Conservatives cautioned
to give Brown some leeway

The echo from the cheering following Scott Brown’s unexpected win in Massachusetts had not even died down before the mumbling began.

“He’s a RINO.”

“He does not pass the litmus test.”

Wow. Talk about a group bent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory; talk about a group sounding as obtuse and tone-deaf as the White House in comprehending the reasons behind Brown’s win.

If you won’t wait until he’s sworn in and actually voting to condemn Brown, at least re-visit his acceptance speech. Count the number of times he says “independent” (about 6 million). Contrast that with mentions of “Republican” (were there any?). 

Scott Brown is from Massachusetts. I would no more expect those voters to select a staunch conservative than I can see Texas backing a San Fran liberal.

He campaigned on themes that resonate with the vast majority of conservatives and Republicans: against ObamaCare, for lower taxes, against giving terrorists constitutional protection, for enhanced interrogation.

Predictably, that is not enough for some on the right who are more interested in ideological purity than in electoral victory and conservative representation.

The folks who insist on fealty to the trinity of god, guns, and gays are the ones who beg the question of whether their real goal is perpetual minority status.

That position absolves them of any responsibility in decision-making and, as such, any blame for negative outcomes, leaving plenty of time for sniping at ‘the other side’ but little ability to advance their own ideas.

Alex Lekas
Asheville

What is now Citizen-Times
lauded for 140 years in print

The Asheville Citizen-Times first appeared as the North Carolina Citizen on Feb. 3, 1870. It wasn’t until a decade later that the railroad arrived in Asheville, and it was in the news.

For 140 years, this newspaper has regularly published the events of Asheville, making timely information available to a news-hungry public with words and images.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that the appellation “Land of the Sky” was given to Asheville in 1876 by a prolific young female novelist from Salisbury with the pen name of Christian Reid, who wrote “The Land of the Sky”; or “Adventures in Mountain By-Ways.” Her real name was Frances Fisher Tiernan.

Advertisments testify to the arrival of automobiles, new ways to cook and refrigerate food, and changes of fashion in apparel.
We read about the construction of Biltmore House, Grove Park Inn, the Jackson building, the new Battery Park Hotel, and the Masonic Temple of Woodfin and North Main (now Broadway) streets, to name a few.

Readers have been kept abreast of the development in local, regional and national politics, courtesy of the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Happy anniversary to our “Voice of the Mountains!”

MARK-ELLIS BENNETT
Asheville

Napolitano termed a fool
for saying ‘system worked’

Janet Napolitano, putative secretary of homeland security, is reported to have told CNN that “one thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked.”

She was referring to the terrorist bomb attack on Northwest Flight 253 that failed only because of luck and passenger/crew bravery.

I can only wonder what the damn fool would have said if the attack had succeeded!

C.J. Stone
Asheville

Leftist council lambasted
for its hypocrisy on budget

At their annual retreat, Asheville’s ultraliberal (city) council cried the budget blues.

Having spent down the city’s reserves and committed to a series of expensive pet boondoggles, entitlements and indulgences, future solvency is at risk.

Not surprisingly, they are continuing to look away from reality and toward our pockets for relief.

CARL MUMPOWER
Asheville

To trim U.S. budget deficit, cutting all payments urged

Finally, the president thinks the deficit might be a problem and attacks it with a small dull knife.

My solution, reduce “all” payment to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid recipients by 10 percent and freeze all other budgets. I receive two of these and will sacrifice for our country’s future.

ALLYN M. ALDRICH
Asheville

Voters advised to support
candidates with principles

What’s a North Carolina conservative to do?

Most of my politically conservative friend have been muttering under their breath for years, “What happens when we send someone to Washington to represent us? Is it the water?”

Elected officials arrive in D.C. and seem to forget all their conservative principles. Or did they have no conservative principles? Or did they know that there really are conservative principles?

