There’s a simple message to be learned from this storm.

What is it?

In an emergency, when seconds count, help from the government is only weeks away.

The lesson from Sandy is the same lesson from Hurricane Katrina. When you need help in disaster, you are on your own. Government – because of its sheer incompetence – will not help you.

Sandy is a great example of this. Days after the hurricane hit, while power was still out and people were begging for water, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who had both power and water at his home) had his top priority. It was to make sure the New York marathon went off so that he could have his “mission accomplished” photo op.

In New Jersey, Barack Obama came into town in time for an urgently needed campaign photo op. As soon as he left, everyone was back on their own.

One of the most popular reality shows on TV right now is a show called “Doomsday Preppers.” The show examines the lives of “preppers” who believe that a major “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” disaster is coming. While the show makes some of these people look pretty outrageous, the theory is pretty sound.

These people are preparing for a disaster.

Americans used to prepare for disasters. During the Cold War, we had something called civil defense. Civil defense, or fallout shelters, existed in most public buildings, including churches. These shelters had food, water and other survival tools. During the height of the Cold War, America had enough food in storage to feed every man, woman and child in the nation for three years.

But then Bill Clinton decided he wanted to blow the “peace dividend” on spending programs that would help Democrats get elected. Today, there is no civil defense. Today, if there is a disaster, you are on your own.

The “Doomsday Preppers,” who are featured on the show, prepare for cataclysmic end-of-the-world events, such as nuclear war, a pandemic or a total economic collapse.

While those events are not very likely, there is an event that I can guarantee you will happen within the next six months. It is an absolute certainty.

What is it?

It is a natural disaster.

What is that natural disaster?

I have no idea.

It could be a major winter storm. It could be a blizzard. It could be an earthquake or a tornado. It could be a major fire.

One of those will happen.

Are you ready?

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. Five wise virgins and five foolish virgins were waiting on a wedding party.  The five wise virgins brought enough oil for their lamps for all night long in case the party was delayed. The five foolish ones did not. The party was delayed, and the five foolish virgins ran out of oil.

Most Americans are like the five foolish virgins. They are totally unprepared.

If there were a disaster, do you know what the top priorities of survival are? How would you handle them?

The three top priorities of survival are shelter, water and food.

If you were in a disaster, how would you find shelter?

Most Americans assume if there were a major disaster, they could stay at home. Most of the time that is probably true. But how would you live without power? The loss of power is usually one of the first things that happens in a disaster.

Where would you get water?

Without power, your local water company isn’t pumping water anymore. The tap would quickly run dry.

What about food?

Most Americans plan weekly shopping trips, so rarely do Americans have more than a few days worth of food at home. Much of that food is refrigerated. Without power, frozen or refrigerated food will go bad quickly. Without power, how will you cook?

What would you do if you were given half an hour or less to evacuate your home because of an impending disaster? What would you do if a disaster struck while you and your spouse were at work and your children were at school? How would you find your spouse and children?

All of those questions are important questions. Since we have natural disasters every year, those are questions that people really face every year.

Statistically, at some point in your life, you’re going to be impacted by a natural disaster. So the real question is, are you going to be wise, or are you going to be foolish?

Are you going to act to protect yourself and your family, or are you going to wait on help from a government that may not consider helping you to be its top priority?

Just remember, in a disaster when seconds count, help from the government is only weeks away.

We have one last, final chance to save America. We have one last, final chance to stop Barack Obama. One final chance.

What is this final chance? Will the Republicans step up to the plate and do what is necessary?

Barack Obama has not yet been re-elected president.

Yes, the election is over – but remember, a presidential election in America is not by popular vote. We vote for the candidate, but what we are really doing is voting for the electors who will meet on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December.

That is when the actual re-election of the president occurs.

Is there a way to stop this?

Yes, there is.

And the best part – this is totally constitutional.

The 12th Amendment of the Constitution as well as Article II of the Constitution govern the Electoral College.

According to the 12th Amendment, for the Electoral College to be able to select the president, it must have a quorum of two-thirds of the states voting. If enough states refuse to participate, the Electoral College will not have a quorum. If the Electoral College does not have a quorum or otherwise cannot vote or decide, then the responsibility for selecting the president and vice president devolves to the Congress.

