December 28, 2012


Marc A. Thiessen
Marc A. Thiessen
Opinion Writer

Why not let taxes rise on the middle class?

By , Friday, December 28, 11:05 AM

Barring a last-minute breakthrough, taxes will go up for every American taxpayer on Jan. 1 — and that’s a development conservatives should welcome.
Don’t get me wrong, it would be better not to raise taxes on anyone, pursue pro-growth tax reform and cut the size of government instead. But that’s not what the American people voted to do last month. Americans cast their ballots for big government.
Now it’s time to pay for it.
Until now, the growth of government under President Obama has not hit the pocketbooks of most Americans. During Obama’s first term, federal spending grew to more than 24 percent of GDP — the highest it has been since 1946. Yet almost no one in the country (except smokers and those who frequent indoor tanning salons) saw their taxes rise. Quite the opposite: 160 million Americans saw their payroll taxes reduced from 6.2 to 4.2 percent.
How can we expect people to care about the growth of government if it doesn’t cost them anything?
Instead of paying for the current miasma of spending, we’ve been borrowing the money from our children and grandchildren. The national debt has grown by nearly $6 trillion in the four years since Obama took office. That generational theft cannot continue. We must not keep financing big government by passing the bills on to the next generation. Ideally, we would stop the spending binge and live within our means. But if the nation is not up to that, then we should all pitch in and pay for it — all of us.
Sorry, taxing the rich won’t solve our problems — that’s nothing but fiscal snake oil the president has been selling. He is demanding $1.3 trillion in higher taxes on the wealthy over 10 years. Imagine he got it. We are adding nearly that much to the national debt every single year. Taxing the rich would not put even a minor dent in our debt. It would pay for less than three weeks of federal spending every year. The only way to pay for the current expansion of government is to raise taxes on the middle class.
So let’s do it. Let’s all of us experience the true cost of big government in the form of a bigger tax bill.
It might well be that the biggest mistake Republicans made during Obama’s first term was forcing the president to extend the Bush tax cuts. At the time, it seemed like a major victory by the newly elected GOP House. But in truth, it was a victory for Obama. Extending the tax cuts shielded the economy from the full brunt of Obama’s economic failures and allowed him to put off job-killing tax increases till his second term. It’s ironic. Obama never passed up an opportunity to blame President Bush for his economic woes, yet he rode the Bush tax cuts to reelection.
Extending the tax cuts also shielded Americans from the costs of Obama’s spending spree. Shopping on a credit card is fun until the bill comes due. But if the bill never arrives, what incentive do people have to stop the spending?
Big government is great if you don’t have to pay for it. Well, now it’s time to pay the bill. Maybe when the costs of the stimulus, Obamacare and exploding entitlements are finally deducted from their paychecks, Americans will rediscover the virtue of smaller government. If they don’t like paying higher taxes to allow for more spending, there’s a simple solution: Demand that politicians in Washington cut taxes and spending instead of expanding them. And if they won’t do it, elect men and women who will.
Until then, Republicans need to stop protecting Americans from the consequences of their decisions to elect profligate politicians.
Marc A. Thiessen, a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, writes a weekly online column for The Post.

December 26, 2012

I studied Alexis de Tocqueville for a year and a half. I have read everything he has written. He was a fascinating person. For a French guy he understood what it takes to be an American. More than most Americans. 





WHAT SORT OF TYRANNY WILL AMERICANS CHOOSE?

Dr. Michael Ledeen is the Freedom Scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an internationally renowned scholar, whose ideas and insights on  […]
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Alexis de Tocqueville, the nineteenth-century French aristocrat whose Democracy in America remains the finest analysis of our politics and society, put it succinctly and thoroughly:  “The nature of despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, but minute and meddling.”

Not, than, a tyranny of the Stalin or Hitler variety. Not a society ruthlessly dominated by secret police and a charismatic dictator. Instead, American democracy is menaced by something far more subtle, a minutely-regulated society that is endorsed by a citizenry that willingly chooses to be oppressed.

Tocqueville’s nightmare vision, written in the early 1830s foresees “an immense and tutelary power,” and its task is to watch over us all, and regulate every aspect of our lives.

We will not be bludgeoned into submission; we will be seduced. He foresees the collapse of American democracy as the end result of two parallel developments that ultimately render us meekly subservient to an enlarged bureaucratic power: the corruption of our character, and the emergence of a vast welfare state that manages all the details of our lives.
Ledeen: What Sort of Tyranny Will Americans Choose?
Painting of French Political Thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, by Theodore Chasseriau (1850)
That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks on the contrary to keep them in perpetual childhood. It is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property…what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?

