Shame on US for jumping to wrong conclusion

Shame on us for jumping to the wrong conclusion and thinking we have scandals to worry about. We are duly warned by President Obama there are no scandals about which to be concerned. President Obama wants us to know that what has distracted our nation from moving forward economically and to restore the confidence in the free market to begin seeing jobs created rather than continuing to see the unemployment numbers go up is something known as ”phony scandals.” According to President Obama these phony scandals have been placed in the media and in the minds of the American people with the intended consequence of derailing the plans to complete the planned agenda of his administration in Washington. Well, all that can be said about this is “Shame on us!” We should know the difference in a media made up story and real life events that have unfolded before our eyes. We should know that the failed plan to get guns in the hands of international thugs, drug lords, and criminals is not a scandal. Anyone with an aware eye could see the plan was to track down where the guns were sent once they left our country. It is not a scandal that the guns once given to thugs, drug lords, and alleged international criminals then fell into the wrong hands and at least one of them was used to kill an American citizen who was guarding our border. When we believe President Obama, we will know that the killing of four American citizens assigned to work for the State Department in Libya was not a scandal but the work of a band of roving thugs who were bent on making the current Administration in Washington look as if they have no clue how to protect American citizens from international thugs. The President wants us to know, however,” there is no scandal to see in Benghazi.” Shame on us for thinking that the over zealous work of a few IRS agents in a small office somewhere in the Midwest held up the applications of conservative groups waiting to receive their requested tax exempt status is a scandal. Shame on us for thinking that the Department of Justice did not have the full right to spy on American reporters while they were doing their job in reporting the news and for our conclusion that what happened is a scandal of great concern. Shame on us for thinking that it is not right for the government to spy on citizens, collecting as much data as is possible from cell phone use, emails, and other means that are used to transmit communication from one citizen to another without letting the citizens know they are being spied on by the government. There is no scandal (if we believe the current talking points from this administration) to see here, move along, and wake up to understand these are just events planned to distract from the real work of government. Several years ago, a promise was made to drain the swamp of corruption and make everything ethical and legal coming from Washington. Nancy Pelosi promised that with her party in power in Washington, the American people would begin to see dignity and integrity restored. Taking what we have been promised from the current party in power we can conclude then that it is no scandal when former ten term congressman, now mayor of San Diego, Bob Filner, refuses to resign from his position as Mayor of the sixth largest city in America over a little thing like being accused of groping women, forcing them to kiss him, and to insist they wear no underwear while at work. There is nothing to see here, move along. There is no scandal, if we believe the current talking points from this administration. There are many reports of the corruption and dysfunction in the thinking and actions of disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner (candidate for mayor of New York City) as his actions of sending lewd pictures of himself to women via social media are not to be labeled a scandal. With the redefinition of terrorism, scandals, marriage, taxes (called revenue stream), honor, integrity, and dignity we must conclude with this administration there is nothing to see here. No leadership is seen. No acceptance of responsibility is seen in all of these events. With one scandal after the other, the American people should be ashamed for letting this culture of corruption continue. Ray Newman This column first appeared in the Barrow County News Wednesday July 31, 2013

