THE FOUNDATION: BUDGET

“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.” —Thomas Jefferson

INSIGHT

“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” —Milton Friedman

“Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others.” —Ayn Rand

“Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer.” —Ludwig von Mises

“The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else.” —Frederic Bastiat

UPRIGHT

“How odd that all those boring lessons from our grandparents turn out to be true in the globalized, hip 21st century: Save your money. Don’t borrow what you can’t pay back. Look first at a man’s character, not his degrees. And if a promised return on an investment seems too good to be true, it probably is.” —Victor Davis Hanson

“Mr. Obama’s leadership during the [financial] crisis has consisted of standing out of the way and mouthing platitudes about the failings of the past eight years of Bush economics.” —Rich Lowry

Editor’s Note: For a comprehensive look at the current economic crisis, don’t miss Mark Alexander’s essays: Economics 101: Crisis of Confidence (a comprehensive but quick reading analysis of the current financial crisis), Bailout v. Workout—The continuing crisis (an update on the crisis), and Drive-by Observations on the continuing crisis (a supplement of current opinion on the continuing crisis, updated regularly).

“The big problem for the GOP isn’t that Obama has a mid-single-digit lead in the national polls. The big problem for the GOP is that rank-and-file voters will decide that this race is over and not bother to go to the polls… If Republican voters fall into the trap being laid by the media that the Presidential race is over then Obama will win by default.” —Rich Galen

“[Ronald] Reagan moved the country to the right. Reagan didn’t get Democrat votes by telling Democrats they’re going to be comfortable as Democrats in the Republican Party because we’re going to deemphasize conservatism. Reagan made several million Democrats like conservatism.” —Rush Limbaugh

“Logic has little to do with politics, especially in an election year, when winning tends to become the only goal. In the mounting urgency of a campaign, who’s got time or energy to waste making sense?” —Paul Greenberg

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“Feeling a bit, well, depressed? It’s not surprising. Headlines around the world are filled with the D word, as if an epic global economic collapse were inevitable—especially here in the U.S. It isn’t. No, we’re not hopelessly out of touch. As our coverage shows, we know how serious the current financial mess is—and how important it is to the U.S. and the rest of the world that we begin to settle down our markets. The loss of $8 trillion in stock market wealth in a matter of months is no small thing. The dive will have a major impact on people’s spending and investment decisions. A new economic forecast of 52 leading economists shows most expect the U.S. economy to shrink in the third and fourth quarters, plus the first quarter of 2009—the first time in nearly half a century that the economy will undergo three quarters of contraction. In short, we might be in for a brief, yet brutal, recession. But talk of a depression and other apocalyptic possibilities are way overdone… This is the U.S.’ edge—and it’s not going away soon. Since 1980, real per capita GDP has expanded 69.2% in the U.S. vs. 65.6% for the EU 15. Why? Our productivity is greater. In just the last 10 years, U.S. productivity has expanded 2.5% a year, with Europe growing nearly a full percentage point less. This will widen… Financial crisis notwithstanding, the U.S. economy will be twice Europe’s size by 2025. Even after our stock market and housing losses, the U.S. is still extraordinarily wealthy. In the second quarter, Fed data show, the U.S. private sector owned $110.6 trillion in assets—an immense amount of wealth. The estimated $1 trillion to $2 trillion cost of the current financial mess is small by comparison. During the Great Depression, U.S. output plunged 27% in four years; unemployment neared a third of the work force. Real private investment shrank 87% in three years; personal spending plunged 41%. We’re not close to that. Nor are we likely to be—unless we foolishly pursue high-tax policies that would kill growth. It’s easy to give in to excessive pessimism these days. But the U.S. model—based on productive labor, free trade, fewer rules, lower taxes and rewards for entrepreneurial effort—is still sound. We’ll soon emerge stronger, and better, for our current tribulations.” —Investor’s Business Daily

DEZINFORMATSIA

Race bait: “I think it’s too early to declare victory, Anderson, because Barack Obama is black. And I think until we play out the issue of race in this country, I don’t think we—will know, maybe less—late in the campaign. We don’t know about the race factor in America now. So I think it’s too soon and I think it could close some before it’s over.” —former presidential adviser and CNN contributor David Gergen ++ “Now, let me be clear here. If Obama goes in this race with a five-point lead and loses this election, the consequences are—oh, man…[I]f Obama goes in and he has a consistent five-point lead and loses the election, it would be very, very, very traumatic out there.” —Clintonista James Carville in response ++ “This is why what Sarah Palin is doing is so dangerous. In the view, the Associate Press, they said her attack on this whole Bill Ayres thing was racially tinged. That’s not what the Democrats said, that’s what the Associated Press said.” —Clintonista Paul Begala trying to make a distinction between the AP and the Democrats

Double standard: “I haven’t been able to ask [Obama] directly about the relationship he has or had with Bill Ayers.” —CNN “investigative reporter” Drew Griffin And just how fast would a Republican would be asked about an association with a terrorist?

Slobbering sycophant: “Barack Obama is gifted in his birth by a wonderful smile. He has a wonderful way of disengaging or disarming attacks on him, even when they’re ferocious. John McCain, when he smiles, has a somewhat menacing quality. It may not be purposeful, but when he smiles, you wonder what he’s really thinking. For whatever reason, Barack Obama comes off as debonair, even under attack.” —MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Wipe that drool off your chin, Chris.

