Catholic Social Teaching and the 10th Amendment vs. ObamaCare

From the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of the lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.”

God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence.

The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies. It tends toward the establishment of true international order.

This is an unusual topic for me to blog about; I don’t normally cover religious topics for a variety of reasons. Still, as I have watched the debate over ObamaCare unfold, I have noted with interest that the Catholic bishops in the United States have opposed socialized medicine only insofar as it would expand federal funding to abortion coverage. Their single issue opposition to ObamaCare has led to the perception that its funding of abortion is the only way it contradicts Catholic social teaching.

But that’s not the case. Tea Party activists have opposed ObamaCare on the grounds that it violates the Tenth Amendment, which plainly says that the powers not reserved to the federal government or prohibited to the states should be reserved to the states or to the people. Catholic social teaching is similar in that it invokes the principle of subsidiarity, explained by the Catechism in the quote above. In essence, both the Tenth Amendment and the Catholic principle of subsidiarity are identical. Both make the case that a massive collectivist takeover of health care is not only unnecessary, but improper insofar as it “can threaten personal freedom and initiative.”

You’re reading that right: Both the United States Constitution and the Catechism of the Catholic Church repudiate collectivism and demand subsidiarity to preserve human freedom. On this issue, our founding fathers who wrote of our God-given liberty would be in lockstep with every pope since at least Pope Leo XIII.

Why point this out? It’s not just a “fun fact.” The bishops have opposed ObamaCare because it does, in fact, expand federal funding of abortion. But what if it hadn’t? Had the Stupak amendment been preserved, the U.S. bishops were prepared to support the bill — despite its clear violation of the principle of subsidiarity. Certainly the right to life and the preservation of human dignity are the paramount concerns, the very foundation, of Catholic social teaching. But the principle of subsidiarity has again and again been expounded upon by the papal teaching authority. It is no small matter.

The U.S. bishops were in a unique position, as both Americans and Catholic bishops, to connect the Catholic principle of subsidiarity to our constitutional principles. They had an opportunity to tell American Catholics that opposing ObamaCare is both a patriotic and religious duty. They utterly failed to do so. They missed an opportunity to boldly reaffirm a mostly forgotten principle of Catholic social teaching, to affirm the link between the Catholic and American commitments to human freedom, and to once again take up the Catholic Church’s historic leadership in the fight against global socialism.

Only the bishops can know why they have chosen not to take this opportunity. All we can do, as ordinary Catholics, is encourage them to elucidate this principle and its connection to American constitutional principles. In the meantime, as ordinary Catholics we can tell our fellow American Catholics, and all of our fellow Americans, what the Church teaches about God’s model of governance versus the collectivist model proposed by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid.

If You’re Reading This, You Are the Resistance

ObamaCare has passed, to the sound of thunderous applause from the socialists who are trampling upon the principles that have been the foundation of our country since its inception. This monstrosity, deemed “health care reform” by its statist champions, is the largest government takeover of the American economy in our history and the first time that government has ever tried to unconstitutionally force Americans to buy goods and services.

Our next step must be to rally in support of the courageous state attorneys general throughout this country who will challenge the constitutionality of the individual mandate. We everyday Americans must also fight, through the Republican Party, to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with constitutional, market-based solutions to Americans’ health care problems. If we hope to roll back this blow to our constitutional republic, it is imperative that we elect Republicans to the House and Senate this November, and that we start working now to defeat Barack Obama in 2012.

It is also imperative that we recognize that this fight for our country is far from over. They will not stop at ObamaCare. They will fight for their so-called “climate change” legislation, which is really an ecosocialist plot to pass the biggest tax increase in American history and plunge our economy into the worst crisis it has ever faced. They will fight for amnesty for illegal aliens, so that their dreams of a permanent majority — now jeopardized by their overt radicalism — can finally be realized in the only way possible, through theft and fraud. They will fight for countless changes, great and small, that will undermine the liberal democratic principles upon which our republic was built.

We must fight them every step of the way. And the only way we can fight them is to elect common sense conservative Republicans to the House and Senate this year, and to work to find the right candidate to make Barack Obama a one term president.

In pursuit of these goals, in the coming days From the Rust Belt will welcome new contributors. These contributors are individuals who believe in the mission of this blog, to advance conservative principles — that is, constitutional principles — and to promote political leaders within the Republican Party who adhere to those principles. They will work with me, and with you, to fight to take back the Republican Party, to take back Ohio, and to take back America for the people of this country and the fundamental principles of our republic. We know that we are the resistance. We also know that we cannot win this fight alone.

