No Straw Men

Many of us are frustrated with the war in Iraq. No one doubts that serious mistakes have been made, and everyone is anxious for a panacea.
The problem is, instant gratification is not a strategy. Instant gratification, while emotionally pleasing, will only require our future return to mop up the metastasized mess.
First, consider the calls to […]

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Published in the Politico, June 1, 2007.
Thirteen years ago, Anne Romney gave a $150 personal donation to Planned Parenthood. Upon the disclosure, her husband, who is now running for president on a staunchly pro-life platform, disclaimed, “Her positions are not terribly relevant to my campaign.”
But are they? Should you consider the views of a spouse […]

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Published in the Politico, May 8, 2007.
Another Tax Day has come and gone, but the Internal Revenue Service remains essentially unmoved and unchanged. Accordingly, instead of continuing to advocate tax relief, the right should focus its efforts on tax reform.
The Cleanse the Code Coalition is an excellent example of how this works. As John Berthoud, […]

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E-mail Sent to Members in Colorado
Conservatives in Colorado haven’t had much to cheer about recently. Amendment 39 changes that prospect.
For too long, the only demand of education funding has been more money. Indeed, owing to Amendment 23, Colorado taxpayers have seen their public education costs rise to record levels every year.
Amendment 39 reverses this trend […]

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E-mail Sent to Members
Why are gas prices so high and unpredictable? Here’s one big but underreported reason: The federal government, which for the past 30 years has been sealing off millions of acres of oil- and gas-laden reserves across the country and offshore, thus decreasing domestic supply.
In other words, the scarcity is not physical but […]

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E-mail Sent to Members
We all know the drill. In purchasing alcohol or tobacco, cashing a check or boarding a plane, you need a picture ID. No ID; no dice. The routine is uncontroversial and commonsensical.
But did you know that in order to vote in a national election—in order to exercise that most elemental aspect of […]

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E-mail Sent to Members
First they came for the Internet, which they wanted to smother with innovation-stifling regulations. Now they’re after your TV, which they want to keep in the clutch of a select few companies, rather than open the field to competition.
“They,” of course, are far-left groups like MoveOn.org, and their goal is as predictable […]

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Taxing capital gains amounts to double taxation
ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, announced its strong support for HR 6057, which would change the way the Treasury Department taxes capital gains, so that only real gains, not gains plus inflation, are subject to taxation.
Since 1913, the Treasury […]

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The Honorable Cliff Stearns
United States House of Representatives
2370 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Stearns:
On behalf of the nearly one million members and supporters of the American Conservative Union, I write to express our support for your legislation, H.R. 5476, to withhold United States funding from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
In March, […]

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United States Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations
Dear Senator:
On behalf of the nearly one million members of the American Conservative Union, I write to express strong support for the speedy re-nomination of John Bolton as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
We start from the premise that the U.N. desperately needs reform—and not just incremental improvements, but […]

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Free the judge from congressional purgatory
ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, today urged Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to schedule a vote on Judge Terrence Boyle, a decision that has been disgracefully delayed for more than a decade.
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated Judge […]

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In New London, CT, a man’s home is the city’s castle
ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, today expressed outrage at the inconceivable decision by the city council of New London, CT, to evict and impose back fees and rent on homeowners Susette Kelo and the Cristofaro […]

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No emergency left behind
ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, today joined with five sister groups—the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens against Government Waste, the Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform—to urge Congress to purge all pork and unrelated spending from the 2006 […]

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As a speech (see video below), received first prize in the Young Professionals Speak debate (Center for Strategic and International Studies), November 16, 2005. As an essay, received third prize in the Cato Institute’s intern op-ed contest, December 2005.

During his recent trip to Asia, President Bush praised Taiwan as “free and democratic and prosperous.” Why […]

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Last month Rep. Robin Hayes, vicechair of the House subcommittee on terrorism, declared that Saddam Hussein was “very much involved in 9/11.” Hayes claimed that he has access to evidence few others do. Told no investigation has ever implicated Baghdad in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the congressman responded, “I’m sorry, but you must […]

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Many of us would say that we believe in a philosophy of live and let live. Most of us, however, probably aren’t awakened at 3 a.m. on consecutive weeknights by johns leaving a brothel in the apartment next door. Most of us probably don’t happen upon the sale of cocaine in our driveway.
Indeed, it’s one […]

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SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “State-Sponsored Disinformation”, url: “http://JonathanRick.com/2005/04/04/state-sponsored-disinformation/” });

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Last summer, as I struggled to concretize a proposal for a Watson or Bristol postgraduate fellowship, I knew there was one person whose guidance I needed. I had talked with others, but no one had this person’s ability to explain any subject I’d ever asked about with such clarity, conciseness, context and cogence. Add this […]

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Published in the Observer-Dispatch (Utica, NY), February 11, 2005. Noted on Cox & Forkum, March 28, 2005.
HAMILTON COLLEGE, February 1, 2005— On Thursday, February 3, Ward Churchill, a Professor and Chair of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will participate in a panel here titled “The Limits of Dissent.” That he will […]

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Conventional wisdom holds that 9/11 “changed everything.” And so, in the second presidential debate last week, George Bush maintained that “it’s a fundamental misunderstanding to say that the war on terror is only [limited to] Osama bin Laden.” Is it?
Nearly all agree that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, constituted a watershed, since never […]

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SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “The Immorality of Conscription”, url: “http://JonathanRick.com/2004/09/10/the-immorality-of-conscription/” });

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Published in Time, August 2, 2004 (noted on the Hamilton College Web site, July 29, 2004).
He has written six best-selling books, and that was before he had a hit TV show. The Apprentice hasn’t just boosted the promotional possibilities for Donald Trump’s next book; it also has inspired a lot of new authors, whose books […]

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