Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Democrats Shaking in Their Boots
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Republican National Convention started off as an anxiety-ridden, soggy, depressing mess on Monday morning. By Tuesday night, the Democratic Party and Barack Obama in particular had to be an anxiety-ridden, soggy, depressing mess. The transition between Monday morning and Tuesday evening was stunning. The Republican Party went into the convention on a low note after Rep. Todd Akin, Missouri Senate candidate, suggested that women's magic uteruses protect them from becoming pregnant via "legitimate rape," enmeshing the GOP in a battle of demagoguery over abortion. Meanwhile, the convention had a legitimate shot at cancellation; it seemed that the entire city was going to shut down for Hurricane Isaac. And controversies over Sarah Palin and Ron Paul not being granted featured speaking slots at the RNC seemed to be fragmenting the RNC base.
Releasing Taliban Commanders From Gitmo
As I have noted on more than one occasion, progressive ideology is bankrupt, primarily because it is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature as it exists, as opposed to how progressives would like it to be. That being said, if progressives were content to delude themselves and only themselves, I could leave them alone to stew in their own ideological juices. Unfortunately, president Obama is about to do something so mind-numbingly disgraceful it becomes necessary that as many Americans become aware of it as possible: 18 Taliban detainees, including four "high risk" commanders are about to be freed from Guantanamo Bay prison -- simply because that's what Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants.
What Is the Role of the People?
The stirring opening words of the Constitution proclaim that it is the work of "We the People." In the Declaration of Independence, the American people had announced to the world that they were sovereign and free. In the Constitution, they sought to defend this freedom by creating a unique government for an exceptional nation, a government that derived its just powers from the consent of its people. In this American republic, what is the role of the people? The United States is exceptional because of its universal founding principles. At the heart of these principles is the belief that people are free by nature and possess inherent rights. The use each of us makes of these rights will naturally be different, and the outcomes of those choices will naturally differ too. But the choice remains ours. Freedom is thus inextricably bound up with living our lives as we see fit. This is self-government in the truest sense of the term. We the people need not slavishly defer to experts. We can be trusted to govern ourselves.
Political Fidelity Is a Virtue ... Sometimes
Tampa -- It's the oldest political rap against Mitt Romney: He is an ideological weathervane, a politician with a well-deserved reputation for conveniently reversing past positions. His history of ideological reinvention -- from a self-described moderate whose "views are progressive" to a "severely conservative" Republican -- has been explored, attacked, defended, and ridiculed ever since he began testing the presidential waters eight years ago. Like his business acumen, his storybook marriage, and his Mormonism, Romney's political switchbacks have become a mainstay of his public image. The former Massachusetts governor will give one of the biggest speeches of his political career at the Republican convention here tomorrow night. An essential goal of the speech is to reboot that public image. Party conventions are no longer just about rallying the faithful. More important is making a good impression on the "persuadables," the narrow slice of the electorate that is still undecided about whom to vote for, or at least open to a convincing argument to change their minds.
Obama's Trillion Dollar Lies
President Barack Obama has such ill-advised contempt for the intelligence of American taxpayers that he has become an habitual liar when talking about his plans to deal with a national debt that will imminently top $16 trillion. For example, on Aug. 14, he told a crowd in Waterloo, Iowa: "I'll make sure government still does its part to reduce our debt and our deficits. We've cut out already a trillion dollars' worth of spending we don't need." On June 22, in Tampa, Fla., he said: "We're going to reduce our deficit by $4 trillion. I have a detailed plan. We'll cut spending we can't afford." On June 12, in Philadelphia, he said: "And I've already signed $2 trillion of cuts into law already and have proposed $2 trillion in additional deficit reduction." So, which is it?
Republicans, Torn Apart in Factions?
The Republican convention was delayed by a day on Monday. It's not a problem: The national media's preconvention spin was timed perfectly, almost as if it was on automatic pilot. In Monday's New York Times, longtime political writer Adam Nagourney regurgitated the same old, tired political spin that the Republican Party is too conservative and exclusionary on "social issues" and that their divisive stands will hurt them with "mainstream" voters. 1976. 1980. 1984. 1988. 1992. 1996. 2000. 2004. 2008. Will they *ever* stop saying this?