If you’re reading this, you are the resistance. Every single man, woman, and child in this country must wake up and recognize what Barack Obama and his socialists in Congress are doing and fight them every step of the way. Every American must engage in a second Velvet Revolution to halt the forward march of Karl Marx’s ghost. You, and I, and every other American must take to the streets in peaceful protest. You, and I, and every other American must pound the pavement for candidates who will restore our republic. You, and I, and every other American must vote in primary and general elections at every level of government for candidates who will fight this fight with us every step of the way.

You are the resistance. America is depending on you. Look at everything she has done for you. Do what you can now for her, so that your children and grandchildren don’t wake up in an America in which the American Dream is nothing more than a dream, buried deep in the minds of enslaved and asleep citizens lulled into their slumber by the empty promises of big government.

Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General

From the Rust Belt endorses former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General.

My objections to DeWine’s candidacy are many and are now well-known. I believe that Mike DeWine is a huge player in our insufficiently conservative Republican establishment here in Ohio. I believe that Kevin DeWine, Mike DeWine’s second cousin and chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, tried to clear a path for his cousin’s uncontested nomination for Attorney General. Mike DeWine has serious Second Amendment issues. And to top it all off, former Sen. DeWine hasn’t practiced law in any form since before I was born.

Dave Yost, a well-regarded conservative county prosecutor, would have been a better Attorney General than Mike DeWine, but Yost has bowed to the establishment and entered the primary race for Auditor of State instead. From the Rust Belt continues to endorse State Rep. Seth Morgan (R-Huber Heights) in that race because Morgan is both the authentic Tea Party candidate in that race and is, as a CPA, more qualified for the job than Yost.

Yesterday we learned that the Republican primary race for Attorney General is once again contested. According to the Dayton Daily News, Hardin County attorney Steve Christopher has entered the race saying that “the moderates and conservatives need to have a candidate for attorney general who’s not a professional politician and a liberal, which DeWine and Cordray both are.” The article even points out that Christopher is “part of the Tea Party movement.” Perfect, right?

Well, there’s a problem, as Right Ohio points out. Turns out Steve Christopher has donated thousands of dollars to DeWine’s past campaigns, including primary campaigns, as recently as DeWine’s last failed run for reelection in 2004. Christopher needs to explain to us why DeWine was conservative enough for Christopher to spend thousands keeping him in office before, but magically isn’t conservative enough for Steve Christopher today. Putting it another way, I would rather have the devil I know for Attorney General than the devil I don’t. Why launch the career of another RINO politician? We’ve already got one.

When we put Steve Christopher’s non-starter candidacy aside, this leaves us with only one alternative to Mike DeWine: his Democrat opponent, Richard Cordray. This is true whether we’re talking about actually voting for Cordray, voting for a third party candidate, or just not voting in the Attorney General race at all. Any vote that is not for Mike DeWine or any vote not cast is a vote for Rich Cordray. Bottom line.

It has been noted here and elsewhere that Cordray is better on the Second Amendment than DeWine, and that’s certainly true. But the Attorney General’s office is important for reasons beyond the Second Amendment.

Should ObamaCare pass, we will need an Attorney General who’s going to fight its unconstitutional mandate and other elements of the bill that may be constitutionally questionable. We all know Rich Cordray has his eyes on the governor’s office. Do you think he’s going to inflame his party’s liberal establishment by putting up a fight against ObamaCare? We are living in a time when the Constitution is ignored and states’ rights are the laughing stock of Washington. Maybe we can’t fully trust Mike DeWine, but we certainly can’t trust Rich Cordray — looking to work his way up in his party, the very party that is ripping our Constitution to pieces.

I wish we had a more conservative candidate than Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General. I hate the way that the party machine worked to clear the primary of serious candidates so he could win the nomination, now pitting two conservatives against each other for Auditor and jeopardizing that important Apportionment Board seat.

But at the end of the day, I am a Republican. As a Republican, I believe that Mike DeWine with all of his flaws is still going to be better for this state. At least he is committed to some of our values. And Rich Cordray? Well, he’s okay on the Second Amendment. But just wait and watch that go up in smoke the minute he thinks it hurts his “inevitability” for governor in 2014. Rich Cordray is a Democrat and, at the end of the day, will demonstrate the same disregard for the rule of law that his party has again and again demonstrated.

