We all get so frustrated with the Republican Party, the party where we as Conservatives find our home. A little history may be in order so we get a healthy perspective on how well Conservative leadership has done with little power.

In the recent past, we had a Republican US House from January 1995 until January 2007. We had a Republican Senate only from January 2003 until January 2007.

The highest Republican margin in the House during that time was 30. The last Republican House before January 1995 was from January 1953 until January 1955 when they had an 8 seat majority. The Democratic margin in the House for the years from 1955 until 1995 AVERAGED 87 seats with the low point being 29 way back in 1955. Seven of those Democratic Houses had triple digit margins. It is amazing how effective the 1995 Republican Congress was.

The 1953 – 1955 Senate was traded back and forth between the parties due to deaths with neither party having more than a 2 seat advantage. So while the Republicans had an 8 seat margin in the House, nobody was really in control in the Senate. From January 1955 until January 1981 the Democrats controlled the Senate with an AVERAGE margin of almost 20. Think about that: they averaged a filibuster proof majority for 26 years with the House being totally in control during that time with an average margin of 87!

From January 1981 until January 1987 the Republicans controlled the Senate with an average margin of 7, the high point being 10, 10! in 1985. From January 1987 until January 1995 Democrats again controlled the Senate with an AVERAGE margin of over 11 the high point being 14 in 1993. The Republicans took over the Senate in January 1995 until January 2001 with an average margin a hair over 8. The 2001 Senate was very confused as far as leadership but the essence is for 5 months near the beginning the Republicans held the leadership in a tied Senate then James Jeffords of Vermont switch allegiance giving the Dems control for the last year and a half by a vote.

From January 2003 until January 2007 the Republicans held the majority by an average 6 seat margin. From January 2007 until the present the Democrats have been in control of the Senate with an AVERAGE margin of just over 10 though the average is misleading. They held a bare majority in the 2007 Congress and a filibuster proof margin in the 2009 Congress for much of the time. They now enjoy an 18 seat margin.

My whole point of this exercise is to illuminate that the Democratic Party has controlled the legislative agenda of America for almost all of the last 6 decades and often by unassailable margins. To blame the Republican Party for the mess Congress has been for decades flies in the face of statistical history. When the Dems held their 60 seat majority in the Senate and their 70 plus seat majority in House for much of the last two years I had people with a straight face and sincere belief tell me it was the Republican Party’s fault that legislation was not being past. At first I was stunned then I realized we as the people are mislead by our state media which has been a propaganda arm of the Progressive movement for decades.

Conservative Republicans have been amazingly effective in the short times they have had a small measure of control of either the House or Senate in passing good legislation. That they fell from grace so quickly and lost their way in the 2000’s just shows the need to elect new Conservative leadership with healthy majorities in November and as long as they continue to move an agenda ahead that reflects smaller government, greater liberty, and a healthy respect for the views and ideals of the governed we must work in every election to increase the majority until we can reverse the Progressive tidal wave that started in 1930’s and now threatens every Constitutional liberty we have.

From time to time I am heavily reminded of the weight of the responsibility I have as a candidate and that I aspire to as a Congressman. This morning was such a time.

I met a mom who is also an Army veteran. She very pointedly asked me where I stood on the war in Afghanistan because she has two children there. It became apparent they are in harms way and because our state media is refusing to cover the war this mom is getting very little info on what is happening.

One of her children is on their 3rd combat deployment in 4 years due to the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration’s refusal to increase our ground troops while we are at war. Right now the United States is launching the largest offensive of the 9 year Afghanistan War and moms and dads have to search out what is happening.

As a Marine veteran, I have the privilege if elected to stand up loudly and proudly for our sons and daughters protecting our freedom to ensure their needs come first. If they need weaponry or equipment or food or anything our Congress is to proactively find out what is necessary and fulfill the request BEFORE it hampers the safety and well being of our sons and daughters. As long as they are engaged for us I am to be engaged for them. When Congress is handing out hundreds of billions to their friends it is unacceptable to go cheap on our military men and women and withhold the raises they earn everyday being our wall against evil.

