TOM'S OPINIONS & INFORMATION

Is the Constitution for Everybody?

2012-02-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

According to The New York Times, the American Constitution is losing popularity with people around the world. "The Constitution," writes Adam Liptak, "has seen better days ... its influence is waning." Liptak points out that in 1987, over 160 of the 170 countries on Earth had cribbed from the Constitution -- but today, few countries do. Why? Liptak suggests, quoting Professor David Law of Washington University in St. Louis, that our Constitution is "Windows 3.1." It's difficult to amend, and it doesn't guarantee so-called "positive rights," such as healthcare, housing and education. Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia said that he relies more on the legal framework of India, South Africa and New Zealand than on that of the United States.

Intuitively, this sounds wrong. Why would you rely on the legal frameworks of nations that still allow disparate treatment of "untouchables" or countries that until 20 years ago still had different legal standards for blacks and whites? Why not rely on the legal framework that provided for equal rights as early as 1868 and that guaranteed freedom from government overreach almost a century earlier than that?

The answer is simple: More countries today want governments that provide for them rather than governments that keep them free. That is why tyranny is on the move across the globe. The choice to reject the principles underlying the U.S. Constitution isn't a mere choice of one legal form over another -- it's a choice in favor of a philosophy of slavery over a philosophy of freedom. The same countries that provide their citizens with "free healthcare" force their citizens into relative poverty and undercut their citizens' access to high-level healthcare; the same countries that provide "free housing" breed slums and crime. CONTINUE READING

Getting Nowhere, Very Fast

2012-02-01T10:02:00.000-08:00

California has a huge state debt and Washington has a huge national debt. But that does not discourage either Governor Jerry Brown or President Barack Obama from wanting to launch a very costly high-speed rail system.

Most of us might be a little skittish about spending money if we were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. But the beauty of politics is that it is all other people's money, including among those other people generations yet unborn.

The high-speed rail system proposed for California has been envisioned as a model for similar systems elsewhere in the United States. A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle used the high-speed rail system in Spain as an analogy for California.

Spain is about the same size as California, and has a similar population density -- and population density is the key to the economic viability of mass transportation, from subways to high-speed rail. CONTINUE READING

The Death of Pragmatism

2012-01-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

It’s the “Politics of Envy” versus the “Politics of Resentment” in the 2012 election. President Obama has adopted the cover story of “fairness” to mask his drive to convince middle-class Americans that the real reason some people are better off than they are is not because they’re smarter, or work harder, or have a better idea to sell in the American marketplace, but because they cheat — climbing to the top on the backs of overworked, overtaxed, and underpaid Americans. The solution: Re-elect me and I’ll make the rich squeal like stuck pigs, rule by executive fiat, turn the EPA into an avenging Angel of Death for carbon emitters, and embrace the Muslim Brotherhood as, well, brothers.

It won’t solve anything but it will make a lot of people feel better in their misery.

The GOP counters by telling the middle class that the real problem is that there are a sizable number of citizens — including some of your neighbors — who are leeching off your tax dollars and getting a free ride through life. Health care, college tuition, food stamps, housing assistance, unemployment insurance — almost anything that Washington subsidizes is a waste of tax dollars and goes to undeserving reprobates (or illegal aliens) who are the cause of the gigantic growth in the size and scope of the federal government. CONTINUE READING

1,000 Days Without a Budget: Facts on the Senate’s Failure

2012-01-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 24, marked the 1,000th day since the U.S. Senate has passed a budget—an egregious dereliction of duty on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D–NV) watch. By enacting continuing resolution upon continuing resolution (short-term measures to keep the government running, spending money at the current rate), the Senate has taken a pass on leading, all to the detriment of the poor and middle class.
The budget process forces Congress to set priorities to protect the people’s money and put it to its appropriate use. Instead, the Democrat-controlled Senate has abdicated its responsibility. The result? The deficit is soaring, causing a looming tax burden and injecting uncertainty into the economy, leaving jobs and economic growth on the table. It’s no wonder the U.S. economy’s growth is so tepid.
As the 1,000th day passed, here are some facts about America’s budget and why the Senate must take action to be stewards of the people’s money as the Constitution requires: CONTINUE READING

In Praise of Homeschools

2012-01-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

The most admirable group of entrepreneurs is perhaps the least appreciated. Homeschool parents, or parentrepreneurs, are not waiting for politicians and technocrats to fix broken systems of education. Rather, they are eschewing the status quo and finding innovative ways to advance the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth of their children. Unlike their counterparts in the public sector, parentrepreneurs have achieved astounding results with humble budgets.

Curiously, parentrepreneurs are seldom the object of praise. They are instead showered with ridicule and demands for intrusive regulations that erode their effectiveness as educators. Self-interested unionists are often at the forefront of this mudslinging. A National Education Association resolution is exemplary of such demagoguery:
Clearly, the NEA perpetuates the myth that parents are too ignorant to be educators. Even worse, they obnoxiously imply that government schools, in fact, provide a comprehensive education experience for all students. Of course, the NEA is hardly a beacon of objectivity. Between 1999 and 2007, the number of homeschooled students increased almost twofold, from 850,000 to 1,500,000 — a trend that threatens its wealth and political clout. CONTINUE READING

Americans Cannot Trust Obama Wielding So Much Power

2012-01-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

Paging the Tea Party. Where are the many of you who esteem limited, constitutional government? The silence is deafening.

After briefly reacquiring constitutional principles Republicans have been hijacked again by Neo Cons who seemingly believe our mighty military hammer makes every need a nail. Surely there’s someone left on the Right still valuing limited government.
Much attention has rightfully fixated on the recent spate of recess appointments by President Obama. Americans should jealously guard our Constitution, which is a charter meant to prevent political abuses. But very little ink has spilled regarding the Administration’s newly codified authority to suspend certain liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Defense is one of the few legitimate federal functions. The military may be government’s most effective endeavor. Nonetheless, we do not want our streets subject to martial law; one of the “long train of abuses” precipitating our Declaration of Independence.

Under the National Defense Authorization Act, the military may incarcerate U.S. citizens indefinitely without formal charges. Should the Justice Department declare you a terrorist, or simply associate you with terrorists, your rights may be abridged. Instead of innocent until proven guilty, citizens deemed guilty will be unable to prove innocence.

Despite Obama’s veto threats and publicly prattling about “reservations,” Senator Carl Levin (D, MI) claims the administration privately pushed for the enactment of several of the most frightening provisions embedded in this legislation. Apparently the White House specifically sought that American citizens, even those detained domestically, can at government’s discretion, be indefinitely incarcerated without recourse to a speedy trial. CONTINUE READING

Defending Kim Kardashian

2012-01-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

Unlike the majority of us who live relatively boring lives, Kim Kardashian has made a career out of selling the public an up-close-and-personal view of her private affairs. This recently included a rumored farce of a wedding to NBA superstar Kris Humphries, which fizzled after only three days but made the reality star millions.

Ms. Kardashian's financial success hasn't been met warmly by everyone however. According to the Wall Street Journal, an activist group composed of union and left-wing political interests has started a campaign to push for an increase in California's millionaire's tax and is targeting Kardashian directly. Titling themselves "Courage Campaign," this association is dedicated to "bringing progressive change and full equality in California and across the country." In addition to their website TaxKimK.com, the group has created a video to promote their agenda. The video claims that Ms. Kardashian made more than $12 million in 2010 yet only paid 10.3 percent in taxes. That's only "1 percent more" than the 9.3 percent that "middle class" Californians pay. CONTINUE READING

THIS MAKES ME SICK!

2012-01-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

Here is an infographic showing how much each Candidate spent in

Iowa. They spend like drunken sailors and this is just for one state. These are the same men that are running to be elected to solve our budget problems. I'm missing something somewhere. To me this graph alone explains why we have such money problems in this country.

Deadly Virus

2011-12-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

Destroying American’s ability to think, and making many delusional, unable to separate truth from lies, fantasy from reality

There’s a deadly virus infecting the body politic of America. It’s destroying American’s ability to think, and making many delusional, unable to separate truth from lies, fantasy from reality. As our quality of life vanishes before our very eyes, as our once peaceful country degenerates into a violent police state, as our freedoms and constitutional rights are stripped away by the strokes of government pens, Americans, like lemmings or the rats of Hamlin, troop blindly toward disaster, unable to see the fatal drop-off ahead.

If one were to only, as is the case with far too many people, get one’s news and information from the so-called mainstream media, one might think that professional sports and the lives of movies actors were of paramount importance, and that the only office of any consequence in the upcoming 2012 election is that of President. All we hear about is Obama-Soetoro and the handful of Republicans running against him. Mentions of the people running for the Senate or the House are so few as to be non-existent. However, the simple truth is that who is president means very little, if the House, and particularly the Senate, are controlled by veto proof majorities.

As things stand, the Senate is in the control of radical leftist Democrats, outright thieves, and their establishment Republican running dogs. The House is better, but still overrun with Marxists and turncoat Republicans who got elected by pretending to be conservative. In any case, both houses need to be taken back by We, the People, if we are to kill the deadly virus and save our country from a collapse into diseased darkness. CONTINUE READING

The Class Warfare We Need

2011-12-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Class warfare is emerging as a major theme for the 2012 presidential election campaign. “Millionaires and billionaires”—a reliable phrase that apparently continues to test well with the Democrats’ focus groups—are the easy target, because even though they receive a large portion of national income, they represent only a small fraction of the electorate. But are the millionaires and billionaires the right enemy? Not according to the Republicans, who warn that the major victims of a class war against millionaires would be small businesses.

In short, the class war as it stands today finds "Democrats accusing Republicans of siding with the rich, and Republicans countering that Democrats were taxing small business owners who create jobs." Voters are faced with an apparent dilemma, a contest between the two powerful emotions of envy and fear: should we let our envy of the supposedly too-wealthy, too-powerful “rich” outweigh our fear of damaging the economy’s ability to create private sector jobs? Which side should we take in the unfolding class war: the Democrats’ message exploiting envy, or the Republicans’ message exploiting fear?

It’s a difficult dilemma—but, fortunately, it’s also a false dilemma. Why? Because, as it stands today, the class war has misidentified the enemy. Not all of the rich are the “bad guys” who deserve targets on their backs. By the same token, not all of the remainder are the “good guys” who deserve to be defended—and that includes the middle class, the poor, small businesses, and any other group we don’t usually think of as rich. It’s just not as simple as “the rich versus the rest.” CONTINUE READING

The Origins of the Fed

2011-12-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

Here's how we got saddled with this monstrosity: In the early 1900s — during the so-called Progressive Era — the US government began a radical program of intervention into the economy. Pundits hailed this as fostering a new "spirit of cooperation" between business and government. In fact, the new system was a precursor of socialism and fascism.