That’s why, for the sake of Ohio and its commitment to the rule of law, From the Rust Belt endorses former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for Ohio Attorney General.

UPDATE: By the way, this endorsement has nothing to do with the recent poll that shows DeWine ahead of Cordray. I decided to make this endorsement after a lot of thought, and the more immediate catalyst was Steve Christopher jumping into the race.

Tim Tebow Targeted By Vast Left Wing Conspiracy

BizzyBlog (cross-posted to NewsBusters) is blogging about attempts by feminazi brown shirts sorry, women’s groups to prevent a Focus on the Family ad that will feature Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother from airing during the Super Bowl. The controversy? The ad will apparently focus on the decision that Pam Tebow made in 1987 not to abort her fifth child against the recommendation of doctors in the Philippines after she became ill while there on a mission trip. Obviously pro-choice feminists view this ad as a threat. It might make women contemplating abortion think twice when they think about Tim Tebow, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy. He couldn’t have done that if he had never been born, and maybe women contemplating abortion will wonder what future their own children will miss out on.

This is, of course, an unacceptable message for pro-choice feminists. God forbid women make a thoughtful and well-informed decision about abortion. Better to scare the hell out of them and urge them ever forward toward the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic.

BizzyBlog notes that while the Associated Press described Focus on the Family as “conservative,” it made use of no such ideological descriptor for the so-called “women’s groups.” But — surprise! — they’re all part of the liberal/progressive/socialist machine. Take Jehmu Greene, for example, the president of the Women’s Media Center. She’s quoted by the AP: “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year — an event designed to bring Americans together.”

When I read the AP article, I thought to myself: Jehmu Greene? Jehmu Greene. Oh, Jehmu Greene? That Jehmu Greene? It was sort of like a mental Christmas in January, when my brain happily connected the dots that brings these women’s groups together with the Democrat establishment and supposedly non-partisan youth get out the vote organizations and reveals a giant left wing conspiracy. Turns out this particular left wing conspiracy has some rather radical views about our children and how they should view their sexuality. And the fact that these radicals are stupid enough to target one of the most popular college football quarterbacks in America and his mother? Well, that’s just a bonus!

Much more about Jehmu Greene, her radical ties, her connection to the Democrat establishment, and — another bonus — a reminder about the Connecticut Senate Republican primary all beneath the fold…

On Eve of Yost Betrayal, a Not So Surprising Endorsement

The Dayton Daily News has finally confirmed the buzz that I’ve been hearing all weekend, that Delaware County Prosecutor Dave Yost had already decided to exit the GOP primary race for Ohio Attorney General and enter the primary for Auditor of State, and that an announcement was imminent. Yost will announce tomorrow from Ohio Republican Party headquarters that he will challenge State Rep. Seth Morgan (R-Huber Heights) for the Auditor nomination. The Morgan campaign has announced that Seth Morgan will remain in the race.

I want to preface my endorsement for the Auditor of State race by reminding readers of From the Rust Belt’s mission statement, which has been the same since this blog was launched. From the Rust Belt is a political blog dedicated to advancing conservative and right-libertarian principles and to promoting political leaders within the Republican Party who adhere to those principles.

While I once promoted Dave Yost as a politician whom I believed adhered to conservative principles, I see now that he is an establishment politician willing to do whatever it takes to advance his own career. I cannot and will not endorse such a candidate because Yost, like Mike DeWine, cannot be trusted to stick to any principles when the going gets tough and he believes his incumbency or upward mobility might be jeopardized.

In exiting the Attorney General’s race and entering the Auditor of State’s race, Yost has decided to take the path of least resistance. He has decided to leave a decidedly un-conservative candidate in an uncontested race to become the Republican Party’s candidate for Attorney General while challenging a dyed-in-the-wool conservative for Auditor of State — and let’s face it, all because he believes this race will be easier. Why would any Ohio Republican, or any Ohioan for that matter, trust that kind of candidate to be our next Auditor?

