Today’s post is from Twocoolhands. Some of you may have seen him comment, though his commenting is rare. He has however been a dedicated reader of the site from early on. I’d like to thank him for taking the time to write and submit the thoughts he has had on this topic and I hope you do as well.
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Let me preface my thoughts on this subject with a few facts about myself and observations I’ve made.
- I am not a wordsmith; color me businessman numbers.
- My teenage years were the 1960’s (JFK, Viet Nam, and Woodstock).
- I am a Viet Nam Era Army Vet which means I didn’t serve in any combat situations; no hero here.
- My parents, as were all adults in our area, were Democrats.
- My first presidential vote was for a Republican, Richard Nixon, because I understood how the Democrats sucked money into Washington D.C., skimmed 20% off the top to pay bureaucrats’ salaries, just so those bureaucrats could dole the remaining 80% back out to their cronies (remember color me businessman numbers).
- I read this blog regularly but have rarely commented; many of you may have never seen any of my comments.
- Although some blog posts are a little long, I find them, as well as topical comments, to be informative, insightful, humorous and generally concise.
- I held my nose tightly when doing so, but voted for Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney once they became the Republican Nominee for President.
- Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and Ted Cruz (need I say more; let me think; NO!)
I have read many of your comments and listened to many political establishment Republicans (Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush) and establishment media types (Carl Rove, Charles Krauthammer and George Will) during the last few months concerning conservative principles. The vast majority of statements maintain that Donald Trump doesn’t have any core conservative principles like the establishment darling Paul Ryan who is an intelligent, serious and thoughtful conservative and is the highest elected guardian of Republican conservatism.
For the record, I like Paul Ryan and truly believe he has the capacity to become a true guardian of Republican conservatism; that is, once he completes his pubescent journey through a budget history lesson prepared by Newt Gingrich. If you are unfamiliar with Newt’s government shutdown battles (2) with President Bill Clinton, the internet can provide plenty of reputable source data. And by the way, George Bush won the 2000 Presidential election after those rascally Republicans shut the government down twice.
Don’t get me wrong, Ryan says all the right things but let’s look at his impact to date. Beginning in 2011, Ryan’s ability to promote conservative principles has been primarily budgetary in nature; serving as Chairman of the House Budget Committee and House Ways and Means Committee before replacing John Boehner as Speaker of the House in October 2015.
At the end of 2010 our national debt was $13.5T and it is projected to reach $20T by the end of this year. That’s a big fat $6.5T increase during Ryan’s sphere of budgetary influence. Yes I understand he only became Speaker in October 2015, but as the Chairman of the committees cited above, it was his responsibility to develop the strategy, numbers, and procedures to educate the American people regarding the necessity to at least minimize the annual budget deficit. But what did he do, he ignored his “core conservative principles”, stood by John Boehner and allowed the continued debt explosion under this administration.
By the way, Ryan’s explanation for the last budget deal that was signed as the proverbial door was hitting Boehner in the butt on his way out was that it occurred before he became Speaker. I guess not a single Republican would have stood by Ryan had he decided to speak out against giving Obama everything he wanted his last year as President.
I would also like to point out something about Kate’s Law. As a conservative, I am appalled that Speaker Ryan allowed the House Bill to include anything unrelated to Kate’s Law. In case you haven’t heard, it also included legislation concerning sanctuary cities and was immediately blocked by Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid. Would a true keeper of conservative principles play politics with such an important piece of legislation?
Now let’s look at Donald Trump’s conservative principles. He says he wants to cut taxes and reduce regulations in order to create jobs and reduced the national debt, increase spending on the military and destroy ISIS, build a wall and secure our southern border, deport illegals and fix legal immigration. But what has he actually done? Other than creating a lot of jobs for a lot of people and making a lot of money the old fashion way by building things and developing properties in a capitalistic society, he really hasn’t shown he actually has any core conservative principles.
Looks to me like Trump and Ryan are currently tied both on conservative rhetoric and conservative actions!
