Voting No Confidence in Government

Voting No Confidence in Government

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

July 15, 2010

Here’s a shocking revelation: government, regardless of the party in power, does not create jobs. Confidence in government, however, is a driving force in job creation by the private sector.

Giving government unfettered freedom to run roughshod over our Creator-endowed rights – that hinders job creation. When government passes legislation it typically closes doors instead of opening them. By its nature, government is restrictive – it tells the people what they can’t do.

This is the beauty of the Constitution – it limits what government can do – not what the people can do. Since the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, however, government has done as much as it can do to control, limit and even shackle the people by thwarting the noble efforts of a free people to be creative, innovative and inventive. The pinnacle of this destructive trend is the coddling and patronizing attempts to stifle the creative process by using taxpayer dollars to bail out corporations seen as too big to fail in the eyes of this administration.

Failure is the mother’s milk of invention. Bailing out a flailing company is akin to giving it false hope of future success. The public made a decision that they did not want the “widget” being manufactured and sold by John Q. Businessman. By bailing that company out, the government artificially props up that company hoping that a new day will spark a desire by the public to want that widget.

Letting the company fail forces the owner to don his thinking cap and invent the next new and improved Widget II. The new and improved product forces the competition to conjure up its next great product. That is how the economy is genuinely stimulated as opposed to the artificial stimulation being thrust upon the people by the government all the while using the taxpayer’s money to force us to by the widgets we didn’t want in the first place.

It is the creative, innovative and inventive who hire people – create jobs. When the people have confidence that government will leave them alone, and not steal from them via oppressive taxes to pay for unnecessary social programs and the needs of illegal aliens as well as those people who wantonly avoid work in exchange for government support (welfare), there is job creation. The job creators have a willingness to invest in their own creativity and inventiveness.

This confidence is further exuded when taxes are low because people have a greater amount of disposable income. However, with unemployment approaching double digits at 9.5 percent, confidence has been eroded mightily, and that stunts growth considerably, ultimately driving unemployment even higher and production down. This leads to greater layoffs of people who will have less disposable income to spend on taxable goods and services.

Meanwhile, the rising unemployment figures drives government spending higher in an effort to pay the unemployment benefits of those folks out of work. Simultaneously, with private sector spending down, so too is the intake by the government of revenue derived from taxes that come from the spending of people’s disposable income. It’s a matter of the dog chasing his tail. Additionally, this lack of confidence has spilled over onto Wall Street as the business community is equally as skittish because of the culture of anti-business and even anti-capitalism awash in the White House. This is evidenced by the redistribution of wealth philosophy that came pouring out of the mouth of Obama during the 2008 campaign.

One exception to government does not create jobs: the current lawsuit by the Obama administration against Arizona simply because the Grand Canyon State dared to pass legislation to protect itself because the federal government won’t. Thanks to such a moronic lawsuit, money is pouring into Arizona by people supportive of the passage of SB 1070. These are every day Americans – tourists taking vacations, business people scheduling conferences, on-line purchases, etc. This is their own economic stimulus – with their own money that they earned and not given them by government.

And just what legislation did Arizona pass and how does it relate to the current economic quagmire? Arizona picked up the gauntlet fumbled by the federal government by not enforcing the laws pertaining to illegal aliens. And while liberals are having conniptions over the legislation, it should really be conservatives, because the Arizona law is not nearly as strict as its federal cousin. As for the impact on the economy, illegal aliens are a drain on the system with billions of untaxed dollars being funneled back to their countries of origin.

After all, who pays when an illegal alien needs medical care and shows up at the hospital? The taxpayers. Who pays for their food stamps they should not possess in the first place? The taxpayers. Who pays as class sizes continue to expand when the children of illegal aliens are not permitted to be turned out of school? The taxpayers. Who pays to feed those same children breakfast and lunch in those same schools? The taxpayers.