In making this decision, Yost has also proven that this “prosecutor before politician” meme has been utter nonsense. He doesn’t want to be Attorney General because of his years of experience as a prosecutor. What this decision seems to be saying to us is that any statewide office will do because he is a power-hungry politician just like Mike DeWine. If you take a look at Mike DeWine’s career, you see that each office he took on had little to do with his passion for that particular office. They were mere stepping stones to higher office. Now that Yost has switched from running as the most qualified candidate for Attorney General to the least qualified establishment candidate for Auditor of State, does anyone seriously think that Yost isn’t seeking the Auditor’s office as a mere stepping stone to his next gig? Any statewide office will do. Remember that.

My final reason for refusing to endorse Dave Yost is that in making this decision, he has transformed himself into Kevin and Mike DeWine’s man for Auditor of State and he has forced Mike DeWine on us as the only Republican candidate for Attorney General. He has put his own career ambitions ahead of the people of this state, proving that he is certainly not the People’s Candidate for Auditor of State but — as I have already noted — the Establishment Candidate. He is the man who bowed to pressure from Little Kev-Kev DeWine to get out of the way so Cousin Mikey could try (emphasis on try) to beat Richard Cordray for Attorney General.

And this point cannot be dismissed: Dave Yost has forced Mike DeWine upon Ohio Republicans and has allowed him to get even closer to becoming Ohio’s chief legal representation. He has allowed a man who has not practiced law in any form since before I was born to become the uncontested Republican candidate for Attorney General. He has allowed Mike DeWine, with his atrocious Second Amendment record, to become Ohio’s legal representative in any potential case that might involve our right to bear arms. Richard Cordray has a better Second Amendment record!

And let us not forget, even though it appears that ObamaCare is dead in Congress, that we are living in perilous times for the rule of law. Had Scott Brown not won Massachusetts, ObamaCare might have passed. If the Democrats still have something up their sleeves, it might yet pass. If ObamaCare passes, Dave Yost has decided to leave Ohio with the potential of Mike DeWine as our next Attorney General. With his penchant for stabbing the people in the back sorry, reaching across the aisle, how can we trust Mike DeWine to fight the unconstitutional individual mandate or unconstitutional bribes for some states at the expense of others? How can we trust him to fight the next round of unconstitutional trash that finds its way through Congress?

We can’t trust Mike DeWine to fight for us. As DeWine’s former opponent Dave Yost knows that better than anyone, and that’s why we can’t trust him to fight for us either. By entering the Auditor’s race and refusing to fight DeWine for the Attorney General nomination, Yost has demonstrated that he is fighting for his political career — not for the people of Ohio. It can’t be said too much: Dave Yost is the establishment candidate now. Do you really want someone so caught up in the establishment holding government accountable? That is the job of the Auditor of State. Can we really trust Dave Yost to do it?

There is only one candidate in this race for Auditor of State who has ever really fought for us, and that man is Seth Morgan. During his term in the Ohio House of Representatives, Rep. Morgan has worked hard to hold government accountable and shine some light on what others would prefer to see happen behind closed doors — for example, the back room wheeling and dealing that will lead Kevin DeWine to throw open the doors of the Ohio Republican Party HQ tomorrow for Dave Yost to announce his candidacy.

Seth Morgan is the People’s Candidate now. He won’t back down and leave this race just because Kevin DeWine wants him to, or even because Dave Yost will be starting out with a larger network of donors. Unlike Yost, Rep. Morgan trusts the people. He’s prepared to run a grassroots campaign against the establishment candidate because he believes that ordinary folks like you and me will stand behind him and get him across the finish line first. Seth Morgan doesn’t choose the path of least resistance that will lead him to the doors of the Ohio Republican Party HQ to kiss the ring of Kevin DeWine. He chooses to fight for you.

Aside from being the People’s Candidate in this race, Seth Morgan is also the most qualified candidate. Sure, a case will be made for Dave Yost’s supposed qualifications. In the coming days you’ll hear all about those “qualifications” from the Ohio Republican Party, the Yost campaign, and establishment bloggers coming to you from an undisclosed location somewhere in these United States (but probably not Ohio). Yost served as the Delaware County Auditor. That he did. No one is denying it.

Dave Yost’s service as a county auditor is irrelevant. Seth Morgan is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and actually knows how to get down to the nitty gritty and hold our government accountable. Dave Yost doesn’t know how to do that, not the way that Seth Morgan does. We should choose Seth Morgan because he is the People’s Candidate, but we should also choose him because he is the qualified candidate. Dave Yost doesn’t seem to think those qualifications matter. He seems to think the support of the establishment and, more importantly, the establishment’s money are what matters.

