Formal End to Judeo-Christian America Lambro (25) Clinton, Hillary Will (9) He U.S

At Issue this week... Culture War by Dennis Prager

July 8, 2015

2016 Election Formal end to Judeo-Christian America Lambro (25) Clinton, Hillary Will (9) he U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling sex marriage. They have rendered those And therein lies one of the reasons that Confederate Flag on the redefinition of marriage who believe that marriage should remain the notion of obedience to religion is so Buchanan (23) seals the end of America as the a man-woman institution the most vilified loathed by the cultural left. Biblical Juda- Chavez (27) FoundersT envisioned it. group in America today. ism and Christianity repeatedly dismiss Greenberg (20) It is the heart — not the mind, not mil- the heart as a moral guide. Krauthammer (10) From well before 1776 until the second Massie (20) half of the 20th century, the moral values lennia of human experience, nor any secu- Moreover, the war to replace God, Towery (24) of the United States were rooted in the Bi- lar or religious body of wisdom — that has Judeo-Christian values and the Bible as Culture War ble and its God. determined that marriage should no longer moral guides is far from over. What will Bozell (28) Unlike Europe, which defined itself as be defined as the union of a man anda this lead to? Buchanan (3) exclusively Christian, America became the woman. Here are three likely scenarios: Murchison (27) Prager (1) first Judeo-Christian society. The Ameri- 1. Becoming more and more like West- Dear Mark can Founders were Christians — either Dennis ern Europe, which has more or less created Levy (19) theologically or culturally — but they the first godless and religion-less societies Democrats were rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures. Prager in history. Among the consequences are Erickson (4) Even Americans who could not affirm less marriage and the birth of far fewer (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate Economy traditional Christian or Jewish theology children. Lambro (13) EPA affirmed the centrality of God to ethics. 2. More and more ostracizing — even- McCaughey (29) Americans, from the Founders on, under- IT IS THE HEART, not the mind, that tually outlawing — of religious Jews and Freedom stood that without God, there is no moral has concluded that gender has no signifi- Christians, clergy, and institutions that re- Napolitano (26) truth, only moral opinion — and assumed cance. That is the essence of the Brave New fuse to perform same-sex weddings. Marriage that those truths were to be gleaned from World being ushered in. For the first time 3. An America increasingly guided by Greenberg (29) the Bible more than anywhere else. in recorded history, whole societies are an- people’s hearts. Lowry (4) Schlafly (2) nouncing that gender has no significance. Shapiro (12) BEGINNING WITH the Supreme Same-sex marriage is, above all else, the IF YOU TRUST the human heart, you Media Bias Court’s ban on nondenominational school statement that male and female mean should feel confident about the future. If Bozell (6) prayer in 1962, the same-sex marriage de- nothing, are completely interchangeable, you don’t, you should be scared. Judeo- Coulter (7) cision has essentially completed the state’s and, yes, don’t even objectively exist, be- Christian values have made America, de- Malkin (30) secularization of American society. This is cause you are only the gender you feel you spite its flaws, uniquely free and prosper- Mosby, Marilyn Limbaugh (6) one thing about which both right and left, are. That explains the “T” in “LGBT.” The ous and the greatest force for good in the North Korea religious and secular, can agree. One side case for same-sex marriage is dependent world. Without those values, all of that Bay (30) may rejoice over the fact, and the other on the denial of sexual differences. will change. Obamacare may weep, but it is a fact. It is the heart, not the mind, that has Kudlow (14) And what has replaced Judaism, Chris- concluded that all a child needs is love, not June 30, 2015 Morris (28) Physician-Assisted Suicide tianity, Judeo-Christian values and the a father and mother. Saunders (23) Bible? Pope Francis The answer is: feelings. More and more Hollis (11) Americans rely on feelings to make moral Thomas (12) decisions. The heart has taken the place of Racism the Bible. Charen (5) Cushman (21) Years ago, I recorded an interview with Elder (22) a Swedish graduate student. I began by Malkin (9) asking her whether she believed in God. Second Amendment Of course not. Did she believe in religion? Williams (10) Of course not. South, The “Where, then, do you get your notion of Lowry (24) Supreme Court right and wrong?” I asked. Barone (15) “From my heart,” she responded. Harsanyi (17) That is why five members of the Su- Limbaugh (16) preme Court have redefined marriage. Saunders (18) They consulted their hearts. Sowell (5) Thomas (15) That is understandable. Any religious Will (17) conservative who does not acknowledge Trivia Bits homosexuals’ historic persecution or does Paquet (14) not understand gays who desire to marry Trump, Donald lacks compassion. Tyrrell (8) But let’s be honest. This lack of com- World Powers Barone (31) passion is more than matched by the mean- ness expressed by the advocates of same- 2 Conservative Chronicle MARRIAGE: June 30, 2015 How Congress should respond to Justice Kennedy ustice Kennedy’s opinion for a 5-4 Only the union of husband and wife often called “under-privileged,” but the Congress should reaffirm the fac- majority of the Supreme Court is honored in our cultural heritage — most important privilege they lack is the tual foundation of the 1996 Defense of has rightly been condemned for depicted in thousands of works of art privilege of a stable home formed by a Marriage Act, which Justice Kennedy its Jlack of grounding in the Constitution- and chronicled in thousands of works husband and wife who are legally mar- knocked out two years ago in the Wind- al text he is sworn to uphold.Unable to of literature — which have inspired and ried to each other and jointly respon- sor case. It is simply a fact, which can- find gay marriage in either the due pro- ennobled people over millennia. Only sible for rearing the children they bring not be reasonably denied, that the 1,138 cess clause or the equal protection clause the union of husband and wife can pro- into the world. federal laws that refer to marriage (such of the Fourteenth Amendment, Kennedy vide the biological A crash pro- as the joint income tax return, tax deduc- ultimately rests his case on what Justice connection that gram to rebuild tions and credits, homemaker and other Clarence Thomas sarcastically called the attaches a child Phyllis the traditional dependent benefits in Social Security, “dignity clause” of the Constitution. to its parents and, Schlafly American nuclear and veterans’ benefits) were intended by through them, to family is urgent- Congress to apply only to the union of (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate THERE IS NO such clause, of other members of ly necessary for husband and wife. course, although Kennedy’s majority the human family. continuing our na- After reciting the foregoing reasons opinion mentioned “dignity” nine times. The union of husband and wife is the tion’s political and economic success and many others, Congress should con- But if dignity can be conferred by deci- only means of tracing history over gen- in this century. This won’t happen if we clude its resolution by formally resolv- sions of the Supreme Court, then Con- erations. Royal dynasties, such as the transform marriage into a means of giving that the traditional family, founded gress can do so, too. family that has ruled Great Britain since ing “dignity” to mostly childless homo- on a married husband and wife, carries Therein lies a first response: Con- 1066 — the same family that chartered sexuals. special dignity and deserves special gress should formally recognize the the North American colonies beginning Once Congress is on a roll to confer recognition because it provides unique dignity of opposite-sex married couples in 1607 — would have been impossible dignity, it should confer an extra mea- benefits to society. and resolve to protect that dignity in our without it. sure of dignity on the single-earner This is not to deny that every human laws. A joint resolution should recite the Only the union of husband and wife family, where a provider-husband is person has value and dignity, or that many reasons why the special union of can provide a stable home, as a self- the principal breadwinner and his wife other domestic relationships may have husband and wife has been honored for supporting economic unit suitable for is dedicated to the job of homemaker, a some value in limited circumstances. “millennia,” as Justice Kennedy admit- rearing and educating children.That is role more socially beneficial than work- But Congress should respond to Justice ted. why Karl Marx, in his Communist Man- ing in the paid labor force. Kennedy with a ringing affirmation of Only the union of husband and wife ifesto of 1848, called for “abolition of the unique dignity that should be ac- was recognized in the foundational texts the family” as a necessary step towards CONGRESS SHOULD affirm the corded to society’s foundational unit, of Western Civilization, including the a revolutionary communist utopia. many studies that report the singular the marriage of husband and wife. Book of Genesis as well as the classical Only the union of husband and wife advantages of husband-wife marriage writers of ancient Greece and Rome. The has the potential to address concerns for all measures of social and economic NAYSAYERS WILL scoff that the union of husband and wife was singled about increasing inequality, which is success.It should reject the politicized foregoing resolution doesn’t change the out for special recognition in the words driven primarily by the collapse of the studies purporting to show that family Supreme Court decision, and you can of Jesus, as recorded in the gospels of family among persons of low income structures make no difference in child imagine a late-night comedian compar- the New Testament. and low education.Those people are outcomes. ing it to the medal of courage which the Wizard of Oz presented to the Cow- ardly Lion. But movie fans will recall how that gesture inspired Dorothy and her companions toward achieving their goal.

•USPS: 762-710/•ISSN: 0088-7403 Published by Hampton Publishing Co. (Established 1876) Division of Mid-America Publishing Corp. The Conservative Chronicle is published weekly for $74.00 (U.S.) per year by Hampton Publishing Co., 9 Second Street N.W., Hamp- ton, IA 50441, and entered at the Post Office at Hampton, Iowa 50441, as periodicals postage under the Acts of Congress. Editorial Offices Conservative Chronicle, P.O. Box 29, Hampton, IA 50441. Ph. 1-800-888-3039. Editorial Coordinators, Kevin and Ruth Katz Circulation & Subscriber Services Conservative Chronicle P.O. Box 29, Hampton, IA 50441-0029. Ph. 1-800-888- 3039. Circulation Manager, Deb Chaney. Subscription Rates One Year...... $74.00 (Call for outside USA rates for Air Mail) Single Copy...... $3.00 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Conservative Chronicle, P.O. Box 29, Hampton, IA 50441-0029. E-mail address: Need to make a correction on your mailing label? [email protected] Visit our web site at: Contact us at 800-888-3039 or email: [email protected] www.conservativechronicle.com July 8, 2015 3 CULTURE WAR: June 30, 2015 Quo vadis, America? Capturing the culture “Natural law — God’s law — will al- Until the early 1970s, the American ways trump common law,” said Alveda Psychiatric Association regarded ho- King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King mosexuality as a mental disorder. Until Jr., and a Christian leader in her own this century, homosexual actions were right, “God will have the final word in regarded as perverted and even criminal. this matter.” Now, homosexuality is a new But, for now, constitutional right Justice Anthony and New York Gov. Kennedy has the Pat Andrew Cuomo is final word. Buchanan marrying homo- Same-sex mar- sexuals in front of riage is the law (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate Stonewall Inn, the of the land, as the site of the famous right of gays and lesbians to marry is 1969 gay riot against police harassment. right there in the 14th Amendment to the Similarly with abortion. It, too, was Constitution, which was ratified in 1868. seen as shameful, sinful and criminal We just didn’t see it. until Harry Blackmun and six other jus- Tony Kennedy spotted what no previ- tices decided in 1973 that a right to an ous court had detected. abortion was hiding there in the Ninth Amendment. THE ABSURDITY of the decision Did the Constitution change? No, we aside, it represents another stride for- did, as Gramsci predicted. ward for the revolution preached by An- We are told that America has “evolved” nature. And nature is exacting an awful “No-fault” divorce was an early so- tonio Gramsci. Before we can capture on issues like abortion and homosexual- retribution.” Hateful speech, it was said. cial reform championed by our elites, the West, the Italian Marxist argued, we ity. But while thinking may change, be- Yet, when I wrote that line, AIDS vic- followed by a celebration of the sexual must capture the culture. liefs may change, laws may change, and tims in America numbered in the hun- revolution, the distribution of condoms For only if we change the culture can the polls have surely changed, does mor- dreds. Worldwide today they number in to the poor and the young, and abortions we change how people think and believe. al truth change? the millions. And there is a pandemic of subsidized by Planned Parenthood when And then a new generation will not only Are the Ten Commandments and STDs among America’s young who have things went wrong. come to accept but to embrace what their Christian tradition and Natural Law as joined the sexual revolution preached in How has that worked out for America? fathers would have resisted to the death. defined by Aquinas just fine for their the 1960s. Anyone see a connection between Consider the triumphs of the Grams- time, but not for ours? Can true “social progress” produce re- these milestones of social progress and cian revolution in our lifetime. If what Justice Kennedy wrote Fri- sults like that? the 40 percent illegitimacy rate nation- First, there is the total purge of the day represents moral truth, what can be And if it is an enlightened thing for a wide, or the 50 percent rate among His- nation’s birth faith, Christianity, from said in defense of a Christianity that has society to welcome homosexual unions panic-Americans, or the 72 percent rate America’s public life and educational in- taught for 2,000 years that homosexual and elevate them to the status of mar- among African-Americans? stitutions. Second, there is the overthrow acts are socially destructive and morally riage, why have no previous successful Any connection between those father- of the old moral order with the legaliza- decadent behavior? societies thought of so brilliant a reform? less boys and the soaring drug use and tion, acceptance and even celebration of The late Roman Empire and Weimar dropout rates and the near quadrupling what the old morality taught was socially THREE DECADES ago, this colum- Germany are the two examples of indul- of those in jails and prisons over the last destructive and morally decadent. nist was denounced for writing that ho- gent attitudes toward homosexual con- third of a century? How dramatic have the changes been? mosexuals “have declared war on human duct that come to mind. One notes a headline the other day, that, among whites in America, deaths now outnumber births. This has been true for decades in Europe, where all the native-born populations are shrinking as the Third World crosses over from the Mahgreb and Middle East. Any connection between the legal- ization of abortions — 55 million in the USA since Roe — and the shrinkage of a population? “God will have the final word in this matter,” says King. Certainly, in the world to come, He will. Yet, even in this world, it is hard to recall a civilization that rejected its God, repudiated the faith and morality by which it grew great, embraced what was previously regarded as decadence, and survived. Our utopian president may see ours as an ever “more perfect union.” Yet, America has never been more disunited and divided — on politics and policy, religion and morality. We no longer even agree on good and evil, right and wrong.