Government-business cooperation took several forms, all of which conferred special privileges on favored firms, insulating them from the competition of the free market. Individual businesses and whole industries lobbied and bribed government officials for laws that benefited them at the expense of the consumer, and the whole operation was sold to the public as antimonopoly measures. This illegitimate and unconstitutional process happened time and time again, and government intervention became a permanent part of manufacturing, railroads, agriculture, and many other industries in the United States.

This was the era when the US free market received a beating, and, for lovers of liberty, its effect was much worse than the New Deal's.

In the free market, opportunity is granted to all and privilege to none. Laws affect all equally, businesses seek to meet the needs of the people, and the consumer is king. But in a system of government intervention, industries are no longer accountable to the needs of the people. They receive special privilege and status from the state. They are guaranteed profits, prices, and sales. Liberated from the dictates of the people, businesses are free to indulge themselves in plundering consumers. CONTINUE READING

The Principle of Yin Yang

2011-11-30T11:28:00.000-08:00

"The concept of yin yang which is often referred to in the West as 'yin and yang,' is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. The two are not opposing forces (dualities), but complementary opposites that interact within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects as light cannot exist without darkness and vice-versa, but either of these aspects may manifest more strongly in particular objects, and may ebb or flow over time." – Wikipedia

Let us now look at the liberal and conservative ideologies from the yin yang perspective:

Consider the idea of "ebb and flow over time." Ask a conservative if there is ever a time for liberal policies and she will say, "no, never." Ask a liberal the same about their opposite and you will get the same answer. But, this cannot be true. There are times and circumstances for the application of each. Over time, the ebb and flow of the yin and the yang creates a teeter totter affect. Only occasionally do things achieve a state of neutral balance.

The idea of checks and balances built into our form of government mirror the idea of yin yang. Our founders had the good sense to defend the people from absolute power and corruption. Trust me, if the Republicans had total control for too long, they would eventually abuse the power. The Democrats would do likewise. Power corrupts, etc. Some favor elimination of political parties, but I feel the system is not broken.

Let us now witness a dialog between Mr. Yin and Mr. Yang in the year 2011:
CONTINUE READING

Let The REAL Revolutionary Power Flow Through Our Country

2011-11-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

It is the season to be thankful, to start thinking of Christmas and to pray for our country. However, it is also the season to fight and battle like never before if we value freedom and a nation led by our Constitution and Judeo/Christian values. We are under attack for old, classic reasons but with face lifted techniques that always hide behind, invented crisis, needs of the poor, working class issues, and international - environmental emergencies. Boring already. I’m yawning.

Nowadays the weapons of destruction come from the wonder boy in the White House, Obama, who is controlled by international powers representing the One World Government push and radical Islam. Yes, just as in the days of Nazi Germany and Adolph Hitler, who combined, big Government with his love for radical Islam, creating the right ingredients for a yummy ‘Dictator soup’ we see the same, strange bed fellows working together today.

The Caliphate push of the Muslim Brotherhood and related Islamic radicals view the UN and environmental groups as useful idiots who also want worldwide control, submission and redistribution of wealth. ‘Arab Spring’ is one of the contemporary, regime change techniques. It combines the world’s confused definition and easy manipulation regarding democracy and desire to play fair ball with ‘oppressed’ Islam. CONTINUE READING

Occupying Common Sense

2011-11-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

The mainstream news media is fond of trying to compare the Occupy Wall Street (or, as I've seen it called, the Ows) movement to the Tea Party. Let's explore that concept.

The Occupy protests have received far more news coverage than Tea Party events. That's entirely fair, because while the Occupiers stay at it week after week, Tea Party events are limited to a day or less at a time, thereby generating less ongoing newsworthiness. There is also demonstrable empathy with the Occupiers and hostility towards the Tea Party in the mainstream press.

Both the Occupiers and the Tea Party have been called extremist by their detractors. Both have been falsely stereotyped -- the former as unemployed, whining ingrates, the latter as racists and bigots. Both have been called hypocritical -- the former for relying on technology produced by the Big Business economy they damn, the latter for reliance on government social services from Social Security and Medicare to schools while condemning government socialism.

After moving into a public place, the Occupiers beg for handouts of everything from tents and clothing to latrines, and their rallies have become notorious for accumulating litter and filth. What an idea -- camp out illegally for days, and then think of sanitation needs while demanding that taxpayers shelter you!
CONTINUE READING

What Is a Progressive

2011-11-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

When is the last time you heard a liberal describe himself as a "liberal"? It’s probably been a long time. These days, those on the left are more likely to call themselves "progressives."

Writing in The New York Times, Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs said there have been two progressive eras — one in the early 20th century and the second under Franklin Roosevelt. He called on modern liberals to usher in a third era.

But what exactly is "progressivism"? To many people, the term "Progressive Era" evokes fond caricatures of Teddy Roosevelt and such reforms as safe food, the elimination of child labor and the eight-hour work day. Yet real progressivism was far more sinister. CONTINUE READING

Populist Socialism on the Rise

2011-11-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

The populist message of the Occupy Movement, the agelessly adolescent class warriors who make up Barack Hussein Obama's Red October Uprising, now has the support of some 35 percent of Americans, mostly urbanites.

The Occupiers have now infested cities from coast to coast, including Oakland, Seattle, Denver, Austin, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, New York and Boston.

Their mantra is simple (by necessity): "We are the 99 Percent, and we're all victims of the 1 Percent." By any objective standard, the 99 Percenters are not the brightest bunch, and they really represent the roughly 20 percent of Americans who are irrevocably dependent upon government subsidies and pay no income tax. Thus, this 20 percent has no vested interest in the cost of government and is predisposed to vote for the redistribution of others' incomes rather than work for their own. The underlying assumption is that it's easier to confiscate wealth than create it.
CONTINUE READING

The Federal Reserve - Its Origins, History & Current Strategy

2011-11-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

Few perceive the truth about the Federal Reserve. Rare are those who know its origins. It is right in front of us, but our relative ignorance of economics and history is their protection. A quick history lesson is in order.

On October 14, 1066, AD., King William I (the Conqueror) founded the English monarchy. The Corporation was created by William in 1067 AD. to facilitate trade, and assure the continuation of the wealth of the monarchy. The City of London's legal name is The Corporation of the City of London. The City of London has unique political and economic privileges that do not apply to Greater London, or anywhere else in the British realm. The "City" even has its own police force that is sovereign.

The Bank of England was granted a royal charter on July 27, 1694, by William III to regularize the monarchy's finances. This scheme was invented by a Scot promoter named William Paterson. The scheme was to create a bank with a "fund for perpetual interest". Fractional reserve banking was created, along with the radical monetary concept of a "monopoly" bank which would create money for loans that would never be repaid. A perpetual money machine for the monarchy was born. The permanent National Debt was born. The Bank of England would finance the emerging empire from its headquarters in the City of London. Never again would the lack of money, or liquidity, hamper the British empire under normal economic conditions. Conveniently, the monarchy also controls the City of London. This assures that the heart of the economic machine will always be protected.
CONTINUE READING

Endemic Corruption

2011-11-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

In its original sense, the word corruption meant rotting, putrification, as in dead or infected flesh. It's still an accurate description of the condition of today's body politic. Not a day goes by anymore without news of a new discovery of fraud, theft, and abuse of power by those entrusted with positions of authority. Lawlessness, lying, and disregard for ethics, much less morals, characterize the behavior of, it seems, a majority of today's elected and appointed officials. Honor and national pride are antiquated concepts, sneered at by post-modern promoters of a "living constitution," "relativism," "think global, act local," "multiculturalism," and "sustainable development."

Officials have finally started looking into the fraud and theft that have been rampant in the looting of the public treasury, euphemistically called the "stimulus." Word has it that there are some 100 criminal investigations up and running. Considering the hundreds of billions of dollars passed out by the Obama-Soetoro administration, this seems like the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Whether anyone actually responsible, rather than low-level scapegoats, is convicted remains to be seen. CONTINUE READING

Digital Peril

2011-11-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Let's rethink the computer-centric classroom.

Gone are the days when the virtue expected of students was discipline or attention. Now we demand something more—it goes by the name “engagement.” We don’t want pupils to be obediently receptive; we want them actively and imaginatively involved. The aspiration, of course, is admirable. In his wonderful 1945 book, Teacher in America, Jacques Barzun stated that “the whole aim of good teaching is to turn the young learner, by nature a little copycat, into an independent, self-propelling creature, who cannot merely learn but study—that is, work as his own boss to the limit of his powers.”

The latest means to this noble end is the computer-centric classroom, where students will be motivated to embrace self-directed learning through technological devices equipped with educational software. In other words, the gizmos and games to which young people are already addicted are expected to become humanizing and civilizing instruments. The students’ digitized learning will be helped along by a teacher who has migrated from being “a sage on the stage to a guide on the side” (as the mantra of the new movement puts it)
CONTINUE READING

Popular Vote or the Electoral College?

2011-11-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

While New Hampshire maneuvers to maintain first-in-the-nation primary status, a new Gallup poll reveals many Americans don’t care who New Hampshirites want to be President. In fact, they don’t care who any state wants to be President. A majority of those polled—62 percent—would prefer to amend the Constitution so that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide becomes President, while 35 percent of Americans would keep the Electoral College. With the spirit of the times supposedly against the Electoral College, why preserve the Founders’ constitutional design?

The Electoral College preserves federalism, encourages candidates to build national coalitions, and grants definitive electoral outcomes. It requires a presidential candidate to win simultaneous elections across 50 states and the District of Columbia.

