13 August 2004
Federalist Patriot No. 04-32
Friday Digest
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THE FOUNDATION
"We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all maters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it." --George Washington
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THE PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE
The Demo-lition Party's Politics of Disunity...
John Kerry and his cadre of Demo-gogues endeavored mightily to portray themselves as "uniters" at their recent Party confab.
"We are constantly told America is deeply divided," bellowed Bill Clinton on the gala's opening night. "[Republicans] need a divided America. But we don't." Ted Kennedy, who wrote the book on disunity, declared to delegates, "There are those who seek to divide us. ... America needs a genuine uniter -- not a divider. [Republicans] divide and try to conquer. They know the power of the people is weakened when our house is divided." Roberta Achtenberg begged, "Reject Republican efforts to exploit our differences and divide our nation." Marcia Bristo lectured on "the politics of division or of one America." And Hillary Rodham-Clinton-Rodham asserted, "Together we can...transcend our differences and divisions."
For his part, Kerry intoned, "In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists. ... Let's build unity...not angry division. This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, group from group, region from region." To which Kerry's lapdog, John "Two Americas" Edwards, added, "Between now and November -- you can reject the tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past." (Got that, fellow Patriots? "Vote for us," Edwards is saying, "because those Republicans are tired, old, hateful and negative." Clearly, all that hairspray has soaked in too far.)
Of course, any time you see a motley crew of Demos claiming to be uniters, you can be sure it's a ruse, a canard, a fable, a falsehood, a mendacity, a deception, a prevarication, a falsification, a misrepresentation -- a lie.
Despite their considerable effort to feign the spirit of unity, Democrats rely almost completely on the politics of disunity in order to sustain their power. Indeed, the Left's political playbook has only one chapter defining their modus operandi -- "Divide-n-Conquer" -- no wonder their national leadership calls itself the DnC.
Historically, Demos have run their campaigns on two DnC themes -- economic class disparity and socio-cultural victimization -- and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is no exception. Every time the Johns lift their lids, they declare that it's Bush v. poor, Bush v. blacks, Bush v. women, Bush v. children, Bush v. seniors, Bush v. tree-huggers, Bush v. non-Christians, Bush v. homosexuals, Bush v. Americans, and on, and on, ad nauseam...
Often, these Demo "faux-uniters" are able to mix DnC themes for maximum political gain. For example, consider this comment from DnC Chairman Terry McAuliffe this week as he simultaneously plays both the class-warfare and race-bait-victim cards: "Employment opportunities for African-Americans continue a downward slide in the Bush economy. Today's report has African-American unemployment jumping. ... In real terms, this means that an additional 156,000 capable African-American workers have lost their jobs. ... This administration has presided over the worst decline in the African-American labor market in over 25 years."
Translation: Bush v. poor (but capable) hyphenated black folks.
Indeed, Kerry-Edwards and their Demo-ilk are in full swing with their tried-and-true messages of disunity, endeavoring to rally the Demo's aggrieved "victim" and special-interest constituencies, and then conquer Republicans by promising Nanny-State protections and handouts to counter the legitimate conservative solutions of individual responsibility and private-sector hand-ups.
Handouts, it seems, are an easier sell than hand-ups.
The Kerry-Edwards campaign has structured its "ends justify the means" strategy entirely around the theme of discontent. As always, they'll appeal to the legions of lemmings who've been conditioned by generations of pseudo-intellectual "progressives" to believe that they have no responsibility for their own circumstances and that the government will ultimately be their salvation. Do-gooders like FDR and Kennedy created an enormous welfare-state, and today phonies like Kerry and Edwards (modern wealthy elitists who portray themselves as "men of the people") distribute this inheritance of welfare-state co-dependants into special-victim classes united mostly by their hatred and discontent.
