THE FOUNDATION
“[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.” —Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
It took Barack Obama just 12 hours to classify the senseless killings in Charleston as a “gun problem,” exploiting the blood of innocents as political fodder to advance his gun control agenda. In a press conference Thursday, Obama asserted, “At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.” Unless you count all the “mass violence … in other advanced countries” like the recent Charlie Hebdo attack in France, where eleven were murdered. Oh wait, the Paris hate crime was perpetrated by Islamists — Obama doesn’t count those (see Ft. Hood attack). But it was a nice sound bite. Moreover, other countries have not deliberately institutionalized urban poverty plantations, which have become mass breeding grounds for such violence. That is the inconvenient truth Obama will never mention. Alveda King, NAACP member, Christian civil rights activist and niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., acutely observes, “To politicize this by calling for gun control — we already know that gun control is not going to stop the violence. Only a change of heart is going to do that.”
The Supreme Court could issue a ruling as early as Monday in King v. Burwell, the case regarding whether the federal government overstepped its authority in paying out subsidies to those purchasing health insurance on the federal ObamaCare exchange. The GOP has been preparing for this moment for awhile now. If the Court strikes down the subsidies, a legislative fix will be needed, and proposals have been coming in from all sides of the conservative spectrum. Sen. Ron Johnson proposed extending the subsidies to 2017, as a Republican administration may occupy the White House then. The Heritage Foundation suggested repealing the subsidies. And Rep. Paul Gosar unveiled his Premium Reduction and Insurance Market Reform Act, a bill that would end subsidies and also end regulations like the age rating restriction. Now it is up to the Republican leadership in Congress to plot a policy and strategy to enact a conservative reform to ObamaCare. Chief Executive for Heritage Action for America Michael Needham said, “A continuation of illegal subsidies will simply cover up the law’s costs while giving the impression Republicans believe subsidies are necessary for Americans to afford health insurance.” But that option is tempting GOP leadership, as Barack Obama and the Left will make a King v. Burwell fallout politically fraught.
Texas no longer trusts our nation’s central bank to safely store its gold in New York City. For years, the Lone Star State has kept its $1 billion in gold in the hands of the Federal Reserve Bank, which has safeguarded the bullion of the U.S. government, foreign governments and other major organizations. But now, the state is setting up its own bullion depository and will soon withdraw its gold from Fed control. “Today I signed HB 483 to provide a secure facility for the State of Texas, state agencies and Texas citizens to store gold bullion and other precious metals,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement June 12. “With the passage of this bill, the Texas Bullion Depository will become the first state-level facility of its kind in the nation, increasing the security and stability of our gold reserves and keeping taxpayer funds from leaving Texas to pay for fees to store gold in facilities outside our state.” The move could be as simple as Texas stepping up and taking responsibility for its own assets, as well as providing a place for Texas citizens to store gold. Or, as CBS notes, it could be a step toward establishing a currency if Texas were to secede from the union. Regardless, it’s a Texas two-step toward greater autonomy.
FATHER’S DAY
Sunday is Father’s Day, a fitting day to consider four contexts for “father” — God the Father, our own earthly fathers, the role of men as father to their children, and the legacy of our forefathers. They combine to create a rich and abiding sense of what fatherhood means, as well as what it should look and feel like in heart and practice.
But for tens of millions of Americans from broken homes, the consequences of failed fatherhood are the enormous obstacles their children must endeavor to overcome in relationships with their Creator, with their own spouses and children, and in their ability to honor their forefathers' legacy.
Patriot fathers, if you want to extend the Legacy of Liberty to the next generation, there is no better place to start than in your own home.
In the words of the Father of our Nation, George Washington, “May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.” (1790)
For more, read Mark Alexander’s essay, Fathers and Freedom: Irrevocably Linked.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
By Lewis Morris
Pope Francis released his much-discussed 184-page papal encyclical on climate change Thursday and the Leftmedia have already distilled the message down to a one sentence quote: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
Liberals embrace the Pope, or any aspect of religion in general for that matter, when it suits them. The rhetoric surrounding this encyclical is no different.
An encyclical, for those of us who are not Catholic, is an open letter written by a pope. They are not considered infallible. Think of it as an opinion piece written by the pope.
The document, entitled “Laudato Si” (Praise Be to You), states, “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”
Francis blames the problem on consumerism, corporate greed, overreliance on technology and the poisonous political atmosphere in and among many nations. He called for a radial change in how people conduct their political and economic affairs and suggested that the time has come for each of us to alter our individual lifestyles in response to climate issues.
The encyclical was leaked earlier this week by the Italian magazine L'Espresso, which set off half-baked opinions and speculation about what the document was going to say, with liberals pre-embracing Francis' message and conservatives expressing concern about the injection of the Vatican into a debate that is far from settled, despite what environmentalists would have us believe.
It is interesting how liberals, who have always rejected religion in favor of worship of the state, have embraced Francis since his ascension in Rome. Francis, who comes from Argentina, is the first pope from the developing world, and, coming from a poor nation as he does, his worldview is shaped accordingly. He has frequently spoken on issues of poverty and inequality, often excoriating capitalism and calling on Western democracies to do more for the world’s poor.
