Doug Patton

A Politician Saying, ‘I’m Not Ready’ — How Refreshing!

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was in Des Moines last week. Christie was there to campaign for former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who is challenging the sitting Democrat, Chet Culver, for his old job back. Branstad was one of the Hawkeye State's longest serving and most popular governors for 16 years, from 1982 to 1998.

Don’t Crown the GOP Just Yet

It may be true that Barack Obama has done the Republican Party the greatest favor since the inept Jimmy Carter handed the presidency to Ronald Reagan, but at some point somebody has to say it: in the 2010 congressional races, the fat lady has not yet sung.

The War on Prosperity During the Summer of Recovery

As Barack Obama parties with his vacuous celebrity friends this week, with galas at the White House and elsewhere, the American middle class sinks further into the morass he has created with his doomed policies. If FDR had his WPA as part of his New Deal and LBJ had his War on Poverty as part of his Great Society, then surely BHO has his War on Prosperity as part of his Fundamental Transformation of America during his Summer of Recovery.

Is it Time to Start Using the ‘I’ Word?

I have little doubt that critics (and perhaps even fans) of these columns are tiring of my weekly harangue over the sorry performance of Barack Obama. And just when I think I can spend a week actually thinking about something else on which to comment, he renders such fancy impossible by proposing yet another inane scheme for spending our great, great, great grandchildren's hard earned tax dollars. This week is no exception.

Despite Media, Public Sees Truth About Obama

Jake Tapper of ABC News had, until recently, struck me as a fairly straight shooter. He's no Brit Hume, Major Garrett or Brett Baer, by any means, but during his tenure as host of ABC's "This Week" (the program started by the legendary David Brinkley and later turned into a partisan Democrat vehicle by former Clinton hack George Stephanopoulos), Tapper seemed to be aiming for something approaching the fairness of the late Tim Russert.

Let’s Start Blaming Millard Fillmore

Just when it appears that no one could possibly get away with blaming former President George W. Bush for even one more thing, another crazed liberal Democrat exercises the right to do just that. The latest knee-jerk, Bush-bashing excuse came from none other than Maxine Waters, perhaps the second dumbest member of Congress, right after Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

Speaking Truth to Race

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress." -- Mark Twain The dictionary defines racism thusly:

1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others;
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination;
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Et tu, Andy?

Not many sitcoms make it to half a century in reruns. I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver and just a few others. It is a short list, indeed. Perhaps newer "classics" like M*A*S*H, WKRP in Cincinnati, Newhart, Seinfeld or Everybody Loves Raymond will eventually make it that far on TV Land or TBS or some other cable channel, but right now the list of shows still running after fifty years can be counted on one hand. The Andy Griffith Show is one of those programs. From 1960 to 1968, this program provided some of the most wholesome entertainment ever delivered to the American public.

Let Every Federal Department Justify its Existence — Constitutionally

The executive departments of our federal government read like an alphabet soup of bureaucracies entwining and entangling themselves into every area of our lives. The litany of "on-the-books" divisions and subdivisions does not even count the unaccountable czars, advisors and otherwise nebulous bureaucrats whose only business it is to annoy the American people and to demand of us affiliation and information to which they have no constitutional authority.

How About a Brewer-Jindal Ticket in 2012?

The more I read about Governors Jan Brewer of Arizona and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, the more I think they would make a formidable ticket against Barack Obama and his court jester, Joe Biden, in 2012. Brewer and Jindal are pro-life, pro-family, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-free enterprise, pro-energy production and pro-legal immigration. All the qualities we need in Washington, DC, right now.

Is Personal Privacy a Thing of the Past?

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." — 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The 17th Amendment Was a Very Bad Idea

"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." — Thomas Jefferson, in 1821 The most anti-American president in the history of the country — at least until Barack Obama entered the White House — was Woodrow Wilson. Elected in 1912, Wilson was a racist progressive Democrat who viewed the Founders and the Constitution with disdain. During his first year in office, he promoted two of the most destructive amendments to the U.S. Constitution ever ratified — the 16th, which gave us the direct federal income tax, and the 17th, which provided for the direct election of U.S. Senators.

God Bless Joe Barton, So Long GOP

Mark Bradley and I have been friends for 25 years, and we have worked together on more than a few Republican campaigns. He's the issues wonk; I'm the word guy. For years, Mark and I have been daring each other. I've been challenging him to put his name on a ballot — something I recommend all Americans do at least once in their lives (yes, I've had my turn) — while Mark has been daring me to change my political affiliation from Republican to Independent. I'm still waiting for him to run for something, but last Friday I made the leap from "R" to "I."

Sarah Will Have Many Markers to Call in for 2012

Say what you will about her political choices, but Sarah Palin knows how to spot winners. She picked Scott Brown for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, then supported Rick Perry over Kay Bailey Hutchison for governor of Texas. She endorsed Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination against uber-progressive California Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Why Americans Should Love Partisanship

"Hey! You can't fight in here! This is the war room!" — From Dr. Strangelove

Beautiful Intolerance, Part II

A flood of e-mail landed in my inbox this past week as a result of my column titled "Intolerance is a Beautiful Thing." Amazingly, almost all of it was positive. The only disparaging words I received were from readers who stated that I should have listed more things of which we Americans should be intolerant. I sympathized with those readers' frustration, even as I pointed out to them that while cyberspace is unlimited, column inches in newspapers are not. However, there was enough clamor for at least a couple more examples of beautiful intolerance that a follow-up column seemed warranted.

Pandering to Lawbreakers Blurs Line Between Legal and Illegal

Several years ago, as part of my duties working for a member of Congress, I attended a forum on immigration. The premise of the meeting was that the rights of legal immigrants were being violated by employers who intimidate their workforces by blurring the line between legal and illegal aliens. These employers were said to be preying on the fears of their legal workers by exploiting their ignorance of immigration law and convincing them that they had better keep their mouths shut about low wages and poor working conditions, lest they be deported.

Where No One Locks The Door

Imagine you are a child growing up in a small town. You have always felt safe there. The crimes of big cities seem distant from your serene world, where no one ever locks the door.

Are Americans Going John Galt?

"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force." - Ayn Rand

Heineman and Nebraska Lead the Way on Sanctity of Life

Dave Heineman became governor of my home state of Nebraska in 2005 when Mike Johanns resigned that position to become George W. Bush's Secretary of Agriculture. Heineman had been in politics all his life, having served as chief of staff to a congressman, as a city councilman in his home town of Fremont, as executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party, and as Nebraska's state treasurer, before becoming Johanns' lieutenant governor.