Dr. Robert R. Owens

Solyndra, Obama’s Enron

Remember Enron? When this huge company went belly-up because of mismanagement, misrepresentation and criminal intent the Bush administration was put through years of screaming headlines, congressional investigations and dubious investigative specials on the wall-to-wall talking heads of the cable news channels. In the end there was no connection found between the Bush administration and the leaders at Enron who broke the law.

Real Hope for a Change

Hope and change were the magic words that swept a relatively unknown, inexperienced Barack Obama into the Oval Office. He campaigned as the one able to fix the Bush economy. Once in office he has protested that he didn't know how bad the economy was even though that was what he had run his campaign on. He has spent the majority of his first term blaming everyone for everything. His signature accomplishments, the stimulus, Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank financial reform have done more to hurt than help. Serial vacations and weekly golf outings aside, President Obama has worked hard and has so far managed to turn a recession into the Great Recession. Now he offers the opening salvo of his 2012 campaign economic platform and the message is, "More of the same" with no solution in sight.

Ride to the Sound of the Guns

He graduated with the highest number of demerits and at the bottom of his class. He was the poster child for graduating by the skin of your teeth. Yet he also became the youngest Major General in American History and the man General Sheridan believed did more than any other to win the Civil War. He was a fighting commander whose standing order in combat was, "Ride to the sound of the guns!" Perhaps it flowed from the fact that while at West Point George Armstrong Custer didn't study very much, that he had only one strategy, and only one tactic. The strategy was victory, and the tactic was charge.

Freedom is as Freedom Does

Is there any one political or economic system that God wants everyone to follow? I do not believe God has ordained any one type of government or economy as the divinely ordained path.

Who Needs Robin Hood?

"It's time to level the playing field." "The rich need to pay their fair share." "We have to end tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires." These are some of the stock phrases used by President Obama and his administration to fire up their troops to picket private homes, gin up mobs to protest success and to channel America towards the future they envision.

History Doesn’t Repeat, it Rhymes Again

When I was studying to become a Historian I ran afoul of the professors tasked with helping me arrive at my destination. When you study for advanced degrees in History you are required to choose an area of specialization and if you are particularly ambitious you might choose two separate areas. Being an over achiever who has always been blessed with an inquiring mind I choose four and proceeded to complete the necessary class work for all of them. Near the end of my career as a professional History student the professor in charge of the program told me I had to pick one field that would be my over arching area of study.

A Declaration of Independence

It has happened just as foretold. The Progressive Republicans have joined with their Democrat fellow-travelers and once again sold our inheritance for a bowl of promises. We voted for an end to the out of control spending and what did we get? 3.5 trillion steps closer to the abyss. It's time to admit that when you fall off a cliff it doesn't matter much if you were pushed or if you walked. The fall might not be so bad but that sudden stop at the end isn't so good.

The Corrupt Bargain

In American History slogans, catch phrases, and grand titles have often come to serve as signposts marking out eras and pointing the way to popular notions of what passes for an understanding of the national mood or circumstance in a particular period of time. Examples include: "Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute!" a slogan which spurred us on to our first undeclared war against the Barbary Pirates. "Remember the Maine!" a slogan used by the newspapers at the end of the nineteenth century to gin up support for a war against Spain, and a war which launched the United States as a colonial power. "The Square Deal," the "New Deal," the "Fair Deal," and the "Great Society" all designate government programs aimed at the redistribution of wealth, and of course "Camelot" immediately brings forth visions of the youthful, inspiring, inept, and immoral Kennedy years.

Lemmings, the Cliff, and 2012

We all think we are invincible. We all think we will have another day. Then one day there isn't another day and our day is done. Empires rise and empires fall and everyone always thinks, "We'll make it through this. We always have" then one time you don't. No one gets to live in the world they grew up in, because the only thing that never changes is that everything changes.

The Ratification Debate Part Three

Concluding my three part series in celebration of our nation’s 235th Birthday, we will look at arguments advanced by both sides. Last week we ended with the question, who were the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists and why does it matter to us today? This week we will learn the answers to the questions. Who was debating? What did they have to say? Who won? And, why does it matter to us today?

The Ratification Debate Part Two

Picking up where I left off in my review of the ratification debate I want to address the question I raised at the end of last week's essay, "What was the problem?"

The Ratification Debate Part One

While it is not my usual routine to write articles in a series, in honor of our nation’s 235th birthday I want to take some time to examine the process that led to the ratification of the Constitution. Therefore, each of the next three weeks I will post one installment of a short refection on the ratification debate.

We Can Do This Unless We Don’t

If Alfred E. Newman with his "What me worry?" grin was President of the United States he couldn't do a more pathetic imitation of leadership than we are currently witnessing in Chicago on the Potomac. Dismissing the easy visuals of an out-of-touch Imperial President such as:

America A Greek Tragedy

After years of policies expanding the national government until it employed 1/3 of the workforce and expanding their social welfare net into a hammock for those who chose not to work the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded that Greece impose a budget that the unions saw as austere. For weeks riots raged, buildings burned and people died. Greece having cast their freedom into the wind is reaping the whirlwind. By seeking to make everyone equal and to ensure that no one failed they have placed their entire nation in risk of failing.

Positively Negative

The Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media constantly trumpets the claim that President Obama was a Professor of Constitutional Law. And when he was campaigning he charged that President Bush was not respecting the Constitution when he fired eight prosecutors saying, "I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution."

History Doesn’t Repeat, It Rhymes

A series of imperial wars fought by the Kings of England culminating in the French and Indian War almost bankrupted England. At the end of the war England was paying to maintain 10,000 troops in the North American colonies as well as fleets to protect America's maritime trade.

Where’s the Outrage?

In the best line of a lackluster campaign Bob Dole challenged the voters who were swallowing the liberal line of the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media. At the time they were carrying the water for Bill Clinton in the 1996 election. By that time Mr. Clinton's Bimbo Eruptions and complete lack of ethics had become common knowledge but the unengaged in fly-over country were lapping up the Clinton mantra "Character Doesn't Matter" and preparing to not vote in droves.

The Constitution Failed

People often ask me, "How could you write a book entitled The Constitution Failed?" If the Constitution was written to ensure a limited government and if today we have an unlimited central government my question is, "How can anyone contend that the Constitution hasn't failed?"

A Declaration of Energy Independence

The rising price of oil has a negative impact on our economy and threatens to stifle our anemic recovery from the government produced and bureaucratically fostered Great Recession. How did we get here? Has anyone ever pinpointed the problem beyond blaming speculators and rising demand? Has anyone shown us how our energy independence could be achieved?

It’s Not Over Till It’s Over

The Civil War didn't end at the First Battle of Bull Run or at the Second for that matter. World War I didn't end at the First Battle of the Marne or at the Second. World War II didn't end at Midway.