What Paul Ryan Needs to Do

Today is the vice presidential debate between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden.  Considering that the Vice President isn’t the leader of the free world, this debate isn’t as important as the presidential debates.  However, they can help the candidates explain how each ticket would handle the issues if elected.  It’s a way to tie the ticket to one vision.  The GOP establishment is probably quaking in their boots about how well Mr. Ryan will do because of how opposed they were to Mitt Romney choosing Paul Ryan to be his running mate.

The mainstream media would probably love it for the man who would supposedly have the experience (Joe Biden) to wipe the floor with Mr. Ryan in this debate.  Now that there are polls showing that Romney-Ryan have taken the lead, tonight is Obama-Biden’s chance to jump-start their campaign.  For the Romney-Ryan campaign, this vice presidential debate is important because it will tell the American people that a Romney-Ryan Administration will continue to offer bold solutions to this nation’s real problems.

The first obvious thing Mr. Ryan has to do is look Presidential and come across as someone who would be ready to assume the duties of President if something were to happen to Mr. Romney.  If America elects a new President, will we be electing a Presidential ticket?  Of all that Mr. Ryan has to do in tonight’s debate, I think appearing that he would be ready to become President will be the hard part because this is his first national campaign and first national debate.  Don’t get me wrong, he will shine in this debate and will probably come across as more Presidential than Mr. Romney.

Mr. Ryan will also need to continue to make the election a clear choice between an opportunity vision for America and a dependent-on-the-government vision for America.  Mr. Ryan won’t have trouble making this distinction.  He has always been very good at talking directly to the American people and making the moral case for big reforms.  Paul Ryan is the 21^st century’s Jack Kemp.

He needs to talk directly to the American people when he’s making the moral case for new leadership and bold reforms for America.  If he “attacks” Obama-Biden, he needs to do it forcefully and looking at Biden.  However, he needs to not come across as angry, or the content of the “attacks” won’t be heard.  Mr. Romney was able to get under Mr. Obama’s skin in their first debate, Mr. Ryan needs to do the same with Mr. Biden.  The Romney-Ryan vision for America needs to be the main topic of the debate because people already know Obama-Biden is a failure.

Make this debate be a conversation between the candidates, not about the moderator.  After the questions are asked, Mr. Ryan needs to pretend there is no moderator.  Tonight there is only himself, Mr. Biden, and the American people watching.

Above all else, Mr. Ryan needs to show he has a command of the facts in tonight’s vice presidential debate.  The establishment hates bold Conservative candidates.  Mr. Ryan needs to prove to the establishment that bold Conservative leadership wins elections.  The Vice Presidential debate should be a continuation of passionately distinguishing the Romney-Ryan vision from the Obama-Biden vision, and getting under Obama-Biden’s skin to force Mr. Biden to appear angry.

The Vice Presidential debate is Mr. Ryan’s chance to make the moral case for real reform verses more big government.  Mr. Romney distinguished the two visions in his first debate with Mr. Obama, which has set up Mr. Ryan to make the moral case for the Romney-Ryan vision of opportunity and freedom.  Mr. Ryan needs to be his bold self in this debate and the election will be decided in Romney-Ryan’s favor tonight.  My prediction is that if Paul Ryan can win this Vice Presidential Debate, Romney-Ryan will win the election come November 6.

America Needs to Replace the Current Tax Code, Not Reform It

High taxation under the current system is a problem that stifles economic and job growth in the private sector.  However, just cutting taxes does not solve the fundamental problem.  The real problem is a 73,608-page broken tax system.  The real solution is to replace the current tax system with a completely new system that collects taxes differently, more efficiently, more fair and transparent, and is revenue neutral.  The two best tax replacement solutions that have been developed are Herman Cain’s 999 Plan, and the FairTax Plan.

