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THE FOUNDATION: POLITICS AND PARTIES

“It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued.”  — James Madison

LIBERTY

“James Madison wrote a pro-constitution editorial (known to history as Federalist 10), that described in prescient terms precisely why political factions are dangerous. When there is liberty, he argued, some men will create more wealth than others. Property and class factions are the result. Members of these different economic classes are tempted to pass laws which help themselves at the expense of the overall public good... Ambitious men with rhetorical skill exploit these factions, rising through them to positions of power. In fact, these ambitious men need factions in order to gain what they want. Groups of politically alienated voters are ideally suited to a demagogue’s desire for power and prestige. The narcissists and the fanatics feed one another... Washington, following Madison’s lead, warned us in his Farewell Address that the power of party (his word for faction) tends to create convulsion and ‘false alarms’; that is social unrest and bizarre warnings about phantom dangers. According to Madison, eventually factions can gain so much power that they are able to promote laws which destroy the liberty of other citizens. For instance (and these examples are his, not mine) they may erasing debt obligations, or impose trade restrictions in order to protect certain interest groups from foreign competition, or perhaps impose special taxes on the numerically small propertied classes. Both Madison and Washington also warned future generations about the role of foreign powers in this process. Faction leaders often identify less with America than they do with their country of origin. For all of these reason, factions should be discouraged, and their effects minimized, said the men who met in Philadelphia. As I write this, I’m less and less clear whether I’m writing about Philadelphia in 1788 (when the constitution was implemented) or Philadelphia in 2008 (as I see it shredded). You probably are too.”  — Jerry Bowyer

GOVERNMENT

“Before government hijacked charity in the form of the New Deal and Great Society, compassion and charity began at home. People were to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit prisoners, care for widows and orphans and love their enemies. Those were biblical commands to individuals, not government. Democratic politicians see things differently. Apparently believing there aren’t enough caring people, they want compassion to originate in Washington, depriving it of its true meaning. They define compassion as big and ever-growing government and a guaranteed check forever with no expectation — or requirement — the recipient will ever better his or her circumstances. Traditionally, Republican compassion has encouraged private charity with government picking up the leftovers of what religious and other charitable institutions were unable to do. President Bush, through his ‘faith-based initiative,’ took this one step further by subsidizing religious groups with federal money. This removes the responsibility and privilege from individuals and turns it over to government. When that happens, religious organizations become one more constituency in the never-ending campaign for political support. Once, evangelicals ‘prayed it in’ when they needed money. Now too many of them ask government to ‘send it in’.”  — Cal Thomas
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INSIGHT

“If you establish a democracy, you must in due time reap the fruits of a democracy. You will in due season have great impatience of the public burdens, combined in due season with great increase of the public expenditure. You will in due season have wars entered into from passion and not from reason; and you will in due season submit to peace ignominiously sought and ignominiously obtained, which will diminish your authority and perhaps endanger your independence. You will in due season find your property is less valuable, and your freedom less complete.”  — Benjamin Disraeli

CULTURE

“Meanwhile, Oprah seems to be doing somewhat better with the directives she issues to her followers — maybe because, while the church offers only eternal life, Oprah frequently hands out rewards right here on earth. Selected audience members have received college scholarships, houses and brand-new cars. The religion of Oprahism tells people what to eat (healthy food) what to wear (special ‘O bracelets’), how much to sleep (getting enough rest purportedly leads to ‘Intelligence. A better figure. Sex,’ according to O magazine) and even which candidate to vote for (Sen. Barack Obama, naturally). We’re living in a new era. When a man ceases to believe in God, he doesn’t believe in nothing. He believes in anything, G. K. Chesterton said. These days, it’s certainly true that many Americans don’t believe in God. Many seem to, however, believe in anything... anything that Oprah tells them to believe in.”  — Rich Tucker

THE GIPPER

“Wouldn’t it be better for the human spirit and for the soul of this Nation to encourage people to accept more responsibility to care for one another, rather than leaving those tasks to paid bureaucrats?”  — Ronald Reagan

RE: THE LEFT

“Was there any part of the globe, from the Caribbean to the Middle East, from Haiti to North Korea to the Balkans, where Jimmy Carter didn’t cozy up to dictators? Wherever he goes, tyrants smile. The long, dispiriting trail of former President Carter’s overseas travels has been marked by one diplomatic disaster after another. As for Jimmy Carter’s role as a monitor of free-and-fair elections, the low point must have come when he gave his blessings to Robert Mugabe’s takeover in Zimbabwe. Naturally, utter disaster followed. It hasn’t ceased there since. And now Mr. Carter is at it again, [paying] court to just about the bloodiest terrorist leader in the Middle East, which is no mean distinction in those violent parts. He [lent] his ex-presidential presence to terrorist chieftain Khaled Meshaal, who as head of Hamas hides out in Damascus under Syrian aegis. (Let others die for the cause in Gaza; its leader is quite comfortable, thank you.) The only proper greeting for someone like Mr. Meshaal would be, ‘You’re under arrest.’ Instead, saw Jimmy Carter pay his usual homage to those who champion violence. He calls this peace-seeking. Which raises the question, if this is promoting peace, what would encouraging violence be?”  — Paul Greenberg

