The Georgia House district where I live elected a new representative in a special election tonight.  Congratulations to Daniel Stout, the newly-elected State Representative from GA-19.

The voting totals (unofficial until certified), taken from the Secretary of State site are:

Stout – 59.5%
Sibley – 35.6%
Cash – 4.9%

Hey Paulding folks, I wanted to make sure you all know that the Paulding County Republican Women are having a meeting this Saturday.  The guest speakers will be the candidates running in the special election to fill the seat recently vacated by Glenn Richardson.

There isn’t much time before this election, so act quickly to learn all you can about these candidates.  The meeting is Saturday morning at 10:00 at the Paulding County Republican Party HQ.  105 Village Walk, Suite 283, in Dallas.

Nathan Deal came to the Paulding County GOP meeting earlier this month.  He was so unimpressive that it’s taken me almost 2 weeks to get around to writing this post about the meeting.

To be fair, Deal was a very nice guy.  I spent some time talking with him after the meeting, and he was certainly one of the more pleasant gubernatorial candidates.  The problem, though, as I’ve said before, is that Nathan Deal’s campaign for Governor is one based solely on emotion.  He got up, bragged about all the wonderful things he’s done in his political career, and then said they qualify him to be Governor.  He didn’t mention one issue in his speech.

Water? Nope.

Jobs? Nope.

Illegal Aliens? Nope.

Nothing.

When he finished speaking, there was time for some Q&A.  He was asked about schools and how we can make them better with better choices.  He said something about making sure we have proper checks in place to make sure private schools and home schoolers are doing a good job before they get any government money, and then he rambled a bit more before taking a seat.

I was curious about his comments, so after the meeting, I approached him and asked him to clarify.  He clarified by confirming that he would want to regulate the education given by private schools if parents would receive any tax relief.  I let him finish his clarification, and I nodded.

I looked him straight in the eye and said “I have a real problem with that.”  He looked puzzled, so I elaborated.  I told him that the education of my children is my responsibility.  He nodded.  I told him that the private school where my children attend should answer to me and my wife – not the state of Georgia – on how well they’re teaching my children.

He told me that he understands that, but that if you’re going to give government money to the private school, you have to make them accountable.  I replied very directly that the money isn’t the government’s to give, and that the real solution is to not collect my money in the first place.  At this point he was backing up to say things I wanted to hear, so I ended the conversation and thanked him for joining us.

If you’re a Deal supporter, I’d challenge you to really find out what he believes and consider what he has to say.  His web site won’t be much help, and even if you hear him speak, you’re not likely to hear much information about current issues.  You may have to question him directly.  Listen closely to what he says.  You might find that he’s a bigger fan of government than our Governor should be.

Just a quick FYI for you Paulding area folks – Republican candidate for Governor Ray McBerry will be coming to Paulding County for two speaking appearances.

Paulding Right to Life Meeting
Sunday, January 17 @ 3:00 p.m.
St. Stephen Parish in Hiram (130 Holy Cross Path, Hiram, GA)

Paulding County Republican Party Meeting
Saturday, February 20 @ 9:00 a.m.
PCGOP HQ (105 Village Walk, Suite 283, Dallas, GA)

I’ll be at both of these meetings, so if you’re able to make it, please be sure to say hello when you’re there.

I’ve been going over some things in my mind lately, and I’ve decided to put them into list form here. It’s my list of political predictions for 2010. Some of these are obvious. Some might be more of a stretch. No matter what happens, 2010 is going to be an interesting year in politics, and I’m very much looking forward to it.

I don’t have inside information on any of these items. This is just my speculation at what will happen.

In Georgia

• Democrats in Georgia will pick up some House seats. I don’t know where or how many, but to think the Georgia Republicans can have all the chaos they’ve had lately and not lose seats is just not logical thinking.
• Johnny Isakson will have the same runoff opportunity that Saxby Chambliss had in 2008. At this point, I’d probably vote for Satan if he ran against Isakson.
• Taxes will rise. Our dollars are as weak for us as they are for the state. And since Georgia can’t just make more money like they do in Washington, it will need higher tax revenues to compensate for the ever-weakening dollar.

