For the second time in this year alone, executives from the major oil companies have been summoned to testify before Congress, regarding the reasons for high gas prices. This entire process is a circus and designed solely to allow politicians, in an election year, to tell their constituents that they are fighting to relieve their "suffering" at the pump.
The primary cause for high gas prices lies in one of the basic principles of economics, low supplies and growing demand, something which many politicians, particularly Democrat politicians, fail to grasp. The Democrats' own policies preventing the drilling of oil in the United States (in Alaska, off the coast of California, and in the Gulf of Mexico) and preventing the construction of new refineries are contributing to the shortages in supply. The continued economic growth in India and China are the primary factors increasing the demand for oil.
This quote demonstrates what a circus this inquisition of the oil executives is. Diane Feinstein, Democratic Senator from California, said this, "you rack up record profits, record profits, quarter after quarter after quarter, and apparently have no ethical compass about the price of gasoline.”
How about your ethical compass about the burden of taxes, Senator Feinstein? You've never seen a tax increase you didn't like (see her record below). The average American pays a third of their income in taxes. At least when we buy gas we have something to show for it. At least when we buy gas, the oil companies have done work to earn it. Congress demands we pay taxes, gives us relatively little to show for it, and will throw us in jail if we do not pay it.
I don't worry so much about abuses from businesses, the free market tends to work those things out. I do, like the founding fathers, worry about abuses from the government, like over-taxation, bloated government, and officials over-reaching their authority, which is precisely what is happening with this witch hunt.
Diane Feinstein's Record on Taxation and Oil Production from OnTheIssues.org:
Voted NO on paying down federal debt by rating programs' effectiveness. (Mar 2007)
Voted NO on $40B in reduced federal overall spending. (Dec 2005)
Voted NO on prioritizing national debt reduction below tax cuts. (Apr 2000)
Voted NO on Balanced-budget constitutional amendment. (Mar 1997)
Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jun 2007)
Voted YES on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's ANWR. (Nov 2005)
Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on removing consideration of drilling ANWR from budget bill. (Mar 2003)
Voted NO on drilling ANWR on national security grounds. (Apr 2002)
Voted NO on preserving budget for ANWR oil drilling. (Apr 2000)
Voted NO on do not require ethanol in gasoline. (Aug 1994)
Voted NO on repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax. (Mar 2007)
Voted NO on raising estate tax exemption to $5 million. (Mar 2007)
Voted NO on supporting permanence of estate tax cuts. (Aug 2006)
Voted NO on permanently repealing the `death tax`. (Jun 2006)
Voted NO on $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years. (May 2003)
Voted NO on across-the-board spending cut. (Oct 1999)
Voted NO on requiring super-majority for raising taxes. (Apr 1998)
Rated 15% by NTU, indicating a "Big Spender" on tax votes. (Dec 2003)
Rated 80% by the CTJ, indicating support of progressive taxation. (Dec 2006)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
No Ethical Compass About the Price of Gas...How About Taxes?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
My Proposal for a Government Welfare Program
See if you can guess who uttered the following statements regarding welfare and caring for the poor. By the way, I really do think these principles make for a pretty good welfare program. Our government would be wise to follow such principles.
"Every man and woman ought to possess the spirit of independence, a self-sustaining spirit, that would prompt him or her to say, when they are in need, "I am willing to give my labor in exchange for that which you give me." No man ought to be satisfied to receive, and to do nothing for it. After a man is brought down to poverty and is under the necessity of receiving aid, and his friends give it to him, he should feel that it is an obligation under which he is placed, and when the Lord should open his way he would return the gift."
"It is a bad thing for men to think the world owes them a living, and all they have to do is to beg or steal to get it....I don't refer to the cripple, or to those who are enfeebled by age, because I look at them in an entirely different light; there is a necessity for them to live, and there is a necessity for us to assist such, but there is no great need in this world for men and women who are able to work and will not work."
"Even the poor who have to be assisted should be willing to do all in their power to earn their own living. Not one man or woman should be content to sit down and be fed, clothed, or housed without any exertion on his or her part to compensate for these privileges. All men and women should feel a degree of independence of character that would stimulate them to do something for a living, and not be idle; for it is written that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer."
"Remember the poor, and to give means for their support.... No call for help [should ever be] heard in vain by them."
"It is clear that plans which contemplate only relieving present distress are deficient. The Church has always sought to place its members in a way to help themselves, rather than adopting the method of so many charitable institutions of providing for only present needs. When the help is withdrawn or used up, more must be provided from the same source, thus making paupers of the poor and teaching them the incorrect principle of relying upon others' help, instead of depending upon their own exertions.... Our idea of charity, therefore, is to relieve present wants and then to put the poor in a way to help themselves so that in turn they may help others."
"Our people have learned through the commandments of God how to take care of themselves and are trying to help others to do likewise. They are ever helping each other and it is seldom that poor are found among them who are unprovided for. They are practically independent and may become entirely so by a stricter adherence to the law of the Lord! We believe that if other communities would adopt [these] plans...that poverty and pauperism would be greatly reduced or entirely overcome. Opportunities would be presented so that all might obtain work and thus provide for themselves."