The House of Representatives selects the president and the Senate selects the vice president.

Since the Republicans hold a majority in the House, presumably they would vote for Mitt Romney, and the Democrats in the Senate would vote for Joe Biden for vice president.

Can this work?

Sure it can.

Democrats have actually set this precedent of refusing to participate to deny Republicans a quorum. They did this in Wisconsin and in Texas. Why can’t we do this with the Electoral College?

Mitt Romney was a terrible candidate, and he will not be a great president. But he will be infinitely better than Barack Obama.

So how do we do this?

Mitt Romney carried 24 states. We need to have conservative activists from all over the nation contact the electors, the Republican Party and the secretary of state in all of these states and tell them not to participate in the Electoral College when it meets on Dec. 17.

If we can get 17 of those states (just over one-third) to refuse to participate, the Electoral College will have no quorum. Then, as the Constitution directs, the election goes to the House of Representatives.

That is how we can still pull this election out and make Mitt Romney president in January.

We need this concept shared with every tea party, liberty and patriotic group throughout the country. We have time to act, but we must pressure Republicans to do the right thing.

It does not matter who gets credit for this. The credit is not important. Using our last chance to defeat Barack Obama is important.

Far too often the Republican Party seems more interested in losing gracefully than winning and governing.

This is our last chance. We the people must contact the electors, party officials and secretaries of state from every red state and insist that they refuse to participate in the Electoral College.

We can still save America and use the Constitution to do it. But this truly is our last chance.

“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel, Defeat Jihad.”

In America, we have seen jihad firsthand. We saw in on 9/11. We saw it at Fort Hood. We have seen repeated attempts at jihad. The end result is usually mass murder.

This is a no brainer, right?

The that the American Freedom Defense Initiative put up should not even be controversial. Every American should stand up and say, there is a civilized nation in the Middle East that has democratic elections, protects the rights of its minorities, including Arabs and Muslims, and has been an American ally.

That can be compared to Saudi Arabia, which does not allow Jews nor does it allow Christian churches, or Iran whose state motto is, “Death to the Jews.”

The American Freedom Defense Initiative had to go to court to be allowed to exercise its First Amendment rights and put those billboards up in subways owned by the government. In response, several liberal religious groups have announced they are putting up counter billboards.

The group called “Rabbis for Human Rights” is now putting out an ad that says, “In the choice between love and hate, choose love. Help stop bigotry against our Muslim neighbors.”

Really?

Would the rabbis be so kind as to identify which Muslims are nice people and which ones are the crazy terrorists that want to kill the infidel?

I’d love to be friendly to my local Muslim neighbors. But are they the kind of folks who want to grill hamburgers with us on the Fourth of July or are they the ones who believe the Quran literally commands them to “slay them wherever you find them”? (Sura 2:191)

I’m a very talented man, but mind reading is one of those things I just never had time to master. I’d really like to know the intent of someone who is a member of a group that at least in theory advocates murder.

The rabbis are not alone. Jim Wallis, the Marxist religious leader is putting up his own billboard. So are the United Methodist Women, which is a part of the United Methodist Church, or, as I like to call it, the First Church of Karl Marx. They are a great bunch. The leaders of the United Methodist Church have never met anyone who hates America that they did not love.

Interestingly enough, none of these groups had to sue to be allowed to put out their politically correct message.

Israel is a civilized nation. The jihadists are savages. They believe in indiscriminate murder. They don’t care whether their victims are men, women or children. They don’t care whether they are young, old, Jew, Christian or even if they are Muslim.

Is Islam dangerous? The answer to that depends on whom you talk to. Some say all of Islam is evil, while others say it is a minority that have hijacked the religion. If it is a minority, they are the ones running the show. Someone said that when the Nazis first showed up in Germany, they were dismissed as a fringe group. A few years later, they were sending Jews to the concentration camps.

This minority is also the group committing acts of terrorism. They are the ones who want weapons of mass destruction. They are the ones who want to see millions of Westerners dead.

The jihadists are wanton murderers, and, to use the Ayn Rand quote, they are savages. Why opposing them is even controversial is beyond comprehension.