Arizona is attempting to stave off becoming California or Illinois, who in turn are fast turning into Greece as they are going bankrupt. Illinois, for example, is facing a $5 billion shortfall. Vast numbers of illegal aliens milking and bilking the system coupled with the problems regarding the various pension funds has created an economic disaster that is neither untenable nor unsustainable. High praise must go to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) for combating the economic problems the Garden state is facing by not just standing up to the overreaching teachers’ unions but also by calling for the privatization of some state services. And kudos to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) for producing a budget surplus.

Taxes can only be raised so much before those who endure the brunt of that burden will simply work less, earn less, and ultimately pay less in taxes. As they produce less, they will lay off more workers, who, in turn, will spend less. And on and on it goes – there’s that pesky dog chasing his tail once again. Priming the pump is not sustainable either, nor is it the purpose of government.

“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government,” said James Madison, the credited father of the Constitution and Fourth president of the United States.

The government cannot tax its way out of this economic hole. The haves will not continue to sustain the have nots. They will take their businesses elsewhere or shutter the doors in utter frustration. Remember, the first rule regarding getting out of a hole is to put the shovel down. The Obama administration had best learn this rule and put down the shovel before we all get buried.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

President George Costanza?

President George Costanza?

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

July 8, 2010

Up is down, in is out, black is white, yes is no – or so it seemed in a Seinfeld episode where perennial loser George Costanza decided to do the opposite of conventional wisdom such as admitting to an attractive woman he was unemployed and living with his parents – and still got the girl.

In two legal matters Barack Obama has not only gone against conventional wisdom, but against popular opinion. On the one hand while Obama is not pursuing charges against the New Black Panthers for voter intimidation in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008, on the other hand, Obama is suing the state of Arizona for simply trying to protect the safety and property of its citizens and legal residents.

Justice is reported to be blind. But is it not supposed to be colorblind as well? When voter intimidation was a violation of civil rights in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, the Justice Department took action – granted, it took nominal action, and often times, far too late at that, but equal justice under the law means just that – and not equal revenge under the laws that are ignored by the same Justice Department.

For the Justice Department, under Attorney General Eric Holder, to not pursue charges of voter intimidation by nightstick wielding members of the New Black Panther party is akin to condoning their actions and tantamount to an endorsement by the Obama Administration. This is a blatant miscarriage of justice that simply must not be tolerated. And it was blatant as the actions of the Black Panthers were captured on videotape with no question as to what occurred on Election Day.

From the injustice to the insanity, the Obama train of legal befuddlement pulled out of Philadelphia and headed west to Arizona with a lawsuit in hand for Governor Jan Brewer, who has more guts and integrity in her little finger than the entire Obama administration.

Contemplate the genesis of this lawsuit: the federal government has a constitutional requirement to protect and defend the borders of the United States from foreign and domestic invasion. With Arizona the kidnap capital of the United States and second only to Mexico City in the world, it is painfully obvious the borders are not secure, no matter what Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says.

Because the federal government refused to do its job of securing the borders, Arizona passed a law, SB 1070 that is actually weaker than the federal statute regarding illegal aliens. Yet all hell has broken loose because the State of Arizona has an expectation that the federal government will actually do its job.

“Federal law would be enough – if it were enforced. We need the federal government to do their job – or if not, Arizona will,” said Brewer. SB 1070 proves the governor’s words were no idle threat.

“We have an obligation to Americans,” said Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R), the author of SB 1070. Pearce also noted that it is against the law for sanctuary cities to exist as well, but those continue to be condoned by authorities at the various levels of government with not only no punishment or orders to disband, but at taxpayers’ expense. After all when an illegal alien is given safe harbor, who feeds, clothes and shelters that individual? He or she becomes a de facto ward of the state. They get sick, it’s off to an emergency room, also at taxpayers’ expense. But, I digress.

What is transpiring in these United States is an administration that apparently believes in cherry-picking which laws to follow and which laws to ignore. Justice does not operate via Chinese menu – Mr. Obama. You simply cannot pick one from column “a” and one from column “b” the laws are for everyone and should be enforced.

Here’s a novel approach: prosecute the Black Panthers for breaking the law and stop suing Arizona for passing legislation because you refuse to do your job. If that is too difficult, feel free to tender your resignation and don’t let the door hit you on the tuchus on the way out.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

[This column appeared in the Alexandria Times.]

