In his State of the Union, President Obama has once again donned the mantle of progressivism, but this time rather than the radical argument that it is he claims it to be the core American tradition. At Osawatomie, Kansas, Teddy Roosevelt at his most progressive, and so was Obama, who said the choice was between “you’re-on-your-own economics” and the view that “we are greater together-when everyone engages in fair play, everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share.” The word “fair” recurs in various forms throughout the Osawatomie …
Supporters of Ron Paul have re-launched an old ad promoting the old idea of American isolationism. “We now are a nation known to start war,” Paul is quoted as saying. “We feel compelled because of our insecurity that we have to go over and attack these countries to maintain our empire.” The message here (and repeated elsewhere) is that Paul’s isolationism is aligned with the Founding Fathers and “what is truly American and truly constitutional.” Not only is this refrain a gross misrepresentation of American history but it offers dangerously …
Martin Luther King Day has arrived once again, and like clockwork, liberals are invoking King’s name to support their causes. In an e-mail to activists, Obama’s former “green czar,” Van Jones, calls King the “original Occupier.” He urges activists to use MLK day meet-ups to energize left-wing campaigning for 2012. Despite these efforts, conservatives should not surrender King’s legacy to the left. Conservatives, of course, have reservations about certain aspects of King’s legacy. For one, he became too close, later in his career, to the welfare state. He was enamored …
“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote. “The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” Among the American Founders, there was a profound sense that faith and freedom were deeply intertwined. Nowadays, we are often told that religion is divisive and ought to kept away from politics for the sake of liberty. Religion somehow is opposed to liberty, and so liberty requires a diminution of religion in the public square. The view long consistent with our historical practice, …
Barack Obama ran for President claiming the mantle of Abraham Lincoln. Then he took office and recast himself as the second coming of FDR. He then railed against the “Do Nothing” Congress in his very best Harry Truman impression. Now, in a pilgrimage to the small town of Osawatomie, Kansas, President Obama has given the defining address of his administration and revealed that his heart lies with the old Bull Moose progressive, Theodore Roosevelt. Osawatomie is where Teddy Roosevelt delivered his famous speech in 1910 calling for a “New Nationalism” and …
Congress this week finds itself in a predicament of its own making. To show how serious they are about solving America’s deepening fiscal crisis, Republicans insisted that the 2011 Budget Control Act require the House and the Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment (BBA) before the end of the year. Yet from a range of BBA options—from weak to mild to robust—the House has chosen to vote on a version that does little to ensure less spending and lower taxes. This is no way to amend the Constitution …
In another victory for common sense and the Constitution, nullification has died a deserved death in North Dakota. Sometimes you really can’t win for losing. The originally proposed “Nullification of Federal Health Care Reform Law” declared the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (Obamacare) to be unconstitutional, and so “invalid,” “rejected” and “null” in North Dakota. Any official, agent or employee of the United States government who tried to enforce that law would be guilty of a felony; any state officer or employee who tried to enforce the law would …
The recent effort to revive nullification may have just met its high water mark. In the last 6 months, various laws with the objective of “nullifying” Obamacare have been introduced in thirteen states: Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. To date, the farthest along had been Idaho, where a nullification bill declaring Obamacare “void and of no effect” and stopping its enforcement had passed the House and the governor was itching to sign it in to law. But in …
The idea that there might be a simple fix to all our problems has seduced many thoughtful and well-intentioned men and women over the ages. If only we could do this, then all would be well. We stand with our persevering friends and allies. But let’s not be fooled. By the very nature of man and the imperfection of politics, there are no silver bullets. Such is the case with the proposal to hold an Article V constitutional amendments convention. A perennial question in American history, it seems on its …
The Constitution has returned to Congress. It began with a ceremonial reading of the document on the House floor for the first time in US history. While the event had some problems, the act of reading the document that provides the authority for Congress in the first place sets the tone and defines the core purpose of the new Congress: to restore constitutional limits on the federal government. The real test comes with the debates over the new House rule requiring that each piece of legislation cite its constitutional authority. …
