The Teaching Tool of Capitalism

There are many differences from my generation, and the one my father grew up in during the 1950’s and 60’s.  From the technology and music my generation consumes, much has changed in only two generations. But I’ve found that the overarching difference from the baby boomers to the Millennials is the since of entitlement that is displayed amongst my generation.

Growing up in a hardworking class family-and son to a WWII veteran-my father knew that if he wanted something out of life, it would not be handed to him.  Even though my Grandfather- Robert “Sunny” Mitchell Witherspoon Jr.-died when my father was still a teenager, a strong work-ethic, as well as the understanding that the richest man in town was not to be vilified but yet revered, helped my father to become the successful family man he had set out to be.

My father-Michael Alan Witherspoon Sr.-instilled in me these same values.  As I grew up among many with bigger homes and shinier cars, it could have been easy for my father to display a since of jealousy towards those more well off, however he used it as a motivational tool for me.

You see my father never graduated from college, and it was something he always regretted, yet blamed no one but himself. So he made sure I knew how important a college education was, and without one that I’d always be held back from my career goals.

When my father passed away in 2008, I made a promise to myself to finish school; no matter what.  It wasn’t easy, and there was definitely a bump or two along the way, but I always remembered what my father would say “the world doesn’t owe you anything…if you want something bad enough, you can do it, but you’re going to have to work hard for it.”

I continue to live by this motto today, in that it has helped me become successful in my early job career, whereas so many other Millennials continue to blame rich successful businessmen for holding them down, and at the same time beg the government to forgive their student debts as if they didn’t realize they’d have to pay back the thousands of dollars in student loans one day.

This mindset was one of the main reasons Mitt Romney came up short in last year’s presidential election.  The Obama campaign narrative-that painted Gov. Romney as an evil businessman who cared little about others and only about his own personal wealth, during his time as a former venture capitalist for Bain Capital-worked, and it was the Millennials it rang true to the most.

Breaking for Obama by 23 more points than Romney in 2012, the Millennials proved that there has been a definite culture shift in the youth vote (18-29), seeing John Kerry only carried the youth vote by 9 more points than George W. Bush only eight years ago.

Instead of demeaning public figures such as Mitt Romney because he has been a successful businessman, we should look to them as examples of what hard work and personal responsibility can lead to, for if we continue to condemn the institution of capitalism and lean on our government as a crutch-more and more-America will cease to look like the country that others dream to be.

We Should Never Despair

Tuesday’s election is being drawn up as a massacre but I wouldn’t approve that title for the history books just yet. Republicans increased their majority in state Governors and increased their holding of state house majorities across the country. Sure the Democrats won the presidency and won back some senate seats, but that wasn’t because America rejected conservative principles. No, that was because Conservatives didn’t have a clear powerful message to combat the strong election tactics of the left. If Romney had grabbed every vote McCain did in 2008 he would of won the election. We cannot blame this on the Libertarian Party or the Tea Party. Sure two Tea Party Senate candidates blew it (Akin and Mourdock), but they would have won those races if we coached them. We saw two Tea Party candidates Cruz and Bentivolio win their races. So I ask you, did the Democrats win this election or did the Republicans lose this election? While it was frustrating and demoralizing, we all must remember that everything happens for a reason. And while the Democrats foolishly assume this is a mandate of some sort, Conservatives must regroup to continue the war. This is no time for anyone to give up.

In 1777, the Revolutionary War seemed to be finally turning in the direction of the colonies. However, on July 6th, 1777, the colonies lost Fort Ticonderoga to the British. Which was a surprise to Washington and opened the door for the British to split the Colonial Army in two. The defeat was so embarrassing, and such a significant loss, the two generals who lost the battle were actually court marshaled for their surrender. After hearing of the loss Washington wrote this in a letter:

“We should never despair, our situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the times.”

As Washington said we should not despair. “Our situation has been unpromising” before and we have climbed out of that. In 2008 we did not have a majority in any government branch. We got wiped off the map in every race, we were facing a massive recession, and their were no conservative leaders in sight. “We must put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to exigency of the times.” Now we have the House, and we must use that which has been given to us. FDR’s policies didn’t succeed because he was re-elected. His policies succeed because the conservative men and women of his second term put their Constitutions back in their pockets and went home after his re-election. We cannot succumb to that same response. Through the House we must fight every implementation of every policy that shoved on the American people. We do not have the luxury anymore to drop the burden given to us and surrender. Our country is on the verge of a fiscal cliff, chained by debt, crippled by unemployment, and strangled by red tape, waiting to be saved. And there is no waiting for the cavalry, Karl Rove, or Rubio/Ryan in 2016. We are the cavalry. And we must prepare for the next battle. History will tell us that a mid-term election in the second term of a president is the most devastating to the seated incumbents. This, now, this is the window of opportunity we have been waiting for. It is time for us to group together now and begin to stage an election in 2014 that will be recorded in history books as a massacre.