Herman Cain’s 999 Plan tackles America’s fundamental tax problem: a broken tax code.  The 999 Plan eliminates all forms of taxation under the current system and replaces it with three visible flat tax rates.  A 9 percent flat corporate tax, a 9 percent flat individual tax, and a 9 percent flat retail sales tax.

The 999 Plan also eliminates the capital gains tax, the repatriated profits tax, and the payroll tax.  It will also eliminates all deductions and special interest loopholes.  The 999 Plan is accompanied with a monetary policy that strengthens the U.S. Dollar.

The FairTax Plan eliminates all forms of taxation on income and payroll at the federal level.  It also eliminates taxes on alternative minimum, self-employment, estate, corporate, personal, social security and Medicare, gift, and capital gains.  The FairTax replaces all that it eliminates with one flat retail sales tax at 23 percent on new goods and services with no exemptions to keep the special interests from tinkering with the tax code.  A FairTax system also does not tax you on the basic necessities.

America is yearning for real solutions that solve the real problems.  Herman Cain’s candidacy and 999 Plan was generating enthusiasm because Mr. Cain understood that America wanted leaders who would offer real solutions.  Regardless of what the political and media elite would have us believe, the Tea Party is successful with moving the debate towards solutions because they draw attention to the real problems that America faces.

Lower taxes with a new tax system is the real solution that America needs to generate the economic growth, productivity, and job creation that our country needs.  Reduced spending and a smaller government footprint in our lives will sustain our new economic and tax system under the 999 Plan or the FairTax.

Mitt Romney moves in the right direction with his tax plan because he lowers taxes on all Americans.  However, his plan doesn’t do away with the current tax system, he just tweaks the current system with lower tax rates.  That doesn’t address the real problem.  Barack Obama would let the Bush Tax Cuts expire if it were truly up to him, add new taxes through his new healthcare entitlement, and put government spending on autopilot at full speed.

Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama both would be smart to endorse either Herman Cain’s 999 Plan or the FairTax if they truly want to fix America’s real economic problems.  America’s problems aren’t a Republican or Democrat issue.  It’s an American issue.  Americans should unite around the real solutions that transfer power from Washington back to the people.  Individual economic opportunity, not collective socialism, will get America working again.  Tax replacement with the 999 Plan or the FairTax is the first step to restoring America’s prosperity.

Big and Astonishing News Happened Over the Weekend

Hugo Chavez won his re-election bid for the Venezuelan Presidency.  Is anyone surprised that Chavez won?  He is a socialist dictator that has been controlling more and more of Venezuela’s media.  Of course, he’s also going to move to control the electoral process.  Evil people in power tend not to want to give up their power.  “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is a good axiom to remember when dealing with evil dictators and big government.  The real question is if we’re going to try to help countries to either choose freedom, or choose democracy, which countries do we help?

President George W. Bush’s two main countries that his Administration focused on were Afghanistan and Iraq.  Going into Iraq and Afghanistan started out to be battlegrounds in the larger war on terror.  They eventually became projects in helping Iraqi’s and Afghani’s build democracies with free and fair elections.  Our problem in those countries were that we thought they could build new free governments in a year or two, when it took us 13 years to get our Constitutional Republic under the current Constitution.

President Barack Obama chooses countries like Libya and Egypt supposedly to spread democracy for “humanitarian reasons.”  The problem President Obama has created for himself in those countries is that he has supported known Islamic fascist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, as if they’re going to spread freedom for those people.  The Muslim Brotherhood is going to be just as dictatorial as Qaddafi.  They might even be more radically Islamic than Qaddafi.

President Obama seems to be all too eager to go into other countries for “humanitarian reasons” like Egypt and Libya, but won’t help the people in Iran during the green movement or the people in Venezuela against Chavez.  However, Mubarak and Qaddafi, as evil as they were, President Bush’s Administration was able to convince them to help us fight terrorism in the Middle East.

