I know we like to think of the GOP as the party of law and order.

However, we are also the party of Barry Goldwater and, especially in Arizona, we have also to maintain the western spirit of republicanism – individualism and opposition to government growth.

At the 1964 RNC national convention, Barry Goldwater delivered the speech “Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice“.

We must maintain the Rebel spirit, the Spirit of 1776, rebellion against government, such as our forefathers did who slept on the frozen ground at Valley Forge and then went off to fight the greatest military force of all time.

Yes, we are the party of law and order, but only supporting those laws that minimize government, lower taxes, lower spending and prevent crime against other people where there is an aggrieved party.

The wussie Republicans of today say that speeding 11 mph over the limit and getting a photo radar ticket is ok, because we are the party of law and order.  Phooey on them.  If there were an aggrieved party other than the State, then ok.  If the driving were reckless and endangering others, I’d agree.  But, for example, speeding alone is no reason to bring down the hammer of the State onto otherwise law abiding citizens.

Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.  Remember that or go join your Tory bretheren and let posterity remember that you were not my countryman.

Here’s a litty ditty posted at BACKWOODS HOME MAGAZINE.  “Become a FREEDOM OUTLAW”!  YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHAW.  Let Arizona return to its rabid individualistic roots upon which it was founded!

“Freedom Outlaw.” The term came up here a few days ago. It’ll arise again and again on this blog.

If you’ve been hanging out in my vicinity for a few years, you probably know what I mean by it. If not, you might be puzzled or even offended by the notion that people who believe in freedom are (or should be) criminals. Thought I’d stop this morning and define some terms.

So this is mostly for people who haven’t heard it all before.

A Freedom Outlaw is (loosely) somebody who cares so much about freedom that he or she will go after it regardless of any laws or regulations blocking the way. Will go after it personally. Not petition for it. Not write letters for it. Not vote for it. But GO for it.

Also, a Freedom Outlaw has panache. Think Robin Hood. Think V. Think (not to be self-promotional here, but …) of the swashbuckling fellow on the cover of this book.

Does a Freedom Outlaw really have to be a criminal? Well … yes and no. If the thought of being a criminal offends you, I can only say, “Get over it.” As Kent McManigal states so well, every, single one of us is already a criminal. We violate obscure laws from the time we open our eyes in the morning till the moment we fall exhausted into bed. Three Felonies a Day according to Harvey Silverglate. And the more innocent we are in our hearts when we commit those “crimes,” the riper we are for the plucking by corrupt prosecutors and regulators.

Heck, we probably violate laws, federal or state, even as we snooze. Maybe our PJs flout fireproofing regulations. Perhaps our snoring is regulated somewhere as noise pollution. Maybe our dreams are filled with acts of subversion.

But the simple fact is that we are already criminals, each and every one of us, even if we do our utmost to be “law-abiding citizens.”

There are simply too many laws to abide.

So we might as well embrace and enjoy what we are.

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clip about John McCain opposing efforts to bring home POWs taken from the film Missing, Presumed Dead: The  Search for America’s POWs

There is a longstanding story of POWs in Viet Nam, even ones who have returned home and are living today in the US, who were betrayed and forgotten.  

In a recent article written by Ron Unz, former publisher and owner of American Conservative monthly magazine:

Vietnamese refused to return their American POWs unless the U.S. government agreed to pay reparations. Nixon signed a document promising to do exactly that, but the Vietnamese, being cautious, kept many of the POWs back until the money was delivered. Then Congress refused to authorize the funds because “America doesn’t lose wars.” Nixon and later U.S. leaders never acknowledged the fate of these captives lest the American people become outraged. And as the years and decades went by, and various schemes to ransom or rescue the POWs were considered and rejected, their continued existence became a major liability to numerous powerful political figures, whose reputations would have been destroyed if any of the prisoners ever returned and told his story to the American people. So none of them ever came home.

John McCain is one of those politicians whose reputations would have been destroyed by the late return of POWs from Viet Nam after, as Congressman and Senator from Arizona, he opposed efforts to work with veterans groups and the Vietnamese to bring home US vets.