The fact is, most Kerry-Edwards supporters fall into one of these Demo-constituency groups, and they're motivated by a hatred for one or more of the following: patriotism, the military, American autonomy, free enterprise, the Constitution, God, Christians, the Pledge of Allegiance, white folks without NAACP cards, gun-owners, school-voucher advocates, home-schoolers, rural folks, the South, independent thinkers (especially conservative blacks), SUV-drivers, heterosexual males, anyone who threatens Leftist eco-theological idolatry, traditional marriage and families, abstinence, unborn children, entrepreneurs, small business owners, large business owners (stockholders), nuclear energy, oil exploration, global warmers, anyone who listens to talk radio, anyone with authority, anyone advocating individual responsibility, anyone who reads The Patriot, et cetera, et cetera ....
Most of all, though, they hate haters -- a "hater" being defined as anyone who dares challenge their Demo-constituency agenda. They are united in their hate for George W. Bush.
Thus, regardless of when the Johns overflow about unity, they've clearly built their house on a foundation of disunity. It's a house whose symbolism seeks out the very worst elements in human nature; a house whose demagogic style far outshines its legitimate substance. Of course, on the Left, symbolism always trumps substance.
Quote of the week...
"After 19 years in the U.S. Senate, my opponent has had thousands of votes, but few signature achievements. In fact, he and his running mate consistently opposed reforms that limit the power of Washington -- reforms that would leave more power in the hands of the people." --President George W. Bush
On cross-examination...
"Ever since the days of George McGovern back in 1972, liberal Democrats have been for cutting back spending on the military and on the intelligence agencies. John Kerry has voted time and again to do both. Now he is among those loudly criticizing the inadequacies of the agencies he voted to weaken. It is not just a question of cutting money to those agencies. Liberals have also voted to hamstring our intelligence agencies by limiting their scope at home and abroad." --Thomas Sowell
Open query...
"In his convention speech, Senator Kerry invited us to judge him by his record, and that seems like a pretty good idea. As he frequently reminds people, he was once a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and what was his record there?" --Vice President Dick Cheney
From the JFK DEMO-lition derby...
John Kerry this week has been painfully and determinedly trying to change the subject. After investing most of his convention capital on his Vietnam military service, he now prefers to talk about anything but exactly what he did during that war. We suppose the Demos believed that, after skating through those two elections with draft-dodger Bill Clinton punching the top of their ticket, Kerry would only have to cover himself (and his anti-war Senate voting record) with references to his four-month tour of duty. This, they must've convinced themselves, would remove all doubts about his leadership in confronting the terrorists. But here's the pesky part where nuances collide: How could Kerry be proud of his service combat medals when he prominently threw them (or replicas or associated ribbons) away in a protest display of contempt?
Kerry is clearly uncomfortable with the details of his brief Vietnam tour. His legions of lawyers, in fact, have been trying to silence those who would challenge him for a full accounting of his military service. (Ever notice how the First Amendment tends to be the first casualty when a Demo pol is on the ropes? Ever notice how the Leftmedia tends to swallow its microphones at such times, too?)
Unfortunately for Kerry, the book Unfit for Command by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, and the companion television ad from "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," tackle the Massachusetts senator's service record head-on. (To view the ad and letters from Kerry campaign lawyers' attempting to silence it, link to --
http://kerry-04.org/unfit.php ) In doing so, they lay waste to Kerry's claim that he has the toughness and trustworthiness necessary in a wartime commander.
In addition, the Swiftees expose Kerry as a shameless opportunist. Quick -- name another Vietnam vet who hauled around a Super-8 movie camera in order to re-enact his exploits on film. Quick -- name another Vietnam vet with the audacity to request a Purple Heart for a "wound" that was treated with tweezers and patched with a Band-Aid. The sheer number of his fellow swift boat officers who challenge Kerry's record, and the detail and mutual corroboration in their remembrances, paint a picture that is both credible and devastating.
