American-Manifesto.com In Defense of American Exceptionalism

Homicide has dropped of the list of the top causes of death in the U.S. at the very time that gun ownership is expanding.  Want some antacid on the side, guys?

In one my classes today, our professor asked how many of us were gun owners.  I’ll spare you the details but it was a logical, if surprisingly blunt, question given the subject of the class that day.
4 out of 14 students answered yes.  Of the 4 gun owners, two were women.
If this is a representative [...]

The subject of campaign finance restrictions came up in one of my classes recently.  Quite a few people, leftists of course, just couldn’t grasp why restricting campaign contributions is a restriction on speech.  I’d like to offer a set of questions to demonstrate why money is speech.  If your answer changes from yes to no [...]

“There’s this kind of stereotype or myth that the deep blue states are more economically restrictive but more personally free. But the data doesn’t actually bear that out . . . Liberals tend to want to constrain your freedom in all areas.” [Emphasis added.]
William Ruger, co-author of Freedom in the 50 States study, as quoted [...]

There has ben a lot of discussion by the academic left about whether the killing of Osama Bin Laden was justified.  The people questioning the OBL killing don’t seem to question that a nation has a right to defend itself from a direct attack, but are raising the question of whether that is applicable here.
I’m [...]

In this joyous season of fights over cutting federal spending, I merely note the following.

U.S. Population: 307,000,000
Federal Spending: $3.55 trillion
Federal Spending per person: $11,564
Federal Spending for a family of four: $46,254
U.S. Median Household Income: $49,777

So, before factoring in state income taxes, local income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, etc., the federal government is [...]

Oklahoma voters approved an amendment to their constitution that bans the use of Sharia law (as well as international law) in its state courts.  A federal judge promptly put issued a temporary restraining order.  I find the left’s reaction to it informative.
Politico has a nice concentrated dose of leftwing thought by people who are supposed [...]

So, it seems there’s an artist who as a very political piece that involves Jesus having sex.  A lot of people are understandably offended.  It’s worth noting, however, that they are expressing their annoyance without riots, deaths and violence throughout Christendom.  The artist has not gone into hiding.  He is not under 24 armed guard. [...]

I’m always amused when the left falsely accuses conservatives of engaging in the very behavior that the left actually indulges in.  A nice example was in today’s (still bankrupt) Inquirer.
At the lefty wanna-be-Glenn-Beck rally, one Peggy Brown gave us this piece of analysis:
“Fox News, that’s about as bad as you can get” and…conservative personalities Beck, [...]

I can across this in the explanatory comments of the Second Restatement of Torts Law.  Restatements are documents produced by the American Legal Institute to describe the current state of laws in certain areas.  This comment is in an area on the subject of outrageous conduct relating to the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The rough [...]

You know.  The one Obama likes so much.
Would it be okay for the Sons of Confederate America to build a facility next to where Martin Luther King was assassinated?
Would it be okay for the Mormons to build a church near where Matthew Shepherd was murdered?
Would it be okay for the Klan to sponsor the upkeep [...]

I submitted this letter to the editor a couple weeks ago.  It was not published and unfortunately I did not save a link for the original letter.
A letter in today’s paper derided Sen. Sessions’ description of Elena Kagan as a “dangerous progressive”, saying progressivism is by definition forward-moving.  I disagree.  There is little forward-thinking about [...]

I had a letter to the editor published in the Inquirer in response to their anti-McDonald editorial.  It’s not the most exciting piece of writing but it works.

You know conservatives are landing punches when the left starts trotting out the “conservatives are anti-intellectual” argument.  The ever-predictable EJ Dionne pulled this one off the shelf today.
It’s not that we’re against the systematic study of ideas.  We’re all for it.  But for too many intellectuals “systematic study” involves “systematically ignoring” anyone to the right [...]

Woody Allen provides us with yet another example of what the left is really about (power and control).  Woody says Obama should “be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.”
That’s surprisingly similar to Thomas Friedman’s dreamy column about the awesomeness of one party rule in China. [...]

Speaking of lefties on the offensive, Prof. Bernstein lists a number of progressive “accomplishments” over the last century.
alcohol prohibition; coercive eugenics (upheld in an appallingly insensitive opinion by Progressive hero O.W. Holmes); residential segregation by race …bans on private schools…judicial recall elections; and restrictions on women’s participation in the labor market…immigration restrictions….segregation in federal workplaces.
But, [...]

I was recently debating a colleague on a variety of political topics.  He kept repeating an often-heard lefty refrain, “Republicans want to impose their morality on people”.   This is a common talking point and, and best, incomplete.
Setting aside the somewhat esoteric issue of whether all laws are a reflection of morality, is it really [...]

I heard an interesting interview this morning with PA Attorney General Tom Corbett.  He discussed something called a Severability Clause.  Apparently severability clauses are typically included in legislation to allow one part of a bill to be thrown out in court without impacting the rest of the legislation.  In other words without a severability clause [...]

Now boarding on track 1600, the Fiscal Train Wreck Express, making stops in Kickback Nebraska, Purchased Louisiana and a town near you!  Amenities include IRS audits, statist coverage mandates, a crushing tax burden and fiscal instability.  Ladies and gentlemen, please note a schedule change: this train will not be stopping at Freedom Junction.  All aboard!

Congratulations to Susan McClaren, of Phoenixville, our latest Preening Twit Award winner for this example of leftwing mental puffery.
Imagine what it would be like to be able to see a doctor when one is not feeling well; not to fear care because of cost; and not to be funneled into the overburdened emergency room just [...]