Category Politics

Sep 25 2018

Decency: The Indecent Weapon

 

It was the core value that bound us together. The singular plank on the platform of civil debate that we all could agree must remain intact to sustain the internal struggles of the Republic, the check and pause to zeal and passion midst the emotions of heated discourse. Grievous to see, Decency now lies tortured, splintered, and ripped, tossed from our political platforms, and dead to the liberal players who now encumber the tired and teetering timbers of the once sturdy decks of our Nation’s discourse.

Still, Conservatives remain doggedly bound to decency. Is this to their credit? In some measure, perhaps so, at least to salve their own moral compass, but is it to the benefit of the Nation, when the results are repeated defeats at the hands of the Indecent?

Conservatives have yet to come to grips with the fact that, for decades now, liberals have been engaged in a full out war against the Republic. The Nation has watched with frustration as the Republicans have been outmatched, outmaneuvered, and out-manned seemingly at every turn, willingly compliant to the Democrats’ demands that the GOP plod along staunchly adhering to the tactics of a gentleman’s war, while Democrats gleefully respond with the tactics of total war.

In the moments that Republicans have found their spine, the Democrats have quickly called for civility and decency. Not for the result of deep soul searching and genuine repentance do liberals make this call, but to see Conservatives quickly slink and cower back into the defensive posture so easily manipulated and controlled. It has become reflexive for the Right give pause at such accusations because they revere decency as much as the average American does, but it is this decent average America that the Left, the Indecent, wants to destroy.

To the Indecent, decency is has been redefined as silence in the face of all that they wish to redefine. If the Decent should raise any protest, engage in any confrontation, and critique one iota of any jot or tittle of the liberal agenda, the Decent are quickly labeled racist, a phobic du-jour, or any ever evolving derogatory title the left engenders or gerrymanders to label or name call the Decent, indecent. In short, the average American’s desire for decency has been weaponized against them.

It is true that a growing number of our youth have embraced the tactics of the Indecent, but still a majority of Americans still recoil at the idea of being unfair and indecent to another human being, no matter their persuasion. So in it’s infancy, the Indecent wrapped their redefining of our civilization as a need to be fair to all peoples, and warmhearted Americans easily agreed. But as the veils have come off the social justice agenda and a growing number of Americans are becoming alarmed at the targeting of “unwanted” people groups, the Left must silence the critics.

Decent Americans want the days of decency to come back but how can it, when the Indecent control what is accepted and not accepted? Gone are the days when civil debate was a part of our political process. We look to our leaders but the Indecent shout, threaten, accuse, bully, and the Decent cower looking for a decent, respectable, and quiet solution for a response.

The Republicans’ continued adherence to the traditions of decency has been the weapon consistently used against them. A Decent man can be accused of indecency with no corroboration, facts, only hearsay, and we are bound by decency to hear the accusation. But the Indecent have no desire for the accusation to be proven only that the accusation be continually hurled against the Decent in order paralyze Decency so that Indecency may prevail.

This paralysis can only be broken by strength and common sense. It is not indecent to refuse to let decency be exploited for political gain. Our Conservative leaders must realize that the basic tenets of the Rule of Law in this Republic cannot be allowed to fail. A decent man, Bret Kavanaugh, cannot be sullied by the hearsay of indecency in an effort to redefine who he is. Republicans need to do the decent thing and end this charade of indecency that is paralyzing our Nation.

-Andy Torbett

Aug 18 2018

Inoculated

 

We could wait for the dust to settle, but the frenzy never seems to lessen. The tension has ratcheted far beyond hyper to that screeching ripping sound right before everything snaps. Hour upon hour the American people are treated to an incessant volley of insults, hyperbole, and unhinged smears against this Nation, it’s people, and it’s President.

Should this be allowed? Can they attack the American people in this way? Yes, of course! The First Amendment’s strength is it’s ability to protect the speech you don’t want to hear.

While the media is protected by the First Amendment, the media is not the embodiment of the First Amendment. The Rights of Free Speech and Freedom of the Press are not enshrined in and exclusive to the mainstream media. Despite what liberal and conservative pundits alike opine, it is not an infringement of Free Speech to challenge the validity of the old line media as trustworthy news sources.

The President has done what most Republicans have failed to do and that is to push back against the dishonest media. Most Republicans have spent their entire political career cowering before the media and, like breath of fresh air, this President has come into office and done what every politician promises to do, fight for the people. A grim sense of satisfaction has swept the nation as they watch a bloodied tyrant flailing foolishly at a studied pugilist, who is giving the old despot his due.