Know Before You Vote

I am sitting in a room in East Alabama as I write this column. Speaking engagements have me in two states where I have the chance to converse with people from all walks of life. I have spoken with teachers, business owners, farmers, and many voters during this trip. The interesting part of what I am allowed to do when I go out to speak is the time to hear from citizens as they ask questions about their various concerns in regard to what is taking place in our culture. In Alabama and Georgia, the people are very aware of what is taking place in the political world and verbally express great concern about recent decisions that the Supreme Court announced. Their questions inform me as to their understanding of what they see happening in our culture. The concerns and deep worry fit into several categories. One of the concerns is the “overreach” of government regulations. Another issue that always comes up during these question and answer sessions is education and how it has changed. The real fear is that more government regulations and mandates being forced on school systems will continue to harm the advancement of quality education in our country. In the Georgia counties where I have spoken, the issue of Common Core is always raised by an active teacher or a retired teacher. I have yet to hear from any teachers, retired or active, who think the Common Core concept is good for education. A teacher who will be returning to her beloved profession this fall told of leaving the classroom several years ago because of all the government regulations that were being forced on the classroom teachers. She also said as she returns to the classroom this fall to teach once again, she has talked with many of her friends who have continued to teach and each of them expressed their fear that with Common Core there is going to be a stripping away of local control of the education of the students and it will be replaced with indoctrination instead of teaching the students how to think, thus giving away a chance for a good education for the students. Her direct quote to me was: “Teachers are fearful they will no longer be allowed to teach students how to think but will be required to tell them what to think and how to respond only as if they are trained animals rather than people with a brain to think for themselves.” The sobering expression of the worry of this teacher quoted above brings even more fear to me as I think of government control using brain washing techniques to produce only the desired results sought by the government. We can all agree that a mind is a terrible thing to waste and with control being taken away from parents and classroom teachers, we can only expect the next step is behavior controlled by government edicts and mandates. In the various conversations I had with the people asking the questions, the issue of marriage and the definition of marriage being defined completely by government and judicial edict were always discussed. The family and the establishment of marriage predate government. The first institution and the first founding stone of society is the family as clearly defined in the Bible. Before we had government, business, or the church there was family. We have come to this point in the 21st century where the Supreme Court has made a political decision in ruling, as they did, against the Defense of Marriage Act and declaring the vote of the citizens of California to have an amendment to their state constitution as being not valid to define marriage as they so desired. Following that ruling, several people have expressed to me their grave worry that the vote of the citizens on any given subject can be declared not valid by five people sitting as the majority opinion on the Supreme Court. That should be a worry and matter of concern for each citizen and every person living in our nation. From the many questions, worries, and concerns presented to me over the last several weeks, I have discovered a glaring issue that must be addressed. The issue of people voting without knowledge of the positions of the candidates for which they cast a vote has surfaced during these discussions. I urge each voter to know before you vote. Ray Newman

When we lose Religious Liberty we lose all our Freedoms

As the merry-go-round of scandals continues in Washington, the events of the world outside of our country indicate unrest and trouble in many countries.  There is much unrest in England, Turkey, and Iran. Finding a clear understanding of what is taking place is hard. Should we take the space to list the places where there is growing distrust of governing powers and rebellion against authority all we would have space for is to include a list of the nations. The growing distrust in our country is almost to the point of alarm. Surveys of the mood of citizens in our country let us know there is much concern about our freedoms and with every new revelation of what we have come to know as the government spying on the citizens, there is increased concern growing as to how trust can be restored and what it will take to bring our nation to a point of unity. There are people who want to define every point of concern as if it is rooted in racial feelings. Other people like to paint every question from one side or the other as if it is only political and is rooted in ideological differences. It is true that we can see a great divide taking place in our world and especially in our nation as we seek to move forward as a country. Surveys continue to reveal there is little trust in the national media to be able to produce a newscast that will reveal facts without commentary one way or the other to make the story being presented in a good or bad light. 

Being a freedom of speech and freedom of the press advocate, I watch with interest those who seek to control both in our time. Stories in the media continue to report the way some in positions of power in the government abuse that power by overreaching and then cover up their actions only to pretend they know nothing when they are questioned by members of Congress in a congressional hearing. This type behavior is enough to continue the impression that power abusers are out of control and they are picking off our freedoms one at the time. To be able to govern from a position of trust, the government leaders must have the trust of those being governed.

As I speak across our state in various events, the question and answer time has increasingly become tense. People are expressing their frustration and wanting to know someone is listening to them and their concerns about loss of freedom. The frustration of elected officials is being seen as a number of them are choosing not to seek reelection because of what they see as the gridlock in being able to have questions answered correctly and to reach solutions to the issues. There is a group of citizens who are sure that the answer is to throw out of office any and all who are serving now. Others want to target certain legislators to have them voted out of office and replaced with those who promise they will address the issues and reach solutions to the malaise that is keeping anything from being done in Washington. There seems to be no real answer or real long term solution to the mess we have today.

