Does Federalism Hinder or Help the States?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is federalism, or the division of powers between the federal government and the state governments. This site provided the following information on federalism. 

Another basic concept embodied in the Constitution is federalism, which refers to the division and sharing of power between the national and state governments. By allocating power among state and federal governments, the Framers sought to establish a unified national government of limited powers while maintaining a distinct sphere of autonomy in which state governments could exercise a general police power. Although the Framers sought to preserve liberty by diffusing power, Justices and scholars have noted that federalism has other advantages, including that it allows individual states to experiment with novel government programs as laboratories of democracy and increases the accountability of elected government officials to citizens.

Although the text of the Constitution does not clearly delineate many of the boundaries between the powers of the federal and state governments, the Supreme Court has frequently invoked certain constitutional provisions when determining that Congress has exceeded its constitutional powers and infringed upon state sovereignty. One well-known provision, regarded by the Court as both a shield and sword to thwart federal encroachment, is the Tenth Amendment, which provides that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people…. Other notable provisions addressing Congress’s power relative to the states that the Court has debated include the Supremacy Clause in Article VI, which establishes federal law as superior to state law, the Commerce Clause in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, which grants Congress the authority to legislate on matters concerning interstate commerce; and Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants Congress the power to enforce that Amendment’s guarantees against the states through the enactment of appropriate legislation. More broadly, federalism principles also undergird many Supreme Court decisions interpreting individual rights and the extent to which the Court should federalize, for example, the rights afforded to state criminal defendants. But judges and scholars disagree on how basic principles of federalism should be realized, and a key point of controversy is whether the judiciary should enforce the interests of the states against the Federal Government or leave the resolution of such key questions about the relationship between federal and state power to the political process.

With the above cited information in mind, this essay will share a recent example about how the federal government can hinder or help the states. In her article published at The Daily Signal, Virginia Allen reported on the recent remarks of Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy about the differences in how “development and extraction of resources in Alaska” were managed by the Biden administration and the Trump administration. 

“Trump is all about opportunity. In other words, no limits, giving Alaska the opportunity to develop its resources, build things, market things, exactly the way it was supposed to be,” the Alaska Republican governor said.

“Under [President Joe Biden], it was the opposite. They were violently determined not to allow anything to happen in Alaska.”

“They put the environmentalists first, not the people or the needs of the state or country first,” Dunleavy said of the Biden administration, while talking with The Daily Signal at the Miami Security Forum….

Alaska: Resource Rich

Alaska was the only state to receive its own executive order on Trump’s first day back in the White House. The order, titled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” again made it the policy of the United States to “fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources,” including Alaska’s liquefied natural gas.

Trump’s order “means hope” for Alaska because it compels the federal government to take full advantage of the state’s natural resources, from timber to mining, thus increasing investment in Alaska, the governor explained.

Trump’s executive order to further develop Alaskan oil resources is significant following the conflict with Iran that has rocked global oil markets. Iran threatens ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping lane.

Japan, for example, imports about 90% of its oil from the Persian Gulf. It takes, under normal circumstances, about 20 days for an oil shipment to reach Japan from the Middle East, but it would take just eight days for an oil shipment to reach Japan from Alaska, Dunleavy explained.

National Security

In addition to holding a wealth of natural resources, Alaska is also a critical U.S. national security asset due to its proximity to Russia and its location in the Arctic.

Both Russia and China demonstrate a keen interest in the Arctic. Russia, in particular, is extracting the region’s natural resources for economic purposes and asserting military dominance there.

In just the past 10 years in the Arctic, Russia has “revitalized Soviet-era bases, deployed missile defense systems, invested in domain awareness capabilities, increased aerial and maritime patrols, and stepped up its exercise schedule,” according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

While Russia has about 40 icebreakers, special ships that can navigate the Arctic’s icy waters, the U.S. has had only two, one of which never fully worked, according to Dunleavy. However, the Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed last year, included funding to procure an estimated 17 new icebreakers.

The new icebreakers “will position us as a year-round Arctic nation where we have icebreaking going on, we have shipping going on,” Dunleavy said, calling the investment “very, very important.”

While “a lot of administrations have fallen asleep regarding Alaska,” Dunleavy said, referring to the state’s natural resources and key security location, “the Trump administration has not.”

