A return to first principles ...

A return to first principles is one of the first acts of an incoming administration.  The Democratic party, in the persons of the Secretary of State is now in the process of revealing its first principles through its operations.  Secretary of State Clinton, speaking of the topics that she planned to raise on her first visit to China, said, "We have to continue to press [China on issues relating to human rights] but our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises ... We have to have a dialogue that leads to an understanding and cooperation on each of those." (Source) In one succinct sentence,  human rights are subserviant to economic realities and the requirements of stewardship of the earth.

Whatever the good Secretary had to say, the Chinese were not waiting with bated breath to hear it.  They were diversifying their diplomatic assets, attempting to create closer ties with nations throughout the Southern Hemisphere and strategic regions in the Northern Hemisphere as well.  Their Vice President Xi Jinping is finishing up a tour of Brazil, part of a six-nation tour that "has already taken him to Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia and Venezuela, and will conclude in Malta" (Source)  The deal that he signed included a provisional exchange between the two countries; Brazil provides crude oil to China (over 100 million barrels) and China provides Brazil with a loan of up to ten billion dollars. (That is $10,000,000,000.00)  (Source)

China, it seems, is returning to first principles too.  "[Never] a borrower, [but only] a lender be."

Who is Jack, and why is he out of the box?

My last post was too cryptic by half, I am afraid.  If I was to sum up what these first few posts have been about in three sentences or less, I would say;

I feel very strongly that the ascendence of Barack Obama to prominence is a good thing, because he rose to power on the rhetoric of change.  Change mind you, not from one policy to another, but from one way of looking at and choosing policy to another.  While the change he will bring may not be the change we want, or even the change he claimed to embody, the proof that this rhetoric will win political victories should fill encourage the social conservatives among us; for what other politcal movement can claim to want to change things as much as we do?

There it is, summed up in a nutshell.  More later, and on other topics

The salt spray ...

Day 2 after the election: The people of the socially and economic left have given Obama a mandate for socialism (their words, not mine).  Those in the middle, justifiably angered by the activity of the "conservative" Republican party moved to the left.  Has the Republican party completely lost its conservative credentials as Chuck Baldwin claims it has? Only time will tell for sure.  

There is one thing that we can be certain of -- the social conservative movement will be revitalized by these next four years as it has not been revitalized since the Terror broke out in Paris.  And for a movement that managed to get Proposition 8 passed in California, defining marriage as a union that can only be entered into by a man and a woman, that could mean the change that we have been seeking.  The change has been coming through the prayers and sacrafice of millions.  Obama's election has stirred up the waters; let us cast over the other side and lower our nets for a catch.  

(I realize that this is a very turgid post.  I will be explaining my ideas more over the coming days. Please be patient.  There is a point to all of this.)

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
~ John Quincy Adams