A broken promise!

Friday – June 25, 2010

A broken Promise!

Two weeks ago, Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer met at the White House with President Obama to discuss immigration and the passage of Arizona’s immigration law.

The Governor was hoping that something would come of the meeting. The President said, “give me two weeks and I will present my plan to you”. She waited, and yet nothing has happened. Yesterday, the Governor sent an open letter to the President and asked, where the plan that was promised me and the citizens of Arizona two weeks ago? Where are the troops and where is the 500 million dollars to assist us in securing the border?’ The President and the White House have yet to comment except to say that the White House will challenge the law in court and Mexico now is suing the State of Arizona over the Law that 68% of the people in this country support.

I left yesterday’s FORUM with a discussion about immigration and said this will be an issue in November, not only in Arizona, but across the nation.

My wishes are not to continually beat up on this President, but at some point you must agree that something is wrong in America. 48% of voters now disapprove of this president’s job approval, and 45% approve! 457,000 people lost their jobs last week. However, there was a drop of 19,000 people from the week before. On average, 467,000 people, per week, have lost their jobs in this country. 8.5 million people have now lost their jobs in this recession. I will concede, the recession is not the president’s fault. However, when he made it political, it then became his responsibility. Retail sales are down, as are new home sales. This will be another hidden story going into the fall.

My question is, how far down does this country have to go before the media wakes up? I don’t want to sound childish, but if this were George Bush, can you imagine how the press would be reacting to these man made disasters?

At least some of the people are waking up, because for the first time, 62% of voters say this country is now heading on the wrong track! This, unfortunately, is not humorous. The bright side is that my friend Steve, whom I wrote about this week, is now one of the 62%!

I related a story this week that I wanted to share with you. I thought that it was one that needed telling. It was a discussion that was between one American to another. I like stories and I like the people who tell them. Two of my favorite story tellers were from a time long gone. So let me continue this story with some of their words.

Will Rogers was a famous American story teller in the early part of the last century. Some say he was a statesman, some say a cowboy and some would classify him as a philosopher. What ever you say about the man, he made observations and turned them into humor. He said: “I don’t make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts.” I think we need more of a Will Rogers than the media that we have today.
Another favorite of mine was Mark Twain. He could transform you to another time and another place with wit and humor. He said: “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
He wrote in his biography: “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. — Mark Twain, A.B. Paine’s Mark Twain: A Biography (Harper, 1912, Vol. 2, page 724).
The story this week will continue into next week and beyond. Unfortunately these stories are the politics our time. There is no running away from it. You can hide and you can deny or you can become a Will Rodgers and find a serious humor in all of it. You can read some of Twain and understand what he means by the word “idiot” and understand how liberty becomes something else other than what the legislature wants.
We should respect our leaders and we should demand that a code be followed by our leaders: Jefferson said: “When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.”
He also said: “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. “
Another story line, in American history, came from a man that could have been President. He said: “I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is “needed” before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents “interests,” I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”

This man was Barry Goldwater. He was a statesman, a Senator, a humorist, at times, and his philosophy came from a historical backdrop in wanting a Republican form of government, because that is our story. He made no promises, but to follow the Constitution. If you do, you will not break your promise!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: 130 days remain between now and the midterms. My promise is to bring you the facts and a story behind those facts.