Quiet Anger

It has been far too long since I have been active on this site but the the time is drawing near again. This time, it isn't really about elections. Although that will certainly be a large part of it, the is something bigger brewing in America right now.
I have realized that my silence can be intepreted as acceptance and I am so far from acceptance it ain't even funny.
I feel as though there was a large part of the country, last year, that was swimming at the surface like a shark, showing our dorsal fin in hopes that it would scare the enemy away. Unfortunately, did not.
Since then, I believe that shark has gone underwater and needs to remain underwater and wait for the right time to attack.
They will claim victory and claim that the shark is gone because they no longer see the fin.
That will be the right time...

The Founding Fathers On Redistribution

The Founding Fathers On Redistribution Sweetness & Light

This is beautiful. I have no way of verifying the accuracy of these statements but have no reason to doubt them either. Great job from S&L as usual.

From various sources:

“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816

“A wise and frugal government… shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” — John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787

“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” — James Madison in a letter to James Robertson

In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying:

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — James Madison, 4 Annals of Congress 179, 1794

“[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” — James Madison

But maybe they were wrong and Mr. Obama is right.

After all, he is a Constitutional scholar.

LIFE OF THE PARTY RETURNING AT LAST

LIFE OF THE PARTY RETURNING AT LAST - New York Post by Jonah Goldberg

...The press and Hollywood have spent the last three years making it sound like people become Republicans so they can flood New Orleans, ruin the economy, torture Muslims, listen to everyone's phone calls, and make a ton from selling papier maché bulletproof vests to the troops.

To cap it off, John McCain, renowned for driving the GOP base batty by bebopping and scatting all over his own party in order (according to his conservative detractors) to win praise from The New York Times, actually won the nomination.

In short, you don't have to be a political scientist to understand why Republican self-identification has been at a 16-year low or why even many of the GOP faithful were planning on putting out their "Gone fishing" signs this November.

Jonah, as usual, hits it right on the head.  And mercifully, he does so quickly.  I love Jonah Goldberg's writing but I've only got so many hours in the day  :)

The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun

American Thinker: The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun

from the article:

By choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate -- and by staking his own claim to the presidency on "Country First" more than on any specific policy initiative -- John McCain has thrown the switch and put us Traditionalists onto the offense.  By doing so he has unleashed the energy and the will to victory among Traditionalists that have been dormant for so long the Left-Wing Liberals mistakenly assumed we'd lost.  And by taking the over-confident Left-Wing Liberals so completely by surprise, McCain has stunned them into revealing themselves for the vicious phonies that they are.

As a result, what started out as a typical campaign between Republicans and Democrats -- each party trying to hold its base while attracting enough independent voters to win -- has exploded into the Culture War's decisive battle.