Archive

Herman Cain's Commentary Archive 2009-2012

October 31, 2010

After Tuesday . . . the long road ahead

October 31, 2010
Conservative Republican control of the House is step one. Taking control of the Senate is step two, regardless of whether we do it in 2010 or 2012. And step three is electing a conservative president in 2012. It will not be as easy as one-two-three, but it can be done and it must be done to take back our government.

October 24, 2010

How to counterbalance China’s ascendance: Reinvigorate real American strength of growth plus liberty

October 24, 2010
I spent last week in China as part of a board meeting with some of our joint venture business partners based in China. It was my first time in China, and some of my preconceived notions were shattered, as is the case for many people who visit there for the first time. But other perceptions were confirmed.

October 11, 2010

It’s weird that these racist right-wing tea party wackos seem to like me so much


October 10, 2010
By Herman Cain 
  I am an American Black Conservative (ABC).

Since April 15, 2009 I have spoken at over 30 citizens’ movement events, which have included Tea Party rallies, prosperity conferences and other conservative gatherings. At those events I have yet to find the racists and extremists that the liberals continue to say exist. In fact, I and my message of “Take Back Our Government” have been enthusiastically received.

Not to be boastful, but to illustrate my point, last Saturday at the Virginia Tea Party convention of over 2,300 attendees, I received no less than five standing ovations during my 20-minute keynote address. Following my speech over 100 people waited patiently in line for an hour and a half to get my autograph and their picture taken with this ABC.

Many of those who waited shared their stories of being at a Tea Party event for the first time. Others talked about how they were inspired to keep working hard supporting the right candidates, and to believe that we can take our government back from the liberals.

I was particularly moved when one lady told me that she was so fearful about the future of this country for our children and grandchildren that she quit her job to be more active in the movement. She said her husband made enough money to take care of the family, so she could do more to help take care of the future.

Maybe the racists, Astroturf, un-American, teabagging and shameless extremists stayed home that day, or they simply do not exist in the citizens’ movement.

As Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center said recently, “Name-calling is all the Left has left.” He’s right! The liberals are befuddled as to how to stop this movement. I have bad news for liberals if they are listening. You can’t stop it, because it’s the awakened voice of “We the People”.

I continue to address this topic because the liberals and the mainstream media continue to try to demonize and demean the citizens’ movement with name-calling, degrading characterizations and scare tactics. Most recently, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean even said that those Tea Party people are scaring people with their radical and extremist views, and their support of extremist candidates.

You are right Mr. Dean. The citizens’ movement is scaring liberals and establishment candidates right out of office.

And as far as the Tea Party people and candidates they support being extreme, I suppose wanting fiscal discipline in Washington, wanting reduced regulations on the free-market system, passing laws that adhere to the Constitution of the USA and listening to the voting public must be what the liberals call extreme and scary.

The Obama Administration, Democrats and the mainstream media must not consider it extreme to go against the will of the majority of the voting public in passing health care and financial regulatory deform bills, to not read legislation before they vote on it, to spend this nation into bankruptcy and to not pass tax legislation before the current law expires at the end of 2010.

Tea Party people are not racists. They are not extremists. They are not right wing wackos. They are the true patriots in this country. If liberals want to see for themselves, they should just go and attend an event. They are everywhere, and they are not going to end on Election Day.

The liberals and the political elites are losing, and it is anticipated that they will lose big on November 2, 2010. That would be a big win for “We the People”.

October 4, 2010

The Democrats’ class warfare crap

October 3, 2010
By Herman Cain 

 
President Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress believe it is practically immoral to allow people who have made a lot of money to decide how they want to spend it. It is equally immoral for some people to think that they are entitled to other people’s money through the force of the government.

Class warfare has been a winning tactic for Democrats for a long time, but a lot of voters are waking up to the false promise of that old tired song. Some people are realizing that they might be “rich” one day. They are asking the question that, if they work their anchovies off to make some real money, then why should the government take it and redistribute it to those who did not want to take risks and work 24/7 for themselves and their families?

Studies have shown for decades that a majority of people who start out in the lowest economic quintile (20 percent) will advance at least two quintiles higher over time with some of them making it all the way to the top quintile. My dad was one on those achievers.

My dad walked off his father’s small dirt farm with just the clothes on his back to pursue his American dreams. His only equity was sweat equity! At one point in his life he worked three jobs to try to improve his economic situation. He was a barber, janitor and chauffeur all at the same time.

When my dad died at the age of 56 in 1982, his net worth was $982,000. He started with nothing! We used the capital gains on his estate to take care of my mom who had multiple sclerosis until she died 24 years later. After mom passed, I wrote an estate tax payment to the government for $1.3 million dollars, since we had invested wisely and Dad’s estate had grown in value.

So that’s one reason I am sick and tired of people whining about what the rich ought to pay! The Declaration of Independence says “the pursuit of happiness”. It does not say anything about a guarantee or a Department of Happy.

I am also sick of the lie press secretary Robert Gibbs and other Democrats are claiming that by not taxing those families making over $250,000 a year, we will add $700 billion to the deficit. It’s a lie because it is based on static analysis, which is the method bureaucrats use when they are trying to dupe the taxpayers into another tax increase. Show me the analysis!

And another thing! For the president to tell people at one of his staged backyard town hall meetings that he needed to raise taxes on those families to help reduce the deficit and the national debt is simply disingenuous. The American people have been screaming for over a year for the government to stop the spending! But he and his Democrats in Congress have been deaf to the public.

The president and the Democrats have no positive accomplishments to boast about leading up to the 2010 congressional elections. So they play the race card, the class warfare card and politics of personal attacks.

Most people who are able to generate a modest amount of wealth usually donate a large portion of their wealth to charitable and community-based organizations. That’s where it does the most good because it is closest to where the need is based. Going through the mechanism of government redistribution is inefficient and unfair.

Two thirds of those “evil rich” people making over $250,000 a year are small businesses that employ nearly two-thirds of the workers in America. A caller reminded me last week that if those businesses have to pay more in taxes, some of their workers might lose their jobs.

Abraham Lincoln said, “You don’t help the poor by hurting the rich.” This administration is determined to hurt the rich and make more people poor.