Additional testimony regarding John McCain’s actions detrimental to the POW/MIA movement and efforts to bring vets home, along with testimony of witnesses that John McCain produced 22 (some say 32) propaganda films on behalf of the North Vietnamese and against US interests (since sealed and classified by the federal government), can be found in a documentary entitled:

Missing, Presumed Dead: The Search for America’s POWs

If you have some time, read “Was Rambo Right?”, by Ron Unz and get a hold of a copy of Missing, Presumed Dead: The Search for America’s POWs.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Thomas Jefferson:
“On every question of construction, [let us] carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

– (The Writings of Jefferson” 15:449)

“Towards the preservation of your government … it is requisite … that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.
One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.”
— George Washington (1796)

“I regard it (the Constitution) as the work of the purest patriots and wisest statesmen that ever existed, aided by the smiles of a benign Providence; it almost appears a “Divine interposition in our behalf … the hand that destroys our Constitution rends our Union asunder forever.”

– (The Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. 1, p. 404)

In addition to being one of the biggest RINOs and ultra-liberals in the State of Arizona, Grant Woods has always been a cancer in the Arizona Republican party. So it should come as no surprise that I have no problem publicly announcing how much I despise the guy.

Here’s a quote from the latest issue of Newsweek in which Grant Woods suggests driving a stake through the heart of JD Hayworth.

“The idea that a man like John McCain has to deal with a Bozo like J.?D. Hayworth is really offensive,” says former state attorney general Grant Woods. “To have just a caricature of the opportunistic, bombastic politician throwing grenades at him at this stage of his career is really a sad commentary. Someone needs to drive a wooden stake through this guy’s heart.”

Incidentally, I did a word search of the Newsweek article and found no reference to Grant Woods joking about the comment – contrary to how the Phoenix New Times reported on their blog – “Woods joked…”

And yes, maybe political newcomers may see this as one paid consultant beating on another paid consultant but the fact of the matter is that this battle between cultural conservatives and RINOs has been going on a long time here in Arizona and it will always be deep, personal and a battle for the soul of the party.

Whew! Black History Month ended just in time to give Americans—exhausted from a month of vigorous celebrating—time to recover. Promoters of Brown History Month, Yellow History Month, Red History Month, White History Month and Green History Month will continue to have to wait for a month of their own. There was a time when we celebrated the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in February but Liberals put an end to that (be warned, they’re still working on exterminating Christmas). I wonder what Barack Obama does during Black History Month—since he’s only half black maybe he only celebrates half the month?

Black History Month reminds me of that portion of an application form that asks for the race of the applicant; race is not supposed to matter but everyone knows that it does—especially to Liberal policy-makers and administrators. Despite the Civil War, a civil rights movement, several acts of congress, amendments to the constitution and ongoing preferential treatment Liberals are still convinced that new and institutionalized racism is the cure for past racism. They must believe that new injuries cure old injuries.

While we’re on the subject of needless celebrations maybe it’s time we resurrect one of the ancient celebrations and replace Black History Month with it. The Romans had some exciting ones to pick from and none of them have yet been ruined by Liberals. We could have it in February and best of all, all Americans could participate—not just the preferred few.

I found this an excellent analysis.  Perhaps you’ll consider exactly who or what is the POTUS … think about it and try to avoid a knee-jerk reaction for 5 minutes.  Thanks.

Article from the Wall Street Journal Forum by Eddie Sessions: 

“I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he’s led a kind of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because at some point early on somebody or some group took a look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.

In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry. Who else do you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? “Dreams of My Father” was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The “Audacity of Hope” followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself.

There are some who think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself is “communist with a small ‘c’” was the real author. His political skills consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be deemed controversial. He went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature to the Senator from that state because he had the good fortune of having Mayor Daley’s formidable political machine at his disposal.

He was in the U.S.. Senate so briefly that his bid for the presidency was either an act of astonishing self-confidence or part of some greater game plan that had been determined before he first stepped foot in the Capital.

How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004 keynote speaker at the Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when virtually no one had ever even heard of him before?

He outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A charming young man, an anomaly in the state with a very small black population, he oozed “cool” in a place where agriculture was the anti-thesis of cool. He dazzled the locals. And he had an army of volunteers drawn to a charisma that hid any real substance.

And then he had the great good fortune of having the Republicans select one of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob Dole.

And then John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an unknown female governor from the very distant state of Alaska . It was a ticket that was reminiscent of 1984′s Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they went down to defeat.

The mainstream political media fell in love with him. It was a schoolgirl crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews swooning then and now over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in particular, Palin, was extraordinary.

Now, nearly a full year into his first term, all of those gilded years leading up to the White House have left him unprepared to be President. Left to his own instincts, he has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

It swiftly became a joke that he could not deliver even the briefest of statements without the ever-present Tele-Prompters. Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to “wish away” some terrible realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention to destroy America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how swiftly Islam initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe , having gained a foothold in Spain.

The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his campaign “world tour” were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of history and the reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad intentions. Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience, a cakewalk, has positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party’s hold on power in Congress because in the end it was never about the Party.

It was always about his communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues. Obama is a man who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police officer who arrested an “obstreperous” Harvard professor-friend, but would warn Americans against “jumping to conclusions” about a mass murderer at Fort Hood who shouted “Allahu Akbar.”

The absurdity of that was lost on no one. He has since compounded this by calling the Christmas bomber “an isolated extremist” only to have to admit a day or two later that he was part of an al Qaeda plot. He is a man who could strive to close down our detention facility at Guantanamo even though those released were known to have returned to the battlefield against America .. He could even instruct his Attorney General to afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a civil trial when no one else would ever even consider such an obscenity. And he is a man who could wait three days before having anything to say about the perpetrator of yet another terrorist attack on Americans and then have to elaborate on his remarks the following day because his first statement was so lame.

The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the Bush administration, or he naively seeks to wish away the truth. Knock, knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the sock puppet of his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and manufactured this pathetic individual’s life. When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a birth certificate, this man has spent over a million dollars to deny access to his. Most other documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been sequestered from review.

He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts remain hidden. We laugh at the ventriloquist’s dummy, but what do you do when the dummy is President of the United States of America?”

The question then is, who is the “voice” behind the dummy?  Who’s lap is he sitting on?  I can only refer to the Bible on that count, “… by their fruits you shall know them.”

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Every politician from liberal democrat to conservative republican likes to wrap themselves in the flag and the constitution.  Do they really support it?

Article One, Section Eight of the constitution states: “Congress shall have power to … declare War”.  It does not state that the President shall have power to declare war.  Nor does it state that the Congress shall have the power to delegate its power to declare war to the President.

The Tenth Amendment states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”  It does not state that the federal government has powers not expressly granted to it in the Constitution.  It does not state that the Congress or President can take powers not expressly granted to it if no one objects.

The Constitution plainly and clearly states what it means.  It was written at grammar school level English at the time it was written.

While all of us accord respect and gratitude to the military, especially veterans, for their service, anyone who has served recently, especially if they have fathers or grandfathers who have served, know that today’s military is not the same military it was 20 or 40 years ago.

Today’s military is a political force.  It is a globalist force.  It has been stalinized by the executive branch through purging experienced military leaders, replacing them with political lackeys at the Pentagon.

It’s primary purpose is no longer defense of the constitution or the constitution of this nation, in other words its people, but is used as an extension of foreign and domestic policy.  Do you believe that is constitutional in the spirit and intent of what the founding fathers would consider “constitutional”?

“…what all of us need to realize is, World War II was the last constitutionally fought war in which America has been engaged. The United Nations was created at the end of WWII, and ever since then, our military forces have increasingly become the “peacekeeping” arm of that evil institution.”

“Since WWII, American forces have fought major wars in South Korea, South Vietnam (including Laos and Cambodia), Kosovo, the Persian Gulf (Kuwait), Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan–all for the benefit of the United Nations.”

