A Time For Compromise

A Time For Compromise

Written by: Scott Cooper

Last week after the election, I was engaged in a discussion on a blog with a good friend and mentor who has lived in Europe for the last 25 years.  He cautioned me and my friends within the Tea Party, stating now is the time for compromise, that the election was over.  Quoting Ecclesiastes 3:8 “There is a time for war, and a time for peace” Now is the time for The Tea Party to compromise and make peace, he cautioned.

To follow was my response:

First, since you quoted Ecclesiastes, allow me to share 1:9-11 “So, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, “see this, it is new?” Already it has existed for ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; and also of the later things which will occur. There will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.”

Let me share my perspective. I am angry. I believe it is ok to be angry. Ephesians 4:6 says “Be angry and sin not.” I believe there is such a thing as righteous anger. Now is a time for righteous anger. Allow me to share someone else’s review of a book on this subject, which I find helpful.  Click here to read that review!

Two Thoughts on moving forward in a compromising way, following the election:

First, while President Obama did win re-election, he barely won the popular vote. He clearly does not have a mandate. His election was more about style and likability, and I dare say that since 93 % of blacks voted for him, race. He was also helped by the GOP, whose efforts to shut out Liberty and Tea Party Grassroots activists at State and National Conventions this year caused many conservative individuals to either not vote, or actually oppose Mitt Romney with their vote. The point is, Barack Obama’s ideology did not win – his personality and his political machine did. This was aided by GOP incompetence. The compromises you are asking us to make are based in ideology and worldview, and our republic is clearly divided on these ideologies and worldviews.

Second, our extremely wise founding founders established a divided government because they wanted to limit extreme changes from taking place. They understood the tyranny of a centralized government, and they knew that someday we would be fighting the battles we are fighting. We must utilize the systems in place, which they wisely set up for us, to do everything we can to limit the further expansion of Government, which inevitably reduces individual liberty and personal responsibility. Remember, our republic was founded on the principles of individual liberty, not centralized government or collective results.

I am not willing to compromise on giving our Federal Government one more cent of revenue, whether the measurement is a percentage of GDP or as a dollar per citizen – you choose the matrix. I have yet to see them be wise stewards of my financial contributions, and I am angered by their waste. We have seen the GOP consistently compromise on our principles of fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, constitutional limited government and personal charity for the last 100 years, and it has led us to the brink of our republic’s impending financial demise.

We could confiscate 100 % of all the millionaires and billionaires wealth and we would still be in an unmanageable financial hole due to previous compromises.  Therefore, taxing the rich is not a solution. We must learn to live within our means. The riots and demonstrations which are taking place throughout Europe this week due to their required austerity measures should be all we need to see we must wake up and grow up.

While the current administration, which was just re-elected, is what helped to wake up the individuals that comprise The Tea Party, the one’s you say that must compromise now, our anger is not directed at this Administration, but at the GOP, which has peacefully compromised our liberties for decades.  It was George W. Bush who “Abandoned the free market in order to save the free market.”  We will retreat on our liberties no further – in order to attain immediate security. I am reminded of Benjamin Franklin who stated: “they who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

While we diligently work to restrain the growth of government, our struggle going forward is to educate our citizenry on the worldviews at stake. This election shows that the majority of youth 18 – 29 are ok with Socialism, which is in opposition to our form of government. The Pollsters are consistently speaking out about different races and classes. We need to educate that our ideas of limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility and private charity are not respecters of persons – they work for all races and creeds. I am so sick of our leaders dividing us up to win elections – our ideas win across all the lines, if we can articulate them well enough – which obviously, we need to improve on.

Some specific worldview items I will not compromise on, which we must do a better job in educating on are:

1.  Fiscal Responsibility. We need to have a budget. It needs to be tied to something measurable, like GDP. It needs to be balanced. This democratically controlled Administration and Senate has not passed a budget in 3 years. Why should we compromise on anything before this is accomplished – seriously – why?

