Humphrey Stevenson
These are the times that try men’s (and women’s) souls.
Miss California, Carrie Prejean, during the Miss USA Pageant was asked a question by some far left goon about whether all states should recognize same-sex marriage. She had a decision to make. There were basically three ways she could answer the question. One, she could give this knucklehead what he wants and say, “Oh sure, everyone should have the right to marry anybody they want and all states should recognize it.” Or, option two, she could play the moderate, spew the pabulum and say something on the order of, “Well, that’s a decision that every individual and every state must make for themselves.” Either one of those answers and Carrie Prejean wins Miss USA.
But she didn’t do that. No, Miss Prejean, chose the third way, the hard way, and stuck to her convictions and said that marriage is between a man and a woman. Shock, Horror, and it cost her the crown. When a choice had to be made, Carrie Prejean chose the truth over the tiara.
Why? Does it really personally affect me if two men marry? Actually, no it doesn’t. I still love and am married to a woman. Just as I am sure that Miss Prejean will marry a man, no matter what anybody else does. But conservatives don’t think that way. It’s not just about us. Our lives are not lived in a vacuum.
Conservatives know that same-sex “marriage” damages and devalues the institution of marriage. Further, we know that the family has always been and will always be the bed rock of all great civilizations and one man joined with one woman in Holy matrimony is the nucleus of the family. Whenever, the institution of marriage is damaged, the family and therefore society is the lesser for it.
I heard today that Miss Prejean forgave that left-wing idiot for his disgraceful rant on his blog. So, Carrie Prejean has shown herself to not only be beautiful, smart and a person of moral values, but classy as well. We at Conservative Camel salute her.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tea for All
by: Humphrey Stevenson
I attended the Tea Party held in downtown Tulsa on April 15. To tell the truth, driving to the event, I could envision myself standing around with five or six others trying to convince ourselves the turnout wasn’t as bad as it seemed. I guess that’s the way you feel after what happened on last November 4, you wonder if you are the only one who thinks and feels as you do. Has the whole nation lost its mind?
Well all those feelings were washed away as soon as I turned the corner onto Denver Avenue and got my first look at the crowd already assembled a half hour prior to the event start time. No! The whole nation hasn’t lost its mind. There are hundreds, thousands (maybe even millions) who feel as I do. This wasn’t a tax protest. It wasn’t a protest in the strictest sense of the word. I have listened to the main stream media dismissing the attendants of the Tea Parties as a bunch of racist red-necks. Regardless of what they say, it was a group of people gathering together to express their concern over the direction of the country.
Through the news media coverage of the Tea Parties around our nation, I noted many signs denouncing “taxation without representation.” While I agree wholeheartedly, we must face facts, we have representation, albeit shockingly bad representation. Of more concern, should be representation without taxation.
We have about 43% of the people in this country who pay absolutely no federal income tax whatsoever. I’m not going to fall into the trap of arguing payroll tax (FICA, Medicare, etc.); I’m talking about net income tax.
Why is this important? Many years ago, in this country, only property (i.e. land) owners could vote. I have heard this denounced as the government wanting only rich, white men to vote and perhaps to some extent that was true. However, if we can get beyond any racist or sexist overtones, we can see the wisdom of this idea. You see until 1913 there was no federal income tax. There was only property tax. This means that the only taxpayers were landowners. Our government, at that time, wanted to make sure that those who were paying the tax were electing the representatives. Now, we have a large number of people, who pay nothing, have no reason to be concerned about how their tax money is spent, but can participate in the electoral process nonetheless or, worse yet, have the ability to (through the representatives they elect) vote themselves a share of someone else’s income.
Now, am I advocating that those who do not pay income tax be barred from voting? Of course not. But we must be aware that a tax increase or cut means nothing to these people. Further, all citizens should have some stake, some “skin in the game” as our President has said. The income tax must be applied equally, a flat percentage rate of income applied to all citizens and residents or perhaps a national sales tax. However, I would never agree to a national sales tax without first a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment. Regardless of the means, the tax code should only be used to fund the legitimate, constitutional functions of the federal government, never for redistribution or any other idea of fairness.
