Conservatives are Wimps

I live in Connecticut.  It is a Progressive, Liberal, welfare state that until a few decades ago was prosperous and Conservative.  Connecticut used to build world class machinery, lead the world in the insurance industry, and serve as the arsenal of Democracy.  Nowadays we in Connecticut can’t even put together finger nail clippers.

What happened?  It seems too many seemingly rational people took the easy road out and moved to greener pastures.

There are far too many former Conservative Connecticut Yankees out West and in the South.  Texas and Florida seem to be prime destinations.

Why does it seem that Conservatives get tired of fighting for their principles and simply move to a more rational environment?  When will it be time to draw a line in the sand and consider retaking our state and freeing ourselves from the tyranny surrounding us?  

Traitors Among Us?

When I was a kid, people and organizations which opposed our founding principles as described in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, were considered traitors by the general public.  They were looked down on and not much respected.  In our country’s founding documents personal freedom was the rule, not a massive, central government which acts against the natural instincts and conditions of men. 

Our administrative and judicial leaders in Washington as well as those in many states and localities no longer abide by the ideals which made the United States the land of choice for a majority of the world’s population. These leaders consider our Constitution as a meaningless and obsolete document.  If anything, too many of our leaders subscribe to the notion of remaking our country’s governance into a clone of some inferior foreign land most people on this planet would rather flee.

Too many of our leaders are traitors to the country they were sworn to uphold and defend. 

Less Freedom?

While in Egypt this year, January 30 to be precise, Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was asked what she thought of Egypt modeling its new Constitution on the one used by the US. 

Ruth Bader Ginsberg suggested that Egypt not model itself after what she called the dusty and obsolete US Constitution, but after either South Africa’s or Canada’s Constitutions.  Her reasoning was that the Federal Government in the U.S. does not have enough powers while the South African and Canadian models do. 

In short, she prefers less individual freedom, unlike what our US Constitution was intended to grant us.

  

The Little, Old Black Lady who Changed My Thinking

Many people complain about the wealth of the Catholic Church.  They argue that the Catholic Church is hypocritical because it would prefer to gather immense wealth rather than help the poor.

In the 1960’s I was a student at CUA, the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.  The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is adjacent to the CUA campus.  The Basilica’s lowest level has the names of thousands of donors who helped pay for its construction.  The names are literally plated in gold.  The entire building exudes wealth.  I was appalled because across Wisconsin Avenue where the Basilica sits, there were residential neighborhoods along 7^th and 8^th Streets which were the poorest I had ever encountered.  The contrast was disturbing.  ‘How can so much wealth sit amongst so much poverty?’ was the question in my mind.   

I noticed an elderly black lady who daily trudged from the poverty of 8^th Street to the splendor of the Basilica.  Given my disgust with the Catholic Church for being so insensitive to the poor, I approached her one day and asked why she was so drawn to the Basilica.

She answered, ’I may only give a penny, but it is all I have and I give it as a token of my Faith in my Lord.  I want my Lord to have the finest house in the land.’

It was then that I saw the wealth of the Catholic Church in a different light and I am eternally grateful to this little, old lady.  God bless her! 

Does One Size Fit All?

Kierkegaard, a philosopher of the Victorian era, said that all cultures are not equal in their development.  What he meant was that during his lifetime there were people living in stone age cultures with stone age governments and societies, such as the aborigines in Australia.  However, there were also industrialized societies with  Democratic or Parliamentarian governments such as in Great Britain and most of Europe.  Most cultures at the time were somewhere in between.  That cultural reality is not much different in 2012, over a hundred years later.

I had a problem with former President Bush’s method of spreading Democracy.  His concept did not appear to be in sync with most of Iraq’s political traditions.   Iraq’s culture is very different than that of the US. After observing the history of the region, other than Israel, all countries in the area seem to prefer either dictatorships, tribal or one-party rule types of government.

I disagree with President Obama’s political vision for the US on a similar conceptual level.  Whereas President Bush wanted to lift Iraq forward towards democracy, President Obama wants our country to regress to an inferior, primitive type of Progressive/Socialist dictatorship form of government.  It doesn't fit.

May 1 - 2012

I predict that around May 1 this year, the Occupy Wall Street group will be organizing large rallies in Washington, D.C. and other major U.S. cities.  I believe these large events will lead to situations more destructive than what our Nation endured in 1967 after Martin Luther King’s assassination.

With the goal of achieving unlimited power, i.e. beyond those powers granted by our U.S. Constitution, many in our U.S. government seek additional powers through the use of groups such as the Occupiers. They use these kinds of groups to create disruptive situations that are beyond the ability of local authority to control.

Step two is where the power seekers are able to take control thanks to the fomented crisis created by the unruly mob.

Assuming the Occupiers act according to the basic scenario described above, they become the ’useful idiots’ that power seekers, such as Lenin promoted.

Bike Helmets?!?

Decades ago I was thrilled to be a nine-year old owner of a used Columbia bicycle.  I rode that thing up and down the hills of Derby and Ansonia.  It  was driven on Rt34,  Main Street and all streets in between.  I drove it to Seymour, Orange and Woodbridge.  It was used in places were no roads existed.  I never wore a helmet.  Nobody wore helmets back then.

If you fell and got hurt, you either learned how to handle certain situations or resigned yourself to the fact that you were a klutz.

I’m not against being safe, but am I wrong in believing we as a nation are being sissified when we wear helmets on paved walkways like our Greenway were no cars or other vehicles are allowed?  

Occupy Wall Street

In the Fall of 2011 US citizens were introduced to a protest group calling itself Occupy Wall Street.

These protesters seemed to be divided into two groups within the movement.  The first group had valid concerns while the second group seemed to protest because they had nothing better to do.

Some had complaints regarding hardships and injustices heaped upon themselves.  The loss of homes due to a faulty mortgage banking system as well as joblessness and a lack of meaningful work opportunities are some of the valid issues found in this first group. 

Participants from the second group did not seem to have any meaningful, coherent message.  This group responded with clichéd answers when asked why they were protesting.  It seemed to me that they were a mob searching for relevance.  As time went on, this group began to chant anti capitalist slogans.  They claimed that they were entitled to take over anyone’s home, yours or mine thus showing no regard for private property rights.  They showed and continue to show little respect for public, communal property as well.  Unfortunately, this second group seems to have taken control of the movement.

As a group they are what Lenin would call ‘useful idiots’.

I find it disturbing that this movement is encouraged by President Obama.  I also wonder why the protesters with valid complaints glommed onto this movement when a powerful movement addressing many of the same issues already exists in the nonpartisan Tea Party.

The Occupiers claim to represent 99% of all Americans.  They do not represent my views.

Poor Tony - That's Me

Hello, and welcome to the first entry of Poor Tony's Blog.  I picked this name for my blog because of Ben Franklin's great "blog" called Poor Richard's Almanac.  Though, granted I'm no Ben Franklin.  The use of "poor" is because my blog is to share ideas with everyday people.  This was Franklin's use of the word "poor" as well.  And, I used "Tony" because that's my name.

I'm of Polish heritage, was born in Derby, CT, I lived for 30+ years inside the Washington DC beltway, I'm a retired architect, I have 5 grown children, I'm on my second marriage, and I'm a conservative.

I've decided to blog because I love my country and can't stand being silent as it's being dismantled piece by piece.  Albert Einstein, a really smart guy, said, "The world is a dangerous place.  Not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

I'll be picking different topics about our country and the bad road we've been going down for too long.  Am I an authority on these topics?  Maybe not, but I'm smart enough to know we Americans need to get back on the highway built by our Country's Founding Fathers.