ARE WE REALLY still “one nation under God, indivisible?” 4 Conservative Chronicle DEMOCRATS: June 26, 2015 All the rage these days: The Dems’ remaining tool f you have not realized it, out- Revel, who wrote, “Clearly, a civiliza- rage is about the only tool left tion that feels guilty for everything it in the Democrats’ political ar- is and does will lack the energy and senal.I After years of the left telling conviction to defend itself.” Americans there is nothing beyond That is the end game for the Ameri- this world, there is no higher and best can left, and once there, they can es- use of one’s soul because it does not tablish their utopia, which will not be exist, and the worms will start eating one, but good luck pointing that out. us the day after we die, Americans are Dissent, after all, is only patriotic when rather tapped out of caring about much Republicans control the White House. of anything. What started with the So rage it is, Confederate flag is and ready to scream about the slight- CLINTON HAS to harness the out- and the latest Erick only going to feed est offense. In 2012, it morphed into rage to build her own base. She has to rage is about the on drummed up the faux outrage over birth control and use the Confederate flag to convince Confederate bat- Erickson outrage to spread contraception. That morphed into a black voters she will stick up for them. war on women. tle flag. To hear (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate eventually to the But the American public is tired, cyni- commentary in American flag, Outrage has become their pre- cal and burning out quickly on outrage. popular culture, one might be forgiven and then to our culture itself. ferred political tactic, and it is a nec- The more shrill Clinton and the Demo- for thinking the Confederate battle flag essary one for them. Hillary Clinton, crats get the less incentive anyone has shot and killed nine people in Charles- THE DEMOCRATS are OK with soon to be their nominee, is not loved to vote for her. The politics of outrage ton, S.C. Instead, that would be Dylann this because their base feeds on out- by the Democratic base. In fact, the has a tendency to burn itself out and Roof, who, in irony of ironies, burned rage. Consider how angry the left was Democratic base no longer exists. It is turn against its peddlers like Robespi- the American flag like racial injustice from 2009 to 2011. They had won Obama’s base, and it only turns out for erre in France and American university protesters in Colorado did the other the White House and both Houses of him. The nation saw that in 2010 and professors today. day, all of them in opposition to what Congress, but still they were angry 2014. they see as an oppressive nation for different reasons. MARRIAGE: June 29, 2015 BUT THE FLAG is not really the issue. Culturally, it is the American left’s constant agitation against the traditional American way of life. They The next gay marriage battle do not like it. The idea of an Ameri- veryone knows where the vor, the other religious sanction. What able, they can sign off on legislation can melting pot, which was a common debate over gay marriage is Kennedy refers to as the “dignitary to prevent it. Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a idea just two decades ago, has been going next. Now that the Su- wounds” of the traditional definition of Republican, has a bill called the First replaced by an American salad bowl. premeE Court has imposed its edict on marriage are also inflicted by the pri- Amendment Defense Act — yes, it’s The difference is that in the melting the land, the question is whether reli- vate institutions and people who uphold come to that — protecting organiza- pot, all of the cultures blend together gious institutions and people of faith that definition. tions from government retaliation over into something unique and specially will still be permitted to act on moral In oral arguments, Justice Samuel their opposition to gay marriage. American. In a salad bowl, everything beliefs that the court has portrayed as Alito asked Solicitor General Don- There is unlikely to be a rush on the is piled together, but each piece re- bigoted and deeply wounding. ald Verrilli whether, on the model of left to endorse it, when the American mains unique and distinct. In his long prose-poem about love Bob Jones University a few decades Civil Liberties Union is heading in the Consider the University of Cali- masquerading as a judicial opinion, ago when it banned interracial dating opposite direction. It has just withdrawn fornia system, whose administrators Justice Anthony Kennedy made a bow and marriage, a college that opposed its support for the Religious Freedom held workshops for its professors with to these concerns. He cited the First same-sex marriage could be denied tax- Restoration Act, on grounds that it can a handout titled “Recognizing Micro- Amendment for the proposition that exempt status. “It’s certainly going to be used to protect organizations refus- aggressions and the Messages They religions and those that adhere to them be an issue,” Verrilli admitted. “I don’t ing to get on board with gay marriage. Send.” The professors were discour- “may continue to advocate with utmost deny that.” Already, there are a few calls to remove aged from using the phrase “melting sincere conviction that, by divine pre- the tax exemption of churches, now op- pot” or saying things like “America cepts, same-sex marriage should not be posed to what the Supreme Court has is the land of opportunity” or “Every- condoned.” Gee, thanks, Mr. Justice. Rich deemed a fundamental right. one can succeed in this society if they Lowry These are only tea leaves. The move work hard enough.” Very American THIS ASSURANCE is about as (c) 2015, King Features Syndicate against religious groups will surely concepts are now considered aggres- convincing as the rest of Kennedy’s start small, with some isolated, unsym- sion. airy majority opinion with little or no AT THIS juncture, most supporters pathetic Christian institution, and then In 1984, Ronald Reagan’s United connection to the Constitution or law of same-sex marriage do deny it, al- grow until what once had been called Nations ambassador, Jeane Kirkpat- — which is to say, people of faith ought though they have a history of making unimaginable becomes mandatory. rick, addressed the Republican Na- to brace for the worst. whatever assurance seems necessary, tional Convention. She referred to the Kennedy’s statement was carefully before discarding it in due course. It THE PUSH for gay marriage is mo- Democrats as “San Francisco Demo- hedged to include only advocacy and used to be that prominent supporters of tivated by a moralistic zeal that sees crats,” which was where the Demo- teaching, a lawyerly wording that the gay marriage pooh-poohed the idea of a only one point of view on the question crats had their convention that year. other lawyers on the court were quick judicial imposition of their view on the as legitimate. If its supporters weren’t In her speech, she said, “They always to pick up on. The First Amendment, country. In the Supreme Court’s prior patient enough to see their cause blame America first.” They still do. Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out pro-gay-marriage decision, just two through the inevitable fits and starts of President Obama went on a world in his dissent, actually protects the free- years ago, it said that domestic relations the democratic process, they aren’t go- apology tour apologizing for the dom to exercise religion. That means were exclusively a matter for the states ing to let procedural niceties stand in United States. He rejects the idea that people of faith acting on their beliefs, — before turning around and throwing the way of an effort to bulldoze their the U.S. is unique in the world. He not merely advocating them or teaching out state marriage laws not to its liking. way to a more thoroughgoing confor- thinks every other country feels the them. If supporters of same-sex marriage mity on the issue. The gay-marriage same way. Kirkpatrick, in her speech, It’s easy to see the coming clash of truly have no interest in punishing the debate isn’t over; it has merely entered quoted the French writer Jean Francois moralities, one enjoying official fa- exercise of religion they find objection- a new phase. July 8, 2015 5 RACISM: June 25, 2015 Whitewashing the Democratic party’s history ere’s what the former presi- position to the Supreme Court’s decision When he was running for president slavery, black codes, Jim Crow, and that dent of the United States had in Brown v. Board of Education and their in 2000, former Vice President Al Gore miserable terrorist excrescence the Ku to say when he eulogized his commitment to segregation forever. Ful- told the NAACP that his father, Sen. Al Klux Klan. Republicans were the party mentor,H an Arkansas senator: bright was also among those who filibus- Gore Sr., had lost his Senate seat be- of Lincoln, of Reconstruction, of anti- “We come to celebrate and give tered the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That cause he voted for the Civil lynching laws, of the civil rights acts of thanks for the remarkable life of J. Wil- filibuster continued Rights Act. Uplift- 1875, 1957, 1960 and 1964. Were all Re- liam Fulbright, a life that changed our for 83 days. ing story — except publicans models of rectitude on racial country and our world forever and for the Speaking of the Mona it’s false. Gore Sr. matters? Hardly. Were they a heck of a better. ... In the work he did, the words he Civil Rights Act voted against the lot better than the Democrats? Without spoke and the life he lived, Bill Fulbright of 1964, let’s re- Charen Civil Rights Act. He question. stood against the 20th century’s most de- view (since they (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate lost in 1970 in a As recently as 2010, the Senate presi- structive forces and fought to advance its don’t teach this in race that focused dent pro tempore was former Exalted brightest hopes.” schools): The percentage of House Dem- on prayer in public schools, the Vietnam Cyclops Robert Byrd, D-W.V. Rather ocrats who supported the legislation? 61 War and the Supreme Court. than acknowledge their sorry history, SO SPOKE President William J. percent. House Republicans? 80 percent. modern Democrats have rewritten it. Clinton in 1995 of a man who was among In the Senate, 69 percent of Democrats GORE JR.’S reframing of the rel- You may recall that when MSNBC the 99 Democrats in Congress to sign the voted yes, compared with 82 percent of evant history is the story of the Demo- was commemorating the 50th anniver- “Southern Manifesto” in 1956. (Two Re- Republicans. (Barry Goldwater, a sup- cratic Party in microcosm. The party’s sary of segregationist George Wallace’s publicans also signed it.) The Southern porter of the NAACP, voted no because history is pockmarked with racism and “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” stunt to Manifesto declared the signatories’ op- he thought it was unconstitutional.) terror. The Democrats were the party of prevent the integration of the University of Alabama, the network identified Wal- lace as “R-Ala.” SUPREME COURT: June 30, 2015 The Democrats have been sedulously rewriting history for decades. Their preferred version pretends that all of the Democratic racists and segregationists Supreme Court disasters left their party and became Republicans any people are looking at law, and decided that the decisions of Chief Justices appointed by Repub- starting in the 1960s. How convenient. the recent Supreme Court 34 states not to participate in Obam- lican presidents have made landmark If it were true that the South began to decisions about Obam- acare Exchanges, even to get federal decisions for which there was neither turn Republican due to Lyndon John- acareM and same-sex marriage in terms of subsidies, would not prevent those fed- Constitutional authority nor either evi- son’s passage of the Civil Rights Act, The next gay marriage battle whether they think these are good or bad eral subsidies to be paid anyway, to Ex- dence or logic. The first was Earl War- you would expect that the Deep South, policies. That is certainly a legitimate changes up by the federal government ren. the states most associated with racism, concern, for both those who favor those itself. When Chief Justice Warren said that would have been the first to move. That’s policies and those who oppose them. When any branch of government “separate educational facilities are in- not what happened. The first southern But there is a deeper and more long- can exercise powers not authorized by herently unequal,” he was within walk- states to trend Republican were on the lasting impact of these decisions that either statutes or the Constitution, “we ing distance of an all-black public high periphery: N.C., Va., Tex., Tenn. and Fla. raise the question whether we are still the people” are no longer free citizens school that sent a higher percentage (George Wallace lost these voters in his living in America, where “we the peo- but subjects, and our “public servants” of its graduates on to college than any 1968 bid.) The voters who first migrated ple” are supposed to decide what kind are really our public masters. white public high school in Washing- to the Republican Party were suburban, of society we want, not have our betters ton. As far back as 1899, that school’s prosperous “New South” types. The impose their notions on us. students scored higher on tests than more Republican the South has become The Constitution of the United States Thomas two of the city’s three white academic the less racist. says that the federal government has Sowell public high schools. Is it unforgivable that Clinton praised only those powers specifically granted Nevertheless, Chief Justice War- a former segregationist? No. Fulbright (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate to it by the Constitution — and that all ren’s unsubstantiated assumption led renounced his racist past, as did Byrd and other powers belong either to the states And America is no longer America. The to years of school busing across the Gore Sr. It would be immoral and unjust or to the people themselves. freedom for which whole generations country that was as racially divisive as to misrepresent the history. of Americans have fought and died is it was educationally futile. What is unforgivable is the way Dem- THAT IS THE foundation of our gradually but increasingly being taken Chief Justice Warren Burger, also ocrats are still using race to foment ha- freedom, and that is what is being dis- away from us with smooth and slippery appointed by a Republican president, tred. Remember what happened to Trent mantled by both this year’s Obamacare words. gave us the “disparate impact” notion Lott when he uttered a few dumb words decision and last year’s Obamacare that statistical disparities imply dis- about former segregationist Strom Thur- decision, as well as by the Supreme THIS DECISION makes next year’s crimination. That notion has created mond? He didn’t get the kind of pass Court’s decision imposing a redefinition choice of the next President of the Unit- a whole statistical shakedown racket, Bill Clinton did when praising Fulbright. of marriage. ed States more crucial than ever, be- practiced by government itself and by Earlier this month, Hillary Clinton told a Last year’s Supreme Court decision cause with that office goes the power to private race hustlers alike. mostly black audience, “What is happen- declaring Obamacare constitutional says nominate justices of the Supreme Court. And now Chief Justice John Rob- ing is a sweeping effort to disempower that the federal government can order Democrats have consistently nominated erts, appointed by George W. Bush, and disenfranchise people of color, poor individual citizens to buy the kind of people who shared their social vision gives the federal government the pow- people and young people from one end insurance the government wants them and imposed their policy preferences, er to order us to buy whatever insur- of our country to another. ... Today Re- to buy, regardless of what the citizens too often in disregard of the Constitu- ance they want us to buy. With that publicans are systematically and deliber- themselves prefer. tion. entering wedge, is there anything they ately trying to stop millions of American The Constitution gave the federal Republicans have complained about cannot force us to do, regardless of the citizens from voting.” She was presum- government no such power, but the Su- it but, when the power of judicial ap- Constitution? ably referring to voter ID laws, which, by preme Court did. It did so by citing the pointment was in the hands of Repub- the way, 51 percent of black Americans government’s power to tax, even though lican presidents, they have too often ap- CAN THE Republicans — or the support. the Obamacare law did not claim to be pointed justices who participated in the country — afford to put another mushy taxing. dismantling of the Constitution — and moderate in the White House, who can RACISM HAS an ugly past in the This year’s Obamacare decision like- usually for the kinds of social policies appoint more mushy moderates to the Democratic Party. The accusation of rac- wise ignored the actual words of the preferred by Democrats. Supreme Court? ism has an ugly present. 6 Conservative Chronicle MARILYN MOSBY: June 26, 2015 Marilyn Mosby guilty of what she seeks to condemn ask you quite sincerely, What is dents through a racial prism because of ing, banging and disorderly enough to ous charge filed — that of depraved- the moral difference between ra- her own feelings or her desire to sati- cause the van to rock from the inside. heart murder in the second degree cially motivated abuses of power ate a lynch mob. She has a fiduciary His ultimately fatal injury is believed against Officer Caesar R. Goodson by Irogue municipal police officers and duty to weigh the evidence impartially. to have been caused by his crashing Jr., the driver of the van. Having a de- those by prosecuting attorneys? For her to use her power to overcharge into the inside wall of the van when praved heart means having a wanton People should be concerned by Bal- these law enforcement officials was to the vehicle rapidly reduced its speed indifference to the potential harm that timore City State’s Attorney Marilyn extend the mob violence and mayhem at some point. This apparently led to could be caused, to the extent that the Mosby’s behavior, but it is especially of the protesters from the streets into paralysis in his arms and impeded his accused might as well have intended to alarming when you consider that she the halls of justice, and it is despicable. ability to breathe. kill the victim. is engaging in the same type of behav- The just-leaked autopsy report re- But here’s the kicker. Had Gray re- Who can look at the facts of the case ior that she is using her state power to veals just how improper Mosby’s mained in the prone position that have come out so far and not con- criminalize. charging deci- that officers had clude that this particular charge is over- sions were. She placed him in, he the-top and unwarranted? WE CAN NOW see why Mosby already had to David probably wouldn’t All the evidence will eventually played hide the ball with the autopsy dismiss her ab- Limbaugh have sustained the come out, but from what we already report on Freddie Gray’s death, and it surd false impris- type of injury he know, Mosby’s decision to file such certainly wasn’t to protect anyone’s onment counts (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate did. Gray’s stand- serious charges, especially this one privacy — except, perhaps, her own, when the defense ing up on his own, against Goodson, ought to give us all because it is objectively damning to her exposed that the knife Gray was car- according to George Washington Uni- pause. With the stroke of a pen, she has politically driven prosecution. rying was not legal under Baltimore’s versity law professor John Banzhaf, gone a long way toward ruining this I have always been a law-and-order city code as Mosby initially claimed presented “a new and unexpected dan- individual’s life — even if he is even- type of person and a strong supporter of and thus he was not arrested under ger” that the police “could not have tually acquitted — not so that justice law enforcement officials. In my book, false pretenses. reasonably anticipated.” can be served but so the mob can be cops don’t receive nearly the credit Banzhaf said it will be “very, very satisfied. and respect they deserve for helping THE REPORT shows that Gray hard” for the state to prove the police to keep the peace, protect the citizenry tested positive for “opiates and can- officers had the state of mind required HOW IS THAT any different from and preserve ordered liberty. Over the nabinoid.” Gray was out of control, to prove the criminal charges against the alleged abuses she appears to be years, I have observed how the politi- verbally and physically active, yell- them. Let’s just look at the most seri- abusing her own power to pursue? cal left has frequently abused, undermined and denigrated law enforce- MEDIA BIAS: June 26, 2015 ment, presumably because to many leftists, cops symbolize the Man — the existing power structure that represents the form of government they resent. It’s ironic that these same leftists still The Obama robot’s gushy podcast target law enforcement when they are arc Maron is a stand-up co- admitted he was one of these people, Someone should ask Maron if he’d now largely in control of government median and radio host in and even admitted he cried a little when been smoking something. and have managed to fundamentally Los Angeles. Hipsters love Obama was gone and the experience He also expressed wonder: “I mean, change so much about our government hisM podcast, mostly interviews with oth- was over. you had a Congress that was, you that it ought to be to their liking. er comedians, which he titled WTF. On Another Obama robot was born. know, dead set on not giving you any- Despite my respect for law enforce- his website, the merchandise includes Afterward, Maron told NPR’s Terry thing. And then, you know, then it got ment, I must also point out that I am a coffee mug that says “Pow! I (soiled) Gross that Obama is “a pretty amazing to a point where they really — even equally passionate against those situ- my pants.” You can understand why he person” with a “a sort of personal power if they wanted to work with you, they ations in which cops — or any other was shocked President Obama wanted or magic. ... It’s a rare thing.” He was couldn’t.” Obama agreed: “That’s ex- governmental officials — go rogue to grant him an interview. amazed to “be in the presence of some- actly right. They had their constituents and abuse their authority. It is horrify- As for Obama’s tastes, and his devo- body who is the president and has been all stirred up.” Maron replied: “They ing when people vested with official tion to the decorum of his office, noth- for eight years (sic) and to wonder: What thought you were Satan. ... It’s fascinat- authority abuse their authority under ing shocks us. He has neither. is that gift? How does just a person do ing to me that you were able to maintain color of law. And when cops cross that that? And to feel the incredible sort of this hope.” line, they must be brought to justice, ELEVEN YEARS ago, Maron was charisma and ease at which this Obama must drink in this kind of in- without question. an original crew member on the leftist guy handles himself.” terview like a refreshing summer brew. But it’s wrong to evaluate allega- radio network Air America, where he It’s interviews like this where you tions of abuse through biased lenses. hosted a show he called Morning Se- Brent just shake your head at liberals who You don’t assume cops are acting im- dition. They were filled with certitude rail against Fox News, asserting that properly just because you are preju- that they would overtake the Rush Lim- Bozell the people who they imagine are Satan diced against cops or authority. You baugh Show with their snobbish liberal (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate — like Ted Cruz or Dick Cheney — re- must assess each individual case on its comedy. It belly-flopped, then sank. ceive sympathetic interviews. But that’s own merits. His idea of funny was going on Bill MOST OF the media coverage of exactly what Obama gets from an NPR It was obvious at the time Mosby Maher’s show and joking about hav- this interview focused on Obama drop- or a WTF — which unsurprisingly, is threw the book at these six officers that ing violent sex with Michelle Bach- ping the N-word in a conversation about made available to NPR stations. In fact, she had rushed to judgment and that man. You can really understand why race — which in Obama’s case is al- the gush is measurably worse. It might she was primarily motivated not by the Obama interview was a surprise to ways a conversation about racism that be hard to recall a Fox News anchor justice but by political and emotional him. He’d never admit it, of course, but does nothing but further racial tensions, oozing that Dick Cheney has a “per- considerations, including a desire to we suspect even he considered Obama which is what he wants. Lost in this de- sonal magic.” punish cops for what she apparently would have better judgment. bate was Maron’s putty-in-your-hands believes are institutional wrongs. Why This choice was not so shocking for questions. THERE AREN’T many places in else would she attend anti-cop events? Obama. He seems allergic to the es- He proclaimed, “You’ve gotten an the media where Obama can still enjoy Why else would she appeal to the pro- tablishment press, as sycophantic as it amazing amount of stuff done, and in a his followers sounding like the Kool- testers and promise them justice? is, because he cannot control them. He time in the last year, you got some big Aid drinkers of 2008. You can expect As a state’s attorney, Mosby doesn’t prefers one-on-one interviews with left- stuff done where people didn’t think Obama to seek them out and exploit have the luxury of viewing these inci- ists that quiver in his presence. Maron you were going to get anything done.” them. July 8, 2015 7 MEDIA BIAS: June 24, 2015 We mostly hear about white ‘micro-aggressions’ he massacre of black church- ask: Which race assaults the other race goers in Charleston by an evil more? psycho is a hideous thing. The Remember the “knockout game” — caseT is especially sickening because the or as its devotees called it, victims were cho- “polar bear hunting?” sen specifically Black teenagers because of their Ann would go looking race. Thank God Coulter for white people it’s extremely rare to knock uncon- (c) 2015, Ann Coulter for whites to target scious with a sin- black people for at- gle punch, video- tack. tape the attacks and post them online. And yet the public is being told by the The knockout game was a real trend — New York Times, the Washington Post, which the media denied was a trend. MSNBC and Salon that the Charles- Just last month, we saw videos of ton massacre is proof that we live in white reporters from the Daily Caller a country packed with marauding rac- being mugged by black men in Balti- ist murderers. It’s like saying we have more. an epidemic of men flying gyrocopters Ask around. You might be surprised onto Capitol Hill. Yes, there’s that one at how many whites you know have time, but I notice you keep citing the been physically attacked by a black per- same case. son at least once in their lives. (Because that’s what people fear in line with a normal person’s life expe- Ordinary people keep hearing that most: I don’t mind getting the crap rience. IN THE Washington Post, for exam- we are in the middle of an epidemic kicked out of me — as long as no one In 2008, the most recent year for ple, columnist Lonnae O’Neal blamed of white-on-black violence and think, calls me a “cracker!”) which such data seems to have been the Charleston attack on “white suprem- Surely the media wouldn’t be making (2) Defining Hispanic perpetrators as collected, FBI surveys show that, out acy,” claiming that “racial sickness is all this up, so I must be misinformed. “white.” of 520,161 interracial violent crimes, around us.” (I guess the one upside of According to a preposterously, (Yes, according to our federal gov- blacks committed 429,444 of them the horror in South Carolina is that we laughably, ridiculously bogus report on ernment, Hispanics are “Hispanic” against whites, while whites committed can FINALLY have a national conver- “hate crimes” produced by Eric Hold- when they are victims of crimes, but 90,717 of them against blacks. sation about race.) er’s Justice Department, blacks are far “white” when they are the perpetrators.) In other words, blacks commit more The media’s WHITES ARE TER- more likely to be victims of hate crimes (3) Defining less than 0.1 percent of than 80 percent of all interracial violent RORIZING BLACKS campaign re- than whites are. It would be like a gov- all violent crimes as “hate crimes.” crime. flects reality as accurately as the me- ernment report asserting that most rapes (According to the FBI’s detailed Going for the element of surprise, The Obama robot’s gushy podcast dia’s other campaign, WHITE MALE are committed by elderly white women. crime victimization report, there were columnist Brit Bennett recently com- COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE RAP- about 1.2 million violent crimes in plained in the New York Times that ING EVERYTHING IN SIGHT! HOLDER’S DOJ got to the desired 2012, but Holder’s Justice Department “white violence is unspoken and unac- In a country of more than 300 million outcome by: characterized less than 1,000 of those as knowledged” by the media. people, everything will happen eventu- (1) Defining “hate crime” only as “hate crimes.”) Yes, I barely heard a thing about ally. That doesn’t make it a trend. Go those in which the perp uses a racial The FBI’s crime victimization sur- such alleged white-on-black crimes as: up to any ordinary, sentient person and epithet. veys tell a very different story, one more Tawana Brawley (hoax), the Duke la- crosse gang rape (hoax), Trayvon Mar- tin (self-defense), Ferguson (hoax) and Eric Garner (justified police arrest). Other than the wall-to-wall, 24/7 coverage for months on end, there was barely a peep out of the media about these cases. The media will pounce on any suspicion of a white-on-black crime, spend a year being hysterical about it, and, if it turns out to be a false alarm, refuse to apologize, before quickly moving on to the next hoax. The Charleston church shooting is the first case in a very long time in which blacks really were targeted by a white person because of their race (and had the misfortune of being in a gun- free zone). Even Bennett had to reach back to stories her grandmother told her about the Ku Klux Klan (100 percent Democratic) to come up with a previous example of whites terrorizing blacks.

THE CHARLESTON attack was a hideous, sickening crime. But that’s why we should thank our lucky stars that it was so unusual. White-on-black violence is freakishly rare everywhere in America, except liberal imaginations. 8 Conservative Chronicle DONALD TRUMP: June 25, 2015 New faces in the 2016 Republican race he Republican Party, the po- if he were merely a millionaire rather litical party of commerce (and than a billionaire eight or nine times of jobs!), has two aspiring over? candidatesT for the presidential nomina- Yet I will tell you this: Fiorina (if she tion who are drawn from the business can get a hearing) and Trump are community. One evokes unwarranted going to carve out of the snoozes; the other, electorate a sizable rather astonish- R. Emmett constituency. There ingly, evokes deri- are, out there in the sion. Tyrrell electorate, voters I am speaking (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate who are tired of of Carly Fiorina politics as usual. of Hewlett-Packard and Donald Trump, They think the country is on the wrong the billionaire developer. track. They are at least mildly conservative and think a straightforward, gen- THOSE WHO offer their expert erally conservative candidate could fix appraisals of these two candidates are the problems facing America, which retired politicians, political advisers range from immigration to foreign and pundits. In other words, these ap- policy to economic issues. They think a praisals are coming from those who guy who has made billions knows more have left the field of political combat about the intricacies of real-life prob- for whatever reason, or who have never lems than a lifelong politician. stood for election yet their assessments Rush Limbaugh made the point the of candidates are taken very seriously other day that American young people audience. It echoed the message of an would not relish a debate between the by journalists, who also have never who grow up in school systems that American president who cheered us all real estate magnate and Clinton — or, stood for election. Political commen- continue to harangue them about the back in 1984 when he spoke of “Morn- even better, a debate between Donald tary is unusual. It is as though the lead- environment, the health care system, ing in America.” Come to think of it, and Hillary and Bill? ing culinary critics in the country were the criminal justice system, guns — all Ronald Reagan entered politics late in Finally, there is something else to all vegetarians, or at least fruitarians. matters that supposedly adults have life from the world of Hollywood. Why be said for Trump. The critics tell us I could not listen to the anti-Trump brought to ruin — are getting a cease- is it so gauche to think Trump could he suffers from hubris. The Trump I diatribes last week without suspecting less message of pessimism about their enter politics from the world of com- know does not suffer from hubris — that I had just listened to the whining of country. The news media and entertain- merce? self-confidence, yes, but hubris no. He critics consumed with envy. If Trump ment culture reinforce this pessimistic He has made and lost and made again is a successful man and a cheerful one. had only made and lost and made message. his fortune with no hint of sleaziness. There is no hint about him of the dark again, say, one billion dollars, would He prides himself in the art of the deal. spots the hubristic suffer. Surrounding his apparently impecunious critics have WHEN TRUMP spoke last week Doubtless, his deals have no traces of him are cheerful, hardworking people. shown him more respect? Would their about “making our country great the unethical behavior of the Clintons. His children are especially cheerful and assaults on him have been less personal again,” his message was not lost on his Is there anyone so jaded out there who hardworking members of the Trump organization. In an interview in the American Spectator last year, he said, “One thing that was always important to me with my children is no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes. And I used to, from the time they were two years old and started understanding words, I would always say no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes. I would say it to them loud and clear, and I would say it strongly. To a point where I remember Ivanka once saying, ‘Dad, don’t say it anymore.’ But I would say it, because I have so many friends who have very smart kids, but they got involved in drugs and alcohol and other things, and their kids are a basket case right now.” And he added, “Life is tough.” But he made clear he had his priorities in order.

