Guys, can I have your attention please? I know you've been hard at work on these investigations but I want to let you know why I'm a Republican vs. a Democrat. This should let you know why Lois Lerner was a bad influence on the IRS.
Should we call Darrell Issa "authentic" when he's talking about his background growing up in Cleveland and why he became a Republican vs. a Democrat?
In Issa's Op-Ed piece in the Concord Monitor (based in New Hampshire), Mr. Republican Inspector Clouseau lite himself believes he's got a genuine American success story to share for everyone on the importance of voting Republican.
Below the fold is Darrell Issa's Op-Ed in entirety along with my dissecting of it:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
Darrell Issa: Here’s the difference between Republicans and Democrats
By U.S. Rep. DARRELL ISSA
One of the reasons why I’m a Republican and not a Democrat is because in the Republican Party we don’t believe that a person’s past defines his or her future.
Let's see: Darrell Issa did regular fundraising for the California Republican Party in the 1990's, then continued on with donating nearly $2 million to the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall Election all because he thought then-Gov. Gray Davis lied about the CA State Budget figures, then proceeded to get loads of donations as a result of his IRS investigations.
http://www.usatoday.com/...
WASHINGTON — Scandal has been good for Rep. Darrell Issa.
The House Oversight Committee chairman, leading investigations into the deaths of Americans in Benghazi and the IRS' scrutiny of Tea Party groups, just had his biggest campaign fundraising haul since he entered Congress in 2001.
Donors endorsed the California Republican's aggressive probes with their checkbooks, pushing the Issa campaign's total receipts to $737,109 from April 1 through June 30 — up from $291,527 during the first three months of the year. The IRS scandal broke May 10 when an IRS official apologized for improperly imposing additional scrutiny on Tea Party and other conservative groups.
Issa continues:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
We don’t believe that the condition and circumstance you were born into is a permanent one, and we don’t believe a big, centralized government should dictate your destiny.
My story began in Cleveland, Ohio, in a family of that didn’t have much – but, like so many, believed in the American ideal.
I grew up in a working-class family, the grandson of a Lebanese immigrant who ran errands for a rabbi and a kosher butcher. It was an upbringing really not much different than the condition of so many hardworking Americans today – people who, quite frankly, could care less if you have an “R” or a “D” next to your name. They just want a better way of life – a chance to realize their own dreams.
I left high school in my senior year to join the Army. I was a private who earned his G.E.D. and went to college on an ROTC scholarship and left the Army as a captain. Out of the Army and back in Cleveland, I invested everything I had and took a chance. I worked hard, eventually moved my small business to California, and with help of a lot great employees grew a little company into the leading maker of auto security and convenience products.
Really? Did Darrell Issa really do exactly what he said he did in the last sentence or so in his paragraph. Certainly not so easy given his criminal history decades ago.
And here's what REALLY drove him to "ACTION":
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
As a young business owner, it was the first President Bush who drew my attention and ire to government with a broken promise and an ill-considered tax hike. President Clinton’s tax hike just a few years later was a bad second act, and his class warfare rhetoric was worse.
It was time to get involved.
Class warfare rhetoric? Does anyone know what he's talking about here?
*scratches head* I certainly don't!
By the way, how exactly did Darrell Issa "get involved?" Info below reveals Issa's activities were really nothing more than partisan endeavors meant on building the GOP and its base:
http://politicalcorrection.org/...
Issa Provided Funds At "Critical Moment" To Help Pass Proposition 209. According to the Washington Post: "[Issa] was spurred to political action by his outrage at President Bush's 'broken promise' on taxes, and began making big contributions after Bush's defeat. At a critical moment, a $100,000 Issa check kept the petition drive for anti-affirmative action Proposition 209 alive." [Washington Post, 12/21/97]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Issa, who entered the Army at 17, left it a decade later with computer skills that helped him found a successful car-alarm company. He was spurred to political action by his outrage at President Bush's "broken promise" on taxes, and began making big contributions after Bush's defeat. At a critical moment, a $100,000 Issa check kept the petition drive for anti-affirmative action Proposition 209 alive. "Appalled" by the budget deal congressional Republicans signed with President Clinton this year, he told me, "It's going to take more Darrell Issas there to keep America from turning into another France."
Yep, from the citations above, Darrell Issa has had a Tea Party persona long before the movement even happened as his fundraising activities meant no compromise, elitism and not giving a damn about anyone besides yourself.
More:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
Just as we’d achieved success in our business, after a decade of determination and toil, job creators were being vilified in the media and targeted for a new punitive tax scheme – to fund a president’s personal agenda.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? They never seem to run out of ideas on how they want to spend your money.
And that’s the biggest difference between Democrats and Republicans – we have a fundamental difference on what the proper role of government should be.
It certainly sounds familiar and it's BLEH, BLEH, and..... BLEH.
More:
What we need in America is a fundamental rebalancing of power back to the states, back to local governments, back to the people.
The only way to make government work better is to restore genuine accountability. That is the role I have played in Congress as chairman of the House Oversight Committee over the last few years.
