WhatFinger


David Coughlin

Dave Coughlin recently retired from IBM after 31 years. He is now a political pundit who manages his web site "Return to Common Sense" and is an active member of the White Plains Tea Party. He was educated at West Point (Bachelor of Science, 1971) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (Masters, Administrative Science, 1976). He currently resides with his wife in Hawthorne, NY.

Most Recent Articles by David Coughlin:

Republicans, how do we get there from here?

Anybody-But-Obama has been the Republican campaign strategy so far. This is not sufficient to win the election in November. What voters need and want is a vision of the future that a Republican offers and how it would be better than four more years of Barack Obama. A return to free market capitalism and the American Dream is not specific enough to be a vision. We have now been privileged to see what a socialist looks like and have roundly rejected it. How would a conservative administration differ and how would we measure success?
- Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Obama has already lost, and doesn’t even know it

Barack Obama is a lame duck President already, but probably doesn’t realize it since he is surrounded by leftist zealots who insulate him from any contrary opinions and shielded by the partisan mainstream media. Obama’s popularity began falling right after election, and the percentage disapproving has exceeded those approving steadily since 2009.
- Friday, February 24, 2012

Redistributing wealth from top to bottom

Redistribution of wealth is not fair, no matter how you define it or where you apply it. Redistribution of wealth starts from a false premise that government can confiscate wealth from one and can decide who better deserves that wealth. When one possesses more than someone else, the fairness of that inequality is called into question.
- Thursday, February 9, 2012

Cultural deconstruction: turning a safety net into a hammock

The Democrat political strategy is to segment the American people into constituency classes that can be served separately. Al Gore made a Freudian slip when he admitted while campaigning that “We can build a collective civic space large enough for all our separate identities, that we can be E Pluribus Unum—out of one, many.”
- Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Still waiting for evidence of true national leadership

We have been bombarded with media coverage over the last several months on the debt crisis in general, and the debt ceiling in particular. The net result of all this Presidential focus and Congressional negotiations is an agreement to not balance the budget, but simply slow down the growth. The American people will see through this bipartisan spin to realize that we continue to spend money we do not have and will for the foreseeable future.
- Monday, August 1, 2011

Education Reformation – returning excellence to teaching our children

We invest in education to teach our children to become independent individuals and productive members of society. Schooling is compulsory for all children in the United States, but the age range for which school attendance is required varies from state to state, and can generally be satisfied by educating children in public schools, state-certified private schools, or an approved home school program. Once upon a time in this country our parents taught us values, manners, and basic interpersonal skills at home and sent us to schools to acquire basic marketable skills necessary to become functioning adults.
- Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Citizen Government

In the 18th century our Founding Fathers were forced into crafting a new republic, after rejecting over a century as colonies of England. This republic was an experiment in governance design to support a vibrant free market economy, a growing country with an active frontier, and the need for a common defense. Ben Franklin wrote that "in free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." The original intent envisioned a lawmaking branch of citizen legislators, who served for a short time prior to returning to their original vocation. Service to the country was viewed as a privilege and not a vocation. Since the creation of our republic, we have certainly moved away from that original design ideal.
- Saturday, December 4, 2010

Déjà vu, all over again?

I don’t know about you, but I voted in November to send a message to stop run-away spending, stop government expansion, and defend our country from our enemies. I voted against incumbents, both Republican and Democrats, who voted against my wishes. Yes, I celebrated with my compatriots across the country who voted the same way I did. Unfortunately I am sensing that this new class of politicians may disappoint just like the last one
- Friday, November 26, 2010

White Plains Tea Party Remarks

When the White Plains Tea Party first gathered in April 2009 to protest expansion of government at all levels, by both parties, we were dismissed as a deranged rabble, radicals, and rednecks. A recent Gallup poll found only 21% of Americans satisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time. Now it is clear we are national (over 3,000 groups), rational, and not bashful. We have demonstrated our national power with the last two Washington, DC events showing our character at Glen Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally and showing our political strength at Dick Armeys’ “Remember in November” march. What that tells me is that we are not an aberration, but instead we are Mainstream America. We are the conscience of the nation, loud and proud to proclaim our patriotism, our principles, and our desire to return to our Constitutional roots.
- Friday, October 29, 2010

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