NOW, OF COURSE, his three old- est children help him run the Trump Or- ganization. Ivanka serves as executive vice president. She was there to intro- duce him the day he declared his candi- dacy. I predict he is going to run a great race for president. And at the end of the day, when he has had the last laugh, some observers will say he made it a race and one thing more: His children are his greatest monuments. Donald Trump has kept things in perspective. July 8, 2015 9 RACISM: June 26, 2015 Media’s vile attacks on conservative assimilationists have had enough of smug liberal G. Pearson Cross, who sneered: “There’s his name from “Piyush” to “Bobby.” A English-first instruction), ethnic -mili elites wrapped in their “Celebrate not much Indian left in Bobby Jindal.” New York Times digital editor, Shreeya tancy, extreme multiculturalism and a Diversity” banners tearing down Has pallid Professor Cross invented Sinha, gleefully linked to a BBC com- borderless continent. minorityI conservatives. an ambient diagnostic test to measure pilation of “The best of #Bobby- If we conservatives “of color” refuse Look in the mirror, media and aca- sufficiently accept- JindalisSoWhite.” to promote the welfare state, unfettered demia bigots. Your own reflexive racism able levels of eth- NBC News gloated abortion, affirmative action and massive and divisive rhetoric are poisoning public nicity? Michelle over tweets from immigration, we are guilty of “selling discourse. There’s nothing “progressive” The Post quot- liberal Indian- out.” about attacking the children and grand- ed a grand total Malkin Americans who Conversely, if I point out that my children of immigrants who proudly em- of one disgruntled (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate mocked the ac- skin is far darker than that of the TV brace an American identity. Democratic donor complished gover- progressives of pallor who presume to We are not “self-hating.” You just hate who railed against Jindal for “forgetting” nor, Rhodes scholar and father of three know more than me about what it’s like what we believe. his “heritage” and his “roots.” But that as a “Jindian.” to experience prejudice, I’m accused of was more than enough for the apartheid- exploiting my ethnicity. THE MOST recent grenade tossed lite adherents to heed the dog whistle im- IT’S THE SAME old, same old We’re coconuts, bananas and Oreos by the jack-booted Enforcers of Ethnic mediately. The Post’s splashy attack on from radical academics and reporters (brown, yellow or black on the outside Authenticity came from the Washington Jindal’s assimilationist ethic spawned who spurned assimilation as a common and “white” on the inside). Post this week. The Beltway fish-wrap- a vile Twitter hashtag game: #Bobby- goal long ago. As I’ve long observed, We’re accused of “thinking” and per hyped a 2,100-word investigation of JindalIsSoWhite. the media-ivory tower complex’s fidel- “acting” white if we quote the Consti- GOP Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal with Left-wing racists mocked his skin ity lies with bilingualism (a euphemism tution, shoot, hunt, oppose high taxes, a condescending quote from Professor color, his kids and his decision to change for native language maintenance over homeschool, take personal responsibil- ity or demand that government leave us HILLARY CLINTON: June 25, 2015 alone. You can’t win with these insane identity-mongers who preach compassion and peace while practicing vicious dem- agoguery. Black conservatives are “Un- Questions for candidate Clinton cle Toms.” Jindal is an “Uncle Bobby.” illary Clinton’s reticence is In March 2003, Bush launched a war worth of America’s 536 billionaires is And GOP Gov. Nikki Haley, born to In- drowning out her message, of choice to accomplish regime change $2.566 trillion. Is it a grave problem that dian Sikh parents, has been derided as which is that she is the cure in Iraq, mistakenly believing it was de- the 536 have three percent of America’s a “female Uncle Tom.” Jindal is “trying forH the many ailments that afflict Amer- veloping weapons of mass destruction. $84.9 trillion wealth? Is it deplorable that to be white” even though his parents are ica during a second Democratic presi- In March 2011, Barack Obama and you the Waltons became a family of billion- Indian and his wife’s parents are both dential term. Sen. Charles Schumer, D- launched a war of choice against Libya aires by creating Wal-Mart, America’s from India. Meanwhile, haters have ac- N.Y., has called her “the most opaque for the humanitarian purposes of prevent- largest private-sector employer? Do you cused me of being an “Auntie Toma- person you’ll ever meet in your life,” ing, it was said, as many as 10,000 deaths regret that Apple products made Steve sina” for marrying outside my race and but when opacity yields to the necessity at the hands of Moammar Gaddafi. Since Jobs a billionaire? Are any of your how- taking my husband’s name. of answering questions, here are a few: March 2011, in Syria, where the regime ever many phones iPhones? Marriage choice and marriage equal- continues to use chemical weapons that Sanders vows “to make tuition in pub- ity are sacred rights for everyone except YOUR FIRST leadership adventure it supposedly agreed to surrender, the lic colleges and universities free.” Do minority conservatives. was when your husband entrusted you civil war has killed more than 320,000. you agree that the 68 percent of Ameri- Jindal and Haley are just the latest with health care reform. Using a process Why humanitarian intervention cans without college degrees should pay targets. Last month, it was son of Cu- as complex as it was secretive, you pro- in Libya instead of Syria? the tuition for those whose degrees will ban immigrants Ted Cruz. White liberal duced a proposal so implausible that a bring them lifetime earnings significant- journalist Mark Halperin took it upon Democratic-controlled Congress would George ly higher than the earnings of the noncol- himself to drill Texas GOP Sen. Cruz not even vote on it. Your legislation was lege graduates who will have paid much on his “favorite Cuban food” and de- one reason that in 1994 Democrats lost Will of the cost of the “free” tuition? manded that he welcome socialist Sen. control of the House for the first time in (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group Another progressive goal is “debt-free Bernie Sanders to the presidential race 40 years. What did you learn from this college.” The average amount owed by “en Espanol.” futility and repudiation? Bush sought, and you as a senator the 69 percent of graduates with college Que estupido. Three times in your memoir Hard gave, approval for his war of choice. debt is $28,400, which is $11,000 more The civility police and tolerance mob Choices you say that as secretary of Obama and you, arguing that the thou- than a college graduate earns than a high find nothing wrong with their ad homi- state you visited 112 countries. Do you sands of airstrikes that killed thousands school graduate in one year of employ- nem assaults and vulgar litmus tests. think “peripatetic” is a synonym for “ef- of Libyans did not constitute “hostili- ment. So, what exactly is the student debt They’re just trying to make the world fective?” You tell readers that at a 2009 ties,” never sought approval for the Lib- “crisis?” safe from the liberated minds of mi- meeting with Chinese officials you said, yan war. Who was more lawful, Bush or Sanders favors a $15 minimum wage? nority conservatives. Those of us who “We need to build a resilient relation- Obama and you? What criteria suggest Do you? Why not $16? Democrats are dare to succeed in America without re- ship that allows both of us to thrive and that the world is safer than before you — we know because they say so — re- lying on tribalist entitlements must be meet our global responsibilities without became secretary? spectful of science, including, presum- dragged back and down by the resentful, unhealthy competition, rivalry or con- ably, economics. So, do you agree with seething crabs in the collectivist bucket. flict.” Does it trouble your environmen- IN THIS MONTH’S Wisconsin Obama that ATMs and airport ticket ki- We are scorned for abandoning the tal conscience that trees died to produce Democratic convention straw poll, you osks cause unemployment? militant hyphenated fetishism of the left. the paper on which you recycled that defeated Bernie Sanders 49 percent to 41 We are punished for rejecting rigid thought? percent. Sanders says he is a “socialist.” FINALLY: HAVING said, “It is boxes and boundaries and one-drop President George W. Bush said that Do you have fundamental differences tempting to dismiss [the Charleston mur- blood rules and permanent castes. when he looked into Vladimir Putin’s with him? If not, are you a socialist? He ders] as an isolated incident,” you re- eyes he saw a “very straightforward and does not think a 90 percent top income sisted that temptation and detected in the ASSIMILATION IS a Class A fel- trustworthy” man. You looked into Pu- tax rate is too high. Do you? He says “al- incident large social symptoms. Do you ony in the liberal rulebook and a threat tin’s regime and saw an opportunity for most all of” America’s wealth “rests in believe, as Obama now says, that racism to the Democratic grievance racket. Tell a cooperative policy “reset.” Were you the hands of a handful of billionaires.” is in America’s “DNA,” meaning it is en- me who the real racists and bigots are or Bush more mistaken? Forbes magazine says the combined net coded in our nation’s nature? again. 10 Conservative Chronicle CONFEDERATE FLAG: June 26, 2015 On lowering the flag: The rush to banish fter a massacre like the one cally unachievable. not material to the crime itself, but its The Confederate flags would ulti- at Emanuel AME Church in But there’s a deeper reason for this connection to the underlying race his- mately have come down. That is a good Charleston, our immediate rush to banish Confederate symbols, to tory behind the crime suggested that its thing. They are now coming down in a reactionA is to do something. Something, move them from the public square to the removal from the statehouse grounds — rush. The haste may turn out to be prob- for politicians, means legislation. And museum. The trigger was not just the whatever the endlessly debated merits lematic. for Democratic politicians, this means massacre itself, but even more tellingly, of the case — could serve as a recipro- gun control. the breathtaking display of nobility and cal gesture of reconciliation. WE WILL probably overshoot, as It’s the all-purpose, go-to, knee-jerk spiritual generosity by the victims’ rela- The result was a microcosm we are wont to do, in the stampede to solution. Within hours of the massacre, tives. Within 48 of — and a historical eliminate every relic of the Confedera- President Obama was lamenting the ab- hours of the mur- lesson in — the moral cy. Not every statue has to be smashed, sence of progress on gun control. A par- der of their loved Charles force of the original not every memory banished. Perhaps we ticular Democratic (and media) lament ones, they spoke Krauthammer civil rights move- can learn a lesson from Arlington Na- was Congress’ failure to pass anything of redemption and ment, whose ge- tional Cemetery, founded by the victori- after Sandy Hook. reconciliation and (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group nius was to un- ous Union to bury its dead. There you even forgiveness derstand the effect will find Section 16. It contains the re- BUT THE unfortunate fact is that of the killer himself. It was an astonish- that combating evil with good, violence mains of hundreds of Confederate sol- the post-Sandy Hook legislation would ingly moving expression of Christian with grace would have on a fundamen- diers grouped around a modest, moving have had zero effect on the events in charity. tally decent American nation. monument to their devotion to “duty as Charleston. Its main provisions had to America was indeed moved. The re- they understood it” — a gesture by the do with assault weapons; Dylann Roof SUCH GRACE demands a result was the civil rights acts. The issue Union of soldierly respect, without any was using a semiautomatic pistol. sponse. In a fascinating dynamic, it today is no longer legal equality. It is concession regarding the taintedness of You can pass any gun law you want. created a feeling of moral obligation to more a matter of sorting through histori- their cause. The 1994 assault weapons ban was al- reciprocate in some way. The flag was cal memory. Or shall we uproot them as well? lowed to expire after 10 years because, as a Justice Department study showed, it July 1, 2015 had no effect. There’s only one gun law SECOND AMENDMENT: that would make a difference: confiscation. Everything else is for show. And in this country, confiscation is impossible. Constitutionally, because Constitutional ignorance and dereliction of the Second Amendment. Politically, he nation’s demagogues and are not warned from time to time that keep and bear arms. ... The right of the because doing so would cause some- constitutionally ignorant are their people preserve the spirit of resis- citizen to bear arms is just one guaran- thing of an insurrection. And culturally, using the Charleston, South tance? Let them take arms.” Who are tee against arbitrary government, one because Americans cherish — cling to, Carolina,T AME church shooting to at- the rulers Jefferson had in mind? more safeguard against the tyranny as Obama once had it — their guns as tack the Second Amendment’s “right of James Madison, the “Father of the which now appears remote in America a symbol of freedom. You can largely the people to keep and bear Arms.” A Constitution,” said, “(The Constitu- but which historically has proven to be ban guns in Canada where the founding couple of years ago, President Barack tion preserves) the advantage of being always possible.” document gives the purpose of confed- Obama said, “I have a profound re- armed, which the Americans possess There are some historical anti-gun eration as the achievement of “peace, spect for the traditions of hunting that over the people of almost every other statements that might please Ameri- order and good government.” Harder trace back in this country for genera- nation ... (where) the governments are ca’s gun grabbers. “Armas para que?” to disarm a nation whose founding pur- tions.” That’s a vision shared by many afraid to trust the people with (Translated: “Guns, for what?”) That’s pose is “life, liberty and the pursuit of Americans, namely that the Consti- arms.” how Fidel Castro saw the right of citi- happiness.” tution’s framers gave us the Second zens to possess guns. There’s a more With gun control going nowhere, the Amendment to protect our rights to Walter famous anti-gun statement: “The most psychic national need post-Charleston go deer and duck hunting, do a bit of foolish mistake we could possibly to nonetheless do something took a skeet shooting, and protect ourselves Williams make would be to allow the subject remarkable direction: banishment of against criminals. That this vision is so (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate races to possess arms. History shows the Confederate flag, starting with the widely held reflects the failure of gun that all conquerors who have allowed one flying on the grounds of the state- rights advocates, such as the NRA and George Mason, author of the Vir- their subject races to carry arms have house in Columbia, then spreading like Gun Owners of America, to educate the ginia Bill of Rights, which served as prepared their own downfall by so do- wildfire to consume Confederate flags, American people. The following are inspiration for the U.S. Constitution’s ing.” That was Adolf Hitler. symbols, statues and even memorabilia some statements by the Founding Fa- Bill of Rights, said, “To disarm the At the heart of the original Ameri- everywhere — from the Alabama state thers. You tell me which one of them people — that was the best and most can ideal is the deep distrust and sus- capitol to eBay and Amazon. suggests that they gave us the Second effectual way to enslave them,” later picion the founders of our nation had Logically, the connection is tenuous. Amendment for deer and duck hunting saying, “I ask, sir, what is the militia? for Congress, distrust and suspicion Yes, Roof does pose with the Confed- and protection against criminals. It is the whole people, except for a few not shared as much by today’s Ameri- erate flag, among other symbols of rac- public officials.” cans. Some of the founders’ distrust is ism, on his website. But does anyone ALEXANDER HAMILTON said, Richard Henry Lee said, “To pre- seen in our Constitution’s language, imagine that if the South Carolina flag “The best we can hope for concerning serve liberty, it is essential that the such as Congress shall not abridge, had been relegated to a museum, the the people at large is that they be prop- whole body of the people always pos- infringe, deny, disparage, violate or massacre would not have occurred? erly armed,” adding later, “If the rep- sess arms, and be taught alike, espe- deny. If the founders did not believe Politically, the murders created a resentatives of the people betray their cially when young, how to use them.” Congress would abuse our God-given unique moment. Gov. Nikki Haley was constituents, there is then no recourse rights, they would not have provided surely sincere in calling for the Con- left but in the exertion of that original HERE’S A much more recent state- those protections. federate flag’s removal. But she also right of self-defense which is para- ment from a liberal, bearing no kinship understood that the massacre had cre- mount to all positive forms of govern- to today’s liberals/progressives: The MAYBE THERE are Americans ated a moment when the usual pro- ment.” What institution was Hamilton late Vice President Hubert H. Hum- who would argue that we are moving Confederate flag feeling — and, surely, referring to when he said “the represen- phrey said, “Certainly, one of the chief toward greater liberty and less govern- expressions of it — would be largely tatives of the people?” guarantees of freedom under any gov- ment control over our lives and no lon- suppressed, presenting the opportunity Thomas Jefferson: “What country ernment, no matter how popular and ger need to remain an armed citizenry. to achieve something otherwise politi- can preserve its liberties if their rulers respected, is the right of the citizen to I’d like to see their evidence. July 8, 2015 11 POPE FRANCIS: June 25, 2015 Politics, poverty and the pope in the news ope Francis is in the news student of history knows that a disarmed again, not only for his recent and defenseless population is the neces- environmental encyclical, sary first step for any would-be dictator “LaudatoP Si,” but also for his off-the- or despotic regime — a fact evident to cuff comments about businesses that the drafters of the United States Consti- manufacture weapons and those who tution over 200 years ago. invest in those businesses. In a nudge- Second, although Pope Francis nudge-wink-wink acknowledges the accusation of hy- value of business pocrisy, he sug- Laura (he refers to it as a gested that claims Hollis “noble vocation” of Christian- in “Laudato Si”), ity made by those (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate he nevertheless involved in the sounds the predict- weapons industry create “a bit of dis- able leftist alarm and calls for global trust.” governments to rein in the excesses of As per usual, there are those who business. This, too, is deeply ironic, par- wrench the Pope’s words out of context ticularly for a pope from Latin America, and ignore the aspects of his remarks which has seen such consistently op- that do not conform to their political pressive political regimes and resulting worldview. Even so, there is some inter- economic turmoil. (Hugo Chavez’s so- esting subtext here. cialist government nationalized Venezu- elan businesses and plunged the country ity to become an entrepreneur. And it is growth, the nobility and the Catholic FIRST, IT IS ironic that the pontiff into abject poverty. They now suffer business that has tempered the excesses Church — prevailing power structures would choose to criticize weapons man- from chronic shortages of medicines of political oppression, not the other at the time — feared the rise of the mer- ufacturers in the same speech in which and basic goods such as toilet paper.) way around. chant class, and passed regulations like he decried the Holocaust. It is true that It is especially galling when it is Barbara Tuchman writes compellingly sumptuary laws (which prohibited guild weapons can be and have been used for tied to denunciations of poverty, as it about this aspect of European history in members from wearing rich fabrics and aggressive and immoral purposes. But so often is in Catholic writing. It is not her classic book, A Distant Mirror. The colors otherwise limited to royalty and Constitutional ignorance and dereliction the American GIs and Allied forces that business that creates and perpetuates rise of the mercantile guilds in the Neth- the Church) to keep them in their place. liberated the concentration camps and poverty, but political corruption. That erlands during the Middle Ages, she ex- In the United States, our economic brought World War II to an end could corruption appears whenever political plains, created a path to prosperity, and a success is often associated with what is not have done so without the weapons power becomes concentrated in a few way out of poverty that depended neither referred to as the “Protestant work ethic.” they carried. It is further worth not- hands, whether those hands belong to on one’s birth status (royalty or nobility), This is not because Catholics (as well as ing that German Jews were able to be kings, communists, or congressmen. nor the willingness to fight and die in members of many other faiths) have not rounded up, carted off and slaughtered the military or enter a religious order. A worked hard or become successful — at least in part because they were pre- BUSINESS, ON the other hand — at new class of people emerged — a middle quite the contrary, in fact — but because cluded from manufacturing or dealing least in the European and American tra- class, comprised of merchants and their it was Protestants who asserted the view in — and therefore, presumably, from dition — is the great equalizer. Business apprenticed employees. that God rewarded hard work with bless- owning — guns or ammunition under diffuses power, placing it in the hands Despite (or perhaps because of) the ings in the here-and-now. the 1938 German Weapons Act. Any of the average person who has the abil- increased social options and economic Of course, business, like all human ac- tivity, requires regulation. And enforcement of regulation requires government. But it is no accident that Americans note more deceit, bribery, dishonesty, graft and waste in our own government today. It is because our government has become too large, too bureaucratic and too removed from the people, even while it exerts more and more control over our lives. The more powerful and intrusive government becomes, the more money there will be in it — and this benefits not innovators, entrepreneurs and small businesses, but huge, largely unaccountable multinational corporations that can afford to buy influence and exemptions for themselves. The leftists’ calls for more government are the consummate irony, as this will only exacerbate the problem.

THE EXPANSION of business goes hand in hand with increased prosperity and increased liberty. Free commerce depends upon the power of persuasion. Without it, there is little left but poverty and the power of the pistol. So, Your Holiness, if you would truly prefer fewer weapons, then what you want is a world with more business, and less government. 12 Conservative Chronicle MARRIAGE: July1, 2015 The real goal of the same-sex marriage movement ate last week, after the Su- ment could confer “dignity” on rela- preme Court of the United tionships. Now, the notion that the gay States declared without any rights movement seeks the “dignity” ConstitutionalL basis that the Consti- of marriage is similarly ridiculous tution mandates same-sex marriages — movements that seek “dignity” do be state legitimized across the nation, not hold parades featuring the a disquieting level of triumphalism Seattle Sisters of Perpetual broke out from Indulgence and a coast to coast. Ben bevy of chaps in The president a--less chaps. But shined lights Shapiro they do seek the representing the (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate “dignity” of being that refuse to acknowledge same-sex other because we share values, beliefs gay pride rain- told by a higher marriages; leftists have already sued and social institutions with them. With bow flag on the White House —a authority that their actions are right, into oblivion religious business owners all three of those elements being mem- gross boot-on-the-throat display from just and good. who refuse to participate in same-sex ory-holed by the government in favor an anti-religious leader. Corpora- weddings. It will not stop there. Reli- of self-expression, social capital will tions, undoubtedly fearful of the con- WITH GOD safely shunted to the gious schools will be targeted. Then, disintegrate; our trust in each other sequences of ending up on the wrong side in favor of Justice Kennedy, the so will homeschooling programs. The will fall apart, and government will fill side of the riotous left, began tweeting next step in the gay rights movement secular religion of the left has been set the gap. With this week’s judicial tyr- out rainbow symbols. News outlets will be the smashing of idolators — free to pursue its own crusade against anny, leftists move one step closer to similarly embraced the rainbow sym- namely, those who cling to their re- the infidel. their ultimate goal, as expressed at the bol, as though it were uncontroversial ligion and church in spite of Justice 2012 Democratic National Conven- to do so; BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, Kennedy’s New New Testament. Left- RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS tion: “Government is the only thing we and Mashable all turned their logos ists have already moved to ban non- were the key social glue binding all belong to.” And that will be an ugly rainbow, with BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith profit status for religious institutions Americans together; we trust one an- America indeed. explaining, “We firmly believe that for a number of issues, including civil POPE FRANCIS: June 25, 2015 rights, women’s rights, anti-racism, and LGBT equality, there are not two sides.”

