VLR's "Their Finest Hour" from February 10!

Had another great program on Vigilant Liberty Radio last night! We started the program with filmmaker Ben Howe (@BenHowe), founder of Mister Smith Media, who directed the brand-new documentary Bankrupt: How Cronyism and Corruption Brought Down Detroit.

TFH live on VLR from 2/3 - America Is Beautiful

Had a great program on Vigilant Liberty Radio last night with my guest Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis), an attorney in private practice and prolific blogger at Outside the Beltway. We had a discussion across a wide range of issues, touching often on Doug's expertise – and my layman's interest – in the intersection of politics, law, and the Constitution.

Roundtable of Extreme Liberty - January 7, 2014 show!

Taylor Millard (@EyeDesertBlog) and myself were back on Vigilant Liberty Radio (@VigilantLiberty) on Tuesday, January 7 with the Roundtable of Extreme Liberty. We had a bit of those "VLR growing pains" and "open source production values" when Taylor's computer crapped out as we went live, but we were able to get the show going and had a great discussion with our three entertaining panelists!

The Roundtable of Extreme Liberty from December 17!

Tuesday, December 17th was a big night on Vigilant Liberty Radio! Between myself and my VLR colleague Taylor Millard, we've resurrected Taylor's old periodic podcast, The Roundtable of Extreme Liberty, as a live panel show!

TFH Show 12/16: All About Immigration

My "Their Finest Hour" program on Monday, December 16th was a great discussion of immigration and border security issues! We proved that we could actually have a civil, engaging discussion with differing opinions on problems and solutions without resorting to name calling or anger.

I Am a Conservatarian, Volume I: The Basics

A few weeks ago, I was tossed a "Follow Friday" on Twitter by Kevin Boyd, a blogger, social media director of the great new blog site Pocket Full of Liberty, and on my short list of great Twitterverse friends I really have to meet in real life someday. Kevin graciously tagged me as "Mr. Conservatarian", and when I've gotten in a rant-ish kind of mood over on Twitter recently, I've been shooting out pearls of wisdom with the heading and hashtag "I am a #Conservatarian".

The whole concept of "Conservatarian" probably could use some explanation, and I'm all too happy to oblige. And yes, I'm rather pretentiously labeling this "Volume I", as this is a topic area that I can drop dozens of posts into, and hope to do so.

Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013

The debt the free peoples of Europe owe to [the United States], generous with its bounty, willing to share its strength, seeking to protect the week, is incalculable. We thank and salute you! ...

We do not aim at domination, at hegemony, in any part of the world. Even against those who oppose and who would destroy our ideas, we plot no aggression. Of course, we are ready to fight the battle of ideas with all the vigour at our command, but we do not try to impose our system on others. We do not believe that force should be the final arbiter in human affairs. We threaten no-one. Indeed, the Alliance has given a solemn assurance to the world—none of our weapons will be used except in response to attack...

Distinguished Members of Congress, our two countries have a common heritage as well as a common language. It is no mere figure of speech to say that many of your most enduring traditions—representative government, habeas corpus, trial by jury, a system of constitutional checks and balances—stem from our own small islands. But they are as much your lawful inheritance as ours. You did not borrow these traditions—you took them with you, because they were already your own.

Human progress is not automatic. Civilisation has its ebbs and flows, but if we look at the history of the last five hundred years, whether in the field of art, science, technology, religious tolerance or in the practise of politics, the conscious inspiration of it all has been the belief and practise of freedom under law; freedom disciplined by morality, under the law perceived to be just.

 -- Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to a joint session of the United States Congress, February 20, 1985.

Thank you, madam, for your service to humanity's quest for freedom and liberty. The world in which my children are being raised is better for your iron presence having been such a stalwart feature of much of my growing up. As with the Lion who came before you at Downing Street, you will be greatly missed for the rest of days.

Defeat—I do not recognise the meaning of the word!