“Ever since the United Nations was created, its interests have dominated the usage of US forces. In fact, our military today is quickly morphing into the tip of the spear for a burgeoning, global New World Order. To those with eyes to see, the evidence is everywhere. It’s not even being hidden anymore. Have you seen that new US Navy television commercial? It boldly proclaims, “The US Navy: A GLOBAL FORCE For Good.”"

“This politically correct, UN-dominated New World Order has changed (and is changing) our US military right before our eyes. It has taken the greatest and proudest independent fighting force in the world–one created to defend the people and property of the United States–and turned it into a global military policeman for evil Machiavellians at the UN.”

The above was written by the Constitution Party’s last candidate for president.  To dismiss it out of hand due to its source would be foolhardy, if indeed what is stated is factually accurate.

Sometimes an outsider’s perspective is a fresh reminder if one has deviated of one’s intended path.

Not Your Father’s Army
by Chuck Baldwin
February 5, 2010
Click here to read the rest of the article.

October, 2008; Arizona Republic: The national Rasmussen Reports has McCain with 51 percent to Obama’s 46.

“I have to tell you. Sen. Obama is a decent person and a person you don’t have to be scared of as president of the United States,”  John McCain

…better known as the famous McCain straight-talk line, “I was for it before I was against it and, I’ll be for it again once I’m re-elected.”

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH JOHN MCCAIN…

MIKE WALLACE: … let me ask you for some straight talk. Do you think that Senator Obama is a socialist?

MCCAIN: I think his plans are redistribution of the wealth. He said it himself, “We need to spread the wealth around.”

MIKE WALLACE: But, Senator, you voted for the $700 billion bailout that’s being used partially to nationalize American banks. Isn’t that socialism?

MCCAIN: Of course. It was a package that had to be enacted because the economy was about to go into the tank.

… or how about this delightful gem;

LARRY KING: Senator, there was a part of the speech — I wonder if you enjoyed it — when he [the President] criticized the Supreme Court for overturning portions of McCain/Feingold, your treasured legislation. How did you react to that?

MCCAIN: Well, obviously, I agreed with the president.

… and here’s an excerpt from the outrageous ad’s he’s running in Arizona;

[Disconbobulated vaguely soothing and threatening voice:] Perhaps no battle in our lifetime is more vital than the one John McCain fights now: a battle to save America… John McCain leads the charge to slash government spending, bloated bureaucracies, and ridiculously unaffordable ideas like government-run health care.

[Senator McCain:] “President Obama is leading an extreme left-wing crusade to bankrupt America. I stand in his way everyday. If I get a bruise or two knocking some sense into heads in Washington, so be it. I’ll keep fighting for … Arizona as long as I’m in the Senate.”

Here’s a fun challenge, dig into the past and lets find all those little McCainisms proving how often he changes his political stripes and how he’s NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

RETIRE MCCAIN 2010

Where has the color blind society gone?

WASHINGTON — The estimated time when whites will no longer make up the majority of Americans has been pushed back eight years — to 2050 — because the recession and stricter immigration policies have slowed the flow of foreigners into the U.S.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jO8jbAnwaP-wLfs93UGI-l_-llMgD9CKM8VG0

It was once said, by the losing side of the last major debate over immigration,  ‘… they who control a nation’s immigration policy control the future of that nation.’

That was said in 1924 just prior to the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924.   Many are unaware that in the nearly two decades leading up to this legislation , the issue of immigration had been building to a crescendo of national passion and debate.  So what’s changed?

Consider carefully the policies, cultural practices, religious orientation, and achievements of the United States prior to the last huge wave of population migration onto our shores.  This flood of humanity, many responding to the words on the Statue of Liberty, lasted for just a bit more than one generation, about 30 years.

During that time our population grew dramatically and peoples mostly from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region fled oppression and  sought new political expression within our borders.  Certainly they did not assimilate immediately.  However, its been now about three generations and look at the changes in our policies, cultural practices, religious orientation and society today.  The wave of immigration shown in this chart certainly changed America.

Notice the absence of illegal immigration since President Reagan's limited amnesty program in the 1980's

Now consider the abortion chart below (provided courtesy of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, special research affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

This graph is a link to source.

