While the left-wing media delight over Republican 2012 presidential nominees' slugfest in early-state caucuses and primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, some forward-thinking conservatives are engaged in a constructive plan to win the general election no matter who the nominee is.

Crafty Republican National Committee staffers are compiling a 500-page document, known informally as "The Book," that juxtaposes direct quotes and video clips of Obama making grandiose promises with statistics on the reality of how his efforts have turned out. The compendium, which covers 2008-2011, promises to be a virtual treasure trove of fodder for 2012 general election GOP campaign ads, chock full of sound bites coupled with cold, hard facts that will yield devastating and irrefutable attack ads. RNC communications director Sean Spicer boasts, "We have everything he has done and said catalogued six ways to Sunday."

Republicans tried using Obama's words against him once before, in the 2008 general election; however, a fawning press, a weak GOP nominee, and an electorate asleep at the wheel mitigated the impact of such Obama albatrosses as "Spread the wealth around," "Electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket," and "A guy who lives in my neighborhood."

The press is still sycophantic, and Republicans still need to ferret out a strong candidate from among the choices they have, but the electorate will not so easily be lulled this time. Voters have witnessed Obama in action for three years, and they don't like what they've seen. The quotes GOP operatives amass will directly reflect Obamanomics' failure to improve the economy. Democrats won't be able to argue away Obama's words as tangential, hyperbolic, or referencing distant episodes in the past. These words will have been spoken during his campaign and presidency, about his specific policies-and will be demonstrated time and again to be at odds with reality.

For starters, RNC staffers have documented-as revealed in a sneak preview to the Washington Post-Obama's failed promises to bring millions of Americans out of poverty (millions more are in poverty since he took office), help homeowners get above water via his foreclosure assistance fund (the program helped a fraction of the intended number of owners), create millions of "green" jobs (the number was greatly overestimated, and his efforts overshadowed by the Solyndra bankruptcy), and lower health care premiums (which have increased under ObamaCare). The GOP will likely call out Obama on the number of jobs his stimulus bill was supposed to create but didn't, the failure of the stimulus bill to keep unemployment under the promised 8.0%, and the inability of our economy to rebound from the 2008 recession as it has every recession since WWII.

Republicans will censure Obama for disregarding the grand ethics standards he set regarding lobbying and transparency, and his failure to usher in greater civility, bipartisanship, and racial harmony.

Part of the ease of assembling a WikiObama derives from recent technological advances in archiving and indexing video clips. A bigger part, though, comes from the fact that for four years, Obama hasn't seemed to know when to be quiet.

Ironically, a leader whose vaunted oratorical skills were his strongest asset on the campaign trail will likely be undone by those very words. If Obama hadn't aimed so high via his rhetoric, perhaps his words wouldn't now be coming back to haunt him-but then perhaps he wouldn't have been elected in the first place.

Had Obama's economic and foreign policy prescriptions succeeded even moderately over the past three years, then attack ads against him might now seem churlish or petty. Yet Obama has made so many specific promises, and failed so spectacularly to deliver on them, that pointing out the discrepancies between his assurances and his results will strike undecided voters as the only responsible thing to do.

Not to be cocky about it, but the RNC's strategy seems utterly foolproof to me. How can Obama deny what he said on record? And-unless economic conditions improve dramatically over the next ten months-how can the country's circumstances fail to belie the incantations offered by candidate Hope-and-Change?

Regarding The Book, Spicer adds, "This is not an effective tool-it's the most effective tool. We literally have gone through and looked at this over and over again. Survey after survey, focus group after focus group all say this is the most effective way to bring [independents] over to our side."

It's also the most honest and focused technique. And GOP operatives won't even have to revisit potshots like "57 states," "corpse-man," and "breathalyzer."

By: Scott Spiegel
http://www.scottspiegel.com

The Bureacratic Fortress of Progressivism

Previous pieces in this series have explored the phenomenon of "progressivism" - the slow means to the end of a socialist authoritarian state in America. This has long been the goal of U.S. statists (often interchangably called "progressives," "liberals," "socialists," etc.), and they started more than a century ago to achieve this goal through slow evolution rather than bloody revolution.

They're closer now than they've ever been.

The progressives slowly took over every major institution that influences Americans, from schools and universities, to labor unions, to the media, to Hollywood. Each implants and further ingrains in our minds the notion that the world is full of problem-causing people (usually "corporations," or small business owners, or Constitutionalists, or investors, or any of a broad array of greedy wealth-mongering capitalists)... and that government is the solution. The greater the problems (real or perceived), the more government's needed. In fact, the more government in general, the better.

Nowhere has this progressive take-over been more prevalent or successful than in the bureaucracy of the federal government - the "administrative state." This is often referred to as the "fourth branch" of the U.S. government; not behind, but in almost all cases in front of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. A strong argument could be made for the notion that the unelected collective that comprises the administrative state wields a preponderance of power in America.

Why? How have we arrived at this point, where the "land of the free" is ruled by little more popular sovereignty than were monarchies and dictatorships of old?