LET’S MOVE beyond the roman- The pope, the globe and the facts tically idiotic language of Justice Ken- he media and the secular left off for themselves) will be just as poor encyclical attempts to be, this passage nedy’s decision. The notion that gay have a love-hate relation- when the money is spent. where the pope urges Catholics to ‘ask rights advocates and their allies, who ship with the Roman Catholic Is it worth radically altering our God for a positive outcome’ to the cur- have spent decades suggesting that the ChurchT and its popes. When the pope economies and lifestyles and giving rent UN global warming treaty process institution of marriage represents pa- takes positions with which they agree, government even more power over us will overpower every other message. triarchal oppression, love and respect they applaud him, but when he takes for a climate change faith that has not The Pope is clearly endorsing a specific marriage so much that they wish to positions with which they disagree, been fully debated and is problematic UN political climate treaty and essen- join in its binds, is inane. And the idea they either ignore or criticize him. at best and wrong at worst? tially declaring he is on a mission from that the gay rights movement desper- Such is the case with Pope Fran- Before rushing ahead with legal God to support a UN climate treaty. He ately seeks the tax assistance available cis’ encyclical on “climate change.” mandates, it would be useful to consid- even conjures up the comical concept to male-female married couples was The Washington Post gave it editorial er “scientific” predictions from of climate ‘tipping points.’” made false long ago with the promises praise, stating in a front-page head- The UN claimed in 1982 and 1989 of civil unions. line that it “poses a dilemma for 2016 we had reached environmental tipping No, the gay rights movement and GOP hopefuls.” Since Francis included Cal points. the broader American left celebrated abortion along with “climate change” Thomas Most of these Chicken Little fanta- the same-sex marriage decision in wild sies are based on computer models, not in his argument that the environment (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services fashion because the decision estab- and life at all stages has value and is in actual temperature readings. lished two fundamental notions: First, need of protection, one might ask why the past that have proven wrong. The Let’s not forget some of the many that government has replaced God the secular left and media don’t think government now wants to ban trans fats embarrassingly wrong predictions that in the moral pantheon of the United that’s a problem for Democratic presi- from our food, but 50 years ago people have been made about global warm- States; second, that the new god-gov- dential hopefuls? were told to switch from butter to mar- ing. An ABC News special in 2008 ernment has the power to root out and garine because it was thought the trans predicted New York City would be un- destroy any God-based institutions, POPE FRANCIS accepts as a mat- fats in margarine lowered cholesterol derwater by this year and that gasoline destroying the social capital and fabric ter of scientific doctrine that the Earth levels. Foods such as coffee and choco- would cost $9 a gallon and milk $13 a that holds together the nation. is warming and that humans are respon- late have either been good or bad for us, gallon because of “global warming.” In The emotion that greeted Justice sible for it. Yet near the end of the en- depending on the “scientific” study of the 1960s and ‘70s, media giants such Kennedy’s decision reeks of religious cyclical, he confesses that “the Church the moment. as Newsweek, Time, Life and National fervor. In ancient Israel, the Jews does not presume to settle scientific Geographic were convinced the globe cheered ecstatically each Yom Kip- questions or to replace politics.” Which FRANCIS TURNS spiritual and was cooling and we were in danger of a pur when the High Priest emerged is it? political lobbyist when he declares, “new Ice Age.” from the Holy of Holies; that signified Francis also admonishes the world’s “We believers cannot fail to ask God In his encyclical, Francis calls for God’s acceptance of the repentance of wealthier nations to open their wallets for a positive outcome to the present “an honest and open debate so that par- the people. This weekend’s Dionysian and give to the poor. The problem with (UN) discussions (on climate change), ticular interests or ideologies will not displays mirrored that sort of delirious that admonition is unless the political, so that future generations will not have prejudice the common good.” jubilation with Justice Kennedy as a economic, religious and cultural condi- to suffer the effects of our ill-advised stand-in for God: He declared the fun- tions in poor countries change, people delays.” I’M FOR THAT, but Francis has damental morality of homosexuality, on the receiving end of the money (if Marc Morano responded on climat- already reached his conclusion without not merely its legality. Kennedy went indeed there is any money left after edepot.com: “No matter how nuanced debate. In doing so, he has joined dis- so far as to declare that the govern- their corrupt governments siphon it and faithful to Catholic teachings this ciples of the environmental cult. July 8, 2015 13 ECONOMY: June 25, 2015 News media give Obama a pass on sluggish economy ou’d think it would be big News broadcast? Or NBC? Or ABC? I news when the economy is didn’t think so. shrinking, demand for du- What’s happening is the opposite rable,Y big-ticket manufactured goods is of the age-old saying, or question, that plunging and wages are virtually flat. asks if a tree falls in the forest, But here in the corridors of power and no one is there to hear of the nation’s it, does it make a capital, it’s be- Donald sound? ing shrugged off In the age of as yesterday’s old Lambro Obama, the ques- complaints. The (c) 2015, United Media Services tion has become: liberal network If the economy is Here’s how Forbes magazine’s web- goods plunged in May, after a huge news shows are ignoring it altogether. receding in the seventh year of its trick- site reported what the White House was downward revision in April — falling for And President Obama, well, he’s focus- le-down recovery, does the liberal, pro- up to: the third time in four months. ing on climate change and other issues Obama news media want to report it? “And last week we had the news ... that The consensus estimate for May was that don’t even make the top 10 list of the The blunt answer to that question the people who calculate GDP are about minus 0.6 percent, but the actual number voters’ chief concerns. should be painfully obvious by now. If to change the way in which it is measured came in at a minus 1.8 percent. The huge a Republican were in the White House so as to not report Q1 2015 GDP as fall- revision for April scaled back durable- THIS WEEK, Obama’s Commerce and presiding over this economy, the ing.” orders demand from minus 0.5 percent Department issued its second estimate of nightly news shows would be running But it isn’t just the shocking first-quar- to a dismal minus 1.5 percent. how the economy performed in the first daily stories about it, raising appropri- ter numbers in the nation’s GDP. Obama’s Meantime, retail sales were flat in three months of this year, announcing ate questions that would put the blame economy has been turning in anemic eco- April and continued to be slow as shop- again that it had not just stopped grow- on the administration’s policies. nomic growth numbers for much, if not pers kept a tight grip on their wallets. ing, but was declining. But not with Obama. Seven years most, of his tenure. Notably, consumer spending — After tinkering with its numbers with into his painfully slow economy, with The economy was already slowing which accounts for about two-thirds of what it said were fresh economic data, all that is wrong with his policies, he has down last year in its fourth quarter, with our entire economy — has been slowing the government changed its original as- gotten off scot-free. Go back and run the GDP increasing by just 2.2 percent, a since last summer, despite the decline sessment of the nation’s gross domestic tape on all the networks’ economic sto- mediocre growth rate no matter how you in gas prices that was supposed to give product (GDP) — the broadest measure ries, and you won’t hear Obama’s poli- slice it. the economy a big boost. That obviously of our economy. cies mentioned in any of them. Economists are already forecasting hasn’t happened to the degree the ad- The economy did a little better than It’s as if the economy is on one planet second-quarter growth at a sickly one ministration hoped it would. The pope, the globe and the facts its first calculation of minus 0.7- per and Obama is on another, and never the to two percent. “Still, that would leave Earlier this year, House Republicans cent, Commerce said. Instead, it had twain shall meet. growth in the first half (of this year) at a responded to the White House report on only shrunk by minus 0.2 percent. Why? weak 1.2 percent annual rate,” the Asso- the economy that made it appear it was People were spending less. Exports BUT NOW COMES the news that ciated Press reported Wednesday. in robust health and growing stronger were down. Businesses were reluctant the Obama administration is planning to And many forecasters are saying the every year. to invest in expansion. Retail sales were change its policies in face of all these Obama economy will not do much better That isn’t what the relevant economic lackluster. The U.S. economy wasn’t just bad economic numbers. Well, not its ac- than that for the rest of this year, or pos- numbers show, nor what millions of or- anemic; it was contracting. tual economic policies, but how the eco- sibly into next year as well. dinary Americans are feeling when they Did you see any comprehensive re- nomic data can be finagled to improve This week, the government reported tell pollsters that the economy and jobs ports about this on Scott Pelley’s CBS the numbers. that orders for durable manufactured are their chief concern. In their response on Feb. 19, GOP lawmakers said, “We give his report an F.” “The president continues to argue that more spending and more government regulation will help the middle class, and insists on blocking the spending cuts Americans so desperately need,” the House Republicans said. “If the president’s approach had worked, why would we be in the middle of one of the slowest recoveries in history? Would we still be missing 5.5 million private-sector jobs? Would Ameri- cans still be struggling under stagnant wages?” This week the Gallup Poll asked Americans to “name the most negative aspects of the economy.” Lack of jobs/ unemployment was at the top of the list of more than two dozen issues. Low wages were not far behind.

WHILE THE news media are ignoring the sluggish Obama economy, le- gions of struggling Americans have not. The Democrats and Hillary Clinton are going to be hearing from them loud and clear in 2016. 14 Conservative Chronicle OBAMACARE: June 27, 2015 Worse than the Supremes: Obamacare economics he judicial decision to uphold ployment to 49 and hours worked to all of the president’s health 29. Lower employment and fewer hours care subsidies may be very dis- worked are a double death knell for appointing,T but the economics of Obam- growth. acare are far worse than whatever consti- The Bureau of Labor Statistics sheds tutional mistakes have been committed light on this. Although part-time work by the Supreme Court. has fallen during the recov- The economics ery, from about nine of Obamacare are million to seven very bad. The law Larry million, it hovered is inflicting broad Kudlow around four mil- damage on job lion during the pri- enrolling low-income individuals but are dirty secret here is that a major taxpayer creation and new (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate or recovery. And struggling to attract middle- and higher- bailout is in the cards. business forma- part-time employ- income enrollees. Look, government-run health insur- tion. It ruins job incentives by making it ment, which as a share of total employ- Meanwhile, it appears that the healthy ance — or government-run anything pay more not to work, thereby intensify- ment peaked at about 20 percent in 2010 millennials are not buying enough — won’t work. Only free market coming a labor shortage that is holding back and has slipped to about 19 percent, hov- Obamacare to finance the older and less petition with free consumer choice will growth and in turn lowering incomes and ered around 17 percent during most of healthy — especially those with pre-ex- adequately set prices, premiums and spending. the prior expansion. Obamacare? isting conditions. other costs. Obamacare mandates reduce And across-the-board Obamacare tax Everybody is complaining about the So if the sign-ups are lower and the freedom and raise costs. increases are inflicting heavy punish- low labor force participation rate and the risk pool is shorter and the hoped-for re- Meanwhile, hospitals, doctors and pa- ment on investment — right when the equally stubborn reduction in the em- distribution from young to old isn’t hap- tients will suffer from lower reimburse- U.S. economy desperately needs more ployment-to-population rate. But why pening, insurance companies are forced ments. Doctors are leaving in droves. capital as a way of solving a steep pro- are we surprised? Obamacare is effec- to jack up premium rates. Again, not sur- The worst health care, Medicaid, which ductivity decline. tively paying people not to work. prising. But the crisis is coming earlier is completely government-run, is explod- University of Chicago economist than expected. ing. BECAUSE OF Obamacare, there’s Casey Mulligan argues that Obam- Laszewski reports that Blue Cross All this is why the system must be an additional 0.9 percent Medicare tax acare disincentives will reduce full- Blue Shield of Texas wants a 20 percent scrapped. And it won’t be missed. In on salaries and self-employment in- time equivalent workers by about four rate hike; in Maryland, it’s 34 percent; the latest NBC News/Wall Street Jour- come, a 3.8 percent tax increase on capi- million, principally because it phases Oregon’s biggest insurer, Moda Health, nal poll, 65 percent of Americans think tal gains and dividends, a cap on health out health insurance subsidies as work- wants a 26 percent hike; and Blue Cross Obamacare needs either modifications or care flexible spending accounts, a higher er income increases. In other words, Blue Shield of Tennessee wants a 36 per- a major overhaul. Just eight percent say threshold for itemized medical expense Obamacare is a tax on full-time work. cent hike. it is working well, and 25 percent say it deductions, and a stiff penalty on em- After taxes, people working part time Not every state is experiencing this. should be eliminated. ployer reimbursements for individual yield more disposable income than they But bad news has a way of spreading. employee health policy premiums. would working full time. Plus, insurance companies are increas- THE SUPREME Court decision is a Each of these tax hikes is anti-growth Mulligan calculates that both ex- ingly worried that the government won’t minor part of the story. The big-picture and anti-job. plicit and implicit marginal tax rates back them through risk corridors or claim question is: Can the U.S. not become There is so much talk about “secu- within Obamacare may rise to nearly reinsurance or risk adjustments. So the Greece? lar stagnation,” inequality and stagnant 50 percent, as the law discourages those who attempt to climb the ladder of suc- wages these days. But there’s little talk TRIVIA BITS: June 27, 2015 about the negative economic impact of cess. National prosperity and economic Obamacare. It’s a much bigger story growth are again the victims. than SCOTUS jurisprudence. A couple of examples. AND IF ALL that weren’t bad First, there’s the problem of the 49ers enough, Obamacare enrollment is com- Trivia Bits and the 29ers. The business mandates ing up short, and the program is unable 1. What state has a capitol whose and penalties imposed by Obamacare to sustain an adequate risk pool. Expert grounds have included a working oil rig? when small firms hire a 50th employee health insurance analyst Robert Lasze- A) Austin Paul or ask for a 30-hour workweek are so wski and the consulting firm Avalere B) Juneau high that firms are opting to hold em- find that exchanges are succeeding in C) Oklahoma City Paquet D) San Antonio (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate 2. We’re not counting commanders in A) January 25 chief here. Who was the only president B) March 14 who served in both world wars? C) July 5 A) Dwight Eisenhower D) September 17 B) Gerald Ford 5. What athlete was once known brief- C) Herbert Hoover ly as Cassius X? D) Lyndon Johnson A) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 3. Let’s do this Jeopardy style. If the B) Muhammad Ali answer is “Either Tbilisi or Atlanta,” C) Hakeem Olajuwon what’s the question? D) Ahmad Rashad A) Where is The Walking Dead filmed? 6. What Shakespeare play was seen by B) What is the capital of Georgia? more people on TV on the Hallmark Hall C) Where is the world’s busiest air- of Fame than had seen it on stage in the port? 350 years since it was written? D) Where are the world headquarters A) Hamlet of Coca-Cola? B) Death of a Melon 4. Things on Pi Day get crazy (or as C) King Toonces crazy as they’ll ever get) at 1:59 p.m. D) Thou Hast Mine Finger When is Pi Day? (answers on page 19) July 8, 2015 15 SUPREME COURT: June 30, 2015 Supreme Court — words don’t mean what they say or most people, words mean Obama administration and for the propo- unpleasant consequences, as the chief That’s how, for example, we had a 55 what they say. But not neces- sition that the executive branch can re- justice noted. Obamacare, as passed by mph speed limit for several years and sarily for a majority of Supreme write laws to say what they want them Congress, provided for insurance subsi- have now a 21-year-old drinking age. If CourtF justices in two important decisions to say. dies only in states that established their you don’t accept those conditions, you handed down Thursday. The results are particularly strik- own health exchanges. It specifically don’t get federal highway (and mass In the most prominent, King v. Bur- ing, since neither case was a challenge did not authorize subsidies in states that transit and bike path) money. well, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing based on the Constitution. They simply took the other option of using But much to the surprise of Obam- for a 6-3 majority, ruled that the words required the Court an exchange set up by acare’s framers, notably MIT economist “established by the state” mean “estab- to interpret the the federal govern- Jonathan Gruber, 36 states declined to lished by the state or the federal govern- words of a statute Michael ment. establish their own health exchanges. ment.” — words that can Barone Obamacare So if the Supreme Court interpreted the be changed by an fans dismiss this words “established by the state” to mean IN A SECOND decision, Texas De- act of Congress. (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate as a drafting error, “established by the state,” some six mil- partment of Housing and Community But waiting an unexplainable lion people would have lost their health Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities around for Congress to act is not the mo- glitch. But it’s very much in line with insurance subsidies. Project, Justice Anthony Kennedy, writ- dus operandi of the second-term Obama the way Congress has drafted numerous Barack Obama rightly pointed out that ing for a 5-4 majority, ruled that the presidency. Results are what the presi- statutes. Under settled constitutional law, in that case, Congress could restore the omission in the 1968 Fair Housing Act of dent wants, and if the plain meaning of Congress can’t require state governments subsidies by adding four words — “or words banning acts that have a disparate words has to be ignored — well, the Red to do things. But it can provide money on the federal government” — to the stat- impact on people of different races didn’t Queen from Alice in Wonderland pro- the condition the states do what it wants. ute. But a Republican-majority Congress matter. The plaintiff could bring a lawsuit vides guidance on that. would insist on other changes, though anyway. A contrary decision in King v. Bur- AND SINCE the 1930s, the states Republicans don’t seem to have reached Both cases were victories for the well would certainly have had some have usually accepted such bargains. consensus on exactly what. That could have meant a year-long battle between a statute-writing Con- June 30, 2015 SUPREME COURT: gress and a veto-wielding president. The Court’s decision spares them that battle. The chief justice’s King v. Burwell decision was crisply written and as- Same-sex marriage only the beginning sertive. Justice Kennedy’s Inclusive “Now this is not the end. It is not will seek to put out of business and si- in violation of the language of that law. Communities decision, in contrast, was even the beginning of the end. But it is, lence anyone who believes differently. Roberts took upon himself the right to almost apologetic. The issue was not perhaps, the end of the beginning.” This is diversity? No, this is enforced interpret what Congress intended, rath- whether the Fair Housing Act prohib- What Winston Churchill said in orthodoxy of a different kind and thus er than let the law speak for itself. its intentional discrimination — every- 1942 following a British military vic- in violation of the Constitution and the Modern Republican presidents, one agrees that it does. The issue was tory in North Africa might also be said special protection the Founders gave to beginning with Dwight Eisenhower, whether the fact that more monies go about Friday’s narrow 5-4 decision by people of faith. It was Thomas Jeffer- have had a checkered record when it to heavily black (or white or Hispanic) the Supreme Court legalizing marriage son, a deist who edited his own version comes to their Supreme Court appoint- neighborhoods than to others — “dispa- between people of the same sex. of the Bible, who said, “No provision in ments. Ike called his nomination of rate impact” — was enough to trigger a That the majority threw a bone to our Constitution ought to be dearer to Earl Warren, who quickly tacked left, lawsuit. religious people, their churches and in- man than that which protects the rights “the biggest damned fool mistake I The Obama administration has scram- stitutions, saying they could continue to of conscience against the enterprises of ever made.” There have been several bled to keep this issue away from the preach and teach that homosexual mar- the civil authority.” other justices nominated by Republican Court, lest it frustrate HUD’s program to riage is wrong, will almost certainly be presidents who have turned out to be “diversify” affluent neighborhoods with challenged by gay activists and secu- liberal wolves in conservative clothing. low-income housing. larists whose goal is to drive religious Cal Their names comprise a judicial hall Justice Kennedy allowed that but said people, and especially Christians, out of shame: Blackmun, Burger, Stevens, it didn’t justify imposing racial quotas or of the public square. Thomas O’Connor, Kennedy, Souter and now, preferences. But those are empty words. (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services at least based on his Obamacare posi- Universities aren’t supposed to employ WHAT MIGHT be a preview of tion, Roberts. This never seems to work quotas in admissions, but they do. HUD things to come occurred last week In the Supreme Court’s decision rein reverse, with liberals becoming con- will happily do the same. when the Fairfax County (Va.) School versing history, tradition and, yes, the servative once on the bench. These two decisions expanding the Board voted 10-2 to approve a “gender biblical authority it tacitly acknowl- I asked Republican presidential can- power of the executive branch exasper- identity” curriculum for children start- edges in the friezes on its wall honor- didate Jeb Bush about this mixed GOP ated Republicans. But they also raise is- ing in seventh grade. News reports said ing Moses and other law-givers, five track record during his recent visit to sues that hurt Democrats. the crowd that showed up for the vote unelected judges have imposed on Washington, where he spoke to a con- One is Obamacare, which continues overwhelmingly opposed the decision, more than 300 million Americans what servative gathering. Bush said that if to be unpopular. Republican presidential but majorities no longer matter. Minori- many still believe to be an “abomina- elected president he would conduct candidates will be called on to propose ties rule, except on the Supreme Court. tion.” That may be changing, but the extensive interviews with potential alternatives. Given their political clout and an- political process, not the court, should nominees to the court to make sure they The other is HUD’s fair housing tipathy to Christian doctrines, some decide. have a conservative constitutional view initiative. A Rasmussen poll released gay activists are likely to go after the of the law. He allowed that even then Thursday had 83 percent of likely voters tax-exempt status of Christian colleges IN HIS STRONGLY worded mi- there were no “guarantees” a justice saying, “It is not the government’s job that prohibit cohabitation of unmarried nority opinion on same-sex marriage, would remain conservative. to diversify neighborhoods in America students, or openly homosexual ones, Chief Justice John Roberts said, “The so that people of different income levels as well as churches that refuse to marry court is not a legislature.” Nonetheless, IF THE ZEITGEIST and politics live together.” them. As with legal challenges to the the day before, Roberts acted as a legis- are more persuasive to some justices owners of bakeries that have been in lator in again upholding the Affordable than the Constitution and the intent of THE COURT may let the executive the news for refusing to bake a cake for Care Act and its provision for provid- the Founders, then justices should be say that words don’t mean what they say. same-sex weddings, activists who de- ing federal subsidies to people in states held accountable by the political sys- But the voters can install a new execu- mand total conformity to their agenda that did not set up insurance exchanges, tem and their terms limited. tive. 16 July 8, 2015 Thumbs down for Chief Justice Roberts ast week’s Supreme Court redemption. But that was always a long rulings on Obamacare (Bur- shot. well) and same-sex marriage In the first case, he redefined taxes and (Obergefell)L were enormously dispirit- penalties to justify a result he’d already ing for reasons beyond the substantive reached in his mind irrespective of the issues of socialized medicine and same- law, flagrantly breaching his fiduciary sex marriage. duty to the Constitution. We hear I couldn’t be more opposed to social- that he descended into this ized medicine, sophistry because which I believe is David he believed he had the endgame of some higher calling Obamacare, and I Limbaugh to preserve the im- am opposed to the (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate age of the court. societal sanction- Of all people, ing of same-sex marriage, but those are he should know that in deciding cases not my greatest concerns with these two his duty is not to preserve the image of rulings. the court, except perhaps indirectly, but to objectively evaluate the law and facts IN BOTH CASES, the court flouted and honor the integrity of our Constitu- the Constitution, the rule of law, the Eng- tion. It was wholly improper for him to lish language and the truth itself. People disregard the plain meaning of the statute who appreciate the unique American sys- in order to save Obamacare because he tem of government and those who value might have believed that invalidating the same-sex marriage case decrying, in elo- to rewrite the Constitution, and statutes truth itself should be very concerned. law would be disruptive to society and quent and explicit terms, the very sin of enacted by a popularly elected Congress, First, let’s briefly consider the Obam- damaging to the image of the court. judicial legislation he committed twice in it dismantles the very foundation of the acare ruling. Though I was beginning For Roberts to have done so was a the Obamacare cases. system that protects our liberty. to believe it was possible that the court high-handed act of self-serving coward- Yes, I am strongly opposed to Obam- While Roberts is patting himself on would do the right thing in this case, I ice, and he needs to be called out on it. It acare as a policy matter, but I am far the back for supposedly protecting the didn’t allow myself to count on it mainly was immoral for him to presume to at- more upset about the court majority’s un- image of the court, he is obliterating the because of the endless insanity we’ve tempt to save the court by fundamentally dermining of the Constitution, the Eng- integrity of the Constitution, our system witnessed over the past six years. violating its operating principles. It is lish language, the laws of logic and truth of checks and balances, our sacred liber- Mindful of the absurd lengths Justice ironic that in the process of trying to save itself than that socialized medicine is one ties and the stability of society, because Roberts went to in upholding Obam- the court’s image he deeply wounded it. step closer to achieving permanency in when you rule that words mean the ex- acare initially — the verbal contortions The same exact criticisms apply to the United States. act opposite of what they actually mean, he disgracefully engaged in to save this last week’s decision in equal measure. you are injecting intellectual and moral wretched law — why would I assume No intellectually honest person believes ONE OF THE MAIN things that chaos. he would do otherwise with his second the law was remotely ambiguous con- makes America unique is its Constitu- If we can’t rely on the Supreme Court bite of the apple? There was a small part cerning Obamacare subsidies, and he tion, which was purposefully crafted to to honor the plain meaning of the Con- of me that was hoping he realized just literally rewrote the law to justify saving establish a system of government most stitution and of popularly enacted legis- how severely he had sold his soul on the it again. Then he had the unmitigated au- likely to safeguard our liberties. When lation, then our liberties are on shifting first decision and would be looking for dacity to write a dissenting opinion in the the court arrogates to itself the power sands. No matter how unique our Con- stitution is, it is worth no more than toilet paper if its words can be twisted to achieve any result the justices prefer. I make no apologies for being out- raged at these decisions, and I pull no punches in directing my ire at so-called conservative justices who are a part of such disgracefulness. I won’t waste my breath criticizing liberal justices in such cases, because everyone knows they believe they have a right to rewrite the Constitution at will, as long as it is in fur- therance of the liberal agenda. But conservatives — constitutionalists — hold themselves out as honoring the original meaning of the Constitution. For them, here is no excuse.