Why some Americans will root against their own nation and cheer for those who support mass murder is one of those mysteries of life that can never be explained.

Einstein once noted the universe has no known limits. The stupidity of those who cannot even understand that there is a time to stand up against evil and a time to choose between the savage and the civilized man is simply unfathomable. That kind of stupidity, like the universe, may be something else that has no known limit.

Learning about some of the people who support him can be shocking.

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) has endorsed Barack Obama. Did you know that? It may not shock you, but it is one of those inconvenient facts the Obama propaganda media does not want you to know.

The Communist Party said earlier this year that re-electing Barack Obama was “absolutely essential.”

Is anyone else alarmed by this?

The American manifestation of the ideology that has been the greatest mass murderer of the last century thinks that it is essential that Barack Obama be re-elected.

Communism over the last century has caused more wars, killed more people, impoverished more people than any other ideology. America’s Communists want Obama.

America’s Communists are not the only Communists who want Obama re-elected. Vladimir Putin wants him re-elected. Putin said that re-electing Obama could improve relations with America.

Really?

Is that the part where Obama has more flexibility on our missile defense and he can surrender again?

While they are not Communists, Saudi Arabia has implicitly endorsed Obama. The kingdom is now pumping more oil to stabilize the price while the election season is going on. The Obama propaganda media don’t like us to be reminded that gas prices have doubled under Obama. The Saudis know that if American gas prices soar to over $4 a gallon, Obama’s chances of re-election will look something like a desert mirage.

You remember Saudi Arabia. They are the primary funders of terrorism around the world. They support and export the Wahhabi extremist form of Islamic fundamentalism. Oh yes, and 15 of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were Saudis.

And these folks think Obama is the man we need in the White House.

Obama’s supporters are not all Communists or foreign terror supporters. He has two supporters in America that will shock most people.

They are Gary Johnson and Virgil Goode.

Gary Johnson is a former Republican governor of New Mexico. He tried to run for president as a Republican, but the Republicans had too much good sense and quickly voted Johnson off the island.

Instead of listening to the people, Johnson decided to feed his ego and become the Libertarian Party candidate. He’s polling around 6 percent nationally, but the problem is, most of those voters are people who would probably otherwise vote for Romney.

What does Gary Johnson believe in, other than his own ego? He has zero chance of being elected. Presumably, if he had to choose, Romney would be a better choice than Obama. Presumably, Johnson understands that a second Obama term will destroy America. Yet, Johnson cruises on, taking votes. Does anyone remember Florida? George Bush only won Florida by 537 votes, yet over 98,000 went to Ralph Nader. If Nader had not been on the ballot, how many of those would have gone for Al Gore? It is a safe bet to believe it would have been at least 538.

Virgil Goode is another Obama supporter. Goode is a former congressman from Virginia who is running for president under the Constitution Party banner. Goode has had more political parties than Bill Clinton has had girlfriends. He served several terms in Congress, first as a Democrat, then a Republican, then an Independent. Now he is with the Constitution Party. The only one he has missed so far is the Communist Party, but maybe that’s next.

He is on only a few state ballots, but one of those is Virginia. Without Goode on the ballot, the Virginia race is a toss-up. With Goode on the ballot, Romney drops by several points. Romney could win the White House without Virginia, but it becomes very hard for him to do. Goode cannot win. Goode cannot do anything but deny Romney a win.

Goode claims to be a conservative. The mantra of conservatives this year is OMG: Obama must go.

Goode and Johnson are in effect chanting “four more years,” instead of Obama must go.

Barack Obama thanks both of you for your support.

Since the left cannot make any allegations without those tax returns, they are simply complaining about Romney.

The left is outraged that Romney paid roughly 13 percent taxes on income of about $20 million. Unfortunately, many conservatives immediately bite on the argument of how much someone should pay in taxes.

The real question is: Why should Mitt Romney pay any more than he currently pays?

The most common reason given by liberals is the country is running a massive deficit, and libraries and schools are being closed.

Really?

Let’s look at those issues.

