Most of us have heard or read at least part of Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation at some point. But even those who have heard it many times can overlook two important aspects of this important document. The first is its timing: October 3, 1863. The nation had already endured two years of appalling carnage on […]
In the midst of the current budget battle, there are a lot of folks—right and left—who assume that defense spending is a luxury that America just can’t afford at the moment. This a view far removed from James Madison’s conviction that “security against foreign danger is…an avowed and essential object of the American Union.” America’s […]
The left continues to resist any suggestion of spending cuts right now. In their view, a depressed economy is no time to slash spending; that would only further weaken demand. The successful austerity policies adopted in response to the downturn of 1920, however, offer a clear rebuttal to this notion. And this is not an […]
What is America? What is this country fundamentally about? By and large, pundits and politicians on the right and the left don’t seem to get it. Some come close, but there is a widespread failure to explain why the Founders established this republic. On this date in history, two of the clearest expressions of the […]
Evidence shows that “austerity” during a sharp downturn in 1920 coincided with quick economic recovery and robust growth throughout the rest of the decade. Nevertheless, there is a belief that the example of President Herbert Hoover from 1929–1933 was a failure of austerity, which pushed the economy into the Great Depression. It was not. Hoover […]
Speech by Congressman McClintock given to the California Independent Automobile Dealers Association We are in the third year of policies predicated on the assumption that if Government just injects enough money into the economy, it can jump start consumer spending and therefore, economic growth. For three years, this administration has squandered more than a trillion […]
In each century since our nation’s founding, foreign enemies have tested the strength of the American republic, our national security, and our political principles. September 11, 2001 was not the first devastating attack on U.S. territory: in 1814, the British burned Washington, D.C., and, in 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. A look back at […]
What has President Obama done? Against the background of a darkening sky, all of the past Presidents of the United States gather before the White House, as if to commemorate some great event. In the left hand corner of the painting sits a man. That man, with his head bowed appears distraught and hopeless as […]
Modern conservatives look to a variety of historical figures for guidance as they confront progressive liberalism. Some are from the 1700’s and 1800’s, including Edmund Burke, the Founders, and Abraham Lincoln. Others, like Russell Kirk, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ronald Reagan, are from the postwar era. Strangely enough, conservatives rarely turn to the original […]
Winter has turned to spring and spring has turned to summer, but Congress and the White House are still debating how to handle the limit on our national debt. In the 1830’s, however, President Andrew Jackson set about an even more daunting task: paying the debt off entirely. America accomplished that feat in 1835, and […]
