Reader Comments
Issue 140 - September 30, 2009

Editor: Conservative Battleline is so valuable. Many thanks for your work and thought in providing it. Sincerely, Cheri Meulendyk

Editor: I really liked your latest. As I posted here "Conservatism’s Regeneration" points out that the Republican Party's abandonment of principle has not killed the national movement for limited government, personal liberty, and individual responsibility, aka classical liberalism. In fact, the movement, growing organically, may be the strongest it's been in decades. S.T. Karnick

Editor: Your article "Conservatism’s Regeneration" was interesting and I agree that the Republicans leaders still do not have a clue on how to right themselves. The rally in Washington was great and it shows the American People are beginning to catch on as to what is happening to this country. Do you want to know what will get this administration and the Democrats by the throat and change the playing field? Tort Reform. If the people begin pushing on this, the Democrats and the administration will lose millions in support and campaign funds and it will drastically reduce the costs of Health Care. I can assure you the Democrats will cry out big time about this because they don't want it to happen. Something more disturbing: One of the newscasters on Fox News (Glen Beck) is showcasing the number of Socialists President Obama is bringing into his team. I have been warning Congress about this for about 1 1/2 years now and it is good that it is being exposed. I recently sent a letter through Congress.org about what I see and told them there won't be any long term members of Congress reelected and President Obama is looking at one term if this trend continues. My military background provided the training to recognize trends like this. Do you think it has merit? We have to stop this movement before it is too late and suddenly realize we have a Socialist Government. Albert Grounds

Editor: Regarding "Conservatism’s Regeneration" and its celebration of the grass roots effort to oppose government health care, I was wondering if you have seen these videos. They are excellent! The YouTube links below are Part 1 and 2 of a tape made by a couple from Texas about the current health care plan proposal (HR 3200). The man in the video and his wife made the tape from their ranch in south-central Texas. At their own expense, they made 1000 copies and sent one to every single congressman and senator and some media outlets. Let's hope that each and every one of them watched and LISTENED. here and part 2 here. Cheryl

Editor: "Conservatism’s Regeneration" commemorating the town hall rallies and the Washington demonstration is fine but we have to call for a boycott, hurt them in the pocket book, we have to stop watching and supporting, elite Hollywood, do not go to the movies and quit watching NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, quit subscribing to NYT, quit buying GE products. If we quit watching, reading, and buying we will hurt them where it counts. Their sponsorships will go down, their contributions will go down. If we do economically to them what ACORN and the like do to legitimate business, we won't shake them down, we just won't support them. Ed Armstrong

Editor: Regarding "Conservatism’s Regeneration," my complete distrust for Obama is not because he is black as former president Jimmy Carter charges. My dislike for this individual is his ideology, which runs counter to everything I have learned in my 87 years. He may be an articulate speaker, and a fairly nice looking young man, but he is full of hate for this country and what our Constitution stands for, and he is using the Constitution as a weapon against the very people he has sworn to protect and serve when he was sworn in as President of this great country. His utter disregard for the opinions of the rank and file at the grass roots of this country is proof enough of his in ability to lead. You don't do it by making a bad situation worse by adding to it with uncontrollable spending on programs that no citizen of this country has been helped by anyway!! He should be impeached for not following the Constitution. John F. Thomas

Editor: Regarding your article "Conservatism’s Regeneration," I would love to submit some articles, but I'm not that much of a writer (yet). I do have a concern. As I watch the conservative emails and web newsletters stream across my cyber desk, something is missing: Reference to that fact that America became the greatest nation on earth because those who founded this nation founded it solidly upon Judeo-Christian Conservative Principles. To abandon those principles that made us great (as the liberals wish to do), America will cease to exist as the greatest nation on earth. To listen to the liberals, those who hold to the conservative and Godly values of our founding fathers are terrorists. I think they have got it backwards: Our founding fathers, if alive today, would consider these liberals "domestic enemies"! I think we need an emphasis on getting back to what made us ( America) great in the first place. Sincerely, David Landry

Editor: The founding fathers were a distinct and distinguished group of men, but for all their wisdom and acumen, their ideas and principles would have produced nothing unless they could motivate and energize the "grass roots". It was the grass roots, eventually lead by George Washington (later reincarnated in President Reagan), who provided the muskets, gunpowder and deaths needed to defeat the British Tyranny. The 'grass roots' has been reincarnated again, this time in opposition to the Obama tyranny, as you demonstrate in "Conservatism’s Regeneration." They marched on Washington on 9-12-09 - a million plus strong. They are motivated and energized to defeat the new tyranny comprised of ACORN, George Soros, the MSM, Obama, Obama's Czars, the UN, Islamic autocracies and 'republics', the unions, the environmentalists, the pacifists and cowards who feel their blood is too precious to shed for any greater cause than themselves. Defeating this enemy, today as then, will require a unique combination of grass roots activism with conservative intellectual leadership and guidance. Today, as then, the future of our nation depends on this combination and on Providence. Len Porochnia, Charlotte, NC