It requires a presidential candidate to win simultaneous elections across 50 states and the District of Columbia. Here is how the Electoral College works: Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the number of Representatives for the state plus the number of Senators. (Per the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia has the same number of electoral votes as that of the least populous state—currently three votes). Each state except Maine and Nebraska has a “winner-take-all” system, whereby the presidential candidate who wins the state receives all the state’s electoral votes. A President is elected when one candidate obtains a majority of these states’ electoral votes (currently 270 electoral votes).
CONTINUE READING

Corporatism Is Not Capitalism

2011-11-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Right now, there is a lot of talk about the evils of "capitalism". But it is not really accurate to say that we live in a capitalist system. Rather, what we have in the United States today, and what most of the world is living under, is much more accurately described as "corporatism". Under corporatism, most wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of giant corporations and big government is used as a tool by these corporations to consolidate wealth and power even further. In a corporatist system, the wealth and power of individuals and small businesses is dwarfed by the overwhelming dominance of the corporations. Eventually, the corporations end up owning almost everything and they end up dominating nearly every aspect of society. This very accurately describes the United States of America today. Corporatism is killing this country, and it is not what our founding fathers intended. CONTINUE READING

Competition and the Constitution

2011-10-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Is there too much or too little competition in American life? Does competition promote growth and progress, or selfishness and inequality? Is it fair and efficient, or does it merely let the strong prey on the weak? And what is the alternative? Can competition be tamed and improved by government and union power, or is that a recipe for lethargy and self-dealing?

These questions lie at the heart of today's policy debates over reviving the economy, restructuring the financial system, regulating energy production, and reforming health care, education, and pensions. Each debate is cast in terms of the desirability of some particular government intervention intended to pursue broad goals like economic growth, financial stability, retirement security, or access to medical care or schooling. In each case, though, an essential and prominent feature of the proposed intervention is the suppression of competition.

It is fitting that the question of competition should underlie so many of our policy debates, because the principle of competition underlies our political order. In America, political leaders are held accountable, and their power is limited, through competitive elections. For the same purposes, our government is organized through institutional competition among the three federal branches and among the federal and state governments. The First Amendment decrees a system of intellectual laissez faire in which ideas compete for influence and acceptance. And the whole structure supports and regulates an economy premised on open competition.CONTINUE READING

Democracy, Denied; Republic, Lost

2011-10-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

Does this government represent you? 78% of us say that America is on the wrong track. Only 15%, near an historic low, feel America is headed in the right direction. This implies that a supermajority says that their intention, their well being, and their very dignity are being violated.

The “ruling junta” governing the U.S. seems to have forgotten an axiom critical to its legitimacy: “the consent of the governed.” Americans of all parties and ideologies bitterly cling to a fundamental American principle, stated in the Declaration of Independence, that we “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” … and “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Complaints about the unresponsiveness to popular will have been emerging with greater and greater clarity and force from the populace. They were called “uprisings” by progressive journalist David Sirota, and the “Middle America Rebellion” by conservative journalist Mark Tapscott. Citizen actions by disaffected people are crescendoing from their first (and still most effective) manifestation, MoveOn.org, to the Tea Parties, to — worldwide — the still nascent Occupy movement. These outpourings might not agree on the solution, but all agree on the problem. The permanent government isn’t listening to the citizens.
CONTINUE READING

What's the Point of Occupy Wall Street?

2011-10-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Occupy Wall Street rabble has been soiling lower Manhattan for a month now in their attempt to overthrow western capitalism as we know it. That is what they want to do, right? I'm not really sure -- there's no leader or a platform and there are no demands being issued as the slovenly-dressed trust fund babies whine about everything under the sun. No organization is just one of their primary problems.

I mean, how do you conduct a protest, hoping to accomplish something if no one knows what you are protesting? It's as pointless and wasteful as a WTO protest, complete with clashes with police, bad sanitation and disrespect for anyone and everything around them. Scanning a variety of blogs, news sites and photos only adds to the confusion. If these folks are occupying Wall Street, ostensibly to protest big banks and corporate greed, that message is less than clear. Take a look at some reasons given and signs drawn as to why people are protesting in lower Manhattan and around the nation: CONTINUE READING

The Tea Party’s Relationship to Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

We are products of our choices more than our environment. Perhaps nothing demonstrates this more than the stark difference between siblings. Two children born and raised in the same home by the same parents, taken to the same church, and taught in the same schools can nevertheless lead remarkably different lives. One may strive to achieve while the other slacks. One may obey the law while the other breaks it. One may take responsibility while the other places blame.

As Occupy Wall Street demonstrations carry on throughout the country, many commentators have made comparisons to the Tea Party. While there are far more contrasts between the two, there is nevertheless a relationship worth noting. In effect, Occupy Wall Street is the Tea Party’s younger, misguided sibling.

Tea Partiers and Occupiers are born of the same environment. Ideology does not affect reality. Whether you are a constitutional conservative or a rabble-rousing Marxist, we have all seen the American economy implode. We have all seen the housing bubble burst and the subsequent bailouts of banks and favored corporations. Likewise, we have all been privy to the gridlock in Washington, to the debates over the debt ceiling, government stimuli, and how to best recover from recession. CONTINUE READING

On a 'Living' Constitution

2011-10-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

We constantly hear the admonition that our Constitution must be a "living" constitution. It logically follows then, that the one to which the Founders gave birth must therefore be pronounced as "dead."

  Here is what our Founders actually did write about our Constitution and the Rule of its Law. 

George Washington: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution, which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all. ... If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed."

Thomas Jefferson: "Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. ... If it is, then we have no Constitution. ... [T]o consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions ... would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. ... In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." CONTINUE READING

Occupy Wall Street: A Story without Heroes

2011-10-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

The "Occupy Wall Street" movement is spreading. Protests have appeared in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. The drama has become palpable, featuring a march on LA's city hall, confrontations with police, and mass arrests.

In light of such a spectacle, those who highly value the role of ideas in social change are tempted to root for one side or the other. They wish to see their own ideology reflected in prominent people and institutions, and in any clash it is tempting to seek a hero. It is no fun to be neutral when history is being made.

Some who see the protesters as a bunch of whiny young leftists opposing the great symbols of American capitalism will be tempted circumstantially to side with Wall Street. Yet much of the anger against Wall Street is justified, if misdirected — even reflecting a vaguely classical-liberal class consciousness. In cahoots with the politicians, these giant firms are indeed ripping off the middle class and poorer Americans. Today's political economy resembles some form of fascism more than the free-enterprise system, and of the businesses with a hand in colluding with the state in advancement of corporatism, those being targeted by the protesters for special animus are probably among the guiltiest. Some of the activists, waving signs in opposition to bailouts, war, and police abuses, are carrying a libertarian message.

CONTINUE READING

Is the Federal Reserve Constitutional?

2011-10-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It is in charge of printing money, issuing bonds and setting interest rates for those bonds. Article 1, Section 8 says, "The Congress shall have Power ... to coin Money, regulate the Value thereof." The Federal Reserve is never mentioned. Has it always been this way? Does any other country do this? How did the Federal Reserve get its power over our currency and our economy? And the issue so many are interested in today: is the Federal Reserve constitutional?

Has it always been this way?

At the dawn of the Republic our first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton issued several reports which in many ways set the tone and pointed the way for the development of America in the economic sphere. His first report on the public credit recommended that the new central government not only honor the debts contracted under the original government as established under the Articles of Confederation but that it also assume the war debts of the States. This recommendation was followed by Congress and the Washington administration created what has evolved into a permanent national debt. CONTINUE READING

What Constitutionalism Means

2011-09-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

Soon after Texas governor Rick Perry announced his presidential campaign, a few websites, mostly liberal, compiled a list of the constitutional amendments he has at various times touted. He has spoken favorably about amendments to end the lifetime tenure of federal judges, to allow supermajorities of Congress to overturn Supreme Court decisions, to repeal the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Amendments (which established, respectively, the income tax and the direct election of senators), to limit federal spending, to define marriage in American law as the union of a man and a woman, and to prohibit abortion.

Liberals responded, either explicitly or implicitly, with a comment that was partly a question and partly a taunt: Why are conservatives, who place so much emphasis on fidelity to the Constitution, so keen on changing it? It is a point they have also made during recent debates over the proposed balanced-budget amendment.

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Governments Don't Create Prosperity

2011-09-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Politicians say they create jobs, but they really don't. Or rather, they rarely create productive jobs. Government has no money of its own. All it does is take resources from one group and give them to another. The pharaohs might have claimed they created work when they ordered that pyramids be built, but think how much richer (and freer) the Egyptians would have been if they'd been allowed to pursue their own interests.

It's individuals in the marketplace who create real jobs -- when they have the protection of life and property under the rule of law.

Economic freedom is the key. The theory couldn't be more clear, and at this late date in human history, it shouldn't be necessary to rehearse the abundant evidence. Look at the various indexes that correlate economic freedom with economic growth. The healthiest economies are those with the most economic freedom. Unemployment is low in those places -- 3 percent in Hong Kong, 2 percent in Singapore, 5 percent in Australia. CONTINUE READING

Securing the Integrity of Our Elections

2011-09-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Laws requiring voters to present valid identification before casting their ballots are growing in popularity. Six states -Georgia, Indiana, Texas, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Kansas - have recently passed voter ID laws, and more have them under consideration.

Opponents of these laws have raised absurd objections, equating passage with the reimposition of Jim Crow and asserting that the real motive is to suppress voter turnout. Such rancorous attacks defy common sense and the views of the American people. Requiring voters to authenticate their identity is necessary to ensure the integrity and security of our election process.

Voter ID can help prevent impersonation fraud at the polls, voting under fictitious voter registrations, double voting by individuals registered in more than one state and voting by illegal aliens. As the U.S. Supreme Court recognized when it upheld Indiana’s voter ID law in 2008, “flagrant examples of such fraud have been documented throughout this Nation’s history by respected historians and journalists.”

That opinion was written by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Though one of the most liberal members of the Supreme Court, Justice Stevens had practiced law in Chicago before serving on the court. Small wonder he found the claim that voter fraud does not exist to be absurd. CONTINUE READING

Why is America Exceptional?

2011-09-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

In 1776, when America announced its independence as a nation, it was composed of thirteen colonies surrounded by hostile powers.

Today, the United States is a country of fifty states covering a vast continent. Its military forces are the most powerful in the world. Its economy produces almost a quarter of the world's wealth. The American people are among the most hard-working, church-going, affluent, and generous in the world.

Is America exceptional?

Every nation derives meaning and purpose from some unifying quality—an ethnic character, a common religion, a shared history. The United States is different. America was founded at a particular time, by a particular people, on the basis of particular principles about man, liberty, and constitutional government.

The American Revolution drew on old ideas. The United States is the product of Western civilization, shaped by Judeo-Christian culture and the political liberties inherited from Great Britain.

