I enjoyed the conversation because it was easy to redirect her and she was listening even if she could not be convinced.  However, seeing what is out there and in charge in Washington in person was frightening.

- FOP Vermillion

To start the essay, he points out that Obama’s win of the Nobel Prize was not based on accomplishment but based on projection.

There’s a sense in some quarters of these not-so-United States that Norway, Europe and the World haven’t a clue about the real President Obama; instead, they fixate on a fantasy version of the President, a projection of what they hope and wish he is, and what they wish America to be.

However, Bono thinks the “virtual Obama” is the real Obama and the basis for this opinion is a part of the speech given at the UN last month.  The key passage for Bono is:

“We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.”

The millennium goals are a set of guidelines that according to Bono are to reduce “extreme” poverty.  Of course that is just one part (the whole list is below), but it is a part that is near to his heart.  The remaining parts of the three “extremes” that need to be addressed are ideology and climate.  If only these three extremes could be eliminated, the world would be a better place.  Based on Obama’s words, Bono believes the changes needed can happen as long as there is action behind them.

Now, I think this is all wishful thinking and not just because Obama has not shown he is big on follow through.  The words are getting old to me as the results are few and far between.

But to the three extremes:

• Poverty:  I believe that the root to the poverty problem is not a lack of wealth but a lack of opportunity.  People going about and doing what they are best at … chasing a profit motive will create more wealth than any other method.  The biggest barrier to opportunity is the government systems that empower few and funnel wealth to those who do not earn it.  As long as there are dictators and feudal lords who can demand wealth from those around them at the point of a gun, there will be limited opportunity.  Considering the make up of the majority of governments at the UN, I do not expect that much will truley change in this area.  There may be wealth transfer but it will not make its way to the people who need it.
• Ideology: When most people think of extreme ideology, they think left-right.  As much as I disagree with the opposition, the real problems in this area are outside of the US.  Currently, radical Islam would be the best example of this in my mind.  Those who disagree and refuse to submit are executed.  The problem is not one of understanding, it is of acceptance.  In this area, the US is not the problem.  Until I see true moderates in this area outside of the country, I do not expect there will be any progress regardless of who the President is.  In the end, we are not the ones saying submit or die so it is only logical to assume the ones saying it must change or be defeated.
• Climate:  If you have been reading this blog you know my thoughts on man made climate change/global warming.  The bottom line is I think it is bad science.  the planet warms and cools over time and we can do nothing to stop it.  The fact that the theories have to keep changing reinforces my point.  Let’s get to where we can acurately predict the weather a few years out before we start making dramatic changes to society to prevent a potential coming problem.

The entire list of Millennium Development Goals are:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;
• Achieve universal primary education;
• Promote gender equality and empower women;
• Reduce child mortality;
• Improve maternal health;
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases;
• Ensure environmental sustainability; and,
• Build a global partnership for development assistance.

The actual problems that Bono see are ones that will need to be solved by people and not governments.  The three extremes are problems of the world and people and will not be solved by decree.  They will only be solved, where they can be solved, by a billion small individual actions.  No matter what Obama’s actions are, or what the UN does, the end result will be minimal change if the real change does not come from the bottom up.

- FOP Vermillion

The Democrats seemed to be the answer: social programs, better schools, and politicians who cared. I do think that if I had never seen the other side of community organizing that I would still be blindly following along that same path. Being a conservative gives me hope, and peace. While it has not been easy, I decided to start with what made me love America as a child – its history and Constitution- and go from there. Friends who are still radicals rail at me for loving a country that enslaved us, and I tell them I don’t. I love a country that had the guts to stand up time and time again and right a wrong. A country that is not afraid to pick itself up and start again.

Her love of our history and Constitution is something we share.  I know we are not perfect, and many liberals want to focus on the flaws to minimize the positives, but we have a great deal to be proud of.

Being Conservative/Libertarian in my values and actions if not in name for my entire life, I have no first hand knowledge of what it is like to be a liberal just as I will never know what it is like to be a black woman.  I have enjoyed discovering Anita’s blog and I look forward to hearing her perspective as she becomes more involved in the Conservative movement.

- FOP Vermillion

The liberal theme of “the opposition has no ideas” because they refuse to listen is getting old to say the least. In this column by Jacob Weisberg, he laments that there are no conservative intellectuals now that Irving Kristol has passed away.  We conservatives are now “cranky” and have become the “brain-dead home of tea parties, pro-life amendments, and climate-change denial.”  Well excuse me for not falling in lock step with the left wing.  The tea party, pro-life, climate change denial crowd are out here debating because we believe in our ideas.  Jacob continues the denial when he get to the discussion about health care reform.  He is frustrated that the entire congressional wing of the GOP refuses to collaborate with the President as he tries to work out a compromise.  The fact is the Democrats are not reaching out and are not compromising.  Story after story in the news tells the tale of the President not meeting with the opposition.  The GOP is being excluded from the meetings and not even being allowed to read the legislation prior to voting.  I cannot see how you can compromise when these are the tactics being employed against you.  The GOP has offered alternatives but no one including Mr. Weisberg is listening.

To say the movement is bankrupt because you do not like the opposition suggests intellectual bankruptcy on your end, not ours.  I am SICK of the elites, which Mr. Weisberg reflects in his column, not liking what they hear and then pretending they did not hear it and saying the opposition is just saying NO or has no alternatives.  If you do not like the alternative say so, but do not pretend it does not exist.

They say if you tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth.  Well to those liberals out there I say to you, stop lying.

- FOP Vermillion