THE FOUNDATION

“But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt, than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years.” –Thomas Jefferson

INSIGHT

“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” –William Boetcker

IChThUS IMPRIMIS

“Our nation will someday soon reawaken to acknowledge what makes America such a prosperous nation. It was the recognition of God’s ultimate authority, affirmed for us by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence, that helped us to overcome the terrible injustice of slavery, the devastation of the Great Depression, and the grave threat of communism. And it is the sincere belief in this single ideal that will see us through our current state of social insecurity.” –Gary Bauer

FAMILY

“Imagine wintertime without sleigh-riding, snowball fights, and piping hot coffee. Bleak, I would think. But if the Safety Nazis have their way we won’t have to imagine it much longer. We’ll be living it. Not content with picking on folks their own size, the Safety Nazis are now going after our children. You’ve heard, I hope, of the Safety Nazis: government and private busybodies whose sole objective is to suck all the fun and adventure out of life so as to protect us (the government) from frivolous lawsuits by us (the people). In their latest campaign to round all of life’s sharp corners, some local governments are banning the age-old, wintertime tradition of snow sledding in public parks. If they could, they doubtless would ban hot cocoa drinks too because of the potential risk of spillage. … This mania seems but a logical outgrowth of a Nanny State that since FDR’s regime has been busily sucking the last dram of independence and self-reliance from the American character. Children, especially, are being adversely affected by such pambying. Every time we let the Nanny in we give mothers and fathers another excuse to hand over their responsibilities, allowing some cold, inept, and malcontented agency marm to see after the welfare of our kids.” –Christopher Orlet

CULTURE

“Hollywood is set to honor at the Oscars a violent film that culminates in murder. The Passion of the Christ? No, Million Dollar Baby. Hollywood couldn’t bear to see Jesus Christ suffer and die for man’s sins, but it watches with bated breath and an approving gaze as Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby kills a disabled female boxer with a grim efficiency worthy of Dirty Harry. Criminal euthanasia is an act of gratuitous violence that Hollywood will celebrate. … A movie that is supposed to glorify friendship and victory shows neither. What it shows is false friendship and the defeat of the human spirit once Hollywood dreams are beyond it. Can’t be a female bantamweight anymore? Well, might as well get someone to kill you. Hollywood can’t conceive of a human life devoid of vanity and glamour as valuable. And the idea of suffering for sin, as Jesus Christ did, is even more repugnant to its sinless conception of itself, never mind that Hollywood showcases in its own movies the very sinful violence that Christ had to endure in order to expiate it.” –George Neumayr

LIBERTY

“The profound goal for America’s place in the world in the 21st Century is to win World War IV and defeat the Islamists – whether the victory is in this century or another. … It is in this world, that the U.S. can keep its economy strong by creating the personal ownership society for our health, welfare, senior social security and education. By producing more and more capital, America can invest throughout the world. … America’s great power and wealth can be put to good works. But, our power and wealth must be maintained, not abused in nation building, diminished in neglect, or squandered in socialism at home or abroad. … The defense, and expansion, of economic opportunity and individual liberty starts at home. Fixing Social Security is a first step towards America’s Munificent Destiny. Let’s go all the way.” –James Atticus Bowden

THE GIPPER

“[I]f you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state, and local agencies will investigate you, summon you, close you down, whatever. But if you provide a child with a rotten education, nothing happens, except that you’re liable to be given more money to do it with. Well, we’ve discovered that money alone isn’t the answer.” –Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“A major reason why government has grown to the point where President Bush has submitted a record $2.57 trillion budget to Congress is that too many Americans have ceded personal responsibility to the state…. I would love to hear the president say, ‘Why don’t you take care of yourself first and if all else fails, through no fault of your own, then come to government.’ That won’t happen because he would be labeled ‘insensitive’ and ‘mean-spirited.’ Sometimes people need a kick in the pants to get them to do what they would be doing if government weren’t there as a perpetual parent.” –Cal Thomas

GOVERNMENT

“This overweening addiction to the courtroom as the place to debate social policy is bad for the country and bad for the judiciary. In the legislative arena, especially when the country is closely divided, compromises tend to be the rule the day. But when judges rule this or that policy unconstitutional, there’s little room for compromise: One side must win, the other must lose. In constitutional litigation, too, experiments and pilot programs – real-world laboratories in which ideas can be assessed on the results they produce – are not possible. Ideas are tested only in the abstract world of legal briefs and lawyers arguments. As a society, we lose the benefit of the give-and-take of the political process and the flexibility of social experimentation that only the elected branches can provide. At the same time, the politicization of the judiciary undermines the only real asset it has – its independence. Judges come to be seen as politicians and their confirmations become just another avenue of political warfare. Respect for the role of judges and the legitimacy of the judiciary branch as a whole diminishes. The judiciary’s diminishing claim to neutrality and independence is exemplified by a recent, historic shift in the Senate’s confirmation process. Where trial-court and appeals-court nominees were once routinely confirmed on voice vote, they are now routinely subjected to ideological litmus tests, filibusters, and vicious interest-group attacks. It is a warning sign that our judiciary is losing its legitimacy when trial and circuit-court judges are viewed and treated as little more than politicians with robes.” –Neil Gorsuch

