The upheavals of the sixties had political and cultural contexts – the war in Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement. There is a great debate about the relationship between culture and politics; a which-came-first conundrum similar to the vexed “chicken or the egg” question. Few deny the critically important relationship between culture and political change. What the sixties generation had however we in the American Renewal movement haven’t got – a soundtrack.

There seems little doubt that the growing bitter rhetoric of American politics signifies a deep national divide. With the centrist middle ground shrunk and ignored, the language of conflict and war is heard more often now than in recent memory in political debate.

The deep relationship between music and politics that was seen during the 1960s was both reactive and causative; culture drives politics and vice versa. Because music plays a far more important role in the lives of young Americans than it has for any preceding generation the power of music to drive change and respond to it both positively and critically should not be neglected. The message is the medium.

It’s civility week!  Another Twitter montage of #NewTone was just sent our way this afternoon.  Good timing, too, on the heels of Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa Jr.’s warm remarks yesterday.

Lets not forget the lessons in civility that our dutiful media and President Obama conveyed in the wake of the Tucson tragedy. The vitriol does not seem to have died down.  Perhaps this video will help remind people what’s lurking out there on the Twitter public timeline about all you “Sons of Bitches” and “Hobbits” of Terror.

(more…)

Young investigative filmmaker James O’Keefe has become a celebrity of sorts in conservative circles for his work exposing operations inside the group ACORN.  But a federal judge’s order is keeping O’Keefe from joining prominent conservatives like Andrew Breitbart and myself at an upcoming conference in California.

Judge's order restricting James O'Keefe from attending conservative conference.

Federal judge Daniel E. Knowles III has denied a request by O’Keefe to travel outside the state of New Jersey.  Breitbart, O’Keefe and Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter are scheduled keynote speakers for the Eagle Forum Conference in San Diego, June 10th and 11th.

Conference organizers have said that Breitbart and O’Keefe are slated to teach conference attendees “How To Be An Effective Citizen Journalist.”  McCotter meanwhile, a favorite among grassroots conservatives, has been rumored to be considering a run for President.  It wouldn’t surprise me if he chooses the conference setting to announce his candidacy plans.  Yours truly, by the way, will be acting as emcee for the weekend event.

The judge does not detail his reasons for denying O’Keefe’s request and interestingly has routinely approved previous requests by O’Keefe to travel outside New Jersey.

(more…)

So, with Mitch Daniels out of the Presidential race, what do we make of the GOP field? Daniels, despite some possible quibbles, had a very compelling argument for his candidacy. First and foremost was his solid record as Governor. He cut government, curtailed the power of public sector unions and, just in the last few weeks, won groundbreaking education reform. Sure, he was a bit boring and something of a technocrat, but after 3+ years of flim-flammy flash and dash, a little adult supervision seemed in order.

A more compelling case, I believed, was where Daniels was from. Indiana sits in that great swath of the industrial heartland of America. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, among many other cities and towns are the bed-rock of America’s industrial might. The West Coast may have the glitz and the East Coast may have the financial power, but neither is possible without the hard toil of the lunchbox crowd in the Midwest. It is the “America that works.” Unfortunately, the Midwest is also the region that has been most battered by the failed policies of the last few decades. Look no further than Detroit to see what happens when progressivism’s “best intentions” crash upon the rocks of economic reality.

It has been a long time since America had a President who knew and understand our industrial heartland. (Yes, I realize Barack Obama is from Illinois, but c’mon…is there any evidence his presidency-as-academic-symposium understands the first thing about how the private sector works?) A candidate from this region would not only have an innate understanding of the proverbial “Joe Six Pack”, he or she would also appreciate how over-taxation and over-regulation can stifle an economic engine. A candidate who has lived among abandoned factories and shuttered steel mills would understand that the policy whims of the mandarins in DC have real-world consequences.

