The Patriot Post® · Brief

The Foundation

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.” –Thomas Jefferson

Government

“The point of [the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act] is cost containment. This supposedly depends on the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB, which is a perfect expression of the progressive mind, is to be composed of 15 presidential appointees empowered to reduce Medicare spending – which is 13 percent of federal spending – to certain stipulated targets. IPAB is to do this by making ‘proposals’ or ‘recommendations’ to limit costs by limiting reimbursements to doctors. This, inevitably, will limit available treatments – and access to care when physicians leave the Medicare system. The PPACA repeatedly refers to any IPAB proposal as a ‘legislative proposal,’ and speaks of ‘the legislation introduced’ by the IPAB. Each proposal automatically becomes law unless Congress passes – with a three-fifths supermajority required in the Senate – a measure cutting medical spending as much as the IPAB proposal would. This is a travesty of constitutional lawmaking: An executive branch agency makes laws unless Congress enacts legislation to achieve the executive agency’s aim. And it gets worse. Any resolution to abolish the IPAB must pass both houses of Congress. And no such resolution can be introduced before 2017 or after Feb. 1, 2017, and must be enacted by Aug. 15 of that year. And if passed, it cannot take effect until 2020. … The essence of progressivism, and of the administrative state that is progressivism’s project, is this doctrine: Modern society is too complex for popular sovereignty, so government of, by and for supposedly disinterested experts must not perish from the earth.” –columnist George Will

Re: The Left

“If I’d heard the following words, instead of reading them, I might have assumed they were being delivered by a President Obama impressionist on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ But the words were from Obama himself in his latest weekly radio address. ‘I wish I could tell you there was a quick fix to our economic problems,’ he said. ‘But the truth is we didn’t get into this mess overnight, and we won’t get out of it overnight. It’s going to take time.’ Obama has repeated this line ad nauseam ever since it became impossible to deny that reality had shattered his arrogant guarantee, more than two years ago, that he would keep unemployment below 8 percent if we would just pass his $800 billion ‘stimulus’ package. At the same time, he also introduced his phantom metric of ‘creating or saving’ 3.5 million jobs – a device that was as bloated with sophistry as Bill Clinton’s verbal gyrations with the word ‘is.’ Though the claim is as improvable as it is immeasurable, our sustained horrendous unemployment levels nevertheless render it insultingly ludicrous on its face. … [B]ack at the real White House, Obama dithers and points fingers. Oh, yes, he perfunctorily apologizes from time to time for not making jobs his first priority, but then he continues not to make them his first priority, until it’s time for the next speech to blame Bush again. And so it goes.” –columnist David Limbaugh

For the Record

“[The president] held a meeting with House Republicans June 1 to discuss raising the ceiling on the national debt so the government can borrow more money. … Republican congressmen who attended the ‘frosty’ meeting rolled their eyes when Mr. Obama told them federal income tax rates now are the lowest they’ve ever been, lower even than during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. This was less untrue than, say, Mr. Obama’s claims for the Chrysler bailout. For most of the Reagan presidency income tax rates were higher than they are now because Reagan inherited very high rates from Jimmy Carter. But it still was untrue. When Ronald Reagan left office, there were just two income tax rates, 15 percent for those making less than $17,850 and 28 percent for those earning more than that. Today there are six rates, with the highest bracket paying 35 percent on income more than $379,150. It’s a poor idea to raise taxes during a recession.” –columnist Jack Kelly

Insight

“Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to support deficit spending. No private embezzlers or bank robbers in history have ever plundered people’s savings on a scale comparable to the plunder perpetrated by the fiscal policies of statist governments.” –author and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

Looking for Value

So what is The Patriot Post‘s Brief anyway? It’s possibly the most useful thing you could read on Monday.

Our team of contributors puts together Monday’s Brief by sifting through dozens of opinion articles by leading conservative thinkers each week looking for the best analysis of the issues facing America. You’ll find the latest on the debt crisis, ObamaCare and energy policy, as well as comments from our readers and much more!

We depend on your support to keep this priceless resource coming to your inbox every Monday. Help us by making a secure online donation to The Patriot Post’s 2011 Independence Day Campaign. If you prefer to support us by mail, please use our printable donor form. We still must raise $230,485 for the campaign.

Thank you, and God bless!

Nate Jackson
Managing Editor

Liberty

“On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of upholding the state’s new collective bargaining law, reversing a lower court decision that sought to stamp out the will of the people, the authority of the legislature, and a major movement toward fiscal reform. … Like many states, Wisconsin this year found itself drowning in an ocean of overspending and suffering the fourth highest tax burden in the country. In this fiscal nightmare, public-sector unions fashioned for themselves a cushy, taxpayer-funded existence, disconnected from the realities of the state’s economic woes. … It is a victory not only for the soundness of the underlying legislative process but also for the rule of law against activist judges who ignore the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches and make up their own law from the bench.” –Heritage Foundation’s Mike Brownfield

