The crux of the debate regarding GM and Chrysler and AIG and all the others is not the minutia of should the CEO be fired or not, the debate is on the principles of government's role versus the role of private business.  If we don't look at that, then we lose to the central planners, to the big government socialists who want our attention diverted precisely to the smaller argument of who should be running GM at the top, and the bonuses at AIG, and not the debacle of government taking over operations of privately owned business. I know it's difficult , with all the excitement and controversy, to step back and keep the big picture in focus, but if we lose that big picture we lose everything. This not a random romp by government egos who are trying to help one or two businesses stay afloat, this is nothing short of a complete flip of the government's role in limited interference. You have to understand that our freedom as citizens depends entirely on a very limited role of a central government. Up until the Obama Presidency, we have had some measure of restraint on this front. There has been a weak, but maintained modicum , a spark of respect for the principles of self determination and freedom to succeed or fail, allowing capitalism to absorb the failures and make successes from them.   But mass ignorance, driven by populist emotions have carried a radical socialist to the highest chair in government, and given him a fully functional right and left arm in the Senate and the House or Representatives that are working in conjunction with him put a hangman's noose around the necks of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin and all the founders of our nation whose brilliance long ago gave us a foundation of freedom to grow a nation upon. We are fast forgetting what freedom is and what it means to lose it.   It was those great figures from our past who declared their freedom from a self ordained Monarch, a singular power-grabbing authority who in some ways is very like Barack Obama today. The founders of our nation were willing to fight to have their freedom from an oppressive King and to be able to choose their own destinies, to rise or fall by the merit of their individual efforts rather than to have their futures and lives determined by an overlord. The fight is not about whether AIG should give out bonuses, or GM should lose it's CEO, it's about whether we rule ourselves, or the government rules us.  It's about whether we declare for freedom, or lay down and let the central government crush us under it's boot heel. We need to remember how to be free, and not willingly tie puppet strings to our own arms and legs and let our government play us like fools in a side show in the name of saving us from ourselves.

- Mike Silverman

 
The Declaration of Independence: ( WITH NOTES ADDED BY ME... in parenthesis)

 This first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence lays out the basic reasons for pursuing redress of grievances against a government that has gone out of control.  My notes inserted into it were meant simply to point out the modern equivalence of some of those grievances. It seems that  far too many of our elected leaders have forgotten or forsaken the principles and ideas of our nation's founding. We have a governing body now that seems to have lost its way from the principles primarily embodied in the right to liberty. Freedom. From freedom all the rest of it becomes possible.
 
- Mike Silverman

I find it very disturbing that the self-annointed Conservative illuminati bloggers and media pundits in the DC beltway still find themselves reluctant to proclaim the prinicples of the ideology.  This highlights why the Republicans are crumbling as an institution.  The tremendous opportunity being wasted by those on our side who seek to criticize Conservatism as out-of-touch or a values system that doesn't belong in this day and age is heartbreaking. This is a moment in history that is crying out for unity all the way back to our founding fathers. It is important that we all stand on solid ground with an approach to reaching out by defining the prinicples of Conservatism, and bringing home the foundational values of Conservatism as a rising tide lifting all boats, wanting everyone big or small to succeed, sweeping away the debris of red tape and government tax burdens to open opportunites as wide as they can be. A leader motivates people with grand vision, not policy wonking. Look at Obama, he sold a fantasy to a public that was ready to buy into anything that would change What they felt was wrong with the Bush administration. It was a phony pledge of cutting waste and restoring consumer confidence, ending war and making peace with world leaders who want to destroy us. It was all a ruse, just like his phony economic summit and phony healthcare summit where he asks people to form groups and come up with answers to all of our problems in a few hours. Absolute garbage and nonsense, a sideshow designed to make it seem like he's being bi-partisan or non-partisan. Conservatism is a real philosphy with principles that work. Conservatism is not a complicated philosophy, it's a common sense approach to life that people more often than not follow without even realizing it. There's a golden moment here, when the heralds of Conservative values should all be standing up to enjoin a common cause, to restore the real vision of this country, the freedom from which everything great that we have attained as a nation has arisen. To restore the reverence the Constitution deserves as the document that has so far kept us from falling into the tar pits of socialism and communism. To put the real history of our country back into its proper perspective. At this pivotal moment we can't afford to have petty bruised egos in the punditry of elitist Conservative circles trying to undercut the push to salvage the American way of life.
 