And the answer the answer is...Joseph F. Smith, 6th President of the Mormon Church. These quotes were taken from his book, Gospel Doctrine, pages 234 - 238.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
The Race for President: Ron Paul Analyzed
A couple of people have asked what I thought of Ron Paul. My initial exposure to Ron Paul, was in the early Republican debates, and honestly, he came across as a bit of a kook. Despite that initial bad impression, my opinion of him has now changed.
About the candidate: Ron Paul is a Republican United States Congressman from Lake Jackson, Texas, a physician, a bestselling author, and a former 2008 Republican presidential candidate. Paul considered becoming a Lutheran minister like two of his brothers, instead he decided to pursue a medical degree at Duke University. The medical training was soon interrupted when he received a draft notice and entered the U.S. Air Force during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He remained in the military during the early years of the Vietnam War. He served active duty as a flight surgeon from 1963 to 1965.
| Issue/Voting Criteria | Candidate's Stance | Candidate's Record | Grade |
| 1. Strengthening the Family | From Ron Paul's Website: -As President I will advance tax credits through the Family Education Freedom Act, which reduces taxes to make it easier for parents to home school by allowing them to devote more of their own funds to their children’s education. | From Wikipedia: -Paul opposes federal regulation of marriage. -His pro-life legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade. -Paul has introduced several bills to apply tax credits toward education, including credits for parental spending on public, private, or homeschool students (Family Education Freedom Act). -He has also introduced the Sanctity of Life Act From Ron Paul's Website: -"My wife Carol and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary early this year. We are proud parents of five children and 18 grandchildren. We love them very much." | C |
| 1A. Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion | From Ron Paul's Website: -The right of an innocent, unborn child to life is at the heart of the American ideals of liberty. My professional and legislative record demonstrates my strong commitment to this pro-life principle. -Once we allow federal control over abortion, we lose the opportunity for states to enact pro-life legislation. Numerous states already have laws that punish the act of murder against a fetus. Our focus should be on overturning Roe. | A | |
| 1B. Pro-Traditional Marriage | Can't find anything on Paul's website regarding this issue. | D | |
| 2. Defending Our Country | From Ron Paul's Website: -When I voted for the authorization to use force against those who attacked us in 2001, I did not imagine that we would be getting bogged down for years in a nation-building exercise in Afghanistan -A foreign policy of non-interventionism overseas will be the first step in reducing threats to the U.S. ...An America-first defense policy will not go abroad seeking monsters to slay. | From Ron Paul's Website: -Paul introduced H.R. 3217 would prohibit the issuance of student, training, vocational, and diversity visas without presidential review to anyone from a country that repeatedly supports terrorism or does not cooperate fully with U.S. antiterrorism efforts. From Wikipedia: -Paul voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in response to the September 11, 2001 -But he "voted against the Iraq War Resolution in 2002" -Paul sponsored a resolution to repeal the war authorization in February 2003. -Paul voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. | C |
| 2A. Defeating Terrorists | From Ron Paul's Website: -"The United States invaded Iraq under false pretenses without a constitutionally-required declaration of war." -Re-focus the efforts of our military and intelligence services on locating those individuals who planned the terrorist attacks on the U.S. and who remain at large. -Ron Paul wants to "earnestly attempt to understand what it is that motivates others to wish us harm and then to act upon those wishes." | D | |
| 2B. Protecting Our Borders | From Ron Paul's Website: -The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. -A defense policy designed to keep Americans safe should start with the idea that we must secure our borders from those who would cross them to do us harm. | A | |
| 3. Free Market Economic Policy | From Ron Paul's Website: -"The true crisis facing us is not a physical shortage of energy, but rather the looming threat that socialist economic planning will replace market mechanisms and cause unnecessary shortages." -"We must understand that high oil prices are not the result of an unregulated free market. On the contrary, the oil industry is among the most regulated and most subsidized of U.S. industries. Perhaps we need to ask ourselves whether too much government involvement in the oil markets, rather than too little regulation, has kept the supply of refined gasoline artificially low." | From Wikipedia: -"Ron Paul has rejected a Congressional pension because the program is taxpayer-subsidized." -"Paul was the first member of Congress to propose term limits legislation in the House" -Paul insists he will "never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution." -Paul would abolish the individual income tax by scaling back the federal budget to its 2000 spending levels. -He has written successful legislation to prevent several eminent domain seizures. -Paul publishes a monthly newsletter, Ron Paul's Freedom Report, which seeks to create a greater public awareness of the principles of limited government. | B |
| 3A. Lower Taxes | From Ron Paul's Website: -"I certainly support President Bush's tax cut initiatives, and I will vote (or have voted) for each plank in his tax cut plan. Lowering marginal rates, eliminating the marriage penalty, abolishing the death tax." -" Working Americans like lower taxes. So do I. Lower taxes benefit all of us, creating jobs and allowing us to make more decisions for ourselves about our lives... Lower taxes allow more spending, saving, and investing which helps the economy — that means all of us. " | A | |
| 3B. Smaller Government | From Ron Paul's Website: -"Today our national debt stands at $8.2 trillion, which represents about $26,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. It’s time for American taxpayers to understand that every dollar will have to be repaid. We should have the courage to face our grandchildren knowing that we have done all we can to end the government spending spree." -"Massive spending funds an unbelievable number of federal departments, agencies, programs, and personnel. Most Americans understand that the federal government is far too large, yet most of their representatives in Congress continue to vote for spending increases every year. As a result, the same unconstitutional agencies grow, the same counterproductive programs are perpetuated." | A |
Ron Paul scored much better than I initially expected. His 2.89 grade point average, puts him a little higher than John McCain in my ranking. Paul is strong on pro-life issues, but weak on other family and marriage issues. He is strong against illegal immigration and protecting the border, but weak on other defense issues. He is very good on economic, tax and limiting the power of government issues.
