Suggested Strategy to Cain: Voter Registration

Herman Cain, I am not your strategist, but here is a thought that you should consider.

You are an outside the box thinker, always have been. That is why you are a success. No, I don't like any national sales tax plan that does not come with a constitutional cap. But I like your style and I think you are one of the folks that can whip Obama next year.

Here is your strategy to win. Voter registration.

Everyone wants to register voters, but you have the opportunity to do something groundbreaking and game changing. Go into black communities on intense voter registration drives. Emphasize individual choice over the mass mentality. Share your optimism and your belief in work, education, and drive. Sell them on registering Republican and backing your candidacy.

This is how you can win. Bring over tens of thousands of black voters into the GOP column in every state. Of course they are not voting for a Leader, but for themselves. Their votes and registrations tell the Democratic Party that they cannot be taken for granted. Maybe even the unions will someday learn that.

Young people are living the post racial society. It is they who you can bring aboard in the largest numbers. Your vision, even if you do not win, is key to countering the depressing and woeful victicrat line that dominates black political thinking. The Democratic race coalition is cracking anyway. J. C. Watts, Allen West, Condoleeza Rice all experienced racial prejudice when it was still a major problem in society and all turned out to be devotees of the free market and personal liberty. You can further that movement.

Just a thought, Mr. Cain. But you should definitely consider it.

Learning to Like Mitt Romney

I am learning to like Mitt. Why? Because odds are, he will be the nominee.

I don't dislike him personally. He seems to be a decent enough person. But he reminds me all too much of that Thomas E. Dewey northeastern establishment Republican set. Romney will not heartily embrace the kind of conservatism that galvanizes the rest of America outside of New England. Romney's positions, to put it mildly, seem to change a great deal over time. On one or two issues, that's fine. Doing that on several leaves him vulnerable. His Mormonism is not a concern for me, actually it is a plus. Mormonism requires a strong spirit and self-discipline. I respect the heck out of that. Romney also has administrative experience and seems to run his operations and communications fairly smoothly.

No, he is not a guy the conservatives love. But he could be what we have.

Instead of hating Romney and peeing in our own Corn Flakes if he wins, we have to strategize for success.

First of all, get the man elected president if we nominate him. He is not a revolutionary prophet of conservative change, but he is not the incompetent Il Duce that we have now. Romney's foreign policy speeches should bring comfort to anyone at home and abroad who understands that America has a positive mission in the world. Domestically, though, the right must hold Romney's feet to the fire and pressure him into supporting the shrinking of government. We can do that through the congressional Tea Party factions.

There is a potentially great president on the horizon who bowed out of this year's contest. Bobby Jindal has almost no negatives. He is experienced, has terrific conservative credentials, highly intelligent, and has shown strong leadership at crucial times for Louisiana. Jindal is what Palin could have been had she stayed at her gubernatorial post and worked at it aggressively. Getting to a Jindal, or some other strongly conservative administration without four more years of irreparable damage to our system is paramount. Romney may not have great conservative credentials, but I cannot imagine that he will make things a lot worse. We need to get rid of Obama and his leftist cadre first so that we can turn this thing around.

It looks more and more like the first step in turning this thing around could be the election of Romney as president.

Al Davis and Occupy Wall Street

I originally was going to use Mylan Puskar as a perfect foil for the anti-everything Occupy Wall Street Crowd. His story of work ethic, success, and generosity are shining examples of what the free market is all about. Then I figured, that's too easy.

So I picked a villain. Al Davis. Recently deceased owner of the Oakland Raiders.

Davis was a guy that everyone loved to hate, unless they played for him. He believed that he was the smartest man in the room. Every room. The Raiders and the old American Football League were his initial passions and he fought like the devil for both. Most other owners and commissioners thought that he was the devil.

Until his decline in the past decade, Davis bestrode his part of the NFL as a colossus. He dared to innovate and take chances, and Davis' mark remains strong. The vertical passing game evolved from simply a Raiders strategy to a league-wide norm. His habit of picking up odds, ends, and rejects lives on as the modus operandi of the Patriots organization.

Davis was an innovator and a competitor. He earned every accolade and treated almost all of his players (Marcus Allen excluded) like family.

Al Davis worked hard, like Mylan Puskar, in their respective fields. They were both ahead of their time and both showed what our economic system can do for anyone, if they are wiling to work and take some risks.

The difference was that Al Davis was not a personable guy. He was easy to hate to the point that too many overlooked his positive impact and influence over both the business side of football and over the many young men who wore the silver and black over the decades. But he was a gritty all American guy, a streetfighter in the boardroom. Al Davis was the kind of guy that the hippified protesters love to hate, but he helped to build a powerful and profitable business that puts a lot of food on a lot of tables. Davis was an honest capitalist and, regardless of how some feel about his attitude, or his teams, earned our respect.

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The F 35 remains a hot topic in Washington. An Air Force official noted that:

Air Force chief: F-35 'must succeed'

Let there be no doubt. The F-35 cannot be replaced. That is why Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin should support funding the project.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley recently called a new long-range bomber "essential" and said there is "no alternative" to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as he pledged to protect some major weapons programs from defense spending cuts.
Pointing to a fighter fleet that is on average 22 years old and a tanker force with an average age of 49 years, Donley used a speech to the Air Force Association to lay down markers on spending needs. "Simply put, there is no alternative to the F-35 program," Donley said of this advanced fighter jet. "It must succeed."
The $382 billion program is designed to replace older fighter jets for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps over the next 30 years.

Why Columbus Day?

Christopher Columbus gets a very bad rap. He is accused basically of causing every crime ever committed against Indians in North America, mostly by virtue of having shown up. Many want to downgrade his accomplishment because he did not come over first. Only the Italians and conservatives really stick up for the poor captain anymore.

If you are one of the anti-Columbus crowd, remember this. Christopher Columbus did know from his readings of the experts that the world, most likely, was round. Most people's estimates of that distance around would have put Asia around 3,000 miles away. To Columbus, however, all this was theory. It made sense, but was it accurate. He bet his life on it.

Imagine the trip. You assume that land exists 3,000 miles away and you pack provisions for the trip. But if you are not right, that 1,500 mile point in the voyage must be frightening. The courage to believe in the idea and the leadership to keep the expedition together marks Columbus as one of Western Civilization's great heroes.

Once he arrived, his leadership fell apart. The crew preferred to work the local Indians rather than themselves, and thus earned Columbus a tarnished reputation. His responsibility over them only goes so far. We ought to continue to remember his accomplishment and the courage that it took for one man to take a chance with the stakes so high.