Fellow Ohio Republicans, you have a clear choice going into this primary campaign. You can support your candidate or you can support the establishment’s candidate. You can support the man with the passion and the skills to be our next Auditor of State, or you can support the man who changes statewide races like he’s changing his socks. You can support the man who has been busy fighting for you, or you can support the man who wouldn’t fight for you and who is handing you Mike DeWine as your only Republican choice for Attorney General. You can support a Certified Public Accountant who is eminently qualified to be Auditor of State, or you can support a guy who isn’t all that qualified but who will likely have plenty of that establishment money to throw around.

I’ve already made my choice. I believe it’s the right choice and I hope that you’ll make the same choice. I am supporting State Rep. Seth Morgan, CPA for Ohio Auditor of State. I am supporting the People’s Candidate and the most qualified candidate in this race. It’s about to be a new day in Ohio with a new way of doing things. Let’s make sure that Seth Morgan is starting out that new day as our next Auditor of State.

REP. SETH MORGAN, CPA — THE PEOPLE’S CANDIDATE — NEEDS YOUR HELP. DON’T LET DAVE YOST AND HIS ESTABLISHMENT MONEY FORCE YOUR CANDIDATE OUT OF THIS RACE. DONATE TO SETH MORGAN TODAY. SHOW KEVIN DEWINE THAT WE, THE PEOPLE, CONTROL THE FUTURE OF OUR STATE.

Searching for 60: How Voinovich Could Screw the Nation [UPDATE: Voinovich Still a NO on ObamaCare; Call His Office to Thank Him]

Sen. Susan Collins, left, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, right (R-ME)

I was never worried that either of Maine’s Republican senators, Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, would turn out to be the 60th vote for ObamaCare. Sure, Snowe and Collins are more liberal than your average Republican senator and the Pine Tree State is more liberal than most states that send Republicans to Capitol Hill. But at the end of the day one simple fact remains: ObamaCare isn’t popular much of anywhere, and both Snowe and Collins will eventually be seeking reelection. Neither wants to be branded “the senator who brought you ObamaCare” when she comes up for reelection.

Sen. George "Crybaby" Voinovich (R?-OH)

Enter the Buckeye State’s senior Republican (?) senator, George “Crybaby” Voinovich — now infamous for choking up on the Senate floor while opposing John Bolton’s nomination for United Nations ambassador. And that’s just one of the many times that Voinovich has screwed over his constituents (not to mention his base).

Voinovich isn’t seeking reelection to the Senate this year, which makes him perhaps the most dangerous Republican in the Senate given his proclivity for stabbing his party in the back sorry, crossing the aisle. RedState’s Erick Erickson tweeted yesterday that Voinovich is reportedly meeting with President Obama today, and Weapons of Mass Discussion also reports that Democrats are going to target Voinovich to become their 60th vote for ObamaCare should Scott Brown be elected in Massachusetts.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a drill. Because Voinovich isn’t seeking reelection, he is — unlike Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins — exceedingly likely to turn traitor on ObamaCare. He is vulnerable to the politics of legacy, to being persuaded that an act of bipartisanship would let him go down in history as the man who made history. Would it really be that surprising to see Voinovich hit the Senate floor, fight back those crocodile tears, and say that he is voting for ObamaCare because he’s “worried about [his] kids and [his] grandchildren” — just like he did when he opposed Bolton’s nomination?

Voinovich isn’t in the strict sense accountable to his constituents anymore. The only way to prevent him from turning traitor and becoming the only Republican senator to vote for ObamaCare is to make him fear that such a vote will, in fact, destroy his legacy. We have to convince him that ObamaCare will be a disastrous failure and that if he votes for it, that failure will be his only legacy.

How do we do that? First of all, prominent Ohio Republicans need to get out there early and often to condemn ObamaCare and to demand that both of Ohio’s senators vote against the final reconciled bill.

I want to see Rob Portman, John Kasich, and Mary Taylor on the news talking about what a disaster ObamaCare would be for Ohioans and how they’re certain, just absolutely positive, that a good man like Voinovich would never betray his constituents so grievously. Mike DeWine wants conservative votes for Ohio Attorney General? Then he needs to haul his happy RINO ass out in front of those cameras and publicly urge his longtime Senate colleague to vote against this unconstitutional monstrosity. If he won’t, I’m sure Dave Yost would be happy to do it for him.