A chief reason is that people have become convinced that the administrative state is the more "professional," "competent," and "permanent" part of our government. Any good salesman can get elected to local or even national office; once there, he's likely to lean heavily on the "pros" in the bureaucracy for actual governance.

And this is not without some good reasons. The fact is that we've allowed the permanent bureacracy to become populated by the more learned and knowledgeable among us, and (through a variety of progressive machinations - see what the liberal media did to Herman Cain without a shred of evidence) discouraged our best-and-brightest from seeking elected office. I've seen this in play at the local level - and, perhaps, so have you. You don't have to look far to find a city councilman or county commissioner who's a real boob, but likeable (and electable). And if not for the professionalism of people like county attorneys and city administrators, he'd screw things up far worse.

It's a system that works - but it's not what America is supposed to be. And the more it "works," the farther we get from the Constitutional free-market republic established by our Founders (and by which the world has gained more peace and prosperity than from any other source in its history, except for God Himself).

The progressives have erected a formidable fortress in the American administrative state. With it, they may well achieve their Holy Grail objective - the collapse of the free market system, the eradication of prosperity, the "equalization" of everyone, and totalitarian government control of the population. We will cease completely to be the nation we were established to be (and the nation we've struggled to act like for decades). We'll still have a "one percent," but they'll be our government masters, not our entrepreneurial employers.

Many of us think that sounds like a bad outcome. For those of us who'd want to avoid it, though, the solutions are simple but almost impossibly difficult. Here's a partial list: Keep up relentless pressure to elect good, ordinary people to public office and ask them (continuously) to question and challenge the administrative state... push for legislation limiting the number of bureacrats who can be hired by the government, and the salaries that can be offered those people... push to eliminate public sector labor unions - you're either a public servant, or you aren't... push for regulations on regulations, limiting the number and length of the rules bureaucrats can institute without a vote... push for page limits on all legislation (no bill should be longer than the Constitution), so that every fifty-or-so pages of law must be openly debated and voted upon by our representatives.

The progressives will fight back hard from behind the walls of their administrative fortress, to be sure. We're likely to lose. But in that loss will be the hope that the American people, who've always cherished freedom and resisted tyranny, will see the naked emperor placed over them by the progressives, and will rise up to refound the nation. It's only a hope, but I would love to see this happen without another bloody revolution.

The peace and prosperity of America, and the world she still leads, depends on a return to limited government. But to get there, we the people will have a forbidding fortress to take down. And that bureaucratic fortress has been built, brick by brick, by our progressive fellows. Once you see the fortress for what it is, you realize that, despite the constant bombardment of messages to the contrary, progressivism definitely isn't progress.

By: Michael Hume, M.S.
Michael Hume is a speaker, writer, and consultant specializing in helping people maximize their potential and enjoy inspiring lives. As part of his inspirational leadership mission, he coaches executives and leaders in growing their personal sense of well-being through wealth creation and management, along with personal vitality.

Michael and his wife, Kathryn, divide their time between homes in California and Colorado. They are very proud of their offspring, who grew up to include a homemaker, a rock star, a service talent, and a television expert. Two grandchildren also warm their hearts! Visit Michael's web site at http://michaelhume.net

You're A Boiling Frog... And It's Getting Hot In Here

In graduate school, they taught us the parable of The Boiling Frog... and, though I think they meant us to take away a different lesson, the parable provides a perfect way to describe "progressivism:" the slow war against freedom, strength, and prosperity being waged in the United States since the late 19th century.

It goes like this: you put a frog in a pot of cool water on the stove... he's happy. You turn the temperature up one degree, the frog doesn't even notice. Every so often, you increase the temperature again - barely - and the frog doesn't move. Like all of nature's creatures, his instinct is to conserve his energy, and unless his brain gives him to believe it's absolutely necessary, he won't hop away. Eventually (and it does require time, and patience) you can boil the frog to death, even though he could save himself at any time.

That's progressivism. The American experiment - a constitutional republic based on strictly-limited government and the magical power of free enterprise - has produced the greatest boon of prosperity and strength in the history of mankind. Under American dominance, the entire world has been safer and better-off than it's ever been, and certainly moreso than it would've been without Uncle Sam. But we've become accustomed to success, and now we're like the frog on the stove. And it's getting hot in here.

That's because the progressives, especially now that they control the federal government, are turning up the heat. They don't believe in the American system, thinking instead that socialism and an all-powerful collectivist state would make everything more "fair." They think the wealthy have won too big, and they seek to take their wealth and redistribute it to the "losers" who, in their view, never had a fair chance.

Those who've been successful know this could not be further from the truth. Everyone has an equal chance in America. However, everyone does not achieve an equal outcome. Outcomes depend on many variables, including talent and effort. But those on the left want everyone to come out the same, and the only mechanism they have to achieve that is a big, all-controlling government. As has been proven again and again, though, if they get their way we are all screwed. No one will have any incentive to excellence - in any endeavor - and instead of redistributing wealth, we'll find our government masters have redistributed only misery and defeat, keeping for themselves the exclusive ownership of the few luxuries left to the society. If you doubt this, study the nations who've tried the big statist solution, such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Cuba.

