Hennessy's View

The middle of the road is fine until you have to get somewhere.

I voted for Bob Dole in 1996. Yet his nomination drove me away from political activism for years.

I got out of the Navy in the fall of 1994. I watched the GOP reclaim the House with my nephew, Scott.  I expected the Republicans to nominate a solid conservative who deliver a knock-out blow to the Clinton era two years later.

Instead, they nominated Bob Dole.

I quit. Gave up.  Surrendered.

“If the Republicans want to nominated a ‘me too’ Republican,” I told friends, “there’s no point in my wasting time.”

Yeah, it was a bit petulant of me. Then, again, I’d been through a lot personally. Maybe I needed a break.

But Bob Dole?

In 1996, Bob Dole was the symbol of the GOP establishment. To Reaganites, he was a living reminder of the low-point of the Gipper’s two terms: the 1982 tax increase. As a politician, he was the worst of both worlds: an acerbic, sarcastic humor that turned off moderates and moderate deal-making politics that turned off everybody else.

I caucused, that year, for Pat Buchanan.

Buchanan had and has many flaws.  But he’d have wiped up the stage with Clinton at debates. Even if he’d lost to Clinton, he’d have forced Bill to move ten steps to the right.  Dole, on the other hand, brought a record that closely followed Clinton’s.

The Republican Established told us in 96 that only a moderate could win. We needed to nominate someone who could reach across the aisle and do business with the Democrats. Someone who would appeal to the Generation Xers.

So they nominated deal-maker, aisle-crosser, tax-hiker Bob Dole.

In December of 1996, Clinton was smoking cigars in the Oval Office as Bob Dole was released into the wild.

To those who remember, who were in the trenches with the Buchanan Brigades in our fight against the GOP establishment, 2012 is looking  a lot like 1996.

Once again, we’re coming off historic wins in the off-year election.  Once again, we’re dealing with a GOP field of candidates that lacks a viable, solid conservative. Once again, the establishment wants us to vote for the echo candidate.

In 1996, the echo was Bob “It’s My Turn” Dole.  In 2012, it’s Mitt Romney.

Look, if Romney gets the nomination, I’ll vote for the guy.  I’ll work to help him defeat President Obama, because I believe that Romney would be better than Obama. The Supreme Court, alone, is reason to support any Republican over just about any Democrat.

But Romney won’t stir up the passions of the Tea Party base. He’ll remind older conservatives of Bob Dole, and he’ll remind Millennials of the guy who laid off their dad.

Bob Dole, like Mitt Romney, is too close to the middle of the road.

P.S. After I wrote this post, Bob Dole endorsed Mitt Romney.  Surprise!

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A college student asked me a question:  Why join the Tea Party?

He was wondering why anyone would want to associate with people who behaved reprehensibly at two earlier Republican debates.

Here’s how I replied:

Johnny,

Sorry that I’m just getting to this.  I get a lot of email, and sometimes I miss things.

I organized the tea party in St. Louis in 2009. I did so because I’ve seen that governments accumulate power until they crush liberty and freedom. Governments use every means to increase their power over the people.  Most recently, it’s been debt.  

Did you know that you owe about $50,000 in federal debt–in addition to all other debts and taxes? You.  If you get married, you’ll have a combined $100,000.  

You’ll pay that debt in one of three ways:  taxes, inflation, or reduced income.  Either way, you have no chance of out-earning me if you follow my exact career path and work just as hard.  

But that’s just money. What about life and liberty?  

No weak government ever committed a holocaust.  But powerful governments do it all the time.  The Nazis.  The Soviets.  Pol Pot.  Ho Chi Minh. Mao.  Castro.  

Talk to someone who fled one of those regimes.  Learn what happens when all the power, all the police forces, all the taxing and permits and borrowing and judging accumulate to a small group of people.

Hell is what happens.  

Show me what happens when good people, people of character, are free to live their own lives. 

Prosperity.

Were there idiots at those debates?  Sure.  Then again, look at the idiots at OWS encampments, defecating on police cars and raping women. Put 100 people in a room and 5 will lack the ability to form human bonds.  

Do we need police and anti-trust laws and other regulations?  Of course. But we also need a constant and vigorous defense of our liberty. 

That’s why I called for a Tea Party in February 2009, and that’s why I hope you’ll join our little band in St. Louis. We stand on guard for your liberty.  And that’s one of hell of an important job. 

Here’s some other people’s views on Why I Tea Party

Cordially,

Bill Hennessy

Why do you tea party?

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You have a great new way to participate in the political life of America thanks to GoVote.com

With GoVote.com, you can

• Rate politicians, blogs, organizations, and more
• Find all of your elected officials in one place
• Find easy links to important web sites
• Keep track of news that most important to you
• Share your views on events, people, and organizations
• More

Take a few minutes to register and explore the site this weekend.  It’s one more weapon in our fight to roll back tyranny in 2012.

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Have you ever thought, “I need to do more for others?”

