The World According to Oatney: 09/13/2009

Ramsey On the Knox

Ron Ramsey appears on Politics Knoxville with State Rep Stacey Campfield back in August.

Labels: Republican Party, Tennessee politics

Marsh Not Pro-Life Enough...

Why Pat Marsh lost the Right to Life endorsement in the 62nd District special election race:

Tennessee Right to Life's endorsement of Ty Cobb also underlines a critical reality that people on the Left often fail to realize about pro-life political and social organizations is that they truly are non-partisan. The primary interest of inherently pro-life groups is that the most pro-life candidate is elected in every political contest, so that pro-life legislation is most likely to pass and the unborn be protected.

Labels: Aborticide, Democrats, Republican Party, Tennessee politics

222 Years Later

The federal Constitution was signed 222 years ago, September 17, 1787. What would the framers think of what we have done with the Constitution?

What would the signers of the Constitution think of today's America? Warrantless wiretaps, the PATRIOT Act, and an expansion of federal power so great that they could not have possibly imagined it in their worst nightmares? Many of the framers of the Constitution favored the addition of a Bill of Rights, and George Mason was among those who refused to sign the original document without one. If ever we understood the reason why, it is now.

Labels: Conservatism, Federal politics, Miscellany

Defending the Constitution When It Suits Them

Liberals talk all the time about defending civil liberties, but as we have seen from the present order of things, they really have a double standard:

A fair judgment of history will render the reality that many on the Left will only defend the Constitution when it suits them and when their rights are in danger, not when the rights of their opposition are under threat (usually by people they support). As an example of this, we heard many liberals bemoan the evils of the PATRIOT Act during the Bush years, and make great political hay over its abuses and its potential for trampling on the Constitution. Yet we have since learned that the Obama Administration wants to renew the most controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act, including warrantless roving wiretaps, and the so-called library provision, which would allow authorities to inquire what books we've been borrowing from the local library.

So the policy of the national Democrats (and not a few in Tennessee) would seem to be "let it be true for me, but not for thee."

Labels: Congress, Conservatism, Democrats, Federal Courts, Federal politics, Local politics, Political correctness, Republican Party, Tennessee politics

The Issue With Williams

What is the real issue with why some Republicans don't want Kent Williams back in the GOP?:

At least three generations and many House members have come and gone operating under a system where the majority party governs the House and runs all committees, and that was the system used until January 13, 2009. Many Republicans would like to enjoy the fruits of majority if the GOP majority is indeed expanded to a point where it is clear that the House is no longer evenly divided, and considering how the House had previously been run, if the people decide on a clear Republican majority, the Republicans should clearly be in charge.

If Kent Williams is allowed on a Tennessee Republican ballot, it will signal to those in the House Republican Caucus who would be inclined to vote Democratic for Speaker or to otherwise not support the party's nominee that there are no consequences for such an action.

Labels: Democrats, Republican Party, Tennessee politics

Irreconcilable Differences

After a controversial blog post by Rob Huddleston Friday, I elaborate on our irreconcilable situation at some length in today's column:

The notion that we are one people is a myth designed to placate schoolchildren and make the lazy and the liberals say to themselves that all will be well. All is not well, and it hasn't been well since the 2000 General Election. The divisions of this union which became crystalized for the first time in modern history, even though they are much older than that. At least in the 1860's, Mr. Lincoln could rightfully declare that "both sides read the same Bible, and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other." In 2009, we cannot even say that we read the same Bible and pray to the same God-some on the other side recognize strange gods or no god, or think our God is the strange one.

What we have in common is no longer greater than what divides us.

Labels: Conservatism, Democrats, Federal politics, Political correctness, Republican Party, Tennessee politics