The Foundation

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” –James Madison

Liberty

“Obama’s ideology tethers him to the idea that the central government should be the primary engine of economic growth and the super-arbiter of the winners and losers in our economy. He cannot countenance the possibility that Keynesian stimulus spending does not appreciably stimulate and probably does just the opposite; never mind that we can’t afford it. He can’t process that we cannot tax ourselves into prosperity or out of debt. He is viscerally unwilling to restructure the programs that have us committed to $88 trillion in unfunded liabilities. And he either cannot comprehend or is morally hardened to the evil and ineffectiveness involved in the government’s making command-control decisions rather than free people through the invisible hand of the market, especially in health care. He cannot understand or is rebellious against the truth that capitalism is morally superior to and produces greater prosperity across the board than any other economic system, bar none. … Obama, captured in his maximum-security class warfare prison mindset, has proposed even higher taxes on the already overburdened producers, which would further smother the economy and prevent economic recovery, growth and abatement of the national debt. His only real remedy for Medicare is to empower the Independent Payment Advisory Board to ration health care according to its one-size-fits-all lunacy. … There can be no workable compromise with Obama because his plan could not work to retire the debt and avert our national crisis. The only solution is to retire him.” –columnist David Limbaugh

Opinion in Brief

“Just a little over two years later, it has become clear that whatever you think of his policies, the current occupant of the White House harbors an irrepressible juvenility that undermines the dignity of the office he holds. The recent tongue lashing he administered to Republican Congressman Paul Ryan is the latest example of President Obama’s increasingly evident maturity deficiency. … For the better part of an hour, the President of the United States lambasted Ryan’s efforts publicly as little short of abandoning autistic kids to the sewers and locking Granny in the attic. Given this undignified blindside, Rep. Ryan would have been well within his rights to walk out of the hall in disgust. But apparently, decorum and respect are words that find meaning in the Ryan vocabulary – more than can be said for our Chief Executive. … Far from being a post-partisan healer, President Obama has proven himself to be petty, juvenile, and someone totally lacking the temperament and class we should expect from an Oval Office executive.” –columnist Peter Heck

Re: The Left

“[O]bama is trying to convince Americans that ‘shared responsibility’ means raising taxes only on the top 2 percent of income earners. So Team Obama held a ‘town hall’ event at Facebook, placing the president next to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a 26-year-old who is worth $16 billion. … [It was] a hard week for the president, so it must have felt great to talk at the website that has brought him 19 million ‘likes.’ COO Sheryl Sandberg explained the ground rules: ‘No poking the president.’ Then again, [last] Monday, Obama got a pretty rude poking from S&P. The rating agency revised its assessment of the U.S. economy from ‘stable’ to ‘negative.’ The notice explained that S&P could downgrade America’s coveted AAA rating in the next two years. As Obama told his Facebook fans, if the markets lose faith in Washington’s ability to curb the deficit, that could mean a whole new world of damage to the U.S. economy. He didn’t explain that S&P’s timing – shortly after Obama presented his weak deficit-reduction package – screams that Wall Street doesn’t think Washington will fix the hole.” –columnist Debra Saunders

Government

“[W]hen you reduce income tax rates, high earners have more taxable income. When you raise them, they have less. … This is most obvious when you think about capital gains. The federal government doesn’t try to tax capital gains – the increase in values of your stocks or your house – every year… You pay capital gains on a stock or house only in the year you sell it. What happens if the capital gains tax goes up from 15 percent to 50 percent? People stop selling stocks and hold onto their houses if they possibly can. And when cap gains rates go down? They’re more willing to sell, pay the lower tax and invest in something else. That’s why the government’s total revenues from capital gains have tended to rise when the capital gains tax rate is lowered. And why increases in the capital gains tax rate never raises the amount of revenues static models estimate it will. You get the same effect, to a lesser extent, when you change tax rates on ordinary income. People working for minimum wage don’t have many options about how they’ll be paid. High earners tend to have more options.” –political analyst Michael Barone

For the Record

“The official Pentagon estimate is that the war in Libya cost us $608 million for the first 17 days. Some think that is a laughable underestimate, however, except that nobody is laughing. Forbes reported at the end of March that ‘what looks like an inexpensive military operation in Libya is actually costing taxpayers about $2 billion per day.’ Remember how Democrats and Republicans in Congress wrestled back and forth recently, nearly shutting down the government over a lousy $38 billion? Heck, we’ve already burned through that in Libya and Muammar Qadhafi is still thumbing his nose at us from Tripoli. Technically, the air war in Libya is being fought by NATO. But the United States, in addition to paying for our own forces, pays about a quarter of NATO’s budget. The numbers get kind of dazzling, but according to the Fiscal Times: The United States now pays NATO $90.2 million for its civil budget, $462.5 million for its military budget and $259 million for NATO’s Security Investment Program, which covers radar bases, airfields, fuel pipelines, etc. That is about $811.7 million per year. And how is NATO doing in Libya, by the way? Not all that well.” –columnist Roger Simon

