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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

10/23/2006

The Santorum-Casey Race in Pennsylvania is a Glimpse into the Future of America


I have spent some of the past three weeks, and plan to spend most of the next two weeks, talking about Rick Santorum’s qualifications to serve a third term in the senate. I know that other Pennsylvanians will be doing the same. And I hope that conservatives throughout the country will consider earmarking some of their campaign contributions to this immensely important and pivotal race. The election or defeat of this powerful senator from Pennsylvania will have repercussions throughout America … and far into the future.

Now that we are a mere two weeks away from a watershed election, I simply want to sum up what I have been, and intend to keep, voicing here in my own south-central Pennsylvania community over the next two weeks, in the hopes that others in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, might see in my thoughts some common ground with their own. Apologies for any repetition of previous comments and opinions, amid the new ones here (I posted some of these views here three weeks ago).

I believe the Santorum-Casey race here in Pennsylvania represents a telling microcosm of what has evolved between the two political parties in American politics over the past four decades.

The democrat party has evolved into a party intent, more than all else, on the amassing and retaining of personal and political power. And the ‘all else’ over which that power takes precedence in the democrat agenda includes the lives and liberties of the American people, and the sovereignty of our republic.

Because the democrats’ real agenda would not sit well with the majority of the citizenry, they conveniently cloak it in altruistic, humanitarian terms (child-friendly, environmentalist, for the American way, anti-crime, pro-equality/justice, tolerance … ). Yet their vision bears no resemblance to the magnificent, unparalleled-in-the-history-of-mankind vision that our Founders laid out more than two centuries ago. In fact, it consistently seeks to denigrate that vision, render it outdated, and portray it as foolishly myopic.

Republicans’ real agenda (at least those republicans who remain true to the conservative foundation upon which the party was built) is based simply on a reverence for the original intent of the Constitution, and a belief that, as a result of, and reverence for, the vision and sacrifice of those who went before, our highest calling is to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, and, to that end, to zealously protect our national sovereignty.

There are few Americans who would dispute the paragraph above. The majority would abhor the previous one.

So how do democrats gain and retain power? The operative word is deception –- either deception via lies, or deception via politically opportune silence.

And how do republicans lose power? They allow themselves to bow to the pressures exerted by the (leftist media and academia-originated) concept of political correctness, and they agree to compromise of principle. They bargain away their base in order to get along with the enemy.

The Santorum-Casey race in Pennsylvania is a striking and vastly important example of this potentially deadly difference in political philosophy … which will have major implications for our republic far into the future.

Robert Casey, Jr. has remained virtually silent on all of the major issues during this campaign, while, behind the scenes, he has received the endorsement of many blatantly anti-liberty, anti-sovereignty organizations -- among them: George Soros’ MoveOn.org and Citizens for Global Solutions (formerly known as the World Federalist Association … a change of name does not denote a change in abominable motives and goals).

The mainstream media, and academia, have largely succeeded in keeping under wraps Casey’s ties with powerful organizations that seek the erasure of our borders and the replacement of our sovereign social, legal and judicial systems with those of global centricity. They want the America that has thrived, prospered, and served as a beacon of hope to free people since its founding, to cease to exist … and to replace her with iron-fisted rule by organizations as anti-liberty and anti-sovereignty as the United Nations.

Robert Casey represents the epitome of the modern democrat politician –- mouthing (on the rare occasions when he chooses to voice an opinion at all) glib platitudes about freedom and the American way, while, behind-the-scenes, rubbing elbows with those who abhor both. This modern democrat, like most others, if elected on November 7th, will have gained office through the power of deception.

Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way (oxymoron alert!) recently stated that ‘No one is further to the right in the senate than Rick Santorum. If he had his way, the constitutional clock would be turned back about seven decades.’

Amen to that.

In stark contrast to the tactics of Robert Casey, Rick Santorum has consistently stuck his head above the crowd in order to voice what needs to be said and do what needs to be done.

I honestly believe that the huge majority of our ‘leadership’ in Washington is either indifferent to, or in favor of (for either financial or political/ideological power reasons), avoiding confronting the illegal alien crisis. As I also believe that an equal number are purposefully attempting to demoralize our military, and create a Vietnam-era-like malaise among the populace, so as to retreat from our assignment in Iraq, and pull back from a confrontational stance against Muslim fanaticism in general – and for the very same reasons that they refuse to acknowledge and resolve the illegal alien crisis.

For the sixteen years he has been in Washington, Rick Santorum has remained immovable on most issues that are indelibly close to his heart – and two of those issues must eclipse all others in these perilous times: namely, (1) the threat posed by Islamic terrorism and (2) the need to close our southern border. He has assumed a strong conservative stance from the get-go, and has been vocal and immovable in his call for immediate, and historically unprecedented ‘ruthless’ (by PC standards) action to deal with both. As a result he has taken vicious, unrelenting hits from the media/academia, especially here in Pennsylvania.

And it is basically for that reason that the democrat machine has designated him as their prime target in November. I have read several accounts that claim that the amount of DNC money pouring into Casey’s coffers is close to double that being focused on any other national candidate. Santorum is a tireless advocate of facing down the Muslim threat and closing the border, and the DNC would like nothing more than (1) to depose the senate’s third most powerful republican, and (2) to replace him with a soft-on-both leftist mouthpiece.