Daniels understood this world. But, he’s out. However, based on growing on-line chatter, someone else from America’s shop-floor may be about to enter the race: Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, from Michigan.

(more…)

From S.E. Cupp in the New York Daily News:

The sign outside the ballroom was matter-of-fact: “Unsigned $20. Signed $15. No Haggling.”
That matter-of-fact sign was next to a matter-of-fact pile of books, which sat on a matter-of-fact folding table. And sitting behind it was a matter-of-fact man, whom you might walk right past without so much as a glance.

That’s too bad, because he could become the next President of the United States.

The man was Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, and he was signing copies of his new book, “Seize Freedom! American Truths and Renewal in a Chaotic Age,” outside the Conservative Principles Conference in Des Moines late last month. When he addressed the crowd later in the day, he told them that he drove the 17-hour round trip from Detroit alone because, “If you spent 81/2 hours in a car with me, it would violate the Geneva Convention.”

It’s that uncomfortably understated, almost dour and definitely unique sense of humor that has made him a favorite not of the esteemed Sunday talk shows (although he does those, too), but of a late-night comedy show on Fox News called “Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld.” Gutfeld has written, “In my mind, he’s one of the few pols who seem less interested in impressing celebrities or making cheap points of sentimentality than preserving the freedoms unique to our delightful island nation.” (more…)

Among my favorite stories from political lore is that of a candidate who runs on a platform of eliminating the office they seek. It mostly plays out on the local level, where slightly odd and antiquated offices can stack up like lemurs on a Madagascar beach. Rarely does this play out on the national level, until now.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter is Chair of the Republican Policy Committee, the number 4 position in House GOP Leadership. It’s website provides the following description of the Committee:

Envisioned as the principal forum for the consideration of forward-looking legislative initiatives, the Republican Policy Committee is an important means for every Member of the Republican Conference to develop sound legislative ideas into meaningful legislation.

Created just over 50 years ago, the Committee is charged with establishing conference-wide policy for the House GOP. But, it isn’t just a forum; it has its own taxpayer-funded budget. The $400,000 taxpayers kick in to fund the Committee is just a small blip in the federal budget, but blips add up.  Eliminating thousands of line-items like this are critical to getting the overall budget under control.

And, Rep. McCotter has taken the lead. He wants to eliminate his own Committee and give the money back to taxpayers.

(more…)

The Democrat Party’s “40 year majority” will come to a close 38 years early. The unbearable trinity of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama has managed to alienate a nation desperate to support new leadership. They accomplished this by an insistence on unwanted quasi-Socialist policies and an irritating propensity to lead with their chin in foreign policy. The era of Obama is over, even as his Health Care proposal will likely pass. But does this mean a new era of Republican leadership is about to begin? This remains to be seen.

Peggy Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter who supported Obama, has views similar to many who consider themselves centrist. She now realizes her support for Barack Obama was misguided. Yet she is tempted to take a “pox on both your houses” approach. She remains skeptical of the Republican Party, as I imagine many voters do. In her recent opinion essay in the Wall Street Journal she states:

“The question isn’t whether they’ll win seats in the House and Senate this year, and the question isn’t even how many. The question is whether the party will be worthy of victory, whether it learned from its losses in 2006 and ‘08, whether it deserves leadership. Whether Republicans are a worthy alternative. Whether, in short, they are serious.”

I had grown weary of many of Ms. Noonan’s commentaries. Her support for Obama was predicated on an obvious misunderstanding of his politics, nature, and ideology. But her implicit challenge to the GOP is spot on. While the critique premised in her comment is not completely fair, without question Republicans are viewed with skepticism. After all, it was a Republican administration which brought us bailouts, supported expansionary and unsustainable housing policies, expanded domestic spending, proposed an immigration policy as unpopular as the Democrat’s current Health Care Bill and made “earmarks” a household name. Worst of all, the party seemed to lose any sense of foundational principles. Just what do Republicans stand for?

(more…)