I'm not sure if Ron Paul is still running for president or not. Obviously, he did not get the Republican nomination, which he sought. If he ends up on the ballot, as an independent or third-party candidate, he may be my best option.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The 5,000 Year Leap, A Miracle that Changed the World
The 5,000 Year Leap is a superb book that every American should read. The title of the book refers to the political progress made with the founding of The United States of America and the establishment of the Constitution. It was written by W. Cleon Skousen over 30 years ago from material he collected when teaching a class on the bi-centennial of the United States. Until I read this book, I didn't realized how far we, as a country, have strayed from the Constitution and the principles this country was founded upon. I believe that this country needs to return to those Constitutional, founding principles. To the extent that we do return to those principles, I know our nation will be blessed politically, economically and spiritually.
As I was reading the book, as usual, I highlighted the passages that I particularly liked or wanted to remember. With this book, I had to force myself not to highlight just about every sentence on every page. It was that good. Below are some (132 to be precise) of the best quotes from the author and from many of the Founding Fathers. I wanted to preserve for my own future reference, and I wanted to share these with all of America in hopes of convincing others of the need to return to our founding principles.
As you read these quotes (if you choose to read them all, I know it is quite lengthy), try and apply these principles to our current political environment. As you compare these statements by our founding fathers with the promises and platforms of modern political parties and presidential candidates, I think you will agree with me ragarding how far we have strayed from our founding, Constitutional principles.
| Name | Quote | Page |
| Thomas Jefferson | We shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves. | 30 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The Founders wanted the nature of debt to be recognized for what it is: evil, because it is a form of bondage. | 292 |
| Benjamin Franklin | Poor Richard says, the second vice is lying, the first is running in debt. | 294 |
| Thomas Jefferson | Public debt [is] the greatest of the dangers to be feared. | 295 |
| Thomas Jefferson | We are bound to defray [the war's] expenses within our own time, and unauthorized to burden posterity with them. | 295 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | [The Founders] wanted the rising generation to be genuinely free--both politically and economically…[otherwise] it would be, in a very literally sense, "taxation without representation." | 295 |
| George Washington | No pecuniary consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt. | 296 |
| Thomas Jefferson | We shall consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves; and consequently with the life [expectancy] pf the majority. | 296 |
| Bill Bonner | New all time high records have been set for deficit spending during the spring of 2006. Congress has increased the debt ceiling to NINE Trillion dollars. All things considered, the burden of debt for every man, woman and child in the country has risen to over $100,000 each. | 299 |
| Bill Bonner | United States citizens seem to regard thrift as a mental disorder and not a virtue. In the private sector during 2005, for every $19 Americans earned, they spent $20. If a thinking person will look at it, the absurdity becomes glaring. America has become an "empire of debt" and is sowing the seeds of her own destruction. | 299 |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| Benjamin Franklin | Were everything in our power done for our security, as far as human means and foresight could provide, we might then, with more propriety, humbly ask the assistance of Heaven. | 260 |
| Benjamin Franklin | The very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for 'tis a wise and true saying, that "One sword often keeps another in the scabbard." The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent. | 260 |
| Benjamin Franklin | Our security lies, I think, in our growing strength, both in numbers and wealth; that creates an increasing ability of assisting this nation in its wars, which will make us more respectable, our friendship more valued, and our enmity feared. | 261 |
| Benjamin Franklin | make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you. | 261 |
| Benjamin Franklin | It is absurd, the pretending to be lovers of liberty while they grudge paying for the defense of it. | 261 |
| George Washington | To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. | 262 |
| George Washington | If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war. | 264 |
| Samuel Adams | When the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defense of those very rights; the principle of which…are life, liberty, and property. | 265 |
| Samuel Adams | The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave. | 265 |
| Alexander Hamilton | Effective resistance to usurpers is possible only provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them. | xviii |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| Thomas Jefferson | [Man] has not natural right in opposition of his social duties. | 133 |
| John Adams | Here [the convention for the forming of the Massachusetts Constitution] I found such chaos of absurd sentiments concerning government that I was obliged daily, before that assembly, and afterwards in a Grand Committee, to propose plans and advocate doctrines, which were extremely unpopular. | 200 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The people have the responsibility to keep a closer watch on their representatives and elect only those who will function within Constitutional boundaries. | 208 |
| John Adams | Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people. | 250 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | In New England every citizen…is taught, moreover, the doctrines and evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution. In the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, it is extremely rare to dins a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of this is a sort of phenomenon. | 252 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | No sort of comparison can be drawn between the pioneer and the dwelling that shelters him….He is acquainted with the past, curious about the future, and ready for argument about the present; he is, in short, a highly civilized being. | 253 |
| Thomas Jefferson | Our endeavors should surely be to make our hemisphere that of freedom. | 273 |
| Peter Marshall | I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come, it is now, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. | xix |
| Thomas Jefferson | If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. | xix |
| Ronald Mann | Foresight through hindsight conduces insight. | xx |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| W. Cleon Skousen | It was in Jamestown that communal economics were experimentally tried out by these European immigrants, who found them to be worse than Plato described them. Eventually, it was in Jamestown that a system of free enterprise principles began to filter up. | 2 |
