One thing our founding fathers could not foresee… was a nation governed by professional politicians who have a vested interest in getting reelected.  They probably envisioned a fellow serving a couple of hitches and then looking forward to getting back to the farm.” — Ronald Reagan

The energy of 1994 led to the Contract with America, and the huge Republican victory of that year.  It was a victory for Republicans, but was it a victory for America?

The Contract with America had an inherent flaw.  It was a political party bargaining with Americans:  give us power and this is what we will do for you.  The Freshmen 50 is different:  it is Americans telling the federal government what it will do.

We are citizen-candidates united on a platform of six simple and realistic reforms for our government:

• Apply the Law Equally: All laws that apply to all citizens also apply to Congress
• Term Limits: Limit terms in Congress to no more than 12 years in the House and Senate, respectively
• Enforce Congressional Ethics: Yearly tax and expense audits, former Congressmen and their staff cannot be lobbyists, allow the ethics committee to do their job
• Read the Bill: Prior to final vote, the entire bill must be read out loud on the floor of the House; if a representative is not present for the entire reading, he cannot vote
• Tax Reform: Repeal our current tax code in favor of one that taxes only once, at one rate, and require a 2/3-majority vote for any new tax
• Balance the Budget: Amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget

We are unique.

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Every economic theory – even socialism and Marxism – agrees that long-run growth and higher living standards are closely tied to saving and investment (a.k.a., capital formation). Yet because of double taxation, the current tax code penalizes those who are willing to forego current consumption to finance future prosperity. In an ideal system such as a flat tax or national sales tax, by contrast, there is no tax bias against income that is saved and invested.

One of the most self-destructive forms of double taxation is the capital gains tax. The Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation has a superb three-part series on this issue, including studies on the economic impact of capital gains taxation, the impact of capital gains taxation on realizations (asset sales), and the grossly flawed revenue-estimating process used by the left to hinder good capital gains tax policy. For those seeking a faster introduction to the issue, this new Center for Freedom and Prosperity video explains why the capital gains tax should be abolished.

Unfortunately, Obama’s policies are steering America in the wrong direction. He wants to boost the official capital gains tax rate from 15 percent to 20 percent – and that is after imposing a back-door 3.8 percentage point increase in the tax rate as part of his government-run healthcare scheme. This is in addition to his other class-warfare proposals to impose higher tax rates on investors and entrepreneurs. If he succeeds, the American economy will suffer. Here are the six reasons outlined in the video why the capital gains tax is misguided:

1. Less investment – This is simple economics. If you make future consumption more expensive relative to current consumption with the tax code, people will respond by saving and investing less.

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Despite the populist rhetoric and anti-bank bank posture, a look behind the curtain of the Wall Street Reform bill reveals nothing more than self-interest, business as usual and more power and influence to Wall Street instead of the free market.  And as if the permanent bailouts and too big to fail advantages already in the Obama Dodd bill aren’t enough for the greedy banks, a proposed amendment offered by former Bank of America executive Sen. Kay Hagen is a perfect case and point.

Hagen’s amendment proposes to “protect consumers” from lenders whose market includes lower and middle class Americans — the type of folk that Bank of America wouldn’t lend a dollar to — despite trillions in federal support.

These loans, often called “payday loans,” provide short-term cash to Americans who need money to repair their car, fix their house, even pay a medical bill, while they wait for payday to payback the loan.  The Hagen amendment would limit competition for the big boys at Bank of America but allow consumers to take cash advances from their credit cards.

The Hagan amendment does not protect consumers from outrageous and exorbitant fees that Bank of America charges consumers.  In fact, its actually going to cost consumers more in fees. A Bank of America customer with a two-week overdraft of $66 results in a $30 fee — an APR of 1,165%!  In fact, last year Wall Street banks charged consumers $38 billion in overdraft and NFS fees. And by putting the traditional short term lenders out of business, the Hagan amendment will force more strapped consumers to resort to paying overdraft fees that will earn big banks an additional $14 billion a year.

Its not surprising to find out that Sen. Hagan has received over $315,000 in political contributions from commercial banks and financial institutions including $19,000 from Bank of America.

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On April 30th, Progressives marched on Wall Street to vilify Wall Street banks and bankers. Who organized that march? It was a group called National People’s Action (NPA), and their anti-capitalist campaign is ominously titled Showdown In America.