One of the recurring questions I am asked in these various venues is: “What do you see as the greatest threat in our nation?” With a follow up question stated thusly: “What do you see as the freedom that is most likely to be abolished in our nation?” My answer to both questions is the same. I believe the greatest threat, and freedom we are most likely to see abolished in our nation is religious liberty. As we study history and see the way other nations have been taken over from inside or out, one of the first freedoms lost is the freedom to choose ones religion and to be able to assemble with others of that faith to worship as personal convictions so dictate. Once the freedom of religion is lost, the other freedoms fall quickly.  There is no government that should be allowed to control the personal decision making of the citizens to force them to worship as the government leaders determine. Religious Liberty must be cherished and kept alive.

Ray Newman

Is Credibility Lost?

This will send shock waves through the minds of my readers. I want President Obama to be a success. Wait; don’t rush the stage! During the campaign and since being sworn into office, candidate Obama, now President Obama promised the American people he would have the most transparent administration ever. He also promised the American people he would insist that the rule of law be obeyed to the letter and spirit of the law. I am waiting for the time when we can celebrate as a nation of freedom loving people that President Obama is successful in obtaining those two promised goals.

We have to wonder how many more scandals will be “breaking news” as we awaken to face a new day. The “in-your-face” attitudes coming from the members of President Obama’s administration demonstrates the exact opposite of openness and transparency. When members of this administration are called to testify before congressional committees and show up to admit they know nothing or they react with an attitude of disdain for the process to the point they give answers that can be called ridiculous at best and contemptible at worst. The rule of law requires congressional oversight of policy and actions of areas of our Federal government. To have complete transparency from the government, it is required that correct answers be given to members of the committees when they ask questions. In our country, the law is broken when someone willingly lies under oath. The current administration is not the first to try these types of responses in order to skirt the law or regulations requiring total disclosure. This administration, however, promised the American people while running for office and since being in office, this type of atmosphere would not be allowed or tolerated. Thus, my statement that I am in full agreement with President Obama and support his promise to have the most transparent and open administration ever is made to point to the fact that fulfillment of his promise has not occurred up to this point in his administration.

Some people reading this column might think I am not serious and that I really do not want to see President Obama be a success. Nothing could be further from the truth or my intent in writing this column. I want to believe President Obama. I want to see the fulfilling of his promise to have an open and transparent administration that respects and keeps the law by letter and spirit.

With each new revelation of overreach and abuse of power coming from this administration, we are further from what has been promised and moving on a path directly opposite from the promises made. The bigger-government-control-crowd is certainly in place and flexing their muscle and using their power to the point of shopping around to find judges who will sign the court orders that on their appearance are subject to question and congressional review. We have reached the point in our nation where trust has been pushed out the door and believability of administration officials have fallen to the bottom of the scale.  Last week, the New York Times admitted this administration had lost credibility. When partisans on both sides of the aisle begin to call for a halt to certain actions and send out warnings of abuse of power and overreach by an administration, it is time for the advisors to the president and members of the departments of government to fess up and to come clean with truthful answers to the questions the American people are asking.

The lack of transparency on the provision of guns across the border into Mexico, known as the operation of “Fast and Furious,” the lack of full disclosure regarding what happened in Libya, the revelation of snooping on reporters, spying on the American people, and the overreach and abuse of power by the IRS against what can only be called an “enemies list” all add up to government secrecy, not openness or transparency. 

 When the Obama administration begins to live up to the promise of complete government transparency and follows the rule of law to the letter and spirit, we will all benefit as a nation. Trust can be restored; honesty can become the legacy of this administration when the decision is made to truly live up to the promises made. Until then, I agree with the New York Times, “All credibility is lost,”

Ray Newman

No Free Market Economy With Total Government Control

A foundational cornerstone of conservative thought in relation to government and the economic system is support for the free market. A free market stands or falls on its own. Government best serves the people when it allows for risk taking to be shouldered fully by the entrepreneur. We have been away from the basic understanding of a free market economy so long it sounds almost revolutionary to bring up the reality that in a free market the risk is taken by the one who takes the initiative to start the business.