ROBERTS OBVIOUSLY regards himself as one who takes seriously the integrity of the Constitution and the plain meaning of statutes, as his opinion in the same-sex marriage case makes clear. This renders him all the more culpable for his Burwell decision. No matter how much he may rationalize and engage in self-deception, he has constitutional blood on his hands.

June 30, 2015 This Week’s Conservative Focus 17 Supreme Court The damaging doctrine of John Roberts onservatives are dismayed The most durable damage from ing (Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting, not apply Chevron, Roberts expands it about the Supreme Court’s Thursday’s decision is not the perpetu- calls it “somersaults of statutory inter- to empower all of the executive branch complicity in rewriting the ation of the ACA, which can be undone pretation”) is legislating, not judging. to ignore or rewrite congressional lan- AffordableC Care Act — its ratification by what created it — legislative action. Roberts writes, almost laconically, guage that is not at all ambiguous but is of the IRS’ disregard of the statute’s The paramount injury is the court’s that the ACA “contains more than a few inconvenient for the smooth operation of plain and purposeful language. But they embrace of a duty to ratify and even examples of inartful drafting.” That is something Congress created. Exercising have contributed to this outcome. Their facilitate lawless discretion exercised his artful way of treating “in- judicial discretion in the name of defer- decades of populist praise of judicial by administrative artful” as a synonym ence, Roberts enlarges executive discre- deference to the political branches has agencies and the for “inconvenient” tion. He does so by validating what the borne this sour fruit. executive branch George or even “self-de- IRS did when it ignored the ACA’s text generally. Will feating.” in order to disburse billions of dollars of THE COURT says the ACA’s stipu- The court’s Rolling up the subsidies through federal exchanges not lation that subsidies are to be adminis- decision flowed (c) 2015, Washington Post Writers Group sleeves of his established by the states. tered by the IRS using exchanges “es- from many deci- black robe and Chevron deference does for execu- tablished by the state” should not be sions by which the judiciary has writ- buckling down to the business of re- tive agencies what the “rational basis” construed to mean what it says. Other- ten rules that favor the government in drafting the ACA, Roberts invents a test, another judicial invention, does for wise the law will not reach as far as it cases of statutory construction. The de- corollary to “Chevron deference.” legislative discretion. will if federal exchanges can adminis- cision also resulted from Chief Justice Since the New Deal, courts have per- ter subsidies in states that choose not John Roberts’ embrace of the doctrine NAMED FOR a 1984 case, Chev- mitted almost any legislative infringe- to establish exchanges. The ACA’s leg- that courts, owing vast deference to the ron deference has become central to the ment of economic liberty that can be said islative history, however, demonstrates purposes of the political branches, are way today’s regulatory state functions. to have a “rational basis.” Applying this that the subsidies were deliberately re- obligated to do whatever is required to It says that agencies charged with ad- extremely permissive test, courts usual- stricted to distribution through states’ make a law efficient, regardless of how ministering statutes are entitled to def- ly approve any purpose that a legislature exchanges in order to pressure the states the law is written. What Roberts does erence when they interpret ambiguous asserts. Courts even concoct purposes into establishing their own exchanges. by way of, to be polite, creative constru- statutory language. While purporting to that legislatures neglect to articulate. This fulfills the Roberts Doctrine that it is a judicial function to construe laws in ways that make them perform better, meaning more efficiently, than they would as written by Congress. Thursday’s decision demonstrates Supreme Court vs. rule of law how easily, indeed inevitably, judicial ere is John Roberts, chief Let’s concede to Roberts that the in- and vague way, right before ruling that deference becomes judicial dereliction, oracle of the United States tention of every politician is to improve laws can be implemented in any way the with anticonstitutional consequences. of America, from Thursday’s on things. Republicans believe that fur- executive branch sees fit, as long as judg- We are, says William R. Maurer of the KingH v. Burwell decision: ther nationalizing health insurance is a es deem its intentions righteous. Institute for Justice, becoming “a coun- “Congress passed the Affordable Care bad idea and makes markets less com- Once we pass massive pieces of leg- try in which all the branches of govern- Act to improve health insurance markets, petitive and more expensive. By over- islation that effectively hand entire in- ment work in tandem to achieve policy not to destroy them. If at all possible, we turning the law, they want to improve dustries to regulatory agencies, we are outcomes, instead of checking one an- must interpret the Act in a way that is health insurance markets, as well. That’s allowing the executive branch to gov- other to protect individual rights. Be- consistent with the former, and avoids why we have legislatures, to debate these ern in any way it sees fit. That said, it’s sides violating the separation of powers, the latter.” points of view and then pass bills. That doubtful that SCOTUS would allow the this approach raises serious issues about What the statement illustrates is that legislation codifies what a ma- same rationalizations used for King v. whether litigants before the courts are for Roberts, the law is a subordinate con- Burwell to be employed for any legisla- receiving the process that is due to them cern. tion it found distasteful. Though Repub- under the Constitution.” David lican presidents keep nominating judges The Roberts Doctrine facilitates what I KNOW, I know, the Affordable Harsanyi who disappoint conservatives, you can has been for a century progressivism’s Care Act is moral and decent and that’s be assured that Hillary Clinton would central objective, the overthrow of the all that matters. Liberals demand we (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate not disappoint liberals with her picks. Constitution’s architecture. The separa- govern through empathy-based jurispru- jority can agree on. And we have courts tion of powers impedes progressivism dence rather than anything resembling to judge the constitutionality of laws, not BUT ON THE political side, this by preventing government from wield- the antiquated tenants of founding prin- to bore into the souls of politicians to de- ruling means we can no longer rely on ing uninhibited power. Such power ciples. If you care about the latter more cipher their true intent or find justifica- government institutions to check one would result if its branches behaved as than you do the former, the fact that Su- tions to rubber-stamp “democracy” — as another or themselves. Conservatives partners in harness rather than as wary, preme Court justices are aping the conse- Roberts puts it. — or whatever party is in the minor- balancing rivals maintaining constitu- quentialist arguments of the left and then But in every case, it seems, we must ity — have to continue to be the check. tional equipoise. working backward to make their legal respect the role of the legislature and not Any kind of reform should be opposed justifications is probably the worst sign undo what it has done. A fair reading of because any kind of reform, no matter ROBERTS SAYS “we must respect for checks and balances yet. the legislation demands a fair reading of how narrow the focus theoretically is, the role of the legislature” but “a fair We’re going to be inundated with the legislative plan. will be an opportunity for boundless reading of legislation demands a fair legal interpretations over the next few revision and scope. All a political party understanding of the legislative plan.” days. But imagine for a moment if a Su- IT WAS ROBERTS who helped re- needs to do is cobble together a tempo- However, he goes beyond “understand- preme Court justice argued that the De- write Obamacare the first time around, rary majority, push through legislation ing” the plan; he adopts a legislator’s fense of Marriage Act was passed to im- making a penalty into a tax and, for the that expands federal power and then role in order to rescue the legislature’s prove marriage rather than destroy it so first time in history, allowing American find some clairvoyant judges dedicated plan from the consequences of the legis- we must focus on the former rather than government to coerce every citizen into to empathy rather than their oath. All of lature’s dubious decisions. By blurring, the latter and uphold any retroactive pro- buying a product from a private compa- this is fine, according to the Supreme to the point of erasure, constitutional visions the Bush administration cooked ny as part of its power to regulate com- Court, as long as politicians had good boundaries, he damages all institutions, up to make that law work. Or imagine merce. intentions. not least his court. the same for any legislation you disagree Roberts, abandoning law, laments that with. Obamacare was drafted in a haphazard June 26, 2015 June 28, 2015 18 Conservative Chronicle SUPREME COURT: June 28, 2015 Supreme Court’s white lie on Obamacare he GOP-majority Supreme states without their own exchanges, be- Court saved President Barack cause “it would destabilize the individ- Obama’s bacon Thursday with ual insurance market in any State with a politicalT ruling that papered over his a Federal Exchange, and likely create signature Affordable Care Act. Writ- the very ‘death spirals’ that Congress ing for the majority in the 6-3 King v. designed the Act to avoid.” Burwell decision, Chief Justice John I sympathize, but Roberts noted that Roberts has to the 900-page law Debra J. know he’s wrong. was written be- Jonathan Gruber, hind closed doors Saunders an MIT econo- with little debate (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate mist who advised or amendment and the White House, thus was “inartfully” drafted. It was the explained during a 2012 speech that court’s obligation, he wrote, to translate the federal law limited subsidies to en- bill language limiting the government rollees of state exchanges in order to subsidies to enrollees in “an exchange “squeeze” states to act. Quoth Gruber, established by the State” as meaning en- “If you’re a state and you don’t set up rollees in federal exchanges also can get an exchange, that means your citizens subsidies. don’t get their tax credits, but your citizens still pay the taxes that support this ROBERTS ALWAYS has been a bill.” consummate politician in his role as George Washington University law interpreted the Affordable Care Act Severino, too, first assumed Roberts guardian of the big bench. The President professor Jonathan Turley — no conser- “penalty” language as actually repre- was attempting to “jump on the grenade George W. Bush appointee had good vative he — wrote last year, “I believe senting a tax, Scalia railed, “We should of a bad decision” by penning a less reason to fear how the public might re- that the text is clear in the Act and that start calling this law SCOTUScare.” damaging decision than Kennedy and act if the Supreme Court overturned a the Obama Administration effectively I think Roberts did what he did to pro- company would have written, she wrote law that benefits millions of Americans. altered the language when 34 states de- tect the court from the outrage that would for National Review’s Bench Memos Thirty-four states rely on federal cided to defy the government and refuse have followed if millions of Americans blog. After reading the decision, how- Obamacare exchanges. That’s six mil- to create state exchanges.” had lost their subsidies. There’s a big ever, she decided the chief justice “has lion people, 87 percent of whom bought hole in my thinking, as Carrie Severino, simply gone over to the dark side.” health care with federal tax credits. JOINED BY two conservative chief counsel and policy director of the The Obama administration never has Roberts cited a study that predicted that brethren, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a conservative Judicial Crisis Network, had much respect for process — an at- cutting off those subsidies would result blistering dissent. He raged that words kindly pointed out over the phone. Even titude that rubbed off on the Democratic in a 47 percent increase in premiums have no meaning if “established by the without Roberts, there were five justices Congress that passed the Affordable and a 70 percent decline in enrollment. State” doesn’t mean just that — and the — GOP appointee Anthony Kennedy Care Act in 2010. The president dishon- Between a rock and a hard place, law used the term repeatedly. Observing joined the four Democratic appointees estly claimed, “If you like your health Roberts argued that Congress surely that Roberts also penned the 2012 deci- — ready to uphold the health care act as care plan, you can keep your health care never meant to cut out subsidies in sion that, by a 5-4 majority, perversely per the Obama administration. plan.” Then-House Speaker Nancy Pe- losi infamously said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” The fog of the controversy only has gotten murkier. The result is the mess that put Rob- erts in the position of believing he had to engage in judicial activism in order to not look like a judicial activist. As a conservative, I think it serves the country best if elected officials, not judges, repair what’s wrong in Obam- acare. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a 2016 GOP presidential hopeful, hit the right note when he said he did not agree with the ruling. “It was never up to the Supreme Court to save us from Obamacare,” he said in a statement issued Thursday. Because the Democratic Congress wrote a heavy-handed provision that the Obama White House determined it was best to ignore, the Supreme Court got handed a live grenade. With all the Democratic justices on board, Roberts jumped on the grenade — leading with a bogus argument.

THE REAL casualty is any notion that the U.S. Supreme Court remains an honest broker. July 8, 2015 19 DEAR MARK: June 26, 2015 President Obama, cock a doodle doo “Because today, this reform remains doesn’t matter what the law actually says As “proof,” Obamacare supporters, as what it always has been — a set of fairer in plain English it’s all about the intent. well as the president, have thrown around CONTACT INFORMATION rules and tougher protections that have The president also remarked “This law the figure of 16 million enrollees. As made health care in America more af- worked. It’s still working. It has changed George Bush used to say, “That’s fuzzy Individual Contact Information fordable, more attainable, and more and saved American lives. It has set this math.” Team Obama and the department about you.” country on a smarter, stronger course. of Health and Human Services continue Greenberg - [email protected] President Barack Hussein Obama And it’s here to stay.” to refuse to release the number of people Krauthammer - [email protected] crowed those words as if he just made Of course the Affordable Care Act who previously had health insurance, lost the sun rise with Thursday’s Supreme has worked, if one adheres to the liberal their health insurance because of Obam- Levy - [email protected] Court decision to uphold his Obamacare definition of “worked.” In Rose Garden acare, and were forced to enroll in Obam- Lowry - [email protected] subsidies. And as usual he put a mislead- remarks following the Supreme Court’s acare. Not to mention the people who Malkin - [email protected] ing spin on the Supremes’ decision by decision the president cited were simply added to the Medicaid rolls. Massie - [email protected] acting as if this was the highest court in But big picture, I’m still befuddled Napolitano - [email protected] the land’s second decision supporting the Mark by the mandates in the law itself and Saunders - [email protected] entirety of his namesake legislation. The how liberals seem to fawn all over them. Schlafly - [email protected] liberal spin machine wasted no time once Levy What if the Supreme Court affirmed that Thomas - [email protected] again declaring Obamacare as settled law every American must own a gun, must (c) 2015, Mark Levy Will - [email protected] because of another Supreme Court vic- eat meat, and must worship at a Chris- tory. Social Security and Medicare as two suc- tian church? Liberals would go berserk. cessful government programs. Although So how are these examples any different Contact through Creators Syndicate BUT LET’S LOOK at the facts; the both serve noble causes, these programs than the idea Americans must purchase first Supreme Court decision regarding are speeding towards insolvency with a health insurance plan that the federal Michael Barone, Austin Bay, Brent Obamacare simply affirmed Congress’s Social Security going broke in 2033 and government mandates? Anyone on the Bozell, Pat Buchanan, Mona Charen, right to tax the American people. In some Medicare in 2026. left care to answer? Linda Chavez, Jackie Gingrich sort of legal gymnastics the SCOTUS de- President Obama might be basking Cushman, Larry Elder, Erick Erickson, termined that the fines and penalties for HERE’S A TOUGH question for in the glory publicly in the Rose Garden Joseph Farah, David Harsanyi, Laura not enrolling in Obamacare were in fact liberals to answer because it deals with but behind closed doors he realizes his Hollis, Terry Jeffrey, Larry Kudlow, taxes and therefore legally fell under the economics and facts; what happens to a legacy dodged a major bullet from the David Limbaugh, Dick Morris, Wil- purview of Congress. Forget that Presi- business that spends more money than it sloppily written legislation by House dent Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry takes in? Don’t stutter because we know Democrats. liam Murchison, Paul Paquet, Dennis Reid all sold the Affordable Care Act on what happens on Main Street America, it Prager, Ben Shapiro, Thomas Sowell, the idea it would not tax anyone. goes bankrupt or it closes. Unfortunately WELL AT LEAST with the Supreme Matt Towery This latest ruling was not a full throat- not in the la-la land we call Washington Court decision behind him the president ed endorsement of Obamacare either where programs that are billions in debt can quit smoking again and get back to Contact - [email protected] but it did involve legal contortions that are lauded as successes. Obamacare is no the business of negotiating terrible trade Contact through Universal Press Cirque du Solei would envy. Thursday’s different. deal and signing an even worse nuke decision did not reinforce the liberal no- Merely five years after being signed deal with Iran. Cock a doodle doo, Mr. Ann Coulter tion that Obamacare is good for America; into law the Affordable Care Act is on President. Contact by mail : it simply affirmed the subsidies by legis- pace to be one to two trillion dollars over c/o Universal Press Syndicate lating from the bench the intent of Con- budget within the next ten years. Accord- E-mail your questions to mar- 1130 Walnut Street gress when it came to federal exchanges ing to President Obama this is a program [email protected]. Follow Mark on versus state exchanges. Apparently it that has “worked?” Twitter @MarkPLevy Kansas City, MO 64106 Answers from page 14 TRIVIA ANSWERS Trivia BITS ANSWERS 1) Oklahoma City, with it’s oil rig, is a practical-minded city. 2) Eisenhower was a soldier in WWI and was general by the time of WWII. 3) Atlanta is the capital of Georgia in the U.S., and Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia in Central Asia. 4) Pi Day is March 14. 5) Muhammad Ali was born Cas- sius Clay and was briefly Cassius X. 6) Hamlet, the only Shakespearian play on the list, got quite the viewing on TV. Need to make a correction on your mailing label? Contact us at 800-888-3039 or [email protected] 20 Conservative Chronicle CONFEDERATE FLAG: June 26, 2015 Confederate flag never called me nigger like blacks/liberals t’s interesting that liberals and the Confederate flag goes “bump in the Obama-lefties have little to say night”. when the U.S. flag is trampled If it were me, I would fly the Confed- andI burned by anti-American anarchists erate flag on my property just to shove and Muslims. They call it “free speech” it in their faces. I further think that the and “freedom of expression.” But they people of South Carolina somehow justify should put Confeder- condemnation of ate flags on the dash- the Confederate Mychal board of their cars Flag as a ‘hate Massie whenever parking symbol.’ (c) 2015, Mychal Massie on government For millions, property. I would the Confederate Flag is a symbol of their also put my Bible and my Gun Owners love for the New South, which has risen of America resources on the dash. out of the ashes of the Old South. The homosexual flag flies wherever it I’D SEE JUST how far these cow- is wanted without a thought pursuant to ards are willing to go to infringe on our how people who oppose homosexuality rights. Let’s see if these race-mongers may feel or what they may think about then insist our automobiles be disal- it. Muslims are now flying their flags lowed from parking on government in America but it is the Confederate flag property if they have Confederate flags, that is worthy of condemnation. Bibles, and gun magazines on our dash- boards. FROM TIME to time I wear a confederate bandana on my head when I’m June 26, 2015 riding the Harley Davidson. My friends CONFEDERATE FLAG: do the same. I add to that I have never feared the Confederate flag. I have always been ambivalent about it. The Confederate Time to furl that banner flag has never called me a nigger but he colorful banner that waves and what it really calls up — “the image For it droops above the dead. white liberals have. The Confederate above South Carolina’s state of God on the auction block.” Virtues Touch it not — unfold it never ... flag has never threatened me with physi- Capitol — who knows for how and values? Like what? The way the Let us do the old flag honor even cal harm and called me sellout, Uncle muchT longer? — represents the many law of the land was defied by South- as we lay it to rest. The way General Tom, or any of a host of other vitriolic virtues and values of this our South, ern governors like Orval Faubus and Grant’s grand army of the Republic racial pejoratives, but white liberals, only beginning with valor and pride. George Wallace? A general contempt stood at attention as the starving, tat- Muslims, and blacks have. At times the old emblem is even used for the brotherhood of man? tered remnants of Lee’s Army of North- The attention to the Confederate flag as a symbol of our music or cuisine or So which is it — a flag to fly with ern Virginia marched off the field at is much ado about nothing. It is intended the hospitality that used to be a byword pride or one to be taken down and hid- Appomattox into history, their sidearms to do nothing more than foment unrest (Southern Hospitality) however much den away with all deliberate speed? It’s and sabers and invincible pride still in amongst “led through the nose” blacks. it’s been commercialized. Just as South- both, of course, for whatever this our place, to begin the long, long journey When John Kerry, Eric Holder, Bill ern Gentleman is no longer one word South is, it ain’t simple, or easy home. And back into the Union. Ayers, Hillary Clinton, the Obamas, but a vanishing breed. There is bound to be a place for the et al, were burning and protesting the old flag yet — like at Washington and American Flag and defending those who BUT HOW could this banner, the Paul Lee, where the old general devoted his decried our American flag, their actions proud Confederate battle flag, ever be Greenberg final years to educating the next genera- were viewed as noble. something to be ashamed of? For it was tion in better ways. And let the old flag carried into battle after battle to the ac- (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services still adorn the graves of the Confederate BUT NOW because some big pharma companiment of shot and shell — and dead for God’s sake. sick wacko punk who draped himself in rebel yells — by the Army of Northern to understand. Neither are Southerners Turn your eyes to the immoderate the Confederate flag was smart enough Virginia (R.E. Lee, Commanding Gen- — despite our outwardly easy-going, past, to go into a gun-free zone to carry out eral). Which may have been the last aw-shucks ways. Maybe you have to Turn to the inscrutable infantry ris- his hate-filled attack — pusillanimous remnant of chivalry that Western civili- live in these latitudes to understand, and ing little sissies craving brownie points have zation still had before those mushroom not just live here but be part of it, whol- Demons out of the earth — determined the Confederate flag must be clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki ly and without reservation, for these are they will not last. punished. The real debt of thanks for the proclaimed the arrival of our new, mod- Your People, black and white together. Stonewall, Stonewall, and the sunken successful attack in Charleston goes to ern, scientific and thoroughly barbarous Southerners to the bone and marrow. fields of hemp, those like Obama, Karl Rove, Eric Hold- way of making war. Shiloh, Antietam, Malvern Hill, Bull er, and all of the other fools who clamor This is the same colorful banner that SO WHAT would your choice be at Run. an anti-gun message. Because as every many in South Carolina and elsewhere this juncture of our history — honor the Lost in that orient of the thick and reasonable-minded person knows, had would like to haul down, for it repre- past or accede to the ever pressing de- fast that church not been a gun free zone, the sents all the follies and failings of this mands of the present? And having done You will curse the setting sun. shooter would have in fact come to the our South, and its grievous sins that all so, what of our future? Shall we free the right place to meet his maker. of us still bear around our necks like old South of any and all encumbering em- SO, PLEASE, a little reverence, But now craven whites seeking to man Marley’s chains and weights. Con- blems, leaving her a blank? Or devise even humility. Even as we furl the old kiss the dirty end of those blacks who sider the South’s long history of racial some brave new flag neither hallowed banner. In the end, in the spirit of union, will milk this unimaginable tragedy for oppressions, which go back to slavery nor disgraced by history, signifying justice and confidence, not to say faith, all they can extort, the Confederate flag times and continued under shameful nothing? For emblems freed of time are hope and charity, all of us will surely do once again comes under attack. And of successors like Black Codes and Jim freed of meaning. what we know to be the right thing. For course, there are the garden variety of Crow. Furl that banner, softly, slowly! old times there are not forgotten even as liberal dimwits who are convinced that There’s your proud old flag for you Treat it gently — it is holy — His truth goes marching on. ... July 8, 2015 21 RACISM: June 25, 2015 Prejudice is not a part of country’s DNA ong before last week’s killings by working together, we can create a in Charleston, South Carolina, bright future for all Americans. which appear to have been On Monday, standing in the South motivatedL by racial hatred, at least one Carolina State House surrounded by expert in belief systems wrote that a Democrats and Republicans, Haley person’s prejudices can be changed. called for the removal of the “Bringing Confederate flag groups together Jackie from the building. under the right “We have stared conditions (when Gingrich evil in the eye the contact is Cushman and watched good sanctioned by au- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate prayerful people thorities and when killed in one of the groups share common goals, have equal most sacred of places,” she said. “We status and engage in cooperative activi- were hurt and broken and we needed to ties) is one of the most effective means heal. We were able to start that process, of reducing prejudice,” wrote Timothy not by talking about issues that divide us, Wilson in Redirect: The Surprising but by holding vigils, by hugging neigh- New Science of Psychological Change. bors, by honoring those we lost and by falling to our knees in prayer. LAST WEEK’S tragedy, in which “Our state’s grieving, but we are also nine people were murdered at Emanuel coming together.” AME Church by a man described by Coming together, not pulling apart. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as a Haley noted that the people of her state “hate-filled murderer,” has heightened had sought their own paths in response “The result: Both Republicans and “The 21st century belongs to us be- the national conversation and focus on to previous crises. “In just the last few Democrats, black and white, came to- cause we have chosen to seize what’s race and relations. It has also provided months, the nation watched our state go gether and passed the first body-camera in front of us. To do what is right and a contrast in leadership — between that through another time of crisis when we bill in the country,” she noted. “And I do it together.” of President Obama, who has rumi- dealt with the betrayal of one of our own stand in front of you, a minority female Do what’s right — together. Time to furl that banner nated on the past, labeling prejudice as and the tragic shooting of Walter Scott. governor, twice elected by the people of In stark contrast, in an interview part of who we are as a nation; and Gov. South Carolina did not respond with riot- South Carolina. Behind me stands my released the same day for the podcast Haley, who is focused on working to- ing and violence, like other places have. friend, Senator Tim Scott, elected by “WTF with Marc Maron,” President gether with all Americans for a brighter We responded by talking to each other, those same people as one of just two Af- Obama reflected on race relations and future. by putting ourselves in other people’s rican-American members of the United prejudice in America. His perspective It would serve Obama well to ru- shoes and by finding common ground in States Senate.” was that race relations have improved minate over Haley’s example and to the name of moving our state forward.” — but that prejudice is part of our consider her assertion that prejudice is Finding common ground, moving ACROSS PARTY, across race, to- country’s DNA. not part of our country’s DNA and that, forward. gether, same goal, equal status. “I always tell young people in America, ‘Do not say that nothing’s changed when it comes to race in America unless you lived through being a black man in the 1950s or 60s or 70s.’ It is incontrovertible that race relations have improved significantly during my lifetime and yours and that opportunities have opened up and that attitudes have changed. That is a fact,” Obama began. “What is also true is that the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives — that casts a long shadow and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on,” Obama stated. The presumption that prejudice is part of who we are as a nation conflicts with Haley’s view as articulated in South Carolina.

