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THE FOUNDATION: TYRANNY

“I had always hoped that the younger generation receiving their early impressions after the flame of liberty had been kindled in every breast... would have sympathized with oppression wherever found, and proved their love of liberty beyond their own share of it.”  — Thomas Jefferson

RE: THE LEFT

“In 1963, John F. Kennedy was murdered in Texas by a fervent admirer of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. In 2008, a large Cuban flag emblazoned with the image of Che Guevara, Castro’s brutal henchman, is prominently displayed in a Barack Obama campaign volunteer office in Houston. Obama has been widely compared to JFK, most notably by the late president’s brother and daughter. President Kennedy, a stalwart anticommunist, despised Castro and his gang of totalitarian thugs. But when word broke last week that Obama’s supporters in Houston work under a banner glorifying Che, the campaign’s reaction was to brush it off as an issue involving volunteers, not the official campaign. After two days of controversy, the campaign issued a statement calling the flag ‘inappropriate’ and saying its display ‘does not reflect Senator Obama’s views.’ Would JFK have reacted so mildly?... That this sadistic thug’s face also adorns the office of a U.S. presidential candidate’s supporters is appalling and disgraceful. That the candidate couldn’t bring himself to say so is even worse.”  — Jeff Jacoby

FOR THE RECORD

“Senator Barack Obama rejects the ‘politics of the past’ while borrowing from its phoniest chapters. His promised caravan toward a new Camelot, with Teddy Kennedy bringing up the rear, may generate feelings in Chris Matthews’ leg and cause women to swoon, but over time it is likely to pall and bore. Obama’s speeches are like cotton candy, sweet but substanceless and dangerous to one’s health if turned into a steady diet. Is he saying nothing? Unfortunately not. Glimpsed through the haze of his sophistical rhetoric is something, and it is tiresomely false, namely, the dogmatic assertion that ‘hope’ and liberalism are synonymous. His reliance on sentiment and rhetoric rather than reasoning to advance that assertion will not inspire a new politics of bipartisan unity but revive old and bitter resentments. Liberalism, after all, has no monopoly on hope, and the chapters of history to which Obama makes implicit reference — the New Frontier and Great Society — concluded in despair. While the Democrats won’t stop squealing over him for some time, the larger culture has already begun to mock Obama as a platitudinous lightweight.”  — George Neumayr

POLITICAL FUTURES

“Up to now, the force of Sen. Obama’s physical presentation has so dazzled audiences that it has been hard to focus on precisely what he is saying. ‘Yes, we can! Yes, we can!’ Can what? Listen closely to that... speech. Unhinge yourself from the mesmerizing voice. What one hears is a message that is largely negative, illustrated with anecdotes of unremitting bleakness. Heavy with class warfare, it is a speech that could have been delivered by a Democrat in 1968, or even 1928... It is a depressing message to ride all the way to the White House... In late December, Gallup released a poll in which 84% of respondents said they were satisfied with their own lives. At some point in the next 10 months, people will have to square Sen. Obama’s Grapes of Wrath message with the reality of their lives. Unease about the economy is real, but Sen. Obama is selling more than that. He is selling deep grievance over the structure of American society. That’s the same message as John Edwards, or Dennis Kucinich for that matter.”  — Daniel Henninger
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FAMILY

“There are many ways in which pro-choicers are [moral] relativists. Most obvious, they do not favor a choice in the case of the father of the child in the womb or the even child in the womb itself; rather, they believe that the choice goes only to one party — the mother alone. The very issue of the ‘choice’ is completely relativistic — as is the question of its humanity. Who decides whether the life in the womb is a baby or merely a blob of tissue that can be discarded? Who decides if it is a life? The pro-choicer affirms that this decision is not based on medical science, theology, or anything but the mother alone... Pro-choice feminists believe that the morally decisive factor in an abortion decision is the mere right to make the decision, a right restricted, but varying in (acceptable) outcome, for each and every prospective mother-to-be. The father cannot be the moral arbiter in this decision because he is not endowed with the legal right of ‘choice.’ The right of reproductive choice is judged the highest moral end in the equation, trumping all other rights, including a right to life for the unborn child. Does this make sense? Does it seem fair? The result is over 40 million aborted babies in America alone since 1973.”  — Paul Kengor

CULTURE

“The natural instinct of civilized human beings is to protect those who are more vulnerable in the face of danger. Civilized cultures have placed women on a pedestal not because they are less capable but because we honor them and hold them in a special place in our society. Not so with radical Islamists. They treat women as chattel and they abuse children. Just as it is becoming increasingly incumbent upon the Iraqi people to take responsibility for their government and their future, it is increasingly imperative that responsible Muslims take a stand for human decency.”  — Oliver North

LIBERTY

“Anti-tobacco zealots don’t have a monopoly on tyrannical designs. There are those who wish to control what we eat, and the successful attack on smokers has provided a template for their agenda... Here’s the Mississippi Legislature House Bill 282,... that in part reads: ‘An Act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health; to direct the Department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and to provide those materials to the food establishments; to direct the Department to monitor the food establishments for compliance with the provisions of this act.’ The bill proposes to revoke licenses of food establishments that violate the provisions of the act. You shouldn’t believe that if this measure is successful in Mississippi that it will stay in Mississippi. Moreover, it will be expanded upon because most people who are obese don’t become so by eating at restaurants; mostly, it’s food eaten at home. Thus, the food tyrants won’t be satisfied with restaurant restrictions, just as the anti-tobacco zealots weren’t satisfied with warning labels on cigarettes. They will push for legislation restricting the sale of foods at supermarkets. Since an obese person can get a svelte person to do his grocery shopping for him, legislators might propose sting operations to fine or arrest people giving an obese person high-calorie food... Americans turning away from rule of law and constitutional government are following in the footsteps of other people around the world who discovered their liberties gone and recovering them was next to impossible. But, what the heck. You might be among those Americans who don’t smoke and are not obese, so why sweat it?”  — Walter Williams
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THE GIPPER