You might be thinking “Crap. Not another Alinsky community organizing group and its damn acronym!” – but this is one to which you need to pay very close attention. This group is at the very center of the real estate bubble-bust brought on by the dreaded CRA, and they are organizing an army of unions to march on Wall Street and blame the entirety of the economic disaster on the evil rich.

The first thing that you need to know about NPA is that their now-deceased leader, Gail Cioncotta, is credited in community organizing circles for authoring the Community Reinvestment Act. Her group is also credited with honing the tactic of storming into banks and occupying their lobbies.

Another thing you need to know is that in 2003, NPA’s sister organization, the National Training and Information Center (NTIC), was busted by the Justice Department for misappropriating millions of federal grant dollars from community development projects,  using the funds instead to train community organizers to lobby the government. On top of that, the Justice Department found that they committed fraud as they tried to cover up their actions.

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Today, in 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of England. Pity the British voters who go to the polls on Thursday to pick a new Prime Minister. None of their choices are, well, Margaret Thatcher.

In a crowded press-conference at the U.N. on Monday, King Cornelius Pacifus of Unicornia lauded the new Nuclear Posture Review recently published by U.S. President Barack Obama. In New York for the United Nations Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference that begins today, Pacificus gave Obama what amounted to a pre-emptive disarmament shout-out. Unicornia’s stance on nuclear matters is usually considered a bellwether for that of other nations on the thorny issue.

King Pacificus pledged his small peace-loving nation’s support for the American policy shift: “Unicornia herself long ago embraced the efficacy of a Peace through Weakness strategy, and today our nation whole-hornedly applauds and supports the American president for adopting a similar attitude,” Pacifus proclaimed.

Fielding softball questions from a room overflowing with docile MSM reporters, the monoceros monarch made clear his country’s reasons for supporting America’s recent radical shift in nuclear posture: “In the bitter Butterfly Wars of the 17th century, Unicornia learned the hard way that standing up to tyrants and cruel dictators not only doesn’t work—it’s also just not nice.” Scholars allege an estimated 3 million Unicorns and 40 million Lepidopterae perished in that protracted ten-year battle over which portion of the air the other species was entitled to breathe. “War is mean,” Pacifus observed, with his classic gift for understatement. “And nuclear war is really mean. Really really mean.”

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According to the current edition of the New Yorker, magazine, Beverly Hills billionaire Haim Saban donated $7 million to the Democratic National Committee for its new headquarters shortly after former president Bill Clinton personally lobbied the president of Brazil to approve a private business deal that netted Saban $1.5 billion in capital gains.

Describing the 2001 sale of Saban’s Fox Family network to Disney, which brought the Egyptian-born Saban — a dual citizen of Israel and the U.S. — $5.3 billion, author Connie Bruck writes:

Because Disney and Fox Family operated internationally, the deal required regulatory approvals from many countries. “Brazil could have been a deal-breaker,” Chernin recalled. In a confidential memorandum written on October 1st, Fox Family’s attorneys in Brazil explained that the deal would have to be reviewed successively by three government bodies; from past experience, the attorneys estimated that the process would take between six and eight months, which would push the deal past the deadline, at the end of October. Disney refused to close without Brazilian approval. Both sides retained counsel for the anticipated litigation.

“Haim said, ‘Let me make a phone call—maybe I can get something done here,’ ” Chernin told me. “He was extremely helpful in getting Clinton to help. Clinton called the President of Brazil.” Matt Krane [Saban's former laywer and tax adviser] recalled how Saban described to him what had happened: “Saban had called the Fox Family attorney in Brazil and asked, ‘How long will it take?’ It was months. He said he asked the lawyer, ‘Who is your finance minister?’ The attorney understood, and he said, ‘There is no political pull available in this process.’ Saban called Bill Clinton and asked, ‘Can you help me?’ ” Soon afterward, the approval came through.

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April was a busy month for bad:   lame financial reform legislation, served up three days in a row like rancid leftovers, SEC fraud filings, Wall Street Hearings in Congress, Greek bailouts, oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and car bombs in Times Square.  With so much occurring, on so many fronts, little attention has been paid to President Obama’s often inflammatory commencement speech at the University of Michigan.

Let’s consider a few of President’s Obama’s pearls of wisdom that he shared with Michigan graduates.