First, the nation is running a huge deficit. Why? Because the Obama, Pelosi, Reid axis of fiscal evil went on a spending spree unprecedented in the modern world.

But Mitt Romney should pay more taxes?

Really? Why?

So Joe Biden’s good friend, and dare we forget high-dollar donor, John Hynansky can get a $20 million dollar loan to open a luxury foreign car dealership in Ukraine.

Of course, Mitt Romney should pay more taxes for that.

What about the estimated $21 billion in fraudulent tax refunds that went out last year? Yes, he should pay more taxes for that.

Last year, 23,994 tax refunds were sent to one single address in Atlanta. That was a mere $46 million in tax dollars. One single bank account saw 2,706 refund checks, totaling over $263,000 deposited into it.

And of course, Mitt Romney should pay more taxes for this.

In March 2011, the General Accountability Office released a report identifying “hundreds of billions” of dollars in waste, fraud and duplicated services. Eighteen months later, nothing has been done to reduce that waste, fraud and duplication.

On June 1, 2011, Patricia Dalton, the chief operating officer for the General Accountability Office, testified before the House Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending. She was asked about welfare spending.

She testified that she could not identify the number of welfare programs the government has, how much money was being spent on them or even if the programs were achieving the goals for which they were created.

In other words, the government is just throwing money out the window and flying blind.

And yet, Mitt Romney should pay more in taxes.

Last year, the flagship company in Obama’s specious “green energy” program, Solyndra, crashed. The government provided more than half a billion dollars in loan guarantees for that company, despite the fact experts warned the government Solyndra would fail.

In 2009, the Obama regime, the financial geniuses that they are, engineered a bailout of General Motors. Instead of an orderly bankruptcy, the Obama White House orchestrated a theft where shareholders and bondholders lost their legal rights, which were given to the labor unions.

What was the result of the bailout? As of now, the government has lost $16.4 billion on its GM bailout. GM’s share of the market is cratering so fast another bailout is inevitable – that is, if Obama is re-elected.

While Obama took GM from its owners, gave it to the unions and “encouraged” GM to produce an electric car that no one wants, the taxpayers of America lost billions.

And the left thinks Mitt Romney needs to pay more taxes.

The left always screams that it is only fair that the rich pay more than the middle class or the poor. Of course, the left’s real definition of wealthy is anyone who has a job and is not employed by government.

For those of us who pay taxes, is it asking too much that the money we currently pay into the system be used wisely before the government demands more?

Somehow, the notion that the tea party or conservatives support federal tort reform has become accepted an idea. Nothing could be further from the truth. Federal tort reform is neither a tea party nor a conservative value.

First, nothing in the Constitution gives the federal government the right to mandate tort reform. Tort reform generally takes two forms. The first is a limitation on pain and suffering awards. The second is usually a limit on what plaintiffs’ lawyers can charge as fees.

State law, not federal law, governs tort matters. Even when federal jurisdiction is triggered, the cases are still governed by state law. Just as there is no constitutional authority for the government to take over of the health-care industry, there is no constitutional authority for the federal government to overrule what has always been the province of the states.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing components of federal tort reform is the assault on the Seventh Amendment. The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to civil jury trial. The right to trial by jury was so important to our Founding Fathers that it is the only right that is specifically named in two Amendments in the Bill of Rights.

One of the things our Founding Fathers understood was the importance of freedom. The free market and freedom are inseparable, and the civil jury trial is an important component of the free market.

The free market does something very important for civic virtue. The free market acts to reward good behavior and punish bad behavior. The civil jury trial system allows any American from the richest to the poorest to have his day in court and be judged by a jury of his peers. If someone engages in bad behavior, especially if the wrongdoer is a corporation, the civil justice system acts to punish that behavior. It acts to inspire good behavior by warning people what will happen if they engage in bad behavior.

Tort reform by the federal government is a very bad idea. It is not something the Founding Fathers would recognize as a responsibility of the federal government. It is an assault against the rights our founders considered to be essential to liberty. Federal tort reform is a very bad idea, and it is certainly not a tea-party value.

Tort Reform is being pushed by the American Medical Association and the insurance industry. The AMA has no interest in protecting the constitutional rights of Americans. They want to protect doctors. The AMA was also a prime supporter of Obamacare, so their track record of good ideas is not too great.