Newspulper Headlines: Hockey Moms Would Never Do This: “Soccer Moms Accused of Breaking Into Several Homes” —WKYT-TV Web site

How Thoughtful of Them!: “Cops Sweep Area for Gang” —Times (Munster, IN)

We Blame Global Warming: “Western Nebraska Starts Planning for Winter” —Omaha World-Herald

Climate Change Isn’t All Bad: “Haggis at Risk From Global Warming” —Daily Telegraph (London)

Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “’Satan’ Attacks Police, Bank Employees” —Salt Lake Tribune

News You Can Use: “Avoid Lamborghinis, Loud Logos Amid Financial Blues: Interview” —Bloomberg

Bottom Stories of the Day: “Sharpton Convicted of Disorderly Conduct” —CNN.com ++ “Gore Toasts Obama at Tenn. Fundraiser at His Home” —Associated Press ++ “New York Times Calls McCain Campaign ‘Appalling”’ —CNN.com (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

THE DEMO-GOGUES

Redistribution of your income: “It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” —Barack Obama to a small business owner at a recent rally

Downplaying alliances: “Ultimately, I ended up learning about the fact that [Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers] had engaged in this reprehensible act 40 years ago, but I was eight years old at the time and I assumed that he had been rehabilitated.” —Barack Obama

Narcissism: “The notion that people don’t know who I am is a little hard to swallow. I’ve been running for President for the last two years. I’ve campaigned in 49 states. Millions of people have heard me speak at length on every topic under the sun. And I’ve written two books which everybody who reads them will say are about as honest a set of reflections by at least a politician as are out there.” —Barack Obama

Can’t stand scrutiny: “Every single false charge, every single baseless accusation is a simple attempt to get you to focus on something other than what’s affecting your family and your country.” —Joe Biden

Formula for Demo success: “The administration keeps plowing an Uzi’s worth of bullets into the McCain-Palin ticket every time they have something else go wrong… It’s good politics for us.” —Bill Clinton admitting that pain for Americans is good for Democrats

Major chutzpah: “Our children and grandchildren will be paying the price for years to come as they shoulder this growing burden of debt.” —House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt Jr. (D-SC) **And who has control of the House Budget Committee—President Bush?

VILLAGE IDIOTS

Vote Obamessiah: “You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn’t care anything about. That’s a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking.” —Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (YouTube has the video)

Obama supporters unite: “[It is] a miracle that the Democratic candidate hasn’t suffered the same luck as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and others who harbored dreams of equality and justice.” —Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, pontificating on the “profound racism” in the U.S.

From the gun grabbers: “Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden know that we make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons in this country… Senators Obama and Biden know that we can reduce… deaths and injuries from guns by strengthening our Brady background check system, getting military-style assault weapons off our streets, and giving law enforcement more tools to stop the trafficking of illegal guns.” —Paul Helmke, president of the gun-ban group the Brady Campaign

Foreign policy dunce: “Bush was so afraid of a snafu and of upsetting Israel that he gave the whole thing a miss. Barack will change that [because as long as the Palestinians haven’t seen justice, the Middle East will] remain a source of danger to us all. Barack is determined to repair our relations with the world of Islam and Muslims. Thanks to his background and ecumenical approach, he knows how Muslims feel while remaining committed to his own faith.” —Jesse Jackson, who also decried the “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades”

SHORT CUTS

“The president went on to say: ‘Here’s what the American people need to know: that the United States government is acting; we will continue to act to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets.’ Which was Bush’s way of saying: ‘Hi, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’ Run for the hills!” —Chuck Muth

“Gaze into the giant zero of the Obama logo, the hole in the star-spangled doughnut, the vast fathomless nullity that is the gaping keyhole to the door of utopia. To a sad shriveled Republican cynic, there’s nothing there but the wide open spaces of Obama’s blank rèsumè.” —Mark Steyn

“Investigators (of ACORN’s voter fraud) discovered that the entire offensive line of the Dallas Cowboys had signed up to vote in Las Vegas, unless it turns out that someone forged their signatures to make a quota. The rules for this game were written in Chicago.” —Wesley Pruden

“Barack Obama denied any terrorist ties to Bill Ayers on ABC News Wednesday. He may have other skeletons in that area. According to Nevada’s voter registration rolls, Fidel Castro and Osama bin Laden have already voted for him by mail in Las Vegas.” —Argus Hamilton

“A town in upstate New York is being accused of being biased ‘cause they sent out absentee ballots that say ‘Barack Osama.’ Today they apologized and printed new ballots that say ‘Barack Hussein Osama’.” —Conan O’Brien

Jay Leno: The last debate will be [Wednesday] night. It’s being sponsored by Anheuser-Bush. I guess the last two debates were so boring, people need to get good and liquored up. … But the big story continues to be the economy. How many people remember when we had an economy? They said on the news today that the stock market is on a wild roller-coaster ride. Really? Does it feel like a roller coaster? Doesn’t it feel more like that stupid free-fall ride where you drop 500 feet and you vomit all over the place? … Former President Jimmy Carter blasted President Bush, blaming the financial crisis on him. Carter called this the worst financial crisis since the Carter administration. … The average price of a gallon of gas has had its biggest drop ever this week also. It’s now down to $3.30 a gallon. Remember $3.30 a gallon? That’s the price you used to get outraged about a year ago. … General Motors fell to its lowest level since 1950, not a good sign. In fact, in terms of carmakers, General Motors is now third behind Tonka and Hot Wheels.

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.)