While President Obama has been an egregious offender of executive over-reach, this is an ailment that is chronic throughout the entire history of our government.
Really? Obama's actions have been an "ailment that is chronic throughout the entire history of our government?"
You have to wonder where Issa was with this viewpoint when President Bush proceeded with the Iraq War and Darrell Issa, like about 98% of Republicans in Congress (exceptions being Senator Lincoln Chafee and Rep. Ron Paul) rubber stamped the war to the point where U.S. debt continued to eat out the U.S. Budget Surplus that was transferred over from President Bill Clinton's era.
Every president jealously guards and gathers power.
Executive power may be the most efficient when it is dictatorial, but our nation was founded on the principle of avoiding dictatorial power – today’s reality is that countless unnamed and unknown bureaucrats yield tremendous power over people’s lives.
The separate branches of government were established to resist the growth of power of the executive with the idea that most governance would flow from the states – that the exercise of democracy at its best would be found in small towns and cities – with only limited responsibilities given to the federal government.
Certainly seems like there was limited responsibilities given by federal government when Darrell Issa cosponsored the No Child Left Behind Act, arguably the single most bureaucratic and detrimental piece of legislation for the U.S. education system in the last 10-20 years.
Was Issa transparent over the bureaucratic aspect of NCLB when it was based? Hardly. And even Issa's statement in 2012 on improving NCLB is even more damning that it contradicts his arguments stated in the Concord Monitor Op-Ed:
http://votesmart.org/...
On January 8, 2002, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB radically altered K-12 education by returning the emphasis to accountability, fundamental learning, highly qualified teachers, and the beginnings of parental choice.
Under NCLB, states must conduct regular assessments in reading, mathematics, and science for students in grades 3-8. Schools are held accountable for their progress each year. Teachers in most schools must seek higher degrees. And, NCLB allows parents to move their children from consistently failing schools to nearby public alternatives.
I voted in favor of this legislation in 2002 because I strongly support the primary objective of NCLB -- to set definitive goals for every public school student and be held accountable for achievements. Five years later this landmark legislation is up for renewal, and much work remains to be done.
We must seize the opportunity to improve upon NCLB program by addressing the basic concerns of educators and parents. From across the District parents and teachers have told me of the inflexibility of NCLB. Rigid federal guidelines constrain teachers and create an unreasonable cookie-cutter approach to education.
Limited responsibilities for federal government is, um, what? Doesn't seem to me that NCLB represents limited government. On the contrary, it's more government overreach that has put more strain on school budgets and forced schools to focus more on preparation than education. Um, HELLO?
More on Issa's "Op-Ed":
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
There was a belief that government closest to the people would be the most responsive – that belief still holds.
Yet, as time has gone by, more power has been taken from those closest to the people. And it is my belief that as this continues to happen, as Washington continues to grow more powerful, liberty has suffered the most.
With every new regulation and executive order, we lose a little more liberty, our right to make our own decisions and to make mistakes.
Right. For every new regulation and executive order we loose more liberty and right to make our own decisions and mistakes.
Not sure how much Darrell Issa pays attention to the banking industry but back in March 2013, I was at a business summit in San Francisco and the Executive Vice President of Union Bank (one of the largest state banks in California) said that new banking regulations haven't been an impediment to Union Bank's growth, that the company would find ways to work around the regulations to serve customers. And U.B. is still a VERY stable, growing bank.
But I guess for Issa, we only lose our right to make our own decisions if it's our way or the high way with no input from the outside world.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/...
The preservation of our liberty today relies on resisting the expansion of government.
That’s why it is for the Republican Party to stand with Americans to check the growth of executive power and the growth of government.
Democrats will tell you we need to devote more resources and more dollars toward government, but we all know differently. For the trillions of tax dollars spent every year on government-run programs, how well are they really working?
Has big government solved poverty?
Are things in America better?
Will opportunity in this country be the same for our children as it was for us?
It’s in that spirit that President Abraham Lincoln charged us with the responsibility of always being the Party of Liberty, saying, “Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.”
(Republican Congressman Darrell Issa of California will be the keynote speaker for the Concord Republican City and Merrimack County committees’ annual Lincoln Day Dinner tomorrow.)
On Darrell Issa's note on "trillions of tax dollars spent every year on government-run programs, they only work as well as they are implemented and legislated, as well as the budget they work with. There's no political argument here.
It's like you're a business analyst being tasked by an IT security company like Symantec working to come up with solutions to improve the company's efficiency in terms of cracking down hackers before they strike. Don't think there are political discussions there on Democrats vs. Republicans here.
Can't stand anymore Darrell Issa? Democratic Candidate Dave Peiser is running and he has endorsements by the CA State Democratic Party, San Diego APWU and many local, active Democratic clubs.
In case you are looking to support Dave Peiser and his campaign, links are below:
Dave Peiser for Congress: http://www.peiserforcongress.com/
Donate: https://secure.actblue.com/...
Volunteer: http://www.peiserforcongress.com/...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/...
Information: info@peiserforcongress.com