This is, without a doubt, going to be one of the most difficult pieces I’ve ever written.  I’m going to take a stance that isn’t going to be popular with a lot of people who read this blog and who I consider to be very good friends, but I ask that you all hear me out on this.

There’s been much talk in the media lately about troops and the war, and since I try to stay at least partially relevant to what’s going on in the news, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the war effort.

I sat up late Tuesday night refreshing Twitter on my phone to follow a conversation between a friend of mine and some random pro-war Republican.  My friend took the approach that we shouldn’t be there building an empire because our military is for our defense.  The random Twitter user took the “kill them before they kill us” side of the argument.

Our military is for defending the nation, but if you accept the argument that being on the offensive is the best way to defend, I can see where you’d support the war effort in Afghanistan.  I don’t accept that argument, and I don’t support the war effort in Afghanistan, but I can see how someone could follow that logic.

For this post, though, I really don’t want to get into either of those arguments.  They both have merit (at least to a degree), and there’s not much chance of convincing anybody in favor of the war to suddenly become against it.  I’d like to take a separate look at this issue of war.

Money.

I could almost (emphasis on “almost”) be convinced that if we had cash on hand to fund the war, that sending a bunch of troops to Afghanistan would be a smart move.  But we don’t have the money.  The war is a fiscally irresponsible, deficit spending effort that nobody who claims to be fiscally conservative should be able to embrace.  Being selectively irresponsible with money is like being pro-choice 3 days a week.

This deficit spending isn’t like a private citizen on a spending spree with a credit card. Money is being created – not just borrowed – to fund this war, so we are all being taxed through inflation.  This war is a big source of the weakening of the U.S. dollar, and I fear that the real impact of the recent money creation hasn’t yet been realized and that skyrocketing prices are not too far away.

Representative John Duncan (R-TN) recently said that there is nothing conservative about the war in Afghanistan.  He’s right.  No single one of us who has been upset with federal government spending at home can sanely argue for increased spending in this war.

I know a lot of people who will read this favor the war, the increased troops President Obama is sending, and the continued effort in Afghanistan until every terrorist is confirmed dead.  And I’m not foolish enough to believe that words I write will have any impact on convincing you of anything to the contrary.

However, I challenge each of you to give serious consideration to the issue of funding the war with newly created dollars.  Consider where the money is coming from and what is being done to the strength of the dollar (and how it impacts our economy). Then ask yourself if it’s possible for a fiscal conservative to support this ongoing war effort.

Your answer might surprise you.

(Hat tip to Jason Pye at United Liberty who posted this graph earlier this week.)

The line in this graph is the national debt.  Now, during the 1980s, we all knew spending was getting a bit out of control, but that increase is nothing compared to the spike in 2000.  Let’s see…what happened in 2000 that started this ugly trend…?  (Yeah, I just went there.)

This is scary stuff.  Look at the debt increase between 1980 and 2009 in years there was a Republican President.  I know it’s not entirely the fault of Reagan, Bush, or Bush that debt skyrocketed, but it’s hard to look at a graph like this and believe any Republican Presidential candidate who says we need to get spending under control.

Now Obama’s following the example of the big spending Republicans (to an extreme, even), and this is going to get much worse before it gets better. Those dollars we work for are becoming more and more useless by the day.

We’re overdue for a furious American population that is ready to beat down their Representatives doors in Washington.  This can’t continue.  You need to get involved with what money your Representatives are spending and make sure they know exactly what you think about it.

The second Saturday of the month finally arrived, and I headed to the monthly Paulding Republicans meeting.  This month’s special guest speaker was Doug MacGinnitie, who is running for Secretary of State.

MacGinnitie spoke about the two big parts of the Secretary of State’s job – working with businesses (mostly small businesses) and overseeing the elections.  He didn’t come across as a politician, and I really liked that about him. He seemed like a regular guy who wants to make things better for Georgia.  I’ve not yet looked into the people running against him, but I won’t be shocked at all if I end up voting for MacGinnitie in 2010.

He currently serves on the Sandy Springs City Counsel.  He was telling us about a budget surplus they had and how the other Republicans on the City Counsel didn’t want to consider returning the money to the tax payers.  The room erupted in applause when he spoke of pointing a finger at Republicans spending money based on wants rather than on needs.