The effect on Anchorage shows in the number of schools and businesses that have closed over the past few years. When there are no high-paying, energy-related jobs in Alaska, employees and families move out of Alaska. This means that there are no adults to visit the businesses or students to attend the schools. Hopefully, Alaska, under the Trump administration, can get the jobs flowing to Alaska once again.

Why Is Greenlandic Security Essential to America?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns national security. With Russia and China venturing into the Arctic, America would be wise to install deterrents as quickly as possible. President Donald Trump recognized the threat to America and said that America needed to acquire Greenland. There were discussions, and the United States came away with the ability to own certain parts of Greenland, which would be sovereign territory to the U.S., on which to build military bases.

These discussions brought to forefront “the issue of Chinese and Russian threats to the forefront, particularly as it relates to their growing interest in the arctic,” according to an article by Robert Peters, senior research fellow for Strategic Deterrence at The Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for National Security.

As noted elsewhere, China seeks to establish economic presence in the Arctic – and almost assuredly, long-term options for military operations in the region, to include “space and satellite warfare to strategic positioning of nuclear-armed submarines.”

Russia similarly has increased its air and maritime operations in the Arctic and may bring its gray zone activities into the region as a means to disrupt NATO activities.

Indeed, the prospect for America’s adversaries to fire missile salvos at the United States is so grave that it prompted one retired Air Force general to write, “Nowhere is America’s exposure to attack more acute than from its Arctic approaches – the most direct corridor through which both Russia and China could strike the United States.” What then should be done about Greenlandic security, given the emerging threat to the Arctic, as well as North America and Europe?

To begin with, the United States and Denmark should increase their joint military presence in Greenland so that they can better monitor air and maritime threats within the region.

Such efforts should include ground forces trained in arctic or alpine combat stationed at key points along Greenland’s northern coast.

Indeed, Greenland would be an ideal location for NATO militaries to engage in arctic training operations – which not only benefits military members engaged in such exercises but helps establish a military presence.

In addition, the U.S. and Denmark should work with other NATO allies, such as Finland and Canada, to station icebreakers along the northernmost settlements, such as Qaanaaq and Ittoqqortoormiit. Such icebreakers would enable allied ships to operate in the Arctic year-round, which could enable allied navies to engage in effective combat operations even in winter, but are also important when it comes to sovereignty claims. Russia’s icebreaker fleet, the largest in the world, enables Moscow to deploy naval assets to the Arctic, regardless of ice coverage.

Also, the United States should rotate Army units capable of carrying medium- and intermediate-range fires to Greenland so that they can engage and, if necessary, destroy sea and air threats that may transit arctic air or maritime space.

Perhaps most importantly, Greenland is an ideal place in which the U.S. can station sensors and radars that would be critically important to building the Golden Dome missile defense architecture….

If Denmark proposes such concrete steps to Washington, wherein both countries could cooperate to shore up Greenlandic security, both nations’ legitimate security concerns could be address. At the same time, they would be able to mitigate Russian and Chinese threats to North America, Europe, and the Arctic.

 

 

When Will Liberals Learn?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the national security need to know who is entering the United States and why they are coming. On Wednesday, an Afghan national is alleged to have shot two National Guardsmen near the White House. He entered the United States in 2021 following the fall of Afghanistan. The troops are part of the surge sent to Washington, D.C. in August to fight the crime problem.

According to the FBI, the two guardsmen are in separate hospitals and are in critical condition.

The shooter is in custody in a hospital and is in severe condition. Carlos Garcia reported the following at the Blaze: 

Multiple law enforcement sources said the suspect was identified as 29-year-old …. He also reportedly entered the U.S. on a Biden administration program called Operation Allies Welcome after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Law enforcement sources told NBC News that he used a handgun in the attack….

Dept. of War Sec. Pete Hegseth said that 500 additional National Guard troops were going to be sent to D.C. in light of the shooting.

“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful. The drop in crime has been historic. The increase in safety and security has bene historic,” Hegseth said to reporters in the Dominican Republic.

“But if criminals want to conduct things like this, violence against America’s best, we will never back down,” he added. “President Trump will never back down. That’s why the American people elected him.”

