The Foundation

“I suppose, indeed, that in public life, a man whose political principles have any decided character and who has energy enough to give them effect must always expect to encounter political hostility from those of adverse principles.” –Thomas Jefferson

Opinion in Brief

“Somewhere around 2004 the Republican Party broke in a new way. The GOP had been riven before – Taft-Eisenhower, Goldwater-Establishment, Reagan-Ford – and always healed back. But the split that grew after 2004 was different. Trust broke, and in a time not of peace and prosperity but of crisis. Which made the impact deeper. What is called the tea party is the rightward part of the conservative base. They became angry that they had trusted the Republican establishment during a Republican presidency, only to see that establishment run up huge debt, launch foreign wars, contribute to the surveillance state, and refuse to control America’s borders. What made the anger deeper is that they were angry at themselves. They felt complicit: They had not rebelled, they had trusted the party: ‘They’re the GOP establishment, they must know what they’re doing.’ What the conservative base had learned by 2008 is: Don’t trust the Republican party. Don’t trust its establishments. … The Republicans’ challenge now: holding together, and breaking 20th-century stereotypes. They should distance themselves from government even as they prove they can govern, and not only oppose but propose. They should put themselves apart from the rigged, piggish insider life of Washington. And try not to look nuts while they’re doing it.” –columnist Peggy Noonan

Political Futures

“[R]ight now, the ‘anybody but Mitt’ crowd to me looks like a mix of Perry fans who can’t believe any conservative could seriously support those jokers Cain and Bachmann, Cain fans who can’t believe anybody could back that loser Perry and that loon Bachmann, Bachmann fans who can’t believe everybody’s jumped off the bandwagon of the one true conservative fighter, Newt fans who can’t believe everybody makes such a big deal about his marital difficulties, and so on. I’m not sure anybody has much of a second choice right now, much less a potential consensus choice. I exaggerate slightly, but right now, it doesn’t seem as if many primary voters see many of the options as ‘pretty good.’ The field is simply ‘their guy’ versus a bunch of laughingstocks who deserve to be booed off the stage.” –National Review’s Jim Geraghty

Faith & Family

“Economic envy may cloak itself in rhetoric about ‘inequality’ or ‘egalitarianism’ or ‘redistribution of wealth,’ but its oldest name is covetousness. That is the sin enjoined by the last of the Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor’s.’ At first blush it may seem odd that God would ban a mere desire. After all, the other nine commandments concern behavior: idolatry, theft, perjury, and so on. But as a matter of moral and social hygiene, the Tenth Commandment is indispensable. Covetousness – particularly when it takes the form of class hatred – is the root of innumerable other evils. From the belief that you don’t have enough because others have too much, it isn’t that great a stretch to the belief that those who have too much should be forced to make do with less. It shouldn’t be surprising when a movement obsessed with what rich capitalists earn rather than with what they produce starts treating other people’s property and persons with contempt. Occupy Wall Street preaches that the ‘1 percent’ got rich by exploiting the ‘99 percent.’ The Tea Party believes that with greater freedom and less government, we could all be more prosperous and productive. One is rooted in envy, the other in self-respect. What distinguishes them, you might say, is the culture of the Tenth Commandment. That distinction is showing up in many ways, not least in the latest police reports.” –columnist Jeff Jacoby

Re: The Left

“NBC anchor Brian Williams, in the argot of the moment, certainly belongs to ‘The One Percent.’ He lives in the glass-encased Bloomberg Tower in mid-town Manhattan, 34 stories above the tony restaurant Le Cirque at 58th Street and Lexington Avenue. … Yet night after night on the news, Williams and the other 1 percent multi-millionaire anchors dutifully chronicle every new publicity line from the people who ‘occupy’ parks, often public, to claim to represent the other 99 percent. It’s liberal guilt in motion. … Somehow ‘freedom of speech’ requires violence for the liberals. It draws larger press coverage, even as it seems to be designed to cast the police as an evil empire. These protesters seek to delegitimize the government. Where is the media outrage? Does anyone recall tear gas and rock-throwing riots at Tea Party events? … [I]magine if a gaggle of protesters decided to occupy the hallway of Brian Williams in the Bloomberg Tower for months. Could they chant, ‘the whole world is watching’ every morning when he popped out to grab his New York Times? Would he smile and wave? Or would that suddenly seem less like a free-speech festival and more like politicized vagrants squatting? How much would you bet Williams would quickly call the security forces to get them removed?” –columnist L. Brent Bozell