Ominously for Kerry, he's already started backtracking on his service record. In 1979, Kerry claimed, "On more than one occasion, I...took my patrol boat into Cambodia. In fact, I remember spending Christmas Day of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border. ...[A] country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real." He reaffirmed his statement in the Senate in 1986 claiming that he was under orders from President Richard Nixon.
"Kerry was never in Cambodia during Christmas, 1968, or at all during the Vietnam War," said John O'Neil. Douglas Brinkley, in Tour of Duty, Kerry's biography, confirms O'Neil's statement.
Oh? Kerry says the events had been "seared" into his memory. Unfortunately, Nixon wasn't sworn in until January, 1969 -- Lyndon Johnson was still president when Kerry's memory was so burned. Kerry spokesminions are now saying that Kerry was perhaps "near" Cambodia, to deflect the contradiction.
As for the consequences of taking on Kerry, Gary Aldrich, a former FBI agent and whistleblower during the Clinton scandals (the ones during his administration), had this warning for the Vets: "When you take on the establishment, be prepared to suffer serious assaults to your reputation, at least in the short run. Over time, you will be proven to be honest, as well as brave. ... The mainstream media will work diligently to alter the population's perception of you in ways that you could not possibly imagine."
We at The Patriot know these kinds of assaults well. Our Kerry site (
http://kerry-edwards04.org/) has made more than a few enemies!
The American Spectator's George Neumayr notes, "Kerry is being hoist by his own petard. Did he really think that he could launch his political career on discrediting the Vietnam war, including his role in it, and then complete that career by taking credit for fighting in it? Kerry has never persuasively explained why he deserves so much credit for fighting in a war he said was utterly discreditable."
As for the Leftmedia's blind eye for the Kerry charade, the Media Research Center's Brent Bozell concludes: "In their natural predisposition to build up Democrat legends, reporters have passed on a bucket of these unconfirmed anecdotes during presidential campaigns: Al Gore's deathbed story of his sister, Nancy Gore Hunger, inspiring his war on tobacco, Bill Clinton's story about breaking down doors to stop his stepfather from beating his mother at 14, and now, John Kerry's tales of Vietnam heroism. ... The John Kerry candidacy was built on an audacious rewrite of history. The man who roundly condemned the war effort, accusing his fellow soldiers of unspeakable acts of barbarism, would run as a hero of that war, surrounded by his 'Band of Brothers.' How could any self-respecting journalist covering this charade remain silent? Amazingly, most have."
By week's end, try as Campaign Kerry-Edwards might to keep up the façade, the issue of Kerry's fitness to command the war with the Jihadis loomed large again. Asked to clarify his vote granting President Bush's authorization to take the war onto the Iraqi battlefront, Kerry replied, "I'll answer it directly. Yes, I would have voted for the authority [for the President to wage war in Iraq]. I believe it is the right authority for a president to have but I would have used that authority effectively." Huh? He must mean that he'd only have threatened to use force as a tool of Francophile diplomacy.
President Bush rightly responded that Kerry had now joined his position on waging the war, although Kerry still attempted to demur. Campaign Kerry also rose in objection to President Bush's latest ad, in which he mentions the 9/11 attacks and their effects on parents and children. "We cannot hesitate, we cannot yield, we must do everything in our power to bring an enemy to justice before they hurt us again."
This week's "Alpha Jackass" award:
"The most important thing we can do right now is reform and strengthen our intelligence services. I hope that Congressman Goss shares this view." --John Kerry, proffering yet another mind-shaping insight....
This week's "Braying Jackass" award:
"Most Americans, in their heart, are liberal and progressive. It's just a small minority of people who hate. They hate, they exist in the politics of hate, they don't believe two consenting adults should have the right to be in love and share their lives together and be legally protected by the state. They are not patriots; they are hate-triots, and they believe in the politics of hate-triotism. Hate-triotism is where they stand, and patriotism is where real Americans stand. And that is the truth and that needs to be reported.... I don't know what it is with right-wingers and Republicans. They seem to have hijacked over the years the word patriotism and the American flag.... The right wing -- that is not where America is at [sic] -- the majority of Americans are liberal and progressive when it comes to the issues." --Crockumentary filmmaker Michael Moore
In reality, this should probably be called "The BIG Slur," as Moore is (as the hard Left is wont to do) purposefully confusing disagreement with hatred. In addition, this loathsome lout is likely projecting his own hate for those on the Right by intentionally confusing the real source of hate (the Left) with the target of that hate (the Right).
Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and national-security stalwart, said of Moore's film this week, "I don't need Michael Moore to tell me about 9/11." We'll second that.
DEMO-gogue campaign quotes...
"I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history." --John Kerry, on his plans to kill al-Qa'ida Jihadis with kindness
Memo to John: "America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive. A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans. ... The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our sensitivity." --Dick Cheney
In other news from the Left...
It's midnight in the Garden State of good and evil. Bringing a whole new meaning to the term "swing state," New Jersey Democrat Governor James McGreevey will resign effective 15 November due to an affair with another man. McGreevey is in his second marriage and the father of two young daughters. "I engaged in an adult consensual affair with another man, which violates my bonds of matrimony. It was wrong, it was foolish, it was inexcusable," McGreevey said. He pontificated that remaining in office would leave him "vulnerable to rumors, false allegations and threats of disclosure" [Read: 'I'm trying to undercut a lawsuit against me and also keep a Democrat in office until 2006']. On the latter, a special election would be held if he left before 15 November, but his lieutenant can take over the office until the 2005 election if he waits. On the former, the man on the other end of the affair, Golan Cipel, an Israeli poet on McGreevey's "staff," is threatening a sexual-harassment lawsuit if he is not paid off. Despite having no security experience and, being a foreigner, having no clearance from the Feds, Cipel served as "homeland security advisor" to the governor. Cipel stepped down from that post in 2002 to become a "policy counselor." Sure. Perhaps ex-Senator Robert Toricelli can be recalled from federal prison to step in and save the good name of the Democrat Party in New Jersey.
On other political fronts...
Dr. Alan Keyes, former ambassador to the UN, said 'yes' to an invitation from the Illinois Republican Party. In doing so, he'll vie for a U.S. Senate seat against State Sen. Barack Obama, the darling of the Demo convention. Keyes replaces the disgraced Jack Ryan in the bid to replace retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald. For accepting the Illinois GOP plea under exigent circumstances, Ambassador Keyes is taking unwarranted hits from some of our conservative confreres who should know better. Certainly, some factors weighed against his entry into the contest, but those evaporate when balanced against his reasons for accommodating the Party's entreaty. Keyes adds a dynamism often lacking in GOP politics, and he deserves both gratitude and support.
At the center of the debate: Is Keyes abandoning cherished federalist and republican principles in agreeing to run? The circumstances are unusual, but the request came from Illinois Republicans, Keyes has campaigned in Illinois before, and Illinois voters will have the final say as to his acceptability as their state's Senator.
A most intriguing question is whether the GOP will find Ambassador Keyes a prime-time speaking slot at the upcoming convention -- a speaking slot comparable to Obama's. We in our humble shop would urge the GOP to do just that -- especially given that the current slate of speakers is rife with RINOs (Republicans in Name Only).
News from the Swamp...
In the Executive Branch, on Tuesday President Bush named Florida Congressman Porter Goss to fill the vacant head job at CIA. In his remarks at the White House, the President said, "Porter Goss brings a broad experience to this critical job. He's a former Army intelligence officer with a decade of experience in the CIA's clandestine service. ... He understands the importance of human intelligence.... He'll make sure that the men and women of the CIA have the capabilities and skills they need to penetrate the hard targets and denied areas, and to get to know the enemy firsthand."
