Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - Rasmussen Reports™

In a book released last year, Scott Rasmussen observed that, "The gap between Americans who want to govern themselves and politicians who want to rule over them may be as big today as the gap between the colonies and England during the 18^th  century." He added that "The American people don't want to be governed from the left, the right, or the center. They want to govern themselves." In Search of Self-Governance is available at Amazon.com.

MAD AS HELL: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System, by Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen, can be ordered at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders and other outlets. It's also available in bookstores everywhere.

It is important to remember that the Rasmussen Reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters. Some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults. President Obama's numbers are always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters. That's because some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters, such as young adults, are less likely to turn out to vote. It is also important to check the details of question wording when comparing approval ratings from different firms.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

What Wisconsin's Judicial Election Means

Regardless of the ultimate result, there are vital lessons we should take from the race.

First, the machine of leftism, even operating in a structurally leftist state like Wisconsin, is a paper tiger.  Unions long ruled Great Lakes states with an iron hand and a rubber truncheon.  The well-paid army of union operatives, the dull armies of whipped members, and the timidity of possible opponents has meant that unions were able to drive the economy of the industrial heartland of the world's greatest economy into poverty and despair.

This judicial election, however, dispels the notion of omnipotent unions.  Voter turnout in these elections is ordinarily light.  Incumbent judges seeking reelection do not have huge organizations and vast pots of campaign funds to support them.  In this race, the leftist challenger Kloppenburg had all the advantages.  She should have walked away with this race, but she did not.  Even if Kloppenburg somehow "discovers" her own trove of uncounted votes, the left will only win the battle and lose the war.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/what_wisconsins_judicial_elect.html

American Thinker: Regulatory Dysfunction

If we are to emerge from recession, America's business regulatory burden must be reassessed.

In a 2008 review of the cost of government regulations entitled Ten Thousand Commandments, Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute estimated that the cost of government regulations to businesses and, ultimately, to consumers was $1 trillion or more annually.  Regulations added 70,000 pages to the Federal Register.  Regulatory costs almost matched all corporate profits in 2007 and were seven times higher than the 2007 budget deficit.  Crews wrote that "Federal environmental, safety and health, and economic regulations cost hundreds of billions of dollars every year over and above the costs of official federal outlays."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/regulatory_dysfunction.html

Capitalism Magazine - At War...with America: Obama's Altruistic War Fighting Philosophy

We have no responsibility to provide the Libyan people with anything, least of all help in overthrowing their tyrant. And about that $33 billion in Libyan assets: It does not belong to the Libyan people; it belongs to us because it represents wealth extorted from the West, especially from the U.S. in the form of oil prices on oil produced from expropriated oil wells and fields. That $33 billion should be applied to Obama's rising government debt, and be returned to American taxpayers by declaring an income tax holiday for the next three years.

Two of the best critiques to date of Obama's Libyan intervention are Richard Salsman's March 23rd Forbes article, "Libya Exposes Obama as Our Latest Neocon President," which presents the moral case against Obama, and Daniel Greenfield's March 29th "The Known Unknowns of Libya" on Sultan Knish, which spotlights the utter recklessness of Obama's irrational, illogical, and perilous actions regarding Libya.

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/war-peace/6347-at-war-with-america-obama-s-altruistic-war-fighting-philosophy.html

Capitalism Magazine - Donald Trump: The Wish Fulfillment Candidate

As the American economy continues not to grow or get any better, the appeal of a fascist-lite dictator such as Donald Trump will grow. This isn't because there are no rational alternatives to dictatorship. It's just that none are being offered. The Tea Party talks cutting spending, but offers no strength because it offers no ideology of any kind. As a result, it's hardly cutting a penny from the budget (and in today's terms, a penny is a billion). Quite naturally people are going to listen to Donald Trump, because they think he's something different from Barack Obama. But Donald Trump is not the voice of reason, nor the voice of the personal responsibility Americans must take if we are to remain a free country (politically) and become a free country again (economically).

Trump is the voice of wishful thinking -- disguised by toughness.

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/politics/elections/6353-donald-trump-the-wish-fulfillment-candidate.html

Capitalism Magazine - Housing Will Remain a Government Program

As I have repeatedly predicted, the US will have a "double-dip" recession lead by the housing sector:

The widely-followed Case-Shiller Home Price Index fell 3.1% in January; prices are now at their lowest level since the housing market made its first bottom in April 2009. Sales of existing homes were off nearly 10% in February, and new homes sales were at a record low. As the economy worsens, there can be little doubt that housing is headed for a double-dip.

The government's "make housing affordable" approach to market intervention is the root of the entire problem. To a large extent, this intervention takes the form of mortgage purchases by government-sponsored Fannie and Freddie. Through these entities, nearly all new loans for homes are now destined for public ownership. When these entities buy a mortgage, they are doing so to help the borrower get the needed financing. They have only a casual interest in the investment quality of the transaction. This is very different motivation from the private investor, who is primarily concerned with getting paid back; and on that basis, wouldn't go anywhere near US housing.

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/markets/housing/6354-housing-will-remain-a-government-program.html

Capitalism Magazine - The Draft: Slavery as Literal as it Comes

You hear less about the draft nowadays because the liberal left -- the politicians who are responsible for most expansions of government power -- don't like the use of military force, at least when it's the American military doing the intervention. Liberals cannot in good conscience support a draft when they have so little use for the military. This is why so many liberals (and conservatives too) favor something called "national service." National service is a way to turn young people into servants of the state without even using the military.

I'd like to think it says something for the United States that it no longer has a military draft, and there's no indication that one is forthcoming. I'd like to think that it represents progress towards the expansion of individual rights. But then I look at all that Obama has done to expand government power, and all that George W. Bush did to expand government power before him, and I recognize there's no trend towards individual rights in the United States. What happened was that the military became more technological and high-tech, making untrained manpower less relevant than trained forces who are comfortable with the use of our advanced weaponry. It's politicians who want to impose "national service" -- draft or not -- on the population, because the vast majority of liberal and conservative politicians care first and foremost about the government ... not the people, and least of all the individual.

It's not possible to conceive of a free society in which there's a draft -- not now, not ever. Freedom is the most precious thing a human being can have, and because most individuals understand this, most will fight for it if the invaders are at their front door. It's governments who oppose freedom and it's governments who want to expand their own power.

The draft is a perfect way to do that. But in a technologically advanced society as the United States, government has found other ways to expand its coercive influence over the lives of people. If we continue our move towards soft fascism and socialism, who knows -- the draft may make a comeback.

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/war-peace/draft/6356-the-draft-slavery-as-literal-as-it-comes.html