Two of the biggest enemies of President Bush’s Administration were Venezuelan President Chavez and the Iranian President, but it’s the opposition in those two countries President Obama just so happens to seemingly ignore.  Moreover, it’s Mubarak and Qaddafi, who started helping Bush fight terrorism, that President Obama decided to oppose.  Where are President Obama’s true priorities in foreign policy?  It seems to be the exact opposite of President Bush’s policies.

America is the greatest country on earth and we are the only country with the moral integrity to hold the torch of liberty and lead the fight for liberty all around the world.  The increasingly shrinking world and the increasing number of evil leaders in some countries that have desires to destroy other nations is the cause that America must stay involved in the world.  We cannot afford to isolate ourselves.  However, we are an independent and sovereign nation.  We should still prudently base our foreign policy on our own American interests before we get directly involved in some foreign crises.  We should focus on promoting the ideas and principles of freedom, rather than specific forms of government.

International relations are a complex chess game that America is playing for the cause of freedom and liberty.  We don’t just have one enemy in the Middle East.  We have a enemy in the Asia-Pacific region known as China.  Russia threatens our Eastern European allies and us.  Iran is our primary Middle Eastern enemy that could reach all the way down Africa as well.  We also have a Communist enemy in Venezuela by the name of Hugo Chavez in the South American region.  If America isn’t careful, our enemies are going to realize that there isn’t much difference between Communism and Islamic Fascism.  The only difference is that one is secular and the other is religious.  America is the only country right now that is in the position to show strength and clarity in our resolve for peace and freedom against the forces of Secular Communism and Islamic Fascism.

And the Winner Is...

Mitt Romney.  Where has this Mitt Romney been since the GOP Establishment forced him down the grassroots throats to become the nominee?  Mr. Romney has never been specific in talking about his policy plans.  He’s never really gone on the offense against Barack Obama’s record and class warfare attacks.  He’s never looked passionate or confident in his own policy ideas.  Mr. Romney looked like a candidate handing the election to the worst President in America’s history.  Last night the Real Mitt Romney stood up.  He was confident, passionate, and on the offense.

Except for when Mr. Romney chose Rep. Ryan to be his running mate, he and his campaign always talked in vagueness and platitudes.  He seemed to have no confidence in the substance of his plans.  I blame his establishment advisors.  Last night, Mr. Romney walked on that debate stage with a Presidential confidence in his own plans to get America working again.

Even on healthcare, which is been his biggest blunder throughout the entire campaign, he finally found an answer that he could defend without admitting that his planned failed.  I still believe he needs to come out and admit that RomneyCare failed because it was a version of government-controlled healthcare (ObamaCare is a 1000 times worse).  However, he did do a good job of answering Mr. Obama’s attacks and comparisons by putting Mr. Obama on the defensive about ObamaCare.

For the first time in this campaign Mr. Romney looked passionate about his plans and his principles.  By coming armed and well prepared with the facts about his own plans and about Mr. Obama’s class warfare attacks, he showed a passion to defend his policy ideas.

The final and third thing that Mr. Romney did that contributed to his debate victory last night: he finally went on the offense against Mr. Obama.  Mr. Romney and his campaign have always been slow to attack and critique Mr. Obama’s policies, record, and class warfare rhetoric.  They would eventually attempt to go on offense, but by the time they would, the damage by the Obama Campaign would have already set in.  My hat off to Mr. Romney for going on the offense and making Mr. Obama get agitated and flustered.

Last night was the Real Barack Obama’s oratory skills.  Everyone says he’s this great orator.  The only time he sounds good to the ears is when he is 200 percent in control of his speech reading it off a teleprompter or a piece of paper.  When Mr. Obama has to go off script for some reason, or when he is challenged in any way about statements and policies he has made, then he gets flustered and can’t communicate well.  A great communicator is someone who yes can deliver a speech well, but a great orator also has to be able to communicate well when challenged or goes off script.  Barack Obama does neither.