Political Futures

“Because so many Tea Party attendees are committed people of faith – and some Tea Party leaders need to take this to heart – there are literally millions of Americans currently supporting the Tea Party movement who will denounce and leave that movement if Tea Party leaders ever say anything to support abortion, same-sex marriage, silencing religion, or gun control. Conversely – and many social-values leaders need to lay hold of this – millions of evangelical Christians, devout Catholics, Mormons and Orthodox Jews are gravely concerned about how big-government policies are crushing our children and grandchildren under a mountain of debt, destroying jobs (or preventing job creation) and endangering the ability of families to stay together and take care of each other. … A revitalized conservative movement embracing every aspect of constitutional conservatism is the key for resurgence and renewal in America.” –columnists Ken Blackwell & Ken Klukowski

Faith & Family

“[O]n an almost daily basis, the mainstream media assures us … [that it] is futile to oppose gay activism any longer, because the battle has already been won and Americans have embraced 'equality and tolerance.’ … When it comes to recent polls that indicate that a majority of Americans – especially younger Americans – now believe same-sex marriage should be legal, we must remember that polls do not tell us what is right, they simply report public opinion. Why in the world should conservative leaders bow down to polls when it comes to determining morality? … The fact is that those who stand for traditional Judeo-Christian values are called to swim against the tide of popular opinion and go against the grain of popular morality rather than do what is convenient or expedient. And so, the real question is not whether we are on the right side of history. The question is: Will we do what is right or will we cave in to culture?” –radio talk-show host Michael Brown

The Gipper

“[I]n commemorating fatherhood, we’re also expressing a basic truth about America. What does fatherhood mean today in America? I guess the same as it always has. Fatherhood can sometimes be walking the floor at midnight with a baby that can’t sleep. More likely, fatherhood is repairing a bicycle wheel for the umpteenth time, knowing that it won’t last the afternoon. Fatherhood is guiding a youth through the wilderness of adolescence toward adulthood. Fatherhood is holding tight when all seems to be falling apart; and it’s letting go when it is time to part. Fatherhood is long hours at the blast furnace or in the fields, behind the wheel or in front of a computer screen, working a 12-hour shift or doing a six-month tour of duty. It’s giving one’s all, from the break of day to its end, on the job, in the house, but most of all in the heart. Now, if you are thinking, ‘Look who’s talking – he’s a father himself.’ Well, that’s right, but on today I think we could all remember – this weekend, at least – that every father is also a son. So, on this day for fathers, we, too, say thanks to America’s dads – for the labor and legacy of our families and our freedoms.” –Ronald Reagan

Reader Comments

“Mark Alexander’s ‘Who Needs a Father?’ was a wonderful essay! I had a wonderful caring father and mother. They are both gone now, but their care and attention to my up-bringing has helped me greatly in the rearing of my own children. Thank you for a great publication. I have sent it to many of my friends and they subscribe to it also.” –Jolynn

“I enjoyed, and agree with, this entire essay except where you feel the need to introduce the supernatural. There is no need for a belief in tooth fairies, demons, gods, and other myths and superstitions in order to have a respect for the importance of the institution of marriage and the family as the essential building block of our society.” –Marc

Editor’s Reply: I did not “feel the need,” but an obligation to tell the truth. I suppose if you have determined that the Creator of the universe is tantamount to “tooth fairies, demons, gods, and other myths and superstitions,” you must be infinitely smarter than He, and humble too! Veritas vos Liberabit!

“Excellent essay, as usual Mark. It is unfortunate that many of this country’s dads are several thousand miles from home, working to keep this republic safe for future generations. God bless our military, and happy Father’s Day to those who will miss being with their families because they value freedom and liberty more than their own comfort. We can never forget that freedom is not free.” –Susan

“Re: ‘How 'Bout That GOP Field?’ I still remain a bit underwhelmed by the candidates. Gingrich and Romney are anathema. Cain, Paul, Bachmann and Santorum probably can’t win. Pawlenty is a yawner. Then there’s Gary Johnson (who?), Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. Are these really our choices? Maybe one or more of them will impress in the coming months. Regardless, the GOP primary is where we have to battle for the best candidate. After that, I suppose, it’s just ‘support the one with the R next to their name.’ I do look forward to The Patriot Post‘s continuing analysis.” –Benjamin

The Last Word

“The other day, I heard a conservative talk show host insist that, with the 2012 presidential election looming on the horizon, it would behoove Republicans to stop referring to Obama and his enablers in the House and Senate as socialists. Instead, he advised, we should focus on the fiscal policies that are leading the nation to the verge of bankruptcy. I, on the other hand, say if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, and pushes a socialist agenda, it’s a socialist duck. What was it but socialism when Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and their left-wing cohorts, insisted that no-down-payment home loans be made to folks with no money, a policy that inevitably led to our own financial catastrophe? What was it but a socialistic agenda that has led federal and state legislatures to give public sector union members exorbitant salaries and pensions? What else but socialism would you call constantly extending unemployment insurance? Who would ever have imagined that people would be receiving checks three years down the road? What else would you call forcing schools, not parents, to feed children, and inviting 41 million Americans to collect food stamps, if not socialism? What would you call spending tax dollars on Planned Parenthood, Public Broadcasting, the U.N. and the National Endowment for the Arts, along with billions of dollars more for climate research, farm and oil subsidies, and trillions in foreign aid to countries that hate us? If something costs the federal government money and isn’t specified for in the Constitution, it’s a good bet that it is the result of socialists playing Lady Bountiful with our tax dollars.” –columnist Burt Prelutsky

Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
The Patriot Post Editorial Team