Even though a foreign national shot two guardsmen, liberals are blaming Trump. After opposing Trump’s deployment of National Guard units to Washington, D.C. and other cities and claiming that the President is overreaching his authority, they are now blaming Trump for putting the guardsmen “in harm’s way.” 

There were reports that the guardsmen had died from their injuries. Then the FBI said that they had not died. At the time of this writing, there is conflicting information. At any rate, they were shot in the service of America and protection of all Americans; even those people who do not appreciate their service.

 

Is America Less Secure Than It Was Two Years Ago?

If you feel less safe than you did two years ago, there is a good reason. Senior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials testified today that “America is increasingly less secure under President Joe Biden.”

Peter Brookes published an article in The Daily Signal with a summary of the remarks given before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Of course, these highlights as well as his analysis come from the unclassified testimony given by the director of national intelligence and the directors of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Are you concerned about national security yet? 

China

The People’s Republic of China, under President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party, is a growing problem. It’s a near-peer competitor of the U.S. and the biggest foreign threat to U.S. national interests.

China is working to outpace the U.S. diplomatically, economically, militarily, and technologically….

To this end, “the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] will work to press Taiwan on unification, undercut U.S. influence, drive wedges between Washington and its partners, and foster some norms that favor its authoritarian system” ….

Russia

Everyone is aware of Russia’s year-old, unjust war on Ukraine and the wide-ranging repercussions of its aggression, including, as noted in the assessment, the scary possibility of “a military confrontation between Russia and the West.”

… Russia’s growing, potentially mutually beneficial relationships with China and Iran are also of concern.

Iran

Tehran is another major threat to American and international security with its long-standing support of terrorism, including its hosting in Iran of the new head of al-Qaeda and dogged pursuit of nuclear weapons….

North Korea

You don’t hear much from the White House these days about the Kim Jong Un regime and its threat to U.S. interests and to those of our allies (e.g., Japan and South Korea) and friends, but we should.

According to the intelligence community’s threat assessment, Kim is “continuing efforts to enhance North Korea’s nuclear and conventional capabilities targeting the United States and its allies, which will enable periodic aggressive actions to try to reshape the regional security environment in his favor.” …

As noted by Brookes, the above information came from the unclassified portion of the hearing. The directors shared more information in a closed session. We will most likely never hear much about what is said in the classified briefing. However, Brookes recommends that everyone “take the time to watch the hearing and/or read the testimony. Just make sure that you’re sitting down.”

I would like to remind all the Trump haters out there that the United States went four years without serious threats from any of the four rogue nations listed above. “Little Rocket Man” from North Korea talked big about attacking the United States, but he stopped when President Donald Trump reminded him that he [Trump] had a bigger red button. Then Trump went to North Korea to visit Kim Jong Un, and we never heard anything more from North Korea while Trump was in office.

I would also like to remind Trump haters that Putin invaded other countries during the George H. Bush administration, the Barack Obama administration, and the Joe Biden administration. However, Putin behaved during the Trump administration. Under Trump, the United States went four years without fighting in any war and even brought military personnel home – although we did make strategic strikes to take out terrorists. In addition, both Iran and China behaved themselves during the Trump administration.

I am proud to say that I did not vote for the clown that currently resides in the White House. He is now officially the worst President of the United States that I have known. If you voted for him, you are getting exactly what you voted for. However, the rest of us are suffering because we have a terrible POTUS for whom we did not vote!

What Is America’s Greatest National Security Threat?

            There are numerous threats to the national security of the United States, many more than there were during the Trump administration. The southern border is wide open, and evil actors of any country could enter our nation through it. China wants to be the number one superpower in the world and is willing to fight for that position. Russia and Iran are not friends of the United States and could become a threat.

            Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe was interviewed by Fox News host Mark Levin on Sunday night, and Levin asked him about national security. After highlighting the Afghanistan disaster, Levin asked, “What has Joe Biden done to America’s national security?” This is Ratcliffe’s reply. 

To your point, first on Afghanistan, I hope that it’s just something that has an impact for decades, I hope it’s not centuries; it’s the most profound loss for the United States in our lifetime…. But one of my concerns there, and this goes to your larger question about what has Joe Biden done to our national security, he’s very currently harmed, but in so many respects beyond Afghanistan, has literally breathed life into the radical Islamic terrorist movement, not just in Afghanistan, but around the world.