Goss's background as a clandestine-service officer may be his most important qualification for the DCI post. No area of CIA responsibility so urgently needs repair as the Directorate of Operations. Partly due to two decades operating under the restrictions that grew out of the Church Committee hearings in the 1970s; partly due to the post-1991 shift from focusing on the Soviet Union to focusing on "emerging" threats; and partly through institutional caution, the Directorate of Operations has become a shell of its former self. The "hard targets" mentioned by the President often can be penetrated only by human agents. Clearly, the Directorate of Operations must be restored to its former level of capability if terrorist cells around the world are to be penetrated and stopped.
The reaction to Goss's nomination has been fairly muted. Goss generally has been described as "well-qualified" by people on both sides of the political spectrum. Senator Bob Graham has called him "uniquely qualified," while Republicans have been supportive of one of their own. The usual suspects have voiced the usual complaints, including Nancy Pelosi (D-Wonderland), who urged that we must "keep politics out of intelligence, and we must not have a Director of the Central Intelligence Agency who has acted politically." Slate Magazine's Fred Kaplan frets that Goss "will return the CIA to its ruthless, gun-toting days of yore." (We certainly hope so!) While election-season influence is likely to keep Goss's confirmation hearings from devolving into the usual Senate blood sport, and while we fully expect Goss to be approved by a comfortable margin, the words and deeds of the hard-core Lefties -- Ted Kennedy (D-Stalingrad) chief among them -- will bear watching this fall.
On the National Security front...
The nation's nuclear-laboratory complex was recently rocked by yet another major security lapse, when Los Alamos National Laboratory reported two computer disks with classified nuclear weapons data had been missing since 7 July. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has ordered work on weapons programs suspended nationwide pending a security review at Los Alamos.
It is possible that this latest violation is merely a clerical mistake, and that the missing disks remain in the lab's secure storage area. Regardless of the explanation, however, this latest security violation should be -- must be -- the last straw regarding security at the nuclear-weapons labs. There are no more important classified materials in the United States than those dealing with nuclear weapons. The demonstrated inability of Los Alamos and its University of California overseers to protect critical national secrets must be dealt with immediately, credibly, and harshly. 19 employees were suspended pending investigation, and at least 20 employees have been allowed to take early retirement, apparently to avoid having to take responsibility for their violations.
It was hoped, in January, 2001, that the incoming Bush administration would rectify the unqualified disaster that was National Laboratory security in the wake of the Clinton Administration's eight-year "stewardship." The laundry list of their debacles at Los Alamos is too long to document here, but Patriot readers will no doubt remember the Wen Ho Lee espionage case, the wholesale and criminal declassification of weapons data by Rose Gottemoeller (Assistant Energy Secretary for Non-proliferation and National Security), the termination of color-coded security badges since they were too "discriminatory," the mass visitation by Chinese and Russian scientists (over 900 Chinese visited in 1998 alone), and the demonizing or firing of Notra Trulock, Lt. Col. Edward McCallum, Peter Leitner, and other brave whistleblowers.
Now, three and a half years into the Bush administration, it is obvious that the Department of Energy is culturally incapable of imposing and maintaining serious security standards. The only acceptable fix to the dysfunctional state of security is that proposed by the Heritage Foundation's Ronald Utt five years ago: Turn over the weapons labs to the Department of Defense. Many in Congress and in the Department of Energy will fight such a step desperately, but it must be done. The information at our nuclear labs is of paramount importance. Only the Defense Department has the necessary culture to do the job right.
Security problems at Los Alamos take on special significance in regard to two current nuclear issues: the potential development of very-low-yield "mini" nuclear warheads intended to destroy hardened underground targets too tough for high-explosive bombs; and the looming need to resume testing of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Los Alamos will be central to both efforts, and the ability to manage classified materials simply must be established before either project can go forward. All the more reason to get the labs under DoD control at the earliest possible moment.
