TEA parties ignite conservative resurgence

The Republican Party wasn’t always a conservative party.  Waves of conservative insurgency and resurgency during the past 50 years have transformed the Grand Old Party into the only major party with a core constituency that desires individual freedom and limited government.

The emergence of TEA (for “taxed enough already”) parties and the 912 Project — often referred to jointly as the Liberty Movement — is the newest chapter in this resurgence. (more…)

NRA sells out your gun rights

Correction:  The NRA ultimately decided not to endorse Harry Reid.  They gave him money and seemed to agonize over the decision — which should tell you all you need to know.  NRA lobbyist Chris Cox suggested that Reid’s votes for Supreme Court nominees Elana Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were deal-breakers.  That it was even a close call before those votes is ludicrous.

To anyone who still believes the National Rifle Association cares more about protecting your Second Amendment rights than it does about kissing up to powerful politicians, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

For the NRA, the Second Amendment has become little more than an expedient tool for raising money, striking political compromises, and maintaining access to those in power.

This week, the NRA’s Political Victory Fund endorsed liberal Democrat Congresswoman Betsy Markey, who cares so deeply about the Second Amendment that she didn’t even bother to return the NRA’s survey when she first ran for Congress two years ago. (more…)

The True Meaning of Independence

As we observe the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this Fourth of July, we should consider the unique form of government for which our Founding Fathers chose to risk “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” against the militarily-superior British.

The definitive passage in the Declaration reads:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” (more…)

Michael Bennet feels your pain

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d00a6Zb8I_w&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Continuing his “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” routine Michael Farrand Bennet is spending some of his $4.8 million campaign war chest on a new television commercial that strongly suggests that Bill Ritter’s personal senator believes Coloradans are suckers – or at least that enough can be suckered in order for him to win his first real election.

The commercial toggles between the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and scenes from Washington County on Colorado’s Eastern Plains.  Bennet, who grew up in Washington, D.C., and has lived in Colorado for a mere 13 years, wants us to believe that he’s a regular Joe, just a common, hard-workin’ good ol’ boy. (more…)

A Ponzi scheme by any other name …

Economic illiteracy has its advantages, especially for liberal agitators who seem disproportionately afflicted by it.

A few weeks ago, the whiny left erupted with feigned outrage when Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton noted the obvious — that Social Security has become “a Ponzi scheme.”

For anyone who understands economics and the fraudulent way the federal government constructed Social Security, Norton’s observation was a simple statement of fact. (more…)

More health care ‘help’ we can’t afford

Legislators talk frequently about the Law of Unintended Consequences but rarely seem to recognize when a bill they support will, if passed, inevitably collide with that law.  Such is the case with House Bill 1021, which would require individual insurance policies to cover a normal pregnancy, childbirth, maternity care, pregnancy management and contraception.

At first glance, that sounds like a reasonable idea: women who buy their own health insurance ought to be able to purchase coverage for pregnancy.  Now stand in the shoes of another woman — one who isn’t pregnant, or plans not to become pregnant, or is beyond childbearing years, or is unable even to have children:  if state law requires all policies to cover pregnancy, then state law requires everyone to pay for pregnancy coverage, whether they want it or not. (more…)

HB 1168: The Trial Lawyer Hypocrisy Act of 2010

If there’s one thing personal injury lawyers are especially good at, it’s exploiting the misfortunes of their clients while devising new ways to line their own pockets.

Colorado House Bill 1168 is this year’s prime example. While claiming to help injured parties receive full compensation for damages caused by the fault of someone else, what it really does is guarantee that the injured person, in order to be fully compensated, must hire a lawyer.

Since most personal injury cases are handled on a contingent fee basis, that means that just when the injured party is about to be paid, the trial lawyer will extract his fee of 33 or 40 percent of the award. (more…)