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by | Jan 10, 2011
If you’ve followed The Conservative Reader at all over the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that 2009 and 2010 were a bit light in content. Â Although we had started ramping up in 2009, we also got engaged in work with the Polk County Republican Party in Iowa. Â That work, along with other priorities, made it very difficult to provide timely commentary and updates on key topics. Â Since my term of office has concluded with the party, there is time to provide more frequent updates.
2011 will likely include a number of changes, all for the better I hope. Â The first change you should notice right away, especially if you are interested in Iowa politics. Â We’ve added a few new sections, and have links to those sections in our sidebar. Â They are:
As we receive updates in these topic areas from various sources, we will update the sections as quickly as possible. Â The most recent headlines from these sections will appear on the Iowa Section of The Conservative Reader in the sidebar as well. Â As the year progresses, we will look at adding other sections as well.
We appreciate you taking the time to visit our site and read some of the commentary from our writers. Â As we progress through 2011, we would like to hear your feedback on the changes we are making, your thoughts about our content, style, topics, or anything that makes The Conservative Reader of interest to you. Â We want you to visit often, and hope to earn your interest.
Wishing you a bright and fulfilling new year,
Art Smith, Publisher
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by | Jan 9, 2011
The shooting in at a Tucson political meeting Saturday was abhorrent.  We are praying for the injured and the families of those who died.
And for the young man who thought this was somehow an answer to our nation’s problems.
Gabrielle Giffords did nothing to deserve this or any violent attack. Â I don’t know a lot about the Arizona congresswoman, but in briefly reviewing her web site, I’m struck by the fact that she has been driving a campaign for fiscal restraint, including reducing Congressional pay. Â At the moment, I see her as one of the good guys. Â But even people like Barney Frank and Charlie Rangel do not deserve to be attacked violently.
It seems that the shooter is possibly a deranged conspiracy theorist. Â Unfortunately, there are times when the lines blur between some of these folks and legitimate political advocates. Â Although I’ve heard that there are some that are already pointing fingers at conservative organizations as if they are promoting this type of violence, I’ve seen little advocacy for violent protest among those I know in the Tea Party, the Republican Party, or other aligned organizations. Â Our tendency is to try to find a problem to solve in the midst of a situation like this, but sometimes there is no problem to solve except to incarcerate the person responsible. Â Finding other scapegoats is not productive.
In a similar vein, I am hoping that this tragedy does not become a new reason for more government intervention in our lives. While this is a gut-wrenching affair, it should not be seen as justification for further attacking the 2nd Amendement. Â Sean McClanahan has some great comments at Des Moines Gun Rights Examiner.
However, for those who advocate that violence is somehow becoming the only answer to solving the problems we see in our government, it simply is not.  It has become easy to try and draw comparisons between our lives today and the lives of those who formed our country.  The comparison is sadly wanting, and cannot be used as an excuse for violent action, nor threatening statements.  The nice thing about our country and form of government is that we can work through our issues intelligently. Unless we suffer from physical subjugation, I cannot conceive of any reason for violence to achieve our agenda.  If we are incapable of making our case before the People, violence cannot be a suitable alternative.
Not now, not ever.
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by DJ Durant | Jan 5, 2011
Out with the old, in with the new, goes the standard cliche every year about this time. No, this is not a reference to Nancy Pelosi’s age, although incoming House Speaker John Boehner is 9 years younger. Speaker Boehner does represent a new attitude and the resulting optimism is being reflected in the markets and the broader economy.
Consider:
- Retail sales, Christmas sales, were up significantly over 2009
- Consumer and business confidence for November and December have inched higher
- Jobless numbers are moving downward, evidenced by today’s ADP employment report that suggested 297,000 new private sector jobs were created in December (this is a big number!)
This is not a coincidence. This is, however a direct result of increased optimism in the country due to the November election and subsequent Republican control of the House. It is a direct result of Congress extending the Bush tax cuts in November. It is a direct result of the repudiation of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi economic agenda. Republicans have a huge opportunity to make the economy and employment the primary issue in 2011. In the words of that great philosopher James Carville, “It’s the economy, stupid”.