OBAMA MIGHT do well to remember that a person’s DNA cannot be changed, but that prejudice can be changed. It is not part of our country’s DNA. Instead, he would do well to understand Wilson’s thesis — that prejudiced belief systems can change by bringing different groups together when the contact is sanctioned by au- thorities, and when groups share common goals, have equal status and engage in cooperative activities. 22 Conservative Chronicle RACISM: June 25, 2015 The meaning of Charleston, South Carolina lmost immediately after a that state’s basic qualification require- white killer gunned down ments — things like age, training, no nine black worshippers at a criminal history, etc. — the state will not historicA church in Charleston, South Car- deny you a permit to carry a concealed olina, out came the politics. weapon. On the Capitol grounds in Columbia Per- mit holders, however, flies the battlefield flag of Gen. Robert cannot bring a firearm E. Lee’s Army of to a “house of wor- Northern Virginia, Larry ship.” Whether the often erroneously confessed Charles- called the “Confed- Elder ton killer, Dylann erate flag.” Right (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate Roof, knew this, after the shoot- we don’t know. ing, calls came for the flag’s removal. We do know that one of Roof’s friends South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, until said Roof wanted to attack a local col- now, had defended the compromise that lege. But, according to the friend, Roof moved the flag in 2000 from the Capitol switched targets because of the security dome, where it had flown since 1962, to around the school. If the school secu- a nearby Confederate soldier memorial rity deterred the killer, might allowing on the statehouse grounds. concealed carry in a “house of worship” have a similar effect? THE KILLER did not pull out a How about we spend a little time on Confederate flag and use it to kill peo- whether someone could have and should ple. He used a .45. Also, he had flags have said something to someone? Roof the city as “Bombingham.” In fact, this mitted the bombing but sat on the in- of apartheid South Africa and separatist apparently told people of his intentions church bombing was the third bombing formation. It took decades before all of Rhodesia. Ban them, too? to start a “race war” — and at least some to take place in that city since its public those involved were brought to justice. President Barack Obama took the op- friends knew he possessed a .45. schools were forcibly desegregated just That was 1963. portunity to make the case for additional Obama said the tragedy reminds 11 days earlier. Today the U.S. attorney general is a gun control legislation. “We don’t have us “we’ve got a lot of work to do.” He black woman, the second consecutive all the facts,” he said, “but we do know spoke of the 1963 church bombing in BULL CONNOR, the commissioner black person to hold the position. She that once again, innocent people were Birmingham, Alabama, where four of public safety, infamously sicced dogs called for a federal investigation of the killed in part because someone who black girls were killed and nearly two and turned water hoses on civil rights Charleston shooting. South Carolina’s wanted to inflict harm had no trouble dozen people wounded. workers. The governor, George Wallace, governor is Nikki Haley, a woman of getting their hands on a gun.” But the differences between Birming- once stood in front of the state Capitol Indian descent. One of the state’s U.S. OK, now that Obama mentions it, ham in 1963 and Charleston in 2015 are and shouted, “Segregation now, segrega- senators is a black man, Tim Scott, the suppose one or more of the churchgoers staggering. tion tomorrow and segregation forever.” first black person from the South to had been armed? South Carolina is one In 1963, Birmingham was home The FBI was led by J. Edgar Hoover, serve in the Senate since four years af- of 40 states that allow citizens to carry to one of the most virulent chapters of who believed the civil rights movement ter Reconstruction. Charleston’s popular a concealed weapon on a “shall issue” the KKK. Bombings of black proper- was communist-inspired. Reportedly, mayor has held the job for four decades basis, meaning that as long as you pass ties were so frequent people referred to the FBI knew fairly soon who had com- and is respected by both black and white communities. Does the racist Charleston killer rep- resent a growing, threatening underbelly of American racism? In 1969, Charles Manson, like the Charleston killer, wanted to start a “race war.” Over the course of two nights, he ordered the murder of seven people. And Manson had a “family” of followers. The Charleston killer complained that he could recruit no help. Did we launch into a national soul search over whether Manson represented white racism? No, we placed him in the category of mur- derous, evil deviant — the same place to put the Charleston killer. In 1960, 60 percent of Americans said they would “never” vote for a black president. In 2008, America elected a black man as president of the United States. A 2006 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found that only four percent of Demo- cratic voters and three percent of Repub- lican voters would not vote for a black president. Obama got a greater share of the “white vote” than even John Kerry did in 2004. Was Kerry a victim of racial discrimination?

THIS IS NOT your grandfather’s America. July 8, 2015 23 CONFEDERATE FLAG: June 26, 2015 Love and hate in Dixie: What the flag evokes “I will never be able to hold her Contrast the conduct of those good and totalitarians, symbol of a brutal re- capitol; Sen. Mitch McConnell wants again, but I forgive you.” Southern people who stood outside gime, not a republic. The Confederacy the statue of Confederate President Jef- So said Nadine Collier, who lost her that church in solidarity with the ag- was treason in defense of a still deeper ferson Davis removed from the Ken- mother in the massacre at the Emanuel grieved, with the Ferguson mobs that crime against humanity: slavery.” tucky capitol. AME Church in Charleston, South Car- looted and burned and the New York But if Jenkins’ hate-filled screed Governors are rushing to remove olina, offering forgiveness to Dylann mobs that chanted for the killing of is right, if the Confederacy was Nazi replicas of the battle flag from license Roof, who confessed to the atrocity that cops when the Eric Garner grand jury Germany on American soil, then not plates, with Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe took the lives of nine churchgoers at that declined to indict. only the battle flag must go. the most vocal. Will McAuliffe also Wednesday night prayer service and Bi- Yet, predictably, the cultural Marx- The Confederate War demand that the statues of Robert E. ble study. ists, following Memorial on the Lee and Stonewall Jackson be removed If there is a better recent example of Rahm Emanuel’s Pat capitol grounds from Monument Avenue in Richmond? what it means to be a Christian, I am dictum that you honors the scores “Take Down a Symbol of Hatred,” unaware of it. Collier and the families never let a crisis Buchanan of thousands of rails the New York Times. of those slain showed a faithfulness to go to waste, de- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate South Carolin- But the battle flag is not so much a Christ’s gospel of love and forgiveness scended like lo- ians who died in symbol of hatred as it is an object of that many are taught but few are strong custs. the lost cause. And if that was a cause hatred, a target of hatred. It evokes a enough to follow, especially at times As Roof had filmed himself flaunt- of traitors and totalitarians and about hatred of the visceral sort that we see like this. ing a Confederate battle flag, the cry nothing but slavery, ought not that me- manifest in Jenkins’ equating of the went out to tear that flag down from morial be dynamited? South of Washington, Jefferson, John THEIR CHRISTIAN witness testi- the war memorial in Columbia, South Calhoun, Andrew Jackson and Lee fies to a forgotten truth: If slavery was Carolina, and remove its vile presence EVEN AS ISIS is desecrating tombs with Hitler’s Third Reich. the worst thing that happened to black everywhere in America. in Palmyra, Syria, the cultural purge of What the flag symbolizes for the folks brought from Africa to America, Sally Jenkins of the Washington the South has begun. millions who revere, cherish or love it, Christianity was the best. Post appeared front and center on its Rep. Steve Cohen wants the name of however, is the heroism of those who Charleston, too, gave us an example op-ed page with this call to healing: legendary cavalryman Nathan Bedford fought and died under it. That flag flew of how a city should behave when faced “The Confederate battle flag is an Forrest removed from Forrest Park in over battlefields, not over slave - quar with horror. American swastika, the relic of traitors Memphis and his bust gone from the ters. Hence, who are the real haters here? Can the Times really believe that all PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE: June 25, 2015 those coffee cups and baseball caps and T-shirts and sweaters and flag decals on car and truck bumpers are declarations that the owners hate black people? Will suicide bill die a natural death? Does the Times believe Southern folks hen SB 128, which would worth ‘paying for’ — there will be no already have the ability to kill them- fly the battle flag in their yards because legalize physician-assisted turning back.” selves — some 40,000 Americans die they want slavery back? suicide for terminally ill But to suggest that the Catholic by suicide every year — but they lack The Times’ editorialists cannot be patients,W passed the California Senate, Church has an outsize power in a state the ability to stage their final moments. such fools. supporters hailed the measure’s success that provides access to abortion on And for that moment, they are willing Vilification of that battle flag and the as a sign of its inevitability. And what demand and enacted a law to accom- to upend health care by turning doctors Confederacy is part of the cultural rev- Democrat in this heavily left-leaning modate transgender elementary school into death facilitators. olution in America that flowered half a Legislature wants to be on — say it students — well, that doesn’t add up. They have made Brittany Maynard, century ago. Among its goals was the slowly — The Wrong Side of History? Sacramento bucks the church routinely. the former East Bay resident and termi- demoralization of the American people nal brain cancer patient who moved to by demonizing their past and poisoning IT TURNS out reports of the mea- Oregon last year so that she could use their belief in their own history. sure’s slam-dunkedness were greatly the state’s assisted suicide law, the face The world is turned upside down. exaggerated. Opponents of SB 128 ex- Debra J. of their crusade. They hail her for her The new dogma of the cultural Marx- pected the bill to sail through the Sen- courage. ists: Columbus was a genocidal rac- ate but then get mired in the Assembly. Saunders On the other end of the spectrum, ist. Three of our Founding Fathers Sure enough, this week state Sens. Lois (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate you can find Stephanie Packer of- Or — Washington, Jefferson, Madison Wolk and Bill Monning, co-sponsors of ange County, who is living with end- — were slaveowners. Andrew Jack- the bill, had to pull a scheduled vote in “When things start to go south on stage lung disease. She’s fighting to live son was an ethnic cleanser of Indians. the Assembly Health Committee and them, the first thing they do is put so that she can mother her four young The great Confederate generals — Lee, delay it until July 7 because, as the San the blame on the Catholic Church,” children, and she has found added Jackson, Forrest — fought to preserve Francisco Chronicle’s Melody Gutier- Californians Against Assisted Sui- meaning in speaking out as an advocate an evil institution. You have nothing to rez reported, six committee Democrats cide spokesman Tim Rosales told me for vulnerable people — disabled folks, be proud of and much to be ashamed of are not on board. Five are members of Wednesday. “They disregard any of the old people or just plain plain people. if your ancestors fought for the South. the Latino caucus. Ergo the new spin other opposition” — such as disability She understands that when others say And, oh yes, your battle flag is the mor- on the bill, advanced by Wolk, is that rights organizations. they want death with dignity, they are al equivalent of a Nazi swastika. the Roman Catholic Church, in all its suggesting that fighting to live is not And how is the Republican Party might, is leaning on its flock to kill the BLACK CHURCHES are organiz- dignified. standing up to this cultural lynch mob? bill. ing to fight the bill because of its poten- “I don’t think they would know what Retreating and running as fast as pos- It’s true; Los Angeles Archbishop tial impact on vulnerable populations, it means for the rest of the people who sible. Jose Gomez sent a letter to Health Com- according to the Rev. Eugene Rivers, are sick and fighting to live and fighting mittee members urging them to oppose adviser to Bishop Charles E. Blake of for better care and better treatment and IF WE ARE to preserve our re- the bill. He described sponsors as “well the West Angeles Church of God in for options that are anything but death,” public, future generations are going to meaning” and said he understands peo- Christ. Packer told me. need what that battle flag truly stands ple’s fear of a slow, painful death. But, There are two sides to this issue. On for: pride in our history and defiance in he wrote, “once we start down this path one side stand Californians who want SICK PEOPLE are vulnerable; vul- the face of the arrogance of power. — once we establish in law that some to be able to kill themselves with the nerable people don’t need to be told lives are not as valuable as others, not help of a doctor. These Californians they’d be better off dead. 24 Conservative Chronicle CONFEDERATE FLAG: June 25, 2015 New poll backs keeping the Confederate flag his is not the first time I’ve months by assailants with presumed re- opined on the Confederate flag taliatory racial motives of their own. issue. But hopefully it is the And in many major cities such as At- last.T lanta, armed black men have invaded up- As a southerner whose roots in Geor- scale homes in well-planned attacks that gia run way before the Civil War on both have yielded little in precious loot and my mother’s and father’s side, I’m pretty which police believe are more sure I would qualify likely gang related — for any of those again, rooted in retal- “Sons Of” groups Matt iation against whites. related to the old Towery Fanning the Confederacy out flame of this sad long be forgotten. This, too, foments feel- But all the better to “arm” myself with there. And I know (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate hatred are acts of ings of resentment and provides plenty words of sympathy and a rededication to some readers think I stupidity and evil of excuses to escalate this growing racial improving race relations in America. Part qualify for another “Son of a...” title from such as the South Carolina murders. tension in our nation. of that includes saying goodbye to the time to time! But that’s OK, too. And all of this is augmented by a pres- As a white southern male, arguably the Confederate battle flag, once and for all. I personally never felt a vested inter- ident and an administration that have of- most reviled and looked down upon de- Jesus preached of forgiveness of all sins. est in the Civil War, either. Other than to ten seemed anxious to keep race relations mographic in today’s America, I must be The members of the church where this mourn the loss of many a distant family simmering at home while downplaying extraordinarily circumspect about mat- ghastly attack occurred did just that. member who fought or died in that sad de- chaos and murder abroad. ters of race. The easy thing to do would bacle that cost so many American lives, I be to espouse arguments of states rights IF THEY CAN forgive so quickly, rarely have given it a thought. And when I MIGHT add that it doesn’t help and reverse discrimination. And yes, the even as they bury their loved ones, can- I do, I do so with a respect for history, when a large portion of Republicans in states are afforded powerful rights under not others forget symbols of a past long but also a twinge of embarrassment for at states like South Carolina refuse to sup- the Constitution, and yes, reverse dis- gone and bury that flag once and for all? least part of what provoked Americans to port the removal of an emblem that should crimination is growing in America. fight Americans: slavery. June 25, 2015 IN 1993, as a youthful legislator in THE SOUTH: Georgia, I joined then-Gov. Zell Miller in a failed attempt to remove the Con- federate battle flag emblem from -Geor gia’s state flag. Years later, another brave Southern lie and American triumph Georgia governor, Roy Barnes, success- t is telling that the South Caro- money to have a substantial tax bite will — the elections of Woodrow Wilson and fully pushed through what Miller started lina governor who called for the do to your politics. Franklin D. Roosevelt — but obsesses and totally revamped Georgia’s flag. removal of the Confederate battle The father of the Republican Southern over Republican strength in a region that, Now we have South Carolina, reeling flagI from the grounds of the state Capitol strategy was that racist old coot Dwight morally and politically, is light-years from a tragic and senseless shooting in is a woman, an Indian-American — and Eisenhower, who — is it possible to wrap from the Solid Democratic South of yore. a house of worship, where goodhearted a Republican. your head around the enormity? — want- Of course, the South still lags in many people, who happened to be black, wel- The rush to efface the Confederate ed to begin to win some Southern elec- ways, and there are parts of Southern comed a young man with open arms, with symbol from the South in the wake of the toral votes. Ike won four Southern states exceptionalism that are distasteful. Con- prayer and love. In return, this twisted Charleston shootings, with Gov. Nikki in 1952 and five in 1956, when he won sider one key indicator, though: Blacks and possibly mentally ill guest shot his Haley among the leaders, is a lagging in- the popular vote in the region. And he did are voting in favor of the South with their hosts in the Lord’s own sanctuary. In do- dicator. The region has been transformed it while supporting civil rights. feet by migrating from elsewhere in the ing so, he shocked a nation. over the past 50 years, from an institu- country, in a reversal of the Great Migra- But there is good news to be found. tionally racist backwater to a part of the tion of the 20th century. Upon learning of the assailant’s so-called American mainstream more alluring to Rich The region is no longer characterized ‘manifesto’ and the pictures of him with African-Americans than less dynamic Lowry by its system of vicious racism but its guns and with that controversial flag as parts of the country. diversity. According to the Population part of his portfolio of hatred, calls to (c) 2015, King Features Syndicate Reference Bureau, “Among large met- remove the Confederate flag from the DYLANN ROOF is many things: a HOW WAS this possible? The GOP ropolitan areas with a total population grounds of the South Carolina Capitol racist and a terrorist, pathetic and hell- had begun picking off the less uniformly of 500,000 or more, the least segregated grounds came from a bipartisan group of ishly cruel. But he is not a representative Democratic areas of the New South. As metros were located in the faster-growing state leaders led by its Republican Gov. Son of the South. Alexander writes, the GOP’s Southern South and West.” Nikki Haley. The left has nonetheless been chan- electorate “was disproportionately sub- It no longer deliberately blights the Even better news is that in a new neling a less tasteful version of former urban, middle-class, educated, younger, prospects of blacks but affords them op- OpinionSavvy poll of that state, 50 per- White House chief of staff Rahm Emanu- non-native-Southern, and concentrated in portunities not available elsewhere. The cent of the respondents said they support el’s old dictum: Never let a hideous mas- the growth-points that were, so to speak, urban expert Joel Kotkin ranked met- the flag’s removal. sacre go to waste. It has pointed fingers the least ‘Southern’ parts of the South.” ropolitan areas by homeownership, en- The disappointing news is that 46 per- at the GOP’s Southern strategy and at the So 1964, when Barry Goldwater op- trepreneurship and median household cent of those responding said they want South more generally, distorting the par- posed the Civil Rights Act, wasn’t a point income and concluded: “Today, Dixie the flag to remain right where it is. And tisan history of the region and ignoring of radical departure. The Republicans has emerged, in many ways, as the new by breakdown of the party affiliation in changes there since the 1950s. steadily gained strength as the Old South promised land for African-Americans.” the survey, Republicans were far less Gerard Alexander of the University of figuratively and literally died off. Repub- supportive of the flag’s removal. Virginia, Sean Trende of RealClearPoli- licans didn’t take a majority of Southern THIS IS AN American triumph. One This all occurs at a time when race tics and Jay Cost of the Weekly Standard congressional seats until 1994. Not until of the most extraordinary things about relations in America have reached a low all have written against the idea that the 2010 did they gain unified control of the the reaction to the horror of Charleston not seen since the late 1960s. Police are Southern strategy was racism incarnate. Alabama state Legislature. on the ground was the unity and civility being accused of profiling and harming There was undoubtedly a racial compo- The left doesn’t expend much energy that characterized it — another wonder of African-Americans in cities across the nent to the region’s partisan shift, but complaining about the South’s contribu- a transformed South that, in many ways, nation. Meanwhile, several white police- among other things, the South simply got tion to the most important progressive is better than its hidebound and blinkered men have been gunned down in recent richer. It’s amazing what earning enough electoral victories of the 20th century critics. July 8, 2015 25 2016 ELECTION: June 30, 2015 Sanders poses threat to Clinton’s imperial campaign f you Google Bernie Sanders, ous threat to Hillary’s issue-dodging, some surprising poll numbers tightly controlled imperial campaign. will appear, showing the rumpled, Ask Google if Sanders can beat Clin- self-describedI socialist gaining fast on ton in the primaries, and up pops a blog Hillary Clinton in the race for the 2016 in the Huffington Post by columnist Democratic presidential nomination. H.A. Goodman, who titled his analysis It seems unlikely that the little- “Why Bernie Sanders Will Become the known Vermont senator can overtake Democratic Nominee and Defeat Any Clinton, the most famous Democrat on Republican.” the planet next to Barack Obama. But Goodman writes that Sanders “is recent polls show him narrowing the down by just eight points in gap in key primary New Hampshire and over 1,000 for a speech in Keene, New and the notorious Clinton Foundation states, after a cam- has gained tremen- Hampshire, and “standing-room-only” and newly acquired wealth that sug- paign that’s only Donald dous momentum in at an appearance in Davenport, Iowa. gests, at a minimum, the appearance of two months old. Iowa.” But as Sanders builds support for impropriety.” In a Morn- Lambro If he “wins what the liberal news media call his “She is not proactively addressing ing Consult New (c) 2015, United Media Services both the Iowa “populist” campaign, which is another the issues of concern to Americans,” Hampshire poll, caucus and New term for socialism, Clinton has been said an Iowa Democrat. “Her refusal to Clinton was leading with 44 percent, Hampshire primary, the odds will fa- losing gas and running into trouble. take questions is taking a toll.” but crusty, plain-spoken Sanders was vor him getting the Democratic nomi- “Early-state Democrats are evenly A new Washington Post/ABC News closing in with 32 percent. (Vice Presi- nation. What was once thought of as divided over whether Hillary Clinton’s poll this week found “Clinton’s favor- dent Biden drew 11 percent, former a long shot is becoming a reality, pri- campaign should be worried about re- ability ratings were lower than in any Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley had marily because Bernie Sanders has en- cent polls showing her highest unfavor- Post poll since 2008,” writes John two percent and former Virginia Sen. ergized his base, while Hillary Clinton ability ratings in years,” the Politico Sides, a professor at George Washing- Jim Webb had one percent.) has been forced to defend against email website reported earlier this month. ton University who specializes in pub- and foreign donor scandals,” Goodman lic opinion surveys. IN SO SHORT a time, the gruff says. IN A SURVEY of campaign activ- “Even more striking is that Clinton 73-year-old lawmaker has shot out of The last part of his blog about beat- ists, party operatives and elected offi- has lost support among Democrats,” his early single digits to become a seri- ing “any Republican in 2016” is a cials in New Hampshire and Iowa, 50 Sides said, from a net plus-59 points in ous challenger to the frontrunner. stretch. Americans are not ready to buy percent said “there’s cause for concern March, to plus-50 percent now. “We have momentum. Our numbers into a socialist president who has never while the other 50 percent saw no rea- “And the fact that Clinton has lost Southern lie and American triumph are growing,” Sanders said this week on met a big spending bill he didn’t like, son for alarm.” ground among Democrats suggests that the campaign trail. hates capitalism, and wants to regu- A Granite State Democrat told Po- the negative news coverage of the past “This is not an educational campaign. late and tax the U.S. economy into the litico that Clinton is being stymied by two months ... actually took some toll,” This is not a protest campaign. This is a Stone Age. “twenty-plus Republicans beating her he said. campaign to win,” he told political re- But there’s no doubt he is drawing up, Elizabeth Warren talking about the Her declining polls and campaign porters at a Christian Science Monitor larger and more enthusiastic Demo- working-man issues that terrify her, a missteps have led to increasingly nega- breakfast briefing. cratic crowds lately, chanting “Bernie, couple of candidates like Bernie ... and tive coverage from the news media, as While the national network news Bernie, Bernie.” Martin to fill in her policy blanks and a Sanders’ support grows stronger. media aren’t taking him seriously, other More than 3,000 Americans showed media that feels stiffed by her lack of Take, for example, this headline that political observers say he poses a seri- up at a recent rally in Minneapolis, access. So all we can focus on is emails the Post ran above a campaign story Monday: “Sanders is an unlikely — but real — threat to Clinton,” followed by this stinging subhead: “Vermont socialist could seriously damage Democratic frontrunner.” “Sanders’ emerging strength has exposed continued misgivings among the party’s progressive base about Clinton, whose team is treading carefully in its public statements,” said the Post, a longtime Clinton booster. “Supporters have acknowledged pri- vately the potential for Sanders to damage her — perhaps winning an early state or two — even if he can’t win the nomination.” I wouldn’t be so sure about that last claim of Clinton’s invincibility. The Democrats’ political base has been lurching to the radical, hard left over the decades, which explains why a socialist like Sanders is rapidly climbing in the polls.