At the same time, much republican money has been withdrawn from being earmarked for the Santorum campaign ... with his re-election now being viewed as 'hopeless'.

As so often happens on a national scale, the voters in Pennsylvania appear not to have done their homework. They have been duped by the deceptions promulgated by the leftist media, and they are woefully ignorant of the behind-the-scene machinations being performed by groups that seek to destroy their freedoms and our republic’s position as leader of the free world. I have witnessed this voter ignorance in walking door-to-door and speaking with potential republican voters in my area. But I know that I have also succeeded in opening the eyes of many of those potential voters, who are now intending to cast an informed vote on November 7th. If those of us who are aware of the inherent, long-term dangers represented by the loss of Rick Santorum’s voice in Washington will continue our attempts to awaken those who are unaware of the truth, this election can be salvaged.

The one major area which represents Santorum’s Achilles heel occurred with his endorsement of Arlen Specter in his run for re-election against Pat Toomey in 2004, in which Santorum compromised with the enemy. He did not betray his conservative principles -- he allowed them to be temporarily, and unfortunately, eclipsed by political pressure from the left.

We are living in a time of unprecedented political turmoil, new age political agendas that seek to declare our Constitution irrelevant, and to dissolve the sanctity of our sovereignty in deference to the vision of a new world order, and weakness in the seat of our government in the face of brutal, relentless terrorism that is designed to take insidious and deadly advantage of each and every blink from the Western World.

Anyone who considers abandoning support for Santorum because of his movement to the center on a handful of domestic/spending policies, and his ill-conceived endorsement of Specter, needs to keep that in mind … and read in its entirety his July speech at the National Press Club.

This speech is a passionate, heartfelt call to arms, not unlike one that Thomas Paine might have delivered, were he still with us. I hope you've read the speech -- or will, if you haven't. You’ll come away with the understanding that Rick Santorum isn’t just a crusader for greatly increased border security, the right to life of the unborn, uncovering government corruption, welfare reform, privatizing Social Security, training and equipping first responders, simplification of the tax code, and tort reform. He is all that and much more. He is a rarity in Washington these days: He is a leader who recognizes the brutal and obsessive nature of Islamic fascism, and who isn’t overcome with politically correct reticence when the opportunity to awaken and educate his countrymen presents itself. And this battle cry is nothing new -- Santorum’s stance on terrorism has remained unchanged since before the ’93 World Trade Center bombing. His conservative, ‘hawkish’ views have become less popular among the political elite, but he is unyielding.

A local political pundit recently wrote of him, ‘In our poll-driven political climate, dominated by blow-dried politicians with their fingers to the wind, he stands for things. And even where he stands for things with which I disagree, I come away admiring his unwillingness to placate dissenters by telling us words that we want to hear. What you see with Santorum, is what you get. He speaks from the head and heart.'

Santorum debated his opponent, Robert Casey, Jr., on ‘Meet the Press’ in early September. Santorum’s best line in the debate was:

You [Casey] believe that we’re going to win or lose this war on the battlefield in Iraq and the battlefield in Afghanistan. I don’t. I think we’ll win or lose this war right here in America.

Robert Casey had no answer.

And perhaps he doesn’t need one. He has crony-related name recognition in his corner. The name Casey in Pennsylvania is akin to the name Daley in Chicago. And, when one adds the crony factor to the facts that (1) the DNC is pouring unprecedented money into the Casey campaign, (2) many Pennsylvania voters vote the way their union tells them to, (3) voting democrat has been nothing short of a sanctified family tradition for many Pennsylvanians ever since FDR ‘pulled their starving families out of the depression’, and (4) 120% of the registered democrats (including family dogs, parakeets and long dead ancestors) turn out to vote in the inner cities, Santorum has quite an uphill battle facing him over the next five weeks.

The danger in a Casey victory lies not in seating a left-or-moderate democrat in the seat that was formerly Santorum’s. The danger lies in losing a powerful, immovable voice in our war on Islamic fascism and our need to secure our borders. We cannot afford to lose such voices.

Current polls of most likely voters show Bob Casey ahead by double digits in just about every area of the state but central PA. Yet, in the 2004 election, Pennsylvania was reluctantly pulled into the blue column, and a look at the county-by-county results shows clearly that, had voters turned out in larger numbers in the counties that fell into the Republican column, the state would clearly have turned red.


Therein lies the only way Rick Santorum can win this election. The vote in the heart of Pennsylvania has to come out and counterbalance the three major urban areas where voter fraud is rampant and where votes are traditionally bought through intimidation and promises of more entitlement/socialist government perks.

