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THE FOUNDATION: COMMERCE

“The prosperity of commerce is now perceived and acknowledged by all enlightened statesmen to be the most useful as well as the most productive source of national wealth.”  - Alexander Hamilton

FOR THE RECORD

“Capitalism is the greatest system ever created for alleviating general human misery, and yet it breeds ingratitude. People ask, ‘Why is there poverty in the world?’ It’s a silly question. Poverty is the default human condition... The interesting question isn’t ‘Why is there poverty?’ It’s ‘Why is there wealth?’ Or: ‘Why is there prosperity here but not there?’ At the end of the day, the first answer is capitalism, rightly understood. That is to say: free markets, private property, the spirit of entrepreneurialism and the conviction that the fruits of your labors are your own... In large measure our wealth isn’t the product of capitalism, it is capitalism. And yet we hate it. Leaving religion out of it, no idea has given more to humanity. The average working-class person today is richer, in real terms, than the average prince or potentate of 300 years ago. His food is better, his life longer, his health better, his menu of entertainments vastly more diverse, his toilette infinitely more civilized. And yet we constantly hear how cruel capitalism is while this collectivism or that is more loving because, unlike capitalism, collectivism is about the group, not the individual... Meanwhile, billions have ridden capitalism out of poverty. And yet the children of capitalism still whine.”  - Jonah Goldberg

CULTURE

“It has always been a myth that America is a classless society, though that myth has its uses. What begins in myth may end in reality. If we pretend class doesn’t matter, maybe one day it won’t, at least as much. Let’s just hope we never reach the point of glorifying poverty, of extolling downward rather than upward mobility. But romanticizing the poor has always been a staple of American discourse. William Henry Harrison, he of Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, used the log cabin as his campaign emblem. And he set the fashion. Working class may be a term of opprobrium in some societies; here it is a term of approbation. At least publicly. It’s the one class Americans feel free not only to recognize but laud... It’s hard to imagine a presidential candidate, at least one with any political sense, running as the Candidate of the Upper Crust. (’I was born in a plush penthouse on Park Avenue...’) Instead the lower crust is shamelessly flattered. It’s the contemporary version of the old log cabin theme. Something else hasn’t changed: Much as the Andrew Jacksons and William Henry Harrisons extolled log cabins, they weren’t about to live in one - any more than today’s politicians are about to take a vow of poverty. I live for the day when some politician comes out and admits that, while being poor is no shame, it’s no great honor, either.”  - Paul Greenberg

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“’Demonomic deja vu’ was a brilliant article that is well articulated. I passed it along to some of my associates who need reminding from time to time just what our principles are any why it’s crucial that we defend them with all our being. God bless.”  - Palm Harbor, Florida

“As usual, your essay is right on the money! I’m consistently amazed at how you answer the very questions that are on my mind. It is very reassuring to me (and my friends who are now subscribers) during this scary time. I remind myself to ‘worry about nothing, pray about everything,’ but the thought of Obama being president makes me anxious!”  - Lancaster, California

“Commenting on Senator Obama’s suggestion that we all go out and get our cars tuned up, I have a couple questions: Senator, do you know what a tune up is? Have you ever been in an auto parts store? If politicians are in the business of giving out good advice they may want to practice what they preach.”  - USAF Academy, Colorado
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THE GIPPER

“When World War II ended, the United States had the only undamaged industrial power in the world. Our military might was at its peak, and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear weapon, with the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination then, who could have opposed us? But the United States followed a different course, one unique in all the history of mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravished economies of the world, including those of the nations who had been our enemies. May I say, there is absolutely no substance to charges that the United States is guilty of imperialism or attempts to impose its will on other countries, by use of force.”  - Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Questions about the appropriate role of America in the world and how it conducts its relationships with foreign powers are, of course, essential topics in any presidential campaign. That is particularly true at a moment when the United States finds itself engaged in a global war with a totalitarian ideology, Islamofascism, that has embedded itself in many allied countries and enjoys strong support from most of our foes.”  - Frank J. Gaffney Jr.

LIBERTY

“Lots of Iranian people know that the mullahs are losing Iraq, and more of them would know if we had a more accurate and honest press, and an administration capable of explaining the world, and its reaction to it... Our miserable policy, which is to chant ‘we don’t want regime change, we want a change in behavior,’ is doomed, as the whole world has known from the get-go. Paradoxically, this non-aggressive policy is destined to make military conflict inevitable, whoever is the next president. This policy is a preemptive acquiescence to a nuclear Iran, with all the incalculable consequences attendant to it, and is guaranteed to bring us face to face with the Sarkozy option of ‘Bomb Iran, or Iran With the Bomb.’ And yet, the Iranian regime is hollow. So far as we know, they are without atomic bombs and a reliable delivery system. We have defeated them in Iraq and will repeat it in Afghanistan. Their economy is a shambles, their people hate them, they present us with Potemkin weapons systems. It is a political explosion ready to happen, it only needs the support of the West.”  - Michael Ledeen

