Before we get to Memorial Day reflections, an update on the HB 4 open government petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/123165418 It is almost to its launch goal of 1000 signatures. Let's put it over the top. An open budget process and controlling taxation go hand in glove. Please sign both the tax petition and the open government petition.

What can one say about today? I visited my daddy's grave today as I have the last 7 Memorial Days. He was a DAV from WW2, and a true patriot. He loved America. He taught me that America was a land of Divine destiny.

No, all we have done with the gift of America is not Divine. Slavery, the trail of tears, the long walk, segregation, abortion, the Japanese internment, and taking prayer and Bible reading out of the schools are some of the failures of our society. We fell on our knees in Jamestown and then brought slaves to their knees 3 weeks later. America has its original sin like humanity,The sin of racism.

Yet, to act as if America is somehow a corrupt land and unworthy of admiration because of its sins is to deny that greatness exists in humanity. Every nation of people has had its share of sins. Slavery was not invented by Americans. It was imposed upon us by the colonizers. Slavery has been a condition of humanity for most of recorded history.

What makes America unique is that we are the land which promoted the principles of human dignity and equality which have helped blot out this curse in most of the world. The greatness of America are its principles.

Some people would say we are hypocritical. I say so what. You have to be willing to live beyond your current actions. Those are the only ones with the courage to change. It is when we recognize higher principles that we become higher beings.

That is why God brought the rejects of the world to this land. The stone that was rejected became the head of the corner. America is the place where those thought to be losers came. The debtors, the religious outcasts, the losers in the African wars, and the starving in Ireland, China, and elsewhere. America was the place where the chains of class were removed and unprecedented prosperity emerged.

In America you could be the master of your own destiny under God. No one told you where to work or live. No one told you how to worship or what to say. America was a land of high principles. It was the city set upon the hill as founder John Witherspoon put it.

America was the land where we had no king but King Jesus. It was the land of minimal government and maximum freedom. It was that grand experiment or the proposition as Lincoln put it, that was "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people".

Unfortunately, not everyone has appreciated the exceptional nature of America. Some in power hate or hated it. We have had to defend this experiment with our own blood. Today, and one the real Memorial day (30 May) let's not just reflect. Let us rededicate our selves to that glorious proposition that it may not perish from the earth.

David

Bloggers uniting to save the Delaware taxpayers from Minner! Stoptaxing, Firststatepolitics, digital federalist, dovercitizen and others are joining in a stop the tax petition drive.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/950061677



For more information visit the brother blog http://stoptaxing.wordpress.com . This may be our last chance to stop the largest state tax increase in 30 years.

Levin vs. Protack
Could there be two primaries? Should the Republican party push the former Roth aid and businessman into the Governor's race. Mr. Protack who was fresh off a strong primary showing is still disdained by the party establishment. Protack is a good man with fresh ideas. He has become a serious candidate as opposed to the well meaning gadfly of the past. This party needs to sit down and find a place for him. He is a key to the party's future. His 50 ideas may triumph over the establishment. The man may have found the pulse of the public.

Mr. Levin does have a serious policy mind and an enviable business record. He is grew Happy Harry's from 17 stores and 250 employees to a regional player with 2600 employees. He has created jobs and served the public with a quality business operation. He could be the type of person we need, but do we know were he stands? His issues may or may not connect. B Gary Scott's shellacking showed that issues matter more than money and consultants. Mr. Levin has time to develop some cutting edge positions. I am anxious to see if he is the leader in the public policy forum he was in business. If he is, he may be the next governor.

The Democrats are desperately trying to avoid a primary. They want to push aside their best candidate (Markel) for the hand picked successor (Carney). One has to wonder if we have not suffered enough from that syndrome. This failed administration has wasted our money so much that we are 4th in per person spending yet we can't build schools and roads. 1800 people are homeless on a given night. We don't want to prevent mortgage foreclosures with a revolving loan fund. We want to impose a massive commuter tax hike(gas tax, toll hikes, and DMV fees) on working families. Livable Delaware has done anything but make Delaware livable. Only 35% of the population can afford a new median price home. Our prisons suffered a management crisis. Del Dot is broke because of mismanagement. St. Francis hospital is in financial jeopardy because of a broke medicaid reimbursement formula. We talk about holding kids accountable by testing for graduation in the tenth grade, not the twelfth. In other words, we want them to be accountable before we teach them. It took over 6 years to get a good State Police Superintendent, Sec. of Transportation, and Prison Commissioner. The News Journal was right in 1996 when they predicted that Minner would be incompetent. If we do not change course, we will undo the good done by DuPont, Castle, and Carper. We and our kids will be the ones to suffer.

Let's encourage all of the potential candidates to get out and listen to the people. Let's encourage all of them to present their solutions. Then let's forget about our past prejudices and judge with an open mind. May the best person win.

Governor Mike Huckabee and Rep. Tom Tancredo may have launched the most significant shift in the tax debate. Stop tinkering and abolish the IRS. Replace the current broken tax code with the FAIR tax. John McCain wants a flater, fairer tax but won’t say what it is. Rep. Ron Paul wants to eliminate the income tax and restore Constitutional government. Rep. Duncan Hunter leaned toward tax reform.
Governor Gilmore just talked about the VA flat tax. Governor Romney wanted to eliminate the AMT (alternative minimum tax). Gov. Giulianii wanted to abolish the death tax and keep the level of the Bush cuts.
On Abortion and Life issues, Gilmore and especially Giuliani were out of step with the party’s position protecting life from conception through natural death.
On immigration there is a definite divide. Hunter and Tancredo are hardliners. McCain, Brownbeck not so much. The other candidates seem to take positions in between.
The war is supported by all but Rep. Ron Paul though most seem to think mistakes were made with Senator McCain saying the clearest it was mismanaged and Sen. Brownbeck being the only one to outline a new course–the 3 state federal solution.
Go to http://www.politics.msnbc.com

Is it time to bury the N word?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18390539/?GT1=9951 The NAACP buried Jim Crow 63 years ago in a symbolic funeral. In 2o years against all odds, we had comprehensive civil rights laws. Now they wish to do the same to the "n" word. This word is a holdover from slavery. It was a deeply pejorative word. We were not even considered worthy of being referred to as Negros. It was usually accompanied with worthless, dirty, lazy, dumb or some other degrading term. Our words are a reflection of our reality.

Even though the barriers of Jim Crow are gone, the damage done to our (black) community lingers. Words like nigger are a Jim Crow of the mind. They are becoming a self identifying, self imprisoning Jim Crow. The worst part is we pay money for the privilege in music and entertainment.

I hope in the next 20 years, we will see the end to the "n" word except in history. Way to go NAACP, may this effort be successful.