New evidence suggests that the security breech may indeed be a clerical error only, and that the two disks in question may not even exist. (Still, we'd like to know where Sandy Berger was on the days in question.) After five weeks of searching by those responsible for safeguarding our nation's nuclear secrets, this offers precious little comfort. A new initiative for a second Bush administration comes to mind....
From the warfront with Jihadistan...
Fighting in the Iraqi city of Najaf, among others, came to a head this week as Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi gave the go-ahead for a joint U.S.-Iraqi assault against the city regarded as sacred by Shi'ite Muslims. The militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was the target of the assault, and an end to the violence is essential to the stability of the six-week-old interim (but sovereign) Iraqi government.
As of today, U.S. and Iraqi forces have taken the city and surrounded the Imam Ali Mosque, one of the most revered Shi'ite shrines, where al-Sadr and the remainder of his Mahdi's Army militia have taken refuge. A cease-fire is in place as al-Sadr's representatives seek terms with the Iraqi government, while the cleric himself is reported wounded by shrapnel, a claim the Iraqi government disputes. A quick surrender is immeasurably preferable to the potential political damage of either storming the mosque or allowing al-Sadr to stare down the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. In any case, the message is being sent in no uncertain terms that Islamist extremism and its companion ideal of terrorism has no place in a new, free Iraq -- and not a moment too soon.
From the "Regulatory Commissars" File...
Every election cycle, federal officials clamor about the need to "reform" our health-care system. A review of some prior "reform" is useful in gauging whether the federal government should continue "reforming" our health system.
Prior to HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), health insurers and health providers kept information private for competitive business reasons. HIPAA was passed by Congress in 1996, ostensibly to promote electronic claims adjudication and achieve cost-savings in the healthcare industry. As part of HIPAA, Congress decreed that a system to protect privacy was necessary because private health information could, in theory, be distributed electronically. The ideal of protecting privacy and personal health information is laudable, but it could have been achieved with a simple but redundant (in light of the business reasons for protecting information from competitors) law forbidding disclosure of private health information. Federal bureaucrats instead issued onerous, arcane privacy regulations carrying unintended consequences.
Bureaucrats often suffer from the assumption they are able to draft an all-encompassing regulatory scheme. Neglected in this approach is an appreciation of humanity's short attention span and ability to comprehend vast legal complexities. Perversely, most HIPAA privacy regulations issued in the wake of HIPAA went beyond the domain of electronic transactions and instead create the general illusion of privacy.
Some of the non-electronic privacy regulations strip away the ability to control health information. There are exceptions to the privacy protections buried within the regulations, giving the government greater access to information. Nothing prevents the government from adding additional exemptions to existing loopholes such as when a disclosure is required by law, for public-health activities, abuse and neglect, oversight of the healthcare system or government programs, judicial or administrative proceedings, law enforcement (including laws requiring the reporting of selected wounds and injuries), for identification and location, reporting of crimes, to avoid serious threats to safety, for national security and surveillance, and protection of the president among many other exceptions. These complex regulations are widely misunderstood, and many healthcare providers have elected to be over-compliant and withhold information even when release is permissible rather than risk enforcement of the draconian penalties in HIPAA.
Electronic claims adjudication may have achieved some cost savings, but the cost of complying with unnecessary and convoluted privacy regulations is too steep. HIPAA costs, estimated in the billions, are ultimately paid by the consumers of health care through higher medical costs and insurance premiums. The result of HIPAA privacy is confusion which may eventually pose a threat to someone's healthcare by interfering (whether by a flaw in the regulations or by someone's misunderstanding of the regulations) with the flow of vital information to providers who need it to prescribe proper treatment. The next time a politician claims to have experience in healthcare reform, keep in mind that the solution may be worse than the symptom.
From the "Non Compos Mentis" Files...