Yet the founding of the United States was also revolutionary. Not in the sense of replacing one set of rulers with another, or overthrowing the institutions of society, but in placing political authority in the hands of the people. CONTINUE READING

Governments Create Poor People

2011-09-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

What? There’s poverty in America? The latest statistics are in. The number of Americans living below the poverty line rose to a record 46 million in 2010, the largest in the 52 years since the Census Bureau has been publishing poverty estimates. How is this possible? The Great Society policies under Lyndon Johnson were supposed to eradicate poverty. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. The war on poverty became a war on the poor. Poverty was actually dropping when LBJ announced his program. Here’s what Ronald Reagan said in 1988 about the war on poverty:

What has all this money done? Well, too often it has only made poverty harder to escape. Federal welfare programs have created a massive social problem. With the best of intentions, government created a poverty trap that wreaks havoc on the very support system the poor need most to lift themselves out of poverty: the family. Dependency has become the one enduring heirloom, passed from one generation to the next, of too many fragmented families.

Trillions of dollars were pumped into programs designed to move people out of poverty into productivity. It didn’t work. Poverty was subsidized. When you subsidize something, you get more of it. If you pay people who do not work, more people will stop working. If you pay women who have children out of wedlock, you’ll get more illegitimate births. You don’t have to have a degree in economics from an Ivy League school to know this. In fact, if you do have a degree from of our nation’s most prestigious schools of economics, you probably don’t know this. CONTINUE READING

John Galt's Advice to Obama

2011-09-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

“Get out of the way.” With this statement, John Galt articulated the simple and necessary policy solution to the disastrous centrally-planned economy in Atlas Shrugged. It’s also sage advice that President Obama should consider before he unveils his latest jobs plan before the Joint Session of Congress tonight.

This advice is strikingly prescient as our nation’s economy moves ever-closer to mirroring the calamitous state of affairs that befell society in Rand’s novel.

During his two and half years in office, Obama has crushed the labor market with a pro-statist agenda, which includes ObamaCare, the stimulus package, coziness to Big Labor, crony capitalism, and green-energy initiatives.

Of these policies, ObamaCare poses the biggest obstacle to job creation. If it’s found constitutional, the employer-mandate, and thousands of pages of regulations and bureaucratic mandates will hammer businesses with exorbitant compliance costs. Making matters worse, the pending legal challenges are causing uncertainty that leaves the business community stagnant. It’s nearly impossible for businesses to plan for the future when they have no way of predicting the structure of their healthcare plan.

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Two Different Worlds

2011-09-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ideological clashes over particular laws, policies and programs often go far deeper. Those with opposing views of what is desirable for the future also tend to differ equally sharply as to what the reality of the present is. In other words, they envision two very different worlds.

A small but revealing example was a recent New York Times criticism of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs for not contributing to charity as much as the New York Times writer thought he should. The media in general are full of praise for business people and their companies for giving away substantial amounts of their wealth. Indeed, that is one of the few things for which many in the media praise businesses and the wealthy.

Americans in general — whether rich, poor or in between — have one of the most remarkable records for donating not only money but time to all sorts of charitable endeavors. Privately financed hospitals, colleges and innumerable other institutions abound in the United States, while they are rare to non-existent in many other countries, where such things are usually left to government or to religious organizations.

However, with charity as with everything else, it cannot simply be assumed that more is always better. A “safety net” can easily become a hammock. “Social justice” can easily become class warfare that polarizes a nation, while leading those at the bottom into the blind alley of resentments, no matter how many broad avenues of achievement may be available to them.

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What's Off the Table in 2012?

2011-09-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

What should we not expect during next summer's presidential campaign, given what was put off-limits in 2008 and later?

There is much talk about what some are perceiving as the fringe religiosity of possible Republican primary candidates such as Michele Bachman and Rick Perry. But the media established the precedent four years ago that no candidate can be held responsible for his church. Barack Obama's pastor of more than 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was an unapologetic racist and anti-Semite, and a raving conspiracy theorist whose parishioners gave him standing ovations for his hate-filled "G-d damn America" rants.

Prior education and college preparation should not be 2012 issues either. Recent articles have referred to a leaked Texas A&M undergraduate transcript of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, showing some dismal grades and thus apparent proof that Perry was not much of a past student -- or current thinker. But in this regard, Obama has never released either his Occidental or Columbia transcripts. In response, the media in 2008 shrugged and chose not to pursue the matter the way it had with the C-grade records of George W. Bush, Al Gore and John Kerry. Apparently Obama has established another wise precedent that long-ago college transcripts, like churchgoing, are irrelevant.

Civility is off the table, too. Candidate Obama once called sitting president Bush "unpatriotic" for borrowing $4 trillion in eight years -- a sum he matched in less than three. He advised Latinos to "punish our enemies" and mocked opponents for wanting to put "alligators and moats" on the border. Obama's advisors reportedly promised to "Kill Romney." So civility is out the window, and 2012 will once again be a typically American no-holds-barred slugfest of anything goes from both sides.
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What Is a Dollar?

2011-08-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

When the House committee on financial services met in March to hear testimony from the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, all eyes were on Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. After Republicans won control of the House last year, Paul acceded to the chairmanship of the subcommittee on monetary policy, which has direct oversight of the Fed. A physician by trade and a libertarian by conviction, Paul had emerged over a long career in Congress as the leading proponent of sound money; for more than 30 years, he had been waiting to play a central role in the nation's monetary debate. So eager was Paul to open up the topic that it took him some 670 words to get his question out.

The congressman noted the Fed's legal responsibility to strive for stable prices and full employment, and offered a review that illuminated the instability on both fronts since the early 1970s. He discoursed on the symbiotic relationship through which the Fed and the Congress have been facilitating government spending. He spoke about the importance of a "measurement of value," and asserted that the value of the stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average had plunged to eight ounces of gold from 44 in 2000. He reported that he was unable to find a definition of the dollar in the United States Code and wondered how the Fed could manage its task without a definition of the national unit of account. He therefore concluded his remarks with a simple question: "[W]hat is your definition of a dollar?" CONTINUE READING

The Language of Socialism

2011-08-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

There are a few key phrases that tell you precisely where someone stands on the political spectrum. If someone invokes "social justice," you can guarantee he or she voted for Obama, even though everyone on earth is presumably for justice in all of its forms. If someone preaches "women's rights," you know he or she supports abortion, even though the rights of the women have nothing to do with whether or not they can kill their unborn child. The left has claimed these terms, and we all know it.

Then there are terms that are deeply political in orientation, but have not yet been co-opted by either side. One of the more pernicious phrases is the "less fortunate." Politicians on both sides of the aisle routinely utilize this phrase in place of the impolitic "poor" or the dated "lower class."

President Obama, for example, ripped Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan as evidence that Republicans think they have "no obligation to people who are less fortunate." President Bush used the same phrase in 2008, when he announced that the United States has a responsibility to help "those less fortunate around the world."
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Social Degeneration Ruining America and the West

2011-08-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

The orgies of violent attacks against strangers on the streets — in both England and the United States — are not necessarily just passing episodes. They should be wake-up calls, warning of the continuing degeneration of Western society.

As British doctor and author Theodore Dalrymple said, long before these riots broke out, “the good are afraid of the bad and the bad are afraid of nothing.”

Not only the trends over the years leading up to these riots but also the squeamish responses to them by officials — on both sides of the Atlantic — reveal the moral dry rot that has spread deep into Western societies.

Even when black youth gangs target white strangers on the streets and spew out racial hatred as they batter them and rob them, mayors, police chiefs and the media tiptoe around their racism and many in the media either don’t cover these stories or leave out the race and racism involved.

In England, the government did not call out the troops to squash their riots at the outset. The net result was that young hoodlums got to rampage and loot for hours, while the police struggled to try to contain the violence. Hoodlums returned home with loot from stores with impunity, as well as bringing home with them a contempt for the law and for the rights of other people. CONTINUE READING

How the Stimulus Racket Works

2011-08-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that the failed policies of politicians never really seem to be brought to light? How is it that despite their obvious shortcomings, the same policies are implemented time and time again? These interventions rarely have the promised effects, but they are somehow still deemed a success. In his book The Vision of the Anointed, Thomas Sowell explains the process by which politicians and their supporters are able to either create or take advantage of crises in order to increase their involvement in society. I thought it would be worthwhile to review this pattern as it applies to a more recent issue: the stimulus and bailout packages.

Starting with President Bush, and continuing into President Obama's term, the US government has paid out more than $11 trillion in stimulus money. Remarkably, there are many who believe that amount still wasn't sufficient. This article will show that both presidents believed the additional government intervention would solve our economic problems, not realizing that it was exactly that type of thinking that had led to the problems in the first place. The stimulus package has already passed through Dr. Sowell's pattern of failure, making it an excellent example for review. In even more current issues, such as the debt-ceiling increase, we are already beginning to see the early phases of the pattern. It is important that we understand this pattern so that we can identify and oppose measures that are contrary to the principles of true economic progress.
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Questions For A Nation That Has Lost Its Way

2011-08-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

A new poll shows that 73% of Americans think our country is on the wrong track.

Are you one of the seventy-three percenters?

The poll from Reuters/Ipsos Public Relations was conducted between August 4 and August 8. Given the turmoil over the federal government “debt deal,” the downgrade of federal government debt, and the dramatic shifts in the global stock markets during this period, it’s not surprising that the “wrong track” figure leaped ten percentage points – up from 63% - compared to the same poll conducted exactly one month prior.

What was a bit surprising, however, was that this relatively high percentage of Americans reported “wrong track” status for the country, despite the fact that there were slightly more registered Democrats surveyed than there were registered Republicans. Given that Democrat ideology rules the U.S. Senate and the White House, it would make sense that registered Democrats in America would be more pleased with the leadership of their fellow Democrats who hold elective office.

But if the United States is on the wrong track – if our nation has truly lost its way - then a couple of other questions should follow: A) what is the “right track” for America? And B) How will we know when we’re “on” it? CONTINUE READING

National Popular Vote

2011-08-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

California Gov. Jerry Brown believes that "the occupant of the White House should be the candidate who wins the most votes." On Monday, he signed a bill that could hand the state's 55 electoral votes not to the candidate who wins California, but to the candidate who wins the most votes nationally.

If states representing a majority of electoral votes -- the magic number is 270 -- pass similar legislation, the California bill will activate. To date, eight states and the District of Columbia -- representing 132 electoral votes -- have passed laws to join an interstate popular-vote compact. (The beauty of the interstate compact, proponents argue, is that it does not require a hard-to-muster amendment to the Constitution, as the compact still allows states to choose how their electors vote.)
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A Dangerous Debt Ceiling Deal

2011-08-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

The deep cuts in defense spending envisioned in the just-announced debt ceiling deal[1] raise a fundamental question for Americans: Will we let a deal stand that promises to end American security as we know it? Or will Americans demand that the deal, born of crisis-driven politics in Washington, be abandoned as they come to understand what is at stake?