2. Our President breeds Covetousness – and I am sick of it.  Please click here to read my writting on this subject.

3. Our President stands against life – As a State Senator he supported 3rd trimester abortions, right down to the last minute – and now wants enforce mandated healthcare that requires birth control, up to and including abortions. This is against our First Amendment Religious rights.

4. Our President stands against free speech – We are in a clash of worldviews with Radical Islam, and when our Ambassador is assassinated, President Obama attacked the First Amendment free speech rights of a film maker instead of addressing those who attacked our consulate – or better yet – did his job and ensured that attack didn’t take place!

I could write more, but I am done for now. I am going to go back to the question I started with: Where specifically do you want to see compromise, and what principles dictate that compromise or retreat?

 Here are some additional thoughts I have had since writing those words on November 15^th:

Those who seek Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets – as laid out in our Constitution are hated not only by the Democrats, but by the establishment GOP as well.  Indeed if you listen carefully to many GOP leaders, they are posturing themselves so as to blame the Tea Party for any inability to reach a compromise. 

The reality is the party, which in writing states they hold to the values of the Tea Party, has compromised repeatedly on their written values for decades, and that is why the United States is facing the fiscal demise we face.  Now that there is growing momentum to hold the GOP party accountable, they are doing what every party with power does – clinging to their dwindling power, making every attempt distance themselves from those who are holding them accountable, which are actually the silent majority.  Rather than seeing the Tea Party as the reinforcements they need to hold to their principles, they will make every effort to blame the Tea Party, a movement which began only four years ago, for their long history of principled failings.  Just like they did in state wide and the national convention this summer, they will continue striving to shut and marginalize the Tea Party.

For many idealistic Tea Party members, it has been painful learning to be hated by those we want to help reinforce their principles.  The Tea Party movement however has learned, it is not here to be loved by the GOP.  We The People are here to restore our republic to the principles we hold so dear.  At a recent national conference of Tea Party leaders, we reflected multiple times on Winston Churchill, who left London in defeat in the early 1930’s; only to be called back to lead his country through the chaos of WWII. 

Financial Chaos is coming.  Its seeds were sowed a long time ago, prior to the inception of the Tea Party in 2008.  The Tea Party is not going away.  It is girding its loins, getting thick skinned and focusing locally where it has a greater impact. It will be ready when wisdom and common sense prevails at the Federal Level – which clearly is not yet!

Where Are The Leaders Within the Bureaucracy?

Forget the Congress.  What I want to know is how many Patriots are there within the government bureaucracy who see the writing on the wall, but are doing NOTHING to cut their departments budgets?

How many Department Managers continually seek additional funds for their departments, even though our country is bankrupt?

How many Cabinet Members continually seek additional funds for their agencies, even though our country is bankrupt?

How many State and County Government officials continually seek “Grants” which are nothing more than borrowed money from our enemies – to fund their local governments?

We need a groundswell of government workers who will put our republics survival AHEAD OF SELF INTEREST. 

If we do not see this type of financial responsible “revival” in the arena of public service – our republic will not survive.

If you have articles demonstrating government bureaucrats who are indeed fighting this battle and feverously working to reduce their OWN departments and agencies budgets – please share them below.  I would greatly appreciate some encouragement and inspiration in this area.  Thank you!

This is an aerial photograph of The Department of Agriculture in Washington.  WOW – that is one huge monstrosity of a building.  Most of the folks in this building are earning far more than the average family farmer. 

Most of those inside this building are earning salaries and benefit packages far superior to the citizens they regulate.

We The People Are To Blame

There is a huge uproar these days about the direction our republic is headed.  There is a lot of discussion about spending, debt and entitlements.  There are a lot of suggestions out there about what could and should be done.  During these discussions, many display anger and frustration toward our elected officials, but ultimately, all the problems we currently face can be placed right back in our laps.  What is happening today is a direct result of our lack of engagement – or perhaps our engagement, exacerbating the problem.

