Master CraftsMon - Aired Monday, February 13, 2006 at about 11pm CST - Segment 4

Master CraftsMon - Aired Monday, February 13, 2006 at about 11pm CST
Segment 4

Every four years, we in America have a Presidential election. Lately the Presidential race has been none stop even when it is not close to the actual election. The real 2008 Presidential election will start just after November, 2006. Hillary Clinton is of course in for the Democrats. John McCain is definitely in for the Republicans. Whether either will be their party's nominee is still up in the air despite what the mainstream media might see in THEIR crystal ball.

When a candidate gets ready to run for President, he or she comes out with a book about themselves... normally. The book given book accentuates how absolutely fantastic the given candidate is and gives what they hope to accomplish in their time in office. In short it shows what a great guy ir gal they are and what a great agenda they have.

Newt Gingrich has come out with a book called "Winning the future: a 21st century Contract with America". Gingrich is known for big ideas. He is not known for tooting his own horn. I perceive this book as the first part of his run for the Presidency in 2008.

I went out and ordered the book through Interlibrary loan from the A&M library. I didn't want to own it unless it made sense to me. In 1994, Newt came up with the original "Contract with America". The new one is as bold as the old one. New has a ten point agenda.

I. Defend America and our allies from those who would destroy us.

II. Transform the Social Security system into personal savings accounts that will enable every worker to have higher retirement incomes from their own work and avoid the need for financial support from their children.

III. Recenter America on the Creator from Whom all liberties come. We will insist on a judiciary that understands the centrality of God in American history and reasserts the legitimacy of recognizing the Creator in public life.

IV. Establish patriotic education for our children and patriotic immigration for new Americans.

V. Meet the triple economic challenges of an explosion in scientific and technological knowledge, an increasingly competitive world market, and the rise of China and India.

VI. Work to include every American in a system of patriotic stewardship so every person has a real opportunity to pursue happiness as their Creator endowed.

VII. Change the mindset of big government in Washington by replacing bureaucratic public administration with Entrepreneurial Management so government can operate with the speed , effectiveness and efficiency of the information age.

VIII. Balance the federal budget and insist on a lean government, low tax, low interest rate economy to maximize growth in a competitive world.

IX. Insist on congressional reform to make the legislative branch responsive to the needs of the 21st century.

X. Ensure as election process that is honest, accountable, accurate and free from the threat of illegal votes or subsequent litigation.

I read through the entire book in a day or two. The thing that struck me is that Newt has bunches of "I wanna do this" without much of "this is how we're going to do this." I mean, he's got some of the logistics worked out, but by and large he has not thought through how make this agenda work.

There is another thing that I think is absolutely hilarious about this agenda. If Newt Gingrich tries to make this agenda come true, he will be the most hated man in the history of the world. You thought George Bush is hated, damn, Newt will cause some people to hyperventilate every time they think about him.

What I find interesting about this agenda is that Newt has addressed something I had not thought about. The philosophy called Liberalism de-emphasizes the role of God and country in our lives. One of the things that made Hitler think that he could beat Britain was that there was this debate at Cambridge. The thesis of the debate was "Should a person die for God and country." The dons of Cambridge debated long and hard and decided that it was NOT worth it to die for God and country.

If we as American decide that God and country are not worth dying for, then we are pretty much doomed as far as opposing the jihadis, because they DO believe that dying for their cause is a good thing. If we as a people continue down the road that de-emphasizes American exceptionalism and denigrating God as a beard in the sky, then why do would we even bother defending ourselves? Why not simply roll over onto our backs and hope the jihadis won't hurt us too badly.

The Swedish are having problems with rape right now. Their solution: Warn girls not to wear provocative clothes. Yes, indeed. Swedish girls shouldn't tempt those nice Muslim boys to rape them by dressing in hotpants. Right now the Swedes have put their head in the sand and hoped the Muslims will stop doing bad things. Relatively soon, a separate court system will be proposed and passed in some countries in Europe. A secular court system for most people in a given country and a shariah court system for all Muslims.

Without something like the Great Awakening of the 1730's and the 1740's, I do not see how Newt expects to pull this one off. Too many mainstream religions have just about de-emphasized religion in our churches for us to go back to the good old days. I don't know. Newt may just surprise me.