Ken Cuccinelli … On Liberty

While the nation’s “economic pie” can be grown through good economic policies, the “liberty pie” is a zero-sum game – it doesn’t grow or shrink – and there are only two slices:  government power and citizens’ liberty.  If the current notions of centralized health care are enacted, government’s raw power over citizens’ lives will increase, and their liberty will be reduced by the same amount.

So writes Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in this month’s issue of the American Spectator.  (sorry, the actual article won’t be available online until April)

Cuccinelli is fast becoming one of the leaders of the conservative movement.  While Cuccinelli has been using the power of his office to fight federal tyranny in the courts, he is also using the pen to make a reasoned argument for all that conservatives hold dear.

During the current resurgence of the conservative movement and the semi-conservative populism inherent among the tea parties, some may dismiss the need for the intellectual strength displayed by officials like Cuccinelli.  Don’t be fooled.  Without its intellectual underpinnings, the conservative movement never would have grown beyond the Bob Taft years.

As I have noted here in the past – Yes, it is important to believe the right things.  However, without a firm understanding of WHY we believe what we do, those beliefs will not survive the test of time.  This is precisely why we need elected officials like General Cuccinelli.

Yes, we all know that ObamaCare is bad policy.  We all know that it would be fiscally disastrous.  We all know that the world’s best health care system would be greatly diminished.  Yet, Cuccinelli has managed to succinctly explain why we should fight ObamaCare – even IF these things were not the case.  If we wish to forfeit our God given individual liberty for a promised blanket of economic security then America ceases to be that shining city.  Liberty forfeited is liberty lost forever.

Thanks Ken.

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Thank You Jim Bunning

Red State has a great piece about Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) (along with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)) being the only person to stand up and fight the extension of the Obama PORKULUS.  Bunning deserves our gratitude.

While his colleagues were watching the Olympics or fundraising, it was Bunning who stood firm and kept objecting to attempts by the Senate majority to sleaze through more wasteful spending.  I wonder where his colleague and fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell was?

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In Florida Senate Race, Be Careful What You Wish For

Red State’s Erick Erickson writes that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be bolting the GOP to run for the Senate seat Crist arrogantly believes is his by right.  If he does so, the conservative response should be a simple one – marshal every resource possible to elect Marco Rubio and THEN (after the election) make it our mission to destroy Crist politically so that he can never run for office again or benefit financially from his service as Florida’s governor.

Now, this may seem hard hearted.  It is.  However, if you play the game you should play by the rules.  If Crist bolts or campaigns for the Democrat nominee he has left the realm of civil political behavior and should be handled as such.

Erickson writes:

Here’s what will happen if Charlie Crist leaves the GOP. The DC-GOP Establishment crowd will attack RedState, Jim DeMint, and Marco Rubio for shrinking the GOP. Instead of pointing out that moderate Republicans are sore loser who don’t play well with conservatives, conservatives will be attacked for chasing Crist out of the party.

Read more

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Steele Flunks the Test Again

MPPI Senior Fellow Marta Hummel Mossburg tags RNC chair Michael Steele for the rank hypocrisy of his book – "Right Now: A 12-step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda".  While Mossburg hits Steele on many of the right specifics, she should have expounded more on her “Ignatius Reilly” theory of the Michael Steele persona.

Steele’s problem is a simple one – he believes in nothing.  Michael Steele has shown himself willing to pander to almost any audience at the drop of a dime.  He’s conservative.  He’s cool.  He’ll use scarce RNC resources to back an unapologetic left-winger in the NY-23 race.  He’ll take credit for the victories in Virginia and New Jersey, when he had absolutely nothing to do with them (and the RNC’s contribution was an appreciated one of finance and a few bodies).

Michael Steele is the embodiment for why tea party activists, and the conservative movement in general, should look at the GOP as ONLY a means to an end and hold them off with a ten foot poll.  Sure, various state parties (such as RPV) should be looked on as allies.  Some state parties, such as MDGOP, should be viewed as irrelevant except for their easy access to the ballot.

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Should We “Throw All The Bums Out”?

As usual, last night’s Lower Shore AFP meeting was interesting.  Ed Urban of the Wicomico Tourism Board spoke about why the County Council did the right thing by spending $1.5 million of “free money” for a new parking lot at the civic center.  While I don’t thing many folks agreed, the discussion was civil.  Salisbury City Councilwoman Debbie Campbell came to explain how the current council majority AND the Ireton administration are illegally spending tax dollars WITHOUT appropriation.

For me, the most engaging moments came AFTER the meeting was over.  I listened to several good people make the argument that just because someone is an incumbent, they are somehow “tainted”.  This is a view that disturbs me greatly.  Experience is not a crime.  In fact, most societies have considered it a virtue.

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Bob McDonnell – Expressing America’s TRUE Values

On Wednesday Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered the GOP response to Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address.  You can view the speech here:

McDonnell’s message will prove important because he expressed the ideas upon which this great nation were founded and those ideas which have made our nation the greatest on earth.  While Obama wishes to continue throwing hard earned tax dollars (and even more money borrowed from the likes of Communist China) at problems, McDonnell’s message was one of self-reliance, self-sacrifice, liberty, and innovation:

Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector’s ability to create new jobs.  We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world.  What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.  It was Thomas Jefferson who called for “A wise and frugal Government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry ….and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned…” He was right.

Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much.

While most Democrats and far too many Republicans seek enhanced personal and corporate power through the overreaching hand of government, McDonnell’s message was one reminiscent of Ronald Reagan:

Read more

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Obama Coming to Charm City

President Barack Obama will be paying a visit to Baltimore Friday.  Obama is scheduled to visit an unidentified small business and address a retreat of House Republicans.  Given that Congressional Dems seem to lock the GOP out of everything meaningful going on in Congress, I thought it was mighty kind of the Republicans to invite the left’s once upon a time messiah.

I was wondering if Obama was going to hand out any “cash from his stash” while visiting Charm City.

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Who’s Lying About Health Care?

Americans were promised a TRANSPARENT process in health care reform:

What did Americans receive?  Senate Republicans literally being locked out of the negotiations.  BRIBERY for votes from the likes of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).  And now a secret backroom deal to reconcile the House and Senate bills.

In other words … we got OBAMACARE!

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10 Most Corrupt Politicians of 2009

Each year Judicial Watch publishes a list of the 10 most corrupt politicians of the year.  While bi-partisan, I’m sure that Dems will be crying foul:

1. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
2. Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)
3. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
4. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
5. Attorney General Eric Holder
6. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) / Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)
7. President Barack Obama
8. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
9. Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)
10. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)

I thought that the “culture of corruption” ended after the 2006 elections????

H/T – Charlie Copeland @ Resolute Determination

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Wasteful Spending at Post Office Just Pre-cursor to ObamaCare

Appearing last week on FOXNews, former Virginia Governor George Allen outlines how profligacy at the US Postal Service is simply a small example of what we’ll see under ObamaCare.

 

When you hand over 1/6 of the nation’s economy to a group of people with no accountability (government employees), what else do you expect.  As governor, Allen and his team forced state government to be responsive to taxpayers.  Little wonder many civil servants whined about his administration for years.  Do any of us believe that federal employees will be responsive to our health care needs?

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