We have been electing leaders to go to Washington for decades to “bring home the bacon,” when that was never the intent of our founders.  When I think of our founders risking their lives and pledging their sacred honor for our freedom, when I think of the bloody feet of the soldiers in the snow at The Battle of Trenton, to enable our elected leaders today to “go get bacon,” I know they would be disgusted with us. 

Our good intentions are killing us.

In the last century, we allowed our Government to begin a “war on poverty,” (an unwinnable war) which is not defined anywhere in our constitution.  This war has failed miserably and has become rampant with fraud.  I saw first-hand some of those who are defrauding our government while I was in the banking field.  Quite honestly, this war has permitted extended families and churches to shirk their God given responsibilities in this area, “because the government takes care of that.”  It is time the Federal Government had an exit strategy from this war, and placed the responsibility for this where it should really be.

We allowed our government to begin insuring seniors in the last years of their lives, a plan that was never part of the vision for America, and is not defined anywhere in our constitution.  This one area now controls the largest portion of the liabilities that are bankrupting our nation.  In the last few decades our Federal Government has led millions of people to not plan for themselves, but to be dependent on the Federal Government for their existence.  Sadly, I met a lot of these elderly people while I was in the banking field.  In addition, this system has quite honestly permitted extended families and churches to shirk their God given responsibilities in these areas, “because the government takes care of that.”  Our founders did not risk their lives to create a dependency – they wanted to provide freedom for their posterity. 

We allowed our government to take over providing medical care for seniors, another colossal failure. 

This take-over has stifled the free market and created huge opportunities for fraud.  Furthermore, (you probably are catching a theme), this system has permitted extended families and churches to shirk their God given responsibilities in these areas.

We have allowed The Federal Government to federalize education.  Every year we add new federal regulations and increase federal expenditures in this area and we see overall performance continue to decline.  Fortunately we have seen homeschooling and private and charter school’s explode, not only in numbers but also in performance.  Certainly there are some good public schools out there, but on the whole, our investment in Federalized education has not seen a good ROI.  Where we see the best performance taking place is at the lowest level, not the Federal Government, often that level is the homeschool.  This is despite the ever growing size of the Department of Education.

Finally, we have allowed the government to become the fastest growing segment of job growth in our republic.  Despite the lack of success in the areas listed above, as well as so many others – Federal and State Governments continue to hire at record levels.  Having spent 20 years in private industry, this is completely mind boggling to me. 

Up front, let me say, I know countless “Type A,” extremely hard working folks within the federal system, but I do want to refer back to my title, “We The People Are To Blame.”  I have met countless people pursuing jobs within the government, often not because of the great work that they plan on achieving there but simply for security.  Higher salaries, benefits and retirement plans, as well as the fact it is virtually impossible to be fired are the reasons I routinely hear for people seeking jobs at the Federal Level.  Countless people have told me, it is far too risky to go start a business or work in private industry.  During my banking career, I could not tell you the number of people that told me they would wait to purchase the home they had just been pre-qualified for “until after they began working for the government.”  Because they knew their personal risk factor was vastly reduced at that point.    

So it goes back to my second paragraph where I mentioned our routinely, for decades, electing people who could “bring home the bacon.”  Now that the bacon (or the credit line) has virtually run out, should that continue to be our priority?  I say that for our elected officials, but also individually.  We need to stop thinking about “what’s in it for me” and decide if this republic worth saving?  We are rapidly approaching the tipping point, where 51 % of our citizens depend on the government for their sustenance.  That is a huge dilemma.  If we believe the republic is worth saving the question must no longer be “what’s in it for me?”

What is needed now is the hand of God and a couple of generations of Americans who are willing to give back to their country, and perhaps risk everything like our founders.  If we place our resolve, like our founders did, as they closed the Declaration of Independence: “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,” I believe we can.

Some personal thoughts on what I feel is needed later this week, but a clue to my thoughts were included here.

Blessings to you and yours!