I have said before that I will never again vote for the lesser of two evils. But there is a world of difference between that and voting for someone with whom you sometimes disagree. Especially at this pivotal time in our history, when we’re facing a more brutally deadly threat than ever before – and on two horrendous fronts – this is not the time to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Steve Leonard, a contributor to Allegiance and Duty Betrayed, recently wrote:

No more talk, no more lies, no more dissembling, no more diplomacy. They stop, and they stay stopped, or they die, and their countries die with them. In Iran, in Syria, in Somalia, in Waziristan, leaders and civilians who support terrorists have forfeited their right to breathe the air of this planet. We don't have to occupy them, we don't have to rebuild them, we don't have to ‘bring them to justice,’ or grant them habeas corpus or let them have lawyers. We just have to destroy them.

I believe that, on the national level, the above paragraph must be our litmus test. If a candidate does not openly and vocally embrace that philosophy, he does not get my vote.

Rick Santorum does … and will. And I will do all that I can between now and November 7th to see to it that as many of my family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers comprehend the difference between a leader who wants to confront and unambiguously defeat the unparalleled malevolent forces threatening to extinguish the Western world as we know it, and who will disperse even their shadow … and a pretender whose political ideology depends on which way the politically correct winds happen to be blowing.

This election, and the next, are not about ‘the economy, stupid’.
They are about nothing less than the survival of Western Civilization.

~ joanie

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're a real patriot foot-soldier, Joanie, down in the trenches.

Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Well said Joanie. Well said. I wish I lived in PA so I could help push Santorum over the top.

Anonymous said...

If you want to help Santorum, spread the word about Casey's adamant refusal to reject MoveOn.org's support even though it is now on record that MoveOn.org knowingly and willfully allowed its Action Forum to be used as a platform for the most vicious imaginable hate speech toward Jews, Catholics, and occasionally Black people.

There are plenty of Jewish and Catholic Democrats (and decent people of all persuasions who have no use for bigotry and hate speech suitable for the Ku Klux Klan) in the state who will probably change their votes, or at least not vote for either candidate, once they see whom Casey is associating himself with.

Anonymous said...

The democrat party has evolved into a party intent, more than all else, on the amassing and retaining of personal and political power. And the ‘all else’ over which that power takes precedence in the democrat agenda includes the lives and liberties of the American people, and the sovereignty of our republic.

That represents the most dangerous "evolution" in our history.

Anonymous said...

You need to quite your day job and become a speech writer.

Anonymous said...

The lastest poll numbers are bleak:

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/091505.html

Anonymous said...

Joanie, I agree that the Democratic Party has become the party of deceit, especially since the 60's. But I think the Republicans are beginning to pick up that ugly trait too. We really can't trust either major party at this point in time, although the Dems certainly lie more often. They wouldn't win an election if they told the truth.

Santorum would have my vote if I lived in PA. Good luck over the next two weeks!

Anonymous said...

You've got a good web site there, Bill Levinson.

Anonymous said...

At the same time, much republican money has been withdrawn from being earmarked for the Santorum campaign ... with his re-election now being viewed as 'hopeless'.

That's because the RNC (and most "Republican" money) no longer supports real conservative candidates. You have to look to places like the Club for Growth if you want financial support for a real conservative.

The Republican Party has abandoned its base.

Great column, Joanie.

Anonymous said...

Inclement weather in Pgh and Philly will be the deciding factor. Libs don't like to get wet--but then again dead people vote come rain or snow.

Anonymous said...

Santorum's description of homosexual relations as "deviant behavior," his put down of Griswold v. Connecticut and his statement that the constitution doesn't guarantee a right to privacy was over the edge.

Anonymous said...

Joanie- what do you take with you when you go door to door and how do you break the ice?

Anonymous said...

Bless you Joanie, and good luck over the next two weeks!

Anonymous said...

Added to santorumblog.com on 10/24.

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum accepted the endorsement of the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) today as he criss-crossed the Commonwealth with Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association of America and NRA-Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Chris W. Cox making stops in Erie, Luzerne and Allegheny counties. Santorum has long been a champion of protecting Second Amendment rights and has received an “A+ rating from the NRA- Political Victory Fund” based on his Congressional record.

Anonymous said...

Rick's damn lucky to have you on his side.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to all here for the excellent comments.

3timesalady -- I take quite a bit of 'stuff' with me, including some columns (old and new) I've downloaded off the internet (Krauthammer in particular) -- as well as copies of Santorum's speech at the National Press Club. (Most people are not aware of that speech, and I've probably left fifty or sixty copies with those people, so far. It's a powerful tool.)

My most powerful tool is a small pamphlet, of which I have about a million and five :), entitled '50 Things You May Not Know About Rick Santorum'. It delineates in detail all of his accomplishments and his vision for the future of our state and republic.

People, almost without exception, are very receptive to this, and request a copy for themselves as well. I have sat on many a couch for half an hour or more and gone over many of the entries, asnwering numerous intelligent questions that people pose.

Unfortunately, I have been very disheartened to discover that the most positive responses to his initiatives have been to those that I personally do not like (social-spending and entitlement-related policies). But if reviewing those kinds of policies with potential voters will get them out to the polls on the 7th, I consider it a necessary evil. :)

As I discovered during the Toomey campaign, people are not generally aware of the vast differences in the two candidates, but are extraordinarily receptive to hearing about them.

Thanks for asking. :)

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

If it wasn't too late to register, I'd think about moving to PA to vote for this man. :>)