Archive for the ‘Democracy/Government’ Category
Socialism by force
“The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher Former Prime Minister, Great Britain Failing to learn, our government continues unabated towards socialism, convinced it knows best, the Constitution obviously outdated, the people’s wishes obviously wrong. In the 1960s, two radical socialist professors from Columbia University, Richard Andrew […]
Spoiled, dependent, entitled, indentured, enslaved
Are spoiled children born that way? According to British writer Roald Dahl, “Some children are spoiled and it is not their fault, it is their parents.” Spoiled children have parents who give them everything they want instead of teaching them to earn what they want, instead of teaching them responsibility and independence. Quite simply, parents […]
Is the Arizona law a burden?
Those opposed to Arizona’s illegal alien law praised Judge Susan Bolton’s ruling against it as a victory for immigration rights. Really? What did the Arizona law have to do with immigration rights? Wasn’t it about illegal aliens? In fact, according to the USA Today, many illegal aliens were so worried about the law that they […]
Lead, follow or get out of the way
General George S. Patton said, “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” Mr. President, are you listening? We are nearing the end of the president’s second year in office and, as he promised, things have changed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the question is not if things have changed, but have they […]
Where are you from?
The other day a friend and I were talking about immigration. He immigrated to the United States, is an American citizen but never refers to himself as a something-American, a hyphenated-American; he is just an American. My great-grandfather emigrated from Prussia in 1852. And like my friend, I don’t consider myself a Prussian-American; I am […]
Subject or citizen?
“Oh posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it.” – John Adams, second U.S. president American statesman Dean Alfange, born in Istanbul in 1899, reflected the values of an American citizen when he wrote, “I do not choose […]
Sanctuary cities and Arizona
Among the limited powers of the federal government are matters of immigration and border security. However, the government seems unable to carry out these constitutional responsibilities, seemingly incapable of doing what the Constitution mandates. The federal government has ignored illegal aliens for decades, President’s Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower the only presidents who seriously tried to […]
Constitutional coup
” . . . the discretion of the judge is the first engine of tyranny.” – Edward Gibbon, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” Are we witnessing a non-violent coup of the United States Constitution, methodically carried out by the United States Supreme Court? Has the Court placed itself above […]
McChrystal, Obama, their values
General McChrystal was publically disrespectful to a superior officer, the President of the United States, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Graciously, the president allowed him to resign rather than fire him. But, recall the history of General McChrystal’s command in Afghanistan. The president selected him for this command and defined the mission. To the […]
‘Misbehavior before the enemy’
The president applauds the latest United Nations sanctions against Iran, saying they are the “toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian government.” Did he not hear Ahmadinejad describe them as “a used handkerchief that should be thrown in the waste bin?” Did he not hear him call the sanctions “pesky flies?” Is the president the […]
Football and government
The federal government could learn a lot from professional football – teams competing with each other, each team doing all it can to win, referees ensuring they follow the rules, together part of a league whose owners have the final say on the rules and how the league works. Our league is the United States […]
Impenetrable borders
Is border security a priority for the government? The president proposes adding $500 million to the Border Patrol budget, which seems significant until you remember he spent over $3 billion on the “cash for clunkers” program. Further, his solution for the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens already here is to create a way for […]
Another price of ignoring our borders
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said Arizona’s treatment of illegal aliens “violates inalienable human rights.” And Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, recently rebuked the United States Congress, saying Arizona’s illegal alien law is a “threat to civil rights and democracy.” When did living in a country illegally become an inalienable human right, a civil right? Further, while chastising […]
Are they asking the right questions?
The constitution . . . is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist, and shape into any form they please.” Thomas Jefferson Why is a Supreme Court nominee so important? According to their only constitutional requirement, justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behavior,” allowing them to […]
Racism or common sense?
Reading about Arizona’s new law dealing with illegal aliens, I got the impression that Arizona had done something radical by requiring non-citizens to carry documents proving their legal status in our country. Not so. The new Arizona law only enforces existing federal law, the Alien Registration Act passed by Congress in 1940. Arizona is only […]
Elite universities – principled?
Some of our nation’s elite universities, including Harvard, Columbia, Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, Stanford, Cornell, Princeton and Penn, produce many of our nation’s leaders. But, do they model the values we want in our leaders, the principles we aspire to as a country? Are they the principled guardians of the academic freedom and independent thought they […]
No more apologies – Part II
We grovel before Gadhafi and hide our flag. Critics claim we are a self-centered and selfish country, providing less foreign aid than twenty-one other countries when comparing the aid as a percentage of gross national income. Are our critics right? Are we not what we believe? Well, how might we fare if we looked at […]
No more apologies – Part I
Once again, the United States drops to its knees, this time apologizing to the terrorist leader of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi. Remember him? He was behind the 1986 bombing of a West Berlin nightclub and was responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland. This latest apology arose from a July 2008 […]
The ‘ism’ elixir?
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.” George Jean Nathan American drama critic and newspaper editor I watched a 1948 cartoon produced by Harding College, “Make Mine Freedom,” which tells the story of Ism elixir. If you have already viewed this, my apologies. If not, let me share the tale of […]
Fundamental rights of Americans
The government, determined it knows what is best for us, continues expanding its role beyond its constitutional authority. It has little need for the Constitution because over 60 years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the founding fathers erred and actually meant for the general welfare clause of the Constitution to be a specific enumerated […]