            Ratcliffe stated that the consequences of Biden’s actions will not be known by U.S. intelligence officials for “a long, long time to come.” According to Ratcliffe, the national security posture of America is weaker in all directions – China, Russia, Iran, and Islamic terrorists – is weaker because of Biden.

I wrote an article as the Director of National Intelligence saying that China was our number one national security threat; I did that as I was walking out the door based on the … fact that, you know, I’m the person that saw more intelligence than anyone else in the country over the past year, and China very much is that existential threat to our country…. But if I had to write that op-ed today, I would tell you that I think our greatest national security threat, at least in the short term, is Joe Biden, and our national security apparatus.

I always look at what the intelligence, what I saw in that position, and one of the challenges here that we are facing for the next three years, is a president who’s not listening to the intelligence; our intelligence was crystal clear about what was going to happen in Afghanistan if we withdrew without conditions-based terms that we had negotiated and when Biden abandoned that plan; it went exactly to what we said was going to happen and that is unfortunately a trend that has continued where this administration and this national security apparatus keeps making bad decisions; keeps ignoring the actual intelligence that we have…. And honestly, nothing concerns me more right now.

            Every American should be concerned at this statement from the former Director of National Intelligence. Joe Biden is our greatest national security threat, according to John Ratcliffe, because of the various bad decisions made by the Biden administration. “They have literally gotten everything wrong for eight straight months.”

            Ratcliffe continued his explanation by stating that America’s ability to conduct intelligence around the world has been impacted because people will no longer trust the United States to protect them. Biden has destroyed the reputation of the United States. Enemies no respect or fear America, and allies do not trust America. 

            America’s only hope for security is God. Protection from God comes only to those who turn to Him and keep His commands. This means humility and softened hearts. God will have a humble people. Either they humble themselves, or He will humble them. May God bless America!

Does the Biden Scandal Qualify for an October Surprise?

            Presidential elections seem to always come with an “October Surprise.” However, this one may be fatal to the political aspirations of the Democrat candidate instead of against Republicans. Last week former NYC Mayor and current attorney for President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, announced that he is in possession of material found on a laptop once owned by Hunter Biden, and the information is a bomb shell against the Biden family.

            This News Max video with Greg Kelly has a discussion with Giuliani about what he found on the hard drive from a computer owned by Hunter Biden. The computer was taken to a repair shop and never claimed. Therefore, it became the property of the repair shop. The computer and one hard drive were given to the FBI about seven months ago, and one hard drive was given to Giuliani’s lawyer. Giuliani commented on the alleged actions of Hunter Biden as a bag man for former Vice President Joe Biden in dealing with foreign nations. Giuliani claims that he has solid evidence regarding the corruption of the Biden crime family.

            Joe Biden, Adam Schiff who is the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, and other Democrat claim that the information on the laptop comes from Russian disinformation campaign. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declared yesterday that Hunter Biden’s laptop “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.” Therefore, Schiff is once again lying about the “intelligence” he sees. 

            Giuliani claims that emails prove a connection between Hunter Biden and several foreign nations, including Ukraine and China, with millions of dollars going to the Biden family, including Joe Biden. It sounds like Joe Biden sold out the United States to China.  It also contains pictures and information about Hunter Biden and underage girls in compromised positions. This information has been passed to the Delaware State Police.

            Giuliani stated that this is the biggest government scandal of which he knows. These are major crimes, which the mainstream media is not covering, and which Twitter and Facebook have censored the material. With silence from the mainstream media and censureship from social media, many Americans are not learning about this scandal. If this information is true, our nation is in a serious situation – particularly if Joe Biden is elected to be the next President of the United States. This is a serious national security problem!

From a Trickle to a River

            One of the fact of life is that humans generally ignore problems until they become bigger or too big to ignore any longer. A slow drip from the kitchen faucet may be ignored for days or weeks before it gets fixed. A few rabbits hopping around the neighborhood are cute until they start digging holes under your home or eating all the plants in your garden. This weakness in humans tends to be worse in governments.

