Thursday, March 17, 2011

Lincoln vs Reagan Day Dinners

If you would have asked me 6 months ago what a Lincoln Day Dinner was I would have been clueless. Now I find myself not only going to one tomorrow night but also planning one for our county in the near future. Apparently these have been going on for years as a way for Republicans to raise money for their local committees. I am assuming that the reason that they were called Lincoln Day Dinners is because Abe Lincoln was a Republican but the more I learn about him I really like calling them Reagan Day Dinners instead.

You can go to http://www.argop.org/ and see a list of the Dinners that are already planned all around the State of Arkansas. We will be traveling to Union County tomorrow night to attend theirs. Richard Caster will be the main speaker. Richard is the youngest elected official in the state of Arkansas. At age 19 he won the JP seat in his district. I heard Richard speak at the State GOP Convention back in fall and he was very impressive. I see great things ahead of this young man.

Beth Anne Rankin will be the Mistress of Ceremonies. There is a concerted effort from a lot of people in the fourth district to keep Beth Anne out in the spotlight. She ran a heck of a race this past year against incumbent Mike Ross and with a little more money and time it is my belief that she could have beat him. If you get a chance drop Beth Anne a note and tell her to gear up for 2012. We need her!

Now my challenge to you is find a Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner in your area and make preperations to attend. Your local committees need all the financial support they can get if we are going to turn the rest of Arkansas red.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Arrogant Politicians

The arrogance of some of our elected officials just blows my mind. I was recently copied on an email involving the some local Tea Party folks and our state Senator, Jimmy Jeffress. I was amazed at the way this man talks down to the citizens that he is supposed to be representing. What happened to the days when people went into politics to be servants? We need elected officials with hearts like the great men of old. They had to beg George Washington to serve. He gave his life to this country for nothing but heart ache and ill health in return. Now politicians go to Washington or Little Rock or even to local elected posititions with one thing on their mind....power.

Now I can't lump all of our elected officials in the same category. I think we have sent a group of freshman Congressman to Little Rock and Washington, DC that are trying to do the right thing. I seen this week where Congressman Tim Griffin is refusing to take part in the retirement program set up for Congress. This is honorable in my book. I also see great honor in Col. Alan West from Florida, Rand Paul from Kentucky, Jason Chaffetz from Utah, Gov. Scott Walker from Wisconsin, Jim DeMint from S. Carolina and Mike Pence from Indiana....just to name a few.

We have to look to the 2012 and start looking for candidates that will stand on their principles. Men and Women that will stand against the status quo and use common sense. That seems to be one of the other things missing these days from our elected officials besides humility -common sense.

When a politician talks down to the citizens they are showing that they think they are above the common man. We have seen this a lot lately with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They are part of the elite and have no problem letting you know that they know better than you do about almost everything. We pretty much expect this with politicians in Washington but when our local and state reps start having this attitude then it is time to band together and get rid of them. I would rather have an uneducated begger from the street leading me than someone who stands high and mighty and tells you what a good person they are and how they know better than you do what needs to be done.

To be a great leader you must be a servant first.