This message of taking from the rich and giving to the poor combined with his latest writings on climate change fall right into line with the liberal narrative, and they have fallen over themselves to praise the pope’s latest message.
Of course, the liberal media has been quite selective in its adoration for Francis, choosing to promote his words that match their ideology, but somehow failing to report on other parts of the pope’s message that don’t swing with the liberal dogma.
Here are a few excerpts from “Laudato Si” that are unlikely to make the front page of the major daily newspapers:
- “A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable.”
- “When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously.”
- “Concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion … It is troubling that, when some ecological movements defend the integrity of the environment, rightly demanding that certain limits be imposed on scientific research, they sometimes fail to apply those same principles to human life.”
- “Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work.”
While the document does reveal a more considered and practical view of the Catholic Church’s stand on environmental and cultural issues than the media would have us believe, there is still cause for concern as to the sources Francis has chosen for his own climate change education.
The pope has relied on some less than reputable sources for his encyclical. Jeffrey Sachs, an economist with a lifelong adoration of socialist policies, has been a vocal supporter of abortion and just the kind of redistributive activities that make him a darling of the Left. The Vatican invited him to speak at its conference on climate change.
Another “gem” the Vatican has listened to is Hans Joachim Schellnhuber. Schellnhuber, director of Germany’s Potsdam Institute and the WBGU, a German climate change advisory council, authored the two-degree-trigger, which stated that a two-degree-Centigrade average rise in global surface temperature was the point of no return in terms of climate change. He claimed that we would reach this point by 2020. Of course, the 18-year lull in rising temperatures forced Schellnhuber to revise his doomsday date to 2030.
Whether or not Francis chooses to surround himself with real scientists or enviro-Nazis is his choice, but has the pope stirred a storm by injecting the Catholic Church into the environmental debate?
The Catholic Church has always been part of the political debate in Europe and around the world. Hundreds of years ago, Church decisions drove politics and individual nations followed its lead. Today it’s a different story, though. Christianity is facing a withering ideological attack in the U.S. and Western Europe by secularists who preach the primacy of the state or the individual above God. Except when it suits them, like with “Laudato Si.”
It could be that Pope Francis is not the liberal activist the Left wishes him to be. He still holds dear many tenets of the Church that rankle liberal ideologues, such as his beliefs onheterosexual parents and abortion. And even if Francis chooses to embrace the radical liberal environmental agenda, there will always be room for a loyal opposition within the Catholic Church.
TODAY AT PATRIOTPOST.US
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
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OPINION IN BRIEF
Mona Charen: “They’re coming for our money. OK, that’s nothing new, but this time, the Obama administration is coming for our $10 bills — the notes graced by the image of Alexander Hamilton. True to the identity politics of the Democratic Party, the Obama Treasury Department has announced that some worthy female will replace Hamilton on the currency. The sheer arrogance, ignorance and stupidity of this move are difficult to capture in one column. Let’s start with stupidity. If there’s one figure whose face arguably does not deserve to adorn the currency, it’s the man on the $20 bill, not the $10. That is Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, adamant opponent of paper currency (!), friend of slave power and scourge of Native Americans. … Here’s the solution: Upgrade the security features on the $10, but keep Hamilton in his spot. Dump Jackson from the $20 and hold an essay competition among American high school seniors for his replacement. It would be a great exercise in the appreciation of excellence. Both sexes may be nominated. … [B]y announcing in advance that you’re choosing a woman, you’ve guaranteed that the honor will be downgraded to the ‘best woman’ rather than the best candidate. In short, you’d be echoing the Hillary Clinton campaign.”
SHORT CUTS
Insight: “To enjoy freedom, if the platitude is pardonable, we have of course to control ourselves. We must not squander our powers, helplessly and ignorantly,
squirting half the house in order to water a single rose-bush; we must train them, exactly and powerfully, here on the very spot.” —English writer Virginia Woolf
(1882-1941)
Upright: “Clinton, if she wins, would be the first former secretary of state to be elected since James Buchanan — not an encouraging precedent. Reporters who have been demanding Bush and other Republicans say how they would have acted in 2003 may want to ask Clinton about how she actually did act between 2009 and 2013 — and what she would do going forward.” —Michael Barone
Demo-gogues: “I do not know how much longer we can thwart the views of the American public on taking reasonable gun safety measures.” —Harry Reid
Non Compos Mentis: “I call on all media to use terms ‘white racist’ + ‘terrorist’ with same force & ease that we would use terms ‘Muslim’ + ‘terrorist.’” —tweet by Van Jones
Village Idiots: “The ideology of racism promoted by … @FoxNews and Co. breeds the terrorists who commit #CharlestonShooting.” —tweet by University of Maryland professor Faheem Younus
Freudian slip? “We should be reforming our criminal justice system in such a way that we are not incarcerating non-violent offenders in ways that renders them incapable of getting a job after they leave office.” —Barack Obama
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.