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Reader Comments

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“I have appreciated The Patriot Post for several years now and yet never contributed. At this point in my life I truly cannot afford to. But after reading Populist Socialism on the Rise I realized I can’t afford to not contribute! It won’t be much, but I hope hundreds of others are also motivated to act and give you an unprecedented response for the fund drive. Keep it up and thank you.” –Jim

“The one and only reason that this ‘occupy’ crowd of malcontents has gotten traction is strictly due to The Ministry of Left Wing Propaganda – a.k.a. ABC, CBS, and most notably the community organizer’s favorite branch, NBC. One does not need to go any further than that. Let us speak louder in 2012 than we did in 2010.” –Henry

“I believe the charges against Herman Cain are all made up and totally bogus. I have met the man and he is a gentleman.” –Penelope

“A witch hunt pure and simple. Can’t have a black stray from the liberal plantation.” –David

“I agree with Barack Obama – God does want us to put people back to work. That’s why he wants us to put Barack Obama OUT OF WORK!” –MSW

Government

“When you invest your own money, your biggest concern is that you’ll lose the investment. To relieve you of that, you research a company before lending it your money or buying its stock. You make your decision on the likelihood and the amount of money you will earn from the investment, and whether or not you can afford the loss of your investment. This is your natural right to choose to do with your money as you wish. But when the government invests money for you, its decision-making is not grounded in free choice or in sound business judgment. Its decision is grounded in power and politics. The power is its ability to extract tax dollars from you even if you profoundly disagree with the way it will spend what it has extracted. The power is the government’s ability to borrow cash in your name, even if you disagree with the borrowing. Since the government isn’t risking its own money, but yours, it needn’t worry about affording a loss. Stated differently, the government doesn’t care if it loses your money. It only cares if it loses your votes and thus loses power. Its goal is not a return on investment; its goal is staying in power.” –columnist Judge Andrew Napolitano

Essential Liberty

“As I expected when I first heard about the Arab Spring, only simpletons can ever be overjoyed at the notion of a tyrant being overthrown in that part of the world. King Farouk was bad, Gamal Nasser was worse. The Shah of Iran was bad, the Ayatollah Khomeini was worse. Hosni Mubarak was bad, the generals are worse. Muammar Kaddafi was bad, his assassins will be worse. I understand that the Muslim Brotherhood has already sent roses and a box of candy to NATO. When I say that Arab and Muslim coups and revolutions inevitably end badly, I mean for America. For those who live in those countries, it’s merely a matter of trading one set of sadists for another. Because we are the people who benefitted from the efforts of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin, we tend to have a soft spot in our hearts for those who rise up against despots. But, as the results of such uprisings bring the likes of Robespierre, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Castro, to power, I’d say that the optimism over such bloody events merely proves that we have an even larger soft spot in our heads.” –columnist Burt Prelutsky

The Gipper

“The bulk of Israel’s population lived within artillery range of hostile Arab armies. I am not about to ask Israel to live that way again. Since the foundation of the State of Israel, the United States has stood by her and helped her to pursue security, peace, and economic growth. Our friendship is based on historic moral and strategic ties, as well as our shared dedication to democracy. For the people of Israel and America are historic partners in the global quest for human dignity and freedom. We will always remain at each other’s side.” –Ronald Reagan

The Last Word

“[My tax plan is] extremely simple – so simple even the average congressman should be able to understand it. First, we need to come up with a budget for the next year’s expenses. Here’s the nice thing: There’s no limit on that. If we want lots of government programs and ‘free’ health care and whatnot, we can just go ahead and add it. All we have to do is make sure we price it realistically. Once we have the yearly budget, we then figure out taxes. This is, once again, extremely simple. We take the cost of the budget for a year and divide that by the number of families in America. And that is how much each family has to pay in taxes. Simple. Fair. Insanely fair, even. See, with all its wonders and opportunities, America is a lot like Disney World. And Disney World costs the same no matter what your income is. It also costs the same if you go on a lot of rides or only a few. And no one complains about that being unfair. So let’s just break down how much America costs to run and turn that into the cost of an annual pass to America and all its services and entitlements.” –columnist Frank J. Fleming

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