Trust the Men Who Protect America

Trusted Most — Men with Guns – Pat Buchanan, Human Events
As confidence has plummeted in Congress, Americans have held on to their support and respect for the nation’s military, police, and small businesses. Surveys show that the liberal institutions like unions, newspapers, and the current Congress inspire extremely low levels of confidence in the American people. Is it any wonder really? It seems that unions, Congress, and their politicized news machines simply want to use the country to enrich themselves, while the military and police are protecting Americans at risk to their own lives. The other most trusted institution, small business, is under direct fire from President Obama and his desire to raise taxes to Clinton-era rates. This will hammer small businesses in towns across the U.S. – Dick Young

Giving Lousy Teachers the Boot – William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal
D.C. school chancellor, Michelle Rhee is making headway in the school district to protect children from bad policy. Only the weakening of union has allowed this progress to be made. Teachers’ unions (not teachers themselves) create an unsustainable situation in school districts, forcing administrators to give too much to poor performing teachers, and not enough to those who excel. I support the removal of unions altogether as a basis for contract negotiations with teachers. The burden that unions place on school districts with outrageous pensions is backbreaking. The union leaders have failed the students, failed their union members, and failed America. – Dick Young

The Schumer for Majority Leader Act – Review & Outlook, The Wall Street Journal
It would seem in bad taste for the leaders of the Democratic House and Senate election committees to be proposing campaign legislation, but as usual, Democrats seem to have no concept of propriety. Legislation supported by Chuck Schumer and Chris Van Hollen is essentially tailored to allow union members to donate to campaigns, but to exclude corporate donations, obviously this would give Democrats a major fundraising advantage. – Timothy Jones

Words I Never Expected To Type – Kevin D. Williamson, National Review
The budget shortfall this year is projected to be $1.47 trillion dollars. Compare that to the meager $4.2 billion in deficit spending Canada expects this year. What is America spending all that money on? The standards of living in the U.S. and Canada are not that far off, and the one area where America exceeds Canada by far, healthcare, will surely move to parity as Obamacare begins to kick in. The projected budget deficits are frightening indeed. – Timothy Jones

The Losers’ Congress – The Editors, National Review
Look for a massive lame-duck agenda from congressional Democrats as they milk the last of their super-majority power into as much government-cheese as they can make. Democrats in the House and Senate will likely aim to rush a frenzy of laws through during the short amount of time they have power enough. I expect immigration, cap and tax, card check, and a VAT to all make appearances on the floors of Congress. Who knows what other kinds of pork will be butchered in the final days of the 111^th Congress. – Dick Young

The Underfunded 20 – Jim Geraghty, National Review
Jim Geraghty lays out 20 races in which Republicans are potential winners, but are currently underfunded. – Timothy Jones