Obama's Sneaky, Deadly, Costly Car Tax
While all eyes were on the Republican National Convention in Tampa and Hurricane Isaac on the Gulf Coast, the White House was quietly jacking up the price of automobiles and putting future drivers at risk. Yes, the same cast of fable-tellers who falsely accused GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney of murdering a steelworker's cancer-stricken wife is now directly imposing a draconian environmental regulation that will cost untold American lives. On Tuesday, the administration announced that it had finalized "historic" new fuel efficiency standards. (Everything's "historic" with these narcissists, isn't it?) President Obama took a break from his historic fundraising drives to proclaim that "(by) the middle of the next decade, our cars will get nearly 55 miles per gallon, almost double what they get today. It'll strengthen our nation's energy security, it's good for middle-class families, and it will help create an economy built to last."
The War on Drugs: Because Prohibition Worked So Well...
Forty years ago, the United States locked up fewer than 200 of every 100,000 Americans. Then President Nixon declared war on drugs. Now we lock up more of our people than any other country -- more even than the authoritarian regimes in Russia and China. A war on drugs -- on people, that is -- is unworthy of a country that claims to be free. Unfortunately, this outrage probably won't be discussed in Tampa or Charlotte.
Entitlement Reforms
For those of us who like to believe that human beings are rational, trying to explain what happens in politics can be a real challenge. For example, that segment of the population that has the least to fear from a reform of Medicare or Social Security is the most fearful -- namely, those already receiving Medicare or Social Security benefits. It is understandable that people heavily dependent on these programs would fear losing their benefits, especially after a lifetime of paying into these programs. But nobody in his right mind has even proposed taking away the benefits of those who are already receiving them. Yet opponents of reforming these programs have managed repeatedly to scare the daylights out of seniors with wild claims and television ads such as one showing someone -- who looks somewhat like Paul Ryan -- pushing an elderly lady in a wheelchair toward a cliff and then dumping her over.
Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce Que C'est?
Last Friday, upon receiving the maximum possible penalty for murdering 77 people in and near Oslo, Norway, a year ago, Anders Behring Breivik smiled. The prison sentence -- 21 years initially, but indefinitely extendable for as long as Breivik is deemed a threat -- meant a five-judge panel had rejected the prosecution's argument that the self-proclaimed anti-Islamic militant was insane when he committed his bloody crimes. Since Breivik feared such a judgment would hurt his political cause, the verdict was, in that sense, a victory for him. But it was also a victory for individual responsibility and the rule of law, both of which are undermined by pseudomedical pronouncements that treat extreme ideas as symptoms of mental illness.
The Rich Don't Pay Enough?
If you listen to America's political hacks, mainstream media talking heads and their socialist allies, you can't help but reach the conclusion that the nation's tax burden is borne by the poor and middleclass while the rich get off scot-free. Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal, and I'm proud to say former GMU economics student, wrote "The U.S. Tax System: Who Really Pays?" in the Manhattan Institute's Issue 2012 (8/12). Let's see whether the rich are paying their "fair" share. According to IRS 2007 data, the richest 1 percent of Americans earned 22 percent of national personal income but paid 40 percent of all personal income taxes. The top 5 percent earned 37 percent and paid 61 percent of personal income tax. The top 10 percent earned 48 percent and paid 71 percent of all personal income taxes. The bottom 50 percent earned 12 percent of personal income but paid just 3 percent of income tax revenues.
After Romney's Birth Certificate Joke, Dems Play the Race Card
TAMPA, Fla. -- Huzzah, America, our centuries-old struggle with racism and bigotry may be coming to an end. This news was confirmed by none other than Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of sociology and the author of 18 books on race, racism, racial history, black culture and black history. Suffice it to say, he knows a lot about prejudice and bigotry. Yet in response to Mitt Romney's lame joke about not needing a birth certificate to prove he was from Michigan, Dyson proclaimed, to the approval of a collection of sage pundits on MSNBC, that Romney was resorting to "some of the basest, most despicable bigotry we can imagine."
