First Principles

In search of the Unified Theory of Conservatism

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Entries from November 2010

Groping For a Balance Between Safety and Liberty – And Losing Touch With Both

November 24th, 2010 · 9 Comments

Tomorrow my family and I will be flying to see family for Thanksgiving.  So I’ve been following the new TSA porn-o-scanner/crotch-grope policies with some personal interest.  I’m unimpressed. The purpose of government is to protect, promote, and advance individual liberty.  Public safety is obviously a part of this – if you’re dead, you can hardly […]

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Tags: War on Terror

Punditry!

November 17th, 2010 · Comments Off on Punditry!

I’ll be on the Nevada NewsMakers pundit panel tomorrow – check their website for airtimes and/or streaming video.  Update:  The video of today’s show is up at the link. Also, I’ve updated and expanded my Nevada political blogroll over there to your right.  I’ve included some of the more significant lefty ones – always interesting […]

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Tags: Housekeeping · Media Alert

Why Social Conservatism Is Vital To Liberty In General

November 17th, 2010 · 3 Comments

True social conservatism, that is – not Big Government nanny-statism in the name of the Lord. Last week, various tea party movement activists from around the country sent a letter to GOP leaders asking them to back off the social issues and focus on deficits and spending.  I agree with them to a point, but […]

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Tags: Abortion · Big Government · Culture · Economy · Liberals · Mike Huckabee · Nanny State · Religion · Republicans · Social Conservatism

The Pathetic Excuse To Keep Earmarks In Place

November 16th, 2010 · Comments Off on The Pathetic Excuse To Keep Earmarks In Place

So Harry Reid wants to protect Nevada from that big, bad President Obama and his profligate spending, now, does he? Like many senior lawmakers, Reid opposes abandoning “congressionally directed spending” – the allocation of funding for projects, or earmarks – in favor of leaving the money decisions to officials in government agencies. 

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Tags: Big Government · Harry Reid · Nevada Politics

Who Does the Nevada Assembly Represent?

November 12th, 2010 · 1 Comment

By the numbers, it sure doesn’t seem to be Nevadans.  At least not accurately. NPRI broke down the numbers – Republican Assembly candidates got the votes of 51% of Nevada voters – Democrats only got 45%.  That’s over a 40,000 vote difference.  60% of Nevadans are represented by Republican Assemblymen. If you count votes for […]

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Tags: Nevada Politics

In Defense Of Tyranny

November 6th, 2010 · 3 Comments

No, not from me.  From William Saletan at Slate, arguing these midterms were actually a victory for Dems: Politicians have tried and failed for decades to enact universal health care. This time, they succeeded. In 2008, Democrats won the presidency and both houses of Congress, and by the thinnest of margins, they rammed a bill […]

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Tags: Congress · Health Care · Nanny State

Liveblogging Election Day

November 2nd, 2010 · 5 Comments

11:27: I need to go to bed.  But some closing thoughts. In the primary, pundits struggled to find a pattern to an electorate which supported both Sandoval and Angle, and seemed similarly schizophrenic across the country.  Much ink was spilled over whether the GOP was moving right, or splitting altogether.  The agendas, while different, shared […]

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Tags: Campaign '10 · Nevada Politics · Republicans · Voter Fraud

Hope and Fear – Some Pre-Election Thoughts

November 1st, 2010 · 3 Comments

Two years ago, on the eve of another historical election, I wrote about my hopes for the election results and the next several years.  I said that my desires, in order of preference, were 1) that John McCain won, and was successful, 2) that Barack Obama won, and was successful, or, failing those two outcomes, […]

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Tags: Campaign '10 · Corruption · Economy · Obama · Principles · Republicans · Voter Fraud