All Mr. Romney has to do is continue to be substantive, and to get under Mr. Obama’s skin to win this election.  I recommend changing the Romney Stump Speech to reflect last night’s debate for starters.  The Romney Campaign should also change its advertising strategy to reflect the confident, passionate, offense that Mr. Romney showed in the first debate.  No more vagueness.  The second Mr. Obama and his campaign attack Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan, the Romney-Ryan Campaign immediately needs to turn the tables around on Mr. Obama and get under his skin.

What Mitt Romney Needs to Do

Today is the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.  Nearly all of the establishment pundits claim that this first debate is Mr. Romney’s last chance to change the direction of his supposedly stagnating campaign.  The mainstream media would love it be his last chance at beating Mr. Obama.  Presidential debates can be important and this year’s election debates are important.  However, I don’t believe this first debate is Mr. Romney’s last chance.

The first obvious thing Mr. Romney has to do is look Presidential and come across as a President for every American.  I know how cliché that sounds.  It’s because it has become a cliché.  That will be easy for him to do.  The hard part for Mr. Romney is for him to speak with passion for his policies.  He will also need to make it a clear choice between an opportunity vision for America and a dependent-on-the-government vision for America.

Mr. Romney has always had trouble passionately articulating his vision, and contrasting it with Mr. Obama’s vision.  Throughout this entire campaign he has always reverted to listening to his establishment advisors who tell him to play it safe.  As if that won’t hurt his chances at beating Mr. Obama.  He needs to take a hard look at the polls, which show that playing it safe has kept him behind Obama in polls.

He needs to talk directly to the American people when he’s passionately articulating his vision for America.  When he “attacks” Obama, he needs to do it forcefully and directed at Obama.  However, he needs to not come across as angry, or the content of the “attacks” won’t be heard.  He needs to figure out a way to get under Obama’s skin and put Obama on the spot.  Romney’s own vision still needs to be his main message in the debate because people already know Obama is a failure.

Mr. Romney needs to let the moderator ask the questions, but he needs to ignore the moderator when he answers the questions.  He needs to make the debate be a conversation between himself and Mr. Obama talking directly to the American people.

The establishment loves to say that Mr. Romney did a great job at the Republican debates.  He was okay.  He didn’t say anything.  Republican voters did learn a thing about his vision for America in those debates.  What he did do well in those debates was that he stayed above the fray and he let his opponents do all the “attacking.”

However, these presidential debates between party nominees are completely different because Mr. Romney won’t be debating opponents in his own party.  These debates need to be about passionately distinguishing the Romney vision from the Obama vision, and getting under Obama’s skin to force him to appear angry.  Mr. Obama does not do well when he is confronted directly.  He gets agitated.

The first debate is Mr. Romney’s chance to make this election be about the future and whose vision is best to get America working again.  Mr. Obama’s vision is about “fundamentally transforming this country” into something where more government has more control over our lives.  Mr. Romney’s vision is about turning America around and putting individuals in control of their own lives, and creating an environment where private enterprise can create jobs.

The Environmentalist Light Bulb Stupidity

A few years back the environmentalist succeeded in getting Congress to ban incandescent light bulbs, and required people to replace them with mercury-filled fluorescent light bulbs.  Aside from the fact that the federal government decided to interfere in the market and pick winning and losing products, this does not necessarily sound like a bad idea.  We are going to have to use light bulbs that tend to last longer.  The federal government actually chose the better product this time, right?  On the other hand, is the fluorescent really that much better?

As I mentioned before, fluorescents are filled with mercury.  What happens when one of those fluorescent light bulbs break?  You technically have to go through all these hoops and rules before you can throw one away if one breaks.  What about a fluorescent light bulb that is burning out and it heats up so much that you start smelling the mercury, and then the bulb explodes almost setting your house on fire.  Is that really an environmentally safe light bulb?

A Burned Out Fluorescent Light Bulb that Exploded and Broke

I guess the federal government really did not choose a good product in its intervention.  Why are there still people that believe the government can know better than individual people can?  What would have happened if the free market were allowed to freely choose its products?  People would have had the freedom to choose the best product, and in some cases, people would have had the freedom to make a better and safer product.

