Critical Point in the Republic's History

A century from now historians will look back at the American Republic and say Tuesday’s election was a critical point for this democratic union of 50 sovereign states.

 I can’t look past Tuesday and say what shall happen to my country, but I can share my vote with you and why I made this selection.

In 1972 I returned to my country which was torn by civil strife over a war which should have never been fought and with a sitting president who was even worse than his predecessor in leading the country. I was apathetic, agnostic and disenfranchised. The Democratic nominee was too far to the left and held no real value as a leader. I perceived him as being weak. We all know what Richard Nixon was or what he was to become.

As a reporter I was possibly the first in Oklahoma to interview Jimmy Carter at the Civic Center in Oklahoma City standing in front of his campaign bus. He had spent an hour or possibly two talking with Democrats from western Oklahoma and the hot topic was abortion. As a man he said he was against abortion, but as President he would enforce the law.

Looking him in his startling blue eyes, I knew he was destined to become the next president. His opposition was a bumbling Gerald Ford, tainted by his pardon of Nixon.  

That same year I met Ronald Reagan. Both he and Carter struck me as men with leadership qualities who would enfranchise all Americans and not just the paticularists or the pluralists. I was wrong on two counts. Carter provided weak, insipid leadership. Reagan’s trickle down economic theories reached out to particularism which still runs rampant in Washington, D. C.

In 1979 I found myself editor of four small weekly newspapers for a short period, a student at the University of Oklahoma, my wife expecting our only child and I was named press secretary for the Kennedy campaign in Oklahoma.

I stuck with Kennedy until I read an article which revealed he co-authored a bill in the Senate which would eliminate Habeas Corpus during times of national emergency.

I did not vote that year, but in 1984 I voted for President Reagan. He was the only president who assisted Vietnam Veterans. As state executive director of the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program I could not consider the Democratic nominee.  

I did not vote for either Bush.  A former director of the CIA was just too scary a thought and his son is a buffoon who delegated all of his authority to his chief of staff or the vice president.

And along comes Clinton. Seriously, this man achieved more for the economic welfare for the Republic than any of the others while sitting behind his desk as a recipient of sex acts from Monica Lewinsky. But the Republic forgives a man when under his leadership 24 million jobs are created and the Treasury actually has a surplus. 

The dot com boom helped and was largely responsible, but that bubble bursting upon George Bush along with Sept 11 started the economic downfall.  The leadership vacuum in D. C. only compounded problems which lead to the fall of 2008.

Right or wrong this how I perceive American presidential history since the 60s. I think many my age share this perception, but many are now in denial of reality.

It is an American Republic truism that you can always determine when a politician is lying… His or her lips are moving.

But Mitt Romney and the Republican/Tea Party have reached a new level in falsehood. They have bought into the big lie theory. Tell it often enough, long enough and to as many people as possible and it shall be perceived as the truth. 

It was used on the German public by Joseph Gobbels. The Polish army really did invade Germany to start WWII and world history is incorrect. (http://thinkexist.com/quotes/joseph_goebbels/)

But General Motors and Chrysler have called out Romney and the Republicans.

A Chrysler executive tweeted that Romney is ”full of shit”  when the Republican hopeful said Jeep manufacturing was being moved to China and costing jobs in America.

General Motors stated publicly that it saved one of its suppliers from bankruptcy only to see the company taken over by Bain Capital which Mitt Romney help to form. Apparently Bain and Romney made a few million off that deal.  Americans lost jobs.

There has been a continual struggle in this country since its very first day between elitists and populists. It’s time for Americans—people who believe in the Constitution—to make a stand for a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

I am one of the 47% and I vote OBAMA.

Horses, Bayonets and Cyber Warfare

The final debate between President Obama and republican hopeful Mitt Romney revealed a startling weakness in the the challenger's knowledge of current military strategic and tactical plans. Horses and bayonets is clearly the catch phrase which the loyal dissidents have jumped all over.

True there are horses utilized in the DoD, and combat soldiers are issued bayonets, but the republicans missed the real point or threat to the United States. The greatest threat to the country's security is cyber warfare.