There’s no end of lists of conservative principles, by the way. The Buncombe County Republican Party has posted a list.   The 9-12 group has nine principles (and 12 values). Dr. Carl Mumpower, Tea Party groups, and GOOOH folks can be counted on for lists of conservative principles. 

There are two important steps to progress. First, we must be sure that we choose principled conservatives in the North Carolina primary on May 4. This first step  sounds much easier than it really is, for it means that we must go seek to know as much as possible about all of the potential candidates. 

Second, we must gather together and vote for the most nearly principled candidate in November.  

We can get back to principles! Now go out there and find principled conservatives for whom we can happily vote!

George Keller
Asheville

EDITOR’S NOTE: Keller is president of the Buncombe County Republican Men’s Club, which is currently interviewing 11th District congressional candidates at its monthly meetings.

Citizens urged to revolt
by unseating incumbents

Revolution is on the horizon, predicts Tim Cox the founder and organizer of the GOOOH (Get Out Of Our House) political movement.

Thomas Jefferson advised the American people that a revolution  about every 20 years was necessary to preserve our freedoms.

The brazen audacity of the Obama administration — in replacing our free enterprise economic system with a socialist system where the government takes most of the wealth of the productive segment of our society and gives it to the unproductive welfare class — proves that a revolution is long overdue.

While the Democrats are the historic champions of the welfare class starting with Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the Republicans have proved their ineptness time and time again in protecting our freedoms and the American free enterprise system.

There is only one political system with the determination to return the power of government to the people — GOOOH.

GOOOH is NOT a conservative political system. Instead it stands for the Constitution. The supporters of GOOOH believe the U.S. Constitution was divinely inspired. It is the best system of government ever known to man.

Somewhere along the way we lost our way as a nation and allowed unscrupulous men (and women)  to seize the reins of government and subvert the Constitution. 

The first step to restoration of the Constitution is the replacement of party loyalists in the U.S. House of Representatives with 435 “citizen” legislators. Since the House must originate all spending measures, a GOOOH-dominated House of Representatives will refuse to enact an “unbalanced federal budget.”

So the federal government will come to a complete standstill (except for essential government services such as the armed forces, air traffic controllers, etc) while the president tries to blackmail the House into passing a deficit budget .

How do I know that these GOOOH “citizen” legislators will withstand the enormous pressure that will surely be mounted to force passage of the latest “Obama” budget?

Because GOOOH congressmen are serving their country instead of enriching themselves and their supporters. Eventually the president will cave in and a bare-bones federal budget will be enacted.

GOOOH candidates subject themselves to several rounds of concentrated examination by groups of other patriots also contending for selection.

The one candidate selected in each congressional district has committed himself/herself to vote for or against the 100 most important issues of the day such as the Federal Balanced Budget Amendment,  four- year term limits for representatives and the Fair Tax replacing the federal income tax, etc.

GOOOH candidates have pledged not to change their vote on these one hundred (100) key issues,  not to accept more than $500.00 from any person or group and returning home after two two-year terms (fouryears total). Once in office these candidates will concentrate on getting government back to its original purpose — serving the people. 

 If the candidates limit themselves to $500 contributions, how will they raise the funds needed to finance their campaigns? 

The participants each contribute $100 to participate in the candidate selection process. We envision raising $20 million to $50 million this way to fund a national advertising campaign which will raise the funds necessary to finance the campaigns of all 435 GOOOH congressional candidates.

This $500 contribution limit ensures that lobbyists cannot “buy”  the votes of our candidates. The “professional” politicians presently serving are being bought in many ways every day by “special interests.” These special interests get what they pay for thus all the earmarks so prevalent in most spending measures. Another key issue for GOOOH legislators is the “one issue bill”  requirement.

I invite any interested person to access www.GOOOH.com to learn how you can be a part of returning our federal government to the Constitutional principles that made our country and our Constitution the envy of the world.     

KENNETH HAWKINS
Asheville

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hawkins is state ballot qualification coordinator for GOOH.