The Foundation

“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.” –Thomas Jefferson

For the Record

“The nation has now endured 43 months of unemployment officially above 8 percent. The details paint an even bleaker picture. No doubt many of the media outlets determined to get this president re-elected will tout the fact that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent, even as they bury the reason why: 368,000 Americans simply gave up looking for work. That exodus dropped the labor force participation rate to 63.5 percent, a 31-year low. For perspective’s sake, if the number of people in the labor force had remained the same as last month, the unemployment rate would be 8.4 percent. If the labor force were as large as it was when Obama took office in 2009, the unemployment rate would be a staggering 11.2 percent. Yet it gets even worse. The previous two month’s jobs totals were ‘revised.’ 41,000 jobs were lopped off the totals for June and July, as reality caught up with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) overly optimistic ‘guesstimates.’ … And when one gets past the ‘official’ unemployment rate and examines the BLS’s U-6 number – representing Americans who have been out of work for six months, along with those who are involuntarily part-time workers, due to cutbacks in their days or hours – the under-employment rate has held steady for months at around 15 percent of the workforce. Add those who have given up looking for work and that number jumps to 19 percent.” –columnist Arnold Ahlert

Government

“[Friday’s jobs numbers] was not the employment report either American workers or the Obama campaign were hoping for. … Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 96,000 in August, the Labor Department said, versus expectations of 125,000 jobs or more. The manufacturing sector, much touted by the president in his convention speech, lost 15,000 jobs. Since the start of the year, job growth has averaged 139,000 per month vs. an average monthly gain of 153,000 in 2011. … While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1% from 8.3% in July, it was due to a big drop in the labor force participation rate (the share of Americans with a job or looking for one). … The employment-population ratio is perhaps the broadest measure of the health of the labor market. It just shows how many Americans – not in the military or in prison – as a share of the population actually have some sort of a job. That number fell last month to 58.3%, just off its Great Recession lows. … Again, a terribly anemic report that shows a stagnant economy – not one ready to boom.” –American Enterprise Institute’s James Pethokoukis

Re: The Left

“Now to that 46.7 million number. That’s the number of Americans who are now depending on food stamps to feed their families. Bloomberg.com quotes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack as saying: ‘Too many middle-class families who have fallen on hard times are still struggling. Our goal is to get these families the temporary assistance they need so they are able to get through these tough times and back on their feet as soon as possible.’ Whoa! Check Please! Too many middle-class families have fallen on hard times? The same middle class families Obama has been focused on for each and every one of the past 1,325 days since his Inaugural (not counting fund-raisers and golf outings)? No one – with the possible exception of graduate students – thinks that qualifying for Food Stamps is a good thing. … The failure to help middle class families lies directly at the feet of Barack Obama. This astonishing 46.7 million number has nothing to do with Republicans wanting to change the tax code. The tax code has been exactly the same during Obama’s entire term. Under Obama’s guidance about 1.5 million additional middle class families’ incomes have slipped to the point that they need Food Stamp assistance. And that’s not since January 2009. That’s just in the past year. … Fewer Americans working. More Americans on food stamps. Is it why Obama thinks he deserves to be re-elected?” –columnist Rich Galen

Culture

“One in seven Americans is on food stamps. According to the left, this high rate of participation is part of what makes America exceptional. So boasts liberal political commentator Alan Colmes in [last] Monday’s Wall Street Journal op-ed ‘How Democrats Made America Exceptional.’ Since the food stamps program began in the 1960s, the participation rate has soared from roughly one in 20 Americans to where it is today. Apparently, this is the liberal idea of progress. And so anxious are they to make even greater strides that the Department of Agriculture was busily working to recruit more participants. … Removing work requirements from the few welfare programs that contain them seems to be the Obama Administration’s method of operation. President Obama’s 2009 stimulus suspended the food stamps work requirement through September 2010, and his next two budgets attempted to maintain the suspension. Then, on July 12 his Administration announced it would begin waiving the work requirements that were the heart of the successful 1996 welfare reform law. Personal responsibility and work are key American principles. Food stamps and other welfare programs should promote these principles by requiring all able-bodied recipients to work, prepare for work, or at least look for a job in order to receive assistance.” –Heritage Foundation’s Rachel Sheffield

Insight

“Our present financial condition is without a parallel in history. No nation has ever before been embarrassed from too large a surplus in its treasury. This almost necessarily gives birth to extravagant legislation. It produces wild schemes of expenditure and begets a race of speculators and jobbers, whose ingenuity is exerted in contriving and promoting expedients to obtain public money. The purity of official agents, whether rightfully or wrongfully, is suspected, and the character of the government suffers in the estimation of the people. This is in itself a very great evil.” –President James Buchanan (1791-1868)

Eleventh Anniversary of 9/11

Tomorrow we solemnly mark the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, when 2,977 innocents, mostly American citizens, were murdered by Islamic fascists. In keeping with the presidential proclamation designating Sept. 11 of each year as Patriot Day, all flags should be flown at half-staff in memory of those who lost their lives that day.

We invite you to join us as we offer our prayers for the families of those lost and for our Armed Forces now serving on the front lines of the Long War against Jihadistan. As we continue to engage our jihadi foes on battlefronts around the globe, let us never forget why we fight.