It is not unusual for Congress to allocate two-trillion dollars to projects the pentagon does not want or listed in its annual budget requirement. The two-trillion for weapon systems not listed as requirements, will only benefit military contractors and the congressmen who sponsored those bills. It is an election year.

The two-trillion could be put to better use by the military

There is an advanced persistent threat (APT) to the DoD cyber infrastructure, the internet the public uses, the national energy grid and the global supply chain. It can even includes social media such as Facebook.

APT refers to foreign governments which snoop, hack and attempt to render inoperable a specific target such as the national energy grid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in a cyber exercise with other government agencies, has shown how feasible it is to attack the grid.

The next surprise attack on the United States will not be physical like Pearl Harbor. It will start with a massive cyber attack with the goal of rendering our military to be helpless.

The main threats are China (Titan Rain) and Russia (Moonlight Maze). Though they strongly deny the attacks, the attacks trace back to those countries. India may also be a player but state sponsorship there is questionable.

President Obama's comment about horses and bayonets should have included those "weapon systems" are basically obsolete in modern warfare. If software/hardware systems can fly drones to attack vectors, an Air Force sans flight crews is on the drawing board. The Navy created the ability to remote control an F-4 fighter in 1971, but only within a short distance from the carrier.

The Chief of Naval Operations would enjoy sharing another two-trillion with the Air Force and Army.
But they would want to spend it on the first line of defense--Cyber Space.

The Political Wind Changing in Oklahoma City

If “all politics is local” the Republican Party in Oklahoma should pay close attention to what is happening in large minorities in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

The late, great Thomas “Tip”  O’Neill  Jr., former  Speaker of the House is credited with the phrase “All politics is still local.” But credit goes to his father who explained to TIP that he lost an election to the city council because he did not pay attention to his own neighborhood.

In the next six to eight years or sooner, the political pendulum will swing from the right back to the left. From the governor down to the lowest elected Republican in every community should be aware of the  change in the political wind.

If they are not scared they should be.

The growing number of Hispanics and Latino businesses is possibly growing faster than small businesses being opened by whites. Take a drive down 29^th street from Shields Blvd. to Walker and count the number of small business. 

It is busy night and day. The question is how many people in that community are U.S. citizens.

The answer could be resolved after the presidential election.  Precinct tallies within the community will show the number of registered voters who actually voted. That bumped up against Census numbers should give an indication of the Hispanic voting power.

When, not if, the community becomes a political force,  Republicans, especially those who have targeted the Hispanic community are going to lose power as their base continues to shrink. First to go will be the city councilman, then the state representative and last the state senator.

The same swing in power in Oklahoma City will probably occur in parallel with Tulsa politics.

Gov. Fallin will be history by then and probably most of the current state legislature so they probably don’t care about future elections  

Oklahoma is considered a red rock for the Republican party in national politics But when the south side wind prevails the rock is going to turn blue.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the election hoo-ha as we get closer to V-Day. I'm afraid the election result is going to be very close and possibly end up with a decision by the Supreme Court. That would mean two elections being decided by the Supremes this century. The only two we have ever had. It does not bode well for our Democratic Republic.

The passion from the loyal opposition is admirable, but they and those supporting the current administration show little constraint. And it is all being played out on Facebook. True believers of both Romney and President Obama need to have open, polite communications based on facts and not GOP or Democratic rhetoric. Given the temperment being displayed on Facebook, the losing side may go ballistic. The Tea Party leadership will probably stroke out, and the Democratic leadership will have to wear depends until after the inauguration.

But civil constraint, objectivity and truth have been thrown out with the baby and the bathwater by both parties. It started when the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell went on record with the media saying the Senate Republicans would not help President Obama because they want to win this campaign. And Vice President Joe Biden's sharp tongue has certainly added fuel to the fire.

May I suggest with all this mud being thrown around by both campaign staffs, the incessant Facebook bickering by followers has lead to a wonderful opportunity to decide the outcome by a more physical process.  Instead of a debate, let's have MUD WRESTLING.

And to help lower the deficit put it on pay for view world wide at $20 a screen and not show it in sports bars. If 1 billion people watched the "Mud Tussle for the White House" a potential $10,600,000,000.

That would kill two birds with one stone. We get a president and an obscene amount of money to lower the nation's debt.

I like it.