Don’t ever give up, because “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to.”

The Most Important Race In 2012

I’m Sick Of Losing

I’m sick of losing. I am tired of being ridiculed by the media. I’m tired of the same thing election after election. This country needs real leaders and real decision makers that will take risks and bet on America. Romney and Ryan were a good pair but they ran a conservative campaign. The time to just try to coast through these elections and hope for the best is over. We just got beat by incumbent with an unemployment rate of 8% and were supposed to be content with a campaign that grabbed only 206 electoral votes? We should have accepted nothing less of a landslide after these last four disastrous years. Why aren’t we winning in Florida, Virginia, and Ohio convincingly? Why are we not gaining at least a foothold in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin? One third of California consists of Latinos who just voted in this election 75% in favor of Obama. A man they don’t agree with socially and in most cases has made them lose their labor income. Why isn’t there a campaign strategy to target this demographic? Why are we not hitting this market over and over again in California to swing that vote and defend our grasp of Texas? You don’t have to make campaign stops there or even expect to win their vote in 2016, but this should be a long term priority and worked on now. We lost California and almost every swing state by the same McCain did, that is called failure. A lot of these returns I find a bit off, voter ID and cleaning the voter rolls have to be a priority from now till 2014. Every state should have a voter ID campaign by the Republicans, no excuse.

And what in the world is the Senate doing? We should have won everyone of those Senate races. Warren was a joke of a candidate and we were the incumbent, Kaine won in a previously occupied Republican seat, Donnelly in Indiana became the first Democrat in a decade to win a statewide race, McCaskill who is hated in her home state took 55% of the vote, and as we speak right now we are losing Senate races in both Montana and North Dakota. This is nothing short of embarrassing for the Republican party.

There is no excuse for results like this after the past four years. Campaigns were completely derailed by these ideas of a “war on woman,” “class warfare,” and “blame bush.” Republicans should have never gone down these roads and stuck to what we know, what voters are feeling, and what they want out of the next four years. I don’t accept the excuse that the media threw this election or any other excuse. You had three pro-conservative movies hit theaters in the last six months, you have five conservative books in the the Top Ten New York Time Bestsellers, and millions were on ads. The every race across the board in this election was teed up for conservative candidates and they got demolished. The leadership is clearly to blame on this. They, the Tea Party, and us conservatives need to step back and look at the candidates we are picking for this races. They need to embody the image of a leader and be trained on conservative ideals. No more inconsistency in the message, no more foot in the mouth moments that are totally off topic, and no more non-conservative candidates slipping through the cracks. If we and our leadership don’t get it together soon we could be in some serious trouble.

How Ryan Can Sway The Tide In 2012

 

Since Mitt Romney has secured the GOP nomination early this summer the republican base has been mixed on their excitement for the former Massachusetts Governor who some call boring, and not conservative enough. That all changed this past Saturday morning on a navy ship in Virginia when Romney surprised many on the right and left by announcing Wisconsin Congressmen Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Many thought that Romney would take the safe pick in a Rob Portman, Republican Senator from Ohio, or Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota Governor, which would not have hurt his current standings in the polls, although would have probably not done a whole lot to help them as well. By picking Ryan, Romney showed his base, as well as the rest of the country, that he is capable of being a bold leader by making the tough decisions that are necessary to run the country. So why is this young old small town boy from Wisconsin the bold pick that can make the difference at the polls in November, many reasons.

For one Ryan is the definition of a fiscal conservative, and child darling of the Tea Party. With there being no argument by both sides that the economy is the number one issue of the 2012 race, Romney could not have found a better candidate who has a vision to restore America’s economic prosperity in Ryan with his budget plan that has been proposed the past two years in Washington.

Though the Tea Party is not the only base that will rally around this ticket, the young conservative base of the country has reason to be enthused as well! Ryan who is only 42, and who began his career as a congressmen at the ripe age of 28, gives young republicans something that they have never had, youth. Adding a candidate who is more close to the young conservative base gives young people a candidate they can relate to more, which obviously helped in President Obama’s election in 2008.

The biggest factor by far though, and the one that has drown less attention, is the ability that Ryan has in swaying the independent “young professional” vote. With many 30-40 year old citizens with families who make at or above the national average in salary, (from a 2007 family income survey) and are worried about what is going to happen with not only their money, but their young children’s’ futures, Ryan’s economic plan, as well as age similarity may be the difference in the election.

Conservatively we can say there are near 25 million citizens who fall in this category(from a 2010 Census Release), with half of them being undecided voters, which are the majority in most all national elections. If Ryan is able to earn the trust of this “young professional” base,get them out to vote, and have them believe in his vision for their future, it may be just enough to be the difference in a Romney/Ryan victory come November 6^th.

http://www.freeby50.com/2009/04/income-versus-age-and-resulting-tax.html

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/population.html