Geoausch

In the movie Cool Hand Luke, Luke Jackson serves time in a Florida prison work camp. From the moment he is introduced to the camp, Luke establishes himself as a fiercely independent spirit, challenging the authority of  the prison guards and refusing to accept the heirarchy of power among the prisoners established prior to his arrival.  One of the movies most memorable moments occurs when Luke (Paul Newman) challenges Dragline (George Kennedy), the self appointed leader among the band of prisoners,  to a prison yard fight.

Dragline uses his size and strength to pummel Luke. However, each time Dragline knocks Luke to the ground, he rises back up to take the next round of punches. At first, the other prioners cheer the fight on, but after a while they begin to see the extent of the beating and encourage Luke to either stay down or start bleeding so that the guards will stop the fight.  Luke refuses, rises to his feet and attempts a weak swing at Dragline who picks Luke up and throws him over his shoulder like a sack of potatos. When Dragline puts Luke down, he takes another swing at Dragline’s face. Dragline looks at Luke tells him “you’re beat” and to “stay down,” but Luke rises back up, as Dragline walks away.

Later that night, Luke manages to win most of the money in camp by bluffing his way through a hand in poker. Dragline looks at Luke and makes the comparison of the way Luke continued to fight him with “nothing” to the way he won a big hand in poker with “nothing.” This prompts Luke to issue one of the most famous lines in movie history, “…sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.” As the movie progresses, we see Luke defy the authority of the prison guards and that of Captain, seeking to escape from both the literal and metaphorical chains they attach to him, refusing to allow the authority of the prison camp establishment intimidate him.

When I think of Cool Hand Luke, I’m reminded of what the Republican Party currently needs. In the current political clime, Barack Obama plays the role of Captain. Indeed, you can almost hear the words, “what we have here is failure to communicate,” coming out of Obama’s mouth. The prison guards represent Obama’s lackeys in the Democratic Party–Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, etc. Dragline represents the current “leaders” in the Republican Party–John McCain, Sarah Palin, Lindsey Graham. The other prisoners represent the Republican Party and Luke represents the figure the Republican Party lacks.

Yes, the Republican Party needs their own Luke, someone willing to challenge the authority of the political establishment, someone willing to challenge the Captain and his guards, someone willing to take the punches from those in the Republican Party who will tell him or her, “we’re beat, stay down.”  The Republican Party needs politicians,not with policy, but with swagger. The Republicans need someone to energize their party with their dissidence.

Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX) understands this, but lacks the eloquence to properly express this philosophy.  Asking a political party to take lessons from a Paul Newman movie is far less controversial than asking a political party to take lessons from the Taliban. I might not agree with everything Sessions says, but I admire his bravado nonetheless. Earlier in the week, Sessions called out Barack Obama, saying that Obama wants to “inflict damage and hardship on the free enterprise system, if not kill it.”  After that remark, members of Sessions own party played the role of Dragline, distancing themselves from Sessions comments, submitting to the authority of the Democratic leadership.

Instead of standing up beside Sessions, lambasting Obama for his contempt of the private sector, accepting the punishment the White House would surely throw their way, the Republican leadership tucked their tails between their legs and said they did not agree with Sessions. They chose to cut and run, instead of staying and fighting.

We have seen this same cowardice since 2000. Every Republican politician has marched in line with the leadership at top. Every now and then, a few Republican politicians will have a moment of clarity and take a stand like Sessions; however, none of them go far enough.

For example, when Sessions made his accusations about Obama’s attempt to “kill” capitalism, he could have launched into a speech against socialism and took a chance to criticize many in his own party. 

The Republicans taxed and spent the past 8 year like there was no tomorrow and tried to force the government in arenas where the government has no business (gay marriage, Terry Schiavo, etc.). Yes, the few remaining Republicans in Congress are just like their Democrat counterparts. In the words of Bon Jovi, “it’s all the same/only the names have changed.” 

As much as I hate the Democratic Party, the Republican Party is actually more puzzling to me. Why is that they continue to push issues that many, if not most, Americans see as products of bigotry and misogyny. You don’t win elections by telling people “we think this group of people should have these rights, but not these.” They’re free to believe that, but don’t try to legislate it.

The best way for Republicans to win elections is to focus on the economy. “I’ll cut your taxes. I’ll decrease regulation of your business. I’ll let you make as much money as you want and spend that money the way that you want. Other than that, do what you want, just remember your rights end at your nose.” 

Instead, Republicans vote with Democrats on raising taxes, increasing government spending, using the government as a vehicle to fix mistakes made by the private sector. Let us not forget, a Republican president started the Federal bail out program. Three Republican Senators voted in favor of the Federal stimulus program. No wonder the Republican Party is at rock bottom, right now, it has no backbone to support it. Hopefully, before too long, the Republican Party will find it’s Cool Hand Luke and throw a wrench in the Democrats plan to turn the United States into a European socialist state.