-- during the Falklands crisis, 1982

State of the Union's Laundry List

I didn't watch President Barack Obama's State of the Union address last night. Haven't read the transcript either, and don't plan to. Didn't take in either of the responses by Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, either. For the record, and in interests of full disclosure, if Mitt Romney had won the presidency last November, I probably wouldn't have watched regardless. What's the point? Was the "state of the union" really given last night, or did we just get another litany of governmental expansion wishes and executive lecture to the Congress and assembled others?

As Ed Morrissey wrote this morning at Hot Air ("The laundry list event"):

No, the problem with this and nearly every SOTU is that it reads like Congress is Santa Claus, the President is the greedy kid, and all the rest of us are the elves in the workshop.  Almost without exception for every President in memory, the SOTU is a dressed-up version of a campaign platform filled with “I wants” and “you’d better bring mes,”  interrupted only by mindless applause and standing ovations for the most mundane of rhetoric.  That didn’t start with Obama (we should only have been so lucky!) and it won’t end with him either.  The result is a themeless, pointless, and unmemorable ramble through the arcane fighting points of the day, and no coherence whatsoever other than “gimme.”

Seriously, if I wanted to watch things running around in circles, being preened, and soaking up adoring applause as politicians are so apt to do - rather than actually accomplishing anything - there was a much better option for that last night! (Actually, I watched the Monday part of that off the DVR, last night will be watched tonight).

Back last September on the day President Obama addressed the United Nations, I wrote up the speech I'd give were I the President of the United States standing before that body. So, in that spirit, here's the address given by a hypothetical President Allan Bourdius, newly elected last November, on February 12, 2013 to a joint session of Congress.

Harvesting Apathy

Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) gave one heck of a speech to the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee a week ago tonight. In fact, it was perhaps the best anti-statist speech given by an elected official in my recent memory. I encourage you to watch it if you haven't, or at least read Governor Jindal's remarks as prepared.

Just one of the great points he made spoke to building an electoral majority.

We must compete for every single vote. The 47 percent and the 53 percent. And any other combination of numbers that adds up to 100 percent. President Barack Obama and the Democrats can continue trying to divide America into groups of warring communities with competing interests, but we will have none of it. We are going after every vote as we work to unite all Americans.

He's absolutely right. Back in my electoral post-mortem (subheading "On Widening the Map") I noted the necessity of reaching voters, communities, and regions who are considered lost or not worth challenging for in the current political calculus. Libertarians and conservatives are doomed to defeat and extinction unless the map is widened.

There's another crop of citizens to harvest as well: the forty to sixty percent of Americans who don't politically engage or vote in biennial national elections. We've got to get past people's apathy and get them involved. And on that, I've got a wild premise. Could it be that American apathy is actually an asset in disguise?

Running on the Third Rail

It is past time conservatives start running their campaigns with a "third rail" issue - the supposed politically untouchable - as a centerpiece. We're all fully knowledgeable that government spending is fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse. Our spending levels on government programs that are nothing but wealth redistribution whose costs far outweigh the value received and are completely unsustainable as we saddle future generations with more and more debt.

"Wait!", I hear you say, "Aren't conservatives already fully on board with entitlement spending reform?" Of course they are, for the most part. That isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about defense spending.

That's right, defense spending. If conservatives are going to truly and honestly stand for fiscal sanity and to win spending arguments in the future, fiscal policy proposals and narratives are going to have to include not just touching a third-rail of conservatism, but seizing it enthusiastically.

Our nation deserves it, our children who are being saddled with more and more debt deserve it, and most importantly, the brave men and women who wear the uniform of our Armed Services deserve the best of each and every dollar we give them to defend us with.

The UN Speech I'd Give

Today, President Barack Obama will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Frankly, I really don't care what he has to say there, because based on his track record, I'm sure it will be another iteration of his "blame America first" ideology, tinged with additional apologetics for the dubious view that it's a YouTube video that produced the recent increase in Middle East turmoil.