            The situation with North Korea is one such problem. Previous Presidents of the United States did their best to ignore the threats coming out of North Korea or to appease the leader of the rogue state. The threats kept getting worse until Donald Trump became the President. He labeled the dictator – Rocket Man – and isolated him using tactics straight out of Sal Alinsky’s book. When the Rocket Man threatened to hit the United States with rockets, Trump simply said, “My red button is bigger than yours!” Rocket Man did not back down until he came face to face with a leader that would not put up with his tactics any longer.

            Another such situation is the southern border of the United States. Illegal aliens have been entering the United States for dozens of years, and several Presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama talked about securing the border but took little action. The illegal immigrants kept coming, and the numbers have swollen. Finally, we elect a President who is willing to build a barrier to protect the southern border, but Congress fights against it.

            We need a strong barrier to stop the hordes of people pouring over our border and to protect our nation and people. There are thousands of people entering our nation every single day who should not be here, and they are committing all kinds of crimes including murder. Democrats do not want to fund a barrier because it would give Trump a win as well as stop potential future Democrat voters.

            Things are so bad on the border mow that even Jeh Johnson, former chief of the Department of Homeland Security under Barack Obama, says there is a crisis. In an appearance on MSNBC, Johnson said that the situation now is worse than anything he saw. 

My staff would tell you, if [there] were under 1,000 apprehensions the day before, that was a relatively good number. And if it was over 1,000, it was a relatively bad number and I was going to be in a bad mood the whole day.

On Tuesday, there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that a thousand overwhelms a system; I can’t imagine what 4,000 a day looks like. So, we are truly in a crisis.

            Johnson was interviewed by Fox News and said about the same thing. “By anyone’s definition, by any measure, right now we have a crisis at our southern border.” Most Democrats still do not care and consider it a win-win situation for them either way. They can either show that Trump is not capable of keeping Americans safe, or they get thousands or millions more potential voters. They are so drunk on power that they do not care about America or Americans.

            Our nation is being invaded, and our President has been trying to get a barrier to stop the hordes. Democrats have fought him every step of the way because a border wall would be bad for the Democrat Party. They need as many illegal aliens here as possible even though there are already upwards of 22 million illegal aliens in the United States. If this river of immigrants continues, it is estimated that 1.5 million more will enter our nation this year.

            Illegal immigration is now at the crisis level, and Democrats never allow a good crisis to go to waste! We should have taken care of the immigration problem when it was just a trickle and never allowed it to become this raging river of illegal immigration. The do-nothing Democrats have caused this crisis, and it is time to vote all of them out of office in 2020!

Prepare to Remember

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the need to prepare for and remember the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. In approximately three weeks, our nation will honor the nearly 3000 people killed when Islamic terrorists attacked our nation. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of this heinous act, is dead, but the war against terrorism continues.

I encourage you to be prepared to turn this anniversary into a repeat of the day when our nation was turned red, white and blue by the many flags flying in the breeze. Please make sure that your flag is clean and in good repair and that you understand the proper treatment of the Stars and Stripes.

Another way to prepare for this anniversary is to let your Senators and Representatives know that national security is of high priority to you. National security was decreased during the administration of President Bill Clinton, and our nation was attacked months after he left office. We now have another President and his supporters who want to cut our defense budget. It seems to me that they do not understand the simple fact that people who want to destroy our nation usually attack us when our defenses are down.

Our Founders understood that we must be militarily strong. President George Washington fought for the cause of liberty and risked his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor fighting for American independence. He wanted peace, and he knew that "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

Benjamin Franklin was of the same opinion and wrote: "The very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for 'tis a wise and true saying, that `One sword often keeps another in the scabbard.' The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent."

Franklin said later, "Our security lies, I think, in our growing strength, both in numbers and wealth, that creates an increasing ability of assisting this nation in its wars, which will make us more respectable, our friendship more valued, and our enmity feared; thence it will soon be thought proper to treat us not with justice only, but with kindness, and thence we may expect in a few years a total change of measures with regard to us; unless, by a neglect of military discipline, we should lose all martial spirit, and our western people become as tame as those in the eastern dominions of Britain [India], when we may expect the same oppressions; for there is much truth in the Italian saying 'Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you.'"