The second component to stopping Voinovich from becoming Obama’s 60th vote is to pick up your phone or open up a new e-mail. Obviously the White House doesn’t think it’s too early to lobby Voinovich for his vote; we shouldn’t either. And here, for starters, is a great talking point:

Dear Sen. Voinovich, I just wanted to call and let you know that I don’t think fifteen Ohio University College Republicans drove all the way to Massachusetts over the weekend to fight to elect Scott Brown the 41st vote against ObamaCare just to see their Republican senator become the 60th vote for ObamaCare. K thanks bye.

That’s what I’ll be saying when I call Voinovich’s office today. What you say is up to you, but do give the man a ring or drop him an e-mail. If you’re near one of his offices, drop on in and tell his staffers that he better stand up for Ohio and vote against ObamaCare.

Washington, D.C. Office:
524 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Main: (202) 224-3353

Cleveland, OH Office:
1240 East 9th Street
Room 3061
Cleveland, OH 44199
Main: (216) 522-7095
Fax: (216) 522-7097

Southeast, OH Office:
78 West Washington Street
P.O. Box 57
Nelsonville, OH 45764
Main: (740) 441-6410
Fax: (740) 753-3551

Cincinnati, OH Office:
36 East 7th Street
Room 2615
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Main: (513) 684-3265
Fax: (513) 684-3269

Northeast, OH Office:
1240 East 9th Street
Room 3061
Cleveland, OH 44199
Main: (216) 522-7095
Fax: (216) 522-7097

Toledo, OH Office:
420 Madison Avenue
Room 1210
Toledo, OH 43604
Main: (419) 259-3895
Fax: (419) 259-3899

Dayton, OH Office:
(Based out of Cincinnati)
36 East 7th Street, Room 2615
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Main: (513) 684-3265
Fax: (513) 684-3269

Central, OH Office:
37 West Broad Street
Room 310
Columbus, OH 43215
Main: (614) 469-6697
Fax: (614) 469-7733

We are on the verge of killing ObamaCare when it looked very likely that it would pass. If Scott Brown wins today, he is the 41st vote for an ObamaCare filibuster — but only if another Republican doesn’t turn traitor and vote to make history. President Obama clearly believes George Voinovich might be that traitor, and given his record you should believe it, too. It’s up to us, especially those of us who live in Ohio, to make sure Voinovich sticks with his party and filibusters this bill.

State Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), soon to be the 41st vote against ObamaCare

Let’s get to work.

UPDATE: Back at my computer for the first time today, and I see that Sen. Voinovich is stating in no uncertain terms that he will NOT vote for ObamaCare. Voinovich Press Secretary Garrette Silverman has said that Voinovich’s “stance has not changed,” and Third Base Politics (among others) reports that Voinovich’s meeting with Obama was apparently not about ObamaCare.

Given Voinovich’s record, I don’t think it was a bad idea for me to send up a red flag into the conservative blogosphere. I also don’t think it’s a bad idea for Ohioans to continue reminding the senator by phone, e-mail, and office visits exactly how we feel about ObamaCare. What could it hurt?

UPDATE II: Welcome Michelle Malkin, Memeorandum, Weapons of Mass Discussion, A Small Corner of Sanity, and Underground Conservative readers.

UPDATE III: Liberally Conservative, too!

UPDATE IV: On second thought, let’s take Sen. Voinovich at his word. He voted against ObamaCare the first time around and he says he’ll do it again. So instead of calling his office and beating a dead horse, why not call in and thank him for standing with us? Sends the same message without punishing good behavior.

Merry Christmas, Rob Simmons: McMahon’s WWE “Rocked the Vote” for Barack Obama

New polling shows that former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Linda McMahon has a three point lead over her Republican primary opponent for Connecticut’s U.S. Senate seat, Rob Simmons. This is a major development for the McMahon campaign, which has been looking to take away Simmons’ widely recognized status as the front runner. She is also leading incumbent Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd by either two or six points, depending on whether you’re asking Quinnipiac or Rasmussen.

While McMahon has now demonstrated that she can beat both Simmons and Dodd, she has yet to demonstrate that she is principled enough to beat back President Obama’s big government agenda.

