“Thomas Jefferson” on The Daily Caller

The State of the Union (SOTU) speech has become a carnival of politics, theatrics and rudeness, much like cable television. The United States Constitution requires the president to “give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union” (Article II, Section 3). You don’t have to be a constitutional scholar to recognize that the requirement is to simply give Congress a report on the state of the union. (more)

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (more)

Five thousand conservative true believers cheered Fox News host Glenn Beck and other right-leaning firebrands at Right Nation 2010 in Hoffman Estates on Saturday night in a call-to-arms 45 days before Election Day. (more)

“Renewing America’s Promise” was the title of the 2008 Democratic Party National Platform.  I’m guessing you’ve never read it.  Heck, I hadn’t either until recently.  I highly recommend you look it up, print it out, and give it a read.  Oh, and grab a highlighter and a red pen just for the fun of it; I’m sure you’ll find much to mark up.  Let’s just say my copy looks like the rough draft of a freshman term paper after only one sitting. (more)

Can you hear the clock ticking?  You can if you’re a candidate. (more)

As September 11th approaches, Americans remember the morning in 2001 when the World Trade Center turned to rubble. It is a fitting time to consider the nature of the civilizations that collided that day—and how to defend ours. (more)

Members of the Congressional Muslim Staff Association (CMSA) hosted a panel discussion on Capitol Hill Tuesday to discuss the perception of Islam among Americans in the wake of the current debate over the proposed Park51 Islamic center and mosque project to be located just two blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. (more)

Daniel S. Loeb, the hedge fund manager, was one of Barack Obama’s biggest backers in the 2008 presidential campaign. (more)

The revelation that former GOP chairman Ken Mehlman is gay was as shocking to the Republican inner circle as was the news that Lincoln had been shot. Sorry, tell us something we haven’t known for years. (more)

I find myself lately continually engaged in frustrating verbal exchanges with surprising numbers of my fellow citizens, who are prepared to argue that this country was “not” specifically founded as a Christian nation at its inception. (more)

Left-wing bias in the media is nothing new. Regardless, journalists and the free press have been regarded as the peaceful guardians of America’s liberal democratic republic. In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote: (more)

“But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt, than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years?” - Thomas Jefferson, September 6, 1789 (more)

As a self-defined “mainstream conservative,” it is no wonder Michael Gerson is “strangely disoriented” by the Tea Party movement.  Whenever conservatives put a qualifier in front their name, it is often followed by a dismissal of all others not quite so enlightened as themselves. (more)

Senate Democrats are laying the groundwork for an assault on the filibuster, the means of unlimited debate that can only be shut off with a super-majority vote of 60 senators. (more)

Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, seemed to shock many people when she dodged questions about the Declaration of Independence during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (more)

“History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain (more)

Just days before the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a committee of patriotic Massachusetts citizens visited honest John Adams. They were seeking a quotable comment from the great statesman who had fifty summers before pushed, pressed, and prodded his reluctant fellow congressmen to vote for a complete break with England. “Independence Forever,” the physically frail but mentally sharp Adams cried. (more)

Franklin D. Roosevelt again topped the Siena College survey of the best U.S. presidents, but the man sitting in the White House fewer than 18 months has cracked the Top 15. (more)

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” —Thomas Jefferson
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I was at a town hall meeting back in Texas recently and a local man came up to me afterwards to talk about his concerns over where our country was headed, something to do with a fiery inferno and a hand basket.  As he was talking to me, I noticed his t-shirt: “I love my Bible,” with a picture of the Book; and “I love my guns,” with a picture of two Colt 45s.  Naturally they were in the right order; after all he was the local preacher. (more)