THE FOUNDATION:

“If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.”—Thomas Jefferson

INSIGHT

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.” —C.S. Lewis

IChThUS IMPRIMIS

“The big difference between Republicans and liberal Democrats is the way each party views people. Republicans see us as individuals and respect our God-given human dignity. To liberal Democrats, we’re not individuals; we’re members of a herd with all the dignity of a cow or pig dependent on its owner for daily rations of hay or slop. Democrats see us as being white or as blacks or as straights or as gays, or as lesbians or as heterosexuals, or as rich or poor, or as Christians or as Jews or as Muslims, or as young or as old, as working or as retired, or as housewives or as career women. They submerge us into pools that define us as members of groups instead of as what we are as God sees us—as any father sees his children—each being different from one another, and each child being a separate and distinct individual with his or her own specific talents and abilities, and all deserving of his love… This Marxist view of human nature embraces group-think, despises individuality, and seeks to eliminate all vestiges of the dignity to which every human being created in the image and likeness of God is entitled. Only the hopes and aspirations of the groups matter, and they matter solely because they create dependency on the state—which seeks to supplant God as the source of all that is good and necessary for survival.” —Michael Reagan

THE GIPPER

“An opportunity society awaits us. We need only believe in ourselves and give men and women of faith, courage, and vision the freedom to build it. Let others run down America and seek to punish success. Let them call you greedy for not wanting government to take more and more of your earnings. Let them defend their tombstone society of wage and price guidelines, mandatory quotas, tax increases, planned shortages, and shared sacrifices. We want no part of that mess, thank you very much. We will encourage all Americans—men and women, young and old, individuals of every race, creed, and color—to succeed and be healthy, happy, and whole. This is our goal. We see America not falling behind, but moving ahead; our citizens not fearful and divided, but confident and united by shared values of faith, family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom.” —Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Barack Obama urged graduates of Connecticut’s Wesleyan University to devote themselves to ‘collective service.’… He disparaged students who want to ‘take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy.’… There is a whiff of hypocrisy here. Mr. Obama, who made $4.2 million last year and lives in a $1.65 million house bought with the help of the indicted Tony Rezko—and whose ‘elegant suits’ and ‘impeccable ties’ made him one of Esquire’s Best-Dressed Men in the World—disdains college students who might want to ‘chase after the big house and the nice suits.’ Mr. McCain, who with his wife earned more than $6 million last year and who owns at least seven homes, ridicules Mr. Romney for having built businesses. But hypocrisy is not the biggest issue. The real issue is that Messrs. Obama and McCain are telling us Americans that our normal lives are not good enough, that pursuing our own happiness is ‘self-indulgence,’ that building a business is ‘chasing after our money culture,’ that working to provide a better life for our families is a ‘narrow concern.’ They’re wrong. Every human life counts. Your life counts. You have a right to live it as you choose, to follow your bliss. You have a right to seek satisfaction in accomplishment. And if you chase after the almighty dollar, you just might find that you are led, as if by an invisible hand, to do things that improve the lives of others.” —David Boaz

GOVERNMENT

“Every time there’s a highly publicized shooting, out go the cries for stricter gun control laws… Gun control laws will not protect us from murderers. We need protection from the criminal justice system politicians have created… If there is one clear basic function of government, it’s to protect citizens from criminals… We hear calls for stricter gun control laws when what is really needed is more control over criminals. There are many third-party liability laws. I think they ought to be applied to members of parole boards who release criminals who turn around and commit violent crimes. As it stands now, people on parole boards who release criminals bear no cost of their decisions. I bet that if members of parole boards were held liable or forced to serve the balance of the sentence of a parolee who goes out and commits more crime, they would pay more attention to the welfare of the community rather than the welfare of a criminal. You say, ‘Williams, under those conditions, who’d serve on a parole board?’ There’s something to be said about that.” —Walter Williams

RE: THE LEFT

“For people on the left… blacks are trophies or mascots, and must therefore be put on display. Nowhere is that more true than in politics. The problem with being a mascot is that you are a symbol of someone else’s significance or virtue. The actual well-being of a mascot is not the point. Liberals all across the country have not hesitated to destroy black neighborhoods in the name of ‘urban renewal,’ often replacing working-class neighborhoods with upscale homes and pricey businesses—neither of which the former residents can afford. In academia, lower admissions standards for black students is about having them as a visible presence, even if mismatching them with the particular college or university produces high dropout rates. The black students who don’t make it are replaced by others, and when many of them don’t make it, there are still more others. The point is to have black faces on campus, as mascots symbolizing what great people there are running the college or university… Politicians who use blacks as mascots do not hesitate to throw blacks to the wolves for the benefit of the teachers’ unions, the green zealots whose restrictions make housing unaffordable, or people who keep low-price stores like Wal-Mart out of their cities. Using human beings as mascots is not idealism. It is self-aggrandizement that is ugly in both its concept and its consequences.” —Thomas Sowell