HE COULD end up defeating Hill- ary in the primaries next year — giving the GOP’s nominee his party’s best chance yet to win back the White House and strengthen their hold on Congress. Go Bernie. 26 Conservative Chronicle FREEDOM: June 25, 2015 Protecting hatred preserves freedom he tragedy of a mass murder monopoly of force — on the same plane in Charleston, S.C., last week, as human beings, who are natural crea- obviously motivated by racial tures with immortal souls endowed by hatred,T has raised anew the issue of the our Creator with natural rights. lawfulness of the State expressing an Natural rights, foremost among opinion by flying a Confederate flag at which after life itself is freedom the Statehouse, and the constitutional- of expression, are gifts ity of the use of from God. They are the First Amend- Andrew not manmade and ment to protect hence cannot be hate speech and Napolitano transferred to a hate groups. The (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate manmade entity. State has no busi- They are as natu- ness expressing opinions on anything, ral to us as are the fingers on our hands. and it is required to protect hate. Here We don’t need a government permission is the law. slip in order to exercise them. In the case of speech, it is especially LET’S START with the proposition dangerous to accord the natural rights that hatred of persons is a profound dis- of persons to the government because order, and it is no doubt motivated by far the state can use its monopoly of force deeper errors of thought and judgment to silence, drown out or intimidate the than admiration for a flag. I recognize speech of any persons it hates and fears. all persons the freedom of thought, ex- fere with expression because it despises that to some in our society, the Confed- When the state speaks, its expressions pression and association. Thought and or fears the views animating the expres- erate flag represents resistance to federal have an aura of legitimacy and can be association are guaranteed uncondition- sions. This temptation is another danger authority enforced by military aggres- used for narrow, sectarian, even hateful ally. Imagine the dangers of the govern- of according the government the free- sion, while to others, it represents racial purposes. But the whole purpose of the ment telling us how to think. dom of speech. oppression under color of law bringing First Amendment is to keep the govern- Hatred, though invariably destructive about the worst violations of the natural ment out of the business of speech. THE RULE on speech is that all in- to those it animates, is a protected mode rights of born persons in American his- If I were in the South Carolina leg- nocuous speech is absolutely protected, of thought and expression and may form tory — namely slavery. To me, it repre- islature, I’d vote to remove the Confed- and all speech is innocuous when there the basis for association. Groups may sents both. Yet, the government has no erate flag from the Statehouse because is time for more speech to address it be formed based on hate, and the gov- business flying it. I’d silence all government speech except before the violence it suggests may ernment may not interfere with them In a lawsuit brought against the State that which is universally accepted (like come about. Stated differently, the First because it hates and fears their hatred. of Texas seeking to compel Texas to of- the American flag), utterly innocuous Amendment absolutely bars the govern- Some hate groups are merely a vessel fer automobile license plates bearing the (like the library is closed on Sundays) ment from interference with a person’s for folklore and group comfort; some are Confederate flag, the Supreme Court in or absolutely necessary for governance thoughts or associations, and permits willing to use violence to advance their dismissing the suit ruled just two weeks (like speed limits on state roads). Oth- interference with a person’s expressions nefarious beliefs. ago that the government enjoys the same erwise, who cares what the government only if necessary to prevent immediate But the willingness alone to use vio- freedom of speech as do persons. This thinks? lawless violence when there is no time lence is not criminal; it is only the ac- is a novel and dangerous idea. It plac- The First Amendment to the Consti- for more expression to do so first. tual use of violence that is. Thus, it is es government — an artificial creature tution also protects the rights of every But the government may never, con- the manifestation of hatred as lawless based on temporary consensus and a person to embrace hatred. It guarantees sistent with the First Amendment, inter- violence that may be prosecuted, but the manifestation of hatred as a unifying idea is protected and may not be prosecuted. The remedy for hatred is reason. Ha- tred of persons is always unreasonable. It takes a characteristic of birth — color, ethnicity, religion, for example — and unreasonably ascribes mythological and unitary traits to it. Those ascribed traits usually appeal to the base fears and bias- es of the hater, feed his weaknesses, and provide him with a mental haven for his failings. Yet, reason and overwhelming opinion to the contrary can dilute hatred. Hatred sometimes provides a dark place of comfort for the weak, and it can be addictive. We must guard against its allurements. Lord Byron in “Don Juan” warned of hatred’s irony: Now hatred is by far The longest pleasure. Men love in haste, but they Detest at leisure.

