The first time a lady listens to a man's 'sales pitch' at a bar, she may be beguiled. But after four years of hearing that same pitch from the same person, she ought to know if it rings true or if it rings hollow. My wife and I love our five and a half year old son. But when he tells us something, as a parent, we need to know if it is the truth or something else, designed to get what he wants.

As a parent, we don't reward a lack of candor. Neither should we as voters reward a lack of candor.

At times, like the lady in the bar, we want to be beguiled. We want to believe someone, even when an instinct or facts prompts us with a cautionary yellow light.

Our world has become massively complex. Or has it? We can come up with a laundry list of the same issues that impact our industry:

• SAFE Act
• Dodd-Frank/Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
• Duty to Serve (DTS)
• HUD's failure to fully implement the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (MHIA 2000) and more at the local, state and federal level.

We could look at subjects that impact manufactured housing as part of broader issues:

• The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)
• Domestic laws and regulations which impact coal, oil, gas and other energy issues
• Tax policies
• Exploding debt that consumes an ever greater portion of the federal budget
• Entitlement programs that have tens of billions – perhaps hundreds of billions – in waste and abuse
• And the list could go on to still more local, state and other federal issues.

Politicians in the two major camps point the finger (not always the index one) at each other, and cite often contradictory "facts." No wonder so many can be dizzied or turned off by all this politicking. It can be made to all sound very complex, because it is…

…or is it?

Can we boil it down to simple principles, which shed light regardless of beguiling personalities who whisper sweet things we want to hear?

Yes.

Do you have rights – which the founders identified as including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – which come to you independent of government or not?

If one believes that rights come to us from government, then there are no limits to what the government can do. Then our work can be taxed, fined and regulated away by others.

But if we believe that our rights are inalienable, we ought to believe in the principle of limited government designed to protect those rights. Those limits are defined by the constitution of that state or of the federal government.

We know enough about the old Soviet Union and Nazi Germany to know that most of us don't want that type of repressive, authoritarian system here. Is there a power to such systems? Clearly, yes.

But that authoritarian power is ultimately limited by those who yearn to be free. The oppressed may be compelled to work – or wage war, etc. – in the name of that type of system. But sooner or later, such authoritarian states tend to fail as both of those systems finally did.

Adolf Hitler beguiled. He tried to turn a segment of the population – Jewish and others – into parasitic enemies of the rest of the people. Single out a minority. Demonize them with powerful rhetoric propelled Hitler and his cohorts. When democratic votes failed to get them all that they wanted, they finally just took the power they desired.

"Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."

Those words come from a past Democratic president who could also excite the people. Not all Democrats are alike. President Kennedy practiced something much closer to supply side economics than what President Obama does, the later of whose policies can most charitably be called Obama's brand of Keynesian economics.

Before someone misreads Keynesian for Kenyan…

…Keynsian economics is the economic theory named after the late John Maynard Keynes. Investopedia defies it as: An economic theory stating that active government intervention in the marketplace and monetary policy is the best method of ensuring economic growth and stability.

Is it?

Womb to tomb government is what Obama's deeds have shown him to favor. Bill Clinton may have delivered a rousing speech. But Clinton was and is a pragmatist. He worked with Republicans during his years in office. He signed welfare reform passed by Republicans. The budgets that cut taxes, balanced and yielded surpluses where Republican ones that Clinton signed into law. Beguiling words, regardless or who speaks them, can't change the facts. Clinton then said, the days of big government are past. Someone better remind Clinton and Obama about that seemingly premature claim.

So we must be willing to look at the facts, and not let some party label or smiling face keep us from seeing the truth.

This is now a four year relationship with this president. The TelePrompTer and beguiling, well spoken words don't change our realities. The fiscal cliff looms at year's end. Moody's says another credit down grade is coming. The president's plan is 'give me four more years.'

Even using the president's numbers for job creation, which keep getting revised downward, we have not created enough jobs to keep pace with the rising population. The policies haven't worked, even with 5 trillion in new debt. The president's plan is 'give me four more years.'

The facts are that most of the states creating jobs are Republican led ones. They are doing at the state level what Romney, Ryan and reform-minded Republicans would do at the federal level.

Does President Obama get to claim Republican results, or just Democratic ones?

