THE FOUNDATION

“It is a melancholy reflection that liberty should be equally exposed to danger whether the government have too much or too little power.” –James Madison

INSIGHT

“All societies must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have stringent state government, the more they must have individual self-government…. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or by a power without them….” –Robert C. Winthrop

ICTUS IMPRIMIS

“Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country; of instructing them in the art of self-government without which they never can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” –Samuel Adams

FAMILY

“… [T]he secular worldview … denies that sex has anything to do with morality or truth. It considers traditional sexual morality, most notably the biblical morality, as a way of controlling people, especially women. And attempts to curb sexual liberties are repressive and, thus, emotionally harmful. For … our culture, there are no prohibitions when it comes to sex. What matters is consent and avoiding exploiting or being exploited. Of course, these are thin reeds with which to protect our children – or even ourselves – from harm.” –Charles Colson

CULTURE

“These so-called [Catholic Church] reformers’ chief aim is not simply to convince the Church to abandon its position on priestly celibacy but to change its position on artificial birth control, divorce, homosexuality and abortion, as well. The problems the American Catholic Church has gotten itself into lately didn’t come about because it resisted the sexually permissive culture in which it finds itself. To the contrary, the problems stem from priests who have decided to embrace that culture, despite their vows of celibacy – and bishops who ignored – or worse, enabled – what these errant priests were doing.” –Linda Chavez

LIBERTY

“To centralize power in the name of freedom is akin to putting a crime syndicate in charge of rooting out corruption. It is the normal state of politics that the more centralized it is, the more damage it does. Fast-track authority [for government-to-government trade agreements] centralizes power and is therefore part of the problem.” –Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

THE GIPPER

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply swell its numbers…. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.” –Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Our moral compass is not broken. The needle continues to point in the same direction. But ‘south’ has been mislabeled as ‘north.’ And for a generation, these reversed compasses have been handed to kids by parents, teachers, government officials, various advocacy groups and – yes – even some clergy. ‘Broken moral compass’ is a convenient but inaccurate description of the problem. Our moral compass has been altered, inverted and in fact sabotaged by those who are unwilling or unable to follow a legitimate compass, but who conceal their accountability by inducing the rest of us to go along with them. There is still time to repair our moral compass. All that’s needed is to compare our compass with a genuine one and re-label the directions. The real difficulty comes in following the corrected compass. The genuine path isn’t always easy. Often it leads uphill and over difficult terrain. But it is always straight, and eventually it will get us home again.” –Dr. David C. Stolinsky

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“Last fall Congress authorized the Transportation Department to consider arming pilots with guns. But while support among pilots and the public for the idea has only grown in recent months, the Bush Administration has yet to act. So … Representatives John Mica (R., Florida) and Don Young (R., Alaska) introduced a bill that would take the decision out of Transportation’s hands. Trained pilots would be given the right to carry guns along with the same liability protection as undercover federal air marshals. The objections expressed by the Administration are weak. ‘I don’t feel we should have lethal weapons in the cockpit,’ says Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who also insists that grandmothers be screened at airports with the same intensity as suspicious-looking young men. Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge adds, ‘Where do you stop? If pilots carry guns [then] railroad engineers and bus drivers could ask to do the same.’ The response seems obvious: Control of a cockpit can turn an airliner into a lethal weapon. Hijacked trains and buses can’t be flown into the Pentagon or a nuclear plant…. Arming pilots is an important security measure. Federal air marshals will never be able to protect more than a small fraction of flights. Reinforced cockpit doors, while an improvement, aren’t impregnable and will still need to be opened periodically during flight. Stun guns, favored by Mr. Mineta, can be rendered ineffective by thick clothing, and they immobilize attackers for mere seconds. In short, the same Transportation Secretary who’s letting the phony issue of racial profiling stand in the way of effective airport screening is now refusing to authorize the best defense should terrorists get on board an airplane again. Maybe it’s time for the White House to exert some policy supervision over Mr. Mineta and his bureaucracy. Failing that, we’re all for Congress taking the law back into its own hands. It shouldn’t take another disaster before we get serious about keeping hijackers out of the cockpit.” –Wall Street Journal

GOVERNMENT

“…[S]ince when did government programs need to ‘work’? The list of programs that fail, whose unintended consequences exacerbate problems, simply boggles the mind…. So here’s the drill. Congress passes laws, never mind the impact. Congress sometimes studies the impact of laws, frequently ignoring its findings. And, written in government-speak, reports often serve to confuse, confound and, every now and then, entertain. For example, one government study injected deadly gas into a cage of laboratory rats, killing all. The report’s conclusion? The experiment induced a ‘100 percent mortality response.’ Gotta love it.” –Larry Elder