| Benjamin Franklin | The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans, and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and enable him to plunder at pleasure. | 68 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Profits are looked upon as the means by which production of goods and services is made worthwhile. | 180 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | By 1905 the United States had become the richest industrial nation in the world. | 181 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Only as the federal government has usurped authority and intermeddled with the free-market economy has this surge of prosperity and high production of goods and services been inhibited. | 259 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The fiscal failure of the New Deal experiments…Dr. Milton Friedman points out that after the federal government had spent many billions of dollars and had seriously meddled with the Constitutional structure of the nation, the unemployment rate was higher in 1938 than it had been in 1932. | 300 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Big spending, high taxes, oppressive government regulations, and mountainous debt is stifling the economy, inhibiting the rate of production. | 302 |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Charles Bracelen Flood discovered in his research that during the Revolutionary War there were at least sixty-seven desperate moments when Washington acknowledged that he would have suffered disaster had not the hand of God intervened in behalf of the struggle for independence. | 99 |
| George Washington | No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. | 100 |
| John Jay | It was the design of Providence that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties. | 308 |
| Benjamin Rush | Doctor Rush then proceeded to consider the origin of the proposed Constitution, and fairly deduced it was from heaven, asserting that he as much believed the hand of God was employed in this work as that God had divided the Red Sea. | ii |
| James Madison | It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution. | iii |
| Charles Pinckney | Nothing less than that superintending hand of Providence that so miraculously carried us through the war could have brought it [the Constitution] about. | iv |
| George Washington | The adoption of the Constitution will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it. | iv |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| W. Cleon Skousen | "People's Law" where the government is kept under the control of the people and political power is maintained at the balanced center with enough government to maintain security, justice, and good order, but not enough government to abuse the people. | 10 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The Founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government the power to do anything except that which they have the lawful right to do themselves. | 115 |
| Alexander Hamilton | The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority. | 143 |
| Massachusetts Proclamation January 1776 | It is a maxim that in every government, there must exist, somewhere, a supreme, sovereign, absolute, and uncontrollable power; but this power resides always in the body of the people. | 144 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Theoretically, a democracy requires the full participation of the masses of the people in the legislative or decision-making process of government. | 153 |
| James Madison | We may define a republic to be…a government which derives all of its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable portion or a favored class of it. | 155 |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| W. Cleon Skousen | By 1970 a black high school student in Alabama or Mississippi had a better opportunity to get a college education than a white student in England. | 109 |
| Eldridge Cleaver | I would rather be in jail in America than free anywhere else. | 110 |
| Eldridge Cleaver | I was wrong and the Black Panthers were wrong…We [black Americans] are inside the system and I feel that the number one objective for Black America is to recognize that they have the same equal rights under the Constitution as Ford or Rockefeller, even if we have no blue-chip stocks. But our membership in the United States is the supreme blue-chip stock and the one we have to exercise. | 111 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Anyone who says the American Constitution is obsolete just because social and economic conditions have changed does not understand the real genius of the Constitution. | 166 |
| John Adams | I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth. | 274 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | John Adams later stated that if the people abandoned the freedom gained by the adoption of the Constitution, it would be "treason against the hopes of the world." | 307 |
| James Madison | Happily for America, happily we trust FOR THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE, they pursued a new and more noble course….which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate. | 310 |
| James Madison | They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate. | ii |
| Thomas Jefferson | May you and your contemporaries preserve inviolate the Constitution, which, cherished in all its chastity and purity, will prove in the end a blessing to all the nations of the earth. | v |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Modern Americans seldom speak of it today, but originally this nation was considered the 'hope of the world.' | xiii |
| Orrin Hatch | The Constitution is not out of date. It is no more out of date than the desire for peace, freedom and prosperity is out of date. The Founders were not custom-building the Constitution for any particular age or economy. They were structuring a framework of government to fit the requirements of human nature. These do not change. | xxi |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| George Washington | There is a natural and necessary progression, from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny. | 18 |
| Benjamin Franklin | I am apprehensive that the Government of these States may in future times end in a monarchy. But this catastrophe, I think, may be long delayed, if in our proposed system we do not sow the seeds of contention, faction, and tumult, by making our posts of honor places of profit. | 19 |
| Thomas Jefferson | If a monarchist be in office, anywhere, and it be known to the President, the oath he has taken to support the Constitution imperiously requires the instantaneous dismission of such officer. | 27 |
| Thomas Jefferson | The monarchical party, the branch of the administration pushing for a central government with massive powers. | 28 |
| Thomas Jefferson | If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy. | 29 |
| Benjamin Franklin | Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor, that shall be at the same time be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. | 66 |
| Benjamin Franklin | Whenever an office, through the increase of fees or otherwise, becomes so profitable, as to occasion many to apply for it, the profits ought to be lessened by the legislature. | 72 |
| Thomas Jefferson | Let no be said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. | 162 |
