistments start to decline. The liberals want a more “progressive” tax code. That lady on YouTube –Peggy the Moocher—thinks that with Obama in the White House, she’ll never have to worry about filling her tank with gasoline or having her mortgage paid. American Muslims think they’ve got a secret friend in Washington who’s going to stick to the Israelis, and American Jews think they can co-opt Obama. The Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton grievance industry can’t and won’t go away. If this isn’t a coalition of dunces I don’t know what is. The homosexualists want a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and an end to don’t ask, don’t tell in the military. The DailyKos/Blame America First crowd wants America to surrender everywhere yesterday. There’s nothing principled about any of this. Somebody on that side of the isle is going to be disappointed.

What is to be done?

First of all, we must create a narrative as the Left is so fond of saying. So far, Obama has won 52% of the vote, the same share of the vote as did George W Bush in 2004. What’s more, he did it with the same number of votes as Bush (63 million). As of now, the Democrats have picked up only twenty Congressional seats and five Senate seats, not the 36 and nine that their propagandists were confidently predicting. This is not the blowout that they were expecting. Even if all breaks the Democrats’ way in the Senate, they’ll have gained seven seats for a total of fifty-eight. Not the 60 they need to override filibusters. All of this taken together means that Left’s narrative of widespread voter turnout especially among the youth hasn’t been borne out. In other words, the MSM lied to us again and tried to depress our turnout. More good news, they didn’t succeed as much as they could have.

Second, we must concentrate our forces and fight where we should. In military terms, there are important battles that must be fought, and if lost, then lost in such a way that makes the other side pay. No more retreats, keeping our losses in the Senate to a minimum was our strategic retreat. We can fight back from there. Concentrate on the big picture, not on little squabbles. Don’t die for real estate we already have or can’t be taken. Here, in my opinion, are the major battles that must be fought:

