Berkeley's Unpatriotic Stupidity

Berkeley, CA. The most liberal place on the planet. Is it any wonder that the Marines are having problems finding a few good men? The job isn't any easier when the city wants you out and officially authorizes the lunatic fringe to picket you. Fortunately, for us, that decision might just have some consequences, say, about $2 million worth!

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Yup, that's right! Apparently, Berkeley's hold on the title of Bastion of Liberalism is alive and well.

Plus, this from Michelle Malkin. Wow!! When even the San Francisco Chronicle excoriates your stupidity, you know you've stepped in it. I guess know Berkeley knows how al Qaeda feels: alone, isolated, and just waiting for the big ol' bomb that ends it all.

The Disappearing Middle Class? Maybe . . .

. . . but it's not what you think. We're not getting poorer, but richer. However, as our incomes have increased, so has our appetite to stuff to spend that money on. Most of it we don't need, but, hey, I've got to spend my money on something tangible right now, right? Besides, the government will take care of me in my old age, won't it?

What Does Economic Stimulus Look Like?

From Rick McKee at the Augusta Chronicle:

The Absurdity of Current Abortion Laws

Why Iraq Is Better Off Today

Cartoon from September 17, 2007. I think that the Iraqi Parliament is more effective today than the Democrat-led Congress. Worst Congress Ever!!!

The Oncoming Storm: Election 2008

2008 may well be a pivotal moment in the history of the United States of America. Who we elect will have vast and long-lasting consequences on our country. Get the choice right and America will become a bastion of all that is good and true in the world, the proverbially “shining beacon on the hill.” Make the wrong choice and we become just one more country ruled by the High-Minded, looking down from the Olympian-heights of power upon the peons who must be controlled for their own good.

The candidates’ views on many of the issues facing America in the early part of the 21st Century will reverberate forward through time to our children and our children’s children. America is surrounded by enemies, both real and imagined. From international terrorists and illegal immigrants (real enemies) to global warming and the health care industry (imagined enemies), we occupy an interesting point in the time of great nations. We stand at the precipice of our own power. Americans have fought two world wars, turned back the tyranny of communism, and transformed the world into a truly integrated and global society.

The enemies of America realize that they cannot compete against us on our level, so they no longer try. Instead of demanding their complete surrender and utter subjugation to our hegemony, we allowed them to slink off and lick their wounds. Why we did this is both our greatest and worst trait: we are an empire without imperial aspirations. America has created the single greatest global political, military, and economic system since the Romans, but we have resisted ruling this system, and so ceded ground to American’s enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Today, instead of the hard tyranny of communism, we face the soft tyranny of socialism at home. The United Nations, once a magnificent expression of the American desire for international peace, now accuses the United States (and its allies) of being the greatest threat to international law and order. The anti-globalism crusaders have seized upon the combating of global warming as the panacea for their largely self-inflicted pain. International terrorists, angry that they backed the wrong horse, now run a highly-sophisticated and increasingly capable global operation to destroy not American military might, but American will.

The ideas of enemies past and present have slowly interjected their way into American society to the point where we may truly be a nation divided. Certain segments of American society want more government, greater bureaucratic control, and less choice. In short, one group of Americans has opted for the slow death of socialism with its pretty white facades concealing the rotten timbers of tyranny and power. A different segment of society has tried mightily to remain true to the American ideal. This group believes that, somewhere in the last thirty or forty years, America’s social elite turned away from carefully enumerated principles of government. It has struggled mightily, often in vain, to prevent the perversion of American ideals and Constitutional principles by the bureaucrats and socialists. The enmity between these two groups is so deep seated that there are whisperings of civil war[1].

Fortunately, at this point, that is all they are: whisperings. No authority or candidate has announced his or her readiness to turn to military force if their political demands are not met. Indeed, whispers and rumblings of revolution are somewhat common in America. We are after all a remarkably revolutionary people, be it in industrial innovation, military prowess, or political thought. We tend not to fear revolution, but to embrace it. This tendency to embrace, whether political or otherwise, is yet one more reason to carefully consider who we elect this year.

The issues are divided into three categories.

• Foreign Policy. Issues here have direct impact on our relationship with the world. These issues tend to be the least controversial from a Constitutional perspective, as foreign policy powers are specifically enumerated. Here the President has most of the authority and control, both as Commander-in-Chief and Head of State. Congress' powers tend to be more oversight oriented, dealing with treaty ratification and the power of the purse over the military. Issues here include:
o What should our national security priorities be?
o How does Iraq relate to our foreign policy priorities and what should we do there?
o What do we do about illegal immigration?
o Is global warming a foreign policy concern and what should we do about it?
o How should we interact with global institutions, such as the United Nations and World Trade Organization?

• Federalism. Domestic policy issues tend to revolve around many questions of policy and Constitutionality. For these purposes, let’s divide these up into issues of federalism and issues of social policy. Obviously, these categories are not mutually exclusive. However, certain issues tend to fall more into one sphere than the other. Issues of federalism concern the national government’s relationship to the states and to the people. Many issues of federalism are quite thorny because the Constitution never specifically addressed them. For instance, there is no specifically enumerated right to privacy, although the Third and Fourth Amendments obviously extend some basic privacy protections to the people. Issues here include:
o Should the federal government have a role in the health care industry?
o Should we have nationalized health care or health insurance?
o Does the government have a role in developing new energy technologies?
o What role should the federal government have in education policy?
o What is the federal role in the elimination of poverty?
o To what extent can government control firearms?
o Does the government have a role in stem-cell research?
o What changes should the government make to address America’s $60 trillion debt?
o Should we balance the budget?

• Social Policy. Of primary concern to the socialists, and so hopefully also to those who oppose socialism and bureaucratism, social policies are the most pernicious problem in America today. Indeed, the socialists' goal is to create social policies that allow the expansion of the bureaucracy to the point that the Constitution is merely a group of words on a page with no meaning beyond that which the socialists’ desire. Beyond the question of whether the federal government should have a role in the addressing of social issues is the more pressing question of whether or not government should be involved in solving social issues at all. Other issues include:
o What should the role of Social Security and other social safety net programs be?
o Should the government promote affirmative action programs?
o Should there be gay marriage or civil unions in the United States?
o Should government be deciding abortion policy?
o What is government’s responsibility toward the promotion of socially-controversial medical research?


[1] Besides the major political weblogs, several major newspapers and monthlies have used terms such as “civil unrest,” “civil war,” and “mobilizing for action” with regard to the relationship between Democrats and Republicans and, in particular, the potential Democratic response to a loss in the 2008 election. Many of these stories related to the “Hate Bush” and “Bushitler” crowd, as I call them. I do find it humorous, however, to think about a group of pacifists anti-gun wingnuts somehow taking up arms against the