Another thing I can pretty much guarantee is that he's going to speak too long. That's a common problem with politicians, which is particularly on my mind as I was just in Gettysburg this past weekend. President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is masterful because of both its subject and its brevity.

So, were I the President of the United States, trying to keep it as pithy and inspiring as possible, here's what I'd say to the United Nations, if it was me standing there today. I think I'd probably set an all-time record for UN walkouts.

GOP's Nuclear Option for Missouri

The Republican Party has itself a real disaster brewing in Missouri, thanks to Rep. Todd Akin's linguistic sojourn into both absurdly inappropriate phrasing and pseudo-biology. Mr. Akin, of course, is the Republican candidate for Missouri's US Senate seat, currently held by the deplorable socialist Statist Senator Claire McCaskill.

This is a seat that is key to progressing with the American Restoration. Lovers of liberty must do whatever possible to regain control of the Senate, particularly with probably a minimum of two Supreme Court seats to be appointed in the next Presidential term.

Mr. Akin, now a complete pariah in the GOP, has refused to get out of the race despite calls from both establishment and conservative/libertarian voices in the party to do so, and is currently imploding in the opinion polls as his political self-immolation continues. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has stated that he's persona non grata for funding - as well they should, as Mr. Akin is clearly unsuitable for office based solely on his complete unpreparedness to cogently and intelligently answer a completely foreseeable question for any politician who holds pro-life views.

Mr. Akin can not be compelled or forced to withdraw. The GOP is stuck with him unless he withdraws on his own, and even the prospect for that is iffy as courts have to be involved, costs of reprinting ballots have to be covered, and an adequate candidate has to be found that won't cause any more division than already has been.

There is, however, another solution.

One Moment in Time, A Cause Shown

One week ago, I was attending BlogConCLT, a fantastic event put on by the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity and FreedomWorks. As my regular readers know, the bulk of my content here is on the "Finest Hour" motif, and I don't weigh in on other topics as often as I'd like to. I'll admit, my original reason for going to BlogCon was selfish: I wanted to meet so many of the wonderful people I've interacted with via Twitter and other online methods in person.

I did accomplish that, and so many e-acquaintances I can now count as real friends. What I really took away from the experience though was completely unexpected.

On Reclaiming the Narrative - the Importance of Language

Thus we may know that there are five essentials to victory:

• He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
• He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
• He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
• He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
• He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Section III: Attack by Strategem

I'm going to be writing a series on "Reclaiming the Narrative"; how we as conservatives, libertarians, and patriots can not just take back but dominate the social and political discourse. Recent events, and how they've been carried forth in the media, reinforce that conservo-libertarian views will not be accurately portrayed by the opposition and the narrative of the body politic will be entirely governed by the views of the liberal-statist totalitarian who seeks to squelch speech, not promote it.

I'm starting this series with the quote from Sun Tzu because it states very well what we must be prepared for to combat our opposition daily. To get our principles of individual sovereignty and liberty, limited Constitutional government, and fiscal sanity in the hearts and minds of more of our friends and neighbors, we must not retreat from any debate. We must not continue to allow the opposition to define the arguments. We must not accept their premises. We have to have command of the issues and our own narrative, and that begins with the importance of language, our use of it, and deconstructing how the opposition bastardizes it.

TFH 3/8: The Evil Empire Speech

I grew up thinking Ronald Reagan was wrong for America; that his conservatism was the antithesis of America. I know now how wrong that view, obtained via my parents, was. Ronald Reagan was a man of deep conviction and principle. He was both indomitable in his belief that his principles were correct, and indefatigable in defending them against assaults from all fronts.

Ronald Reagan called things like he saw them. He did not bend principle to fit the whim of the day. Was he always correct? No, but he drew lines in the sand and stuck by them. That is the essence of leadership. That is what inspired our Nation and made his presidency an awesome success.

