Posted by Robert Owens on 05/02/09

The GOP has worked hard to be a big tent party but sometimes that leads to groups that have two very different views gathering in the same "huddle." If you have very firm views, (say for example Pro-Life, Pro Gun Ownership) it is worth knowing what candidate is what camp.

The Taft wing comes from Ohio Sen. Robert A. Taft, known as "Mr. GOP". Taft stood for government limited by the Constitution. He stood for foreign policy as limited by the Constitution. He stood for hard money as required by the Constitution. Taft was 100% pro life and 100% pro gun.

A few Members of the Taft wing would include:

Congressman John Ashcroft (Ohio)
Senator Steve Symms (Idaho)
Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth (Idaho)
Congressman Ron Paul (Texas)
Senator Barry Goldwater (Arizona)
Congressman Larry McDonald (Democrat, Georgia)
and many, many more.

The most recent leading intellectual authors of this wing were Russell Kirk and Robert Welch

The most recent best selling authors in the movement are Tom Woods and Cleon Skousen (5000 Year Leap Author) and Gary Allen.


The Rockefeller wing comes from Nelson Rockefeller the man who dominated the "East Coast, Old Money" side of the GOP in the 1970's. The Rockefeller wing views the Constitution as a living document subject to re-interpretation based on current society standards. The Rockefeller wing is pro United Nations, Pro NAFTA, and makes allowances for foreign aid and undeclared wars. The Rockefeller wing chiefly differs from the liberal democrats in that the Rockefeller wing wants a Public/Private partnership to manage big government where the liberal democrats want to cut out the "private" part altogether.

A few members of the Rockefeller wing would include:

NSA Director Henry Kissinger
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (of the "Contract with America" betrayal)
President Richard Nixon (Founded the EPA....)
President George H.W. Bush ("Read my lips")
Vice President Dick Cheney
Sen. Arlen Specter


The most recent leading intellectual voices of this movement are William F. Buckley Jr. and William Kristol.

Best selling, mass media types in this camp include Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.

Obviously, I am in the Taft wing.

Posted 05/02/09 Fozz Cockeysville, MD

John Ashcroft (first attorney general under Bush) and Barry Goldwater were definitely not part of the Robert Taft wing of the Republican party. Both were warmongers, and Goldwater supported Eisenhower in 1952 over Taft for the GOP nomination.

Posted by Robert Owens on 04/04/09

Americans are repeatedly being urged to expect Washington to "do
something" to wrest the nation from its economic doldrums. What is
needed, however, is just the opposite. Washington should "undo" much
of what it has done in the past and eliminate many programs such as
foreign aid, and the Departments of Education, Housing, Energy,
Health, and more. The taxation and regulation facing America's
producers make it difficult for them to compete with foreign firms
(e.g. China) that don't face such impediments. Actions such as these
would help pull the nation out of the recession and lead to job
creation.

Let me give a specific example of big government gone bad. During the
late 1970s, headlines told Americans that our nation was in peril
because we had become dependent on foreign sources for one-third of
our energy needs. President Carter announced a plan he called "the
moral equivalent of war" to reverse the situation. In short order,
Congress created the Department of Energy that has spent untold
billions addressing the problem. Now, in 2009, our nation is importing
approximately 60 percent of the energy we need. And the Energy
Department along with numerous federal agencies continue to impede
domestic production - in Alaska, the Rocky Mountain states, and
offshore of our coasts. As with so many problems, abolishing
appropriate federal agencies would solve the problem and help to lower
the monstrous deficits.

If we expect to maintain our way of life, even our current standard of
living, and pass on a legacy to our children, it is critical that we
hold our elected representatives accountable. The two multi Trillion
Dollar Bailout bills passed first by the Republicans (2008) and then
by the Democrats (2009) clearly demonstrates that we are doing a poor
job of being citizens. We are ignoring the advice and warnings of our
founding fathers.

If you are ready to stop being a subject and start being a citizen,
consider getting active in the John Birch Society (www.jbs.org). For
more than 50 years the Society has been guided by its motto: "To bring
about less government, more responsibility, and - with God's help - a
better world by providing leadership, education, and organized
volunteer action in accordance with moral and Constitutional
principles."

The Public is invited to a community briefing on Wednesday April 29 @
7pm at the Old Bag of Nails on North Sandusky Street, showcasing the
video "Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve" by the Ludwig Von Mises
Institute (whose scholars include New York Times #1 Best-selling
authors Dr. Thomas Woods and Dr. Ron Paul, also an 11 term Congressman
from Texas). The video explains the influence of the Federal Reserve
Bank in creating the current financial crisis. After the video,
several opportunities for action will be presented. For more
information, please visit www.meetup.com/jbs-ohcentral.

Robert M. Owens
Chapter Leader, Delaware County John Birch Society
Delaware, Ohio

Posted by Robert Owens on 02/13/09

To the editor:

Does your Congressman personally take your telephone call? If so, you are probably getting "stimulated" right about now. If you are anywhere close to living paycheck to paycheck, the only thing being stimulated is your share of the national debt.  The so called "stimulus" bill

is so laden with pork spending, that it succeeds only in letting those that have, have more, and those that don't have, just getting the left over crumbs from the Wall Street bankers, who by the way, have benefited the most from their friends in Congress. In addition, those of us who don't have, get the honor of saddling our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren with massive, backbreaking debt, which basically is in indentured servitude.

To be clear, the "stimulus" does NOTHING to address the causes for our current situation and does everything to prolong and extend the misery. There are many reasons for my belief that this spending bill will fail. First, the "stimulus" operates under the belief that the problem was caused by the free market. The dirty truth is the housing bubble that started our decline was caused by government intervention gone bad. Remember when this mess started with the Fanny and Freddie meltdown?

Second, the "stimulus" is a top down plan that addresses a few symptoms but completely ignores the root cause of the problem. The grand lesson of the Great Depression of the 1930's was that bad companies should be allowed to fail and make way for new industries and technologies.

When the "New Deal" got involved and took money from the public to subsidize bad businesses and other pork programs it had the effect of taking capital away from new, good industries and wasting money on failing enterprises. Nobel Prize winning economist Friedrich Hayek explains this point and stresses that a return to true free market economics is the right path for this type of crisis.  Keep track of the politicians that spend your children's money to help support their friends on Wall Street. They do not deserve your vote EVER again.

Steve Hill

Delaware, Ohio

Posted by Robert Owens on 01/24/09

This program exposes the systematic and disturbing history of subversion by enemy agents of the US government from 1920s to the present day. Evidence is culled from public records and supported by remarkable newsreel footage. Learn the real truth about Alger Hiss and the theft of atomic bomb secrets. Discover how Communist spies penetrated the OSS before it became the CIA. Most disturbing of all is the revelation that every defense the US government once had against subversion has now been dismantled. Filmed in 1983 and produced by the Western Goals Foundation. Written and narrated by G. Edward Griffin.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3oLIkVjqjw

Posted 01/25/09 Fu Manchu Belleville, MI

G. Edward Griffin as in The Creature from Jekyll Island?

Posted 01/25/09 Robert Owens Delaware, OH

Fu: Yes, same guy.