“Well, we conservatives have been in Washington now for awhile, and we occasionally need to remind ourselves what brought us here in the first place: our unshakable, root-deep, all-encompassing skepticism about the Capital City’s answer to the UFO, that bizarre, ever-tottering but ever-flickering saucer in the sky called the prevailing Washington wisdom. And right now some of the Potomac seers are saying we conservatives are tired; or they’re saying we don’t have a candidate, that we don’t know what to do with ourselves this year. I even hear some of those candidates in the other party saying how easy it’s going to be to win the Presidency for their liberal agenda, because they can run on — of all things — this administration’s economic record. Boy, have I got news for them. They’re seeing flying saucers again... The real friends of the conservative movement are an entity that gets heard from in a big way every four years and who, I promise you, are going to be heard from this year. I’m talking about those who, if the case is aggressively put before them, will vote for limited government, family values, and a tough, strong foreign policy every single time. I’m talking about those believers in common sense and sound values, your friends and mine, the American people. You see, those who underestimate the conservative movement are the same people who always underestimate the American people.”  — Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Journalists cannot serve two masters. To the extent that they take on the task of suppressing information or biting their tongue for the sake of some political agenda, they are betraying the trust of the public and corrupting their own profession. It is bad enough that politicians betray their followers as a matter of expediency. It is real chutzpah when they demand that journalists betray the public trust as a matter of principle, for the benefit of politicians. Some journalists — too many, in fact — do jump on the bandwagon of particular candidates or particular political agendas, and end up filtering and spinning the news as a result. Those who are on the ‘global warming’ bandwagon, for example, endlessly repeat that the polar ice cap in the arctic is shrinking — while filtering out the fact that the polar ice cap in the Antarctic is growing... Whether one is for or against the ‘global warming’ crusade or for or against Democrats or Republicans in the White House, the truth is the truth — and filtering out facts is betraying the public that has turned to the media for information. It is legitimate to argue for or against those who believe that global warming justifies one policy or another. That is an honest expression of opinion. But filtering the facts is not. Some in the media seem to think that a noble cause justifies withholding facts on the other side.”  — Thomas Sowell

GOVERNMENT

“Supporters of the stimulus only consider it’s ‘seen’ affects. If government takes or borrows money from Jones and gives it to Smith, Smith’s spending will be visible for all to see. Not so visible is the ‘unseen’ affect: What Jones would have done with the money but didn’t because it was transferred to Smith. Economists call this the ‘broken window fallacy.’ In the 19th century, French economist Frederic Bastiat illustrated it with the story of a boy who breaks a shop window. At first the townspeople lament the loss, but then someone points out that the shopkeeper will have to spend money to replace the window. What the window maker earns, he will soon spend elsewhere. As that money circulates through town, new prosperity will bloom. The fallacy, of course, is that if the window had not been broken, the shopkeeper would have ‘replaced his worn-out shoes... or added another book to his library.’ The town gains nothing from the broken window. This logic is lost on the stimulus promoters. I’m surprised they don’t suggest that we prevent recessions by breaking lots of windows... I’m not saying the government can do nothing about the economy. The best thing it can do is get itself out the way. Economies boom when governments remove impediments to production: high taxes, regulations, subsidies, trade barriers, manipulation of the money supply, etc. Removing those should be permanent — not temporary — measures.”  — John Stossel
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SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“Thanks for the Patriot Profile on Mike Huckabee. In spite of various attacks on his tax policies, he is the only candidate who could debate Barack Obama and in the eyes of most Americans win the debate. His ability to communicate clear policies and programs (substance) far our outshines Obama’s feel good change.”  — Advance, North Carolina

“Thank you for the well-written and informative profile on Mike Huckabee. I must admit to having voted for him in last week’s New Jersey primary on the basis of less knowledge than I now possess.”  — Belleplain, New Jersey

“I personally think Mike Huckabee is a con-man supremo. I honestly think he could con that ultimate of con-men, Bubba Clinton, out of his shoes. He is a slickster with his mouth and can cover many things up with his quick wit and humor. He worries me about his positions on illegal aliens and big government. Given any authority at all he could enlarge our government faster than George W. ever could.”  — Hampton, New Hampshire

“Re: Mike Huckabee on Compassionate conservatism: Conservatism has always been ”compassionate.“ It refuses to allow the individual to make excuses for failure and lay the blame on others. The government should not be dealing in so-called compassion. The church and philanthropic organizations have always taken the lead in compassion to their fellow man. The government’s part is to lower taxes, cut spending, and get out of the way.”  — Embarrass, Minnesota

THE LAST WORD

“A few more primary wins and B. Hussein Obama will be able to light up a cigarette during a televised speech and still get the nomination. It looks like the only thing that can stop him now is an endorsement from Al Gore. Gore is always lunging into a movement just as it has passed its prime — the Internet, Howard Dean, global warming, trying to talk black when he campaigns at a black church. He probably bought a big house a few months ago. Gore is such a supremely unlikable human being, he even subverted the mainstream media’s affection for liberalism during the 2000 election. And my brave little Hillary needs a bold move after the Potomac primaries this week. If she can’t trick Gore into endorsing Obama, she may have to divorce Bill.”  — Ann Coulter

Veritas vos Liberabit — Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families — especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)