The Truth About Pledges

The Foundation

"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." --John Marshall

Editorial Exegesis

"One of the more amazing post-election spectacles is the media celebration of Republicans who say they're willing to repudiate their pledge against raising taxes. So the same folks who like to denounce politicians because they can't be trusted are now praising politicians who openly admit they can't be trusted. The spectacle is part of what is becoming a tripartisan ... attempt to stigmatize Grover Norquist as the source of all Beltway fiscal woes and gridlock. Mr. Norquist, who runs an outfit called Americans for Tax Reform, is the fellow who came up with the no-new-taxes pledge some 20 years ago. He tries to get politicians to sign it, and hundreds of Republicans have done so. He does not hold a gun to their heads. Grover's ... apparent crime against Washington is that he now actually wants to hold politicians to what they willingly signed. If enough Republicans will disavow their tax pledge, then the capital crowd can go about agreeing to a grand fiscal bargain that raises taxes, pretends to cut spending and avoids the January 1 fiscal crack-up that the politicians have set us up for. Voters are supposed to believe that only Grover stands in the way of this happy ever-after. ... The truth is that Mr. Norquist doesn't have such power. The voters do. Mr. Norquist merely had the wit to channel the electorate's limited government beliefs into a single-issue enforcement mechanism. ... The real problems are a political class that won't control its spending and economic policies that are retarding growth. That's where the GOP should keep its public focus. Mr. Norquist's tax pledge has been one of the few restraints over the years against those bad Beltway appetites. Democrats demonize Grover because they know this. They want to pit Mr. Norquist against other Republicans precisely so they can dispirit the tea party grass-roots and take away the tax issue as a GOP advantage. Republican voters know that elections have consequences and that Mitt Romney's defeat means there will be policy defeats too. But they will give the House and Senate GOP credit if it fights for its principles and drives a hard bargain." --The Wall Street Journal

Upright

"[I]f the Democrats are really serious about soaking the rich, why don't they come out in favor of replacing the income tax -- which is basically a mechanism to prevent the upper-middle class from becoming wealthy -- with a wealth tax? Holders of great family fortunes can easily live off their inheritances, with no taxable 'income' whatsoever, but imagine if the Kennedys, the Rockefellers, and those who grabbed the swag by marrying the widow of a rich Republican senator, were forced to cough up a sizable percentage of their estates to the feds each year. Then you'd see real tax reform, and in a hurry." --columnist Michael Walsh

"[R]aising taxes would result in less economic activity, not more. Herein lies the key to understanding why the left wants higher taxes for 'the rich.' To the rich-should-pay-more crowd, the question of whether raising taxes hurts economic growth is less important than the issue of 'fairness.' ... Andy Stern, the former head of the Service Employees International Union, the fastest-growing American union, describes the economic philosophy of the left: If raising taxes on 'the rich' hurts the economy, that is an acceptable price. 'Western Europe,' says Stern, 'as much as we used to make fun of it, has made different trade-offs which may have ended with a little more unemployment but a lot more equality.' Any questions?" --columnist and radio talk-show host Larry Elder

"The Left misunderstands conservatives when it believes the argument over tax rates is an argument about greed -- that wealthier Americans simply want to grab all the money we can. In fact, many of the top 5 percent are among the most generous people in the world; they just tend to give their money to charities that actually produce results. Leaving aside -- for the moment -- the increasingly inverse correlation between taxation and individual liberty (a crucial consideration all its own), we conservatives look at the vast bureaucratic beast with a sense of utter futility. We opt out of government projects and seek personal independence in part because we see government fail time and again -- and not for lack of resources. For millions, government is less 'the thing we do together' than it is the 'monster inflicted upon us,' and the taxes we pay are less a contribution to the well-being of the community than a ransom payment to keep the monster away from our door." --columnist David French

"Emboldened by U.S. backing and funding, Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood heavyweight Egyptians elected to be their president, has essentially declared dictatorial powers -- i.e., that his 'sovereign' actions are beyond judicial review. ... His objective is to clear the field of secular interference so the Islamist-dominated 'constituent assembly' can finish writing and ramming through a new constitution that further suffocates Egypt in the classical sharia framework favored by the Brothers and their allies.... [T]he Brotherhood in Egypt is following an easily accessible, albeit widely ignored, game-plan. It is the one by which Islamists moved Turkey back into their column, away from real democracy. It took Erdogan's Islamist government a decade to flip Turkey. I predicted that things would go much faster in Egypt, where they never tried an 80-year secularization project, where Islamic supremacism has deep roots, and where the Brotherhood has always been a powerhouse. It's happening. Fast." --former DoJ attorney Andrew C. McCarthy

Insight

"Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State." --Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

"The love of liberty with life is given, And life itself the inferior gift of Heaven." --English poet John Dryden (1631-1700)

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Demo-gogues

Far out: "The president of the United States, the most famous person in the world, maybe in the whole galaxy -- in a long time -- he had to spend like a billion dollars to set the record straight." --House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Sexism, front and center: "As we move forward to debate our economic and fiscal challenges in the weeks and months ahead, one thing is clear: Our economic agenda, choices and decisions, will be viewed through the perspective and the eyes of our nation's women and their needs and those of their families." --Nancy Pelosi

We deserve it! "The benefits and [$174,000 per year] salary that we get, we earn. It's not elaborate, it's just a bunch of poppycock that a lot of people have spread around trying to get us to hate our own government and our government representatives." --Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) (Perhaps he's giving himself credit for preventing Guam from capsizing.)