The metaphor of a parent maintaining perpetual control over his child is the language of contemporary American politics, and hardly a day goes by without evidence of the state’s growing authority and ambition. Two recent stories would produce a sad nod from Tocqueville:
The  ”immense tutelary power” is very hard to fight, precisely because there is no single battle to wage against it. It spreads slowly, and is justified by appeals to our grievances, our desire for comfort and security.
The hell of it is that we choose this new kind of tyranny, and all too often we ratify it, as in the presidential elections. Others have done the same. Clare Lopez reminds us that people do indeed choose despotism. She cites the Iranians’ enthusiastic endorsement of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and 1980, and we can see the same voluntary subjection of millions of people at work today in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and even Jordan, and in the last century even two of the most culturally advanced countries in the West–think Italy and Germany–chose tyranny, and supported it until defeated in a world war. It’s easier to see the pattern in those countries, because hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets, and the leaders openly proclaim their dictatorial intents. But the same process is at work here, albeit in a much different context, and our chances of defeating the would-be oppressors are much better.

Our best chance is to challenge the advance of the power of the federal government at the state level, where the Republican Party holds thirty governorships. As federal power advances regulation by regulation, the states can challenge it. This is taking place today in the states refusing to create Obamacare “exchanges,” and we’ve seen advances in freedom in states like Wisconsin and Michigan, where unions’ efforts to impose their will on workers were defeated. Similar campaigns need to be waged against the “official culture” of political correctness;  if open debate is silenced by speech codes, we will eventually be unable to define the central issues of freedom and tyranny.
Finally, all of us who participate in the fractious debates that define American politics–now as ever–need to challenge the expansion of state power whenever and wherever we can. Eric Holder’s quiet approval of the NCTC’s ability to monitor the behavior of millions of Americans would have gone unnoticed if two women in Homeland Security hadn’t challenged it, and their stories weren’t reported by the Wall Street Journal. Now we know. And now we can challenge it.

It’s going to be a very tough fight.


December 24, 2012

In U.S., 77% Identify as Christian

Eighteen percent have no explicit religious identity

by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ -- The large majority of Americans -- 77% of the adult population -- identify with a Christian religion, including 52% who are Protestants or some other non-Catholic Christian religion, 23% who are Catholic, and 2% who affiliate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another 18% of Americans do not have an explicit religious identity and 5% identify with a non-Christian religion.
Religious Preference in the United States, 2011 vs. 2012
This breakdown is essentially the same as it was in 2011. Compared with last year, Protestant and Catholic identification dropped.
The 2012 findings on the breakdown of religious identification in the American population are based on more than 326,000 Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted between Jan. 2 and Nov. 30.
Mormons Most Religious of Any Faith
Mormons are by far the most religious of any group in this analysis, based on self-reported importance of religion and religious service attendance, followed by Protestants/other non-Catholic Christians and Muslims. Catholics are slightly less likely than these groups to say religion is important in their daily life and that they attend religious services frequently. Those who identify with a non-Christian religion other than Judaism or Islam are less religious still. And Jews are the least religious group measured.
Is religion important in your daily life? January-November 2012 results
How often do you attend religious services? January-November 2012 results
Bottom Line
The United States remains a largely Christian nation; more than nine in 10 Americans who have a religious identity are affiliated with a Christian religion. There has been little change in this portrait of religious identity in the U.S. from last year.
Mormons remain the most religious group of those measured, while Jews are the least. Protestants and Muslims continue to be slightly more religious than Catholics.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking Jan. 2-Nov. 30, 2012, with a random sample of 326,271 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±1 percentage point.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cellphone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cellphone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cellphone only/landline only/both, cellphone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2011 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.

December 25, 2012

Authorities investigating NBC's David Gregory for gun law violation

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Washington D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier confirmed that the department is looking into allegations that NBC's David Gregory violated D.C.'s gun laws when he waved a 30-roundmagazine on Sunday's "Meet the Press,"Breitbart reported Tuesday.
"Yes, we are investigating the incident to determine if the magazine was in fact real," Chief Lanier told Breitbart.
According to D.C. law, any magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition is considered a "large capacity" magazine and is illegal in the district.
Since "Meet the Press" is taped in Washington, D.C., Gregory appears to have violated D.C. official code 7-2506.01.
"No person in the District shall possess, sell, or transfer any large capacity ammunition feeding device regardless of whether the device is attached to a firearm. For the purposes of this subsection, the term large capacity ammunition feeding device means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition," the code reads.
Those violating the law can be sentenced to a "maximum fine of $1000 and/or up to a year imprisonment," the code says.
In addition to possibly violating the law, Gregory exhibited a bit of hypocrisy when he scoffed at the idea of placing armed police at America's schools.
"But," Daniel Halper wrote at the Weekly Standard, "the NBC host seems to have no problem with armed guards protecting his kids everyday where they attend school in Washington, D.C."
The implication is clear: Freedom and security for me, but not for thee.
Since the tragic Newtown shootings, propagandists in the Democrat-media complex have engaged in an all-out campaign to persuade Americans that the Second Amendment is no longer necessary. The result is another political battle pitting liberals and the media against freedom-loving Americans and the Constitution.