The deal promises to raise the debt ceiling by the highest amount ever—more than $2 trillion—while reducing spending by close to $1 trillion over the next decade.[2] It envisions 6 percent and 7.5 percent cuts in defense spending from the President’s budget request in February for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, respectively. It sets a non-binding goal of $1.5 trillion worth of deficit reduction to be recommended by the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, which the legislation creates.

If Congress does not enact a sufficient deficit-reduction plan by this December, the deal calls for an automatic sequestration that would authorize making half of the cuts only in security spending,[3] with the bulk coming out of the Department of Defense. Thus a single federal agency—one that is actually doing a good job and serving a constitutionally mandated role—will have to bear nearly the same amount of cuts as all the remaining domestic agencies combined, including Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Interior, Energy, Justice, and Labor. CONTINUE READING

The Corrupt Bargain

2011-08-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

In American History slogans, catch phrases, and grand titles have often come to serve as signposts marking out eras and pointing the way to popular notions of what passes for an understanding of the national mood or circumstance in a particular period of time. Examples include: "Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute!" a slogan which spurred us on to our first undeclared war against the Barbary Pirates. "Remember the Maine!" a slogan used by the newspapers at the end of the nineteenth century to gin up support for a war against Spain, and a war which launched the United States as a colonial power. "The Square Deal," the "New Deal," the "Fair Deal," and the "Great Society" all designate government programs aimed at the redistribution of wealth, and of course "Camelot" immediately brings forth visions of the youthful, inspiring, inept, and immoral Kennedy years.

In an effort to advance the cause of verbal economy by recycling a catch phrase from the past, I propose that we label House Speaker John Boehner's proposed plan for raising the debt limit as "The Corrupt Bargain."

Looking back the original Corrupt Bargain refers to the compromise which defeated a hero, elected a president, and ultimately led to that president's defeat.

In 1824, as today, America's political system was under unbearable stress. There were two major political parties; the Federalists who were the political descendants of Hamilton and the centralized government party and the Democratic-Republicans who were the political heirs of Jefferson and the Anti-Federalists
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Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics

2011-07-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.

These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.

The Pew Research analysis finds that, in percentage terms, the bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than whites. From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households, compared with just 16% among white households.
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Sustaining the Unsustainable

2011-07-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

The tea party, the most welcome political development since the Goldwater insurgency in 1964, lacks only the patience necessary when America lacks the consensus required to propel fundamental change through our constitutional system of checks and balances. If Washington's trajectory could be turned as quickly as tea partyers wish -- while conservatives control only one-half of one of the two political branches -- their movement would not be as necessary as it is. Fortunately, not much patience is required.

The Goldwater impulse took 16 years to reach fruition in the election of Ronald Reagan. The tea party can succeed in 16 months by helping elect a president who will not veto necessary reforms. To achieve that, however, tea partyers must not help the incumbent achieve his objectives in the debt-ceiling dispute.

One of those is to strike a splashy bargain involving big -- but hypothetical and nonbinding -- numbers. This would enable President Obama to run away from his record and run as a debt-reducing centrist. Another Obama objective is tax increases that shatter Republican unity and dampen the tea party's election-turning intensity. Because he probably can achieve neither, he might want market chaos in coming days so Republicans henceforth can be cast as complicit in the wretched recovery that is his administration's ugly signature. CONTINUE READING

New GOP Contemplates Suicide by Open Caucus in 2012

2011-07-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Once “Republicans” are sold on “Democracy,” we really do have only one side of the political aisle and one political party.

From Article IV – Section IV of the U.S. Constitution – “The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.”

Who told Republicans that we are a democracy? It wasn’t Thomas Jefferson, who said quite plainly - “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” – It’s actually worse than Jefferson stated. Today, democracy is where 30% of the people can and do run roughshod over 70% who stand opposed, just because 70% are too decent and ill-formed to even realize they are at war with the 30% seeking a very different form of government, one based on free-stuff at the expense of freedom.

Even Karl Marx, the father of socialism, was quite clear on the subject - “Democracy is the road to socialism.” – Yet, most Americans have been indoctrinated to believe that America is a democracy instead of a Constitutional Representative Republic and there is a day and night difference between the two. As a result, many modern day (big tent) Republicans fight for the wrong things today, as they proclaim adherence to principles and values that they don’t even know. CONTINUE READING

The Destruction of the American Economy

2011-07-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

For those American Taxpayers mad about the Wall Street Bailouts, mad about the free falling economy, mad that the unemployment rate is skyrocketing, mad at your depleted 401K portfolios, this is a must read article.

This article will expose everything dirty about Wall Street and our Market Regulators. The crimes committed by the Wall Street Financial Banks/Brokers that lead to the Credit Crisis will be exposed. Crimes that our leaders in Washington and our Market Regulators are so desperately trying to hide from public view.

This report will detail all aspects of the Credit Crisis. You will learn that the Credit Crisis was caused by a combination of risky leveraged derivative bets, which are simply bank gambling debts and by the counterfeiting of stock securities, known as Naked Shorting. This report will detail who participated in these actions, this report will Name Names!

You will learn why the bailout of the banks will ultimately cost American Taxpayers tens of trillions of dollars more then what our leaders are currently forecasting. You will learn what the devastating effects the bailouts will have on our future and our children’s future. CONTINUE READING

Democratic Socialism

2011-07-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Paraphrasing the noted economist and philosopher F.A. Hayek, Future Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger wrote, "There is no difference in principle, between the economic philosophy of Nazism, socialism, communism, and fascism and that of the American welfare state and regulated economy."

Not only is there no economic distinction between socialist systems in different political wrappers, ultimately there is no consequential societal distinction between Marxist Socialism, Nationalist Socialism, or the most recent incarnation of this beast, Democratic Socialism. The conclusion of socialism by any name, once it has replaced Rule of Law with the rule of men, is tyranny.

Noted Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, no stranger to the consequences of statism, wrote, "Socialism of any type leads to a total destruction of the human spirit." CONTINUE READING

It's Now or Never

2011-07-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Another week has come and gone, and our government still cannot agree on a plan for addressing America's impending financial disaster. Each day, Wall Street and Main Street draw closer to the brink while the Poobahs on the Potomac concern themselves with political angles and public relations strategies. To say we are witnessing politics as usual is an understatement. What is occurring in Washington today is politics on steroids. The fact that our representatives have allowed the country's financial situation to deteriorate to this point is a testament to how out of touch with reality they are. Even now they seem to be operating under the deluded assumption that there is a painless path out of the financial quagmire America has gotten itself into.

We are in for a rude awakening.

Truth be told, it will be impossible to undo the damage that's been done to our government, our economy, and our culture without significant sacrifice, prolonged hardship, and a radical attitude adjustment. CONTINUE READING

The UN is After Your Guns

2011-07-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

A UN committee wrapped up a week-long series of meetings on a massive treaty that could undermine both U.S. sovereignty and the Second Amendment. This is the third round of meetings by the so-called “preparatory committee” on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) as the UN gears up for final negotiations in 2012.

The most comprehensive treaty of its kind, the ATT would regulate weapons trade throughout the world on everything from battleships to bullets.

And as information trickles out of Turtle Bay in New York City, it is obvious the UN is getting more clever about taking the focus off of “small arms.”

With an eye cast in the direction of the U.S.—in particular, toward the U.S. Senate which must ratify the treaty—the most recent Draft Paper for the Arms Trade Treaty recognizes in its preamble “the sovereign right of States to determine any regulation of internal transfers of arms and national ownership exclusively within their territory, including through national constitutional protections on private ownership.” Click Here for Full Story

A Dumb and Dumber War in Libya.

2011-07-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Almost daily over the last four months we were told that Muammar Gadhafi was about ready to throw in the towel and give up.

Libya, after all, is not a distant Afghanistan or Iraq with a population of some 30 million. Yet this tiny police state of less than 7 million people, conveniently located on the Mediterranean Sea opposite nearby Europe, continues to thwart the three great powers of the NATO alliance and thousands of "Arab Spring" rebels.

In March, President Obama ordered the use of American bombers and cruise missiles to join in with the French and British to finish off the tottering Gadhafi regime. Obama was apparently stung by liberal criticism that the U.S. had done little to help rebels in their weeks-long effort to remove Gadhafi -- after only belatedly supporting the successful revolutionaries in Tunisia and Egypt.

Months ago, intervention to the Obama administration seemed a short, painless way of ridding the world of a decades-long international menace while gaining praise for helping "democratic" reformers. Oil, of course, is always a subtext in any Middle Eastern war. CONTINUE READING

Time For Free-market Populism From The GOP

2011-07-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

President Obama, ignoring his own calls to leave rhetoric at the door, has relied on populist demagoguery throughout the debt-ceiling negotiations. But given the President's record of bailouts, his dedication to corporate-welfare handouts, and his calendar filled with $35,800-a-plate fundraisers, Republicans ought to take the populist cudgel from Obama and use it against Democrats.

Obama reached the height of misleading populist bombast at the Twitter town hall last week when he accused Republicans of using the debt ceiling "as a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners, or oil and gas companies that are making billions of dollars because the price of gasoline has gone up so high." CONTINUE READING

The Government’s War On Your Cameras

2011-07-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Jerome Vorus was taking pictures of the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. last July when he decided to snap some photographs of a routine traffic stop.

Little did he know he would soon find himself detained by police for photographing them without permission. Of course, Vorus was well within his rights, but he still had to wait an hour and a half before the officers released him.

Vorus filed a lawsuit last week against the District of Columbia and the four police officers involved in his detainment, claiming his Fourth and First Amendment rights were violated. He is being represented in his case by the American Civil Liberties Union.

There have been numerous cases like Vorus’ recently, where citizens are being detained, arrested or intimidated for documenting police activity or even just taking photos of government buildings Click Here for Full Story

Gross Media Ignorance

2011-07-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

There's little that's intelligent or informed about Time magazine editor Richard Stengel's article "One Document, Under Siege" (June 23, 2011). It contains many grossly ignorant statements about our Constitution. If I believed in conspiracies, I'd say Stengel's article is part of a leftist agenda to undermine respect for the founding values of our nation.