Don't mess with the inspectors! 86-year-old "60 Minutes" veteran Mike Wallace was arrested Tuesday for disorderly conduct. His offense: arguing with city inspectors over where his driver parked his car. The inspectors told Wallace's driver that he was double-parked, at which point Wallace became "overly assertive and disrespectful," also interfering with the inspectors. According to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Wallace then lunged at one of the inspectors (though he denies it) and was promptly handcuffed by the other and taken to the police station. Wallace was arrested under similar circumstances in 1968. We wonder if the segment "New York Curmudgeons" will be upcoming on "60 Minutes."
Around the nation...
From the states, California's Supreme Court on Thursday handed down its ruling on rogue San Francisco Democrat Mayor Gavin Newsom's willful violations of state law reserving marriage for only one husband and one wife. The Golden State's high court was unanimous (as it should be) in declaring that Newsom and the city of San Francisco issued illegal wedding licenses to same-sex couples. In a 5-2 vote, the Court also voided the nearly 4,000 such licenses given out before a Court order stopped them on 11 March.
About a dozen homosexual couples awaited the decision on the Court steps and some began weeping when it was brought down. Molly McKay of Marriage Equality California defiantly vowed, "We're going to make this one of the most romantic civil-rights struggles on earth."
While we at The Patriot certainly have compassion for individual homosexuals struggling with gender-disorientation pathology, we have great contempt for those who would "normalize" the condition -- effectively abandoning homosexuals in their miserable perversion.
In business/economic news...
House Speaker Dennis Hastert wants to abolish the IRS and start over with a national sales tax. Not a flat tax like Steve Forbes and Dick Armey called for a decade ago, but a tax on consumption. This would end federal income-tax reporting by individuals, and would remove the need for a threatening IRS as an agency for enforcement. Businesses would report sales and remit sales taxes, and that would be it...no other reporting.
This idea may never get past the conceptual stage, though. Big government thrives on complexity, and the current tax code satisfies that craving.
Hastert's national sales tax would be shared by the underground economy that currently does not pay its share. For example, drug kingpins who buy boats and cigars would pay their share without blinking. The need for decent citizens to rationalize dishonesty, cheat or suffer guilt for questionable calls in preparing their taxes would evaporate. More productive time would result. Citizens would no longer spend five billion hours wrestling with their taxes, and the $200 billion spent annually on tax advice and preparation would be available instead for consumption or capital investment. People who don't like taxes would tend to save their money, and this extra capital would fuel powerful economic growth.
A primary argument against this proposal is that the poor, with less disposable income than the wealthy, would pay the same rate as the wealthy. Of course, there will always be a "class envy" argument for or against any tax proposal, since that is a basic tenet of the national socialist party (AKA the Democrat Party). But Hastert's proposal answers the naysayers by returning to the "poor" an estimated amount of all the tax they paid that year.
In any event, the many arguments for and against the idea need to be debated and resolved. There will be accommodations and compromises, and we may end up with a hybrid tax system that blends the sales-tax concept with a flat tax on those evil wealthy folks. IRS employees could then be re-engineered into sales-tax agency workers and live happily ever after in a world where they neither bully nor brutalize the citizenry. Interestingly enough, as recently as 10 August, President Bush remarked that the sales tax idea was "an interesting idea...that we ought to explore seriously."
Around the world...
In Iraq's first Olympic appearance in 12 years, their national soccer team defeated a heavily favored Portugal squad by a 4-2 score during preliminary competition Thursday. Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, who was director of Iraq's Olympic committee and was noted for subjecting Olympic athletes to horrible tortures for losing competitions, was not available for comment.
And last...
Times are hard on the campaign trail. Whether it was because John Kerry lied or he didn't tell the truth, he and Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry had separate hotel rooms Sunday in Arizona. Staffers noted a heated argument between the two, followed by the move to separate rooms. "It was a cooling off, nothing more," a "top source" reports. Staffers also noted Teresa complaining of late about "nonstop movement" and "no time to just 'be'." Maybe Teresa could ask Hillary for some advice!
Lex et Libertas -- Semper Vigilo, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for the editors and staff. (Please pray on this day, and every day, for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.)
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