Declaration of Independence on Alaska Cruise Ships

While many of us across America will be celebrating Independence Day at Tea Parties, some lucky passengers cruising around Alaska will see an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. One of the approximately 200 original broadsides will be brought on board all (ironically) Princess Cruise ships docking in Juneau during July 1-8. According to Princess, this is the first time an original Declaration has travelled to Alaska and the first time that one will be displayed on a cruise ship. Kudos to Princess for bringing this vital document in the history of liberty to its passengers!

Freedom & Prosperity Radio

Recently, I had the privilege of chatting about my book and the moral need for fundamental tax reform on Virginia's own Freedom & Prosperity Radio. You can listen to a podcast at Tertium Quids.

Obama:Putin::Bush:Corleone?

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Virginia, to my great dismay) made headlines this week when he likened President Barack Obama's policies that build upon former (to my great relief) President George Bush XLIII's auto bail-out to the policies of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"It's almost like looking at Putin's Russia," the Whip quipped. "You want to reward your political friends at the expense of the certainty of law."

As Chief Deputy Whip, Rep. Cantor helped push President Bush XLIII's unpopular bank bail-out through the House. After its first vote failed, Rep. Cantor allowed that several Republicans voted against it because of Speaker Nancy "Pelosi's speech that frankly struck the tone of partisanship that frankly was inappropriate in this discussion".

After this frank acknowledgment that many of his fellow Republicans will do for pride what they won't do for principle, Rep. Cantor went back to Deputy Whipping the wayward whiners into shape. Four days later, the bail-out passed. Roughly a month after that, a couple of weeks after the Republican repudiation of 2008, Rep. Cantor was elected Whip.

Meanwhile, arm-twisting duties were picked up by Bush XLIII administration officials, who allegedly threatened to audit banks that refused to accept the plundered bail-out dollars.

Given the similarity of this deal-by-extortion to "Your brains or your signature will be on this contract", it seems to me that President Bush XLIII's approach was at least as similar to Don Vito Corleone's as President Obama's is to P.M. Putin's.

Independence Day TEA Parties

July 4 is fast approaching, and with it the next round of TEA Parties. I'm happy to announce that I'm planning to speak live at the Washington, D.C., TEA Party and via video at the Birmingham, Alabama, TEA Party. I hope you'll join us! Click here to find a TEA Party near you, or check out this map on my SamSphere colleague Stix Blog.

Why We Must Remember Ronald Reagan

Granite Grok, one of my SamSphere colleague blogs, this morning posted a little essay of mine on why we need to keep Ronald Reagan's memory alive. I hope you find it valuable.

Deeds Wins

At least one party is courting conservatives. While many Republicans continue to follow the MSM's (hardly disinterested) advice by rejecting conservative values (BTW, how's that working?), some Virginia Democrats are appealing to conservative voters by appearing more moderate than their national counterparts. The trend picked up a little more steam tonight, as rural State Senator Creigh Deeds walloped liberals Brian Moran and Terry McAullife in the commonwealth's Democratic gubernatorial primary. As of this writing, Sen. Deeds has won nearly 50 percent of the vote, performing well in northern as well as rural Virginia. This sets the stage for a rematch between Sen. Deeds and Republican nominee Bob McDonnell, who narrowly defeated the Democrat in a 2005 race for Attorney General. Since Virginia's races will be in large measure a referendum on President Barack Obama and his unpopular, dangerous policies, the presence of a moderate Democrat at the top of the ticket promises an interesting Fall.

MTNP Radio

I'm going back on MTNP radio in New Hampshire this morning at 10:30 to talk about the Reagan legacy, my book, and a few other things. Click here for more details and instructions for connecting to the livestream.

Ronald Reagan's D-Day Speech, Part 1 of 2

Ronald Reagan's D-Day Speech, Part 2 of 2

Remembering Reagan

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of Ronald Reagan.

What follows is the tribute I wrote at the time:


MOURNING IN AMERICA

Families in Berlin awoke Sunday morning to the news that Ronald Reagan had “slipped the surly bonds of earth”. They were free to reach out to friends and relatives anywhere in the city for comfort—-because the Berlin Wall no longer keeps them apart.

Families in the former Soviet Union are free to seek comfort in churches—-because the Godless ideology of communism has been toppled, and the Soviet Union is no more.

Families in America, native and immigrant, live in prosperity—-because of the commonsense economic reforms of the 1980s.

All around the world, people are better off than they were 24 years ago. We’re better off because Ronald Reagan stood up to the communists and to the Congress. We’re better off because Ronald Reagan taught us to believe again in America and what she stands for—-freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and the value of every human life. We’re better off because Ronald Reagan exuded such hope that it reshaped how we saw ourselves, our country, and our world.

I met him only once. I was a young intern at Reagan-Bush ’84, his re-election campaign. The President came in for a late-October pep rally. I stood in an office doorway crowded with colleagues. He did not shake my hand. Rather, he looked into my face for a nanosecond—-and winked at me. Twenty years later, the memory of the warm smile on his face still brings a smile to mine.

I was struck by how big he was—-tall and broad-shouldered. His face was crinkled and wrinkled, as one would expect for a 73-year-old man with the hardest job in the world. But his sagging skin was pink, his smile sincere, and he exuded a vitality and a joie de vivre that made him seem younger than some people half his age.

He filled the room. It’s hard to pin down exactly how he filled it, but he did. He was big, but a lot of men are big, and few have Reagan’s presence. He had the aura of the presidency, and that’s a factor, but not the main one.