Stengel says: "The framers were not gods and were not infallible. Yes, they gave us, and the world, a blueprint for the protection of democratic freedoms -- freedom of speech, assembly, religion -- but they also gave us the idea that a black person was three-fifths of a human being, that women were not allowed to vote and that South Dakota should have the same number of Senators as California, which is kind of crazy. And I'm not even going to mention the Electoral College." CONTINUE READING

Why We Need Rich People

2011-07-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

The rich often get a bum rap. Liberals are incensed when it is suggested that “the rich” get any type of tax reduction even though the top 50% of wage earners pay 96% of all income taxes. Since they spend more money, the rich also pay a disproportionate amount in sales, property, entertainment, and excise taxes. Without the rich, most people would not have jobs.

The first computer my company purchased in the mid-1980s cost $7500. That’s about $21,000 today. It was huge and could only perform a few simple tasks, mostly word processing. The floppy disks were the size of dinner plates and held very little data (360k). Almost overnight, computer prices dropped and performance levels increased dramatically. Click Here for Full Story

Why Legalize Now?

2011-07-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Suddenly the world is abuzz with talk about legalizing marijuana and other drugs. Political candidates, politicians, former presidents, interest groups, and even the Global Commission on Drug Policy are all calling for drug-policy reform. Given that we are in a worldwide economic and fiscal crisis, why is everyone interested in drug policy? Have we all suddenly regained our senses and realized that prohibition is irrational?

No, the more important reason for the interest in this issue is economic sense. Drug prohibition is a burden on taxpayers. It is a burden on government budgets. It is a burden on the criminal-justice system. It is a burden on the healthcare system. The economic crisis has intensified the pain from all these burdens. Legalization reduces or eliminates all of these burdens. It should be no surprise that alcohol prohibition was repealed at the deepest depths of the Great Depression. Click Here for Full Story

How Destructively Disingenuous Can They Get?

2011-07-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

As if the American public’s tolerance for political chicanery hasn’t been tested beyond the breaking point, now comes news that several shyster Progressives and Democrats are floating the notion that the debt ceiling is – get this – unconstitutional. Far be it from me to ask, but why is it the only time Progressives and Democrats concern themselves with the constitutionality of issues is when its concern their ability to spend money?

US Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) – you remember him, he’s the candidate that Delawareans deemed better suited to represent them than Christine O’Donnell; the one who wrote an article for his college newspaper, entitled “Chris Coons: The Making of a Bearded Marxist” – is quoted as saying:

“This is an issue that’s been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default...I don’t think, as of a couple weeks ago, when this was first raised, it was seen as a pressing option. But I’ll tell you that it’s going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, ‘Is there some way to save us from ourselves?’”

Great choice, Delawareans...you should be proud. Click Here for Full Story

Blagojevich Convicted, But Was He Really Guilty?

2011-06-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

The conviction of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich represents a courtroom victory for United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald after a series of defeats, but to get this win, Fitzgerald had to convince a jury that sharp-elbowed politics is something for which a man should spend time in prison.

The most controversial charge Blagojevich faced was that he planned to sell Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. But Fitzgerald decided to come out swinging, terminated the wiretaps on Blagojevich’s home and office, arrested the then-sitting governor, held a sensational press conference, and called it a wrap before this alleged sale would have even taken place. Fitzgerald was obviously unwilling to wait out the unfolding situation to see if the governor was really serious about “selling” the seat to the highest bidder. Click Here for Full Story

The United States and the Policy of Targeted Killing

2011-06-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

United States policy on targeted killings in the war on terror made headlines with the May 2011 raid by the Navy SEALs in the heart of Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. The SEALs were previously involved in commando actions of this type against other senior al-Qaeda figures. In September 2009, a SEALs team killed Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, an al-Qaeda commander in Somalia, in a land operation that was carried out in Somalia. Nabhan was the partner of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who was killed two weeks ago by Somali security forces.

Fazul was sought by the United States for his involvement in the 1998 al-Qaeda suicide attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as the operational chief on the ground, and for his involvement as a commander, alongside Nabhan, in the coordinated al-Qaeda terror attack in Kenya in 2002. This attack included the attempted use of an anti-aircraft missile to shoot down an Arkia passenger plane departing from Kenya to Israel, at the same time that a suicide attack, which killed fifteen people, including three Israelis, was underway in the Mombasa Paradise Hotel. Another important object of US targeted killings was Ilyas Kashmiri, who was killed in early June in an aerial operation. Kashmiri was also in al-Qaeda’s external branch unit and was a senior operational commander in a Pakistani jihad organization. His name was tied to fatal terrorist attacks executed and planned in India, Pakistan, and Europe. CONTINUE READING

The Real Reason the USSR Fell

2011-06-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

This article entitled, Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Is Wrong (And why it matters today in a new age of revolution) is interesting simply for the sheer scope of its ambition. The author Leon Aron, is director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute and has also written a forthcoming book, Roads to the Temple: Truth, Memory, Ideas, and Ideals in the Making of the Russian Revolution, 1987-1991. Presumably the article is drawn from the book.

Why analyze this article? It is a meme in the making, in our view. The sub dominant social theme here is that the USSR collapsed because it is corrupt. The subtitle of the article is "Why it matters today in a new age of revolution." This implies that the same process that undermined the USSR is undermining the countries in African and the Middle East. Here's some more from the article: CONTINUE READING

Ideological Chasm Over Interpreting Constitution

2011-06-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

As the Supreme Court's current term concludes, public opinion is evenly divided about how the justices should interpret the Constitution when determining their rulings. Half of Americans (50%) say the Court's rulings should be based on its understanding of what the U.S. Constitution means in current times, while about as many (45%) say rulings should be based on its understanding of what the Constitution meant as originally written.

Few issues are as politically or ideologically divisive as how the Constitution should be interpreted. In the Pew Research Center's political typology survey, released May 4, 70% of Republicans said the Supreme Court should base its rulings on its understanding of the Constitution as originally written; 65% of Democrats said the Court should base its rulings on what the Constitution means today.
CONTINUE READING

Mega-Scandal: Was ‘Gunwalker’ a PR Op for Gun Control?

2011-06-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

The most damning revelations coming out of the hearings on Operation Fast and Furious held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are the unmistakable indications that the program was never designed to succeed as a law enforcement operation at all.

A quartet of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents and supervisors turned into whistleblowers to bring the operation down, but only after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down in the Arizona desert. Two of the weapons recovered at the scene of Terry’s murder were traced to the operation.

Fast and Furious, also known by the more accurate “Gunwalker,” allowed known straw purchasers to buy large quantities of firearms — often a dozen or more semi-automatic rifles — at a time with the full knowledge of ATF agents and executives. The guns were then smuggled into Mexico, as frustrated front-line ATF agents watched, under strict orders to do nothing. CONTINUE READING

Democrat Political Exercise: Bend and Stretch the Law

2011-06-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Unless you've been safely tucked away in a cave on the dark side of the moon for the past 200 years, you probably know that Democrats invented election fraud. The most recent example of their talent and expertise was the special election in New York's 26th Congressional District, where a far left Democrat masqueraded as a Tea Party candidate. Correctly counting on the laziness of voters to know who they are actually voting for -- does "Barak Hussein Obama" ring a bell? -- he managed to garner nine percent of the conservative vote, allowing the openly declared liberal Democrat to win.

So, it looks like they want to play hardball. Well, turnabout is fair play, is it not? Here is an idea for a strategy that is completely legal, but can cause havoc, disarray, and financial disaster among Democrats.

Let us start putting up our own candidates in Democrat primaries. It's not all that difficult to get on primary ballots. It usually involves coming up with a few thousand dollars and a few thousand petition signatures, sometimes less, depending on where and what office is being run for. The candidates can run on any platform they think will garner votes, radical, liberal, moderate, conservative, whatever. As most Democrats, and lots of Republicans, too, have shown, lying through your teeth is not a problem. There is no law, either, that says you have to be sincere about wanting to get elected, or really, anything else. CONTINUE READING

Repeal the Drinking Age

2011-06-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

Somehow, and no one seems to even imagine how, this country managed to survive and thrive before 1984 without a national minimum drinking age. Before that, the drinking question was left to the states.

In the 19th century, and looking back even before — prepare yourself to imagine horrific anarchistic nightmares — there were no drinking laws anywhere, so far as anyone can tell. The regulation of drinking and age was left to society, which is to say families, churches, and communities with varying sensibilities who regulated such things with varying degrees of intensity. Probably some kids drank themselves silly — and we all know that this doesn't happen now (wink, wink) — but many others learned to drink responsibly from an early age, even drinking bourbon for breakfast.

Really, it is only because we are somehow used to it that we accept the complete absurdity of a national law that prohibits the sale of beer, wine, and liquor to anyone under the age of 21. This is a restriction unknown in the developed world. Most countries set 18 as the limit, and countries like Germany and Austria allow 16-year-olds to buy wine and beer. In the home of the brave, the police are busting up teen parties, shutting down bars, hectoring restaurants, fining convenience stores, and otherwise bullying people into clean living. We read the news and think: crazy kids, they shouldn't be doing this. CONTINUE READING

The Case against Raising the Debt Ceiling

2011-06-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

A recent NPR story on the debt ceiling seeks to correct the American public's "misunderstanding" of the issue. But as we'll see, whether through ignorance or deception, the analyst on whom the story relies makes claims about the debt ceiling that are simply not true. It turns out that the public's gut reaction to politicians' piling on ever more red ink is right after all.
Click Here for Full Story

Where's the Outrage?

2011-06-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

In the best line of a lackluster campaign Bob Dole challenged the voters who were swallowing the liberal line of the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media. At the time they were carrying the water for Bill Clinton in the 1996 election. By that time Mr. Clinton's Bimbo Eruptions and complete lack of ethics had become common knowledge but the unengaged in fly-over country were lapping up the Clinton mantra "Character Doesn't Matter" and preparing to not vote in droves.

Today we face a crisis that is more pertinent to the beating heart of American liberty than whether or not the President is or is not a morally challenged serial abuser of women or what "is" means. Today we again face a challenge that was also presented to us by Mr. Clinton twelve years ago when he waged in an unconstitutional wag-the-dog air war against Yugoslavia that even some of his supporters speculated was more about diverting attention from his Oval Office escapades than anything else.