The environmentalists and elites either just do not get it, or they do not care.  The free market is not some mechanical machine that can be controlled and regulated to operate better.  The free market is a living organism made up of individual human beings making free choices in how they buy, sell, and interact with other human beings.  The free market in one word is FREEDOM.

The environmentalist likes to label Conservatives as anti-environment.  Assuming the only true environmental solution is one where the federal government intervenes and controls individuals to meet onerous regulations.  Conservatives are not anti-environment.  We are anti-big government doing the things that are the responsibility of individuals.  We want to be free to find ways to make a better product that is also safer for human beings, as well as safer for the environment.

The problem with the government solution is that it tends to want something one way before the technology is even invented to make it.  Government is caught up in the emotions of an issue, acts too quickly, and then makes a product that either does not work or it is not as safe as they thought.  Emotional lawmaking is going to be the downfall of America if we do not elect responsible leaders that have Common Sense.

People who care for the environment should continue researching the environment.  However, they should not seek a government solution that involves government intervening in private enterprise and centrally controlling business and individuals.  They should seek to provide business and the inventor with well-documented environmental research, and then allow businesses and inventors the freedom to build the best useful product that is also safe for human beings and safe for the environment.

Why Mitt Romney is Losing to the Worst President

Is any Common Sense-thinking American really surprised at the recent presidential poll numbers showing President Obama leading, and in some cases gaining ground?  Granted most of the polls are within the margin of error and a lot can change in an election very quickly, and most of the polls are skewed in favor of Mr. Obama.  Governor Romney still doesn’t have an excuse, at least not a good one, for running behind in the polls when he’s running against the worst President in American history.  Why hasn’t Mr. Romney run away with the election by now?  Why isn’t he able to solidify his base and independents to support him?

I’ll tell you why in two words: THE ESTABLISHMENT.  Mr. Romney has always talked in generalities like “I have a plan for a stronger middle class, while Obama’s stimulus spending has failed us.”  However, he rarely takes a stand on bold solutions and explains those bold solutions.  THE ESTABLISHMENT has convinced him not to do anything that will supposedly jeopardize his chances at defeating Mr. Obama by making the election a referendum on Mr. Obama’s failed policies.  Who’s still behind in the polls?  Governor Romney.

The only problem is that doing nothing is jeopardizing his chances at defeating the worst President in American history.  America has big problems that require bold solutions and bold leadership.  When Mr. Romney picked Representative Paul Ryan to be his running mate I had a glimmer of hope that Mr. Romney was finally going to tell his establishment advisers where they can put their timid advice, and finally be the bold candidate and bold leader that America needs.  However, since then, Mr. Romney seems to have backtracked and started listening to his establishment advisers again.

The American people do need to know and understand why Mr. Obama’s failed policies and failed leadership has been the worst in American history.  However, that won’t be good enough.  The people don’t want to just vote against someone to get new leadership.  They want to be able to vote for new leadership that has a vision and the solutions that will get America working again.  That is why THE ESTABLISHMENT’s idea of doing a referendum-only strategy without offering bold solutions is dumb.

That is why a big choice strategy is the best option for Mr. Romney’s campaign.  A big choice strategy explains both Mr. Obama’s failed leadership as well as Mr. Romney’s bold leadership.  A big choice election is a referendum strategy with bold solutions and bold leadership.  Candidates for any office, particularly for the White House, should give the American people a reason to vote for them (not just against their opponent).

President Obama has to attack Governor Romney on the petty issues instead of offering his own solutions because he has a record of failed policies, and he’s on record proposing basically the same failed policies.  Governor Romney can offer his own bold solutions, and explain to the American people why those bold solutions are better than Mr. Obama’s failed policies.  The Tea Party and Conservatives are looking for a leader with a bold vision that will not only get America working again, but also restore America to her founding principles.