The insurance industry, along with the doctors, has destroyed the free market in the health-care sector of the economy.

Why does health care cost so much? It is not the medical malpractice lawsuits, as the big insurance companies would have you believe. It is because there is no competition.

Doctors now set their prices based on what the insurance companies will pay. But, we the public don’t even know what the cost is. All we know is we pay a $25 co-pay and we have a deductible – and that’s it.

Doctors have no incentive to compete because their prices are controlled by the insurance industry.

Now, the same people who managed to destroy the free market for health care and drive up costs of health care want to destroy another part of the free market.

The free market is wonderful. It encourages good behavior and punishes bad behavior. The civil court system is a part of the free market. It is the part that punishes bad behavior.

The Constitution is not a buffet. We do not simply pick and choose what we want. Our Founding Fathers put the right to a civil jury trial in Constitution for a very good reason. They also limited the power of the federal government with the 10th Amendment for a very good reason.

The last thing we conservatives need to do is start into a selective reading of the Constitution. As much as there are one or two parts of the Constitution we might not like, there are freedoms and liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights the left would like to strip away, too.

We face a crisis because we now have the most liberal Republican nominee in the history of the party.

We face a crisis because the Party of Reagan is now the Party of RINOs.

But there is good news. The Chinese symbol for crisis is the same symbol for opportunity. We conservatives have a great opportunity, but we must act.

The upside of this crisis is that Romney is not a leader. He has the “solve for x” mentality. To him, everything is a business or a math problem. Apply the correct formula and everything should work out.

For Romney, there is no vision, passion or innovation. There is no leadership. He does not go outside the box. He is simply a soulless technocrat.

Conservatives can lead Romney, if we act now.

We have the 90 percent solution.

What is the 90 percent solution?

It is simple. There are certain issues for which we can gather support, and 90 percent of Americans or even more will support us.

WND recently did a story about how illegal aliens are using tax loopholes to get thousands of dollars from the American treasury by claiming children or nieces and nephews for the “Additional Child Tax Credit,” even though the children live in Mexico.

That outrages 90 percent of Americans. Actually, it is close to 99 percent.

Conservatives running for both the House and the Senate need to pick some 90 percent issues and form a platform that all conservative House and Senate candidates adopt, much as the Contract with America was adopted by Newt Gingrich and the class of 1994.

Conservatives should pick out five 90 percent items and promise America that if conservatives are put in power, those things will be passed.

Eliminating this abused tax loophole would be one 90 percent item.

There is another great choice for a 90 percent item few people have ever heard of. It is a shame and an outrage that the Republicans have not picked up on this earlier.

H.R. 2680 is a bill that has been introduced by John Fleming, a Republican congressman from Louisiana. The title of the bill is the Federal Realignment and Closure Commission Act.

In the ’90s, Bill Clinton and the Democrats wanted to shrink the defense budget so they could blow the money on social programs. One of the biggest savings could come from the closing of military bases, but congressmen and senators were very protective of bases in their districts, so the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was born. The idea was simple. BRAC would review all of the bases and put together a list for bases to be closed or realigned. The list would then go to Congress for a straight up or down vote, without amendments, and then to the president.

Congressman Fleming has the same idea, except for the federal government.

Over a year ago, the General Accountability Office released a report that identified hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, fraud and duplicated services in the government. Nothing has been done to cut that spending.

There is a 90 percent issue right there. No American likes to see government money wasted, especially if fraud is involved.

Ninety percent of Americans would agree we could and should eliminate programs that are wasteful, fraudulent or duplicates.

There is another 90 percent issue: the tax code.

Americans hate April 15, and they hate the IRS. Ninety percent of Americans agree our tax code is insane. When the IRS cannot even figure out the code, there is a problem. The current system could be replaced with Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan or Rick Perry’s postcard tax system.

Either way, that one is a winner.

If conservatives will unite behind the 90 percent issues, we can sweep conservatives into the House and the Senate this year, and we can start cutting spending. We can drag Romney kicking and screaming to the right.

We have a great opportunity, if we act now.