There have been more than 32.5 million abortions in the twenty one years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized unrestricted abortion on January 22, 1973.

This graph is a link to original

Next consider the chart of illegal immigration into the United States – presently supported by some U.S. Senators from border states and entirely supported by the previous U.S. Administration.

Next consider the chart of illegal immigration into the United States – presently supported by some U.S. Senators from border states and entirely supported by the previous U.S. Administration.

Unlike any culture in history, we are aborting our children.  Have we bought into the Self-Hate so much that we are committing a protracted national and cultural suicide?

America can you handle the CHANGE?  You’ll have to.  Consider once again that we are aborting our native born population and importing their replacements.  The numbers speak for themselves.

Presently the Department of Homeland Security estimates the population of individuals residing within the United States now to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 million souls.  This does not include children of undocumented residents.  They are counted as legal citizens under a Supreme Court interpretation of the Constitution.

A glimpse of the past is necessary once again here.  In 1964 the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act, and under Republican President Richard Nixon the first Affirmative Action programs were instituted in 1971.  There are 2 cases ruled by the SCOTUS that directly shaped the outcome of these actions;   Griggs v. Duke Power Company in 1971 and  the University of California v. Bakke in 1978 in which a minority student was admitted to the university’s medical school with a C+ undergraduate grade average over a non-minority student who held an A- undergraduate GPA.

The entire point of this trip down memory lane is to understand where we are as a people today.  To understand why the Associate Press in conjunction with other mainstream media chose to highlight the story that is linked to in the opening paragraph of this blog.  Why does it matter when the whites become a minority?  If we are moving towards a color blind society, it should not.  Yet there it was in big headlines on Yahoo.

Please understand, Veritas is not really concerned about daily life in the North American Union much after 2040.   For me the point is moot.   My hope is to bequeath to posterity an  independent, sovereign and color blind United States in which the innocent unborn native population will realize the American Dream.   Unchecked immigration is no substitute for a healthy birthrate.

Really think about it.  Has immigration become a substitute for a natural birth rate?  And consider the impacts of a generation of immigration, remembering the first huge wave of immigration from Eastern Europe and the changes it has wrought in all sectors of our society and has influenced our view of government and society.

So what might the United States look like in 3 generations following the mid-1980s, or a decade before there is no more ethnic majority?  And what cultural, political and religious changes will their posterity on our shores bring?    Here are the sources for the look of the future.

What do you think?  Lets have some fun and discuss …

The Weekly Standard noted that the new Sun-Maid girl looks “as if Julia Roberts decided to don a red bonnet and start picking grapes,” while the feminist website Jezebel.com remarked that it looks as if she’s had “some implants.”

This is light and fun… here’s the story:

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108296/sun-maid-girl-makeover-sparks-controversy.html?mod=family-love_money

by Nick Dranias
Goldwater Institute

For tyrants, December 15, 1791 is a day that lives in infamy. It is the day the Bill of Rights was ratified. The Bill of Rights not only confirmed that the federal government was meant to be one of limited powers, it also crucially underscored the existence of inalienable natural rights that are beyond the power of any legitimate government to deprive.

Our Founders designed a nation for independent and self-responsible individuals who would have a legal claim on the freedom to pursue their own happiness, not an entitlement to bailouts, health care or welfare. Their vision of citizenship was not that of ear-tagged human cattle, to be raised, fed, housed, herded, monitored and medicated by bureaucrats. Such a vision must never be confused with what is contained in the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately the risk of confusion is high when most native-born high school students cannot pass a test of basic civics.

The good news is that we can protect our life, liberty and property from federal overreach. Spread the word about the Arizona Health Care Freedom Act, which could stop the federal government from dictating your health care choices under the guise of health reform. Tell the FCC you know “net neutrality” is really the federal government’s foray into seizing control over the private Internet. Stand against union bullying by learning more about the Arizona Save Our Secret Ballot Act, which could preserve your right to reject unionization by secret ballot. Use state sovereignty as it was meant to be used-as a double layer of security against the violation of rights secured by the Bill of Rights.

