Conservatives Need Not Apply

The recent NFL fiasco involving Rush Limbaugh's bid for minority ownership in the St. Louis Rams is a stark reminder that electing Barack Obama has done nothing to improve race relations in the United States. Those of us who voted against his leftist agenda still held out hope that this might actually happen. But alas, the race baiters are still baiting and the main stream media is still facilitating their malignant message.

Rush's crime? Effectively communicating a mainstream conservative message over the airways. That being a belief in individual responsibility, strong national defense, limited government and a free market economy… American exceptionalism. This point of view, although common to Americans as a whole, is foreign and repulsive to the power brokers in the elite liberal establishment. This truth we have been aware of for years if not decades. What shocked many of us this past week is that the National Football League is either part of the cabal or now cowering in its presence.

Who will be next? We already know that the chance of survival on a college faculty is greatly diminished if you are a conservative. What other doors will be closed? Will conservative police and fire fighters be able to serve? Will small business owners be forced to remain silent or lose their businesses? Will I be able to practice medicine and my conservative beliefs once the government takes over health care? Unfortunately, until the race baiters and their media enablers are held accountable and marginalized we are all at risk of these arbitrary incursions into our liberties and pursuits.

Rush responds here

Sweet Opportunity for Statists

I rarely drink sugared soda pop, and I always dilute fruit juice extensively before drinking. Nevertheless, I shake my head in wonder when I hear the social busy bodies pushing for a tax on sugary drinks to prevent obesity. These people are so predictable. Not only do they routinely come to the wrong conclusion when confronted with a problem, but they always think it can be solved by taxing someone!

The obesity "epidemic" is not the result of increasing caloric intake. Although data is sketchy, it is clear that if anything average daily caloric consumption decreased during the 20^th century as our waist lines expanded. What actually changed was a dramatic nose dive in physical activity. That is the extremely efficient avoidance of strenuous exertions in every aspect of our lives. This is not surprising since we are programmed to take the easiest path available to accomplish any given task. We don't even realize what we are doing most of the time. We drive circles around the parking lot to find the closest spot, or plop down in the recliner the minute we return home from our 8 hour desk jobs, almost unconsciously. Periods of idleness may have been a survival benefit for our ancestors who needed to recover at every opportunity from their struggle to exist (hence the Command of the Sabbath), but it is wreaking havoc on our soft 21^st century bodies. Indeed, it takes a purposeful and persistent effort to circumvent our natural inclinations.

So why do the political and "intellectual" classes bother themselves with food taxes? Because, that's what tyrants do. They are hard-wired to exploit any perceived or actual crisis and turn it into a power grab. Therefore, like our battle to avoid physical indolence we also need to maintain an eternal vigilance against creeping socialism that is relentlessly eroding our remaining liberties.

Related WSJ Opinion Journal Article

First Principles Lost

"If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself."

James Madison, Federalist Papers, No. 51