In addition to repealing the two collosal and horrid pieces of legislation, (ObamaCare and Financial Institutions Reform), Congress needs to deal with several other hangovers from the Pelosi/Reid years. First, Julian Assange should be tried and convicted of being the cyber-terrorist that he is, and he needs to be treated like any other terrorist. Second, the federal government needs to be starved into submission. Follow the model Chris Christie has set in New Jersey. Get the unions under control (and with it, the unfunded pension liabilities). Finally, any free trade agreements with valued allies and trading partners, such as Colombia and South Korea, should be ratified and signed as soon as possible.
Movement in these directions will reinforce the current optimism prevailing in the country, promote private sector job growth, encourage banks to lend again, and as a result, generate revenues for not only the federal treasury, but state and local governments as well. The last two years nearly ruined us as a nation. We have an opportunity to correct the damage. 2011 is a new year. Let’s hope the new Congress can build on it.
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by | Dec 31, 2010
Steve Scheffler is Iowa’s National Committeeman to the Republican National Committee and serves along with Kim Lehman, Iowa’s National Committeewoman, in representing Iowa Republicans on the National Committee.
Steve provided the following update regarding his thoughts about the upcoming RNC Chair election about a week and a half ago. I had hoped to get it posted earlier, but the holidays have been too enjoyable to focus on other things.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As your Republican National Committeeman for Iowa, I wanted to give you an update on the race for Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The election will be held on January 14, 2011 and we will be electing a chairman for a 2-year term.
I had the privilege of attending a candidate forum on December 1st and then also a candidate interview process on December 2nd. All the announced or potential candidates for chairman appeared at the interview session except for the current chairman, Michael Steele. Each candidate was given an ample period of time to make their case to be the chairman. Each of these individual interview sessions was followed by a 30 minute Q & A time.
The candidates who made presentations were (Note: All Potential Candidates were invited, and only Michael Steele did not attend):
Gentry Collins, former Political Director of the RNC, for Executive Director of Republican Party of Iowa.
Saul Anuzis, National Committeeman (Michigan), former Michigan State Party Chairman.
Mari Cino. Maria served different stints at the RNC and was the former Executive Director of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.
Mike Duncan, former RNC Chairman (who has now announced that he will not be running).
Ann Wagner, former RNC co-chair, former Missouri State Party Chairman, former ambassador to Luxemburg.
Reince Priebus, Wisconsin State Party Chairman, former Legal Counsel of the RNC.
All the candidates made good presentations and made their case as to why they believed they were best suited to be our next chairman. I took extensive notes and asked many questions of the candidates. Questions posed to the candidates by me and other RNC members in attendance focused on fundraising, strategy and voter contact, management, leadership and their personal stance on public policy issues.
I am sure that you know that since the election, I have made it clear that I will not be supporting Michael Steele on any ballot. I like Michael as a person, but the race about the next chairman is about finding the very best person who will have the ability to run a “tight ship†and put us in a competitive position to deny Barak Obama a 2nd term, retain our majority in the U.S. House, take back the U.S. Senate—and above all, put a stop to the march towards Socialism by restoring constitutional principles, and to saving our Republic!
The Steele administration, to say the least, has been an embarrassment and a disservice to the Republican Party and to conservative constitutional principles. I had hoped that Michael Steele would have learned from his early mistakes—but that was not to be. A short list of the embarrassments would have to include:
The $2,000.00 reimbursement to a donor who paid for a group trip to a lesbian bondage-themed strip club.
Steele’s reported interest in buying a private jet.
His giving speeches for pay.
Calling Afghanistan a “war of Obama’s choosing.â€
Stating that abortion is an individual choice.
The public ridicule of Rush Limbaugh.
Declaring that the District of Columbia deserved a voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The fiasco over excessive spending in making preparations for the 2012 Republican National Convention.
The disgusting email sent out in Iowa downplaying the danger of the same-sex marriage ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court.