CAMPAIGN WATCH

“The campaign finance reports for March have been released showing that Sen. Barack Obama raised $41 million during the month — down from the $55 million he raised in February — but still unbelievable by any rational standard. Overall, Obama has raised some $235 million. At his current rate he will have broken through the QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLAR mark by mid month. There is a point of diminishing returns, however. When that point is reached, the additional money spent does not have an additional impact on the campaign. No matter by how much Obama will have outspent Sen. Hillary Clinton between April 1 and tomorrow night, the RealClearPolitics.com polling summary shows Hillary hanging onto a six-ish point lead moving into the final hours of the campaign there... This has gotten so ugly, that I am not now certain Hillary will get out of this thing even if she loses tomorrow. Hope, as they say, springs eternal.”  — Rich Galen
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POLITICAL FUTURES

“Senator Obama’s election year image is that of a man who can bring the country together, overcoming differences of party or race, as well as solving our international problems by talking with Iran and other countries with which we are at odds, and performing other miscellaneous miracles as needed... Senator Obama is all talk — glib talk, exciting talk, confident talk, but still just talk. Some of his recent talk in San Francisco has stirred up controversy because it revealed yet another blatant contradiction between Barack Obama’s public image and his reality... However inconsistent Obama’s words, his behavior has been remarkably consistent over the years. He has sought out and joined with the radical, anti-Western left, whether Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers of the terrorist Weatherman underground or pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli Rashid Khalidi. Obama is also part of a long tradition on the left of being for the working class in the abstract, or as people potentially useful for the purposes of the left, but having disdain or contempt for them as human beings. Karl Marx said, ‘The working class is revolutionary or it is nothing.’ In other words, they mattered only in so far as they were willing to carry out the Marxist agenda.”  — Thomas Sowell

FOR THE RECORD

“One minute Obama was bowling in Pennsylvania with nice, ordinary people wearing ‘Beer Hunter’ T-shirts, and the next thing you know, he was issuing a report on the psychological traits of normal Americans to rich liberals in San Francisco. Obama informed the San Francisco plutocrats that these crazy working-class people are so bitter, they actually believe in God! And not just the 12-step meeting, higher power, ‘as you conceive him or her to be’ kind of God. The regular, old-fashioned, almighty sort of ‘God.’... It’s going to take a lot of ‘framing’ for Democrats to recast Obama’s explanation to San Francisco cafe society that gun ownership and a belief in God are the byproducts of a psychological disorder brought on by economic hardship. It is an article of faith with the Democrats that they must fool Americans by simulating agreement with normal people. The winner of the Democratic primary is always the candidate who does the best impersonation of an American. But then, after all their hard work making believe they’re into NASCAR and God, some Democrat invariably slips and lets us know it’s all a big fake-out... Obama had been so careful until now, ‘framing’ his message as ‘change’  — rather than partial birth abortion, driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, tax hikes, socialized medicine and abandoning mandatory minimum prison sentences for federal crimes. His message is ‘change’  — not that his wife has not been proud to be an American for most of her life. He is for ‘change’  — and don’t mind the crazy racist loon who has been Obama’s spiritual mentor for two decades.”  — Ann Coulter

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“OK, Alexander. So I am reading your essay, ’Obama, Disciple of Hate’ over lunch, and was really fired up when reading the ethnocentric garbage in his ‘church’s’ mission statement: ‘Commitment to the black community... black family... black institutions... black leadership’ etc., and then the next line: ‘That is a very dark mission statement.’ Well, you should warn people before writing something like that. I almost choked on my sandwich I was laughing so hard!”  — Los Angeles, California

“The rise of Barack Hussein Obama as a presidential candidate is a true measure of how low we have sank as a Nation. How can a man with such Marxist-Afro credentials be so close to being the commander in chief of the United States of America? I have a one-word response: apathy. We just do not seem to care. I hope and pray that Barack Hussein Obama’s candidacy finally opens our eyes to defeat him and the left’s efforts to elect him.”  — Plano, Texas

“I suspect your comment regarding gun sales by Wal-Mart is correct for the lower 48, however here in Alaska, the handguns sold at Wal-Mart range from .22 cal to .50AE. And note, no waiting period and concealed carry is a right of every Alaskan. This is one of the reasons I live here. I enjoy your essays and all I receive from The Patriot Post. May God continue to bless your endeavors.”  — Nikiski, Alaska

Editor’s Reply: Actually, it is the right of all Americans. Unfortunately, blue-state sheeple don’t read their Constitution very often, if ever.

THE LAST WORD

“The life of an ex-president is tough. Since leaving the White House the Clintons, mostly meaning Bill, have earned $109 million. And it’s hard out there for liberal multi-millionaires... All good and moral people know that taxes are way too low. So the Clintons are forced — practically at gunpoint — to keep far too much of their own money. Sen. Clinton explained apologetically: ‘We didn’t ask for George Bush’s tax cuts. We didn’t want them, and we didn’t need them.’ What’s a confirmed redistributionist to do? Repealing Bush’s tax cuts should be a no-brainer, but a lot of greedy, selfish Republicans stand in the way. They’ve misled many otherwise decent Americans to believe people have a greater right to their own earnings than do bureaucrats and politicians. What that means is that even if a President Hillary Clinton wins the opportunity to make everyone increase their contribution to the collective, she and her husband won’t be paying enough this year... The Clintons can set an example by giving back to the community a little more of that $109 million they’ve collected. We could call this initiative the Voluntary Clinton Surtax (VCS). Who should pay this surtax? Ideally, everybody. But those who (a) opposed the Bush tax cuts; or (b) claim Americans are under-taxed; or (c) complain about ‘tax cuts for the rich’; or (d) pine for new spending programs; or (e) or say tax cuts are selfish should lead the way. In fact, a good rule of thumb would be: the more categories that apply to you, the higher your VCS. You’ve always wanted to put your money where your mouth is. Now you can!”  — Doug Bandow

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.)