Government funding and support for risk takers is the norm in business practice and now, government functions fully as the supporter of and the risk behind almost all financial ventures. This leads to total government control with the “big brother” or “nanny state” controlling all areas of business and personal life. The mantra is, there are businesses “too big to be allowed to fail” and in order to assure their success, the government must unload tons of money into the business to assure that if it fails, only the government stands to lose money and not the individuals involved. The biggest problem is that the ones who lose are the taxpaying citizens required to fund the government with their taxes. We know with every penny given by the government to a project, there are strings that weave into cords of control choking any success unless the government decides success is in the government’s best interest.

Control by government of all areas of life is showing itself more with regulations of the insurance coverage required and the lifestyle choices individuals make. The big brother crowd in government really believes they know better how to develop a menu of meals for the masses than the individual citizens. As part of the control mechanism imbedded in “Obama care,” are requirements as to government allowed body weight and body fat content of individuals. One could argue the government is trying to look after the citizens and to assure they live longer by requiring a lifestyle and eating regimen that will fit within the government allowable guidelines. That argument falls apart when we realize the government has no right to force its way onto the personal life choices of the citizens of this free nation. It does not matter that the requirements of limiting the size of a soda may be well intended; the citizens are required to be more accountable to government functionaries to obtain what they normally would buy otherwise to quench their thirst.

 In case all of this talk of government control, big brother and nanny state have you confused, the simple statement can be made for the government to get out of our life. However, we have come to be so completely dependant on the government, it is hard to make a change at this time. That being true, we are trapped in the ever slippery slope going downward into more government control of all we do. Less government, not more and bigger government is needed. We know, however, that to have less government control at this point in our republic, we must pass more legislation to reverse decisions already passed. In doing the reverse of what has already been placed into law, will in itself, require more government laws, thus we are on a failing cycle of giving up control to more government and not less government with hope to change the pattern of more government control. This is not double talk; this is the gridlock in the thinking that occurs when every new freshman class of government elected leaders are sworn into office. The newly elected officials go into office with the great hope of bringing about change and turning the wheels back to a free market economy only to be hit with the reality that to accomplish their goals they must pass new laws that will bring about more government and not less. We are at a point in our history when we must make crucial decisions about our future and our freedoms. Do we want to give up some of the support we insist the government provide to us? Do we want to continue to have our freedoms taken from us in order to allow the government to promise they will take care of us no matter what happens?  We must find a way to stop this slide into total government control of all we do and are.

Ray Newman

Amnesty is the wrong path

Amnesty, that will declare all illegal aliens in our country as suddenly legal, is a terrible public policy. Unless America becomes serious about making our borders secure we will always have people entering our country illegally. We cannot say we are going to declare the borders to be secure when by all reports they are not. When student visas are granted to foreign students allowing them to enter our country with the express purpose of attending college but they never enroll or they stay longer than the visa allows, then our laws are being broken. When a person enters this nation with a stated purpose and is allowed legal entry but once inside they decide they are not going to abide by their already pledged purpose for being inside our nation, they have then moved into the area of being illegal. When laws, already on the books but are not being enforced for whatever reason, the person who is no longer adhering to their stated reason for being in our country has then moved into the realm of lawbreaker. Some people argue that because they are unknowingly breaking a law, we must then give the illegal aliens the benefit of the doubt and allow them to stay in our country illegally. That flies in the face of every level of law enforcement this nation is founded on. I understand clearly why many people want to come to America to live and make a living. We are free and upward mobility is allowed to bring about betterment of a person’s condition in life. The reality of bad public policy is when blanket or retroactive amnesty is granted or planned once certain other standards are met and then that allows for a run on our borders (that are not secure), meaning that once illegal aliens are inside our nation they can enjoy all the rights and freedoms those of us who are in the country legally have.

Some people may ask, “Where is the compassion?” There are people who argue that we offer more jobs, freedom, and the ability to have a better way of life than any other nation on the planet. That being true does not make it right for people to overrun our borders, entering this nation through false means, and then putting down roots to stay without benefit of being legal.