Thomas Paine said, "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

After the terrorists attack on 9/11, our nation put important policies into place to protect us. America has stopped at least forty-one attacks in the past ten years. This type of vigilance has saved lives and must continue because there are still enemies who want to attack us. Matt Mayer of The Heritage Foundation wrote the following just days after bin Laden was killed: "In terrorist hideouts across the globe, many men with similarly warped views are eager to become the next bin laden. They know the path to that title lays in successfully attacking us domestically and causing substantial death and destruction."

There are brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day in order to protect Americans. They must have the necessary equipment, supplies, and support in order to do so. Our President apparently does not take the situation seriously because one of the results of the debt ceiling battle is a policy to cut $500 billion in our defense budget.

In the words of Baker Spring at Heritage: "… the policy established by the debt ceiling law will strip the military of its ability to secure the vital interests of the United States. The law, unless it is altered or repealed, will do irreparable harm to the United States military.
"History has repeatedly shown that these kinds of reductions in defense are penny wise and pound foolish, because they often serve to increase the likelihood of conflict. And weakness that invites war is much more expensive than deterring our enemies by maintaining an adequate defense budget all along."

Our wise Founders understood the necessity of maintaining a strong military, and wise men and women today still understand this fact. We can honor the victims as well as the heroes of 9/11 by staying prepared to defend our nation from all enemies - foreign and domestic. President Ronald Reagan understood the need for military strength when he stated, "Peace through strength." We must remain vigilant and prepared!

Compromise

After spending many weeks of debate and intensive personal negotiations, a compromise was made to raise the debt ceiling and end our current debt crisis. The drama of the past few weeks put the economy of our nation at risk and concerned Americans and people worldwide.

Compromise has been defined as a settlement between two individuals or groups where each side agrees to give up part of what he/she demands. The compromise about the debt ceiling has left both sides unsatisfied, and the fight over fiscal responsibility will continue. The more I study the situation, the more I realize that the current bill does not do much at all in solving our fiscal crisis.

Americans are disappointed because the debate over the debt limit was more about what was good for politicians than about what was good for the nation. Americans are disappointed because we are saddled with a broken government that refuses to fix itself. Americans are disappointed because the Budget Control Act does not solve the fiscal problems of America.

In a letter to conservatives, Edwin J. Feulner, President of The Heritage Foundation, outlined several elements of the current bill that he considers to be unacceptable:

1) There is no reassurance that this plan will "protect our nation's AAA credit rating." A statement from Moody's last Friday said that "neither the Boehner nor Reid proposals would restore our solid credit footing. This plan did not improve upon those. Economists from Barclays Capital in London said of the deal: `Overall, our first impression is that the agreement by itself is unlikely to be sufficient to cause S&P to remove the U.S. from being on ratings watch for possible downgrade.'" There is still a possibility that a downgrade will take place.

2) Our national security will be put at risk. "If all [defense cuts] are imposed, we will have a trillion dollars less than we need to protect our nation and defend its interests."

3) There will be more tax hikes. President Obama reassured his liberal base that more tax hikes will come from the special committee.

4) Conservatives believe that "Congress should balance its budget year-in and year-out," and they missed a good "opportunity to drive spending down toward a balanced budget." This debt compromise "does little to advance the cause of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Not all balanced budget amendments are created equal. We need an amendment with proper taxpayer protections so that Congress can't simply hike taxes to balance the budget."

5) Americans want their representatives to stop ducking responsibility and "make the tough choices to reform entitlements. The special committee of half-Democrats and half-Republicans will probably not do much to solve the situation.

These elements of the debt plan are not the only problems with it. "Conservatives put up a good fight for the non-defense spending cuts needed to reduce the size and cost of government. While Senate Democrats sat on their hands for 800-plus days, doing nothing, House conservatives introduced and passed the Ryan budget plan and the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, each of which was a step in the right direction."

Even though conservatives are disappointed with the debt deal, they can feel good about what they accomplished. The biggest change made was "progress we made changing the dialogue in Washington. Just as with the Ryan budget plan, we are talking in terms of spending cuts for a smaller, less costly government, not spending increases. Popular opinion is with the conservative philosophy of limited government."