| Thomas Jefferson | It is jealousy, and not confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power. | 164 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Every unconstitutional action has usually been justified because it was for a "good cause." Every illegal transfer of power from one department to another has been excused as "necessary." The whole explosion of bureaucratic power in Washington has been the result of "trusting" benign political leaders, most of whom really did have good intentions. | 164 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The Founders looked upon "government" as a volatile instrument of explosive power which must necessarily be harnessed within the confines of a strictly interpreted Constitution, or it would destroy the very freedom it was designed to preserve. | 165 |
| James Madison | I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than violent and sudden usurpations….This danger ought to be wisely gaurded against. | 166 |
| James Madison | It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freemen of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequence [of governmental abuses] in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle [on which the abuses were based]. We revere this lesson too much...to forget it. | 167 |
| Grover Cleveland | I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be consistently enforced that though the people support the Government the Government should not support the people. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon ti relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of the kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood. | 177 |
| Alexander Hamilton | There is, in the nature of sovereign power, an impatience of control that disposes those who are invested with the exercise of it to look with an evil eye upon all external attempts to restrain or direct its operations….This tendency is not difficult to be accounted for. It has its origin in the love of power. Power controlled or abridged is almost always the rival and enemy of that power by which it is controlled or abridged. | 224 |
| John Fiske | If the day should ever arrive (which God forbid!) when the people of the different parts of our country shall allow their local affairs to be administered by the prefects sent from Washington…the American people will have been robbed of its most interesting and valuable features, and the usefulness of this nation will be lamentably impaired. | 240 |
| Thomas Jefferson | Our general [federal] government may be reduced to a very simple organization, and a very inexpensive one. | 240 |
| James Madison | It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. | 246 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Almost political suicide to try to change the trend. When it comes to cutting programs and reducing costs, balancing the budget, and eliminating deficit spending, it is amazing how few will make the necessary adjustment with the most violent outcries of protest when it affects them personally. | 302 |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| W. Cleon Skousen | A fundamental presupposition of Natural Law is that man's reasoning power is a special dispensation of the Creator and is closely akin to the rational or reasoning power of the Creator himself. | 39 |
| Benjamin Franklin | Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt an vicious, they have more need of masters. | 49 |
| George Washington | Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. | 55 |
| John Adams | Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. | 56 |
| Samuel Adams | Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of this country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man. | 59 |
| Benjamin Franklin | I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. | 77 |
| George Washington | Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. | 79 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must be regarded as the first of their political institutions | 80 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all sects preach the same moral law. | 81 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | The law permits the Americans to do what they please, religion prevents them from conceiving, and forbids them to commit, what is rash or unjust. | 82 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | In America, he [de Tocqueville] noted, the clergy remained politically separated from the government but nevertheless provided a moral stability among the people which permitted the government to prosper. In other words, there was separation of church and state but not separation of state and religion. | 83 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. | 84 |
| Thomas Jefferson | [The Constitution had created] a wall of separation between church and state. | 89 |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | Almost all the disturbances of society arise from the irregularities of domestic life….An orderly life is the surest path to happiness. | 281 |
| Benjamin Franklin | Separate, she wants his force of body and strength of reason; he, her softness, sensibility, and acute discernment. | 285 |
| John Quincy Adams | From the day of the Declaration, the American people were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the gospel, which they nearly all acknowledged as the rules of their conduct. | xviii |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| Samuel Adams | The Utopian schemes of leveling [re-distribution of the wealth] and a community of goods [central ownership of the means of production and distribution], as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the Crown. | 30 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The Founders also warned that the only way for the nation to prosper was to have equal protection of "rights" and not all the government to get involved in the trying to provide equal distribution of "things" | 30 |
| Clarence Carson | First, there is equality before the law…Second, the Declaration refers to an equality of rights. | 104 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | It is remarkable that the Founders were able to establish a society of freedom and opportunity which would attract so many millions of immigrants. Secondly, it is even more remarkable that within two or three generations nearly all of these millions of immigrants became first-class citizens. | 106 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Within weeks the vast Japanese population in California had been hauled off to concentration camps in the Rocky Mountains. J. Edgar Hoover knew there were practically no espionage agents among them. The few security risks had already been identified and incarcerated. He vigorously protested the Japanese evacuation and so did many others, but all to no avail. The Japanese could have been very bitter, but to the ultimate embarrassment and chagrin of those who had engineered this fiasco, they loyally mobilized their sons and sent them into the American armed services as volunteers! Japanese-American regiments were among the most decorated in World War II. They went into the military ranks under suspicion and resentment, but they came out in hero roles. A few years later the entire state of California was represented in the Senate by a Japanese-American. | 108 |