We are discovering the disaster the so-called Affordable Health Care Act is with regulations that threaten to destroy jobs and bring down our nation setting us up to become a third world country. The same is true when we have talk of opening the borders and allowing all people currently in our country illegally to suddenly be declared legal. In former years, plans for amnesty proved to be a disaster, likewise, the current concept of securing borders, and then creating a so-called “path to citizenship” will not work in the long term to make us a safer nation filled with law abiding citizens. I care deeply for America. I love the opportunities we make available to people who want to obey our laws. I know there are criminals and others who learn quickly how to take advantage of the generous loving spirit that is demonstrated in our nation. We will not long be able to afford the assistance necessary to attend to every need of all the people who are already in our nation illegally. When members of Congress propose adding to those numbers other people who have shown an unwillingness to obey our laws they are setting up for failure of a major size.

 When we become serious about having secure borders, and allowing into our nation only those people who are willing to obey our laws in order to one day become citizens, then we could be on our way to finding a comprehensive solution to the immigration issue. Until then, we are facing major tough decisions as to how we are going to insist that the current laws be enforced. Those decisions could prove to be the most difficult we have ever faced in our country. The harshness of some solutions always causes people on both sides of the issue to point out how impossible it will be to put into practice.  Something must be done to find a solution, but amnesty is not the right path.

Will we remain a free nation?

Terms such as “The Chicago Way,” and “Being thuggish,” are making their way around social media outlets following the revelations  of the Department of Justice obtaining phone records of reporters who work for the Associated Press and Fox News and  with the I.R.S. profiling conservative groups in order to delay or deny their application for tax exempt status there is much concern growing. These outrageous assaults on our freedoms are added to the already frustrating attempts by Congress to have questions answered about the attack on our consulate in Libya. With Congress holding hearings on these subjects, little is known why these events are continuing and the uneasiness of the American people is beginning to surface. Government’s role is to protect the citizens from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Government is not to be feared but to assure the safety of all citizens. Fairness and balance in government is a goal toward which all people being governed would like to see happen. There is an impression by many citizens that only the elites receive special treatment of influence and power. The average hard working, tax paying citizen has long felt they are taken advantage of by their government officials. As these events become more known across the country, they continue to fuel the discontent and the fear that government no longer protects the citizens but impose their big government ideas upon a helpless population.

A government leader who cannot call terrorist or terrorism what it is but believes that because a taxpaying citizen, who cares enough to stand up and speak up for freedom, is someone to be profiled and kept in check is certainly proving what many people have speculated would happen.

 I always speak in a positive way about our military and the law enforcement agencies across our nation who are hired and trained to protect us. As I talk with people across our state, I am hearing more people share their deep concern that those whom we expect to protect us will be ordered to harm us if we dare speak our convictions and stand up for freedom.

I am certain it takes a great amount of courage for someone to enter a political race. With the large amount of money required to conduct a successful campaign for office at any level of government, many people will never be able to enter a race. While there are numerous people today expressing great desire to see new people run for office and to be able to investigate every person running, there is a fear that one does not really know the deep agendas of any candidate until after they are in office and then, it is too late to remove them, it seems. There are certain words that always attract my attention in a political speech. One of those words is: “reform.” Reform means change. The question that must be answered before anyone is elected to office is: “What type of change are you talking about?”

Our nation is built upon the blood, sweat and tears of former generations of people willing to give their life if necessary to assure our freedoms would remain intact. A sad moment in our American history is to watch as the total direction of our country is being changed and the fabric upon which this nation was built is being torn apart. For many years, I have insisted that when we listen to a politician long enough we will hear them tell the truth. At the point in time we must insist on hearing the truth and understand the truth as it is being given to us. I am not an advocate for turning the clock back; that is not possible. We will never again be the nation we once were. I am, however, an advocate for advancing the freedoms of our nation that were purchased with the blood of former generations who have gone before us in death. This generation of those seeking to change this nation into a “progressive” big government and socialist nation must not succeed. In the long run, a powerful centralized government will not assure the safety of the hard working taxpaying citizens. A government that continues to grow bigger becomes a threat to the freedoms of all citizens. With all the changes taking place one wonders if we will remain a free nation.