Revelation that the over-paid RNC Coalitions Director is not even a registered Republican. (In fact, voted recently in a Democrat primary)
Cancellation of the 72-hour get-out-the-vote program (lack of finances)
Above all, the RNC Chairman must be an individual who has the willingness and capability to spend endless hours making larger-type donor calls. It has come to light that many of the larger donors from the past were not even asked by Steele.
The Democrat National Committee netted substantially more finances than the RNC in this election cycle. In the political environment that we now have, it should have been the RNC that experienced record fundraising. Statistics seem to point out that as a result of the lackluster fundraising, that we probably lost at least 2 U.S. Senate seats, 20 or more U.S. House races and 3 or 4 governor races that could have been won had Mr. Steele been spending his time making those donor calls.
But now we have an opportunity to set the Republican Party leadership on the right course! Â All five announced candidates other than Steele (Cino, Wagner, Anuzis, Collins, Priebus) are all preferable over Steele. I spent many hours stacking up the qualities and strengths of each candidate. I would be more than willing to visit with you one-on-one to give you my evaluation of each candidate. If you wish to visit about this evaluation process, please feel free to call me on my cell at (515)971-7363.
I have made a personal endorsement of Reince Priebus, the current Wisconsin Republican State Party Chairman. I believe that Reince is the person who will bring a sense of order and correctness to our National Party. Reince has shown his leadership abilities! He came into a party in Wisconsin that faced Democrat control in about every aspect of state and federal political representation. Not only did Reince help eliminate a major debt problem in his state, but he also raised record amounts of money—around 14.5 million dollars in 3 ½ years under his watch.
He is a true professional in every way. He recruited solid, conservative candidates at all levels. Reince worked well with the tea party members and outside organizations. He organized one of the best ground operations in the entire country. The result was taking back the Governor’s office, defeating far-left U.S. Senator Russ Feingold with a staunch constitutional conservative Ron Johnson, taking over both branches of the Wisconsin Legislature with victories over the speaker in the House and the majority leader in the Senate and flipping two U.S. Congressional districts. No other state had such a phenomenal turn around!
And last but certainly not least, Reince is a pro-life, pro-family, limited government advocate. He will make us proud, and I am honored to serve on his Kitchen Cabinet in an effort to help get over the finish line at the Winter RNC meeting.
Again, please contact me if you have questions.
Sincerely,
Steve Scheffler
National Committeeman, Iowa
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by | Dec 20, 2010
Several weeks ago, President Obama made one of the best decisions of his Presidency.
He decided to support South Korea by after North Korea attacked the island of YeonPyeong. And he did it with the strength of our military by moving them into the area and engaging in military exercises with our friends in the South.
I was afraid at the time that he would turn his back on Seoul, but instead he did the right thing for the region and for the United States. Well done, Mister President.
This morning, South Korea followed through on its plans to conduct artillery drills on that same island, plans which had brought promises from the North that there would be further attacks due to this new “provocation”.
And the result of it all was… nothing. The drills proceeded without incident, the North kept quiet (except to say it “did not feel any need to retaliate”, and we can all go on without worrying about yet another messy war to deal with today.
Although the experts don’t seem to know why Pyongyang held back her fury, it seems pretty likely that the North was trying to leverage opportunities for improvements in economic relations, and did not really have the stomach for either an extended conflict or the potential for all out decimation. The South’s partnership with the United States is, in my opinion, no small part of the successful conclusion to today’s events. And President Obama deserves credit for that.
Today’s results should provide continued evidence that a strong US military with a demonstrated willingness to follow through on her commitments to her allies will be a keystone to ensuring general peace around the world. While we are struggling with conflicts that are sometimes hard for us to accept, walking away and disarming our forces will only embolden countries like North Korea to press further than they have a right to.
It may not be perfect, but it works and is necessary.
Please pray for our soldiers and a day when they may never need to fight again.
If you’ve followed The Conservative Reader at all over the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that 2009 and 2010 were a bit light in content. Â Although we had started ramping up in 2009, we also got engaged in work with the Polk County Republican Party in Iowa. Â That work, along with other priorities, made it very difficult to provide timely commentary and updates on key topics. Â Since my term of office has concluded with the party, there is time to provide more frequent updates.
