Renewing Our Spiritual Strength

Quoting Ronald Reagan:

“This is the real task before us: to reassert our commitment as a nation to a law higher than our own, to renew our spiritual strength. Only by building a wall of such spiritual resolve can we, as a free people, hope to protect our own heritage and make it someday the birthright of all men.”

The Foundation Of Morality

John Quincy Adams

Quoting John Quincy Adams (Sixth President of the United States):

There are three points of doctrine the belief of which forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of God; the second is the immortality of the human soul; and the third is a future state of rewards and punishments. Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these three articles of faith and that man will have no conscience, he will have no other law than that of the tiger or the shark. The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy. (Source: John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son on the Bible and Its Teachings (Auburn: James M. Alden, 1850), pp. 22-23.)

Ronald Reagan On Modern Conservatism

Quoting Ronald Reagan:

“We warned of things to come, of the danger inherent in unwarranted government involvement in things not its proper province. What we warned against has come to pass. And today more than two-thirds of our citizens are telling us, and each other, that social engineering by the federal government has failed. The Great Society is great only in power, in size and in cost. And so are the problems it set out to solve. Freedom has been diminished and we stand on the brink of economic ruin. Our task now is not to sell a philosophy, but to make the majority of Americans, who already share that philosophy, see that modern conservatism offers them a political home. We are not a cult, we are members of a majority. Let’s act and talk like it. The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when?”

 

Rules For Achieving The American Dream

From the desk of columnist Cal Thomas:

“Anyone who thinks dysfunctional government is going to help achieve their dreams is putting their faith in the wrong place. People who believe a politician of whatever party or persuasion can make their life better than individual initiative are doing more than dreaming; such persons are displaying cult-like faith, which can never be fulfilled. The rules for achieving the American dream may no longer be taught in and supported by culture, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work. The rules are known to previous generations: studying and staying in school; achieving at least an undergraduate degree; avoiding drugs that harm your mind and body; getting married before you have children and working hard to stay married as an example to those children and to benefit society; saving and investing for retirement so as not to burden taxpayers and relatives; living within one’s means; demonstrating personal honesty and professional integrity, which comes from character developed in one’s youth, usually with a sense of right and wrong once imposed by parents and affirmed by culture.”

The Spirit Of Christmas

Quoting President Calvin Coolidge:

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.

Democrats Continue To Push Their Liberal Spending Agenda

It looks like the Democrats will introduce the mother of all budget bills by lumping together all the appropriations bills they had failed to pass for fiscal year 2011, which began on October 1. The omnibus package costs $1.1 trillion. Democrats had ducked funding the government all year, fearing the backlash from spending-conscious voters. The government is currently running on a stopgap expenditure that expires Dec. 2. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has announced his opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will once again try to slip energy legislation through the Senate under a new name: the Promoting Natural Gas and Electric Vehicles Act of 2010. The bill is nothing but pork, including $4.5 billion in tax incentives for purchasing automobiles powered by natural gas or electricity and subsidies for the production of such vehicles. Another $1.5 billion is thrown in for further research and development in this area. How will the government pay for it? It will all be “paid for” by tripling the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund tax. The tax will mean even less oil exploration in U.S. territory and higher gas prices for consumers. Numerous economic and scientific studies have revealed that there is not, nor will there be, any real demand for these vehicles over the next decade. If there were demand, there would be no need for federal subsidies. Reid continues to through good money after bad in order to please his favorite lobbyists.