Finally, I would like thank all the Americans who took the time to attend a Tea Party. Don’t worry that liberals and the main stream news media insulted or dismissed us as having no affect. They must do this because the alternative is too horrible for them to imagine, hundreds of thousands of conservative Americans taking to the streets, peacefully, in a grassroots movement to express their views.
But this must be a start, not an end. We must contact and stay in contact with our elected officials, republican or democrat, and let them know they are on notice. We must get involved. We must help conservative men and women running for local, state or federal office. We ourselves should run for office in some cases. We must have more Tea Parties and the largest Tea Party of all must take place at the polls in November 2010.
I attended the Tea Party held in downtown Tulsa on April 15. To tell the truth, driving to the event, I could envision myself standing around with five or six others trying to convince ourselves the turnout wasn’t as bad as it seemed. I guess that’s the way you feel after what happened on last November 4, you wonder if you are the only one who thinks and feels as you do. Has the whole nation lost its mind?
Well all those feelings were washed away as soon as I turned the corner onto Denver Avenue and got my first look at the crowd already assembled a half hour prior to the event start time. No! The whole nation hasn’t lost its mind. There are hundreds, thousands (maybe even millions) who feel as I do. This wasn’t a tax protest. It wasn’t a protest in the strictest sense of the word. I have listened to the main stream media dismissing the attendants of the Tea Parties as a bunch of racist red-necks. Regardless of what they say, it was a group of people gathering together to express their concern over the direction of the country.
Through the news media coverage of the Tea Parties around our nation, I noted many signs denouncing “taxation without representation.” While I agree wholeheartedly, we must face facts, we have representation, albeit shockingly bad representation. Of more concern, should be representation without taxation.
We have about 43% of the people in this country who pay absolutely no federal income tax whatsoever. I’m not going to fall into the trap of arguing payroll tax (FICA, Medicare, etc.); I’m talking about net income tax.
Why is this important? Many years ago, in this country, only property (i.e. land) owners could vote. I have heard this denounced as the government wanting only rich, white men to vote and perhaps to some extent that was true. However, if we can get beyond any racist or sexist overtones, we can see the wisdom of this idea. You see until 1913 there was no federal income tax. There was only property tax. This means that the only taxpayers were landowners. Our government, at that time, wanted to make sure that those who were paying the tax were electing the representatives. Now, we have a large number of people, who pay nothing, have no reason to be concerned about how their tax money is spent, but can participate in the electoral process nonetheless or, worse yet, have the ability to (through the representatives they elect) vote themselves a share of someone else’s income.
Now, am I advocating that those who do not pay income tax be barred from voting? Of course not. But we must be aware that a tax increase or cut means nothing to these people. Further, all citizens should have some stake, some “skin in the game” as our President has said. The income tax must be applied equally, a flat percentage rate of income applied to all citizens and residents or perhaps a national sales tax. However, I would never agree to a national sales tax without first a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment. Regardless of the means, the tax code should only be used to fund the legitimate, constitutional functions of the federal government, never for redistribution or any other idea of fairness.
Finally, I would like thank all the Americans who took the time to attend a Tea Party. Don’t worry that liberals and the main stream news media insulted or dismissed us as having no affect. They must do this because the alternative is too horrible for them to imagine, hundreds of thousands of conservative Americans taking to the streets, peacefully, in a grassroots movement to express their views.
But this must be a start, not an end. We must contact and stay in contact with our elected officials, republican or democrat, and let them know they are on notice. We must get involved. We must help conservative men and women running for local, state or federal office. We ourselves should run for office in some cases. We must have more Tea Parties and the largest Tea Party of all must take place at the polls in November 2010.
Welcome
Hello fellow conservatives, I am Humphrey Stevenson and welcome to Conservative Camel. I hope you will find the postings informative, thought provoking and sometimes fun. I can't, at the moment, tell you all that you might find here, there will be articles, photos, maybe book reviews, random thoughts, bad jokes and anything else that may pop into my head, all with a decidedly Reagan convervative slant.
By the way, you are welcome even if you are not conservative. Stop by anyway, maybe you'll learn something.
By the way, you are welcome even if you are not conservative. Stop by anyway, maybe you'll learn something.
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