 I think what the liberals fear most about talking about thier goals of a socialized American society, is that they KNOW liberal ideas can not withstand being debated. Liberalism falls flat on its face when it has to be defended in logical rational context. When exposed, liberalism makes no sense at all, and in fact is clearly antithetical to freedom. The liberals know that Obama's agenda is pure socialism and can only succeed without debate. I work in customer service at a major international company that is currently in the process of laying off about 2400 people worldwide. People who I know and have worked with have been cut, fortunately no one in my immediate group, but it certainly puts focus on the fact that a slowdown in the economy effects everyone, even big coporations that are in the black financially such as the one I work for have had to make some cutbacks due to a depressed market, cutbacks that effect people's livelihood. All the spending bills being crafted and passed in DC are not going to drive people to increase personal consumption. Most people know this about thier own situations. And that's why there's is palpable disgust with the exorbitant spending coming out of DC. It not only will do nothing to restore the consumer base of the country's business, but it also drives down the markets that invest in  businesses because of the uncertainty that comes from the government artifically propping up failing consumer industries. Putting pressure on big companies by raising taxes on them is putting people OUT OF WORK. The evidence is everywhere.    Everything that is great about our culture and society arises from one single overarching ideal, freedom.  Socialism and facism, both of which are in the process of happening, is pure poison to freedom. Our founders gave us an incredible document for structuring our government so that it does not become a debacle like the socialized European nations who are collapsing under thier own failing systems. We need to turn the country's vision, heart, and soul back to understanding why we have progressed as far as we have. And why this agenda of destructive government intrusion is exactly the opposite vision that our founders had for this country.

 - Mike Silverman

Henry Ford, inventor of the automobile assembly line, founder of what is today the Ford Motor Company, said the following; "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.". In other words, results are what makes or breaks success. Henry ford is no longer with us, and it seems today that the ideals he brought to the manufacture and sales of cars has been lost with him. You can't succeed on a notion or an idea. You can't succeed by saying you will build hybrids and green cars, you have to have to build them and then be able to sell them. And if there's one thing manufacturers learn very quickly, it's that you can't sell what people don't want, no matter how you market it. People like lots of room in thier cars, they like to be able to carry more than three people comfortably in a big strong car that will survive a crash and can handle lots of luggage or groceries or camping equipment. They want big, powerful cars and trucks for thier businesses. And they like to get them at a reasonable price. For a brief time, when gas was over four dollars a gallon, sales of hybrid vehicles were on the rise and orders for them were big. But now sales of cars such as the Toyota Prius are way down from what they were six months ago. So, what has replaced those sales of the hybrid? Big flashy gas guzzling cars. It's what a lot of people want. There's still a niche market for the more expensive Hybrids but sales show they simply are not popular and not desirable unless gas prices force people to make that decision. With gas prices dropping every day, the market forces have returned to pre gasoline price shock consumption. If the federal government forces GM, Ford and Chrysler to change thier focus to the diminutive hybrids and green cars, sales will hit the bottom of the barrel for these companies faster than Barak Obama can say "change you can count on". If you worked in a private business ( and of course a lot of people do..), would you be embarrassed to take a gift of tax money to support your paycheck? I would. I would be embarrassed and ashamed and would never get up and demand that my neighbors pay my salary because I'm suffering, or because they "need" my services. When I hear the GM executives begging, it's embarrassing.  It's an embarrassment on a national scale that we have leaders of industry groveling before a bunch of self serving liberal socialists in congress. These men have no sense of honor, no sense of pride in themselves or the ingenuity that makes the country great. It is a comic tragedy when one of the most innovative industries our country has ever given rise to can not put their own brain trust into action to save themselves from themselves. These CEO's do not deserve to have the jobs they hold, and may God forbid that the youth of our nation look at these leaders of disaster as an example of anything worth becoming.  And when a union leader... or worse.. a typical UAW worker at GM or Ford or Chrysler whines to the media about how they're hurting financially and want the bailout to happen, it sickens me that they would want to play on the sympathies of others , play the violin and expect us all to cry for them, instead of getting themselves out and pulling double duty, extra jobs, whatever it takes to make the bill payments and , call me hard hearted if you want but no tax dollars should go to prop up the benefits and pensions that GM is on the verge of defaulting on. I don't paint them all with a sweeping brushstroke, but it's a sad commentary when an able-bodied person will become a beggar if they think they'll get tax money out of it. There are, of course, people who are genuinely disabled and can not fend for themselves, and we should always be ready to care for those people. But we are not a nation of sob stories, we're a nation of successes built on individual courage and the determination to make it happen. To see our government foster those who would be bums and beggars with promises of spare change in the form of bailouts is just disheartening. I support neither the auto executives nor the Autoworker's Union if that "support" is by way of tax money forcibly taken from me ... and given to them. But that's Obamaism in action. Taking money from those who produce and succeed and giving it to those who don't. If I want to support the auto industry then I will "support" them by purchasing the products they make if they make something I want. It's the government's constitutional duty to provide for the common defense, but it's not the government's duty to provide for failing domestic auto companies and don't bother trying to tell me that Ford, GM and Chrysler are a key part of our national security, you won't be able to sell that bridge here.
 
- Mike Silverman