Editor: After reading "Conservatism’s Regeneration," and Chip Hanlon's "GOP Not Get It" I found a great desire to learn the names and contact details of the GOP "leadership??"  First question: Who elected them as leaders? Second: What qualifications do they have? Third: Why aren't the registered voters allowed to know what is going on and what they are really doing? Fourth: I would like to ask them how they can be leaders when they are so out of touch. If they can't look beyond the New York Times and other Democratic papers, they are not truly there for the good of the constituents or the nation. Fifth: Are they really RINO's? It appears they are? Sixth: Do they know the constitution? Seventh: Do they know history and appeasement failures? Eighth: Why do they, like the Democrats, believe everyone is stupid? Here I would like to say, "Citizens are not stupid," and should be told so. When people lie, deceive, and hide behind closed doors all that does is tell them they are ill informed by their so called representative. Disgusted Republican, Jean Harter

[Editor responds: A list of Congressional leaders and how to contact them appears here]

Editor: Chip Hanlon's article "GOP Not Get It" confirms my thinking that we have to change things to be ready for 2010. How about some tea parties at state GOP headquarters and other offices? We need to get to the Republican state committees. We need to start painting many Republican elected officials with the same brush we paint the Democrat leadership. Look no further than Sen. McCain from my state of Arizona. He's talking "bipartisan" again, with one of the usual suspects, Lindsey Graham. Jeff Dover, Scottsdale, AZ

Editor: I have just finished reading Chip Hanlon's article "GOP Not Get It"! Now I am REALLY worried! I have called, wrote and sent emails - apparently to no avail! What part of "Republicans need to go back to their roots" do these morons not understand? What needs to be done is RETURN to the ideals expressed in their "Contract With America"- except this time ACTUALLY do what they promised! If they continue to "Reach across the isle" and play the Democrats game of "Bipartisanship" they will CONTINUE TO LOOSE elections and seats in Washington! I don't know about anyone else - but unless SOMEBODY starts getting a BACKBONE and actually follows our CONSTITUTIONAL government - I will start voting for Ron Paul and others who believe in what our country actually STANDS FOR. Dan Ferguson

Editor: I read Chip Hanlon's article and agree with him that the "GOP Not Get It." But what is really terrible to me is how little these people know about communism/socialism, and that is what they have to learn and fast, if they do not want to loose their country. I get very sad and scared when I think that I am going to go through the same thing now that I am older for the fight that we will have to preserve this great country free. You may think that I am crazy, and I would like to agree with you, but I cannot. I am a Cuban-American, and I have read a lot about the left and their wonderful system in which everybody is rich and happy. I just want this country to make it, and would like to help people understand the left, so the people could prepare to see the corruption, bitterness and envy of the "wonderful left". In few words, they tell people about the mistakes of the conservatives and how horrible they are, but you know when they get to power they do not do anything to help you. At the beginning they act like they care and are trying to help by changing things, but be very careful about their help because it is always bad for you. I like your article but you got to teach those people in Congress because if they do not learn and change, we are all in trouble. Carmen Suarez

Editor: The GOP losses referenced in Chip Hanlon's article "GOP Not Get It" was not a spending backlash, but rather the statement that a significant number of us lifelong (since1960 for me) Republican loyalists have finally gotten the message. The issue is not about "conservative" vs. "liberal," both indefinable terms. It is about the total disregard for the Constitutional authority of the relentless growth and intrusion of the federal government in our personal lives. If a turn back to Constitutional government is to occur, it will only happen when enough voters are educated to be as concerned and committed to Constitutional considerations as our founders were. Thank you. Sincerely, Everett Haymond, Lakeland, Florida

Editor: What do we do to avoid what Michael Connelly is concerned about in his “Health Care ID”? I don't want any part of this plan. It needs to thrown out and decide on something else for the people that don't have but want government care. Why is this so hard? Delores Newman

Editor: I'd like to comment on Brian Riedi's recent article, “Entitlements Cannot Wait.” I find his article as well as others I have read that refer to Social Security and Medicare as entitlements that same way you might refer to Welfare, Food Stamps, Rent Assistance, etc. I have a problem with that. First I have been paying into Social Security my entire working life starting in 1959. I have maxed out my contribution every year. I have Medicare payments deducted from my Social Security payment every month. I resent having my "investments" lumped in with payments made to those who make no effort to be self-sufficient. If you want to cut down on entitlements, there are plenty of other places to look. Let’s look at Social Security - how much of the funds go to things other than what Social Security was intended for? For example, the "Crazy" checks that go to drug users every month. What about the moneys taken out of the Social Security funds that go into the general fund to cover non-related costs? I really upsets me that I'm viewed a as free loader, when I have worked my entire life to support myself and my family. Sorry for the rant, Donald P. O'Brien

Editor: I enjoy reading the articles ConservativeBattleline offers and now I am submitting an article of my own. As the Public Liaison Officer for the Davis Mountains Trans-Pecos Heritage Association, I write a monthly column, Ever Vigilant, which appears in about 50 newspapers--and that number is growing. I would like to add ConservativeBattleline to my distribution list because we all have to work together to get the conservative point of view out there as strongly as we can. You can see previous columns at dmtpha.wordpress.com on the Archive page. Thank you, Joan R. Neubauer, Davis Mountains Trans-Pecos Heritage Association