THE FOUNDATION
“We lay it down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, must give a reciprocation of right; that, without this, they are mere arbitrary rules of conduct, founded in force, and not in conscience” —Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the state of Virginia, 1782
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
Five families came to Capitol Hill Tuesday to tell lawmakers how the nation’s immigration policies led to the death of their loved ones, and the Left can only play a political game. The father of Kathryn Steinle, the woman who was murdered in July by a five-time deported illegal immigrant, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with four other families. “Everywhere Kate went throughout the world, she shined the light of a good citizen from the United States of America,” Jim Steinle said in his written statement. “Unfortunately, due to the unjointed [sic] laws and basic incompetence of the government, the US has suffered a self-inflicted wound in the murder of our daughter by the hands of a person that should have never been on the streets of this country.” The hearing coincided with a bill the committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley,introduced that would strip state or local jurisdictions of federal law enforcement grants if they continue sanctuary city policies. Furthermore, the law would require a minimum five-year jail sentence for any illegal immigrant who was previously deported but still returned. But the Left is rallying against the effort to fix the problem. “Good policies are made over time,” wrote a coalition of leftist immigration groups to Congress. Ranking member on the Judiciary Committee Sen. Patrick Leahy rebutted the families' testimonies by writing, “We must resist the urge to hastily adopt legislation that has the unintended consequence of making us less safe.” In other words, collateral damage is okay in the pursuit of Obama’s immigration vision.
In the wake of another episode of Planned Parenthood’s evil and twisted ways, here are a few more things to consider. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards responded to the first video with an “apology” that spent a few seconds lamenting the “tone” of the abortionist and more than two minutes lauding the abortion mill’s supposed virtue and slamming opponents for objecting in any way. The second video opened with one of her claims: “I want to be really clear: The allegation that Planned Parenthood profits in any way from tissue donation is not true.” That’s especially powerful since the entire second video is about the organization profiting from “tissue donation.” As for the second video, Planned Parenthood continues to insist that nothing in the “heavily edited” videos contain nothing “to suggest any violation of the law or improper activity.”
The Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes eviscerated Planned Parenthood and its defenders: “Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about the extraction of infants, many of whom could live outside of the womb were this not done to them — the taking of their body parts and then selling them for profit. This is not morally ambiguous. This isn’t one of those discussions where there are two sides to the discussion. What we’re talking about is wrong. It’s morally reprehensible. I mean, I thought on the scale of things in the world that are morally reprehensible, infanticide is just about the worst. This is worse! It’s infanticide for profit!”
Politicians who receive donations from Planned Parenthood should be made to answer for its practices, as should the numerous businesses that donate to the organization. Republicans in Congress are working to strip more than $500 million in federal funding from Planned Parenthood — as well they should. Even aside from constitutional questions, such a morally bankrupt organization should have no claim to Americans' tax dollars.
In 2007, 4.6 million Americans possessed a permit to carry a handgun. Now, eight years later, that number is 12.8 million Americans, or 5.2% of the population, according to a study by the Crime Prevention Research Center. And contrary to the stereotype leftists hold of gun owners — that they’re white males bitterly clinging to guns and religion — the body of armed citizens is growing more and more diverse. CPRC reports that there is evidence gun ownership is growing among minorities at a greater rate than among whites. Furthermore, gun ownership among women increased 270% from 2007 levels opposed to the 156% rate for men. While these numbers are heartening for lovers of Liberty and advocates for the right to self-defense, they are also probably low. After all, CPRC notes that there are 10 states in the union that allow some kind of permitless handgun carry (with Maine most recently joining those ranks). And there are signs that these gun owners aren’t just exercising their hunting and fishing rights. At the SHOT Show in January, the National Shooting Sports Foundation released a study that found the number one reason women get a gun is for self-defense — all inconvenient truths for those who want to impose more gun control.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
By Nate Jackson
Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced his bid for the GOP presidential nomination Tuesday, becoming the 16th — and likely final — major candidate in the 2016 race. Can the 63-year-old two-term governor gain traction?
Kasich brings to the race more experience both in Washington and in executive leadership than many of his competitors. He served as a congressman from 1983-2001, chairing the House Budget Committee when Congress last managed a balanced budget in the ‘90s. After a stint as a Fox News host and investment banker, he took the helm in Ohio in 2011, steering its economic and fiscal revival — an $8 billion deficit became a $2 billion surplus. He’s worked to cut the income tax across the board (from 6.2% to 4.9%), and he wants to phase it out altogether. He eliminated the death tax.