This re-run of Clinton's war by decree prompts this writer to ask: Who has the right to commit America to war? Who has the right to send our soldiers into harm's way? Does America go to war by the act of Congress or by the whim of the Executive?
Click Here for Full Story

The Incremental Assault on Liberty

2011-06-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Not so long ago, preceding the renewal of the Patriot Act by Congress, Sen. Rand Paul crafted a video explaining why he was opposed to renewing the Patriot Act. Subsequently, he offered 2 amendments to correct the more egregious violations of the Constitution perpetrated by the Patriot Act and delivered an impassioned defense of his position on the Senate floor. Plain and simple, Senator Paul believes in individual freedom: it is sacrosanct, it is enshrined in and protected by the Constitution. In addition, the American people have the means to redress that which violates individual freedom, even if it means taking up arms to defend that liberty. As we now know, Sen. Paul lost his fight and the Patriot Act has been extended by Congress. I would contend that he was right to stand up and oppose the extension of the Patriot Act, while I must also concede that the Patriot Act has yielded some benefit in our defense against terrorism. However, the Patriot Act as merely one form of attack on individual freedoms occurring in our nation. There is a growing host of even more egregious bootprints being placed on the necks of Americans. Many of these intrusions are local, county-wide, or state-wide in scope. Considered together with the Patriot Act, I am concerned there seems an emerging pattern of government overreach, seeking more power and thus, more control over our lives. Consider these few examples of the increasing reach of the government, gleaned from the news of just the past few weeks. CONTINUE READING

The Ash Heap of History

2011-06-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

For over half of a millennium, the lands encompassing present-day Ethiopia and portions of both Sudan and Somalia have been a source of deep and abiding mystery. It is a land steeped in religious and mystical significance, said by some to be the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the home of one of the biblical magi.[1] In addition, many archeologists and explorers have independently uncovered evidence that a complex civilization — the kingdom of the Aksumites (or Auxumites) — once thrived there, but disappeared suddenly.

Much about them remains obscure to this day. Investigative efforts have been undertaken throughout the last century, a recent one culminating in the publication of Dr. Stuart Munro-Hay's comprehensive Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity in 1991. In the foreword of the book, he affirms that a good number of contemporary archeologists knew nothing of the Aksumites, and even many African history books don't have a chapter on them, dedicating at most a few pages to the subject.
CONTINUE READING

The Economic Foundations of Freedom

2011-05-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Animals are driven by instinctive urges. They yield to the impulse that prevails at the moment and peremptorily asks for satisfaction. They are the puppets of their appetites.

Man's eminence is to be seen in the fact that he chooses between alternatives. He regulates his behavior deliberatively. He can master his impulses and desires; he has the power to suppress wishes the satisfaction of which would force him to renounce the attainment of more important goals. In short: man acts; he purposively aims at ends chosen. This is what we have in mind in stating that man is a moral person, responsible for his conduct. CONTINUE READING

Think Tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Reporting

2011-05-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity provides journalists the opportunity to investigate and report on the stories that matter. We provide a place for the growing network of reporters to get training, editorial assistance, communications help and a virtual newsroom where reporters join together to discuss their stories and ask questions of each other. The network of journalists includes investigative and statehouse news reporters based at SPN think tanks, local nonprofits and independent reporters across the country.

The Franklin Center's growth in only two years is a testament to terrific news content, and the desperate need for this type of journalism. In the first year, the network grew to include reporters in 30 states. By the end of 2010, 41 states had reporters and 2011 promises more expansion and successes.

Consider this success story. In September 2009, Kathy Hoekstra found herself using assets from the Mackinac Center and the Franklin Center to investigate a union daycare scandal that was shocking the daycare industry. The story originated from a lawsuit filed by the newly-formed Mackinac Center Legal Foundation on behalf of two home-daycare owners in Michigan. About a year before, the women received notification in the mail that they were now members of a union, and that dues would be taken out of the subsidy checks they received on behalf of low-income parents, who qualify for aid through the Michigan Department of Human Services.
CONTINUE READING

Study Hayek's Road to Serfdom

2011-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

When Friedrich A. Hayek published his classic book, The Road to Serfdom, in 1944 he was loudly denounced by academic statist apologists in England, where he resided at the time, and in America. In the preface to the 1976 edition of the book, Hayek noted that a prominent philosopher even denounced the book despite admitting that he had not read it! But average citizens did read it. The book was a gigantic success in America, quickly selling over half a million copies. Millions of copies of a condensed Reader's Digest version of the book were also sold and widely read.

The court historians in academe were not concerned about Hayek's age-old warnings about the dangers that centralized political power posed to liberty and prosperity, for they intended to be beneficiaries of that power as well-paid advisers to the state. Millions of average citizens were not as enthusiastic — especially Americans who, during the war, had experienced oppressive and confiscatory taxation, the slavery of military conscription, government-imposed product rationing, pervasive shortages of basic staples, and endless bureaucratic bungling. CONTINUE READING

Time for America to Get Cyber-Serious

2011-05-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

The online threats facing America read like an ever-expanding encyclopedia of dangers to the freedoms, prosperity, and security of all Americans. Cybersecurity has become a crucial component of national security. Responses to cyber threats, however, have largely lagged because of a focus on technologies rather than the people behind the technologies.

Cyber competition is just one instrument that America’s enemies are using to undermine the common defense. To meet these challenges, the United States and its allies need to get cyber-serious. CONTINUE READING

Understanding Liberals

2011-05-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

The liberal vision of government is easily understood and makes perfect sense if one acknowledges liberals’ misunderstanding and implied assumptions about the sources of income. Their vision helps explain the language they use and policies they support, such as income redistribution and calls for the rich to give something back.

Suppose the true source of income was a gigantic pile of money meant to be shared equally among Americans. The reason some people have more money than others is because they got to the pile first and greedily took an unfair share. That being the case, justice requires that the rich give something back, and if they won't do so voluntarily, Congress should confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners.

A competing liberal implied assumption about the sources of income is that income is distributed, as in distribution of income. There might be a dealer of dollars. The reason why some people have more dollars than others is because the dollar dealer is a racist, a sexist, a multinationalist or a conservative.CONTINUE READING

Once Upon a Time in America

2011-05-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

One of the central national security questions of our time is whether a rising China will be a threat to the United States and the American-led international order. The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told Congress recently that China is the main threat to the United States. The Economist has proclaimed that the U.S. and China are "bound to be rivals." Niall Ferguson decries "the descent of the West" and power shifting to Asia. Martin Jacques’ latest book is titled When China Rules the World. And even level-headed liberal internationalist John Eikenberry considers the rise of China "one of the great dramas of the 21st century."

There are many reasons to be concerned about how a wealthier, more powerful China will behave on the international scene. Last year, China surpassed Japan as the world’s second largest economy. It also used its international clout to threaten states that acknowledged award of the Nobel peace prize to Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned Chinese dissident. It continues to defend the prerogatives of despots, especially those that have natural resources. Its defense spending has risen 12.9 percent annually for the past two decades—and the Chinese military behaves aggressively and may not be under the control of the country’s political leaders. China holds more than a trillion dollars in American debt and has begun publicly complaining about American economic policies and incentivizing use of the renminbi.
CONTINUE READING

Prosperity: Party, Principle and Politics

2011-05-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Unless you’ve been living in Abbottabad, you’ve probably noticed the price of gasoline is rising almost as fast as our national debt. How our government spends our money and how we decide to power our economy are two of the most pressing challenges facing our country. Despite the clear and present dangers presented by both challenges, elements of the Washington Establishment are still taking a business-as-usual approach.

When it comes to pain at the pump, we’re perilously close to breaking the record high set in July of 2008. If you will recall, the following months were none too pleasant; and with weak employment data and rising concerns over a double-dip in the housing market, Americans are understandably anxious. A new CNN poll found more than 80% of Americans believe the economy is in poor shape. CONTINUE READING

The “Reach, Power and Efficiency” of the American Military

2011-05-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

The reach is global, the power is both immense and immensely precise (President Obama was able to reject the bomb-it-to-smithereens option on Osama bin Laden’s compound in favor of the special operations raid), and the application of force produced exactly the outcome intended. Even more than its efficiency, the effectiveness of this very complex operation was astonishing; many television commentators tellingly contrasted it to Operation Eagle Claw, the ill-fated Iran hostage rescue attempt.

Reach, power, and effectiveness come with a price tag, however. At $700 billion per year when the costs of wartime operations are factored in, it’s not cheap. But at less than 5 percent of gross domestic product, it’s more than affordable and at a relatively low level by recent historical standards. Over five decades, Cold War annual budgets averaged half again as much. And when measured by the other costs to American society, such as the fact that the active duty force totals about one-half of one percent of the population, the U.S. military is a bargain that cannot be beat.
CONTINUE READING

Truth Justice and the American Way

2011-04-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Who in their wildest dreams ever thought we would see a headline that says, "China Urges U.S. to Protect Creditors"? For those of us who grew up in an America that was the undisputed leader of the free world locked in the Herculean task of containing the godless hordes of the Communist East, an America that was the largest manufacturer, largest creditor, and the economic engine that drove the world's economy until recently it was unimaginable. We watched as America fought wars around the edges of the creeping red menace. We worked to elect the leaders and pay the taxes that built a 600 ship navy, the best equipped armies in history, and the Space Based Initiative all of which eventually convinced even the Soviets that their centrally-planned monstrosity couldn't compete as it collapsed of its own weight. CONTINUE READING

Liberalism's Death Croak

2011-04-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

While inspecting the body politic, one encounters one clear sign that liberalism is dead. It is the condition of our political discourse. Polite commentators note that the dialogue is "rancorous." Some say toxic. Actually, it is worse than that. It is nonexistent.

From the right, from the sophisticated right, there is an attempt to engage the liberals. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan just did it by presenting a budget that cried out for intelligent response. President Barack Obama's response was to invite Ryan to sit in the front row for his "fiscal policy" speech at George Washington University. There Obama heaped scorn on an astonished Ryan and his work. He did not even mention Ryan's name. This is what Obama calls an "adult" debate? CONTINUE READING

Bad Assumptions Lead to Bad Policies

2011-04-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

What is so terribly interesting about bad governments is that they are as self-deceiving as they are deceptive. The straightforward clarity of Orwell's Oceania with its apparatchiks who knew exactly what the system was about and how evil it was, is woefully lacking in our own apparatchiks who assemble the most ridiculous plans out of the tissue paper of their own consensus and then goggle when it all comes apart on them. Whatever evil they harbor within themselves is outdone time and time again by their own stupidity.

Libya is a case in point. We are now loosely involved in a civil war in Libya on the side of the losing side. An engagement engineered by the brightest leaders the West had to offer. Forget dullards like Bush, Blair and Chirac-- the new generation weren't going to let themselves get caught out that way. These were sharp men, brainy boys who had gone to the right schools, Harvard, Oxford, Sciences Po. Surely they could draw on the lessons of history. CONTINUE READING

Brother, Can You Spare A Trillion?: Government Gone Wild!