They have opposition, especially in these times when their patience has grown thin and they've yanked the temperature up precipitously beneath the steamy frog. The Tea Party is a prime example of how regular Americans are starting to notice the progressive heat, and they're boiling mad about it. There are two major problems, though, of which realistic investors and entrepreneurs must be aware: the progressives' opponents don't seem to know what to do about the whole mess, and it may be too late anyway to prevent the collapse of the American system.

It should be noted that progressivism is not the same as collectivism, nor statism, nor socialism. Collectivitists, statists, socialists, and communists are all very similar in their goals, and can be categorized together under any of those labels, or under that of "the Left." Progressivism is the method by which they hope to achieve totalitarian control by the Left. In places like the old Soviet Union and Cuba, they installed state control through revolution... progressivism is the boil-the-frog method, and seeks to achieve the same end in small, slow degrees, through evolution.

If we could halt progressivism and reverse it, going back toward the Constitution in degrees, that would be great though the Left-controlled media would have a field day with the term "regressive". But that probably wouldn't work, given the Left's achievement of control of every major institution that influences public opinion, from Hollywood to labor unions to academe to government. As a team, the Left is great at making you comfortable in the boiling water, even keeping a few flies buzzing around your head in the form of class envy and anti-capitalism messages that promise you'll be an easy beneficiary of their eventual victory. It's a bald lie, but it's easy to believe, especially when jumping out of the pan seems like such a bother.

At this point, it may be that progressivism will have to run its course, poverty and misery will have to grip the nation (and the world), and then we'll have to hit the real "re-set" button. What will then be required will be nothing less than a refounding of the American experiment on the bedrock of limited government and free, profit-motivated enterprise. In the meantime, you have to do what you can to protect yourself and your family. Start by examining your values, so that you'll be among the few who won't be suckered by the Left's false self-righteousness (when they call you greedy or racist or hateful, you'll know better in your own heart). Start a business, even if it's something you can run on the side while you keep your day job, so you'll have an income stream you can call your own (and so you'll build the entrepreneurial muscles you'll need later). And never stop educating yourself about the global conspiracy against wealth and freedom.

Progressivism is all around you, and what seems to warm your toes is really a threat that will boil you to death. If you can't jump, just try to resist. Stay cool. Things will get a lot worse, perhaps, but eventually they will get better when cooler heads prevail and the American experiment is refounded. And you'll be a big part of that.

By: Michael Hume, M.S.
Michael Hume is a speaker, writer, and consultant specializing in helping people maximize their potential and enjoy inspiring lives. As part of his inspirational leadership mission, he coaches executives and leaders in growing their personal sense of well-being through wealth creation and management, along with personal vitality.

Michael and his wife, Kathryn, divide their time between homes in California and Colorado. They are very proud of their offspring, who grew up to include a homemaker, a rock star, a service talent, and a television expert. Two grandchildren also warm their hearts! Visit Michael's web site at http://michaelhume.net

Okay so, I'd like to hang out in the park all day, camp out there, and then leave my trash when all the limos with light bars on top and white doors so I know where to get in, come to pick me up - and take me to live in a gated community live like rich people too. In fact, I can't wait to get feed food, free health care, free attire, and free room and board too while I am waiting to be charged with loitering, camping without a license, civil disobedience, jay-walking, disturbing the peace, or perhaps resisting arrest?

Indeed, I am not in the park, because, well I have to work today to pay taxes to pay for the jails, police, and the g-darn park!

Oh but get this, now I am told that since I make decent money, that I should be taxed more as a percentage of my income, because I can afford it? Yep, tax inequality for the rich, and equality for everyone else - after all, that's the socialist way, the hope and change they wanted. Why am I to pay more? Because I can, as Bill Clinton said in an interview, well, isn't that the reasoning giving to the hardest workers in communist countries, you should work harder because you are able - and here in the US those who've worked the hardest, and smartest now have to pay more for the privilege.

Oh that's just great, do these people even hear themselves think? What gives, how can someone demand everything for free, for someone else to pay for it, and the people paying for it to pay more? Runaway socialism, busy demanding "pure democracy" is a dead end, so why are so many Americans streaking through the park, camping out in the dark, and having threesomes? Better ask Katy Perry, because those folks don't have a clue. Why would such a great nation with this much abundance settle for becoming the next Greek Tragedy, hasn't the history of socialism claimed enough victims?

Of course, if the park-sitters don't get their way, now they are going to try to shut down the ports? You know what, it is actually a battle tactic of war to cut off the nations supply lines, right before you occupy a country? So, now we have protestors shutting down our nation's distribution and supply lines, and holding us hostage so they can attack the hardest working amongst us - and then have the "Audacity" (yah, you can buy that book used on Amazon used for only $.01 and there are 350 of them available currently) to call it; Social Justice?

Are we sure this is America, land of the brave and the home of the free?

By: Lance Winslow
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net