Meet The Press David Gregory Violates DC Gun Law On National TV (Sign Petition 

December 24, 2012




Deport British Citizen Piers Morgan for Attacking 2nd Amendment

British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens.
Created: Dec 21, 2012

I want to get 500,000 signatures to have more signatures than Piers Morgan has viewers on CNN.





FLASHBACK: CLINTON REQUESTS $60 MILLION TO PUT COPS IN SCHOOLS

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by JOHN NOLTE 21 Dec 2012 212POST A COMMENT

Today, the same elite media who no doubt send their own kids to private schools that employ armed security, just can't stop howling ridicule at the NRA's idea to give every student in America those same protections. Because the NRA's idea is so appealing, as I write this, the media's going overboard, mocking it as bizarre, crazy, and out of touch.

This is how the media works to silence and vilify the opposition and to ensure that only their ideas control The Narrative. The media doesn't care about securing our schools; they only care about coming after our guns and handing Obama another political win.
The media also doesn’t care how wildly hypocritical they look.
In their zeal to rampage this left-wing agenda, the media has apparently forgotten that back in 2000, on the one-year anniversary of the Columbine shooting (which occurred with an assault weapons ban in place), President Clinton requested $60 million in federal money to fund a fifth round of funding for a program called "COPS in School," a program that does exactly what the NRA is proposing and the media is currently in overdrive mocking:

Clinton also unveiled the $60-million fifth round of funding for "COPS in School," a Justice Department program that helps pay the costs of placing police officers in schools to help make them safer for students and teachers. The money will be used to provide 452 officers in schools in more than 220 communities.
"Already, it has placed 2,200 officers in more than 1,000 communities across our nation, where they are heightening school safety as well as coaching sports and acting as mentors and mediators for kids in need," Clinton said.
The media is not only so driven to ensure Sandy Hook is used to win this round on gun control that they've become morally blinded to what really needs to be done to immediately secure our schools; they've lost their grip historically and politically.
Think about it: The media is entering a new year attempting to convince parents that their children will be less safe with a policeman in their school.
Off the rails doesn’t even begin to describe it.

December 23, 2012

We already have over 28k on "We the People" White House Petition site requesting Piers Morgan be deported after he ranting and raving about Americans 2nd Amendment rights.


Wall Street Journal columnist explains on Twitter how to deport Piers Morgan

1:50 AM 12/23/2012
Patrick Howley
Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto Saturday night joined in the chorus of American voices suggesting that British-born CNN host Piers Morgan could legally be deported from this country for his televised attacks on the Second Amendment, and pointed out the legal precedent that leaves Morgan vulnerable to deportation.
Morgan began the dispute when he complained on Twitter Saturday about a petition on the White House’s “We the People” Web page that asks the government to deport him.
“British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights,” the drafters of the petition wrote in their introductory statement.
The petition has already netted more than 13,000 signatures one day after its launch, putting it well on pace to reach its goal of 25,000. That’s the threshold at which the Obama administration has promised to respond to online petitions submitted on the White House website, provided they reach that number in 30 days.
“Ironic U.S. gun rights campaign to deport me for ‘attacking 2nd Amendment rights’ – is my opinion not protected under 1st Amendment rights?,” Morgan tweeted.
“Your opinion is protected, your presence in the U.S. is not. See Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972),” Taranto replied to Morgan.
Taranto linked to transcripts from a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the U.S. Attorney General’s refusal to allow a foreign journalist into the United States did not violate the First Amendment. The case resulted from Nixon administration attorney general Richard Kleindienst’s refusal to grant a temporary nonimmigrant visa to Marxist Belgian journalist Ernest Mandel.
Taranto’s tweet was praised by Twitter users who would like to send Morgan back to his native land.
“I knew there was a reason I’ve liked you for years,” tweeter Lee Dodson said to Taranto. “Excellent shot across this silly Brit’s bow. Well done.”
Morgan has been using his CNN talk show to blast gun-rights advocates in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut on Dec. 14.
“There are nearly 12,000 murders a year from guns in this country. When are you guys [Second Amendment supporters] going to focus on that and stop telling me the answer is more guns. It is not the answer! How many more kids have to die before you guys say, ‘We want less guns, not more,’” Morgan said on the air December 14. (RELATED BLOG POST: Does Piers Morgan’s bodyguard carry a gun?)
Morgan is the host of CNN’s low-rated talk show “Piers Morgan Tonight,” occupying the slot once held by American citizen Larry King. He was previously the editor of multiple British tabloids, including the News of the World, which ended its run in 2011 amid allegations of phone hacking.
MSNBC host Martin Bashir, another left-leaning British journalist who hosts an American TV show, did not immediately weigh in on Taranto’s tweet.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/23/wall-street-journal-columnist-explains-how-to-deport-piers-morgan/#ixzz2Fw0Od8MR
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