I have. And I’ve made feeble attempts to satisfy that urge. Feeble.

Still, when I’ve done something “good” for others with no expectation of return, I kind of thump my chest and smile at myself in the mirror like I’m some kind of big shot.

Then my wife introduced me to Valerie Hays, and I realized how much more a person can do.

In 2007, Valerie and her husband, John, decided to start a charity. Their aim was to adopt a single orphanage in Kenya to help people suffering from hunger, illness, and cold. Here’s why:

When you hold an orphan child in your arms, and tell them that you care about them and that you will do what you can to help them live a long and healthy life…..well you can’t break that promise.

In America, the number one health problem of those living in poverty is obesity.  In Kenya, the poor deal with AIDS, starvation, and death from illnesses that we consider mild inconveniences.

Valerie and John pour their vast wealth into . . . oh, wait.  She’s a school counselor, and he’s a cop.  As if they don’t already do enough service to the world, they began this mission without massive treasure. Valerie told me

[I am] far from a millionaire- but so incredibly blessed. My God owns the hills and the cattle on them. He has always provided. I always pay for my own trips, I never use Mercy’s Hope funds for trips. To me there is not another place I would rather spend my vacation money than [Kenya].

How do they fund their mission?  Every way imaginable.

On Sunday, I had the honor of attending Valerie’s birthday party fundraiser. It was an 80s roller party to raise money. 

(You can donate to Mercy’s Hope here.)

Val also runs the Village Bookstore and Coffee in Warrenton, Missouri. Proceeds from the store help fund her mission, which includes her annual summer pilgrimage to work in the orphanage.  (This year, she wants my wife to go with her.)

That’s not all.

Valerie’s an accomplished singer and songwriter. On many Saturday nights, you can catch her show at Village Bookstore.  Her covers and her original music are worth the trip from St. Louis, as is the coffee and conversation. 

Valerie’s commitment to the orphans seems to have grown stronger over the year I’ve known her:

Many people make promises to people in poverty, but few stick with it for long term. I made a promise to God, the children and myself that I would give those children a voice. Not to mention I got a tattoo on my wrist of Africa with the word Hope- so I am in for life.

Some people who work with people in need become depressed, lose hope, or get jaded.  Asked if the work gets depressing, Valerie said:

What is more depressing is that people who have, don’t help the sick and oppressed. We have the ability in the US alone to wipe out world hunger-including within our own country. I am not judging- I am saying this to myself as well. If every person would just give 10% to the charity of there choice-WOW what could happen.

I don’t want this to be a political piece, but I can’t help noticing that her solution is personal, not governmental.

And what could be more personal than spending vacations working with the poor who make our poor look like kings?

I would be lying if I did not say that I am pretty raw when I get home from a trip. The poverty and oppression is unbearable, but the spirit of the people is so encouraging. They love God, and care for  each other even in their great poverty.

But what about problems here at home?

So often people will say, why Kenya- there are poor here? Amen, there are, and I do whatever I can here as well. But God put within me an absolute love for the people of Kenya and Africa. For some people it is Africa, some Asia, some want to help people in urban America, some take the cause of fighting cancer–whatever your seed is in your heart, do it!

Want to help? Here’s what Valerie told me:

One of the best ways to get involved is to sponsor a child through our Friends of Mercy program.

We have about 30 kids that need sponsors. It is $25 a month and 90% of that goes straight to the kids and their needs. By sponsoring a child, you are actually sponsoring all the children at Hosanna House.

That money goes to fund the daily running of the home, including; food, clothing, medical, school fees, paying staff etc.

You are also encouraged to write your child and pray for them. You can also help with financially supporting current projects.

We always have a project going to improve the living situation for the children. Currently we are raising funds for their Christmas Party. But I did just hear from the director today, and they are desperately in need of school fees.

We have about $500 to send, but they need about $3000 for school uniforms alone.

On the homefront, we are really wanted to upgrade our webpage. I have always been the one to do the webpage, to keep expenses to a minimum, but there is so much more we want to do with the page that I don’t know how to do.

I have a feeling that Mercy’s Hope will get some help from my generous readers. I hope so. 

Visit Mercy’s Hope homepage.

Help Val and Mercy’s Hope with a donation. Every penny counts.

Like Village Bookstore on Facebook.

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We just received this heads up from a friend:

Just a quick note that Yahoo has apparently changed their “Spam” firewall rules.  You’re Tea Party updates have been showing up in my spam box for the past couple days.  I can’t prove there is a conspiracy, but all of my e-mails from conservative organizations are showing up as spam while a lot of other crap is flying right through.  Yahoo mail’s spam filter is supposed to be an adaptive process.  In other words, when I mark each e-mail as not spam, it is supposed to add the sender to my white list.  Apparently it is not as smart as I expect.  Just giving you an FYI in case this is happening to many others.

All email providers update their spam algorithms regularly.  Sometimes email you want gets filtered out.

Thanks to John S. for warning us to check our Yahoo filters.

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