Here’s hoping that Bill of Rights Day will never be a day that lives in infamy for patriots.

Nick Dranias holds the Goldwater Institute Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan chair for constitutional government and is the director of the Institute’s Dorothy D. and Joseph A. Moller Center for Constitutional Government.

By Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Goldwater Institute
 
It is often said that if we don’t study history, we are condemned to repeat it. The Pilgrims of yesterday have a valuable lesson for Americans in today’s health care debate.
 
Many today do not know that the Pilgrims initially faced continuous famine of their own making. In his history of the colony, the Pilgrims’ long-time governor William Bradford described the crisis and the eventual solution.

The colony initially practiced a form of socialized agriculture in the belief that it put them all “on an equality throughout.” But, this didn’t produce enough food, so the Pilgrims decided to allow “each man to plant corn for his own household.”

Bradford wrote:

This was very successful. It made all hands very industrious, so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been…The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to plant corn, while before they would allege weakness and inability; and to have compelled them would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.

Contrast the Pilgrims to today’s leaders in Washington, DC. The Pilgrim leaders chose to fundamentally change direction rather than rely on the collective to meet their needs. Facing the same choice today, President Obama and Congress are choosing the opposite course.

The health care bill voted out of the U.S. House is a case study in government collectivism. Every person would be compelled by government to buy health insurance. Subsidies would be taken from some to pay for others. Employers would be forced to provide health insurance or face harsh financial penalties. All of this would directly interfere with our freedom to make our own health care decisions.

The practice of medicine would also be more highly regulated than it already is. Government would create a National Health Service Corps and a Public Health Workforce Corps. Physicians would be prohibited from owning hospitals–that is like keeping mechanics from owning car repair shops. And medical practice would essentially be dictated by the government through comparative effectiveness research and other controls.

Yes, some might gain a measure of security from increased health care collectivization, but the American people will pay a steep price in terms of a rising deficit, the loss of freedom to make their own health care decisions, and a loss of overall quality and innovation in health care.

When the Pilgrims made individuals instead of the collective responsible for raising food, everybody won. Everybody ate more even as some were able to eat more than others. To have continued as they had, though, would have been disastrous.

The Pilgrims’ famine ended when they recognized the poor incentives they had created and changed them. We have created poor incentives in health care as tax policy and social programs encourage us to rely on others to pay our health bills. Now we are on the path to making incentives worse, not changing them. 

We must change federal income tax policy to allow taxpayers to get the same tax deductions that employers get when buying health insurance. We should expand health savings accounts to allow unlimited saving for our own health care. And we should allow unlimited charitable tax-free distributions from those accounts when we choose to help others.

As William Bradford said, “Let none argue that this (failure of collectivism) is due to human failing rather than to this communistic plan of life in itself.” We have the ability to truly address the rising cost of health care in America, but a government-run health system is not it.

Byron Schlomach, Ph.D., is the director of the Goldwater Institute’s Center for Economic Prosperity.

Afghanistan is a geographically and geopolitically strategic nation in central Asia. Six countries share its borders: Pakistan, China, Iran and three former Soviet Republics, now independent but heavily Russian-influenced Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. From Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, is only 235 miles away, via the famous Khyber Pass. The capital of Delhi, India is just 624 miles away, closer to Kabul, Afghanistan than Dallas, Texas is to New York City. Pakistan’s road network reaches from Islamabad, along the Indus River Valley, and connects with the ancient Silk Road. China is just a few hours away, bordering both Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Karakorum Mountain Range. Along many of these same roads however, Pakistan’s central government controls just the roadway itself, the areas to the right and left of the tarmac have never been controlled, they have and remain the domain of local Tribal governance.

Afghanistan’s recent history has been one of terrible war and strife. In 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan to prop up the crumbling Soviet puppet-government. American President Carter reacted by boycotting the Soviets through the Olympics and US grain contracts, but President Reagan armed the Afghans to drive the Soviets out. The Soviet Union withdrew, its economy collapsing under the last straw of an expensive and brutal war. The Afghan warlords, seeing a central government power vacuum began a bloody civil war in 1989 vying for dominance. One faction, Islamofascists called the Taliban, by 1992 began asserting dominance with the help of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden who’d been searching for a safe haven and base since being booted from his home country of Saudi Arabia and then from Sudan.