| Alexander Hamilton | Inequality would exist as long as liberty existed….It would unavoidably result from that very liberty itself. | 112 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The Founders distinguished between equal rights and other areas where equality is impossible. They recognized that society should seek to provide equal opportunity but not expect equal results[; provide equal freedom but not equal capacity; provide equal rights but not equal possessions; provide equal protection but not equal status; provide equal educational opportunities but not equal grades. | 112 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The American Founders recognized that the moment the government is authorized to start leveling the material possessions of the rich in order to have an "equal distribution of goods," the government thereafter has the power to deprive ANY of the people of their "equal" rights to enjoy their lives, liberties, and property. | 116 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | When the Communists seized power in Hungary, the peasants were delighted with the "justice" of having the large farms confiscated from their owners and given to the peasants. Later the Communist leaders seized three-fourths of the peasant land and took it back to set up government communal farms. Immediately the peasants howled in protest about their property rights. | 117 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | There was to be no special penalty for getting rich. | 117 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The Founders felt that America would become a nation dominated by a prosperous middle class with a few people becoming rich. As for the poor, the important thing was to insure the freedom to prosper so that no one would be locked into the poverty level the way people have been in all other parts of the world. | 118 |
| Samuel Adams | The Utopian schemes of leveling [re-distribution of the wealth] and a community of goods [central ownership of the means of production and distribution], are as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the Crown. [These ideas] are arbitrary, despotic, and in our government, unconstitutional. | 119 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Counter-productive compassion | 119 |
| John Adams | All men are born free and independent, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness. | 127 |
| William Blackstone | And these [great natural rights] may be reduced to three principal or primary articles: the right of personal security; the right of personal liberty; and the right of private property. | 127 |
| James Madison | Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property. | 154 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Dominion means control, and control requires exclusiveness, private rights in property. | 170 |
| Abraham Lincoln | Property is the fruit of labor. Property is desirable, is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently to build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence....I take it that it is best for all to leave each man free to acquire property as fast as he can. Some will get wealthy. I don't believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. | 173 |
| George Sutherland | The individual--the man--has three great rights, equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right to his LIFE, the right to his LIBERTY, the right to his PROPERTY….The three rights are so bound together as to be essentially one right. | 173 |
| John Adams | Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. | 174 |
| John Locke | For the preservation of property being the end of government, and that for which men enter into society, it necessarily supposes and requires that the people should have property. | 174 |
| James Madison | Government is instituted to protect property….Personal liberty is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest. | 175 |
| US Supreme Court | No man would become a member of a community in which he could not enjoy the fruits of his honest labor and industry. The preservation of property, then, is a primary object of the social compact….The legislature, therefore, had no authority to make an act divesting one citizen of his freehold, and vesting it in another. | 175 |
| Thomas Jefferson | By placing under every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best. What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into one body. | 238 |
| Name | Quote | Page |
| W. Cleon Skousen | What is Left? What is Right? These terms actually refer to the manner in which the various parties are seated in the parliaments of Europe. | 9 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The platform of a political party of one generation can hardly be recognized by the next. | 9 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | After four month of debate they were able to reach general agreement on just about everything except the issues of slavery, proportionate representation, and the regulation of commerce. All three of these issues had to be settle by compromise. It is a mistake, however, to describe the rest of the Constitution as a "conglomerate of compromises," because extreme patience was used to bring the minds of the delegates into agreement rather simply force the issue to finality with a compromise. | 22 |
| James Madison | Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men; so that we do not depend upon their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them. | 54 |
| J. Reuben Clark Jr. | It is this union of independence and dependence of these branches--legislative, executive and judicial--and of the governmental functions possessed by each of them, that constitutes the marvelous genius of this unrivaled document. The Framers had no direct guide in this work, no historical governmental precedent upon which to rely. As I see it, it was here that the divine inspiration came. It was truly a miracle. | 211 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | What the Founders wished to achieve in the Constitution of 1787 was machinery for the peaceful means of self-repair when the system went out of balance. | 214 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | The protection of states' rights by this means [state legislators selecting their US Senators] was completely wiped out by the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment. | 226 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | Unanimity is the ideal, but majority rule becomes a necessity. | 229 |
| Alexander Hamilton | If a pertinacious minority can control the opinion of a majority…the smaller number will overrule that of the greater…Hence, tedious delays; continual negotiation and intrigue; contemptible compromises of the public good. | 231 |
| Thomas Jefferson | The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to [perform best]. | 238 |
| Thomas Jefferson | The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the states are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign nations. | 239 |
| W. Cleon Skousen | They [the Founders] desired to cultivate a wholesome relationship with ALL nations, but they wished to remain aloof from sectional quarrels and international disputes. | 268 |
The Race for President: Wayne Allyn Root Analyzed
Since both of the major political parties are or will be nominating a liberal as their presidential candidate (Republicans have nominated John McCain, and Democrats will nominate either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton), I am in search of other alternatives. I never thought the day would come when I would have to vote for a third party candidate or a write-in, but here we are. Below is my analysis of the leading Libertarian party candidate for President, Wayne Allyn Root.