On this day in 1983, he gave an address to the National Association of Evangelicals that is today known as the "Evil Empire" speech from the language he used to refer to the Soviet Union. I hope you take the time to watch and listen to the entirety of Reagan's speech.

Andrew Breitbart 1969-2012

Photo linked from Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com

To his family, friends, colleagues, and to all for whom his work has been so inspiring, I offer my deepest sympathies. The fight will go on. We will never yield. We will win.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. - Revelation 21:4 (NIV)

Rest in peace, Andrew.

Chuck Woolery, Patriot!

With thanks to the Larry O'Connor Show, I had no idea that Chuck Woolery was on our side and that he's produced some absolutely awesome content! A sample:



You can get the rest of his videos from his site or direct on the Save Us Chuck Woolery YouTube page. What ever you do, don't miss "Let's Tax the Amish". Enjoy, my fellow patriots!

Why the Troops Can't Come Home

Recently, many people - notably Rep. Ron Paul and his supporters - have questioned the wisdom and/or necessity of maintaining forward deployed US military units in foreign countries such as South Korea. Removing these forces as a "cost savings" measure is problematic to say the least. I think it is completely irresponsible and would be disastrous to the United States as a Nation. Let's use South Korea as an example.

On October 1, 1953, the United States of America and the Republic of Korea entered into a mutual defense treaty. The treaty took effect on November 14, 1954. Article 2 of treaty reads as follows:

The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of either of them, the political independence or security of either of the Parties is threatened by external armed attack. Separately and jointly, by self-help and mutual aid, the Parties will maintain and develop appropriate means to deter armed attack and will take suitable measures in consultation and agreement to implement this Treaty and to further its purposes.

Part of the United States' obligation to South Korea under this treaty is our forward deployed forces on the Korean peninsula. The main ground combat force we currently have there today is the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the US Army's 2nd Infantry Division. But, what if they weren't there? What if South Korea came under attack, or even an increased threat of an attack, by the Communist tyrants to the north and we had to quickly redeploy forces from the continental USA?

Marxist Irony, iTunes Edition

On my iPhone, I have five apps that I use quite regularly (two more than the other three). They were free, and are e-readers with the texts of:

Thomas Paine's Common Sense
The Declaration of Independence
The Federalist Papers
The Constitution of the United States
Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations


All free! Even the capitalist bible of The Wealth of Nations!!!!

So, it occurs to me that it might be nice to be able to have the opposition's text(s) too, so I just searched on the iTunes AppStore for The Communist Manifesto (Marx/Engels) and Das Kapital (Marx). Care to guess what I found?

Yep. There are no free apps with the texts of those two. Funny that someone wants to make money off of Marxism, considering that the works - all that I've listed - are in the public domain.

How Not to Run for President

Who do I support for President? I'm firmly in the "Not Romney" crowd. I passionately want to vote for a candidate. I'm sick and tired of picking the "least worst". With each passing day though, the forces are aligning to anoint Mitt Romney the GOP standard bearer. If that's what happens, my vote in the Pennsylvania primary will be meaningless and I'll have the same enthusiasm to vote for Romney in 2012 that I had for McCain in 2008 - which is to say, none.

I'll admit to being a fan of what I'll term the "fictitious" Rick Perry, that is, the Rick Perry prior to announcing his Presidential run and his mind-boggingly poor debate performances. The campaign produced a fantastic video which would be even better if the candidate acted as confident and as tenacious as he's portrayed 24-by-7.

I love this video, and yes, it makes me yearn for a candidate - perhaps Governor Perry - who is not afraid to attack President Obama, Mitt Romney, and the entire Republican establishment with every waking moment, breath, and sound out of their mouth.

I don't claim to be an expert on Presidential campaigns, but I do consider myself at least versed in common sense. Governor Perry's campaign thus far has shown none. Had I been running Governor Perry's campaign, here's what I would have done differently.