Although conservatives made progress, we have to realize and admit that "this debt increase was the highest in history. This is not surprising, given the record spending increases and deficits we've witnessed over the past two years." Any sane person realizes that our nation cannot continue to spend more than we take in. If we stay on the same course, we will not be able to stay creditworthy, create jobs or grow our economy.

Feulner stated that we must continue to pursue entitlement reform and revenue-neutral tax reform while at the same time maintaining a strong military in order to defend America. In order to do all these things, Washington must "get serious about spending and regulation.
The Heritage Foundation did what Congress should have done but failed to do when they published a plan called "Saving the American Dream: The heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity." [savingthedream.org/?...] It covers tax reform, health care and Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and government spending, and it tells how it will affect millennials, families, low-income workers, entrepreneurs, baby boomers, and retirees. This plan is said to be able to "fix the debt, cut spending, and restore prosperity."

As conservatives we can feel good about the "ground we have gained," but we must not stop fighting for the fiscal salvation of our nation. We apparently had to make a compromise at this point, but the battle will go on.

Children

Have you ever considered that having a baby could be a matter of the national economy or even national security? It appears that the futures of nations worldwide will be determined by the people who are having children.

The Total Fertility Rates (TFR) is measured by children per female. According to Wikipedia, "The TFR is a synthetic rate, not based on the fertility of any real group of women, since this would involve waiting until they had completed childbearing. Nor is it based on counting up the total number of children actually born over their lifetime, but instead is based on the age-specific fertility rates of women in their `child-bearing years,' which in conventional international statistical usage is ages 15-44 or 15-49."

The TFR in nations all over the globe is dropping quickly. In the period just after World War II (1950-1955) the worldwide TFR was 4.92 children per female. By 2010, the TFR had dropped to 2.49. The TFR is expected to drop to 2.1 by 2035.

The TFR for the United States is 2-3 children per female, but it appears that our growth is positive only because of immigration. The plummeting birthrates create numerous and significant problems. The generous entitlement programs that were once pyramid-shaped have become inverted with more people receiving benefits than those paying into the system. Other countries are also experiencing serious problems because of the entitlement programs established in past years.

Economic problems are not the only signs of trouble ahead. It appears that the Muslim populations in European nations have higher TFR than native Europeans. This means that Muslims will soon be the majority ethnic groups in those nations and thus have added political power. There is sure to be more social and political unrest in those nations as the proportions of each group change.

The United States is not yet in that position, but we could soon have the same problems. We cannot continue to rely on immigration to maintain our population base. It appears that only those people who believe in families are having children, and the willingness to have children appears to be a religious issue. If the United States is to remain a Christian nation, then Christians must continue to have children.

I have always considered that the decision to have a child is between a man, his wife and God, and I still believe that no one else has the right to tell a couple when to have children or to stop having them. I just want to remind you that having a baby is important to the national economy as well as national security.

Building Walls

Did you hear the news that Mexico is building a wall on its southern border? Mexican Superintendent of Tax Administration Raul Diaz recently confirmed that Mexico is building a wall on its border with Guatemala. The excuse for construction of the wall is to stop the flow of drugs, but Diaz admitted that the wall would also stop illegal aliens from free passage into Mexico.
There are approximately 500,000 people who enter Mexico illegally each year. Just as Mexico condemns the United States for building a wall on their common border, Guatemala Vice President Rafael Espada suggested, “The walls are not the solution to the problems.”
He sounded very much like what Mexican President Felipe Calderon when Arizona’s new law, SB 1070, passed. Calderon denounced Arizona’s law and said it was an invitation “to intolerance, hate, discrimination, and abuse in law enforcement….”
Even though Mexico wants the United States to have an open border, Mexican law bars outsiders who are “found to be physically or mentally unhealthy … economic burdens on society” or anyone who shows contempt for national sovereignty. The penalty for being in Mexico illegally is the opportunity to spend two years in a Mexican prison.
Even though Mexico is showing hypocrisy in condemning the United States for building a wall while building a wall of its own, they have also offered proof of their belief that a wall can stop illegal aliens from entering a country. The fact that Mexico is building its own wall to protect its own country gives the United States permission to build our wall to protect our nation.
I agree with John McCain when he declared, “Build the d_____ wall!” No other nation on earth allows foreigners to enter their country without meeting strict requirements. There is no reason good enough that the United States should allow illegal aliens to continue to come into our nation.
We have been talking about building a wall along our southern border for many years, but we still have only a partial wall in place. This partial wall has vastly decreased the numbers of illegal aliens entering our country in that area. I believe that politicians are trying to “feather their own nests” rather than protect our nation. Remember my post on building the Alaska Highway (October 28, 2010)? During World War II, a road to Alaska was considered necessary to prevent an invasion by Japanese forces. The road to Alaska – 1500 miles long – was built in a period of 8 months and 12 days because politicians realized the importance of it.
At the present time we are being invaded by illegal aliens from numerous nations – and yet the politicians refuse to admit t
that the security of our nation is at stake. If our leaders would stop playing political games, we could have a wall on our southern border in a matter of months and better secure our border and nation. I say, “Stop playing political games and build the wall!”

