Category: Politics

Tonight on NRO, lots of great stuff:
Stephen Moore writes about all the trouble with Tom Daschle’s mansion on Foxhall Road in Washington DC. I used to drive down Foxhall all the time to get to American U, so I’ve seen how the other half lives.
Also, The Krugman Truth Squad strikes again. They even gave Tim Russert some ammo this time.

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMO ALERT!

California is not the only place suffering from election shennanigans right now, as true conservatives debate over whether they should support Arnold. Ontario, which is Canada’s largest province, is also going through an interesting election. In my latest Enter Stage Right column, I share why social and fiscal conservatives should not be scared to vote Family Coalition Party as an alternative to the Progressive Conservatives, even though it will likely mean splitting the right. Here’s a juicy excerpt from “Not Just For So-Cons: Why Fiscal Conservatives Should Vote Family Coalition Party in Ontario”:

In fact, one of the things I find interesting about the Family Coalition Party is that unlike many other social conservatives I come across, the party resists the temptation of paleo-conservative protectionism. According to their campaign literature, the FCP “supports the long-term removal of all measures that insulate industries, businesses, financial institutions, professions and trade unions from domestic and foreign competition.” In this sense, the FCP appears much more in tune with the global thinking of modern conservatism than the federal PCs under David Orchard.

Thus the FCP’s social conservative roots provide for solid fiscal conservative policy. The party clearly explains this correlation in their policy handbook. “The family has an important and necessary role in protecting and nurturing life,” one reads. “This role makes the family, rather than the individual, the basic building block of our society. When families are strong and prosperous, democracy and economic enterprise flourish. Strong families lessen problems in many areas of society; e.g.: marital separations, child abuse, teenage rebellion leading to alcohol and drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, runaways, school drop-outs, vandalism, theft and violence. Strong family ties and stable relationships are economically and socially beneficial, leading to fewer cases of single parents, better job stability, more productive members of society and decreased welfare costs.”

Because strong families make for a robust and free-market economy, and vice-versa, the Family Coalition Party proposes an education policy more in tune with the free market than the current status – or should I say statist? – quo. “The state should not push its own political agenda onto children in classrooms,” the policy manual states. “Choice is to education what competition is to business. It unleashes the pent-up creativity of educators, in response to consumer demands. Just as competition works to improve quality and lower prices, so taxpayers will save money when parents are allowed to choose in the education marketplace. Choice is the catalyst that will drive other school reforms — it will spark innovations in teaching, management, and learning.”

Well, he’s not Ann Coulter, but St. Blog’s very own John Pacheco has thrown his hat into the upcomming provincial election in Ontario. John’s running for the Family Coalition Party, which with the homosexual marriage issue still fresh in people’s minds, has the potential to break into major party status this election. (FCP is already the largest of Ontario’s fringe parties and has been steadilly gaining for years.) John’s playing a particularly important role for the FCP, in that in Canadian politics the leader of the party must run for legislative office. John’s running against Dalton Camp, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Dalton, as I previously mentioned, has the backbone of a paralyzed squid. You can stop and visit John’s campaign website at Pacheco.ca. Please keep John in prayer and offer him encouragement.

With a couple elections looming or in full gear, there’s a number of interesting comments over at Musings, the weblog of Enter Stage Right. Many of them concern the sorry state of conservative politics in Canada. I can sympathize, particularly with regards to the provincial election in Ontario. Although she has gotten somewhat of a bad rap across St. Blog in recent weeks, what we really need in Canada is a visit from Ann Coulter.

Let’s look at the leaders of the three major parties. Ernie Eves is the current Premier of Ontario and the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. (Keep in mind this party tends to emphasize the adjective more than the noun). He’s currently shacked up with some woman who heads a state-funded television station. He’s also flip-flopped on the gay marriage issue. Fiscally, he’s nowhere as brave as his predecessor. So basically, if Ernie Eves were an American politician, he would be the 1996 election campaign — he’s got the morality of Bill Clinton and the fiscal policy and charisma of Bob Dole.

Moving on to Dalton McGuinty, Jr., head of the liberal party. Dalton became MPP when his father, Dalton McGuinty, Sr., suffered an untimely death during his term of office as a Liberal member of provincial parliament. Dalton Sr. was a good Catholic and solid pro-lifer. Dalton Camp Sr. can justly be compared to Democrat Governor Bob Casey who stood up to Clinton over the abortion issue. McGuinty Jr., unfortunately, never seemed to have come out of a teenage rebellion and thus couldn’t wait to jettison his father’s moral legacy. I cannot really compare Junior to any American politician — it’s hard to envision Janet Reno as effeminate, but calling Junior a Kennedy Catholic would concede too much orthodoxy. Regardless, Dalton McGuinty Jr. is the type of politician that would make you seriously consider voting for Jesse Jackson if he were the only alternative.

The last of the three major leaders is Howard Hampton, leader of the socialist NDP. Howie’s basically a cross between Grimace from the McDonald’s commercials in terms of personality and Al Sharpton in terms of policy. What distinguishes him from Dalton in terms of leadership is that Howie is at least honest.

PFC Jessica Lynch, former soldier, is getting a million bucks for telling “her story” in a forthcoming book. She says she doesn’t remember the attack on her convoy, the accident that caused her massive injuries, or much of her captivity. Considering she’s only 20 years old, that ought to be a short biography.
The father of one soldier killed in the convoy attack, Randy Kiehl, doesn’t think Lynch should be profiting from her comrades’ deaths. At last, someone in his position is willing to question the canonization of Jessica Lynch. As I wrote before, I wish her well, but I don’t think her experiences were more praiseworthy than others.
Lynch ought to donate that money to charity, or better yet to the dependents the dead soldiers left behind. May God rest the soul of your son, Mr. Kiehl, and comfort you.