There’s already a lot of talk about who in the GOP should challenge Barack Obama for the 2012 presidential election. In the coming months you’re going to hear a lot about Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, but this guy is the real deal as far as I’m concerned. Not only is he articulate without the benefit of a teleprompter, but he’s business-savvy and not afraid to stand up for his conbservative credentials. He’s a bit of an unknown now, but, believe me, in the coming months you’re going to hear a lot about him. Sure, the libs will try and destroy him by calling him an “Uncle Tom” and stuff like that, but it won’t work, because, again, the guy is the real deal.
I once said that little, if not nothing, good can come out of Atlanta. I stand corrected.
Do not underestimate Hermain Cain.
I got a chance to meet Herman Cain during the 2004 election season when we were both running for office.
Great guy, good head on his shoulders, and a passion for liberty and freedom.
I’d vote for Herman in a heartbeat.
Comment by Dave Richard — January 2, 2011 @ 5:29 am
Cain is not a bad guy although being business-savvy doesn’t sway me at all. Government is not a business and shouldn’t be run like one. He has no chance, though. He has nothing to worry about from liberals. Palin’s attack dogs will take care of him and liberals will stand aside and let them. Liberals want to run against Sarah Palin in 2012.
Comment by Rob — January 2, 2011 @ 10:17 am
“Government is not a business and shouldn’t be run like one.”
Yeah, we wouldn’t want our government to run efficiently or under budget, now would we, Rob?
As someone who actually worked in government, I can tell you that it can and SHOULD be run like a business.
Oh, and Palin isn’t going to run. You can take that to the bank.
Comment by Dave Richard — January 3, 2011 @ 4:14 am
The purpose of business is to turn a profit. The purpose of government is to govern. My wife works in government now. There is no profit in the people she sees every day. Let the private sector do business. After all, everyone says they do it better anyway.
Comment by Rob — January 3, 2011 @ 6:08 am
My personal prefernce is to identify those things that the public sector can do better and cheaper than government – which is most things that require efficiency – and the government left to ONLY those things that the private sector wouldn’t do better – defense of the country (including protecting the borders), reasonable taxation, regulations that invoplve the citizenry, and ensuring a level playing field for citizens and commerce across state lines where such applies.
Reasonable people can (and should) disagree the extent to which the federal government exists, but for too long Washington has created a competitive relationship between it and the private sector where collaboration should exist.
Comment by The Great White Shank — January 3, 2011 @ 12:46 pm
Exactly right, GWS. My contention is that government is not inherently evil, inefficient, or inept, and it will certainly never be profitable.
We get our electricity from a non-profit co-op. The co-op covers an area that no one wanted to service. We are still considered rural. For years, we had the highest rates in the country. We begged and begged and begged some of the bigger utility companies to buy us out so we could get the lower rates they offered their customers. They refused because it was not profitable. Something happened, though. Lots of citizens started moving into the area. Now that there are more citizens, our rates have dropped, and we’d be very profitable if we’d let them buy us out. Those big utility companies are dying to because our rates are now lower than the ones they’re charging their customers. We’re refusing them. 🙂
Left entirely at the mercy of the private sector, many citizens would be and are left out. You see that in a lot of areas that are typically in the private sector.
Comment by Rob — January 3, 2011 @ 2:08 pm
Rob, the GOAL of private business is to make money. They WAY they do that is to be efficient at what they do, and charge a reasonable price for a product people want.
Conversely, the government should also try to be as efficient at what they do, regardless of the program. They should also try to charge a reasonable price for what they do. So government and private business are not all that far apart.
The difference is that government isn’t something many people want voluntarily, and to people who value freedom and individual responsibility, government IS an evil; albeit a necessary one.
Comment by Dave Richard — January 3, 2011 @ 5:55 pm
Sorry, bro, but I’ve never been a student of the “government is a necessary evil” school. Corrupt and incompetent, yes, but you’ll find that in virtually any human institution.
Whether you like it or believe it or not, people need to be governed. If you don’t believe me, consider the differences between the American and French revolutions. The French version resulted in bloody anarchy.
Or look at the mess Africa has become since the colonial powers left following WWs I and II. Were those powers heavy-handed and exploitive of both the people and their nation’s resources? Absolutely. But there was order. You would never the abject corruption, violence and chaos in a places like Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Sudan – it never would have been tolerated under a strong central government.
Few, if any, of the Founding Fathers were opposed to government, per se, just a distant, aloof, and oppressive one with a penchant for excessive taxation without sufficient representation. No different than what today’s tea parties are all about.
Comment by The Great White Shank — January 3, 2011 @ 11:03 pm
…BTW, this is a damned fine debate. The same thing should be happening in Washington, but you won’t find a lot of mature and honest debate there.
Anyone else want to chime in? 🙂
Comment by The Great White Shank — January 3, 2011 @ 11:05 pm
Dave. the difference is that business can pick and choose. Government can’t. Everyone has to have access to government. Not everyone needs access to Joe’s Big and Tall. And if you guys think conservatives are for small government, try putting up a sewage treatment facility next to one of their gated communities. They’ll go big government on you in a heartbeat. 🙂
Comment by Rob — January 4, 2011 @ 4:51 am
So what if everyone has to have access to government? I don’t even know what that means!
Comment by Dave Richard — January 4, 2011 @ 6:38 pm
It just furthers the point that government is not business, business is not government, they cannot operate the same way, they cannot be regarded the same way.
I also can bring some practical experience to some of the laments I’ve read here at The Great White Shank. Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was a business-savvy candidate. He was a very successful businessman before he ran for and took office. Lousy politician, though. Oh, and one other thing about qualifications: Obama never ran so much as a lemonade stand and that is thought here to be a bad thing. Bobby Jindal never did, either, and he was a rising star across the aisle although I think his star has dimmed a tad.
Comment by Rob — January 5, 2011 @ 5:31 am