1. Fight amnesty for illegal aliens. This means any and all efforts at amnesty of illegal aliens. Fight this one tooth-and-nail. Do it nationally, do it locally. If the Dems get their way, a new permanent underclass of voters will be permanently entrenched in our nation.
2. Fight the felons. Make sure that no laws are passed giving criminals and ex-convicts the right to vote. If Obama is able to get both (1) and (2) passed, then the days of the Republic are definitely over. Our votes won’t mean a thing. America will become one big rotten borough with a bare majority of people voting themselves largesse from the public purse.
3. Protect talk radio. File lawsuits with the courts if need be. Do it on First Amendment grounds. If this fails, invest in XM or Sirius. The AM band will be dead and robust political criticism will only take place via satellite.
4. Go digitally underground. Create an alternative media. Take over the blogosphere. Have camera-ready cell phones ready at all times, like the guy on the airplane who recorded those Dem bigwigs yukking it up about Hurricane Gustav. This one’s doable because the MSM is fat and lazy. Despite their victory, they’re dying and in the tank. Call them out on that. Never watch them, don’t go on their shows. Make them lose ratings. Ditch the big city papers as well. The Left blogosphere will likewise become complacent. Besides, they’re pretty unhinged anyway so whatever information comes from them will be discounted.
5. Marginalize the message. Make sure that all of his associates, known and unknown are brought to the fore. Anybody who even looks or thinks like Bill Ayers should be grilled incessantly if he’s an Obama nominee. Do this on a local level as well. When colleagues start singing the praises of Obama’s henchmen, point out their views. “Gee, I guess now that Bill Ayers got off the hook, maybe we should give a posthumous pardon to Tim McVeigh?” Or my personal favorite: “What do Obama and Bin Laden have in common? Both have friends who bombed the Pentagon.” Try this one on for size: “Did you know that one of Obama’s mentors Saul Alinsky dedicated his book Rules for Radicals to Lucifer? Hmm, isn’t that interesting?” Don’t be afraid, say the word Marxism, Marxist, Leninist, redistributionist loud and often. Make people understand what’s going on.
6. Expose the contradictions. Obama has flipped more times than Kerry. The hard Left will be pissed if he doesn’t declare surrender in Iraq tomorrow. If he augments forces in Afghanistan and then invades Pakistan, they’ll do to him what they did to LBJ (it wasn’t pretty). Same with taxes. Call his “tax cut” what it is: welfare for those who don’t pay taxes. Make him hurt on this one. If the looting class (i.e. his base) doesn’t get their goodies, they’ll turn on him too. If he doesn’t force more concessions from the Israelis, watch the Muslims get pissed.
7. Don’t be afraid to say "A-Ha!" When the next international crisis hits and the world doesn’t blow us kisses, then we should say: “but I thought the world would love us.” Bush had it right: you’re either with us, or agin’ us. As the Emperor Tiberius said, “it’s better to be feared than to be loved.”
8. Don’t be afraid to speak the truth. This is going to be hard. Any criticism of Obama is going to get you branded as a racist, especially in the first year. Get used to it. Even if you’re black, Latino, Jewish, gay, or polka-dot, you’re going to be called a racist even with the most tepid and reasoned criticism. Do it anyway, but only on the things that matter, otherwise our message is marginalized. If we aren’t scared and we criticize correctly, then the incessant hurling of that phrase against at us will lose all meaning. Make them pay for using it like Kleenex.
9. "Go John Galt." Personally disinvest from all leftist institutions. Do this denominationally, corporately, or privately. Don’t go to a bookstore, restaurant, or small business that’s owned by a leftard. If you’re a Christian, agitate to get your denomination out of the National Council of Churches. Let the corporation you work for know that you don’t want to have 1 percent of your salary garnished by the United Way. Learn from the Left, get a chip on your shoulder. Make the liberals you work with uncomfortable around you. Make them walk on eggshells. Move from areas of town that are depressed (if you haven’t already). Chances are those are leftist strongholds anyway. Get your kids out of public schools (trust me, it’s going to get a LOT worse, see here: www.orthodoxytoday.org). If you can’t afford parochial schools, then home-school. If that’s not possible, be involved in every way in your child’s public school education. Be a jerk with the teachers. Let them know that you don’t approve of the secularist agenda. At the very least, make them cringe every time they see you. As much as possible, seek out libertarian and conservative businesses and give them your dollar. Take up hunting and learn to process your own meat. Work less or hide more.
10. Think globally, act locally. Run as a principled conservative at the local level. Change can be effected there. Be involved in the myriads of what Edmund Burke called “little platoons.” They make life bearable and are bulwarks of democracy. Besides, a deep and wide bench is necessary. Margaret Thatcher came from nowhere. No title, no pedigree, no nothing. She changed Britain for the better. If nothing else, this will allow us to create havens of sanity and decorum. The Red States are growing in population, the Blue States are decreasing. Once a state becomes reliably blue (i.e. Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey) it’s better days are in the past (the Purple States are still salvageable). All that’s left in most Blue States is a welfare-dependant underclass, a lot of over-educated latte-drinkers, underemployed slackers, and tenured hippies living in some college town that haven’t done anything with their lives.
11. Arm yourselves. Self-explanatory. In many Blue States, you are going to be your own police force. Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six. ‘Nuff said.
12. Pray. Pray for the nation. Pray for those poor benighted fools like Peggy the Moocher and Larry the Loafer who think that they have a claim on the proceeds of our hard work. It’s never too late. Some of them may change for the better. Remember, America is still the last best hope on earth.

If we do these things, there is a possibility that we can come back in two years. Notice I didn’t say come roaring back: I think we have passed a point of no return in many ways. It is in the interest of the Left to make sure the dependant class stays that way. Barring a national revival, I don’t see any hope of the return of rugged individualism.

Despite this, major gains can be made. Consider: so far, it looks like the Senate still has a filibuster-proof minority. Many of the new Congressmen will be unable to defend Obama in 2010 if things get iffy (and they always do). By controlling the message via talk radio/, the blogosphere, and FOX news, we can expose the contradictions and foibles of the Obama administration. They’re will be many and they will be apparrent to any and all. (Remember, you will get called a racist.)

Also, the Bush tax cuts will expire in 2010. Do any of these Congressmen want to face the electorate knowing they allowed them to expire? The GOP can sit back and watch them squirm over that one. We don’t have to do anything. Except for obstructing the Left agenda, we literally don’t have to do anything. Let the Left do the heavy lifting of governing.

Watch Obama try to please his base. He’s going to have a six-month honeymoon, a year tops. But when the goodies don’t get handed out, watch out.

Obama he has a very good chance of losing control of the message. There are too many question marks out there. The MSM did not do their job vetting this man. We only recently found out about the half-brother who sleeps in a tin shack on the outskirts of Nairobi or his Aunt Zeituni, the illegal alien who lives in a slum in Boston. Ordinary people were shocked to hear Jeremiah Wright’s racist rants in a supposedly Christian church. Get ready for more shoes to drop. Wright, Bill Ayers, and Bernadine Dorhn are just the tip of the iceberg. Get used to hearing names like Tony Rezko and Rashid Khalidi. Buyer’s remorse will set it, just as it did in the primaries when Hillary cleaned his clock in all of the later primaries.