Happy Birthday to US

Happy Birthday to US

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

July 2, 2010

“The Declaration of Independence [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.” – Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826); Founding Father; credited author of said document and third president of these United States of America.

A little housekeeping note first and up front – I dislike the expression “happy fourth of July.” Happy Independence Day is the correct expression or happy birthday America is acceptable. We the people are celebrating our independence from the tyrannical shackles of King George III and that of England. Every country has a fourth of July, but not every country has true independence.

The long road toward independence did not end on July 4, 1776 – that was merely the date we the people declared enough was enough from England. Enough taxation without representation, enough quartering British soldiers at colonist’s expense, enough passing of laws unilaterally without regard to their effect on the people, enough denying the people local representation who would understand the needs and problems the colonists faced, enough deprivation of trial by jury to the people, enough denying the people the right to trade freely with other international partners, and enough of the general and overall usurpation of rights and freedoms, at a whim, given to free people.

Sadly, only 234 years since that declaration, this country finds itself once again at a crossroads fighting against a government that refuses to listen to the people. We the people have a federal government in a virtual war with one its states over the fundamental right of protecting the borders and the citizens who live within those borders. We the people have a government more strongly supporting eminent domain than ever before, thinking it knows what is best for the people. We the people have a government hell bent on stealing our freedoms one by one by denying us the right to make our own decisions regarding health care.

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.” – Thomas Jefferson. Imagine what he would think of the monstrosity called the federal government in 2010 instead of 1810. The bigger the government, the more far-reaching into our pockets and the firmer the grip it has on our rights and freedoms.

This is not a partisan beef, both major political parties are at fault for allowing our borders to remain porous and unchecked. Both parties have taxed and spent this country into ever deepening debt and deficits that virtually all its members are complicit in not just stealing from the American people, but from future generations. More than 80 percent of the acts committed by the Congress – those elected members of the federal government we sent to represent us – are actually unconstitutional.

While on the subject of what is or is not constitutional, message to Barack Obama: spreading the wealth around: unconstitutional. “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” – Founding Father James Madison (1751-1836); credited author of the United States Constitution and fourth president of these United States.

Another constitutional issue was in the headlines more recently than the 2008 campaign, as this week the Second Amendment granting the people the right to keep and bear arms was restored a mere 219 years after achieving federal ratification, much to the chagrin of the gun control crowd. Remember, gun control is not about guns – it’s about control. Be ever vigilant in protecting your rights and freedoms for we know not when they will be under siege and by whom.

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.” – Founding Father Patrick Henry (1736-1799) in a speech before the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1778.

We the people are under the thumb of a government growing larger and acting less responsive and certainly less responsibly to the people knowing that incumbency not only has its advantages, but the incumbents themselves behave with such arrogance as to believe they are invincible. It is up to us – the people – the rank and file of this great nation to re-declare our independence not just on July 4, but on November 2 when we go to the voting booths and take back our freedoms. Those who seek our support and votes are also answerable to us as well. They must be held accountable every day – they work for us – not the other way around.

“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” – Thomas Jefferson; The Declaration of Independence

Heed this message citizens and voters: don’t let the other guy worry about our country – take personal responsibility – learn about the candidates, support the candidates of your choice, share your choice and opinion with your friends and neighbors and vote on election day – every year – not just in presidential elections. The ignorant can be enslaved, the learned can prevent such tyranny.

Tyranny can also be prevented by the preparation and strength of our defenses. We have our freedoms because of the determination of a military willing to sacrifice their most precious and ultimate gifts – their lives – then, as well as today. From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan and all wars and conflicts in between, it is the military – the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and reservists that preserve our rights and freedoms and enable us to live in peace in the United States.

“To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” – Founding Father George Washington (1732-1799); Revolutionary War general and first president of these United States.