Donna and I fought back tears as we hugged this brave mom. We will stay in touch and prayers will be said. Elections matter.

It is with some small relief I read my opponent’s op-ed piece in the Sunday Kansas City Star, ‘The spit is unimportant, but what it represents is dangerous’. Setting aside the incendiary headline, the fact that Congressman Cleaver was at least tacitly admitting his part in demonizing the Tea Party protesters at the U.S. Capitol was a step in the right direction. In allowing his staff to issue inflammatory statements about the incident which led the McClatchey Papers, the parent company of the Kansas City Star, to use the n-word in a headline to, in my opinion, incite hatred against the Tea Party movement, the good Congressman made an error in judgment in the heat of the moment. Smearing any group of citizens is unacceptable in this country. My grandsons will not understand why this hatred against ordinary Americans was allowed to be fanned by our papers and news networks and, indeed, by members of our Congress. As the Washington Post ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, belated reported,

“Cleaver was hit with spit, but whether it was deliberate is very much in question. The video suggests he was unintentionally sprayed by the screaming protester. The distinction is significant because it fundamentally changes widespread media characterizations of what occurred. The Post and other news organizations left the impression of a despicable, premeditated assault. With videos of the incident so prevalent on liberal and conservative Web sites, and with the question being so widely raised in the blogosphere and on cable channels, The Post was remiss in not providing clarity by quickly dissecting what happened.“

I will be more relieved when Reverend Cleaver takes the Kansas City Star to task publicly for their misinformation campaign against a movement of ordinary folks who want a smaller, constitutionally limited government, less taxes and a Congress that will actually listen to their concerns instead of ignoring and belittling them. On the same op-ed page as Congressman Cleaver’s almost apology, there were pieces titled ‘Latest culture war in America nationalism in alarming form‘ and ‘RAGE‘ with an accompanying cartoon showing a crazed and profane man. As a recent Gallup poll shows, this movement of the people demographically reflects America in four important categories: race, income, age and education. The make up of the Tea Party movement even has a significant percentage of Democrats. It is truly a movement by and for the people of the United States.

It is time for Congressman Cleaver to go a step further and match his actions in private to his words in public. He needs to use his influence to end the whisper campaign in the urban core that is portraying the ordinary citizens of the 5th District attending Tea Party rallies as violent and racist. What our elected leaders do in private with their supporters is even more important than what they portray in the light of day. It is time for Congressman Cleaver to be a true leader in civility and end the whisper campaign. There is now an alternate media who will expose the truth just as they did in ‘Spittlegate’. All the citizens of this District deserve an election decided on competing solutions to the problems that vex us everyday, (violence on our streets, no jobs, high taxes, unsustainable deficits), rather than smears of character and the innuendo of racism.

I call on Congressman Cleaver to join me in the effort to focus discussions on solutions to our challenges and leave the name calling behind.

In visiting my parents, my mom gave me a short newspaper clipping from decades ago that my grandma Stallings cut out and kept. It is a rewording of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as a taxpayer’s lament. In light of the health care legislation now giving the IRS even more onerous power to attack and confiscate more of our money, the quaint mention of the ‘Bureau of Internal Revenue’ is chilling. Author unknown.

We are here on Form 1040. We have come to dedicate a large portion of our income to a final resting place with those men who here spend their lives that they may spend our money. It is altogether anguish and torture that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot evade, we cannot cheat, we cannot underestimate this tax. The collectors, clever and sly, who compute here, have gone far beyond our poor power to add and subtract.

Our creditors will little note nor long remember what we pay here, but the Bureau of Internal Revenue can never forget what we report here.

It is not for us, the taxpayers, to question the tax which the Government has thus far ignobly spent. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these vanishing dollars we take increased devotion to the few remaining – that we here highly resolve that next year will not find us in the higher income bracket, that this taxpayer, underpaid, shall figure out more deductions, and that this tax of the people, by the Congress, for the Government, shall not cause solvency to perish.