About the Candidate: Wayne Allyn Root is a business mogul, TV producer, best-selling author, professional sports handicapper, and prospective Libertarian Party presidential candidate based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Root attended Columbia University as a Political Science major (graduating in 1983 in the same class as Barack Obama).
| Issue/Voting Criteria | Candidate's Stance | Candidate's Record | Grade |
| 1. Strengthening the Family | From Root's website -"I support Freedom and Parental Choice in the Educational System- We need to give parents and students the freedom to pursue the education of their choice- just as my wife and I do by choosing to home-school our 4 children. I support giving parents control of the education of their own children, instead of government bureaucrats. I support utilization of school choice, vouchers or tax credits on the state and local level to increase education competition." -"I support the legalization, regulation & taxation of Online Gaming" | From Wikipedia and BlackJackHero.com -Root was the creator, executive producer and co-host of King of Vegas on Spike TV. First airing in January, 2006, King of Vegas was a gambling competition where players competed in a variety of different games to win a million dollars. -Root has been married to a former Miss Oklahoma, Debra Root, for over 16 years. The couple have four children. -Root is also the author of several books, including The Zen of Gambling, and "The King of Vegas' Guide to Gambling" | C |
| 1A. Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion | From Root's website "I believe abortion is a matter of personal choice and not intended for federal government intervention. It is a States' Rights issue. Let's get the federal government out of a woman's right to choose what to do with their own body- this will prevent the death of innocent women at the hands of butchers in back-alleys. BUT I also support common sense limitations on abortion." | D | |
| 1B. Pro-Traditional Marriage | From Root's website -"I support gay rights and civil unions. Gay marriage however is not a federal issue. It is a States' Rights issue only." -Root derides the Republican party for making "the banning of gay marriage a top priority." | F | |
| 2. Defending Our Country | From Root's website -"Support our troops with the best weapons, protective body and vehicle armor." -"Let's keep our military and national defense strong. One way to ensure this is to dramatically reduce foreign aid (especially to our enemies) and foreign military bases across the globe." | From Wikipedia -Although a longtime staunch Republican who had been a big contributor to Republican candidates throughout the country, Root has never held political office. (Therefore he doesn't have much of a record if any, on the issues to the left.) -"I'm certainly not the usual Presidential candidate as a small businessman and son of a butcher... I will govern with common sense, not fancy college degrees. I have no interest in running government, or growing government. My only goal is cutting government. I will lead America back to prosperity by restoring fiscal discipline, personal responsibility, rugged individualism, and individual rights and freedoms. Just as our Founding Fathers intended." | B |
| 2A. Defeating Terrorists | From Root's website -"Use the success of the surge to declare victory and make plans to get out of Iraq as soon as reasonably possible." -"The first line of defense against terrorism is the armed American" -"It is time to admit that while there is a "war on terror," the war in Iraq had (and has) little do with it...It's time to admit that the war in Iraq has fostered terrorism." | D | |
| 2B. Protecting Our Borders | From Root's website -"We must first secure our borders to control the entry into our country of foreigners who pose a threat to the security, health, property or economic well-being of Americans. We must secure our borders before we can deal with the issue of how to deal with illegal immigrants already in our country." -"I oppose public funding and entitlements for illegal aliens. But I support providing a "Path to Citizenship" for 12 to 15 million illegal immigrants already here." | C | |
| 3. Free Market Economic Policy | TV Interview posted on Root's website -"It's not greedy to want to keep your own money. It's greedy to want to take others' money. Even if you say it is to give to other people, it's still stealing." -"I support a Free Market health care system- Let's get the federal government out of the health care business and leave it up to individuals." | Root has no public record. See above. | A |
| 3A. Lower Taxes | From Root's website -"I pledge that if elected, my first act is to give the power back to the people. It's your tax money, it's your government. I plan to return it to you!" -"Low taxes and a booming economy that creates unlimited opportunities for upward mobility and wealth. But raise tax rates and the window of opportunity shuts closed on millions of ambitious, courageous, entrepreneurial risk-takers." | A | |
| 3B. Smaller Government | From Root's website -"I support restoring the constitution, getting the federal government out of our lives, and solving problems at the most local level possible." -"I support cutting, shrinking and/or streamlining entire departments of the federal government- departments that based on the Constitution are not under federal jurisdiction." | A |
After reading Root's position on fiscal issues, I thought I might have a viable alternative to the Republican party, where I have traditionally voted. But Root's position on social issues, such as strengthening the family (or lack thereof), ruined his chances with me. Roots position on national defense was also weaker than I would like to see. Overall, he earns a 2.33 grade point average. Surprisingly, this is a score just lower than John McCain. McCain scored higher on family and defense issues; Root scored higher on economic issues.