“All you hear in Washington is the clamor of politics – a noise that can drown out the voices of the people who sent you there.” This, of course, is precious, coming as it does from  the leader of the Democratic party, which had to twist arms and bribe legislators to vote for a flawed healthcare bill because members of congress–who were listening to the “voices of the people”–were afraid to vote for a bloated bill that did little to address the most pressing problems in healthcare, a bill which their constituents loudly and repeatedly told congress they didn’t want.

“We’ve got politicians calling each other all sorts of unflattering names.” which may be why in 400 speeches and Q&A sessions, delivered in his first year in office, Obama finds occasion to demonize or blame President George W. Bush, and why Obama, 16 months  into his presidency, continues to use Bush as the whipping boy for bad left wing policies.

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Andrew Breitbart has been very generous with space on this blog defending me and telling the story of how I was beaten by SEIU thugs.  Once again he has reached out and offered me an opportunity ask for your help.  Below is a letter from my brother, Keith Gladney, and it describes my life at this place and time and what you, the Big Government readers who have continued to support me for months and months, can do to help me get back on my feet.

Thank you very much for your time.
Sincereley,

Kenneth Gladney

*************

The process for contributing to the Kenneth Gladney Trust:

1) Go into Bank of America; you cannot call to use a credit card over the phone.
2) Ask the teller or service rep pull up the name “Kenneth Earl Gladney Trust.”
3) Tell them you are a contributor or you want to donate to this trust.
4) Give them the dollar amount, and that’s it.
5) Please REMEMBER! The trust is not under “I Am Kenneth Gladney.” (more…)

I finally got out and about – a beautiful Saturday night in New York City — and I had to bolt home. Times Square was evacuated, emptied of tourists, as police officers and firefighters closed the area because of a car bomb – bomb materials found in an SUV.

The SUV was filled with propane tanks, fireworks, filled gas cans, clocks with batteries, and two clocks with batteries, electric wire and more. A police official said: “It looks as if the perp was trying to light it up, and was interrupted by the cops, panicked and took off. It looked like someone tried to detonate it and we got to it in time. This is a big deal. It has the makings of a real car bomb.” A police officer who was on the scene said: “I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking. I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second.”

Despite all that, the feds said at first that it wasn’t a terrorist attack. Then what was it?

That line was so absurd in this case that they had to change their tune, and fast. Now New York Governor Paterson and even DHS Secretary Janet “Nudnik” Napolitano are saying it was a terrorist attack attempt. Said Napolitano: “We’re taking this very seriously. We’re treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist attack.” But everyone was saying that they had no idea who was behind it. Police are now searching for a “white man” – a search the mainstream media is playing up big, hoping that the terrorist will turn out to be a non-Muslim. As if there are no white Muslims! Tell that to the North Carolina jihadis arrested last year.

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Last week, Andrew Breitbart sat down with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network and articulated his position that the media is the primary adversary to those fighting for traditional American values.

Watch the whole thing: you’re sure to enjoy when Andrew discusses that while the New Media may well save the Republic (and perhaps the world), it has already saved him personally.

The Brody File show airs tonight on the CBN Newschannel.

A full profile of Andrew Breitbart will air on The 700 Club show May 13th.

Some highlights/discussion points below:

“By aiming everything at the media, I’ve pretty much done the one thing they ask you not to do: ‘please accept the premise that we’re fair and let’s move on.’ No, I’m not going to accept that premise.” (more…)

Last week, three major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and five industry trade associations sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski urging him to ditch what has come to be known in some tech policy circles as the FCC’s own version of “deem and pass”—the infamous process that first reared its head in the context of Congress passing Obamacare earlier this year.

Following a recent, unfavorable Appeals Court decision, observers say Genachowski has been eagerly pursuing a back-door, out-of-sight pathway to achieving a long-time, personal objective: Regulation of the Internet via the institution of so-called Net Neutrality rules.  Reclassifying Internet services as “telecommunications services” would enable him to do just that—though with increased public opposition to Net Neutrality having been voiced during an FCC public comment period that recently closed, and recent polling showing relatively weak support for the policy, it remains a risky option both from a public relations, and political standpoint.

For their part, the ISPs, who together with other members of a broad coalition including a prominent labor union, minority and civil rights groups, and several high-profile Democrats oppose the move, are determined to ensure that Genachowski’s preferred course of action does not go unnoticed, whether the FCC ultimately does “deem and pass,” or not.

