Is Huckabee a "Progressive"?

Last night, during Mike Huckabee's program, he responded to a letter sent to him regarding his position on health care reform. He indicated that he favored an expansion of Medicaid to cover the uninsured, but that he differed with Democrats in that he wanted the insured to have to pay premiums. His position is that they should have a "vested interest" in keeping costs down and that helping to cover the premiums of a "government sponsored" program would do that.

I'm sorry, but isn't that a "progressive" position? By that, I mean, doesn't this move us one step closer to a government-run one-payor health care system?

Doesn't it also (in light of my two previous posts) violate the constitution?

Huckabee calls himself a conservative, and I'm sure in the current political environment, most others would brand him conservative, as well. However, the more I study government and how it is supposed to function (according to the framers of the constitution), the more I'm convinced that there is little difference between those who label themselves conservatives and those who label themselves liberals or progressives. They are all trying to increase the size and scope of government to suit their own ends ... not ours.

(While it's true that Huckabee is no longer holding political office), it is time to recall the whole lot of them, and find people who truly UNDERSTAND what the constitution says and are willing to take an oath to defend it.

Top Selling Books of 2009

If the sales of books are any indication, conservatism is making a comeback. (People marching on Washington might be an indication, too. But that's not the topic of this post.)

While Democrats are trying to drag Americans kicking and screaming into a communist regime, all the while claiming a "mandate," some of the biggest selling books in America are books written by conservative writers.

It's difficult to tell exactly what books are the top sellers, so far. The New York Times publishes a weekly list and breaks down their numbers into categories. Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble all have their lists, but only include sales from their operations.

However, looking at all the sources I could find in a twenty minute search revealed that among the biggest sellers of the year are....

A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (Bill O'Reilly)

Arguing with Idiots (Glenn Beck)

Common Sense (Glenn Beck)

End the Fed (Ron Paul)

Culture of Corruption (Michelle Malkin)

A Slobbering Love Affair (Bernard Goldberg)

Guilty (Ann Coulter)

A Time for Freedom (Liz Cheney)

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (Mark R. Levin)

How to Talk to A Liberal (Ann Coulter)

Face of Betrayal (Lis Weihl)

Whether or not all of these books end up on the top 100 for the year is yet to be seen.

Of course, O'Reilly does not consider himself a "conservative" because he is not an "ideologue". Beck and Ron Paul are more Libertarian, but very conservative politically. In fact, Beck is more of what I would call a "Constitutionalist." He is closer to where "man on the street" conservatives are, but not Republicans in Washington.

Conspicuously absent from the best seller lists are anything about Global Warming by Al Gore, Obama's books (which sold well last year), anything by Al Franken, and anything by ... well, just about any other Liberal you might mention.

Whether or not this could translate into votes in 2010 and 2012 remains to be seen. But if I were a Liberal, I'd start trying to write a new best-seller.

And if I were a publisher, I wouldn't buy it.

America Is Becoming More Conservative And More Polarized

According to a recent Gallup poll released last Friday, more Americans identify themselves as conservative than liberal in each of the fifty states.

The poll found that the states with the highest percentage of self-identified conservatives tended to be in the South. States such as Alabama and Mississippi were found to be 49% and 48% conservative respectfully, while only 15% of those polled in those states identified themselves as liberals. The state with the lowest percentage of liberals was Louisiana, with only 14%.

Many of the most liberal states were found to be on the East and West coasts. 29% of those polled in Massachusetts said they were liberal and 28% in Vermont, with Oregon (27%) and Washington (26%) coming in third and fourth.

Massachusetts and Vermont had the narrowest margins in favor of conservatism, with conservatives outnumbering liberals by 1%.

Though conservatives outnumbered liberals in all fifty states, in Washington D.C. the poll found that liberals outnumbered conservatives 37% to 23%.

However, the fact that conservatives outnumbered liberals across the country appears to support recent evidence that America is becoming increasingly conservative.

According to a set of Gallup polls done from January to May of 2009, 40% of people polled nationwide identified themselves as conservative, compared with only 21% as liberal.

"This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004," writes Lydia Saad concerning the nationwide poll.

In a June poll, Gallup found that 39% of Americans say their political views have become more conservative since 2004, as compared to only 19% who say they have become more liberal.

This trend towards conservatism is also supported by the recent and unprecedented Gallup polls concerning abortion.

As LSN reported, in a May poll, 51% of Americans said they were pro-life, the first time since the question starting being asked in 1995 that a majority of Americans identified themselves as pro-life.