I like getting political analysis from a variety of sources.  Every media outlet slants one way or the other, an unbiased media does not exist. Therefore, it is imperative to flip around to get the full story.

Personally, I felt John McCain won tonight’s debate and exposed Barack Obama as a one trick pony. Sure, Obama looked debonair, but he continues to fail to comprehend the basic principles of capitalism, either that or he disagrees with the principles of capitalism.  Indeed, Obama admitted that he felt “government regulation” was a major component to solving the ills plaguing the financial world. Though quick to point out the predatory nature of some lending institutions, Obama failed to talk about the role the irresponsible consumer and the tax-happy Federal government played in contributing to our current economic environment. Obama’s failure to understand these basic principles of capitalism prevent him from understanding the very basics of Wall Street.

Not only does he fail to understand Wall Street; he fails to understand “Main Street.”  I grew up on Main Street, literally, 202 West Main Street to be exact.  I’m not upset that Americans wealthier than me receive tax cuts. Other people’s success does not threaten me, rather it inspires me. Obama wants to cut taxes for 90% of Americans? That’s not good enough, McCain’s tax cuts extend even to wealthy Americans, which is only fair.

The one thing Obama continues to prove over and over again is that he does understand one street in the United States–Hollywood Boulevard.  Obama’s foriegn policy script could have been written by any Hollywood screen writer, Michael Moore, Barbara Streisand, or any other of the radical Leftists in Hollywood. Since we’re talking actors and directors, I feel it’s prudent to quote Shakespeare, “what’s done is done and cannont be undone.” Indeed, we may have gone into Iraq under false pretenses, but Obama and his Hollywood friends fail to acknowledge that once we entered that country, be it right or wrong, we had an obligation to finish what we started. Throughout tonight’s debate, I continued to hear this drivel spill out the mouth of Obama.

As you know, MSNBC decided to reassign their Leftist lightning rods, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann for these debates. Matthews got stuck with the late shift following the debate tonight and I flipped it over to watch a bit of his Obama love fest. On several occasions, I was reminded of film clips of star struck female fans of Elvis and The Beatles from the 1960′s watching Matthews. He sat in a chair, arms cross his chest, as if he was trying to hug himself, his head tilted gently to the side as he stared off into the night, obviously enjoying a case of happy pants as he thought of his ultimate man crush Barrack Obama. He asked two basic questions to his guests, “Wasn’t Obama great?” and “Will  being ‘troll-like’ hurt John McCain?”

Seriously?  “Troll like?” If John McCain is “troll like,” what is Barrack Obama? Fascist like?

Chris, tell me, will being a fascist hurt Barrack Obama? Let’s hope so, because the one thing Obama does understand and embrace is fascism.

Next week, the Vice-Presidential debate: Palin v. Biden, should be a good one, but my money is on the Barracuda.

UPDATE: Please, feel free to post your comments. I’m not like the Daily Kos and left-wing blogs; all view points are welcomed here. If you disagree with me, I desire your comments even more.  I will never attack you. I’ll just comment on your comments. All I ask is that you come back to check for my response to your comments. Enjoy!

Allow me to preface this post with the following: I’m no economic genius. Finance bores me to no end. In college, I avoided classes in economics and business on purpose. I love debating politics, especially foreign policy, con. law, and social issues, but I often shy from debating finances. I simply describe myself as “social liberal” and “fiscal conservative” and move on to debate a subject more comfortable to me.

With that said, I know enough about the “free markets”, capitalism and laissez-faire economics to know that the Bush administration’s $700 billion “rescue plan” and the $85 billion Federal Reserve bail out of AIG represent a slippery slope for government expansion and intervention in not only our financial markets, but our lives as well.

Where I come from, if a person accrues debt, living above their means, they don’t expect their parents to bail them out of their situation. Their parents more than likely will add words of wisdom and moral support, but in an attempt to teach responsibility, the debtor must pay the debts himself.

Why should corporations be treated any differently?

In essence, this is the situation we are facing. AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and even Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to a certain extent represent the “irresponsible debtor,” living well above their means, buying things on credit, hoping to turn a huge profit. Now that years of superfluous spending has gotten them in trouble, they run to their “rich daddy”–the Federal government–and expect some sort of financial assistance. Indeed, these irresponsible debtors expect you and me to pay for their mistakes.

At the risk of sounding naive, I propose we let these “irresponsible debtors,” sort through their debts on their own. If not, we can only expect these problems to occur again.

I realize that the markets have responded well to the bail outs, but this is the equivalent of a diet of candy and sodas. At first, there is a sugar high, but it will be soon followed by a hard crash due to a lack of sustenance.

While I’m not knowledgeable enough on economic issues to declare it the perfect solution, I do think John McCain’s response has been the best of any prominent politician thus far.