So it looks like my search for a presidential candidate who can win my support based on my presidential selection criteria will have to continue.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
How Race and Income Affect Cancer Survival: They Don't
I would like to go back to my previous post about Lance Armstrong and analyze what he said about cancer survival rates being related to race and income. Armstrong said that if someone in Harlem came down with cancer, because of "the color of their skin, where they live and the choice they've made" in life, their chances of survival are much lower. He went on to say that is a "moral and ethical failure of the United States."
Inasmuch as we move away from religious morals, our country does fail in many respects. But the US is one of the most moral and ethical countries on the planet. Transparency International rates the US as one of the least corrupt countries in the world.
But what about race and income affecting cancer survival rates. I wondered if I could find any data to back this claim, particularly the implication that poor black people are more likely to get inferior health care and thus more likely to die than their rich white counterparts. What I found was that there do appear to be differences in cancer survival rate based on race and income level, but it would be a stretch to say that this is due to the failures of a morally and ethically corrupt country.
According to the National Cancer Institute, Blacks are more likely than Whites to get cancer and Blacks are more likely than Whites to die of cancer. Black males have a cancer incident rate about 20% higher than White males, while Black and White women's cancer incident rates are roughly equal. Black of either gender are about 10% more likely to die of cancer than their White counterparts. Why Blacks have a lower survival rate is inconclusive, but why Blacks have a higher likelihood of contracting cancer appears to be genetic (or you could say God is a racist, which is an accusation that probably wouldn't be past some people).
Medical News Today confirms that race, as a genetic factor, does appear to greatly influence cancer contraction and treatment. They report that, "Japanese American men respond better to hormonal treatment for prostate cancer and have a much higher survival rate than white American men, according to research published in the latest issue of the UK-based urology journal BJU International."
As you can see, from 1988 to 1997, cancer survival rates improved for all six racial groups. The National Cancer Institute says that, "differences in access to and utilization of effective cancer screening and treatment services by race or ethnicity might explain some of our findings" but this research did not study such factors, so it would be inappropriate to make that conclusion. The study did find, though, that there was a direct correlation between breast cancer survival and having a mammogram screening every two years. And the 2-year mammography screening rate for different ethnic group directly paralleled the cancer survival rates. Meaning, White women are more likely than Black women to get mammograms and Black women are more likely than Native Americans to get mammograms. White women are in turn, more likely than Black women to survive cancer and Black women are more likely than Native Americans to survive. And seeing how all communities offer free cancer screenings, these survival rates then become more of a factor of individual choice or, perhaps, education.
Notice the group with the highest improvement in cancer survival are Black males. And overall, Blacks have a higher cancer survival rate than Native Americans and Asian Americans.
The statistics above discuss how race or ethnicity affect cancer detection, treatment and survival, but income level is not factored. The American Society for Clinical Oncology in their Journal of Clinical Oncology in 1999 published a study, though, that does discuss how income affects cancer detection and treatment. This study found that higher income brackets in both the United States and Canada (where they have socialized medicine) had higher cancer survival rate. Again, the evidence shows that this is caused, not by a prejudice nation withholding the best treatment from poor people, but a factor of education, screening and racial genetics.
The really interesting thing about this study, though, is that is shows how socialized medicine lowers the quality of health care, rather than raising it. If you notice in the graph below, in Canada survival rates cluster toward the bottom, with only the very rich having a significantly higher cancer survival rate. Whereas in the United States, survival rates cluster toward the top, with only the very poor having a significantly lower cancer survival rate.
In the chart above, the solid line represents the richest fifth and the broadest dashed line represents the poorest fifth of people.
So while Blacks do have a cancer survival rate lower than Whites, Blacks survival rate higher than many other racial groups in the US. And while the survival rates are different by racial groups, genetics and education are much more of a factor than race alone. The only way one can come to the conclusion that Blacks have a lower cancer survival rate due to moral and ethical failures of our country is to 1) ignore the facts above, and 2) have an underlying belief that America is a morally and ethically corrupt country. I choose not to ignore the facts above and I have an underlying belief that America is a morally and ethically good country. I wish Lance Armstrong would do the same.