When they were the minority, the rules didn't seem to be a problem: "We cannot allow the Senate to be dysfunctional by the use of filibusters. We've had over 300 filibusters in the last six years -- it's unprecedented. What we're talking about is very basic -- you want to start a filibuster, you want to stop the business of the Senate, by goodness' sake, park your fanny on the floor of the Senate and speak. If you want to go to dinner and go home over the weekend, be prepared, the Senate is moving forward." --Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Dezinformatsia

Sycophants prepare for 2016: "What is clear is that despite lingering questions about Benghazi, [Hillary] Clinton is more beloved than at any point in her long and at times controversial career, commanding soaring approval ratings, a vast fundraising machine and supporters who gush more than ever that she should run for president again." --Washington Post reporter Stephanie McCrummen

What? "I think that the ultimate message of that wonderful movie ['Lincoln'], I thought that it was an act of patriotism on Spielberg's part to make it in that way. The ultimate message is bring back earmarks! ... Earmarks have always been the grease, you know, that greases the wheels that gets things done. I think John McCain did a tremendous disservice to this country by making such a huge campaign about earmarks when there are far bigger and more important targets to be met on deficit reduction." --TIME Magazine's Joe Klein

"Tolerance" and revisionist history: "Word to the wise: Thanksgiving is the proper holiday to tell your family that you're a homosexual. It's arguably secular, so you're confronting tradition, not faith. ... If it helps, think of homosexuals as the rightly worried tribe sitting across from the Puritans. I'm just saying the table should be set for them, in the borderless world that is gay America. Gays and lesbians are in every family, somehow. Make them a plate." --The Washington Post's Ned Martel

Civility: "The 'pro-life' movement is absolutely anything BUT 'pro-life.' This hypocritical and misleading nomenclature should be discontinued immediately. 'Anti-choice' is also far too tame. They're slut-shaming slimebuckets: This group of thugs, hiding behind declarations of piety about 'the sanctity of life,' needs to be labeled exactly as they ARE: Forced-birth slut-shamers, advocates of murder, hypocrites, pedophiles, enablers of rape and incest, and generally all-around lying slimebuckets." --Daily Kos blogger BadKitties

Newspulper Headlines:

Out on a Limb: "Poll: Obama, Congress Will Blow New Taxes, Not Cut Deficit" --Washington Examiner website

We Blame George W. Bush: "Jurors in Political Bias Case Blame University" --USA Today

We Blame Global Warming: "New TSA Guidelines May Mislead Travelers, Snow Globe Expert Warns" --Yahoo! News

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations: "Better Liked Than Congress: David Petraeus" --NationalJournal.com

The Lonely Lives of Scientists: "Giving Thanks: Scientists Seek World Record for Most Pieces of Used Toilet Paper Collected" --ScientificAmerican.com

Bottom Story of the Day: "Mitt Romney Pumps His Own Gas at La Jolla Station" --Vibe.com

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Left-theology: "First of all, give an honor to God and our lord and savior Barack Obama." --actor Jamie Foxx

Fate is sealed? "The Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit considerably. I would simply point out to you that the Supreme Court has spoken, the American people have spoken, congressional leaders of both parties have spoken, and we're going to continue with implementation." --White House Press Secretary Jay Carney

Revisionist history: "[I]n the United States, this reluctance to acknowledge our original sin -- the genocide of indigenous people -- is of special importance today. ... Simply put: Thanksgiving is the day when the dominant white culture (and, sadly, most of the rest of the non-white but non-indigenous population) celebrates the beginning of a genocide that was, in fact, blessed by the men we hold up as our heroic founding fathers. ... How does a country deal with the fact that some of its most revered historical figures had certain moral values and political views virtually identical to Nazis?" --Robert Jensen, journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin

Short Cuts

"There are now reports that President Obama will name Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to be the next secretary of defense. Apparently this is part of America's new defense strategy to bore our enemies to death." --comedian Jay Leno

"Attorney General Eric Holder said he will remain on the job only 'for about a year.' That should be enough time to finish all the necessary document-shredding." --Fred Thompson

"So are we still trying to end racial politics or are there just too many advantages to some political parties for that?" --humorist Frank J. Fleming

"Hostess Bakery plants shut down due to a workers' strike. It was split up. The State Department hired all the Twinkies, the Secret Service hired all the HoHos, the generals are sleeping with the Cupcakes and the voters sent all the Ding Dongs to Congress." --comedian Argus Hamilton

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