“Independence forever.” – The last public words of John Adams (1735-1826); Founding Father who, for some time, stood alone in pushing for Independence from England before it became popular and second president of these United States of America. The nation mourned the loss of Adams and his friend and rival Jefferson simultaneously as the two giants died on July 4, 1826.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

PSA Should Put Labor Secretary Out of Work

PSA Should Put Labor Secretary Out of Work

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

June 25, 2010

If ever there was proof of this administration’s duplicitous behavior toward those to whom they are most answerable, the American citizen, it is in the recent Public Service Announcement made by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

“You work hard, and you have the right to be paid fairly. I'm U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and it is a serious problem when workers in this country are not being paid every cent that they earn. Remember, every worker in America has a right to be paid fairly, whether documented or not. So, call us -- it is free and confidential – at 1-866-487-9243. We can help.”

For this anti-American worker treachery, Solis should be fired immediately and charged with Malfeasance of Office. In fact, add Barack Obama to that warrant for aiding and abetting Solis with his potential granting of amnesty to the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens via an Executive Order. Knowingly allowing lawbreakers to remain in the United States and gain from such miscreant behavior seems to fit the description of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” as required by the United States Constitution for impeachment charges. (After all, Bill Clinton faced impeachment for screwing one American, Obama is screwing 304 million Americans.) Obama already ceded his responsibilities to protect the Arizona border from invasion, just so that issue isn’t forgotten.

“Every worker in America has a right to be paid fairly, whether documented or not…” Did Solis miss the part about undocumented workers being in this country illegally and having no rights to work or play in these United States? Apparently Solis thinks it is acceptable to have American workers on the unemployment lines while illegals collect, often times, tax-free income from employers who are also violating the law.

Shut down those employers until they weed out the illegals from their ranks. There is no need to fine them, for every day their doors are closed, they will lose money. It will become incumbent upon the employers of illegals to clean house as quickly as possible. That lost revenue and income will far outweigh the financial benefits of hiring illegals for less than the minimum wage.

Illegal workers in this country only degrade the economy of the United States as legal unemployed workers are collecting unemployment compensation from the government. Simultaneously, illegal aliens often send most of their wages to their home countries, thus depriving American businesses of that capital.

Bear in mind that the issue of illegal aliens transcends partisan politics. Both major political parties have acted egregiously in either ignoring the problem or encouraging its rampant expansion with each passing year, term and administration, regardless who is at the helm.

Additionally, according to the Department of Labor, 250 people are paid to enforce the Solis PSA. Of course, ultimately, the taxpayers are paying for the production, airing and enforcement of the content of that PSA.

When will the government wake up to the reality that incentives will only encourage more and more folks to sneak across the borders – be it from Mexico or Canada or washing up on our already dirtied shores. Take away the incentives of jobs, health care, education, and the ultimate insult to those people in line to become nationalized, the anchor baby debacle. This is why the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution must be amended.

The initial intention of the 14^th Amendment was to ensure citizenship upon the decedents of freed slaves. Now, 142 years, almost to the day, (July 9, 1868) since the ratification of that Amendment and 145 years since the end of the War Between the States, there is no longer a necessity to grant citizenship to anyone simply because they happened to be fortunate enough to be born on American soil.

Insert a caveat that the offspring of illegal aliens will not be considered citizens of the United States. Evidence garnered from an illegal search and seizure, in violation of a person’s 4^th Amendment rights, is considered fruit from a poisonous tree and thrown out of court. Likewise, the child of an illegal alien be should not be considered an American citizen simply because the child’s mother violated the law. Both the child and the mother should be deported to the mother’s country of citizenship.

For those who think this solution is harsh or insensitive, try convincing the families of homicide victims at the hands of illegal aliens. Try convincing the families of rape or abduction victims at the hands of illegal aliens. Illegal means just that – illegal – against the law. Being a naturalized American is a privilege, not a right, and the sooner interlopers understand that, the better off they will be, as will the rest of us.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Many Villains, No Heroes

Many Villains, No Heroes

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

June 21, 2010

Rahm Emanuel is the opportunist’s opportunist. The Obama administration Chief of Staff first said “never let a serious crisis go to waste.” Then, this past weekend, Emanuel referred to Congressman Joe Barton’s apology to BP as a “gift,” demonstrative of how the GOP would behave. For that, Emanuel is a villain.