President Trump has exposed for the Nation what he has known all along. The old line media is a failing commodity that has not placed a quality product on the market for some time. Were it not for forced viewing in airports and, sadly, validation by the White House, the old line media would barely make a ratings blip.

This is the irony. For all his bluster, Trump still validates these failed media institutions by allowing them a seat in the White House Press Corps. The negative attitudes, insults, and disdain of the American people are emboldened by the revered status a place in the Executive press room affords.

The First Amendment does not grant the media immunity from the Free Market. Free Speech does not or should not keep you impervious to the non-violent repercussions of said Free Speech. Yet, the established wisdom of today would have us believe that the old guard media are icons which have been inoculated against the demands of the consumer and innovation, therefore, cannot be changed. Will Free Speech really die with the demise of these rotting corpse, which are the media dinosaurs?

I think not. New and fresh voices are sounding an honest and clear call, a clarion that deserves recognition. Is it time for the White House to embrace this changing of the guard fully?

If the President truly believes that the dinosaur media is a failed, aging, outdated product that does not serve the people, then at the very least he must allow for new and fresh competition within the Press Corps. Can the President kick a news group out of the Press room? Why Not?!

Let the Free Market, the consumer, decide who their news source is. The White House should stop validating those news institutions who constantly disparage and attack the very fabric of our Nation, it’s people. They have the Freedom to do so, yes, but it is the President’s job to protect the interests of the people and the information highway is not a one horse carriage anymore.

-Andy Torbett

 

Jul 23 2018

Monday Irony

So with the given pattern of false reporting, propagandizing, and fixation on character assassination, yet still, with all the new media venues available and the precipitous decline of the trust of the American people in the old fossilized mainstream media, the White House continues to afford the mainstream media relics a spot in the White House Press Corps, validating their unprofessional behavior and foisting on the American people something they increasingly do not want and are disgusted with.

Jul 16 2018

Through the Conservative Prism: Primary Postmortem

 

It’s been awhile since I have written anything. I have been a little preoccupied with local issues up here the Wilderness, which has culminated in my being called out by name in the local paper by a millionaire liberal, who has been buying up large tracts of land in small rural Maine towns and decimating their economies by putting these landholdings in tax exempt or tax preferred programs, thereby depleting small town Maine’s tenuous tax base. Needless to say, said millionaire liberal doesn’t like my propensity to lay down the facts and not care a rat’s hairy hindquarters what he thinks of the revelations.

In some measure, I suppose I should feel flattered. It’s the first time I’ve had my name in the headlines. And still, given that it was not the front page, I have room to grow, goals still to aspire to.

But that propensity aforementioned has been a thorn in the gamy rotting flesh of the political establishment since I became political active, putting my written voice to many a, yes, thorny political issue causing no small discomfort to those who clutch and grasp at power like wizened old wraiths. It is easy then to understand why the “thorn” is tolerated during the election cycle in order to capitalize on the zeal, then quickly discarded after goals have been realized and a dissenting voice must be marginalized. Lessons are learned, mistrust a gift cherished, and the realization that the freedom to make your own call should not be lightly relinquished.

So then the primary. I have always called myself a Conservative with Libertarian leanings. I rarely mention this anymore as those within the Libertarian ranks, especially in Maine, find “leanings” offensive to the purity of the political ideology to the point of threats of violent retribution to those who transgress the “issue du jour”, which given the myriad of Libertarian factions the political vassal can spend a continuum paying homage and reparations for the endless cycle of transgressions.

So then this primary. I chose to endorse the candidate that I felt was the closest to my core value system which was not the establishment pick. My candidate came up short.

Now, as Conservative, I am faced with an evaluation of can my core value system support the nominee the Republican establishment has given us? In the light of what alternatives are left to the future of this great State, the answer is pretty clear, we must, all conservatives, unite to support Shawn Moody for Governor. All questions must be set aside, our goal must be fixed, and we cannot lose ground.

I regarded Mr. Moody as a blank slate, a dubious record at best. In the issues that matter most, this nominee has secured endorsements from individuals whose records are clear and worthy of trust. These should be assurances we need.

The 2nd Amendment has been the lightning rod throughout this cycle, although the rhetoric has evolved into an assault on the whole of the Constitution. During the primary, Jeff Zimba vouched for Mr. Moody’s support for gun rights, when questions arose on his stance. For all of us who have fought for and cherish our Natural Born Right to self-defense, Mr. Zimba has a proven record we can trust and his word should be enough.

Moody has assured us that he will defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Documents defend the fundamental rights stamped into us from the spark of life and we must expect every political leader to honor them. Now, it is time to put the shoulder to the harness and get Shawn Moody to the Blaine House. Let’s Set Maine Free!