The Gipper

“While the San Diego-based U.S.S. Hoel was steaming toward Melbourne, Australia, on Ash Wednesday, its crew heard of terrible brush fires sweeping two Australian States. More than 70 people were killed and the destruction was great. Well, the crew of this American ship raised $4,000 from their pockets to help, but they felt that it wasn’t enough. So, leaving only a skeleton crew aboard, the 100 American sailors gave up a day’s shore leave, rolled up their sleeves, and set to work rebuilding a ruined community on the opposite end of the Earth. Just Americans being Americans, but something for all of us to be proud of. Stories like these – of men and women around the world who love God and freedom – bear a message of world hope and brotherhood like the rites of Passover and Easter that we celebrate.” –Ronald Reagan

Faith & Family

“Passover and Easter are stories of ultimate hope, but they are also pretty unflinching warning about human evil. … My question is: how we can celebrate the holidays this year without feeling like sickening hypocrites? Dante placed hypocrites in the eighth circle of Hell. That’s a pretty good metaphor for intelligent people who are trying night and day hard to blind us to plain and obvious danger to our survival, rights, and freedoms. If you don’t believe that, try practicing your religion in Saudi Arabia. … The most famous ‘denialist’ of danger today is Barack Hussein Obama, who has spent his whole life rationalizing, denying and defending the totalitarian Left and totalitarian Islam. Why he would do such a mad and destructive thing is a question for psychiatrists. The fact that he does it is beyond doubt. Obama actually believes what Naomi Wolf put into her HuffPo headline last week: ‘I want my Al Jazeerah.’ Obama and Wolf believe we don’t get enough Islamofascist propaganda. They think we need more, just to set our minds straight, like NPR. … How many Passover and Easter celebrations this year will remind people about the Left-fascist alliance in Europe and America? Or isn’t anybody paying attention?” –columnist James Lewis

Culture

“The Continental Association, established on October 20, 1774, was the first Tea Party-like movement in American history. On that date, Peyton Randolph, President of the First Continental Congress, signed a document on behalf of those self-identified therein as ‘We, his majesty’s most loyal subjects.’ The document came in response to the so-called Intolerable Acts passed by the British parliament. … When the Democrat-controlled Congress crammed ObamaCare down the throats of the American people, it gave legs to a movement bringing together citizens from all political affiliations – though most are self-described fiscal conservatives. What they hold in common is that, for years, they’ve watched, with mounting alarm, the uncontrolled growth of the federal government and the national debt. Unlike the Continental Association of October 1774, the TPM wasn’t created by Congress. Nor is its primary objective to influence a foreign monarch. Its target is a domestic aristocracy of another kind, a soft tyranny, so far, that grows ever more intrusive on American freedoms.” – columnist Lee Cary

Reader Comments

“Last year, I responded to your call for support with a note that, though we are rich in spirit, we are poor in material resources, and were not able to support your mission financially. To our surprise, we got a response from Mr. Alexander, who insisted that our contribution in spirit was all that was needed. Well, times are a little better for us at the moment, so today, I was able to finally make a contribution. God Bless The Patriot Post team, and blessings for your continued gifts to all of us out here.” –Oregon

“I have been a supporter for sometime and even though I contributed already I am doing so again. As for the guy last week who told you guys to ‘get a job,’ I think you are doing fantastic work. I wish I was able to contribute more but being physically handicapped and on a very fixed income I do what I can. Thanks for all you do. Keep up the good work.” –Montana

“I truly enjoy and appreciate your efforts to remind Americans of our God-given heritage. The Easter edition especially blessed my heart. May our Lord Jesus Christ provide you courage and strength to continue your fine work.” –Judy

“I want to thank you for taking time off from the issues of the day and to talk about Easter and our Lord Jesus Christ. That was really thoughtful and I appreciate it.” –Jane

“I feel compelled to comment on the display of religious fervor presented on your site Friday. This is totally off-message and out-of-place on a site about American patriotism. Your lengthy preaching and testifying, and the responding chorus of Hallelujahs and Amens is nice, but would be better suited for one of the many thousands of Christian websites and blogs, not on The Patriot Post. The more you stray from American patriotism, the more you dilute your message for all readers, particularly those who don’t share your religious beliefs or fervor.” –Marc

“Regarding Mark Alexander’s essay, It’s NOT ‘What the American People Want’, I am ever amazed at your ability to clearly and succinctly pinpoint the issue. I’m at a loss to understand why no one else seems to to get it. If we’d stuck to Rule of Law we wouldn’t have the economic mess we have at present. We’ve got a pretty good crisis on our hands economically, but a better one constitutionally. Understanding and rightly dealing with Rule of Law is paramount for the voters and our elected officials if we expect the Republic to survive.” –Hugh

The Last Word

“It was the great George Orwell who observed, ‘In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.’ I agree. That is why I have a problem with Republican politicians allowing Nancy Pelosi to get away with insisting that Republicans are looking to starve six million senior citizens to death when they insist that Obama and his loony left-wing enablers quit flushing American tax dollars down the toilet. I realize that she is a major entity in her party, but when you show deference to an idiot, albeit one of the female variety, you don’t come off looking statesmanlike or even chivalrous, you just come across like a bunch of spineless wienies. While Democrats never weary of portraying Republicans as heartless, it wouldn’t kill the Republicans to accuse ninnies like Barbara Boxer, Barney Frank, Henry Waxman, Anthony Weiner and Sheila Jackson Lee, of being brainless. There is certainly a ton of evidence to bear it out. Still, to be fair, with liberals, it’s hard to know where stupidity ends and evil begins.” –columnist Burt Prelutsky

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!

The Patriot Post Editorial Team