Under Kasich’s leadership, Ohio’s 2.1% economic growth outpaced all other Great Lakes states, and the state’s unemployment rate fell from 9.1% to 5.2%. Earlier this month, Kasich explained his basic plan for economic recovery at the national level: “What I’m going to focus on is the business investment. This is the single biggest thing, in my judgment, that would help us to overcome wage stagnation.”
Unfortunately, Kasich’s conservatism isn’t always thorough or consistent. For example, he’s a proponent of Barack Obama’s Common Core standards that many conservatives see as a federal intrusion into education. He also largely offset his tax cuts with tax hikes in other areas, including raising the state sales tax from 5.75% to 6.25%.
But perhaps his most troubling move was that he circumvented the Buckeye State’s Republican-controlled legislature to expand Medicaid in Ohio as part of ObamaCare. He did so after the legislature rejected the expansion, and after he ran for election in 2010 as an ObamaCare opponent.
“Medicaid’s quality of care, access to physicians and outcomes continue to decline,” notes The Wall Street Journal. “Meanwhile, Medicaid spending will consume 49% of Ohio general revenue funds in 2016, 51% in 2017.”
Of his expansion, Kasich took on a decidedly “compassionate conservative” tone, telling his “hard-hearted” critics, “When you die and get to the meeting with St. Peter, he’s probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor.”
Democrats are the ones who want to turn Jesus into a socialist, claiming His instruction to care for the poor applies to government as opposed to Christians. It’s sorely disappointing to see a Republican parroting that statist thinking.
Kasich doesn’t personally practice what he preaches, either. In 2008, the most recent tax return Kasich has released publicly, he made charitable contributions of $27,326. That sounds generous, but it’s less than 2% of his $1.4 million income and a fair bit below average for his income group.
Moreover, Kasich has made other excuses for the Medicaid expansion — from states’ rights to Medicaid being totally separate from ObamaCare (it’s not). The Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein has a good breakdown of each excuse and why they fail to hold up.
Kasich’s biggest strength might be the state from which he hails and where the GOP convention will occur. Ohio is, of course, a critical swing state, and Kasich won re-election in 2014 with 86 of 88 counties and 64% of the vote. Then again, he defeated a particularly weak and scandal-ridden Democrat candidate, and his campaign team features some of the same guys that brought us Jon Huntsman’s bash-the-GOP message in 2012.
As for his reportedly fiery temperament, Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown writes, “If you talk to Ohioans — and Ohio is my home state, so I do — you’ll find that most people don’t really likeKasich, not even Republicans. They might like his stance on spending, or taxes, or abortion, but Kasich himself? Arrogant. Condescending. Manipulative.”
We in our humble shop are looking forward to getting those characteristics out of the White House.
In the end, Kasich doesn’t bring anything attractive to the table that other candidates don’t have, and he brings some negatives that make a victory unlikely. He’s a long shot, and deservedly so.
TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
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OPINION IN BRIEF
L. Brent Bozell & Tim Graham: “Back in March, the pundits expressed horror at the alleged extremism of the Conservative Political Action Conference. … On PBS, ‘conservative’ pundit David Brooks said, ‘There’s conservatives … and then way over on the other side of the room is CPAC … this is like the hardest of the hardcore.’ But when the hardest of the hardcore left met in Phoenix for Netroots Nation, the networks didn’t see a problem, when socialist Bernie Sanders actually gets bum-rushed off the stage early for not being leftist enough. ABC, CBS and NBC couldn’t locate that story. … The lesson? Never let the media decide for you where the center is and where the fringes are. They can’t find them with both hands.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.” —Mark Twain
Spot on: “It’s frustrating to watch [the rise of the Islamic State]. I go back to the work we did in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and we got [Iraq] to a place that was really good. Violence was low, the economy was growing, politics looked like it was heading in the right direction. … If we had stayed a little more engaged, I think maybe it might have been prevented. I’ve always believed the United States played the role of honest broker between all the groups and when we pulled ourselves out we lost that role. … I think it would have been good for us to stay.” —retiring Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno
The BIG Lie: “We’re pursuing a new kind of leadership — a smarter, broader vision of American strength, one that relies not only on our outstanding military, but on all elements of our national power. And that starts with the recognition that our strength in the world depends on our economic strength here at home.” —Barack Obama, who has done more to undermine both our military and economy than any other president
Iran deal not winning all Democrats: “How’s the verification going to work? How can we be assured that Iran sticks to what they’ve agreed to? How are the sanctions going to snap back into place if they don’t?” —Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Repent, for the end is near: “We conclude that continued high emissions will make multi-meter sea level rise practically unavoidable and likely to occur this century. Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization.” —former NASA climate alarmist James Hansen
“Robot in NY passes ‘self-awareness’ test. You know what’s next: Obama’s teleprompter and auto-pen will demand the right to marry.” —Fred Thompson
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis!
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families.