IChThUS IMPRIMIS

“In a culture that values all life, difficult decisions can be made about a life that is at an end and should be allowed to ‘go.’ That is a far cry from having a government bureaucrat or panel of ‘experts’ play God and decide, based on cost alone, when your or my life no longer has value in the eyes of the state. How we view and value ourselves affects how we view and value others. If we are mere evolutionary accidents with no moral value greater than coleslaw, then we quickly begin viewing others as part of the vegetable family. But if we are something far more special, even to the point of having a Creator who has ‘endowed’ us with value beyond that of gold, silver and paper money, then should we not be treated as such, even by the state?”  - Cal Thomas

CAMPAIGN WATCH

“Last week, the Obama campaign sent out a letter on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that made two points, one implicit and the other explicit. The implicit point is that Obama himself has no problem raising money for his own campaign, and he’s got the presidency in the bag. The explicit point is that since Obama’s already won this thing, he’s asking donors to focus on supporting Democratic candidates for Congress. Said the letter, ‘We must have a deadlock-proof Democratic majority.’ So the guy running on ‘unity’ and ‘working across the aisle’ has neither the desire nor the intention to foster ‘unity’ or ‘work across the aisle.’ He wants to pound the Republicans into dust so he doesn’t have to deal with them at all. He wants a Democratic majority so lopsided that he can plow his far-left agenda right through. And he wants so many Democrats crawling the hallways of Capitol Hill that he won’t have to work as hard at all that exhausting and pesky persuasion and compromise. Change you can believe in? Sure, as long as it’s only his version of change. Unity? Sure, as long as Republicans are willing to bend to him and his liberal agenda. Working across the aisle? Sure, as long as the Democrats are so dominant that the aisle barely exists. With Obama, watch what he does, not what he says, because the silver tongue promises what the politician has no intention of delivering.”  - Monica Crowley
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POLITICAL FUTURES

“The Obama campaign [recently] began referring to the candidate as if he already were president. That, while politically risky, is certainly understandable. What is not understandable is how many in the media went along with what the campaign fed them. They began to treat the Senator from Illinois as if he already had been elected president. These are media types who believe that perception is reality. If they can convince the electorate that Senator Obama already is president the election will become a mere formality. In fact, the election is a sort of tolerated nuisance in their eyes. It might have worked but for the contempt the electorate has for the media. I saw at least half a dozen interviews on cables over the air networks. In every case voters said, ‘He is behaving as if he were already elected.’ Most said, ‘That isn’t right.’ What shocked the reporters, who were stuck hanging around with McCain as he campaigned in small-town America while their anchors reported live from Obama’s trip, was how the voters got it.”  - Paul Weyrich

GOVERNMENT

“If you’re bothered by skyrocketing food and energy prices, wait until Congress re-introduces its environmentalist-inspired Climate Security Act, so-called ‘Cap and Trade.’ Cap and Trade is deceptively peddled as a free-market solution to the yet-to-be-settled issue of manmade climate change. Under its provisions, companies would be able to emit greenhouse gases only if they had a government allowance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a 15 percent cut in emissions would raise the annual average household’s energy costs by $1,300. Since energy is an input to everything we use, we can expect everything to become more costly, resulting in a reduction in economic growth. There’s a hateful side to Cap and Trade that’s revealed by asking the question: How will it be decided who received how much allowance to emit greenhouse gases? Congress could sell the allowances and/or give them away to favorite constituents. You can bet the rent money that a new army of lobbyists, with special pleadings, will descend on Washington to lobby Congress. And you can be sure that campaign contributions and favoritism will play an important role in the decision of who received what amount of allowances. Much worse than that is the massive control government would have over our economy and our lives... The thirst to wield massive control over our economy helps explain the near religious belief in manmade global warming and the attacks on scientists and others who offer contradictory evidence.”  - Walter Williams

THE LAST WORD

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes lifting the moratorium on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on the Outer Continental Shelf. She won’t even allow it to come to a vote. With $4 gas having massively shifted public opinion in favor of domestic production, she wants to protect her Democratic members from having to cast an anti-drilling election-year vote. Moreover, given the public mood, she might even lose. This cannot be permitted. Why? Because as she explained to Politico: ‘I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet.’ A lovely sentiment... There are a dizzying number of economic and national security arguments for drilling at home: a $700 billion oil balance-of-payment deficit, a gas tax (equivalent) levied on the paychecks of American workers and poured into the treasuries of enemy and terror-supporting regimes, growing dependence on unstable states of the Persian Gulf and Caspian basin. Pelosi and the Democrats stand athwart shouting: We don’t care. We come to save the planet! They seem blissfully unaware that the argument for their drill-there-not-here policy collapses on its own environmental terms.”  - Charles Krauthammer

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.)