We have pointed out before that California and Texas share many similar resources, size, population, climates and features. But blue state California is going bankrupt following a path similar to Obama's. Red state Texas has lower unemployment, lower taxes, is more business friendly and is growing.

Limited taxes. Limited regulations. Limited Government. This is what works in America. This is part of what made America great and will do so again when those principles are applied anew.

In France, the fourth richest man in the world is seeking Belgian citizenship, allegedly to escape looming higher French taxes. The Brits are inviting the French fleeing higher taxes and regulations there. For the U.S., when the CEO of Coca-Cola says it is easier to do business in China than the U.S., that is a wake up call for all business professionals to read and heed.

The lessons at home and abroad are clear. High taxes and regulations drives away business and investors.

When I recall Ronald Reagan, he followed in the foot steps of another 'nice guy' president, Jimmy Carter. When Islamic radicals in Egypt and Libya stormed our embassies this week, for me, it brought flash backs of the Iranian Embassy and the hostages being taken during the Carter years. We have dead in Libya, and the Obama foreign policy set the stage for that attack on U.S. Soil.

Frankly, our foreign policy has sucked during both recent Republican and Democratic presidencies. But compare Reagan's leadership of diplomacy through strength which brought down the Berlin Wall and saw the fall of the Soviet Union, vs. the Obama plan to strip back our military and beg petty dictators for concessions at a bargaining table they openly mock. The Obama policies invite Islamists to do what happened at our Egyptian and Libyan embassies, and history suggests it will only get worse.

Running from a fight is a sure way of getting hit in a time, place and manner we do not want.

"Being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are."

– Michelle Obama.

This is true! Barack Obama can only hide who he is and what he has done from those who want to be beguiled, for whatever reason or personal agenda motive.

For the rest of us who are tired of the TelePrompTer lines, we need to boil it down to facts.

North Dakota could be a snapshot of the rest of the U.S. economy in four years if the House, Senate and White House all go Republican. A booming economy and more jobs vs. a strangled economy and rising debt.

The naysayers will be beguiled by this Obama Campaign talking point, that Romney will take us back to the bad old George Bush days. But what I've heard from Romney/Ryan is more Reaganesque, not Bush-like.

Further, the mortgage meltdown is not solely a Republican gift. It came from community organizers like young Barak Obama. It came from Barney Frank and Clinton era regulations that made lenders make loans to unqualified borrowers. Members of both parties took advantage of it. The Romney campaign better get good at spotlighting that fact-based message.

Because the truth alone will set us free.

Let's go back to the lady at the bar listening to that sweet talking guy.

Imagine if that smooth talker convinced her that she should open up her bank account as well as other personal things. Imagine if he promised her all sorts of good things in life that he could help her get, using her money and her credit of course.

Four years go by. Her financial adviser says to her,

'Look. You once had an excellent 800 credit score, and it is now at the lower end of good at 680. Keep this up and your credit score will drop again. Plus, you are at the point where you will have trouble paying for all those debts based on your income. You have to change course.'

The boy friend says.

'Your financial adviser doesn't get it. Trust me. I will take you places you've only imagined, but it has been a little harder than I thought it would be. It will take a little longer and a little more money than I first thought, but the payoff is coming. I promise! I love you.'

The boy friend has his moments. The financial adviser isn't nearly as sexy.

But if this was your daughter that this was happening to, what would you say to the lady in this scenario?

Mitt Romney doesn't need the paycheck that goes with the White House job. He earned his money the old fashioned way. I'll vote for a successful private business investor able to turn around serious problems, over a failed government investor – who wants to hold onto the best job he has ever had – any day of the week.

Tell your friends to vote not based on beguiling words, but rather on sober truth.

Our industry is not just an island in the nation. We are part of a huge quilt that makes up America. When it comes to where we stand as a country, we are no longer taking on just a little water. We have to do a lot of hard work bailing and reverse course.

High taxes and harsh regulations don't build an economy; they drain it and eventually destroy it. Let's learn to not be beguiled by a nice smile and words that sound good. Your future and that of your loved ones will depend on it. ##

Check out Smooth Talker on MHLivingNews.com and see the
other new stories and 'Purely Political' cartoons there.

L. A. "Tony" Kovach
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Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right. – Henry Ford