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Tuesday, August 08, 2006

It's time to wake up the GOP

Amen and Amen and Amen! Republicans need to wake up. Let me remind you, listen to any of Bush's state of the union speaches and you will hear a socialist speaking for at LEAST the first half of those speeches. Tragically, even with the GOP, The question is NEVER: " should the government be involved in this?" but "how much should the government be involved in this?" Can someone answer the question as to WHY the government has grown, why spending has increased, and why public education programs have also grown with the GOP controlling all of Washington for who knows how long! (In reality you could say it's been more than 10 years!)

WND Exclusive
Reagan architect declares war on GOP
Viguerie says withhold money, stop calling yourself 'Republican'

Posted: August 8, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com


Richard Viguerie
WASHINGTON – One of the architects of the Reagan Revolution is calling on fellow conservatives to withhold support of the Republican Party establishment – including most GOP incumbents in Congress this year.

In "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause," Richard Viguerie, the man who invented the idea of using direct mail as a means of going over the heads of what he considered to be a biased establishment press, says it's time for radical action to save the Republican Party from itself.

His plan includes the following actions, which would spell bad news for the GOP in the 2006 midterm congressional elections and in the 2008 presidential election:

  • Withhold financial support from Republican committees and most Republican incumbents.
  • Withhold support from all 2008 presidential candidates.
  • No longer call yourself "a Republican" but rather a Reagan Republican or a Reagan conservative.
  • And work for wholesale change in Republican leadership.

While not advocating GOP defeat, Viguerie says conservatives should not fear the loss of Congress in 2006, since the biggest gains usually follow a defeat. He points to 1976 when Gerald Ford's loss made possible Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980 and to 1992 when George H.W. Bush's loss made possible the Republican congressional victories in 1994.

Viguerie helped transform American politics by pioneering the use of direct-mail fundraising in the political and ideological spheres. Dubbed by some as the "Funding Father of the conservative movement," Viguerie motivated millions of Americans to participate in politics for the first time.


In his new book, Viguerie shows federal spending under the Bush administration has grown five times larger than that during the second term of the Clinton administration, painting the president as a traitor to his party.

Viguerie compares spending by the federal government, adjusted for inflation, during the Clinton years vs. the Bush years. In Clinton's first term, federal expenditures rose 4.7 percent. In his second term, they rose 3.7 percent. In the first term of the Bush administration, however, spending rose 19.2 percent.

"If ever there was a case for divided government, here it is," writes Viguerie. "The lesson for many Americans is that today's Republicans cannot be trusted with the keys to both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government."

No matter how you slice it, Viguerie says, Bush makes Clinton look like a spending piker by comparison. For instance, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York keeps records that show how much the federal government spends on average each year for each person in the country.

When this standard of measurement is used, the comparison between the two administrations is even more pronounced.

Cumulative growth in federal expenditures, adjusted for inflation, during the Clinton years actually shrunk by 1.1 percent. Yet, in the Bush first term, it rose 15 percent.

"During President Bush's first five years in office, the federal government increased by $616 billion," Viguerie writes. "That's a mammoth 33 percent jump in the size of the federal government in just his first five years! To put this in perspective, this increase of $616 billion is more than the entire federal budget in Jimmy Carter's last years in office. And conservatives were complaining about Big Government back then! How can Bush, (Dennis) Hastert, (Bill) Frist and company look us in the eye and tell us they are fiscal conservatives when in five short years they increased the already-bloated government by more than the budget for the entire federal government when Ronald Reagan was assuming office?"

Monday, August 07, 2006

Running the race

Paul talks about us running the race. He says in Hebrews:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
I don't think I have fully appreciated these words or understood what they really mean. All that running and training last summer helped, I think, in showing me what this means and how it feels. I've started to apply that training and the things I learned during it to strengthen my faith, my calling as a wife and my calling as a mother. Life can get tedious, that's for sure! Faith can wane, frustrations can boil over, we can begin to loose our focus on the King. But, if you think about running the race... there are days when we kind of coast, we don't go uphill or go downhill. In my running I have found these times the most difficult. There is no rush or challenge because you are not going uphill, there is no break, or "high" when you aren't going downhill. Keeping up the pace when the road is flat is the most difficult. There are so many distractions: Discontent, lack of faith, lack of joyous thanksgiving, bitterness, idleness, pursuit of other things to fill us up so we feel like we are taking a "break" from running the spiritual race, these are all things lurking during the straight and flat part. These are also the times I think God can do a WONDROUS work in us. Learning to be content with the typical day, typical vocation we find our selves in and really, really working in that with all our heart for the Glory of God can bring great satisfaction. We begin to see the Lord taking hold of every part of our life when we submit these little things to him.

The kids have been such a blessing to my walk. Praying with them daily, throuout the day, singing and teaching them hymns and songs, memorizing scripture with them, being in the Word constantly, has caused a revival of heart! It's amazing the accountability I feel knowing that I have to teach a little one or two how to run that race. They have drawn me closer to the Word and the Lord more than I could have ever imagined. Maybe that's one of the purposes God has in those cute little rug rats : )

Highlights for journaling sake:
Anna continues to battle (she's winning) sucking her thumb. Got to get to Chuck-E-Cheese
She has finished the first two songs in the Suzuki violin book! Suzuki has been great for improving listening skills and work ethic. "You vill play thiz and you vill likee iiit!"
Josh finished his first week since we've been married where he has run more than me! I'm slacking off! I hope we can get into biking more this fall again. We have talked a bit about taking a river trip in Alaska.....if I can ever save for that canoe. Anyone want to buy an electric guitar? I have one for sale.
Caleb loves to command: "can I have some of that please", "I want up NOW, please", "blankie probably downstairs" and if he has a little gas from all that fruit he is quick to say "bump" maybe that's what that feels like, a bump... LOL off to bed.