RE: THE LEFT

“First of all, the Left does not accept the proposition that other people have just as many rights as they do. This is obvious not only in the disorder and vandalism they inflict in the streets but also their intolerance on academic campuses across the country, where students who question the party line are hemmed in by speech codes and ridiculed and intimidated by professors who do not hesitate to punish them with low grades. Ask any environmental extremist if people who don’t care about preserving swamps (‘wetlands’) have the same rights under the Constitution that the people in the green movement have. Gay activists who demand tolerance and sensitivity from others do not hesitate to include in their parades insulting skits mocking nuns and others in the Catholic Church. When pro-life demonstrators tried to hold a peaceful march in San Francisco on January 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a pro-abortion crowd not only followed them, shouting to drown them out and hurling insults at them, some sat down in their path to block the march and force them to detour. We are seeing the ugly face of intolerance under the idealistic pretense of protest. We need to recognize it for what it is, even if the media refuse to do so. Above all, we need to see it as a warning of where our society is headed. Whether at home or abroad, if political conflicts are reduced to contests between the wimps and the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.” –Thomas Sowell

POLITICAL FUTURES

“Memo to the unwary: Hillary’s comin,‘ and she’s gonna get you if you don’t watch out. (And maybe even if you do.) The junior senator from New York not only has star power, but as strategist and tactician she’s miles ahead of the neutered old Democratic bulls in Congress who think the return to power lies through potholed streets trashed by recrimination and reproach. … Hillary, in fact, is emerging as the bright light in a party of dim bulbs, a fading galaxy of has-beens reeking of halitosis and stale underwear. … Hillary Clinton remains the most divisive figure in American politics. But she’s also one of the smartest. We live in interesting times.” –Wesley Pruden

FOR THE RECORD

“[I]t is Republicans who need to look in the mirror as to why Senator [Harry] Reid is in office in the first place. Calnews.com goes so far as to claim 'Reid is a product of the Nevada Republican Party.’ It points out that moderate Republicans in Nevada gave Mr. Reid a pass when he ran for re-election last year. Sig Rogich, a Republican consultant in Nevada who served as a White House adviser to the first President Bush, was one of several GOPers who made sure the party went easy on his Democratic friend. Other Republican consultants, including many close to Republican Governor Kenny Guinn, worked overtime to keep the Democrat in office. The result was that Republican candidate after Republican candidate backed away from a potential race even though Mr. Reid had squeaked to re-election in 1998 by only 428 votes. Mr. Reid ended up cruising to victory last fall with over 60% of the vote, the first time in four Senate elections that he topped 51%. If Republicans find Reid the chief obstructionist, they can thank themselves for being his chief enabler.” –John Fund

SELECT READER COMMENTS

“In your essay about Roosevelt and Social Security, you did not mention Roosevelt’s speech (January 17, 1935) in which he clearly stated that after 30 years it should be privatized. ‘…It is proposed that the Federal Government assume one-half of the cost of the old-age pension plan, which ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans…’ It’s Kennedy, Johnson and succeeding administrations that should have done what President Bush is trying to do now, but remember that FDR said it first.” –Portland, Oregon
Editor’s Reply: We stand by our assertion that FDR was “the most notorious violator of Constitutional federalism in the 20th Century.” He launched a myriad of socialist programs, the effluent of which plague us today. Roosevelt, by decree, redefined the role of the central government – and was class warfare’s greatest advocate. FDR proclaimed, “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.” Of course, that was not an “American principle,” but a paraphrase of Karl Marx’s Communist maxim, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” (That’s a fine sentiment when mandated by the heart – not the state.) FDR set the stage for the entrapment of future generations by the welfare state and the incremental shift from individual freedom to dependence on the state. Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev said of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” paradigm shift, “We can’t expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.” Indeed, FDR, the benefactor of a great inheritance of wealth like so many Leftist protagonists, was nothing more than what V.I. Lenin called Western Leftists who took the side of the Socialists in political debates: “Useful idiots.”

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“Each time I read your closing prayer for our troops, my throat gets tight and tears well up in my eyes. As the mother of an Airman stationed in Iraq, these words touch my heart. Thank you for your wonderful support of our courageous servicemen and women. –Hamburg, PA

THE LAST WORD

"But apparently that what so many of our political pundits do mean these days when they talk about this being a divided nation. They think we should all of us agree with each other on the issues of the day-war, social security, gay marriage. Or, more to the point, they mean the hoi polloi should agree with the elites, George Bush should agree with Teddy Kennedy and America should agree with France. Fortunately, none of that is going to happen. As long as there are two nations, two parties, two sexes or even two people there are going to be divisions. And all the talk in the world isn’t going to change that. Thank goodness!” –Lyn Nofziger

Lex et Libertas – Semper Vigilo, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for the editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.)