“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”  – Benjamin Franklin Unfortunately a growing number of Americans seem to be running away from true happiness rather than toward it. No generation has had greater access to health care or educational opportunities, yet depression and other emotional and mental signs of fatigue from daily living have never been more evident. One-third working adults report chronic debilitating stress, and more than half of all “millennials” (eighteen-to-thirty-three year olds) experience a level of stress that causes them to
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In his new book Who’s the Fairest of Them All?: The Truth about Opportunity, Taxes, and Wealth in America, Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal shows the very rich pay more taxes in the United States than in any other industrialized nation in the world. The very rich are made up of the top 10 percent of taxpayers. According to Moore, that 10 percent pay over 45 percent of the total tax revenue in the U.S. This is in direct contradiction to the liberal notion that top earners in this country do not pay
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The idol state uses the language of compassion because its intention is a messianic one.  It finds the masses harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, needing a savior. —Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction (1983) …Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols. —John Calvin, Institutes (1536) Jeroboam the Son of Nebat Jeroboam found Israel harassed, overburdened, and in desperate need of a savior.  Jeroboam knew that God had chosen him to be that savior.  He knew because God’s prophet had told him (1 Kings 11:29-40).  But when Jeroboam tried to
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Somewhere in the fifty years just past is where historians of the future will place an arbitrary line and say: “This marks the Fall of the Galactic Empire.” —Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1951) Social commentators, historians, and philosophers are always tempted to concentrate on a particular era, usually their own, and then proclaim, Here is the water shed.  Sometimes they are right for the wrong reasons, but usually they are just plain wrong. —Gary North, None Dare Call It Witchcraft (1951) Arbitrary Lines In the wake of the recent federal election at least one writer announced
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Every president since Ronald Reagan has promised to achieve American energy independence, and each president has failed. It is time to put an end to the rhetorically powerful speeches that promise energy independence and adapt real strategies that can achieve pragmatic change. These changes will not begin and end with the president: they will begin
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The headlines coming out of Syria are truly frightening. Mass graves, civilian bombings, rampant violence – it seems to be degenerating daily. As of August 2012, analysts put 6,000 jihadists on the ground participating in violence. To say it’s not a good situation is an understatement, but will the unrest ultimately impact America? Answers seem mixed. On one hand, America likes to play the role of the world’s police force. On the other hand, Syria is mired in an internal conflict where the U.S. has no reason to interfere. They’re not a major trading partner
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When the British surrendered at Yorktown, the American Revolution was over the battle for a new form of government had only just begun. The first issue to be faced by General Washington was a matter of pay for the Continental Army. When some veterans threatened to take the matter in their own hands, it was Washington who intervened and promised a better way. Washington is that a principle maintained by the United States military to the present day – namely that the military would remain ever the servant of the people and of its big
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No event in the annals of United States history is better known than the Boston Tea Party. The grassroots political movement even derives its name from it. But how much do we really know about it? As Paul Harvey used to say, here’s the rest of the story. The Tea Act of 1773 actually lowered the price of tea to the colonists. However, the effect of the act was unexpected. The act set in motion a chain of events which would soon lead open revolt. When the Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770, an import
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Our whole economic system is waiting to implode … so why haven’t we just gone ahead and pulled the trigger already? No one pretends everything is fine anymore. Our political leaders talk about “soft landings” and a “gradual recovery” for the economy. This isn’t the language of growth and optimism. It’s the language of a group of people in denial about how bad things really are on the ground for most Americans. Forget the noise about the 99 percent. Forget the yammering about the budget. America has overspent, with unfunded liabilities hanging around like skeletons
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1776 John Adams, America’s second president, was well known for his love of Independence Day. Until the day he died, however, he also felt we had set the date two days late. Adams wrote that July 2, the date the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Britain, not July 4, the date Congress’ president John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, should be “the great anniversary Festival.” “The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America,” Adams wrote on July 3, 1776. “It ought to
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