It’s summer and the show has been sizzling, thanks to you. The All Around Tour continues to delight everyone involved as I’m finally able to put faces with many of you who call, and care….

It’s that last bit, the caring, that I want to expand on this month.  It seems that you, me and the talk family here at 97.1 FM Talk, along with our audio cousins in talk land nationally are worried, I mean really stressed, this election.  As I told wife Heliene the other day (when I was in her view, ‘grumpy again’):  “We’ll be ok, we can ride it out until our number’s up, but what about our kids, and their kids?”  Who is genuinely caring for this country we treasure.  The folks in D.C.?  Not.  I have come to believe to my inner core that only originalist, small-denomination, close-to-the-people politics can save our day.  Not panderers, not polyannas, not those who will protect us from the consequence of every poor decision.  Now Jesse and Nancy and Harry and of course ‘The One’ (Oprah’s words for Obama, not mine) claim to care, but for whom?  That is the essential question of our time, and this election. 

How can Democrats claiming to care for the economy deny America responsible development of her own resources, while Brazil is on the verge of Middle East independence after claiming its own huge off shore reserve?  Is it really caring to insulate investors and borrowers from the myriad investment faux pas that created the housing house of cards?  Do the Imperial Government types really care that the commodity price boom they spawned with the ethanol mandates will eventually come back to crush the farmers who invested nest eggs in ethanol plants, when market realities prove it untenable?  And don’t forget how this little experiment in socialism (the USDA is a shining example of government control over private enterprise) has been so caring for your pocketbook in the grocery aisle, either!  Who cared about the patrons and employees of failed IndyMac Bank?  Was it “It’s Always About Me” Shmuck Schumer, who committed metaphorically yelled fire in a crowded bank?

There simply aren’t enough kilobytes in a column to list the many ways the so-called caring central planners, er, politicians, and their drones, umm, bureaucrats have undermined the genius that was America.  That wonderful soup made with a base of liberty, chock full of Judeo Christian decency and accountability a higher calling, and a generous dollop of federalism.  Al Pacino and ancient Chinese warrior Sun-tzu were right when they said: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”.  We are a country that thrives best as an economically loose connection of competing interests, diversified resources and skills, the distribution of which is best determined by the ebb and flow of local and regional needs.  We function best not under Orwellian centralization, but Lilliputian enterprise.  Our generosity is most efficient when care is given freely, its need vetted locally, its reward in a simple ‘Thank you’, not votes.  It’s time for ‘Change’, alright, but what we need is Small Change.  “I’ll take state and local government for $25, Art”….

Beware of caring candidates for national office who pledge anything other than your personal security, liberty and PURSUIT of happiness.  Beware of candidates who are “fighting for you”.  I’ll fight for myself, thank you very much.  Just provide national defense, secure borders, a sane monetary system, and constitutional protections per their original meaning.  Ask candidates if there is a constitutional protection against failure in your pursuits; that’ll really throw them for a loop!  I’ve made plenty of bad investments, some very costly.  Did I run to the government wanting a fix?  Nope.  Just tucked it away in that area of the brain labeled “Mistakes Not To Be Repeated”.  If others have erred, failed to repent (yep, I used that obsolete Christian word on purpose) and fail, that’s their problem, not yours or mine…..unless we want it to be.  Positive behavioral changes and personal improvement come as a result of local philanthropy and tough love, not votes-for-money entitlements, grants, programs, corporate welfare or earmarks. 

All this by way of saying this election means the difference between a U.S.S.A. (United Socialist States of America) and our once-in-a-planet Union.  So talk more, persuade the unengaged populists to think about the long term, not just tomorrow’s pump price.  Remind the Obama-mesmerized that Americas success has always been the result of unbridled enterprise and the magic of the market, not vote-hoarding ambitious elitists who really only care about their place in the history books.  Remember, we are fighting the political battle of our live:. The battle to be free as we once were.  The battle to preserve America for our kids….it’s really not about us after all.

Our next stop on the All Around Town Tour?  The St. Charles Farmers’ Market, August 2^nd.  If you haven’t jumped on board yet, do it!  It’s a blast…and will buoy your conservative spirits.  See you then, and every Saturday on the R.T. Show!