Happy Columbus Day!

Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: This is an abbreviated report on the Columbus Day holiday.

This year's Values Voter Summit was a smashing success! Thousands of activists from all over the country came to our nation's capital to hear from conservative members of Congress and pro-family leaders. Senator Ted Cruz won the 2016 straw poll with 42% of the vote. Dr. Ben Carson was second and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum finished a close third.

In one of my speeches, I suggested that we were getting close to widespread civil disobedience across the heartland. The audience applauded wildly, and we saw it happen yesterday as Americans marched on the National Mall. They were joined by Sarah Palin and Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT).
They tore down the barricades surrounding the World War II Memorial. Then an unauthorized march broke out. The crowd, including many veterans in wheelchairs and some with artificial limbs, carried the barricades to the White House and dumped them there. A picture of a veteran with two artificial legs carrying one of the barricades has gone viral on the Internet.

We frequently complain about the media's liberal bias. Often when Republican leaders say the right things the media simply ignore them and never report it. This demonstration, led by people who embarrass the GOP establishment, was the lead story on last night's evening news broadcasts and was covered well.

As Reuters wrote, "Veteran and Tea Party groups protested the U.S. government shutdown in Washington on Sunday, taking down barricades around the World War Two memorial on the National Mall before marching to the gates of the White House."

There is a fundamental misunderstanding within the GOP leadership about how to capture the imagination of the American people. Would it have occurred to Boehner and McConnell to visit the march to encourage the vets? The folks on the mall yesterday understand communication better than some GOP leaders.

Shutdown Showdown: Day 14
Whether we liked it or not, there was a potential deal Friday to reopen the government as polling indicated that the president and his Senate allies appeared to have won the PR battle.

I hope the risk adverse GOP establishment noticed what happened next: After we essentially agreed to Obama's demands, he immediately moved the goal posts and demanded that the budget cuts agreed to in 2011, known as sequestration, be rolled back. Republicans gave Obama the tax increases that he demanded on the most productive and successful Americans, and now he's trying to take back the budget cuts that he agreed to!

As a result, Speaker Boehner abandoned talks with the White House and the focus of negotiations shifted to Senate leaders. Remember, we got those budget cuts after two years of massive spending increases.

By the way, during these recent negotiations over the government shutdown, the president and his allies have been saying over and over again, "Obamacare is the law. It was passed by Congress and signed by the president. We're not going to rewrite that law."

Those budget cuts are also the law. They were passed by Congress and signed by the president. But now Obama is demanding a do over.

At this point, my advice to Republicans would be to pass a short-term agreement that gets us past the Christmas season. Then challenge the president to negotiate in an open forum so people can see who is being reasonable and who isn't.

Meanwhile, there are rumors that a deal may be announced this afternoon. If it happens, we will give you the details and provide our take on it in tomorrow's report.

The Looting Of America
An unbelievable thing happened this weekend that helps to explain why 78% of Americans say we are headed in the wrong direction.

For a brief time this weekend, the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system broke down. Recipients of the government-issued food stamp "debit cards" discovered that they had no limits. In Louisiana, reflecting the values of the American heartland, Wal-Mart stores said to their customers with these food stamp cards, "We understand the cards show no limit, but we trust you. Come in, make your usual food purchases and we'll sort it out later."

What they got instead was hundreds and hundreds of people grabbing multiple shopping carts and literally sweeping the shelves bare. In the middle of this mayhem, the system was restored. Folks abandoned their carts and walked out of the stores.

The impulse of Wal-Mart reflected the America we have known and loved: Help your neighbor. Go the extra mile. Offer a helping hand.

The reaction of the welfare state citizens reflected everything that is going wrong with the country. They saw the glitch as a chance for another rip off. After all, this is the country offering "free" Obama phones. Significant numbers of people claiming disability benefits are in fact ineligible and are scamming the taxpayers.

Ted Cruz and other fiscal conservatives are trying to get the country to come to grips with the fact we are headed toward national ruin, and it's not the fault of the Tea Party. While the entire political establishment continues to attack people like Cruz for being unreasonable, what happened this weekend at some Louisiana Wal-Mart stores demonstrates the continued breakdown of values caused by America's growing "virtue deficit," perhaps the biggest crisis confronting the country.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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