Texas Republican Joe Barton chided the Obama administration last week for “shaking down” BP to the tune of $20 billion, in the form of an apology to the beleaguered oil company. Barton then redacted his apology to BP, no doubt under pressure from key GOP leadership who may have threatened to relieve Barton of his ranking position on the Energy and Commerce Committee. For his backpedaling, Barton is a villain.

It begs the question, who shook down Barton? What was wrong with his apology to BP? Barton merely expressed what he believed to be an inappropriate action by the Obama administration to make financial demands on a private corporation. Financial demands that would hurt not just the company’s bottom line – and deservedly so, as they are responsible for the worst oil spill in American history – but the investments of private citizens. That any member of the Obama administration would demand that BP not pay its dividend to its investors is disturbingly anti-capitalist, but not surprising. For such dubious financial advice, the Obama administration is a villain.

BP no doubt capitulated to avoid a deepening public relations nightmare, which, quite frankly, they brought upon themselves via the numerous verbal gaffes by CEO Tony Hayward as well as a number of spokesmen for whom English is not their first language. BP is certainly a villain on so many levels.

Public relations plays a major role in the restoration or continued deterioration of the image of BP, the Obama administration and even Congressman Barton.

The media determined BP is the villain because of the environmental disaster unleashed upon the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding communities – and rightfully so.

But hold the phone just a minute here – while appropriately castigating Hayward, the so-called mainstream media has said little of Obama, except to criticize him for wanting to find someone’s ass to kick. For that, the lame-stream media is a villain.

The media needlessly piled on Hayward grilling him for spending the past weekend on his yacht, after being relieved of his spokesman responsibilities. Clearly Hayward is an insensitive dolt and a villain, but not after being replaced as spokesman.

However, where was the media criticism of Obama for playing two rounds of golf in the past five days? (He’s played more golf in the last week than I have in the past year. A friend suggested I become president so I might play more golf.) And instead of criticizing Obama for taking in last Friday’s Nationals – White Sox game at Nationals Park, a simple picture in The Washington Post shows Obama enjoying the national pastime. For lacking the sense of urgency and his late arrival on the scene Obama is most assuredly a villain.

However, once Obama did arrive on the scene, he wandered about looking for someone’s ass to kick. The media did not criticize Obama for not knowing whose ass to kick (both his own and BP’s) but instead focused on his use of language. I applaud him for wanting to find someone’s ass to kick – it was Obama’s first sign of emotion during this entire debacle.

Shame on the media for feigning Puritan and Victorian shock in the wake of coarse language – see also Vice President Joe Biden, the dust up between Senator Patrick Leahy and former Vice President Dick Cheney and countless others.

As a journalist/columnist, rest assured, there’s nary a newsroom not rife with coarse language – and politicians are certainly no different, so cut the crap and the false indignation. For not placing criticisms where they belong, the media is again a villain.

Where there is a villain, there is a hero – black hats versus white hats as depicted in old Westerns. Bottom line – many villains, the only known heroes – the residents and business owners in the Gulf region trying to restore some semblance of a life.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Obama Visits Columbus - Workers Lose Pay

Obama Visits Columbus – Workers Lose Pay

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

June 20, 2010

Barack Obama left his ivory tower to talk about the progress of the stimulus package, yet his visit cost construction workers a day’s pay and nary a word was uttered about it in the so-called main stream media. However, a BP spokesman, for whom English is not his first language, misplaced an idiom referring to the residents of the Gulf of Mexico as the “small people,” and all hell broke loose.

Obama just doesn’t get – he really doesn’t. While in the Columbus, Ohio area to give another one of his “rah rah,” innocuous speeches about how the alleged stimulus is working at the groundbreaking of a government-sponsored road project, a block or two away on Parsons Avenue in Livingston stood a hospital under construction void of its workers at the Turner-Smoot site.

Not only was the construction site shut down due to Obama’s security, but the employees were forced to take an UNPAID day off. Were I one of the workers at this construction site the only stimulus I would feel is the ire at this clueless administration. Could this be more wrong? These workers did not have a choice in this unpaid day off. Obama should pay the employees’ wages out of his own pocket – not the company till, and certainly not the taxpayers coffers – but Obama himself. Shame on him.