The letter, signed by AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable and the trade groups both focuses attention on what Genachowski is alleged to be planning, and seeks to debunk some of the talking points being used by supporters of the proposed reclassification.  Chief among those is the argument that the current arrangement, whereby Internet services are not classified as telecommunications services, is the specific result of a policy instituted under the Bush administration, as opposed to a standard that has existed for what one tech policy expert with whom Capitol Confidential spoke called “time immemorial.”  Per the letter, ”the commission has never classified any kind of Internet access service (wireline, cable, wireless, powerline, dial-up or otherwise) as a … telecommunications service, nor has it ever regulated the rates, terms and conditions of that service — Internet access service has always been treated as a Title I information service.”

It is an important point to make, said that same tech policy observer, because if reclassification is ultimately branded as a simple, administrative move designed to fix a bad Bush policy, the Democratic-majority FCC is more likely to approve the change.  If, however, reclassification is accurately viewed and depicted as constituting a “nuclear option,” invoked in smoke-filled backrooms, out of sight of the public, in order to placate Democratic-favorable companies and donors (including the Obama administration-cozy Google), it will be much harder—indeed potentially impossible— for the FCC to approve.

However, the difference between those two positions, and characterizations, could more than anything guarantee that the fight over reclassification could be knock-down, drag-out.  “Net neutrality supporters have a lot invested here,” says the tech policy observer with whom we spoke.  “They’re not prepared to go down without a fight, even if predicated on deeply questionable arguments.”

My latest Health Care News podcast, brought to you by FreedomPub, is with Merrill Matthews, executive director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance and a resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation, about his latest column on the individual mandate. You can listen to it here or stream it below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

When I’m asked on the radio or in person about the biggest problem with President Obama’s health care reform, the answer I usually give isn’t that it’s a recipe for trillions in costs for the American people, that it creates massive new taxes on businesses and entrepeneurs, that it effectively divides us into two Americas, that it squelches innovative programs or that it’s possibly unconstitutional.

My answer is much simpler: it’s a model of health care which is proven not to work, because it assumes consumers will act irrationally.
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President Obama gave a commencement speech at the University of Michigan over the weekend and instead of encouraging and challenging the graduates to be the next Bill Gates or Carly Fiorina, he gave a self serving, political speech chastising Americans who disagree with his ideas and policies that are leading us to even bigger government. The recent Pew poll that showed 4 out of 5 Americans don’t trust the federal government didn’t cool his rhetoric a bit. From the transcript:

But what troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad…

Straw man alert! The One loves to do this. Set up an argument no one makes and then knock it down. No one in this debate is saying ALL government is bad. We are calling for the government to actually live up to the limits set for it by our constitution. The problem is Barry thinks the more government, the better.

When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us. We, the people–[Applause.] We, the people, hold in our hands the power to choose our leaders and change our laws, and shape our own destiny.

See, you’re so dumb that you don’t understand your anger at government is really self hate. Oy.

Does he really not understand this? We know the government is supposed to be us, that’s why we’re so upset. We see our government as not representing us anymore. We are frustrated because we feel we’re losing the power to shape our destiny. (Funny how when Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink we’re screaming about our horrible government under Bush, they weren’t confused about the government being them.)

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“Since you, Mr. President and you, the members of the American administration, believe in this (a two-state solution), it is your duty to call for the steps in order to reach the solution and impose the solution (emphasis added) — impose it!“ demanded Fatah and PA Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a speech to leaders of Fatah just last week. “But don’t tell me it’s a vital national strategic American interest … and then not do anything,” he continued.

And so there you have it. Washington’s tongue lashing of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Administration’s breath-taking statements that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is endangering the lives of American troops seems to represent a fundamental shift in America’s strategic thinking.  Abbas’s demand will undoubtedly be remembered as the first of what will most assuredly be a chorus of international support for President Obama’s newly emerging, Mideast policy…a conference at which the terms of peace will be crafted by the United States and imposed on Israel and a new state of Palestine. Over sixty years of Arab intransigence are finally paying off.

And so, we see another ill-fated peace conference on the horizon. Certainly, there have been many American-sponsored peace conferences (both direct and indirect) before.  There was the shuttle diplomacy of the Nixon Administration during which Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shuttled back and forth between Israeli leaders and Arab leaders.  The very dedicated and hard-working Dennis Ross found himself on the same merry-go-round during the Clinton years. Those were known as proximity talks (sound familiar?).  No Arab official or Palestinian leader would sit at the same table with an Israeli representative. The idea was to secure enough concessions from Israel to coax an actual face-to-face meeting into reality.