2011-04-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

THIS VIDEO MOVED TO THE VIDEO LIBRARY SECTION OF THE BLOG

The Final Enslavement of Mankind

2011-04-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Charges of a conspiracy theory are a convenient pretext to dismiss criticism when the global financial elites meet to shape the next evolution of centralized control of all economic activity. When Mayer Amschel Rothschild admitted, "Give me the power of the money and it will not matter anymore who is commanding", he exposed the true nature of international finance. The new front man for the shadow masters of money is George Soros. His visibility is used to deflect attention away from the supra national circle of recluse manipulators, who set the agenda for globalism. The history of world politics is really the chronicle of money, debt and banking. Only by understanding this clash of titans, can one interpret the language of worldwide finance.
CONTINUE READING

US Is Broke, Failing, But Show Goes On

2011-04-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

In his recent speech, US President Barack Obama pledged to pare the projected deficit by $4 trillion in the next 12 years, and to raise taxes on America's wealthiest Americans. His presentation was reported seriously and gravely by the mainstream media that must be aware, nonetheless, that total US obligations are in the area of US$200 trillion. There is no real way that the US federal government can honor what it has already undertaken. These proposals (by both sides of the aisle) take on aspects of a dominant social theme. They are promotions, proposing unrealistic solutions to the very problems that that the process itself has created.
Click Here for Full Story

From Culture Wars to Conscience Wars

2011-04-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

Today, religious liberty issues are more complicated than simply freedom from government interference in religious worship or teaching. Threats to religious liberty and respect for conscience are emerging in the health care field, in the area of institutional religious freedom, and in the context of issues involving same-sex marriage and nondiscrimination policies. Religious liberty and respect for conscience should be encouraged and protected, both in civil society and in law and policy, as an effective and principled way to promote social peace and civic fraternity in an increasingly pluralistic society. Click Here for Full Story

Utah Recognizes Gold Coins to Be Money

2011-04-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

The state of Utah has recently enacted a law by which the gold coins issued by the US Mint are to be considered money and, therefore, not subject to capital-gains taxation. The law does not apply to foreign-issued coins, such as South African Krugerrands, by far the most popular precious-metal coin in the world. Nor does the law apply to privately issued coins, such as the so-called Ron Paul Dollar. Capital gains on the US-issued coins would still be subject to federal taxation.
CONTINUE READING

Why Are They So Bothered By The Donald?

2011-04-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Suddenly, White House aides and liberal columnists like Stuart Rothenberg and Eugene Robinson are attacking Donald Trump with a vengeance. Why?

When I asked a high-level Democrat in Washington why the full-court press was being directed at Trump, this person said, “Simple. He’s touched the third rail of Obama’s mysterious birth certificate and the White House and those who advocate for the president in the media are petrified that Trump’s very name, stature and ability to generate headlines is going to give the subject a whole new life.

“Hence, they have to try to belittle him and marginalize him as quickly as possible before more voters start to pay attention and ask questions.”CONTINUE READING

The Story of Entitlement Addiction

2011-04-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Welfare states rely on a complacent population, like spoiled children on spineless parents. So when finally the jig is up, no more vital fluids to leach, it is impossible to change course without serious pain. What the Republicans are asking for now is that the Democrats and their constituents agree to simple withdrawal and not scream from the pain of it all. With the public philosophy of the Democrats this is hopeless since they have been preaching that all you need to pay for it all is to rip off the rich, to rob them of their wealth and redistribute it throughout the land. But no amount of confiscation from the rich is going to fulfill the expectations of the millions of people who have become hooked on entitlements. CONTINUE READING

Can Obama be Beaten?

2011-04-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

If means that just about anything that doesn't violate the laws of physics is possible. Whether it can be done or not depends on how hard and how well people are willing to work for it.

There's a debate going on right now about the precedents for defeating an incumbent. But those precedents don't really matter. If we go by precedents, Obama shouldn't be sitting in the White House at all. The last time a Senator who hadn't been a Vice President or a Governor won an election was JFK in 1961. And despite his youthfulness JFK had spent almost a decade and a half in congress by that point.

To find an earlier precedent we have to go back to the 19th century. But it doesn't matter. None of the precedents do. We are rapidly taking the exit on American history. The old precedents depended on a different society and a different nation. Obama's victory demonstrated that much, if nothing else. We may be able to recover that nation yet, but it won't be by a survey of electoral history.CONTINUE READING

'Girlie Man' Culture of Government Schools

2011-04-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

The notion that gender egalitarianism is central to the education process has caused dire consequences to Western Civilization. If proponents really sought political, social and economic equality between the genders, one might examine their claims with a sense of impartiality. However, the record of a feminized construct clearly demonstrates that equivalence is not their intention. Dominance of the masculine mind with codependent emotionalism out of a soap opera script surfaces as the real objective in the eternal war between the sexes. Imagine the inevitability of damage done to impressionable minds by an entire educational system intentionally designed to subjugate the natural instincts of a well-adjusted male student.
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Patriot Action Network Promotion Team

2011-04-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

Site promotion is especially important to impact the election, influence and knowledge of the movement.

We need a dedicated team willing to assist us as site promoters!
Do you Twitter and Tweet Tweet? Do you Face Book? Do you My Space or You Tube?
We need Tea Partiers that will share discussions, blogs, groups, and the site as a whole to these and other conservative sites and groups.

If this sounds like you Come Join the Team

A Community Organizer Goes to War

2011-04-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Now that Benghazi has been spared what we were assured would be a massacre by Moammar Gadhafi's army, why are the U.S. Air Force, Navy, CIA and Special Forces still attacking in Libya?

If our objective was to spare the defenseless people of Benghazi from slaughter, why, mission accomplished, did we not stop bombing? Why are we plunging deeper in?

Did Gadhafi attack us? Did he attack a NATO country, thereby triggering Article 5 of the treaty requiring us to go to war? Have his forces carried out massacres of such magnitude in recaptured towns and cities as to morally mandate our humanitarian intervention?
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Highway Deaths Fall to Lowest Level Since 1949

2011-04-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Highway deaths have plummeted to their lowest levels in more than 60 years, helped by more people wearing seat belts, better safety equipment in cars and efforts to curb drunken driving.

The Transportation Department estimated Friday that 32,788 people were killed on U.S. roads in 2010, a decrease of about 3 percent from 2009. It's the fewest number of deaths since 1949 -- during the presidency of Harry Truman -- when more than 30,000 people were killed.

The Pacific Northwest region, which includes Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, saw fatalities fall 12 percent. Western states including Arizona, California and Hawaii also posted large declines.
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Obama's 'Empty Words': Our Constitution

2011-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama shares at least one thing in common with one of the lesser Founding Fathers. He and Pierce Butler, a South Carolina delegate at the Constitutional Convention, both flip-flopped on their interpretation of the Constitution's war power.

The difference between Obama's flip-flop and Butler's is that Butler's was defensible. In fact, it can now help contemporary Americans understand exactly where the Framers intended the war power to reside.

You see, Butler took the wrong position at the Constitutional Convention itself, during the actual debate on the war power -- before it and other elements of the document were finalized and sent to the states for ratification.CONTINUE READING

Obama’s Actions on U.S. Energy Production ‘Diametrically’ Opposed to His Rhetoric

2011-03-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama speaks a good game about expanding U.S. energy production but his actions contradict his words, said Rep. Richard “Doc” Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who added that Obama’s actions show he “is not in favor of expanding American energy production and creating American jobs.”

At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked Hastings, “Do you agree with Senator [James] Inhofe (R-Okla.) who recently said that higher gas prices are an explicit policy goal of the Obama administration?”CONTINUE READING

.Obama Wags the Dog

2011-03-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

As the price of oil skyrockets, as our debt levels rise to new highs and our housing market drops to new lows, President Obama decides that it is a fantastic time to start dropping bombs on Libya.
But nobody, including Obama, seems to know what our objective is in Libya. First, it was deposing terroristic thug Muammar Qaddafi; then it was standing up for the United Nations; then it was protecting civilians; now it is some combination of all of them. This is the same man who once explained with regard to Middle East policy, "I can tell you this -- when I am president of the United States, the American people and the world will always know where I stand."
Now, finding where Obama stands is tougher than finding a cane-less Waldo in a crowd of Christmas elves CONTINUE READING

Quote P. J. O'Rourke

2011-03-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

"The principal feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things–war and hunger and date rape–liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things... It's a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don't have to be brave, smart, strong, or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal."

Libya, The Good War?

2011-03-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

What are the results we've seen so far? The globalists have used the Libyan uprising to considerable advantage. The US has made a pretense of reluctance to get involved with the fighting and thus reinforced the idea that the UN itself is in charge of Western warfare. (It took a UN resolution to generate the consensus for the just-enacted no-fly zone.) Obama has also made it clear that Libya is within the "EU's sphere of influence" – thus further legitimizing the European Union as an international actor, both politically and militarily. (It still doesn't have a standing army, but wait...) CONTINUE READING

Fear the Media Meltdown, Not the Nuclear One

2011-03-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

The March 11 earthquake off the coast of Japan has been an unprecedented disaster. Now estimated to have been a magnitude 9 earthquake — one of the top five earthquakes measured since reporting started in 1900 — it was the result of a “megathrust [1]” in which an area of sea floor bigger than the state of Connecticut [2] broke free and moved under the force of colliding tectonic plates. It was so strong that it literally moved the entire island of Honshu eight feet to the east. The earthquake was then followed by a tsunami comparable to the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 — but since the epicenter of the quake was only a few miles off the coast of Japan, the tsunami struck the heavily populated coast of Honshu with almost no warning, basically washing many coastal villages off the face of the earth.CONTINUE READING

Islamic Society of N. America: Encouraging Muslims to Obtain a Foothold in Governmental Agencies

2011-03-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

The author of this article has said over and over that Muslims do
not have to be anywhere near the majority of America, to have a major
impact on our country. The reason being, is that they know exactly
where to target. Tonight we see how the Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA), is opening the door for Muslims to obtain a foothold
within our government. CONTINUE READING

Government Shutdowns and Death Threats...Bring It On

2011-03-11T15:52:00.000-08:00

Maybe you've heard this one. What do you get when fourteen Democrat
Senators go AWOL from their jobs in Wisconsin? You get fiscal
responsibility, the tools to balance an out-of-control budget and
a boatload of evidence that the Progressive Left is prone to violence
and thuggery over process.CONTINUE READING