Unconventional Conventions
As you are no doubt aware Monday's schedule for the Republican National Convention in Tampa was cancelled due to fears of Tropical Storm Isaac becoming Hurricane Isaac, and Hurricane Isaac taking dead aim at Tampa. Even if you hadn't heard this on the radio or on your local news, you knew it when you tuned in to watch convention activities and were greeted by the cable news channels' equivalent of "Rain Out Theater."
A Campaign of Vilification
As Lyndon Johnson told it -- or allowed it to be told in his name -- this Goldwater guy, if given half a chance, would blow up the world. In which case, why shouldn't the voters back in '64 not play it safe and keep LBJ in the White House? Memories of the infamous Johnson television spot, with its daisy-leaf-plucking-about-to-be-incinerated-by-bad-Barry, cuddly, little girl, cause some of us old-timers to reach for the Maalox. (Small wonder that Barry would later say, talking of Lyndon, "Don't get me started on that SOB.") The debasement of presidential discourse wasn't the only public offense Johnson committed, but he sure set a vital precedent -- one that came to mind as Mitt Romney was expatiating on Barack Obama's "campaign of personal vilification and demonization."
My Dream Speech for Mitt Romney
My fellow Americans, my fellow Republicans: The 2012 election is not an election between two men but between two entirely different visions of America. President Obama and I are simply the standard bearers of opposing, and may I add, irreconcilable visions of what America is and should be. The Republican Party and I represent American values as they have been understood since the founding of our country. The Democratic Party and President Obama represent different values. This does not make any Democrat, let alone President Obama, less American or less patriotic than anyone of us here. But millions of Americans who love our country hold values that emanate from elsewhere.
Risky Business
Insurance is all about risk. Yet neither insurance companies nor their policy-holders can do anything about one of the biggest risks -- namely, interference by politicians, to turn insurance into something other than a device to deal with risk. By passing laws to force insurance companies to cover things that have nothing to do with risk, politicians force up the cost of insurance. Annual checkups, for example, are known in advance to take place once a year. Foreseeable events are not a risk. Annual checkups are no cheaper when they are covered by an insurance policy. On the contrary, they are one of many things that are more expensive when they are covered by an insurance policy.
This Convention Matters
We've all heard the objection that political conventions have become empty kabuki theater. The high drama of multiple ballots is dead and gone. Uncertainty about the outcome is no more. "Today," laments political guru Mike Murphy, "delegates are bound through the application of TV ad ratings points, not machine deals. They sit in the convention hall like the background actors in a TV show, milling about to the director's orders, wearing costumes and denied a single line. It seems a shabby ending to a great tradition. It's time for a mercy killing."
Romney's Opportunity
TAMPA, Fla. -- This week when Mitt Romney strides to center stage to deliver his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, he might draw inspiration from an unlikely source: the song "I Am What I Am" from the musical "La Cage Aux Folles." One of the chief complaints from voters about politicians is that they too often package themselves disingenuously to get elected, only to reveal their real agenda after they've won. That is what President Obama did in the 2008 campaign when he styled himself as a unifier who wanted to bridge the partisan divide by saying, "...we are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the United States of America." He then governed more like he was in Soviet America with redistribution of income and more centralized power in Washington.
Romney's an Extremist, and Obama Isn't? LOL
President Obama's casting of Mitt Romney as extreme is one of the most glaring incidents of political projection in the modern era. Romney doesn't approach extremism in substance, style or disposition. Obama swims in it. In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama said Romney has locked himself into "extreme positions" on economic and social issues and would implement them if in office. Accusing Romney of extremism is just another arrow in Obama's fantasy quiver, because reality just doesn't help him. Romney is anything but extreme, and no serious political analyst believes otherwise. He is certainly extremely bullish on America, American business and the free enterprise system, and he doubtlessly wants to move the nation extremely away from the disastrous course on which Obama is taking it, but that's about the extent of his extremism. Romney's policies are right of center, to be sure, but not extreme, except from the perspective of a radical leftist, which brings us to Obama.