Pensacola Needs A Rudder

Stepping into a hot topic in Pensacola, that being consideration as to the form of leadership the city government should have, The Lunch Counter comes down on the side of a strong mayoral system. It is what Pensacola needs. There is a long record of the effectiveness of running a city, this city, by committee. It is too cumbersome and politically lazy. The number of years the Mayor vs Commission form of government has been discussed is testament to the need for this kind of change.

This ship, Pensacola, needs a rudder.

A mayor with vision and drive can make things happen, if we will only let him, or her. And if it turns out that we elected the wrong person, we have the ability to elect the right person. To borrow a phrase from the recent past, YES WE CAN.

It worked fine for New York City under Rudy Giuliani and in Philadelphia under Frank Rizzo. There’s no reason it can’t bring Pensacola to where it belongs too.

related link: PNJ, Choosing a charter

Conservatism Prevails

Is it a sign of the times? One could only hope and, time will tell. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman gets a boost as Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava bows out of New York’s 23rd Congressional District race.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had said Scozzafava is exactly the kind of candidate the party needs to rebuild itself for a new Republican Revolution. However, Hoffman and his backers attacked Scozzafava as too liberal to represent the GOP. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and former New York Gov. George Pataki endorsed Hoffman.

Right. And General Colin Powell said that John McCain was the kind of leader America needed, before he voted for his opponent. Newt couldn’t be more wrong in his thinking. I don’t know where this comes from. He certainly didn’t believe this in ’94. You don’t build the Republican party by adopting planks of the Democrat platform. You do it like Reagan did by convincing Republicans, Democrats, Independents, everyone, that there’s a better way for America which happens to be 180 degrees from our present course. Stick to the principles that made us. Contrary to what the current administration is saying, conservatives believe that ‘the status quo’ means protecting and defending the Constitution, not supplanting it in an attempt to literally ‘remake America.’

Obama’s version of ‘status quo’ is a focus group tested phrase he assigns to problems either real or imagined (mostly imagined), used as a pejorative to condemn all that has made America the greatest country in the world, freedom, liberty, and a free enterprise market-driven economic system. His plans and policies are direct attacks on all three.

Hopefully, what is happening in upstate New York is the beginning of a real conservative movement, whether within or outside of the Republican Party. It is the Republican Party that has strayed from its conservative roots. It is the Republican Party that needs to return to them instead of being Democrat-Lite.

No true conservative condones the Chicago-style politics, the back room deals and quid pro quo with special interest groups and industries like is rampant in the Obama administration. Which, curious enough,  is exactly what Obama is accusing his detractors and predecessor of doing.

link: Scozzafava’s stunning departure