CAMPAIGN WATCH

“Imagine that John McCain named a young running mate to campaign with him, and this national rookie suggested America had 58 states, repeatedly used the wrong names for the cities he was visiting, and honored a Memorial Day crowd by acknowledging the ‘fallen heroes’ who were present, somehow alive and standing in the audience. How long would it take for the national media to see another Dan Quayle caricature? Let’s raise the stakes. What if it was the GOP presidential candidate making these thoroughly ridiculous comments? This scenario is very real, except it isn’t McCain. It’s the other fellow. ABC reporter Jake Tapper follows politicians around for a living. On his blog, he suggested Barack Obama has a problem: ‘The man has been a one-man gaffe machine’.” —Brent Bozell

POLITICAL FUTURES

“After decades of comparing Nixon to Hitler, Reagan to Hitler and Bush to Hitler, liberals have finally decided it is wrong to make comparisons to Hitler. But the only leader to whom they have applied their newfound rule of thumb is: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While Ahmadinejad has not done anything as starkly evil as cut the capital gains tax, he does deny the Holocaust, call for the destruction of Israel, deny the existence of gays in Iran and refuses to abandon his nuclear program despite protests from the United Nations. That’s the only world leader we’re not allowed to compare to Hitler… The only explanation for liberals’ hysterical zealotry in favor of Obama’s proposed open-ended talks with Ahmadinejad is that they seriously imagine crazy foreign dictators will be as charmed by Obama as cable TV hosts whose legs tingle when they listen to Obama (a condition that used to be known as ‘sciatica’). Because, really, who better to face down a Holocaust denier with a messianic complex than the guy who is afraid of a debate moderated by Brit Hume?” —Ann Coulter

FOR THE RECORD

“Today, according to the most recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, ‘71 percent of the American public disapproves of how Bush is handling his job as President, an all-time high in polling.’ His position can be compared with that of Harry Truman who left Washington unpopular and alone in 1953. Today, with the passage of time, most historians and certainly the American people, see Truman in a different light, primarily for his willingness to stand firm against Soviet aggression, whether against Greece or South Korea, and proclaim the Truman Doctrine, effectively defending the free world from Soviet efforts to expand their hegemony. Like Truman, George W. Bush, in my view, will be seen as one of the few world leaders who recognized the danger of Islamic terrorism and was willing with Tony Blair to stand up to it and not capitulate… The reason I believe history will redeem President George W. Bush is that he is one of the few leaders on the planet today who understands the larger picture. He has not lost his courage and vision of the future. He knows what calamities await the world if it engages in appeasement and deserts an ally in order to buy an illusory peace. We will recognize his worth long after he is gone.” —former New York City Democrat Mayor Ed Koch

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“Mark Alexander came through with another outstanding article on the Second Amendment. Sadly however, it is people like Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boxer and most Democrats who do not see that the Second Amendment is, as you said, the main reason we have the First Amendment. I am afraid that if the Supreme Court should fail the American people and lean towards the decision that it is not a right of the Citizens to own a gun, and the government tries to enact or enforce the removal or submission of the guns we own today, that there will be another American Revolution. The new battle cry will be as Charleston Heston said, ‘Out of my cold dead hands!”’ —Lucas, Texas

“As a police officer for 20 years in the State of Florida I have yet to be available as a crime against a person was being committed. It is only reasonable to realize the criminal with a gun is not going to do his deed while law enforcement is in view or near the scene. If citizens cannot defend themselves of the situation at the time of the incident the police are only there to take the report and attempt to locate the criminal which caused the incident. I and my sons all are concealed licensed and do practice carrying at all times for the safety of our families. We cannot allow the courts to remove this right to bear arms or we will be open targets for any criminals.” —Bristol, Florida

“Everyone who is eligible should buy a gun and learn how to use it. This would send a clear message to the crooks and the Democrats.” —Maitland, Florida

Editor’s Reply: Saying “crooks and Democrats” is a bit redundant, don’t you think?

THE LAST WORD

“‘Lay off my wife.’ So says Barack Obama about his controversial spouse, Michelle. The Democratic candidate for the presidential nomination tends to dismiss any inconvenient fact as a ‘distraction’ and to label every stinging criticism as ‘divisive.’ So even if he didn’t have a husband’s natural desire to defend his wife, he’d still probably denounce criticism of Michelle as beyond the pale… If he truly finds it ‘unacceptable’ for people to criticize his wife, he might want to rethink sending her out as his chief campaign surrogate, particularly when she has proved to be such a rich source of copy for journalists and barbs for critics… Americans don’t know Barack Obama very well. Part of the election process is getting to know the candidates. All politicians are desperate to control that process, but the rest of us aren’t on their campaign staff and are under no obligation to follow orders. Michelle Obama says some fascinating, substantive things. She appears to have a gloomy opinion of America, for instance, a country apparently full of desperate, isolated people whose only hope lies in an Obama presidency. I, for one, want to hear more from her, and she seems perfectly willing to oblige. But if I don’t like what she has to say, I reserve the right to say so, whether her husband finds it acceptable or not.” —Jonah Goldberg

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)