Shariah Law

For this Freedom Friday, I want to awaken my readers to the dangers of shariah law. I recently spent several hours reading a report released about a week ago by the Center for Security Policy entitled "Shariah - the Threat to America - An Exercise in Competitive Analysis." I will admit that I did not understand everything I read in the 148-page report supported by 24 pages of "notes," but I did come away from the exercise with a new understanding about the dangers of shariah law. As I understand it, shariah law is "firmly rooted in Islam's doctrinal texts" and is the system under which Islam plans to take over the world by either violence or stealth. I recommend that all of you read the report as soon as possible. The study was completed by a team of nineteen experts consisting of military officers, ambassadors, special agents, former Director of Central Intelligence, former assistants to Cabinet members, etc.

"This study is the result of months of analysis, discussion and drafting by a group of top security policy experts concerned with the preeminent totalitarian threat of our time: the legal-political-military doctrine known within Islam as `shariah.' It is designed to provide a comprehensive and articulate `second opinion' on the official characterizations and assessments of this threat as put forth by the United States government."

The study asserts that the United States has "an enemy inside our perimeter" and that our national security is at grave risk. It makes the following conclusion: 1) The United States government under successive presidents has failed to understand how shariah law poses a direct threat to our constitutional form of government and free society. 2) Shariah law is "an alien legal system" that is "hostile to and in contravention of the U.S. Constitution." 3) Because this law dictates both violent and non-violent means to establish shariah law in America, proponents of it should be considered as engaging in criminal sedition and not a protected practice of a religion.

The report lists eight recommendations for policy and programmatic changes: 1) Americans in all walks of life "must be equipped with an accurate understanding of the nature of shariah and the necessity of keeping America shariah-free. Specifically, we must resist efforts to allow the "alien and barbaric legal code" of shariah to become "an alternate, parallel system to the Constitution and the laws enacted pursuant to it." Those who have taken an oath to "support and defend" the Constitution must honor that oath.
2) Agencies and organizations of the US government should stop their outreach to Muslim communities through Muslim Brotherhood fronts whose mission is to destroy our country from within…" 3) Add those who espouse or support shariah to the hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan who are currently banned from holding positions of trust in federal, state, or local governments or the armed forces of our nation. 4) Proscribe "Practices that promote shariah … are incompatible with the Constitution and the freedoms it enshrines." 5) Warn imams and mosques that advocate shariah in America that "they are promoting seditious activity" and that they "will not be immune from prosecution" because "sedition is prohibited by law in the United States." 6) Textbooks "must not promote shariah, its tenets, or the notion that America must submit to its dictates" whether used in secular educational systems or Islamic schools. 7) Any communities or compounds seeking to "segregate themselves on the basis of shariah law, apply it alongside or in lieu of the law of the land, or otherwise establish themselves as `no-go' zones for law enforcement and other authorities must be thwarted in such efforts," and "assertion of claims to territory around mosques should be proscribed." 8) Supporters of shariah law should not be allowed to immigrate to the United States.

The study indicates that the United States is in this dangerous situation because Americans are too concerned about political correctness and tolerance and not concerned enough about learning about the Constitution and why the United States became and remains a great nation. As I read this study I could not help but make the comparison between the Muslim Brotherhood in America with the Gadianton Robbers in the Book of Mormon. Both groups share the goal of destroying government and freedom.