Essential Liberty

“George Washington twice voluntarily surrendered power to return to a peaceful life on his Mount Vernon estate. The ruler he helped vanquish, King George III, called him ‘the greatest character of the age.’ The capital city he gave his name to is renowned as the defender of freedom and opportunity. As John Adams put it, Washington’s example ‘will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.’ More than a century after Washington died, Woodrow Wilson attempted to refound the United States on progressive principles. His experiment is still going on today. That explains why Washington remains so crucial: His guiding principles came from the written Constitution and Declaration of Independence, not some unwritten, ‘living’ constitution. Let us learn the first President’s lessons and move toward a more Washingtonian governance.” –Heritage Foundation’s Rich Tucker

The Gipper

“Isn’t it once again time to renew our compact of freedom; to pledge to each other all that is best in our lives; all that gives meaning to them – for the sake of this, our beloved and blessed land? Together, let us make this a new beginning.” –Ronald Reagan

Reader Comments

“The DNC was an ‘infatuation fest.’ Each speaker was greeted with cheers and spoken words were echoed in ‘occupier’ fashion. The mention of God in the platform was actually booed. You can’t make this stuff up. If these delegates are representative of the Democrat party, that party is out of touch and out of the main stream of America.” –JWG in Hampton, Georgia

“A good example of the Democrats approach to ‘majority rule’ was to call for a vote to amend their platform and declare it passed in the affirmative when the voice vote was obviously negative.” –Jerry in Muskegon, Michigan

“If the Republicans cannot win this election we all lose. I have never given as many dollars to a candidate as I have Romney and I pray it makes some difference.” –Mike in St. Paul, Minnesota

“You do well to encourage Patriots in your Publisher’s Note to set aside all divisive criticism of the Romney-Ryan ticket and to form a unified front. Do we entrust the future of the nation to a man of impeccable morality or to a mendacious pretender whose failed leadership is totally devoid of any trace of morality?” –Joseph in Houston, Texas

Political Futures

“The Obama team has little to say about foreign policy because with President Obama at the helm, the world is chaotic. … Whether justified or not, the present administration has created an appearance of complacency, almost a casual belief that this [international] mess will sort itself out without American intervention. This isn’t merely leading from behind; it is an allergy to leadership at all. Romney-Ryan should emphasize the need for leadership to fulfill a yawning vacuum in international affairs. Most foreign nations fear U.S. weakness more than U.S. strength. Reestablishing that strength is a message this Republican team should convey, not only to assure Americans that we intend to fulfill our leadership role on the global stage, but to convince our allies that we haven’t abandoned them. … As I see it, the presidential campaign should be a time to restore hope, notwithstanding the overuse of this word by Barack Obama in the last presidential campaign. Hope is the real harbinger of change.” –columnist Herbert London

Opinion in Brief

“Recent headlines have referred to the fact that the arctic ice has melted to a record low and many are using this as evidence to support the theory of global warming. … The problem is that the people who make these claims … do not take into account the history of the Arctic and the natural cycle of the sea ice. … Walt Meier, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, took the first steps to comparing current data with previous records and concluded that ‘in the context of what’s happened in the last several years and throughout the satellite record, it’s an indication that the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing.’ … The ‘satellite record’ which he used only started in 1979 when the polar orbiting satellites were brought online. His study of the 33 years of records showed that there was no change in the amount of Arctic sea ice until the late 1990’s and this lends itself to support a different theory, that the sea ice is melting at the moment because the North Atlantic Ocean is in the warming phase of its long term cooling and warming cycle known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). … During the 1930’s the North Atlantic was in such a phase, and it was reported that the Soviet ice-breaker ships were able to sail waters that had never before been open for travel [–] the ship Sadko even managed to sail within 500 miles of the North Pole. … Maybe global warming should not be given as much credit as it is for the current extreme weathers that are being experienced around the world.” –columnist Charles Kennedy

Faith and Family

“A new study from researchers at Michigan State University and the University of Cincinnati compares mortality rates between married and cohabiting individuals. Researchers found that among some groups, married individuals have lower mortality rates compared to individuals who cohabit. Previous research shows that when compared to those never married, divorced, or widowed, those who are married experience lower mortality rates. … The link between marriage and longevity is likely connected to the generally better levels of health – both physical and psychological – of married individuals. Nearly 90 percent of married adults report being in good or very good health: a greater percentage compared to their non-married peers. Additionally, married people are less likely to experience health problems or take part in risky health behaviors (smoking, drinking, etc.). Marriage is also connected to improved recovery from illness. … Marriage is the greatest protector against child poverty, and children from married-parent families are more likely to thrive on a variety of measures. As adults and children thrive, societies are able to prosper. Sadly, marriage rates are declining in the U.S. As the marriage rate declines, fewer will reap the many benefits this institution provides. Policies to promote and support marriage are crucial to ensuring the strength of the nation.” –Heritage Foundation’s Rachel Sheffield

The Last Word

Editor’s Note: The following is satire.

“The first term of the Obama administration has been a complete failure – a complete failure of Americans to deserve the great president they elected. President Obama has done everything for you. He spent billions to create you dozens of new green jobs. He’s given you amazing new health care laws. He even wore a flag pin a couple of times, though that had to disgust him. And his poor wife has done all she can to put up with the sight of your fat children waddling around everywhere. And yet you shout and shake your fat fists at him like he’s done something wrong. It reminds me of the end of that one Twilight Zone episode where everyone screams when they see the beautiful woman, because they all have pig faces, and she’s different from them. Well, Obama is the delicate beauty, and you’re all the ugly, pig-faced idiots whose sight should repulse and terrify him. Just look at the status of things. High unemployment. A sluggish economy teetering on the verge of another recession. A credit downgrade for our country. What a horrifying, stupid mess you’ve made of the past four years, you fat moron slobs.” –humorist Frank J. Fleming

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