The Field of play:

Tuesday-April 12, 2011 The Field of play: The major league baseball season has started. The fields of play are now open for players to excel and play the game that America loves best. America’s favorite pastime is always welcomed and anticipated, as the final winter winds turn into the warm soft breezes over the fields of green that the boys of summer play on. As the 2011 baseball season begins, the 2012 presidential political season is now heating up. With all the rhetoric of political play, the pundits have arrived to broadcast the game. The 2012 race is now on. The Democrats are worried, because they are using the words and the phrases that only a trained political advisor can write and also analyze. What I hear are the phrases that describe the president as being confident, because there is no one “worthy” of running against the president on the Republican side. The analysts are now busy predicting who will run and who won’t. They are busy finding the weakness in the poles and the perceived strengths of the man who holds office now. It is impossible to predict what team will be the winner of the World Series this early in the season. Though some will give an opinion of who doesn’t have a chance I wish that could be said of the President. By the end of this year’s baseball season, we will know who brought the pennant home and, at the same time, we will also have a pretty good idea of who will win the early primary season and go on to run against the president. Though some will tell us that the congressional election of 2010 was a revolution, we cannot trust that the 2012 election will continue on that same course. However, history never lies and history always records the one who didn’t win. On this date, in 1770, the Townshend Acts were repealed. This series of laws were passed in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly in which acts they include under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five laws are frequently mentioned: the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New York Restraining Act. The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would be independent of colonial rule, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish the province of New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts were met with resistance in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770. As a result of the massacre in Boston, Parliament began to consider a motion to partially repeal the Townshend duties. Most of the new taxes were repealed, but the tax on tea was retained. The British government continued in its attempt to tax the colonists, without their consent. The Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution followed. After reading this bit of history, I need to ask one question; how can the president be permitted to say we all need to share in the financial burden of the nation’s debt? Why can Congressman Charlie Rangle say that, “we need to borrow, because we don’t have the money?” Why can Harry Reid and Barack Obama say in 2009, in the Senate, that “the debt ceiling should not be raised under any circumstance” and then today say, “we must raise the debt ceiling?” These are but a few of the words that some savvy potential office holder should use as a challenge to the president and his party. If you review past history, you will find that some did ask the tough question of why. This is how revolution begins. I have asked a few questions today and I will continue to do so. I will not stop asking the Democrats and I will also ask the Republicans. Right now we must make sure that the Republicans stand firm and not raise the debt ceiling in the next few weeks. The president should be the one that is held responsible, instead of making each American share in the burden of what past office holders have inflicted on this country, as a result of not asking the tough questions, let alone acting responsibly to find the answers. The president once again wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. Didn’t he just extend the Bush tax cuts? He will outline his budget plan tomorrow in front of many spectators that have already paid for this season’s ticket with their taxes. Keep a few things in mind while you watch this seasons players throw the fowls and strikes. If taxes are raised, we know how employment will be effected. When unemployment rises, people stop buying. When people stop buying, commerce slows down. When commerce slows down, the nasty cycle of recession starts over again. Gas is expected to hit five dollars a gallon this summer. When gas prices go up, people stop spending on other items. For example, if a bakery has to pay more for its flour, yeast, sugar and everything that it uses to make its baked goods, the bakery is forced to raise its prices to reflect the higher cost of producing its products. If customers find it difficult to buy a whole loaf of bread, they will buy a half loaf. The bakery can only raise the price of a half loaf to that of what the market can afford. The consumer then has a decision to make, stop buying at that particular bakery and go elsewhere. Either way, the bakery loses. It will go out of business or it will be forced to lay off employees, because of the increased cost of doing business with less customers. These two examples demonstrate what happens when you raise taxes with the prospect of rising fuel prices. Both scenarios results are less disposable income at the consumer level. The same was true in 1770 and the same is still true in 2011. The winner of this season will be hard to predict. The same is true in baseball as it is in politics. You need a deep bench with a pinch hitter. You need a pitcher that can pitch that fast ball and some times the curve ball. In baseball, the better team always wins. In baseball, it is always best to be in the lead during the seventh inning stretch. This season, ask the hard questions and throw those fast balls and make sure you watch for the calls the ump makes! Gregory C. Dildilian Founder and Executive Director Pinecone Conservatives A footnote: The bases are loaded on the field of play, with two men out you need to strike out the next batter to win the game - what kind of a ball do you pitch? If you are on the other team do you bunt or do you swing?