Open Mic Night

Last night the Tea Party Society of Houston had fundraisers all over Houston at local pubs for "Open Mic Night." You pay $5 for a five minute rant (with microphone). It was interesting listening to the different views. Some rants were more libertarian and others more tax related. But one thing was clear, we no longer trust our government to do the will of the people.....at all.

I related the story of when I spoke with Sen. John Cornyn and asked him about the all the anger out here with Republicans regarding Arlen Specter. He said he would rather have a Republican that voted with him 80% of the time than a Democrat that voted with him 0% of the time.

Well, guess what he's got now?

You would think Sen. Cornyn would have learned. After all, he is a good conservative. But here he is backing Crist in Florida for the Senate.

The Tea Parties should say, "No more."

This is the main problem. The concerns and desires and vision that libertarian leaning Republicans, blue dog Democrats, and conservative Republicans will never be met or even addressed by Democrats. We only have the Republicans. We are stuck. Talk of a third party is lollipop dreams.

I feel that the best thing the Tea Party protests can do is scare Republicans into being...Republicans. You will notice that most of the pundits and bloggers who tell Republicans they should be more moderate are....Democrats. They are people who will never vote Republican. These are the people who have nothing but scorn for the hard working, tax paying citizens at these protests. Why in the world would we listen to anyone who has nothing but disdain for us?

It's only in places like Texas that blue dog Democrats can be persuaded by the Tea Parties. And in those places we do need to reach out to them.

It's time to let the Republicans know that if they want to be elected or re-elected, then they need to stand strong against this over-reaching government. No more compromising on bailouts or TARP. They need to fight tax increases with every breath in their body. They need to do things like NOT ask Nancy Pelosi to apologize, but to RESIGN. Enough spending. Enough intrusion into our lives. You either act like a true Republican or hit the door.

Also, Republicans need to stop acting like Obama is above criticism. I understood right after such an historic election the need to back off a bit and give the guy a chance. But in this short time Obama's spending is completely out of control and will force our children, and the children not yet born, to carry the burden of this debt. Now maybe the American people don't understand the damage of this, but Republicans in Washington do. It's time to be as critical of this President as they would with any other President.

Republicans lost a lot of credibility in this area with their own spending in the past. It's time to get back their credibility. No more yes votes on any spending. Period.

We recently we got the news that this year the United States will borrow 46 cents for every dollar it spends. That is mind boggling. Then came the annual reports on the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Under current projections, Medicare will be tapped out in eight years. Social Security will be into deficit spending by 2016 and will be unable to meet its obligations by 2037. The latest White House estimates add $89 billion to the current year budget deficit for a total of $1.8 trillion. That’s more than 12 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, the highest percentage rate since World War II.

Republicans have a tough road ahead. But they have good issues, issues that the American people can understand as the unemployment rate hits 8.9 percent.

Republicans have got to grow a spine again. The time is now, or it may be too late.