McMahon’s apparent lack of conservative bona fides has been a problem for her campaign time and time again. She has supported the TARP bailouts, eliciting the condemnation of at least one Connecticut state representative. She hedged when asked if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be tried in the United States, only belatedly stating her opposition two days later. She opposed the “stimulus,” but accepted about $3 million in government subsidies for the WWE — then turned around and laid off 10% of her workforce at the beginning of this year.

McMahon is pro-choice and has donated to the RINO PAC Republican Majority for Choice, and she and husband Vince McMahon have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats over the years — including now-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as recently as 2008.

Today, Linda McMahon has a new problem. From the Rust Belt has learned that, under McMahon’s leadership, the WWE’s Smackdown Your Vote project brought McMahon’s business into direct partnership with liberal youth organizations that got out the vote for Barack Obama and Democrats nationwide. These same organizations are now working to advance big government initiatives like ObamaCare and Cap and Tax, and one of them — Rock the Vote — has recently released a web ad encouraging teenagers and young adults to use their sexuality as a political tool to pressure others into supporting socialized medicine.

Much more, including screencaps, beneath the fold…

Rock the Vote — Radical, Partisan, and Coming to a Civics Class Near You

Warning: The source material for this post (the video below and a transcribed excerpt from the video) contain explicit language that is not safe for work and which may not be suitable for children.

Rock the Vote claims that it is a nonpartisan organization. But you should take a look at their latest web ad on health care reform, featuring Californication’s Eva Amurri and Friday Night Lights star Zach Gilford, and judge for yourself:

Just so we’re super clear, this is the pledge — transcribed verbatim from the video — that Amurri and Gilford are asking young Americans to take:

We pledge ourselves to the health and liberty of young Americans, and to government for the people. We pledge to educate ourselves; to stand against those who fight us with mind, body, and spirit; and to never fucking you if you are against us. We will vote against you, work against you, and once again, in case you forgot, never ever, never ever, never ever, never ever fuck you.

I have added emphasis to illustrate the significant differences between the video pledge and the print pledge that appears on the RtV website:

We pledge ourselves to the health and liberty of young Americans. We pledge to educate ourselves and to stand with those who fight for us and against those who do not. We demand health care, and we are willing to hold out for it.

Given these huge discrepancies between the video pledge and the print pledge, you would almost think the folks at RtV know how inappropriate their web ad is. Ya think?

More beneath the fold…

Generations Y and Z, This is Your Wake-Up Call

The Democratic Party is waging an intergenerational war. Their primary targets? Those of us who are 35 years old and younger. The question is: Are we going to fight or are we going to surrender?

Socialists, by definition, are the enemies of youth. The Marxist imperative — “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” — exhorts socialists to enslave the young, requiring our hard work and then taking what we earn from our work and giving it to older generations.

Who will pay for insolvent entitlements for the elderly like Social Security and Medicare? We will. Those well over the age of 35 initiated the government takeover of health care, but we will benefit the least from it while paying the most for it (h/t The Two Malcontents). Those over the age of 35 are engaging in massive deficit spending primarily for their own benefit, but we will bear the responsibility of paying that debt back. Congressmen and senators who are far older than 35 are planning to implement the largest tax increase in American history in the dubious pursuit of curbing carbon emissions, but citizens under 35 will pay those taxes and suffer through the job loss created by such stifling taxation.

Democrats at the state and local levels won’t balance their budgets by cutting spending. So what do they do instead? In Pittsburgh, they tax your college tuition to pay pensions, insisting that providing income for the retired is more important than your education. You can bet that a similar tax is coming to a college town near you. Meanwhile, in California, college tuition is going up 32% because of the ineptitude of liberal Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic legislature. Here in Ohio, at my own Ohio University, I’m looking forward to a 3.5% tuition increase next year because of fiscal irresponsibility on the part of Gov. Ted Strickland and OU administrators.

People from our generation turned out in record numbers to elect Barack Obama last year and give Democrats huge majorities in both chambers of Congress. Maybe you were one of them. I was, and I’m smart enough to regret it today because I see them using their power to subjugate my future to the insatiable hunger of the state. How many Pittsburgh students do you think helped elect Democratic Mayor Luke Ravenstahl? How many UC students helped elect the legislators responsible for their 32% tuition increase? How many OU students hit the ballot box for Ted Strickland?