All you need to know about the new health care ‘reform’ law – all former and current members of Congress are exempt, tax payers will be paying for abortion, and it is the largest redistribution of wealth in our history.

We need to fix the cost and access issues that government interference has already caused and the solutions do not require breaking the medical care system we all rely on. Let us start with Health Savings Accounts for all, tax deductions for those who are buying their own insurance, no cap on the deduction of medical care costs starting from dollar one, insurance sales across state lines and tort reforms. There are real solutions to our health care system problems and government is not it.

For months, we have called, emailed, written and visited Emanuel Cleaver’s office to express our opposition to this Health Care bill. Although Emanuel Cleaver admits the overwhelming majority of his constituents in the 5th District wanted him to oppose this legislation, he made it very clear from the start that he is in support of the government running our health care by getting between us and our doctor. Reverend Cleaver has even accused those opposed to his vote of racism.

I am outraged at this behavior by our elected officials in Congress, and by our own Congressional Representative, Emanuel Cleaver, as are the citizens of the 5th District. I am focusing and committing all my energy towards my campaign in order to replace Mr. Cleaver with a voice of the people in the next election. 2010 is our year. I am prepared to fight harder than ever to make sure that the people of the 5th District have a Representative who will listen to them. We need to put our District back where it belongs – in the hands of the people.

I cannot stress enough that our fear and frustration over the health care vote has to turn to positive action by concerned Americans working for new Representation. We can only turn this around with enough votes in Congress and that requires a conservative voice from Missouri’s 5th.

Government takeover is serious and now ever present. As today’s world is listening to John Stewart make light of serious situations that are detrimental to our freedoms granted by God and the Constitution, we listen to the news and vow to redouble our efforts to get a voice for all the people to Congress from the 5th District. The concept of “Government Creep” now comes into play meaning new programs are just the beginning. As the years go by the Federal government continually expands its power far beyond the original promises being made.

It means this brave, new Health Care world will in a few short years end up as a total government takeover of our medical care creating a single payer system that will drive limited availability of life saving medicines and procedures. Citizens need to be very cautious in who to believe and what to believe because our politicians through the years have proven that the bills passed often have unattended consequences that don’t surface until the full measure of legislation plays out over time. Insurance mandates, limited care, access for none. All of which is unconstitutional.

As the Virginia attorney general said: “With this law [Health Care], the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce,” he said in a press release. “We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person — by definition — is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate.”

This is the beginning. Will you join us in the fight to take back our freedoms from ‘Progressives’ like Cleaver?

In Sports Illustrated, I  just read the tragic story of Joe Gaetjens, goal scoring hero of the 1-0 U.S. World Cup victory in 1950 over far superior world soccer power England with a shot that reverberated through the soccer world at the time. He was eventually arrested and killed by Papa Doc in a fetid Haitian prison. Why doesn’t Congressman Cleaver realize dictators like the Castro brothers oppress, torture and kill their people on emotional whims and how his words of blessing on those two murderers hurts all those whose family members have been brutalized and killed by the Castro brothers?

Today, I attended the healthy leadership course at our church, LSCC, and Donna attended the Political Chips Door to Door canvassing training in Overland Park with 11 of our volunteers.

My training focused on training healthy leaders based on how Jesus conducted himself and trained the apostles to lead. Taught by our lead pastor, Doug Brown, it was inspirational, encouraging and full of lots of how-to’s.

Donna and our volunteers got a good focused class on a tactical way to identify our voters in unexpected places. We are looking forward to implementing the strategy they learned today and hope you will join the effort. Many hands make light work.

With the CleaverCare bill being negotiated behind closed doors we the people can only lose. Cleaver and the leaders of Congress have taken the extraordinary step of bypassing the regular conference between the House and Senate to hammer out differences while allowing Republicans to propose change in favor of backroom meetings where only Democrats argue with other Democrats.

It will be interesting to see what happens if the final bill does not have a public option. Cleaver and many other Congressmen in the Progressive Caucus have taken the pledge to not vote for any health care reform bill that does not include the public option AND they were taped doing it.

Cleaver Takes The Public Option Pledge