Then, of course, there was the first Camp David conference, which was made possible by Anwar Sadat’s readiness to permanently end Egypt’s long- standing, state-of-war with Israel in return for Israel returning to Egypt the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had captured in the 1967 six-day war and retained following the so-called Yom Kippur War of 1973.  Sadat, a courageous and honorable soldier and statesman, was assassinated for his bravery …for his willingness to bring to an end the long-standing, state- of-war between Egypt and Israel.  No Arab or Palestinian leader has since been willing to enter into any agreement with Israel if such an agreement required a clear statement that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute would then be resolved and that no further demands were to be made by either party against the other. The Madrid conference brokered by President George H.W. Bush, the Wye River conferences brokered by President Clinton, the second Camp David conference and the failed Annapolis peace conference sponsored by President George W. Bush, all failures because peace, permanent peace, was never on the Arab agenda…not then, and not now.

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Wall street wants it, unions want it, Obama wants it and now you can add at least one Communist filmmaker to the list of supporters of CFPA.

As thousands of union members converged on Wall Street last week,  they were joined in solidarity by Kevin Keating. Keating, a cinematographer on the 1976 movie “Harlan County, U.S.A” and an unabashed communist joined his union brethren in demanding the Obama-Dodd financial takeover bill that would give unions greater ability to takeover the governing boards of companies and drain resources into their own coffers.

In 2008 Patrick Swayze was treated with an advanced medical tool called a “CyberKnife.” It helped add months to his life as he tried to beat the cancer that was consuming him. But, Swayze wasn’t the only American with the good fortune to have this highly advanced medical technology available to him. In fact, there are 100 such machines across the United States. From California, to Minnesota, to Illinois and Washington D.C. Americans currently have the luxury of these wonderful new devices.

Sadly, Britons are not so lucky. There are two CyberKnife machines in the Britain, but they aren’t going to do anyone in the country’s socialist healthcare system any good because despite how successful these machines are British authorities won’t allow them to be used on patients.

Despite that the Mount Vernon cancer hospital in London is part of the National Health Services, despite that they spent £3m to purchase the machine, and quite despite the praise the machines receive in the U.S. and throughout the world, British NHS authorities won’t let NHS doctors use the machine on their patients.

Sadly, these heartless, uncaring socialist healthcare officials are uninterested in helping the estimated 10,000 British patients a year that could benefit from use of the CyberKnife. And why is this? Why, it’s because the treatments are expensive, of course.

You see money is far, far more important to Britain’s socialist healthcare system then patients.

As I said above, the U.S. is lucky to have many of these machines on our shores. In fact we have 100 of the 150 machines world-wide, all available for anyone that needs them. But this happy situation will not survive the implementation of America’s own socialist healthcare system when it institutes its rationing rules as the English have done. Sooner rather than later advanced tools like the CyberKnife will be eschewed as too expensive by Obamacre bean counters and such advanced technology will dwindle and wither away despite the lives it could save.

This is what is meant when it is said that Obamacare features death panels. After all, a socialist healthcare system that won’t pay for advanced technology because it’s just too darn expensive — just as is happening right now in England — is a defacto death panel.

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The Mainstream media (MSM) is currently peddling the Obama Administration myth that patriotic Americans, many of whom have served in our military or who otherwise have an American flag hanging proudly in their front yards, pose a grave threat to our nation’s security. We have seen calls for Republican leaders to denounce Tea-Partiers and other activist groups opposed to Obama’s agenda. We are currently seeing our nation’s Department of Justice being hijacked to score political points for the Far-Left.

Let us remember that it is leftists who support convicted cop-killers, organize to prevent other Americans from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights, consistently threaten violence, and otherwise have a long history of supporting foreign powers who wish our nation and its freedoms harm.

For many years, the anti-American culture of the extreme left has been largely ignored. Like a cancer running through the body politic, the culture of hating America has metasticised. It is now “uncool” to have a flag in the yard, support our troops or believe in American exceptionalism.

To better see how the left works and the threat it poses, let us take a look at the Left and the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC).

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Today, in 1957, Brooklyn Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley agreed to move the team to Los Angeles. We understand this means something to someone.

Also, Happy Birthday Jim!