“Politics goes to those who show up.”—Kristina Ribali

If yesterday was a strong day, today was serious. Jim Pethokoukis told a story about giving a talk in front of a bunch of workers at a military bunker, and at the end one of the guys told him that if they got the warning he wouldn’t bother going into the bunker. Because the future Pethokoukis warned of was too depressing.

He pretty much gave us the same speech. Rather than let the United States recover from the 2008 financial crisis, we have instead spent too much money we don’t have, and added too many regulations that weigh down economic recovery. Which means that we are completely unprepared for the next crisis, which will come when European Union states start to fail.

If he were given a magic economic wand that gave him three wishes¹ he would

1. Implement the Ryan plan, accelerating it.
2. Eliminate taxes on investing.
3. Eliminate all public sector unions.

But public unions aren’t the only ones lobbying for money that then gets funneled back to politicians. Venture capitalist John Doerr was called out for getting millions in Obama “stimulus” money for green energy projects while serving on the president’s jobs panel, and also steering donations to Democrats. Tom Borelli called on us to also expose crony capitalism²

Borelli is especially critical of General Electric’s Jeffrey Immelt, calling him “the king of crony capitalism. For the Ayn Rand fans, he is James Taggart.”

Ed Morrissey touched on something I’ve got a post for in the works. A candidate’s record and positions need to be on the table. Thoroughly vette them. Engage in analysis, advocacy, and activism. But don’t paint yourself into a corner you’re going to regret. My own post is going to be “your candidate sucks” and mentioning it now before it’s finished paints me into a corner I don’t want to be in.

There were several people complaining about the box that Democrats try to keep minorities in. Deneen Borelli, author of the upcoming book Blacklash^• said,

Our country does not guarantee you success but liberty does guarantee the opportunity to succeed.

Talking about upcoming documentary Runaway Slave, Alfonzo Rachel talked about how, when he tried to educate himself or even just broaden his artistic interests, other blacks would ask him why he wanted to be white.

I keep hearing how the white man wants to keep us down, but you’re the one who wants to keep me in a box.

Truth was also up for discussion. Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs warned that “this is a war on truth. Truth is the new hate speech.” Alfonzo Rachel told us that “you need to be relentless with the truth. They do it with lies.”