Obama was in town roughly 90 minutes, gave a 14 minute speech and then hustled out of dodge for whatever the rest of his agenda called for prior to showing up at Nationals Park to watch his beloved Chicago White Sox take on the home team in Friday night’s baseball game. And where was the union representing the income-deprived construction workers? Instead of fighting for the lost wages of those they are paid handsomely to represent, they are no doubt tucked snuggly in Obama’s back pocket.

As indicated above, the lame stream media did not report the whole story. The Washington Post, for example, had a picture of Obama with road workers standing supportively behind him – road workers benefiting from Obama’s largesse with the taxpayer’s money. No where in the lengthy, disingenuous story was it reported that the Obama visit supplanted the work of an entire construction site costing the workers a day’s pay. That information had to be culled from several on-line sources.

This is just another example of the cover up of an inept administration by a media unwilling to do their due diligence and report the whole story for the people who expect just that of a newspaper they pay good money to receive. Make the photo just a bit smaller and add a paragraph that completes the story giving the readers all the necessary information to make a fair assessment of a situation.

It’s called reporting, not fawning.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.

Rep. Etheridge Goes Over the Edge

Rep. Etheridge Goes Over the Edge

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

June 15, 2010

In actions that should slam the lid on the Congressional career of Bob Etheridge, the seven-term Democratic Representative in North Carolina’s second district swatted a video camera, grabbed and grappled with two young men claiming to be working on a project for school.

What set the events in motion was a question by one of the youthful unidentified interviewers to the Congressman who serves on both the powerful Committee on Ways and Means as well as the House Budget Committee. “Do you support the Obama agenda?” was the question asked the 68-year-old North Carolina native who did in fact, vote for Obama-care.

The mere question served as a switch that flipped in Etheridge causing him to ask the identity of the young men no less than 13 times. While I in no way endorse Etheridge’s behavior of touching either the camera or the two young men, he was right in saying he had a right to know with whom he was talking.

Congressman Etheridge should absolutely be brought up on charges for assaulting these two youths; after all, he took a swipe at the video camera and then grabbed one of the questioners’ arms before grabbing his neck – all caught on video. A couple days later, Etheridge offered an apology about how his behavior was inappropriate, but when asked if he apologized to the two young men, the Congressman said he could not as they were still yet to be identified.

And herein lies the rub. No condoning the actions of the congressman, however, proper decorum as a journalist is to identify oneself by name and media outlet, preferably with a business card in one hand and a handshake with the other. This is why amateur so-called journalists, bloggers, anyone with a camera and a tape recorder give a bad name to professionally trained journalists who behave appropriately.

Having worked as a professional journalist for a number of years, and an award-winning one at that, I would never have approached the congressman or anyone, for that matter, the way these two amateur “photojournalists” did, by thrusting a camera in his face and hurling questions prior to identifying myself. It is perfectly correct to blame Etheridge with responsibility for his actions as long as the amateur scribes also accept irresponsibility for their lack of proper protocol. If they want to be journalists, the least they can do is act like responsible journalists and not besmirch a profession already castigated for playing fast and loose with etiquette and “gotcha” politics.

While Congressman Etheridge should be charged with assault, I do not want to see him resign. I want to see him vanquished at the ballot box in November by his Republican challenger Renee Ellmers, the Michigan native who earned a BS in nursing from Oakland University.

In addition to her nursing background, Ellmers is the Clinical Director of the Trinity Wound Care Center in Dunn, NC, has served on the Dunn Planning Board and is President-Elect of the Chamber of Commerce. Ellmers said Etheridge’s stance supporting and voting in favor of Obama-care prompted her candidacy.

Ellmers can build on her background and experience in the medical field to catapult her into a congressional seat where she can do some good fighting against the government takeover of healthcare and one-sixth of the American economy. And in doing so, she can turn an arrogant congressman and self-proclaimed part-time farmer into a full-time farmer. And that’s no bull.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.