In Washington

• The Republicans will take the majority in the U.S. House.
• Harry Reid will lose his run for reelection.  (I’m going way out on a limb there, huh?)
• The resulting power shift in the Democrat Party (after losing the House and Reid not returning) will cause chaos in the party, which will start a downhill trend for the Dems that will cost Obama the election in 2012 (unless he runs against Sarah Palin).
• Jim DeMint will no longer be the only consistent voice of reason in the Senate, as he will be joined by Rand Paul.
• There will be more bailouts of “too big to fail” companies that come with rules on how they are allowed to operate.

Across the Nation

• The Libertarian Party will see a 50% increase in votes over 2008 election numbers. I think this is a conservative estimate. It may approach a 75% increase if the Republicans nationwide continue to offer poor candidates.
• There will be more scares over terrorist plots (not involving airplanes) that will give gun grabbers a reason to push for more gun laws under the guise of keeping people safe and secure.  As a result, we will have more gun laws, but we will be less safe and secure than we are now.
• The Tenth Amendment will be an issue of much discussion as states who can’t afford the mandates from health care legislation will have to consider rejecting it.

So that’s my list of political predictions for this year.  What are yours?

This is specifically for those of us in Paulding County who are (were) represented by Glenn Richardson.

I got an email from a friend who was asking me to contact my representative to ask for support of Barry Loudermilk for the new Speaker of the House.  I’ve been represented by Richardson, so I wrote back to find out how I would support Loudermilk in that way (or anybody else), since Richardson is stepping down.

The reply that came back was this:

Call the House Republican Caucus Chair, Rep. Donna Sheldon, at 404-656-5025 or email her at donna.sheldon@house.ga.gov and ask her to endorse Barry Loudermilk for Speaker of the House.

I am assuming that this is correct information.  If anybody out there knows a better way to handle this, please let me know and I’ll update this thread.

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.

Recently I did an interview with Politico about the recently-launched FireSenator.com site.  The article that was for went online today, so I thought I’d share it with those of you here.  Hater Sites Take Flight

From the article:

Then there is the recently launched FireSenator.com, a site that hopes to create individual blogs aimed at the nearly 60 incumbent senators who voted for Congress’s initial $700 billion bailout package last year.

Ron Davis, a 32-year-old IT administrator from Georgia who is behind the effort, has already recruited one grass-roots blogger to run the blogs aimed at Virginia Democratic Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner.

“I did this out of frustration,” said Davis, a self-described “apolitical” who initially launched FireSaxby.com last year after Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) voted for the bailout. “I thought there was no way possible [that] conservatives would keep supporting him after voting for something that fiscally irresponsible. I was always what you’d call an uninformed, straight-ticket Republican. But that vote woke me up.”

Some lines from Karen Handel’s web site we recently brought to my attention.  On her “Issues” page, she says that she is pro-life, but that she would allow exceptions for cases of rape and incest.

How can Handel be pro-life if she’s pro-choice some of the time?  That’s like someone who claims to be in favor of the 2nd amendment saying that government should regulate gun ownership for the general welfare of the people.  The logic doesn’t work.  Karen Handel says she is pro-life, but the unfortunate truth is that Karen Handel is a pro-choice Republican.

Our state government needs to be actively protecting life – all life.  Incest and rape are terrible, and pregnancies that result from those situations are unfortunate.  Still, there is life; and allowing the destruction of that life is the exact opposite of a pro-life stance.

This came up because of a Georgia Right to Life Candidate Affirmation Statement that Handel has not signed.  All Republican gubernatorial candidates except Handel and Nathan Deal have signed the statement.  (I’d mention Deal’s “Issues” page here, too, but he doesn’t have one.)

The sanctity of life (all life, at all stages of life) is a big issue for me.  Georgians need a leader who will be a pro-life Governor 100% of the time.  Karen Handel is not that leader. Georgians deserve a better Governor than Karen Handel.

I encourage you to take a look at the candidates on that GRTL site who have signed the candidate affirmation statement.  There’s a wide range of Republicans there, but those 5 have at least agreed on the sanctity of human life.  I’ve chosen to support Ray McBerry in the gubernatorial race, and McBerry’s plan to actively protect life was a big part of my decision.  Choose your candidate, and make sure your candidate is a true pro-life candidate.

Nathan Deal, who’s stance on any issue has been somewhat (read: totally) left out of campaign literature, has finally taken a stance on something: higher taxes on cigarettes.

Smoking’s not good for you, and you probably shouldn’t do it.  Still, pulling an extra dollar per pack out of smokers’ pockets is not what Georgia needs.

Let’s get spending under control and get government programs limited to only what is Constitutionally required, then (and only then) we can talk about more taxes.