Secure in his new home and envisioning the rebirth of the Islamic Caliphate from Spain to China, Bin Laden perceived America as the most serious military threat to his vision, and gave material and planning support to terrorist attacks against America and Americans, such as the Khobar Towers and the USS Cole bombings before the 9/11 attacks. To Bin Laden’s eternal surprise and dismay, America arrived in Afghanistan to fortify the last remnants of the Afghan free resistance, the Northern Alliance, just weeks after 9/11 and Al-Qaeda’s September 9, 2001 brutal assassination of the Northern Resistance’s general, Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, a killing meant to be the coup de grace against the Northern Alliance’s military capabilities. Backed by the US military, the revitalized Northern Alliance was able to break the Taliban front lines and sent the Taliban into a running retreat, and Afghanistan into a national celebration of victory from years of Taliban despotism.

Today, Afghanistan is sheltered under US military protection as it rebuilds its shattered and eviscerated nation. Deforestation, degraded agriculture, opium trade and a ruined infrastructure hold back a nation that didn’t have much freedom to develop its cities and towns or exploit any of its natural resources over the past forty years. Worse, the remnant Taliban continues to disrupt progress, to wage low level war against the Afghan people and the Afghan government, hoping to destabilize it, hoping to demoralize Americans into quitting. Because of this, no Afghan government for the near future has the means to protect Afghanistan from any foreign aggression.

If the United States leaves, Afghanistan will be completely vulnerable to any one of several dangerous scenarios of invasion: by the Islamofascist Taliban, or an expansionistic communist China, or a radicalized Pakistan or even Russia via the former Soviet states, for Afghanistan has strategic placement for oil pipelines originating in Iran.

But, Iran must be examined closer as the long-recognized source of destabilizing Islamic Revolutionary radicalism in the region. For the first time since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iran was bottled up, with American troops in Iraq and American troops in Afghanistan; effectively keeping Iranian mischief-makers trapped at home. Iraq, with more modern and less degraded infrastructure, combined with a well-educated population with a tradition of engineering stretching back to ancient Babylon, is better equipped to take over much of its security, but Afghanistan has never achieved the development of Iraq ,so it gravely lacks in basic self-sufficiency, especially after decades of war and strife. With the presence of US combat troops, both Iraq and Afghanistan have been protected from Iranian invasion. If the US leaves Afghanistan, Iran could easily pour over the border and take control, positioning itself to overthrow the moderate and shaky Pakistan government for their Revolutionary brand of radical regime, which would be an enormously dangerous situation for India. Nuclear war would not be unthinkable if India perceives it is under threat.

The new Caliphate, as understood by wary Hindus in India, would stretch from Iran through Afghanistan, through Pakistan, through India’s northern Kashmir State, run eastwards along the Himalayan Mountain Range to the former East Pakistan, now Bangladesh –to the Muslim regions of China. Whoever holds Afghanistan holds the key to the entire region, to the east and to the west. To have that in hand only to throw it away, would waste years of hard-earned gains and would deprive the Afghans of any hope at a future of self-determination. Worse, it hands America’s enemies strategic positioning which can be used against America and her allies.

“Isms”  social, progressive, communal and otherwise … Take a visit to a time in this nation when Americans still understood the dangers of “ISMS.”

For those of you who don’t know, John Dewey is held as the father of modern American education; esteemed by educator’s and hailed as visionary by those who don’t know otherwise… In 1928 upon his return from Soviet Russia (communism) Dewey said,

I have never seen anywhere in the world such a large proportion of intelligent, happy, and intelligently occupied children” [New Republic, 1928]

John Dewey, an original signer of the Humanist Manifesto today would be proud of what he helped usher in … America, are you beginning to see what Obama is doing?  The way has been paved by “fellow travelers” for over a century now.