If you were duped like I was duped, it’s a forgivable offense. The genius of socialism is that it exploits youthful inexperience and idealism to its own advantage. Socialists make utopian promises of hope and change, of slowing the rise of the oceans and healing the planet, but they never explain to the young people they’re busy mesmerizing that these promises come at a cost. The cost is your freedom and prosperity, yours specifically.

If you were duped, you’re forgiven. But the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. I began this post asking a very simple question: Will we fight or will we surrender? If we turn our heads and ignore the political process next year and in 2012, we surrender. If we get all wrapped up in fads and third parties that aren’t electorally viable, if we declare ourselves Anarchists or Greens or Libertarians, we surrender. If we go back to the ballot box and cast votes for the same Democrats who are waging intergenerational war against us, we surrender.

I, for one, am going to fight. If you want to fight, if you’re not willing to give up your freedom and prosperity in exchange for empty utopian promises, then you should join me. The alternative, the only alternative, is the only existing political opposition — and that is the Republican Party. It’s at a crossroads right now, a time of soul-searching and getting back to basics. Those of us who are under 35 have a historic opportunity to participate, to push for a libertarian Republican Party with a live and let live agenda consistent with our generation’s principles. We can either participate or we can withraw. But remember, withdrawal is surrender and your future, yours, is at stake.

Don’t surrender. Fight. Join the Republican resistance and demand freedom and prosperity for Generations Y and Z. This is your wake-up call.

UPDATE: Eric Dondero has graciously decided to feature this post on his blog, Libertarian Republican. Go check it out, leave some comments, and tell your Generation Y and Z friends.

UPDATE II: Now cross-posted to RedState.

Defeat is Only for the Defeated

Cloture. It’s a word that’s leading to despair in some circles, following the Senate vote last night in which all 60 Democrats voted for and all 40 Republicans voted against proceeding to a simple majority vote on ObamaCare. We’re doomed, some are saying. They’re saying that America, like Western Europe, is now destined for a permanent shift toward socialism — so that even conservatives will become pseudo-socialists who know that it is politically untenable to take on big government. The sky is falling, they say, and we have proven to Benjamin Franklin that we cannot keep a republic.

Well, Chicken Little, I’ve got just one thing to say to you: Defeat is only for the defeated. And I’m not defeated. Why are you?

Sure, the bill has now passed both chambers of Congress. It’s likely that it will eventually make it to the president’s desk for his signature, but it would be a serious mistake to give up now when there’s still work to be done in trying to kill the bill while the House and Senate are trying to reconcile it. But even if ObamaCare becomes law, Democrats have built their own defeat into the very fabric of the legislation. It will not take effect until 2014, which means that we still have time to repeal it.

There are others who agree with me that now is not the time for defeatism, like Allahpundit (Hot Air) and Dan Riehl (Riehl World View). The guys at Hillbuzz — Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton, remember — are reminding us that it should be our mission to get rid of all 60 of these senators, starting with the list provided by Moe Lane at RedState. And the guys at Hillbuzz are in a fighting mood, as is Far Right Democrat. So are Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. You should be too.

Unrepealable? Really, with 61% of the public on our side? I just can’t accept that. This is not a victory for Democrats, not really. As RedState and GayPatriot are pointing out, this is political suicide. They’ve given us the ammunition to fight them, and win, in the next two election cycles. If we play it smart and if we fight hard, we will win, and we will repeal this.

But I think it’s really The Anchoress who is striking the right note, by reminding us that the Democrats have chosen a truly inauspicious time to try to make opponents of this bill — 2/3 of Americans, remember — feel defeated.

We are now wrapping up the season of Advent, on the verge of celebrating Christmas. This is the time of year when we are reminded that faith and hope are not just nice sentiments, wishful thinking, or idealistic naivete. Faith and hope are gifts from our God, the God who made us to be free. Real hope, true change, is reserved to the Lord who is the Author of Hope, to the One who sent his angels to a few shepherds in a field thousands of years ago to declare that he was making all things new. He is still declaring it to us, here and now, millennia later, as we finish Advent and prepare for Christmas. Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

This is the time to fight, to pray fervently, and to trust that God had a plan when he led the founders of our nation to realize that he had created man for freedom. This is the time to hope, and to hope radically in the face of despair, that the Spirit of God will inspire us to boldly speak the truth about what is going on in America and to believe, with all of our hearts, that the truth will set us free. We believe. We hope.