YET, GOD, too, hates. He hates sin, and we, as well, must hate sin. Like the families of those murdered in Charles- ton, we must imitate our Creator: We must love the sinner and the hater. July 8, 2015 27 CONFEDRATE FLAG: June 26, 2015 There’s no defending the indefensible have never been prouder to be a get will be the American flag. Provo- history knows that there is no greater As military historian Max Boot not- Republican than when I watched cateur Ann Coulter told Fox Business army that ever took the field than the ed in a blog post in Commentary Mag- South Carolina Gov. Nikki Hal- News, “I’d really like to like Nikki Confederate army,” according to Coul- azine, the controversy goes beyond the ey,I U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Haley since she is a Republican, but ter. Except, of course, that Lee’s army flag. States in the Old Confederacy go U.S. Sen. Tim Scott — all Republi- on the other hand, she’s an immigrant suffered disastrous defeats that finally out of their way to honor not only Lee, cans — call for the Confederate flag to and does not understand America’s brought an end to the most but also Jefferson Davis, president of come down on the statehouse grounds. history.” Coul- deadly war in U.S. the Confederate States, and Nathan Other prominent Republicans from ter’s words say history when he Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general states that incorporate the Confeder- a lot about her Linda surrendered to known for his massacre of 300 black ate symbol into their own state flags own ignorance, Chavez Union Gen. Ulyss- Union soldiers at Ft. Pillow, Tenn., also called for changes. These moves not to mention (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate es S. Grant at Ap- whom he ordered slaughtered rather took courage of a kind too many poli- prejudice: Haley pomattox Court than taken prisoner. Boot says such ticians either lack altogether or fail to is American-born, and it’s Coulter’s House. men “were traitors to this country, in- exercise when they think it might lose understanding of history that is faulty. No doubt many Confederate sol- veterate racists and champions of slav- them votes. diers were brave on the battlefield — ery. Modern Germany does not have COULTER AND some other crit- but so, too, were many individuals statues to Erwin Rommel even though BUT NOT ALL conservatives are ics seem to think the flag is a symbol who fought against the United States he — unlike Lee — turned at the end happy. Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh of bravery. Coulter says, “It was a of America, and that, after all, is ex- of the day against the monstrous re- warned that the real motivation of those battle flag — it is to honor Robert E. actly what Lee and the forces he com- gime in whose cause he fought so who want to bring down the Confeder- Lee,” the Confederate general who led manded did. Why should we honor skillfully.” ate flag is “destroying the South as a the Confederate forces. “Anyone who their cause, which was to destroy the Conservatives have been in the political force,” and that the next tar- knows the first thing about military union? forefront of opposing revisionist history — so why is it now so hard for some conservatives to recognize that efforts June 30, 2015 CULTURE WAR: to rewrite the history of the Confeder- ate flag is revisionism writ large? The flag that Limbaugh and Coul- ter want to defend had largely receded Elites vs. us: The bottom line from public view in the years after the n a Sunday talk show, Mike You can take all this if you like as to flower. Man, wasn’t America op- Civil War except for its use in reenact- Huckabee found himself a succession of harrumphings by angry pressive and awful? The question was ments and other historical contexts. in the spotlight of the gay- losers. Or you can consider, shall we put to us over and over by the counter- Segregationists revived its display at marriageO uproar for suggesting that the say, the Big Picture: one bigger than the culture generation and its slightly older the Dixiecrat Convention in 1948, a Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision court, bigger than any wedding party, boosters. We needed something better party formed by Southern Democrats could lead to principled disobedience on whatever its sexual composition. — something less oppressive and sex- who objected to President Harry Tru- a civil rights era scale. The United States of America — ist and racist and genocidal. man’s integration of the armed ser- Well, might it? Would the court ma- your country and mine — has for sev- What the victors in the culture wars vices and a proposal to include a civil jority care? Has the court majority any- eral decades been unmoor- want isn’t just to improve things. They rights plank in the Democratic Party thing in mind besides affirmation of that basically want to start over again — to platform. “right to personal choice,” which is “in- make America look the way they would At that moment, the flag took on a herent in the concept of individual au- William have had it look, given the opportunity clear meaning, if it were ever in doubt. tonomy?” Murchison and the absence of slave-owning, Indi- Georgia changed its flag to include the an-persecuting white men. Confederate symbol in 1956 — two WE LIVE at an odd and danger- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate The victors want to sweep off the ta- years after Brown v. Board of Edu- ous moment — one framed only in part ble everything that doesn’t please them, cation outlawed school segregation. by the court’s recent extension of mar- ing itself from allegiance to truths once replacing it with creations of their own Governors in Alabama and South Car- riage rights to same-sex couples. There generally agreed on as essential to hu- design. What’s more, by virtue of their olina raised the battle flag over their is much else to flummox and worry us. man happiness and freedom. Whether patience and persistence, the victors state Capitols only in 1961 and 1962, “Consent of the governed” seems the we necessarily meant to slip ancient run vast regions of our country, both respectively. These acts sent a clear last thing on the minds of those deter- anchors, that has been the effect. The geographical and intellectual. They’ll message of resistance to civil rights. mined to herd the sheep — you and me old American vision no longer serves! tell you Alexander Hamilton doesn’t Seven Southern states currently — to supposedly brighter pastures. A new one is wanted! That’s been the belong on the $10 bill and that our incorporate symbolic references to “We know what’s good for you!” is consistent narrative. president was right to bathe the White the Confederacy in their state flags: their loud, if unarticulated, injunction. House — the people’s house — in the Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C. and Generally succeeded by: “Shut up — SCALIA’S SCATHINg dissent in rainbow colors of gay liberation. Tenn. All of them should rethink those didn’t you hear what we said?” the same-sex marriage case notes the There’s just one trouble. Uprooting symbols. It isn’t just that they evoke Chief Justice John Roberts posed elitism that thwarts consent of the gov- truth, or that which has historically a racist past; they are inherently un- a broader, sounder question — “Just erned. He naturally mentions the Su- been taken for truth, requires more than American. They should offend not just who do we think we are?” — to his col- preme Court, dominated by Harvard- Justice Anthony Kennedy’s say-so. those Americans whose ancestors were leagues in the marriage case. By a vote Yale law school graduates. He could Our elitist Supreme Court has guaran- slaves, but all of us. of 5 to 4, the court handed to Americans have extended his critique to my own teed for us cultural and constitutional a new, untested definition of human do- profession, the media — an intellec- headaches for which no pharmacologi- THE CONFEDERATE states mestic relationships. Old understand- tually closed shop in most venues. He cal remedy exists, headaches possibly fought the Civil War to preserve slav- ings of marriage were off. We needed a could have brought in the clergy and of the sort that Mike Huckabee fore- ery and were happy to destroy the new one — see? — and we got it. the professoriate, domains of accredit- casts, involving defiance and division. union to do so. Theirs was not a noble Justice Antonin Scalia, as is his wont, ed liberal thought, increasingly intoler- cause, but a treasonous one. No one saw to the bottom of the matter, writing ant of viewpoints they see as outdated, AND WHAT after that? Something should see a need to defend it, least of in dissent: “A system of government that e.g., the social and cultural priority of juicy and exciting, no doubt. The vic- all Republicans. makes the People subordinate to a com- male-female marriage. tors will apprise us, and on their own mittee of nine unelected lawyers does The elitist viewpoint was born be- terms — got that? not deserve to be called a democracy.” fore the 1960s, but in the ‘60s it came 28 Conservative Chronicle CULTURE WAR: July 1, 2015 The media, the Court and slippery sex slope ack in 2003, the Associated ceremonies, with six-figure fines and Press gave serious aid and barrels of negative publicity. comfort to a vicious cam- paignB against Sen. Rick Santorum over THE OBVIOUS next step is forc- an interview he granted them dealing ing churches to participate in gay mar- with the gay rights issue. riages, and if they refuse, it will be AP spent a week promoting calls time to revoke their tax exemptions. to remove Santorum from the Senate Shortly after the latest court GOP leadership decision, Time for this fraction Brent posted an online of their interview: commentary ad- “If the Supreme Bozell vocating the end Court says that (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate of all tax benefits you have the right for religious orga- to consensual sex within your home, nizations. Naturally, it will follow that then you have the right to bigamy, you churches and religious groups will also have the right to polygamy, you have be forced to employ people who in no the right to incest, you have the right way share their religious beliefs. to adultery.” AP hyped this compari- Justice Anthony Kennedy claimed son by adding the word “gay” between in his majority opinion that “The First “consensual” and “sex.” Amendment ensures that religious organizations and persons are given SANTORUM’S POINT was philo- proper protection as they seek to teach sophical: Where is a line drawn on sex- the principles that are so fulfilling and ual consent? Is there a line at all? And so central to their lives and faiths.” But when you seek to erase any line, what if the Democrats win the White House does this do to society? again, it’s obvious they will appoint Friday’s gay marriage mandate is more liberal justices that share their merely the latest “landmark” decision obvious devotion to steamrolling “re- FOR DECADES the media have one expects the media elites to tap any on the slippery slope toward obliter- ligious freedom” — which they now tilted dramatically in favor of gay lob- brakes as America heads over the cliff. ating any definition of consensual de- routinely put in scare quotes. bies. They have won. What next? No viancy. We haven’t defined deviancy down. We’ve shredded it. OBAMACARE: July 1, 2015 Santorum was made to look like a conspiracy nut, or just a fool in 2003. But within hours of the terrible new Supreme Court decision, Politico had posted an op-ed plainly titled “It’s Obamacare still key issue Time to Legalize Polygamy.” ou can almost hear the sighs hospitals from whom to get care and of- wouldn’t have chosen if they had the So where is the line to be drawn? of relief coming from the lib- ten see no more than a nurse. choice. Each year’s premium increase Here’s the awful truth: The left wants eral and establishment me- Every American has to notice the — this year running to 25 percent or no lines. If you doubt us, show us the diaY after the Court ruled for Obama in fundamental deterioration in medical more — only stokes their rage. line — as they have drawn. the King v. Burwell case. “Thank God care under the president’s program. And, for the rest of us, there is the Our “progressive” media never ask that’s over,” they seem to say. “Now the Medical resources are rationed and ac- price of Obamacare to worry about as where a line should be drawn. President Obamacare issue has run its course. We tual medical care from a medical doctor 90 percent of the enrollees get subsidies Obama routinely offers this formula- won’t have to face it in 2016.” The me- is becoming increasingly scarce. at our expense. We know that a new en- tion, as he did in May, to “underscore dia has proclaimed the issue over and And then there are the premiums. titlement has been created and fear that that all people deserve to live free from the program vindicated in the courts Obamacare premiums started it is here to stay. We see no benefit to it fear, violence, and discrimination, re- and in public opinion. Some have even too high and keep growing in our own lives and we worry that it gardless of who they are or whom they suggested that Republicans are hurting will crowd out the entitlements we do love.” themselves by opposing it or repealing Dick need like Social Security and Medicare. Applying the Santorum quote, and replacing it. To the politicians, the Obamacare is- Obama’s very inclusive definition of Wrong. Wrong. Wrong Morris sue seems to have faded with the Court “love” could include bigamy, polyg- (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate ruling. But the polling still reflects the amy, incest and adultery. It draws no THEIR REASONING is just the over 50 percent disapproval that has line about an age of consent. It doesn’t kind of myopia that hampers the view year after year. The fundamental defect been the case ever since it was pro- even draw a line about “loving” ani- from inside the beltway as it tries to re- of the program is that it attracts mainly posed. More than 10 points separate the mals. Can anyone find one instance late to the rest of the nation. The Obam- sick people and the administration’s approval and disapproval numbers and where any journalist or interviewer has acare issue is far from over. In fact, it hopes that the premiums of the young that also hasn’t changed. ever asked the president or any power- has hardly begun to have its real impact. and healthy would carry the load is Just as Obama didn’t dare defend ful liberal about where a line should be Now that Obamacare’s future is assured proving to be a delusion. Obamacare in the elections of 2010 drawn? by the Court, voters will have no oth- and 2012, choosing to ignore his own Now, it’s social conservatives who er outlet for their passionate hatred of THEIR ANGER at the past and signature legislation as the campaigns have become the focus of “fear, vio- this law than through the presidential dread of future premium hikes is pal- unfolded. Now, once again, Democratic lence, and discrimination” for main- elections. And what better target to run pable. Remember that almost half of Senators will be hogtied trying to de- taining their deeply held religious against than the author of Hilllarycare the Obamacare patients had insurance fend this program. views that homosexuality is a sin and herself? before they were forced to abandon it that “gay marriage” is an act of cultural Those who are enrolled in Obam- and move to more expensive exchanges LIBERALS: DON’T fool your- deconstruction. We’ve already seen the acare are suffering having to pay up to for their coverage. The extra premiums selves. Obamacare will be just as strong first signs of businesses punished for $6,000 in deductibles for even minor and deductibles are to pay for insur- a drag on your candidates as it was in failing to participate in gay marriage procedures. They can’t find doctors or ance they don’t need, didn’t want and 2010, and maybe more so. July 8, 2015 29 MARRIAGE: June 30, 2015 Who won, who lost? The Supremes redefine marriage he hopes and fears of all the reserved to the states and others to the years met last week in Oberge- federal government. fell v. Hodges, the narrow but To quote Chief Justice John Roberts’ sweepingT decision of the U.S. Supreme dissent: “If you are among the many Court that proclaims homosexual cou- Americans — of whatever sexual orienta- ples have a right to marry anywhere in tion — who favor expanding same- the country. Congratulations to them. sex marriage, by all means At first glance, celebrate today’s they’ve scored a Paul decision. Celebrate significant vic- the achievement tory, even if the Greenberg of a desired goal. score was just 5 (c) 2015, Tribune Media Services Celebrate the op- to 4. portunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. ON EQUALLY cursory reading, the Celebrate the availability of new benefits. states have been handed a significant But do not celebrate the Constitution. It defeat. The whole, general idea of fed- had nothing to do with it.” eralism — that states get to determine Naturally the majority opinion was their own laws when it comes to a vari- written by His (always flexible) Honor just about converted American law into have scored a significant victory, too, for ety of intimate issues, like marriage and Anthony M. Kennedy, whose convictions another public opinion poll. it frees them to return to their roots as a divorce — has been undermined. Our about the law of the land, if any, are as countercultural movement standing apart condolences to those who still believe steady as a swinging door, shifting from IN A CURIOUS way, those who most from the pagan society in which the first in that separation of jurisdictions un- right to left in step with public sentiment object to this latest reading of the law, Christians appeared. Once again Chris- der our Constitution, with some powers at the time. He’s the kind of justice who’s among them Christian evangelicals, may tianity can be the fighting faith it was meant to be, not just another part of the establishment. This is called bearing wit- EPA: Jully 1, 2015 ness, and it’s time the church did, loud and clear. For too long, too many Christians have longed to be too respectable. They’ve EPA raked over the coals fallen into the Relevance Trap, simply onsumers and businesses won The lawsuit against the EPA was The problem, explained Justice Clar- echoing the dominant culture. But by big on Monday, when the Su- brought by the coal industry and 21 states ence Thomas in his concurring opinion, imitating pop culture, they’ve distanced preme Court struck down an reliant on coal plants. Though the regula- is that Congress gives agencies too much themselves from what one perceptive EnvironmentalC Protection Agency regu- tion, limiting emissions of mercury and leeway to decide when to regulate. It’s Christian minister called the church’s lation on coal plant emissions because the other metals, only went into effect this inevitable they’ll overdo it — regulation “historically prophetic position in soci- EPA failed to consider whether the costs April, dozens of coal plants already had is their business. The undemocratic re- ety. Relating to the world by following Obamacare still key issue outweighed the benefits. Not the cost to closed to avoid the cost of complying, es- sult is regulation without representation. the world is a recipe for disaster.” Instead, government, mind you. The cost to us, as timated at a whopping $10 billion nation- The Obama administration is regula- the church should stand apart. And let the consumers and business owners, to com- wide. The Court’s ruling will not undo tion on steroids. Regulations imposing world know it. ply. The Court’s 5-4 decision in Michigan those plant closings. They are casualties more than $100 million in yearly com- To quote the Rev. Rick Scarborough v. Environmental Protection Agency is a in Obama’s war on coal. pliance costs are up 41 percent over on the Supremes’ decision to recognize setback for the Obama administration but In Monday’s ruling, Scalia raked the what the George W. Bush administra- homosexual marriages as the law of the an important protection for the rest of us. EPA over the coals, saying it “refused to tion imposed, though the Bush adminis- land: “We will denounce this practice in Federal overregulation — of every- consider whether the costs of its decision tration also over-regulated. our services, we will not teach it in our thing from automobiles to fast food and outweighed the benefits. The Agency These proliferating Obama regula- schools, we will refuse to officiate at this power plants — makes it more expensive gave cost no thought at all, because it tions take money out of your pocket, type of wedding. ...” for employers to hire and more expensive considered cost irrelevant to its initial de- adding $44 to the cost of a dishwasher, Once again the distinction between for consumers to buy everyday products. cision to regulate.” $83 to the price of a refrigerator and Rome and Jerusalem may be made clear. Amazingly, 29 percent of what the aver- $1,357 to a new car (which will soar The focus of debate in the future might age household spends is due to regula- Betsy to $3,157 in 2017) according to econo- even move from the rights of homosexual tions jacking up prices. We could afford mists at the American Action Forum. couples to the rights of believers not to a lot more if there were fewer regula- McCaughey And there’s the cost to our democ- acquiesce in practices they abhor. For tions. (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate racy. Obama’s EPA is also rolling out freedom of religion is part of the First another scheme — the Clean Power Amendment, too. SOME ARE needed to protect our CONGRESS OPPOSES the presi- Plan — against the will of Congress. How long before a new Paul, he of the health and safety, but Washington, D.C., dent’s crusade against coal, so the EPA It will force states to close coal plants New Testament, will be writing blazing overdoes it. And has for decades. The found a provision in a law already on the and change the energy mix in their state. letters? Or a new Dietrich Bonhoeffer Obama administration is the all-time books — the Clean Air Act of 1970 — Harvard constitutional lawyer Law- will arise to stir us? That pastor resisted worst offender, and its EPA imposes the to justify regulating metallic emissions rence Tribe is urging his old student, another government’s decrees when Nazi most regulatory burdens of any agency. from coal plants where “appropriate and Barack Obama, to obey the law. “Frus- Germany was supposed to be the Wave Monday’s ruling is a red flag to regu- necessary.” Scalia raged that it’s not “ tration with congressional inaction can- of the Future. lators to measure the costs and benefits even rational, never mind ‘appropriate,’ not justify throwing the Constitution to society before deciding to pile on an- to impose billions of dollars in economic overboard.” SOME OF us can hardly wait for the other regulation. But the Court cannot be costs in return for a few dollars in health appearance of such new prophets and old counted on to protect us from overregula- and environmental benefits.” TWELVE STATES are now suing prophecies renewed. For political/legal tion, especially considering the slim vic- Requiring cost-benefit analysis origi- the EPA to halt this scheme as well. defeats can lead to moral victories. It can tory on Monday. Every presidential can- nated with Ronald Reagan in 1981, but Obama’s EPA lost in the Supreme Court free us to express our deepest, best, most didate should be asked for a plan to tame it’s only part of the remedy. Regulators on Monday. But the president, ruling resistant selves no matter what the domi- the regulatory beast and get government will play fast and loose with the numbers with a pen and phone and without Con- nant culture may try to impose on us. off our backs. to justify their regulations. gress, bullies on. Onward, Christian soldiers! 30 Conservative Chronicle MEDIA BIAS: June 26, 2015 Fanning the flames of a black church arson hoax merica is still reeling from rorist Floyd Lee Corkins to shoot up observations of Los Angeles Times re- NBC News trumpeted: “Spate of the horrific Charleston, the Washington, D.C., office of the porter Matt Pearce that the feds have Fires at Black Churches Raise Con- S.C., massacre at Emanuel Family Research Council in 2012, made no official determinations that cerns of Rise in Hate Crimes.” AfricanA Methodist Episcopal Church baselessly reported: “In what may not any hate crimes have taken place and The Washington Post ominously tal- that claimed the lives of nine innocent be a coincidence, a string of nighttime that “it’s unclear whether any of the lied “five predominantly black South- people. fires have damaged or destroyed at fires are linked.” ern churches burn within a week; arson The last thing the community and least six predominately black churches It was observed that “one suspected in at least three.” our country need are hysterical jour- in four southern states in the past of the half-dozen church The New York Daily News blared: nalists compounding the pain with week.” crimes was most “String of apparent arson fires plague inflammatory reporting on an unsub- Teach for Michelle likely “accidental” black churches in Carolinas, Georgia stantiated “epidemic” of black church America alum- and had “no ele- and Tennessee.” arsons. nus agitator De- Malkin ment of criminal Mic.com quoted a hate crimes “ex- Ray McKesson (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate intent.” pert” blaming — you guessed it — “the ON MONDAY, a Baltimore Sun quickly added his Another “was growth of violent right-wing extremist lead editorial decried “a series of Twitter kerosene to the fire, reflexively likely touched off by an electrical ideology in the U.S.” for the nonexis- mysterious fires at African-American claiming that the “KKK” was respon- short” after a tree limb fell on the tent black church arson epidemic. churches across the South” in the sible for a half-dozen black church property, yanking the electrical service wake of the Charleston murders. The burnings. line with it. WHERE THERE’S smoke, there’s newspaper cited a “pattern” of attacks, And yet another alleged “black fire. In this case, it’s coming from the including what it claimed was an “up- BURIED BENEATH the sensa- church arson” actually involved a five-alarm self-immolation of agenda- tick in attacks on 37 black churches in tionalized social media avalanche of white church “struck by lightning.” driven journalism’s credibility. the South” in the 1990s that “prompt- panic: the more judicious and careful No matter. ed President Bill Clinton to set up a church-arson investigative task force.” NORTH KOREA: June 24, 2015 The Sun neglected to mention that Clinton had falsely claimed at the time that he had “vivid and painful memo- ries of black churches being burned in my own state when I was a child”— Meanwhile, back in North Korea an assertion immediately debunked by n an interview last year on a northeast Asia, no matter how brief, dangerous and seemingly diplomati- the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Texas radio station, I was asked would kill hundreds of thousands, if cally intractable problem. The Sun also neglected to mention when China would “finally do not millions of people. The war’s eco- The six-nation Korean peninsula that the manufactured media coverage something”I about North Korea’s manic nomic havoc would extend from cra- working group, consisting of Russia, that launched the 1990s black church threats to launch a nuclear attack. tered Seoul to Texas to Timbuktu to, China, the U.S., South Korea, North arson juggernaut, fueled by former Perhaps an uneasy memory of spring well, Shanghai and Beijing. Washing- Korea and Japan, exemplifies this iner- USA Today reporter Gary Fields’ 61 2013’s revelation that North Korea had ton assumes intelligent Chinese lead- tia. Though this spring diplomats began fear-mongering stories, fell apart un- Austin, Texas, on its ICBM target list ers understand that if war erupts their discussing a new round of talks, the der scrutiny. Fields’ own employer was spurred the question. nation will pay a steep economic pen- six-nation group has not held a formal forced to admit that “analysis of the 64 Nuclear war in your hometown alty. China cannot dismiss the prospect meeting since 2008. fires since 1995 shows only four can courtesy of North Korean Stalinists is of immense loss of life and China occasionally restrains North be conclusively shown to be racially a legitimate worry, one shared by resi- Korean saber-rattling. However, the motivated.” dents of Seoul and Tokyo. Achieving a frozen diplomatic process has allowed Reminder: Several of the hyped political solution that avoids violence Austin North Korea to acquire nuclear weap- hate crimes against black churches had is most desirable; a solution that pro- ons and build ballistic missiles with been committed by black suspects; a motes long-term stability and peace, Bay near-intercontinental reach. Pyongyang significant number of the black church- even more so. (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate routinely threatens South Korea, Japan, es were, in fact, white churches; and However, no one can answer “when” Hawaii and the western U.S. with nu- the complex motives behind the crimes something will happen. The future is material. clear immolation. included mental illness, vandalism and the Land of If, inviting speculation but The Chinese, however, reject Wash- History, however, hasn’t frozen. concealment of theft. defying prediction. ington’s analysis that pursuing stiff, re- Other dangerous security issues have Once again, falsified history is re- lentless sanctions will be effective. In emerged, the most dangerous involving peating itself. AS I RECALL, my response em- fact, they argue that crippling sanctions China. China contests Japanese control The NAACP, which capitalized on phasized the question’s historical ac- could be counterproductive. China’s of islets in the East China Sea. China the Clinton-era race hustle, is now curacy. From the U.S. perspective, for leaders insist that the U.S. overrates spars with Vietnam and the Philippines pushing the new arson epidemic narra- at least two decades, if not longer, Chi- China’s power to force North Korea to in the South China Sea. The U.S. vigor- tive. The organization remains shame- na’s tepid support for and occasional make concessions. ously opposes China’s claim to control lessly undaunted after fueling the opposition to economic and political shipping lanes in the area. fake NAACP “bombing” in Colorado sanctions hindered efforts to end the THE U.S., South Korea and Japan Russia, under its neo-Stalinist leader Springs earlier this year. The group’s Kim dictatorship’s nuclear weapons all point to the map. An effective eco- Vladimir Putin, is backing its expan- CEO, Cornell Brooks, tweeted the program. nomic sanctions regimen requires the sionary claims with military action. incendiary “#WhoIsBurningBlack- The question also recognized a U.S. sustained cooperation of border na- Russia faces its own set of economic Churches” hashtag on Tuesday and dis- policy assumption: Long ago, Wash- tions. South Korea, Russia and China sanctions. Its participation in the six- closed that he is “informing churches, ington concluded that China is the only border North Korea. The U.S. insists nation forum is a farce. reviewing legislation, pushing media nation that can bring effective pressure Russian and Chinese cooperation are awareness and deciding legal options.” on North Korea’s leaders and their core essential. IN THIS increasingly suspicious The left-wing instigators at the supporters. Bill Clinton’s and George In diplomatic terms, when it comes and heavily armed region, it may be too Southern Poverty Law Center, whose W. Bush’s administrations believed to North Korea, the unstoppable U.S. late to use diplomatic means to deny stated mission is to “destroy” its po- Beijing’s firm cooperation was instru- force collides with the immoveable North Korea nuclear weapons. The Jap- litical opponents and whose target map mental to diplomatic success. Chinese object. So credit the question anese and South Korean militaries are and list of social conservative groups Washington also has worked from for expressing a blunt and understand- improving their offensive capabilities. were used by left-wing domestic ter- the assumption that a nuclear war in able layman’s frustration with a very When will they “finally do something?” July 8, 2015 31 WORLD POWERS: June 26, 2015 Changing world balance — Obama makes odd choices s the world back to where it was North American settlers started moving around the year 1800? One could west of the Appalachians. come to that conclusion after Today you could make the argument readingI British historian John Darwin’s that the major regions of the world are recent book After Tamerlane, which reverting to the balance that prevailed assesses the rises and falls of empires until the 19th century, when Europe and after the death in 1405 of the famously the United States suddenly started dom- bloodthirsty Muslim Mongol monarch. inating the world. From his Central Asian base, Tamer- That’s certainly the view of China’s lane conquered Persia and lands from leaders and, as far as one can Egypt to India, de- judge, of the Chi- stroying captured Michael nese people. China cities and piling was riven by civil up enormous piles Barone wars and foreign of skulls. His fame (c) 2015, Creators Syndicate interventions be- has endured, from tween the Taiping Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan Rebellion, which started in 1850, and play to the first name of the slain Boston the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Its Marathon bomber. surging economic growth since then Darwin’s perspective is worldwide, and its increasing military might, in this with as much emphasis on East Asia, view, have simply restored it to the emi- South Asia, the Islamic world and Rus- nence it enjoyed at the time of the Qian- sia as on Western Europe and its Ameri- long emperor’s death in 1799. can offshoots. He argues that from the President Barack Obama’s “pivot to 1400s to about 1800, China, India and Asia” is an attempt to cabin in China’s much local prosperity but not much busy working to strengthen NATO de- the Islamic world were about as eco- power without establishing a NATO- clout beyond its borders. It is threat- ployments in eastern Europe in order to nomically and technologically advanced like military alliance — impossible ened from the east by Vladimir Putin’s deter Russian aggression. and culturally sophisticated as that little because of distrust between Japan and Russia, which has absorbed much of The Islamic world in the years after Meanwhile, back in North Korea set of peninsulas at the western edge of its neighbors. The Trans-Pacific trade Ukraine and threatens NATO members Tamerlane, Darwin argues, was domi- the Eurasian land mass called Europe. agreement — made possible by Re- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. nated for centuries by the economically publican congressional leaders’ smart successful and culturally creative Otto- IN THIS VIEW, European traders maneuvering to outflank congressional RUSSIA DOES not have the mili- man and Persian empires. The Middle and armies played only a small, mostly Democrats and pass trade promotion tary strength it had when its troops East is mostly economically stagnant offshore role beyond their homelands. authority — is an attempt to bind Chi- swept into Paris in 1814 and Berlin in and culturally barren, fostering terror- European dominance started not with na’s pro-American neighbors together 1945. But a successful incursion would ism and disorder. Christopher Columbus and Vasco da and limit China’s influence. destroy the credibility of NATO. For- Middle Eastern oil is less strategic Gama but when the British East India Meanwhile, Europe increasingly re- tunately, Defense Secretary Ash Carter than formerly, but 9/11 and the Islamic Company started conquering India and sembles its situation before 1800, with and senior military leaders have been State group show how regional insta- bility can threaten the advanced world. George W. Bush’s attempts to advance democracy there did not succeed. Presi- dent Obama’s strategy — to appease Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons in the hopes it will be a “very successful” regional power — seems ill-conceived. The big difference between the world balance in 1800 and today is, of course, the United States. The young U.S. was different, fighting the Barbary pirates and entering the China trade. It had built the world’s largest and most creative economy by 1900, to the point that ex- hausted European powers begged it to take the lead role in economics and politics in the years after World War I. Americans declined that invitation but took it up after World War II, in what seemed still a Europe-centric world, in the confidence that they could make it better — and with notable success in Western Europe and Japan. Today administration leaders on trade and defense are trying to follow that example.

BUT THE president seems to lack that confidence and, facing a world that resembles 1800 more than it does 1945, reaches out to Iran’s mullahs and the Castro brothers while disrespecting many of America’s friends. Curious re- sponses to a difficult challenge. RUSH! •NEWSPAPER• •DATED MATERIAL•

Help Us Spread The Conservative Message. You can share this publication and help us expose the truth in 3 ways. Wednesday, July 8, 2015 • Volume 30, Number 27 • Hampton, Iowa

1 Give a New Gift Subscription. (2 or 3 would be great!) Select the number of Name ______issues you would like. Address ______❏ 13 issues - $22.00 No Moral Truth City ______State ______Zip ______❏ 26 issues - $40.00 Sign Gift Card as: ______❏ 52 issues - $74.00 Attach extra sheets for additional gifts. Feelings Are the New Moral Guide

2 Your Own Subscription. Select the number of Read Dennis Prager’s Column on Page 1 Name ______issues you would like. Address ______❏ 13 issues - $22.00 City ______State ______Zip ______❏ 26 issues - $40.00 (U.S. Currency Only) ❏ 52 issues - $74.00 Call for current foreign rate information.

3 Send a Free Sample. Order Name ______Total $______Address ______❏ Check Enclosed City ______State ______Zip ______❏ MC / VISA ❏ Discover Card Billing Information. ❏ American Express Name ______Credit Card Address ______City ______State ______Zip ______Expiration Date Credit Card Number # ______/______

Send this form with payment to: Conservative Chronicle, Box 29 Hampton, IA 50441-0029 or Call toll free in the US 1-800-888-3039 Place your order on line at www.conservativechronicle.com This week our CONSERVATIVE FOCUS is on: Conservative Chronicle Supreme Court The weekly publication that features newspaper columns from America's leading conservative commentators. Read David Limbaugh, Michael Barone & David Harsanyi on Pages 16-17

Featured and Contributing Columnists Postmaster: Timely Material Michael Barone, Austin Bay, Brent Bozell, Pat Buchanan, Mona Charen, Linda Chavez, Ann Coulter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Larry Elder, Erick Erickson, Joseph Farah, Paul Greenberg, David Harsanyi, Laura Hollis, Jeff Jacoby, Please deliver on or before Terence Jeffrey, Charles Krauthammer, Larry Kudlow, Donald Lambro, David Limbaugh, Rich Lowry, Michelle Malkin, 7/8/15 Mychal Massie, Dick Morris, William Murchison, Andrew Napolitano, Marvin Olasky, Paul Paquet, Dennis Prager, Periodicals Postage Paid Debra J. Saunders,Phyllis Schlafly, Ben Shapiro,Thomas Sowell, Cal Thomas,Matt Towery,R. EmmettTyrrell, Jr., Mailed 7/2/15 George Will, and Walter Williams.