That’s the type of approach we need.  From our City Counsel all the way up through the government, we need elected officials spending money on what we need and not spending it on what they want.

I won’t be able to make next month’s meeting, but I’ll be looking forward to August’s meeting.  If you want to get a chance to meet some of the active members of the Party, we’ve started meeting on Thursday nights at Jim & Nicks in Hiram.  It’s a very informal gathering that’s intended as an opportunity to expand friendships within the Party, attract those who might be interested in joining our efforts, and to eat some good BBQ.

Every Friday night before the Paulding Republicans meeeting, I think to myself that I’m crazy for planning to be anywhere regularly on a Saturday morning.  Then after every meeting, I find myself excited about the things that are going on at local levels inside the Republican Party.

People are getting vocal about tax-and-spend practices, they’re organizing and working together, and they’re getting tired of the massive growth in government.

More importantly, Republicans are waking up and seeing that the Republican politicians have strayed from true conservatism. They’ve seen how the massive government growth under President Bush is typical of Democratic leadership, and they seem ready for a return to true conservative principles.

Granted, this sudden urge for fiscal responsibility in many of the party members is likely brought on by the fact that there’s a Democrat in the White House, but there are some who are waking up to the fact that the Democrat and Republican Parties have mostly become the same bunch of liberals.  I stand proudly with that crowd.

Part of what I’m resolved to do politically is to help bring a conservative change to the Republican Party.  Granted, I’ve not been able to do a whole lot yet, but attending these meetings has given me the opportunity to offer feedback to elected officials and to hear what those campaigning for office have to say.  I’m noticing that elected leaders really pay attention to constituents they meet at these local meetings.

For example, last month I had the opportunity to share some of my concerns with Congressman Phil Gingrey.  Since then, I emailed Gingrey and asked him to cosponsor H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, and he did it.  Gingrey’s a good conservative with a level head on his shoulders, so it’s likely he would have cosponsored H.R. 1207 without my urging, but I suppose it’s possible that my email helped push him toward making that decision.

Today we heard from Austin Scott, candidate for Georgia Governor in the 2010 election. I haven’t looked at all the candidates in that race yet, but I really liked what I heard today.

First, Scott is a proponent of small government, and he appeared to be more for small government than many of the other Republicans I’ve heard from lately.

Also, Scott is pushing hard for an amendment that will require a balanced budget.  This is critical because if government expenses continually exceed revenue, our government will bring a total collapse of our monetary system.

Finally, Scott is young.  I know youth isn’t really a critical factor in choosing a Governor, but I’m convinced that part of the change we need in the Republican Party is a rise of younger conservatives.

The one thing that Scott said that I really didn’t like was that he doesn’t favor a state sales tax to replace the state income tax.  His reasoning was that they have problems collecting sales taxes and that the added number of tax collection points (and their inability to collect revenue efficiently) would prevent the change from being feasible.

We’re seeing some exciting things here on the local level in Paulding County Georgia.  Next week I’ll be at the District Convention.  I’m not sure what to expect there, but I’m really looking forward to it.  Meanwhile, if you’re in Paulding County and want to get involved politically, let me know (ron [at] upholdliberty [dot] org), and I’ll try to put you in touch with the right people.  If you’re somewhere else and want to get involved locally, I’ll be glad to try to help you find your local party’s leadership.

In the debate last night, John McCain and Barack Obama were asked who would be a good Treasury secretary.  Both men tossed Warren Buffett’s name out there but mostly focused on the qualifications the new Treasury secretary should have:

• McCain said it needs to be somebody that we know and who inspires trust and confidence.
• Obama said it has to be somebody who will help the middle class.

I’ve got the solution: Dave Ramsey.

Dave Ramsey inspires confidence.  He walks people through getting out of debt and teaches them how to handle money.  We all know him because he speaks directly to millions of Americans each day on his radio and TV shows.  He’ll gladly help the middle class by showing them how to win with their money.

And let’s not forget that we have a pretty large national debt.  Dave Ramsey knows more about getting out of debt than anybody else in the nation.  Let’s put him in control of our nation’s finances.

Then we can know that there’s at least one real fiscal conservative in Washington.