As for the international community, which will supposedly love us now forever, ain’t gonna happen. Consider the Muslim world. Has Obama been successfully compromised enough regarding his radical past that he’s too gun-shy about meeting with all the bad apples in that neck of the woods? My gut tells me “yeah.” That means he’ll appear to be a Zionist stooge. Pat Buchanan has even accused him of “doing a passable imitation of Ariel Sharon.” That’s going to make the Muslim world real happy. So much for their good will. Expect rioting in the vaunted Arab Street if they feel they’ve been let down again by yet another American president. Don’t be surprised if some Muslim cleric judges him an apostate from Islam (you know what that means).

What about when the next genocide happens in Africa? Will Obama do a George Bush and bring the might of the US armed forces to bear? If he does, will we hear apologies from those who decry the Bush Doctrine? But what if he does nothing because of our economic situation? How will the world look on the first black man to be president if he dithers? Who’s side is he going to be on, the black African Christians who are being murdered or the black African Muslims who are doing the murdering?

Putin’s going to roll this guy. What will Obama do when Vladimir the Wonderful goes on another rampage? Does he honestly think that the Euroweenies are going to help? Germany needs the oil and gas, England is getting ready to scrap the Royal Navy (yes, they’re actually talking about that). Western Europe is being turned into Eurabia. Good luck with that.

What’s the upside? Being pals with thugs like Ahmadinejad and Chavez and Castro? Wow, that’ll make us stand up and sing. This is going to be the second Carter administration. Lucky for Obama though, Bush cleared a lot of tables for him. We’ve pacified Iraq and conquered Afghanistan. Iran appears close to collapse, again thanks to Bush’s destabilization of that regime. I still don’t underestimate the ability of the Left to totally screw things up strategically. If that happens –or worse—like another terrorist attack on our soil, then Bush will look like the resolute warrior he was. Say all you want about Bush, it’s Obama’s baby now. Whatever happens on his watch will be his responsibility, no matter how much the crybabies on MSNBC say otherwise.

I could go on, but you get the picture. We must fight to protect the Constitution, call him a redistributionist when it’s warranted, and gird our loins for the inevitable crisis. I wish that these crises will only affect the Blue ghettos that comprise the Democratic base, but I’m not so sanguine.

Aristotle said that courage was the first among virtues, because that is the one that make all others possible. This is the time for courage. Let us plan our political battles with discernment and defend our values with courage. And let us never forget that the Democratic Party is basically a party of looters and takers. They can’t survive without the producers and creators. (That would be us.)

Who knows? Obama might see the light. I fervently pray that he will govern from the center as Clinton did after Newt Gingrich handed him his ass in 1994. Maybe he’ll be moderately pro-life. Who knows? At the same time, we got to be realistic. There is nothing in his past that indicates such a possibility. Better to be coldly realistic than foolishly optimistic. Like the senatorial aristocracy during the latter days of the Roman Empire, he and his cronies have coolly assessed the nature of their coalition and they know what a motley crew it is. For every feint to the center, he’s going to have to toss a few scraps to the Left. If he doesn’t, there will be hell to pay.

(Feel better now you “conservatives” such as Christopher Buckley, Doug Kmiec, Colin Powell, and Ken Duberstein? Was your disdain for the fantastically successful governor of Alaska worth this to you? Note to ourselves: never let these bozos back into the fold. I believe in a big tent by they are nothing but opporunists.)

That doesn’t mean that we’ll come roaring back. Chances are we won’t. America’s best days are in the past. Our nation has devolved from being the home of a resilient people who could pull themselves up by their bootstraps to a largely immoral one. The traditional family is now in the minority. Forty percent of all live births are illegitimate. Three thousand abortions are performed daily. Perverts feel that they must act on their desires and that government must sanction them. This isn’t the fault of government policies per se but a lack of individual restraint. Many of us in the creative/working/producing class have our own foibles and moral failings (I know I do).

Then why this call to arms? Because America is still the last, best hope on earth. We must regroup and live to fight another day. Never give in. This country is ours, not theirs. Those who live on handouts are, and have always been a servile class. Worse, they are parasites. And like parasites everywhere, they cannot survive for long on their own. They need us, we don’t need them.

--Spartacus