However, in a mid-July poll the numbers equalized somewhat, with 47% of Americans calling themselves pro-life while 46% of Americans called themselves pro-choice. Theses numbers are still up, though, from 2004, when only 44% of Americans identified themselves as pro-life.

Further, an overwhelming majority of Americans think there should be some restrictions on abortion. 18% think that abortion should be illegal in all cases, while another 57% think abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances. Only 21% believed abortion should be legal under any circumstances.

Overall, the country seems to be becoming more polarized. On a nationwide basis, Gallup found that only 35% consider themselves moderate, as compared with 40% conservative and 21% liberal, the first time since 2004 there have been more conservatives than moderates.

The number of moderates has declined since the mid-90's, when 40% of Americans identified themselves as moderate.

Conservative Kiosk Owner Hopes for a New Lease

From Fox News:

A man who sells conservative merchandise at a kiosk in a North Carolina mall says he hopes he'll be able to keep pushing "Impeach Obama" bumper stickers after his lease expires on Friday.

Loren Spivack says his kiosk, Free Market Warrior, is being nudged out of the Concord Mills mall in Concord, N.C., because of political reasons. He's scheduled to meet with mall officials Tuesday afternoon, when he might learn the fate of his eight-foot-long kiosk. A press conference at a nearby hotel is slated for 3 p.m., he told FOXNews.com

The hottest sellers at the kiosk, which has been in the mall for roughly three months, are items that are critical of President Obama, Spivack said. They include a “Work Harder, Obama Needs the Money” bumper sticker and a T-shirt that lists the top 12 things Obama has been doing as the economy crashes.

Among the other merchandise sold at the kiosk and on its associated Web site are GOP elephant bobblehead dolls, a Republican president jigsaw puzzle and baby bibs that say, “My parents chose life. Thanks Mom and Dad!”

Asked if he felt targeted by mall officials due to those items, Spivack replied, “There’s no question. There’s no issue other than the material we’re selling.”

The brouhaha began, he says, when someone wrote a letter to the editor in the Charlotte Observer criticizing his business for promoting racism and sexism.

“This apparently got the attention of the national management,” Spivack told FOXNews.com. “They came down with a decision that we had to leave and that our lease would not be renewed when it expired.”

Spivack said he met briefly with mall manager Roy Soporowski on Sunday, the same day about 100 people rallied in front of the mall to support him and his right to the sell politically-charged merchandise.

“We didn’t come to any conclusions, but we agreed to speak again [Monday],” Spivack said. “We’d obviously like to stay, that would be very positive.”

Soporowski did not respond to several interview requests on Monday. A spokeswoman for Simon Property Group, which owns the mall, declined to comment.

Spivack declined to say how much he pays to rent the kiosk, citing a condition of his contract. And while the future of his business is currently in jeopardy, the controversy has had a noticeable benefit.

“Sales have definitely picked up,” he said. “Simon Malls clearly did me an unintentional favor.”

Americans Becoming More Conservative

Gallup:

Despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become more conservative rather than more liberal, 39% to 18%, with 42% saying they have not changed. While independents and Democrats most often say their views haven't changed, more members of all three major partisan groups indicate that their views have shifted to the right rather than to the left.

Gallup notes that there has been a right-ward shift on many specific issues, from guns and the environment to abortion and gay marriage.

High School Teacher Fired for Being Conservative

Early in May, Lawrence High School of Lawrence, Kansas fired government and history teacher Tim Latham. Latham charges that District 912 fired him because he is a conservative and many of his students have since rallied to his defense. Some 200 of them joined a FaceBook page in support and four appeared at a school board meeting on June 8 to advocate for their favorite teacher.

One reason given for the firing is that Mr. Latham did not show Obama’s inauguration live in his class and another is that staff members disparaged him for supporting Republicans during the late presidential race, most especially then vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin.

On June 8, an advocacy group, Kansas 9.12 Project also attended the school board meeting and spoke on Mr. Latham’s behalf.  According to a press release from the Kansas 9/12 Project, school board members admitted to the teachers union that they had not properly followed union rules to dismiss the teacher.

Meredith Richey, member, Kansas 9/12 Project, said it had come to the attention of the group that a teacher within Lawrence Public Schools was given a non-renewal because of a difference in political opinion. She asked the board of education to investigate this and possibly reconsider the non-renewal or check into how teachers are released so this is not a pattern in Lawrence. She said different opinions should be tolerated and she believes this is worth exploring.