Wonderful!!! Limited government is what conservatism is all about....duh!!! (ie: I never said GWB was conservative.)

Amen!!!

While I cannot speak for all conservatives, I for one believe change is good... as long as it is done within our Constitutional representative system rather than through the non-elected courts.... People are free to change anything they want... even the Constitution, as long as they do it legally and in the open. Unfortunately, that is NOT what Progressives seem to want to do... but rather they elect to force their views down the throats of a society that largely rejects it.... that is Tyrany in my dictionary. So much for that one.

I am always amazed at the acumen of our Founding Fathers and what incredible Providence brought them all together at the same time and the same place. I am grateful for the heritage they left us..

As put it..."Its time to play the man."

Great job Mr. President. Indeed...the premise our country (the USA) was founded on is that men are "endowed by their Creator" with certain individual rights, and that government is instituted among men to protect and preserve those rights...no more, and no less. The government does not grant rights...they are already there for individuals. The rub comes, of course, in that we must have an orderly society, and that, as Holmes put it, "Your right to swing your fist, stops at my nose." So there must be order, and freedom. The balencing of these is what the Great American Experiment is all about. (And by the way, this experiment does not have to work...we can still prove it was a bad idea by turning liberty into license, and/or voting ourselves money from the public coffers.)

Such is the great danger of the enemy within...how to maintain the liberty we have always enjoyed and that makes us what we are, and still protect ourselves from those who would use that freedom and liberty against us.... We will be walking this tightrope for a while to come.

Goodness... I thought it took a villiage. A great test of any man / woman is whether they can endure liberty without turning it into license for depravity. There is an innate downward pull that always has to be reckoned into the equation. Few can endure such freedom... and the balance struck by our Founding Fathers is incrediby wise. As one said... "God will rule the affairs of men, or tyrants will."

de Tocqueville has a keen eye,and he's not the only one. Reminds me of the observation by Churchill (that's Winston Churchill for you Anon in Reston--you've heard about him), that "Capitalism's problem is the uneven distribution of wealth, which socialism's virtue is the even distribution of misery." Amen! (Anon. in Reston. Hope you have a gerat day. By the way...if we go socialistic as you desire...what's in it for you? A position of unchallengable privilege, and power--deciding who you will take from and who you will give to? Though so. Just asking.)

Obviously James Madison had no idea what the Constitution really means (yuk! yuk!)....except for the fact that HE WROTE IT!!!. We have piddled away the awesome freedom our fore-fathers bequeathed to us... Of course...he also said silly things like: "A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country", "Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power", and “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]. Silly guy.

Thanks Joe... Mr. Anonymous from Reston--I am so sorry that you do not understand these ever so simple and elementary economic and political realities ( I had them in Jr. High School). Why do you think you do not get the "fair share" of the fruits of your labor? Because someone else has laid claim to it...and forces you to give it to them via the government...and it is not the corporations that do this. That, incidentially, is the definition of slavery. Freedom is an amazing thing. If you work, and I assume you do, then a great percentage of your earned income is being transferred to someone else perpetually...simply because someone wants to get votes for doing it...and friend, you and a thousand like you will NEVER be able to fill that lust. The only way to break this cycle is for people to be responsible for themselves in a system that rewards just that rather than punish it... I hope that some day you will do well by your own sweat and ingenuity and come to the realization that someone believes you should pay 75% of your income in income tax because you are "lucky and privileged"....who's the slave? Sorry Joe..you already do...and that was Ms. Rand's point...YOU are NOW being treated as chatle. Cool huh?

EXACTLY!!! It is no more difficult than that, unless of course, your aim is to create a dependent class who will vote for you.

Goodness Mr. Anonymous in Reston, VA--you are indeed a bitter one aren't you? (Pst: jealousy is not becoming!). Dick Armey was a real joy and as one of his constituants I hated to see him retire. He did have a great idea though...the flat tax...and what made his idea so great was that there would be no payroll deduction...he said it would be best for people to write out a check to the government every month for their taxes, THEN, after the 2nd month, there would be a revolt when people finally understood just how much they pay.

BRAVO!!! to Mr. Bastiat. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury." - Alexander Tyler (in his 1770 book, Cycle of Democracy)

Hmmm....seems like this guy is well read...some one else is said to have the same idea of a system where no one can buy or sell without his mark... Of course, the Soviets and Chinese, and a host of other "economic systems"have tried the same thing with disasterous results...if you call starvation and slavery disasters. Nothing can beat free enterprise for many reasons... The threat of starvation is likely to produce many converts it would seem. Perhaps we should be wary of those who try this strategy today huh?

The downright ignorance of the basic principles of econiomics, particularly free enterprise, is astounding. Of course, if Adams were to write today, he might well be forced to say that "want of virtue and honor" are also a major problem. And yes, E Archer, while that might be true, that is not what this quote is about. (You know, I am always intrigued when someone will take any opportunity to run down America or the system that has done more for mankind that all the rest put together. Says more about them than about the USA.)

RIght on Logan... One thing our Founding Father's understood is that the real threat to liberty (not license) is GOVERNMENT, for it has a monopoly on the use of force. Of course, as another said, God must rule the affairs of men, or tyrants will. It is always astounding to me that anyone, particularly an American, can look around them and say WE are the evil in this world when in fact we are the most generous, benevolent, and self sacrificing nation in history. Woe to those who call good evil and evil good.