Reagan’s presence didn’t come from the mantle of the presidency or the broad shoulders on which it hung.

It came from within the man. It came from his character, and the hope that character produces.

Because of his character and his hope, he filled more than the room. He filled the decade. He created an era. His hope and optimism changed the way America saw itself. Hope was in the air in the 1980s—-a sense of renewal, a sense that the present was bright and the future brighter.

What a contrast to the decade before! It seemed that the news was all bad. The economy was in recession, brought on by stifling taxation and regulation. The Soviets invaded in Afghanistan, and the U.S. responded by boycotting the Olympics. News networks were literally counting the days that American hostages were held in Iran, and the American president announced that he wouldn’t leave the White House until they came home (a pledge he later broke).

The weak response to these harsh providences took a toll on our nation’s psyche.

Even before Reagan took office, something told us that he could make us proud again. When someone tried to shut off his microphone at a 1980 debate sponsored by his campaign, he stood up and declared, “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. [B]reen!” The microphone stayed on. The moment defined his campaign. We couldn’t imagine then that, seven years later, Reagan would speak the words that defined his presidency: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” We just knew that this man wouldn’t be pushed around, and, under his leadership, neither would our country.

It helped that his policies worked. An aggressive, expansionist enemy cannot be “contained”; it must be confronted. Reagan confronted the evil empire, and it crumbled. High taxes strangle prosperity; Reagan cut taxes, and the economy soared.

But his policies worked because they were rooted in truth and in hope. They were rooted in the understanding that people will soar when they are not stifled by oppressive government—-be it the pervasive, evil oppression of Godless communism, or the relatively lesser, misguided oppression of high taxes and big bureaucracy. They were rooted in what Ronald Reagan believed, and what he reminded us that we believed too.

Because Reagan’s policies worked, life improved, in America, and around the globe. And because Reagan’s exuberant optimism never failed, we believed that it would just get better and better.

Through his strength and his success, he reshaped the world. The Berlin Wall, that vast scar on the hopes of half a nation is gone—-and so is the ideology for which it stood.

Twelve years after he left office, America faced the most horrific attack on our nation and its values in our history. We did not respond with the despair that marked the 1970s. We responded with the character and spirit that were reborn in the 1980s and have never left us.

Ronald Reagan changed the world. He believed in America, and reminded us to believe in her again. And he believed that America’s values are meant to be shared with the world, and he did more to share them than anyone else.

So today, our fellow freedom-lovers in the East mourn, but they mourn in the freedom that Reagan restored to them. And we in the West, we mourn in the hope that he restored to us.

"Obama Man", by Greg Morton

McGuire Statement on GM Plant Closing

My friend and Republican nominee for Lee Hill Supervisor D.J. McGuire released the following statement in reaction to the announced closing of GM’s Powertrain plant on Tidewater Trail:

Like many other Spotsylvanians, I was disappointed by the news of the closing of General Motors’ Powertrain plant. I see the plant every day on my way home from work, and it has been a symbol of the county’s openness to success in industry and prosperity for its citizens. I am sad to see its apparent demise. Just three years ago, GM was investing more capital into the Powertrain factory, so this action also comes as a surprise. Given GM’s current status, I hope and expect that both the company and the Obama Administration will be very open about the reasoning behind this decision.

Of course, GM is in need of serious adjustment, and no one can be certain what action, if any, the county could have taken that would have led to a different outcome. However, this is a good time for Spotsylvania to reflect on its recent actions, which certainly didn’t improve the outlook for business in general or the Tidewater Trail plant in particular.

Since GM’s last infusion of capital into the Powertrain plant, property taxes were raised 11% (on average); the personal property tax rate was raised more than 25%; and the business furniture/fixture tax rate was raised 19%. While avoidance of these recession-aggravating measures may not have saved Powertrain, at the very least it would have reduced the risk and the cost to GM for keeping it open – and would certainly do the same for future users of that space. Moreover, if (however unlikely the possibility) the plant was closed for more political reasons, the aforementioned tax increases could very well provide Washington with some of the justification it would use to claim otherwise. It certainly won’t help the future users of that plant, or any other businesses struggling to get through this recession here in Spotsylvania.

In any event, it is time for Spotsylvania to recognize its place in the national and global community, and to acknowledge that it cannot over-tax, over-spend, and over-regulate in a vacuum. That is why, should I be elected Lee Hill Supervisor this November, I will:

• Refuse to support any real estate tax rate above equalization
• Keep a close eye on county spending to avoid future tax increases and where possible allow for reductions in tax rates, be it for real estate, BPOL, furniture/fixtures, machinery/tools, heavy equipment, personal property, etc.
• Work with my fellow Supervisors and the Planning Commission to scale back (and, if possible, repeal) the recently imposed commercial design standards (a.k.a. the “HCOD design standards”) as soon as practicable

The GM Powertrain plant may stay open until late next year. I cannot say whether or not the above plans will save it – and truth be told, it would not be sensible to bend county policy simply to aid one employer. However, we can (and I believe we must) use this as a wake-up call to make Spotsylvania a friendlier county for established and rising businesses – including the business that is and/or will be at 11032 Tidewater Trail.

For more information, contact Mr. McGuire at dj@djmcguire.com.

Back on RFC!

I'm happy to announce that I'll be back on Radio For Conservatives tonight at 10:00 EST--as a guest on Raisin' Hale. Please tune in as host Tabitha Hale and I talk about my book, what ails the GOP, and why we have hope.