RE: THE LEFT

“Clinton did everything he was accused of: committed perjury, subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, abuse of power…. But what he mainly did was use a 21-year-old intern for sex in the Oval Office. And that, by itself, is disqualifying. If America were a better country, it would know that.” –Jay Nordlinger

POLITICAL FUTURES

“… [This] week will mark a key time in the Senate’s ongoing war over judicial confirmations. Thursday, May 9 is the one-year anniversary of President Bush’s announcement of his first nominees for the federal bench; on that day, the president nominated eleven judges for places on the circuit courts of appeal. Since then, just three have been confirmed – and two of those were Democrats whom Bush nominated in a conciliatory gesture. Of the eight who have not yet been confirmed, none has had a hearing before the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee.” –Byron York

FOR THE RECORD

A recent Rutgers University survey reported that 74% of all high school students have cheated at least once on a test and 72% had cheated on written assignments. The study also cited over half of high school students as having no qualms about blatant plagiarism, cheating on tests, and turning in work done by their parents. Forrest Turpen of Christian Educators Association International explained, “It’s just a breakdown in the sense of responsibility and respect for truth … that is apparent not only at the educational level, but I think in society in general.”

SELECT READER COMMENTS

“When Barry Goldwater ran against LBJ, the Democrats proclaimed, ‘If you vote for hawkish Barry Goldwater, we’ll have four years of war.’ They lied. I voted for Goldwater and we had ten years of war after LBJ’s election! I haven’t believed a Democrat’s election promises since.”

“One of the best strategies conservatives can employ against the Left is to continually emphasize in the media and to the public that there is a direct correlation between political philosophies and morality. If Republicans make it their first priority to honor absolute truth above all else, then this more than anything will help expose leftism for the evil that it is. Truly, if there is no such thing as a ‘moderate’ or a ‘centrist’ then there are but two alternatives, those that love and embrace truth and those who do not. Conservatives would do well to remember that conservatism owes it success not to great men and women, but to absolute truth, and that absolute truth has done more than any political, social, or religious movement in the world to guarantee peace and liberty. Therein lies the paradox; true conservatism can’t exist apart from truth, and leftism can’t exist without truth to distort.”

“Federalist No. 02-18 quoted C.S. Lewis: ‘Fascism and Communism, like all other evils, are potent because of the good they contain or imitate…. And of course their occasion is the failure of those who left humanity starved of that particular good. This does not for me alter the conviction that they are very bad indeed. One of the things we must guard against is the penetration of both into Christianity…. Mark my words: you will presently see both a Leftist and a Rightist pseudo-theology developing – the abomination will stand where it ought not….’ Fascism and Communism are not right verses left, but left verses far left. National socialism and communism are not antithetical.”
Editor’s Reply: We agree that fascism and Communism are both Leftist political philosophies – as we use the term; however, C.S. Lewis was making use of political distinctions in common parlance over a half century ago. But we nevertheless still agree with his prediction about the emergence of “both a Leftist and a Rightist pseudo-theology” of government supplanting Christian moral good.

“Why is it that Nazism is often equated with the ‘far right’? The word Nazi is a diminutive for the National Socialist Party in pre-war Germany. The operative word is, of course, ‘socialism.’ Isn’t socialism left of center here in the U.S.? If that is so, then Nazism would be more correctly applied to the far left than to the far right. (Or perhaps to the entire left, not just the far left).”
Editor’s Reply: Associating Nazi’s or any totalitarian movement with the American right (Constitutional constructionists and advocates of liberty) is another fine example Leftlogic manipulation of truth compliments of the Leftmedia!

“The featured organization in Federalist No. 18 Brief stated that ‘all 50 governors’ officially recognized National Day of Prayer in their states. Jesse Ventura did not.”
Editor’s Reply: Actually, Jesse Ventura signed a “Certificate of Recognition,” which was about as significant as, well, Jesse Ventura! He only signs proclamations for such events as “Gay Rights Month.”

THE LAST WORD

“But I’ll tell you, egalitarianism is worse than stupid, it’s immoral. I think the Old Testament is quite clear about that. The Bible might seem to be a strange place to be doing economic research, but I have been thinking, from a political economy point of view, about the Tenth Commandment. Now the first nine commandments concern theological principles–thou shall not steal and kill and so forth. Fair enough. Then there’s the Tenth Commandment: ‘Thou shall not covet they neighbor’s wife. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.’ I mean, here are God’s basic rules for how we should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is: ‘Don’t envy your buddy his cow.’ What is that doing there? Why would God, with just 10 things to tell Moses, choose jealousy about the stuff the guy next door has? Well, think about how important to the well-being of a community that commandment actually is. What that commandment says is that if you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t [complain] about it, go get your own! The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to collectivists, to people who believe that wealth is best obtained by redistribution, and that message is clear and concise: Egalitarianism is sinful; it’s also cowardly.” –P. J. O'Rourke