Ronald Reagan did some wonderful things as president. But he was far from perfect. Reagan presided over some of the worst moments in American history. The worst thing about Ronald Reagan, however, was not anything Reagan himself did, but rather his distorted "legacy," created by those who [...] 
Everything has a law built into its nature. Our ability to recognize and obey such law is the basis of Natural Law. Good government ensures that man-made law adheres to natural law. Government which makes unnatural law in order to benefit one class of citizens (usually the [...] 
The Constitution will "hang by a thread". It has been prophesied. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will play an instrumental part in saving the Constitution. That has also been foretold.
The Constitution is very clear on how the United States must go about making commitments to other nations. Every such accord must be ratified by a two-thirds majority of the Senate in order to take effect. This, specifically, is called a treaty. In the last several [...] 
Alexander Hamilton at one point in his political career seemed to have held a very limited view of the federal government's powers, believing that such things as "agriculture and manufacture" were under the purview of state governments. Not long after taking such a stand, he advocated' [...] 
It is absurd to imagine that the former colonists, who abhored British attempts to continually centralize governmental power over them, would in turn create a federal government that possessed the same abusive powers. Yet this is exactly what some opponents to the Constitution of the United [...] 
If a court doesn't clearly understand what a law means, the judges always go back to the intentions of those who wrote it. So they should. A law is still the law until it is properly amended. As law, meaning of the Constitution of the United' [...] 
Incessantly, putrescent pundits and politicians blame "The Free Market" for our current economic problems. In reality, the economic crisis is due to the fact that our economy is under far more government control than you've been led to believe.
The old interpretation of Constitution of the United States is bo-o-o-r-r-r-ing. This school of thought said that the Constitution limits what the federal government can accomplish. So what do people do who are annoyed by that inconvenience? They reinvent and "reunderstand" the Constitution so that suddenly [...] 
I suspect most believers in God think that "atheist" is a dirty word. But is it really? Think of a world without atheists. Would we be better off? Absolutely not. A world without atheists would be a pretty scary place.
Conflating "pollution" with "climate change" is causing us to waste a lot of time, effort, and money. One of these (pollution) we can control. The other we cannot.
I never really liked the Dixie Chicks that much, so when all the radio stations started boycotting them in 2003, I didn't really think much about it. I now see the real point, though, that if someone's livelihood can be destroyed in the blink of an [...] 
The best solution for increasing competition in the health insurance industry--to allow insurance companies to sell policies to any resident in any state-- is one to which the federal government holds the key. Not only would this reduce costs by increasing competition, it would be a [...] 
Do we sometimes, perhaps subliminally, think that because someone disagrees with us that they are less intelligent? How civil is political debate in Utah? Why does it seem that incivility is more attractive and entertaining? Is a little incivility okay every now and then? If you [...] 
There are some pretty wacky things in the Bible. That's why I'm glad that my Church teaches that "we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly."
It is very likely that one's religious perspective of heaven contributes quite substantially to the exercise of their politics on earth. It seems to me that Conservatives, who are more generally focused on earning the rewards of the next life, are not as tuned into the' [...] 
Governments are notorious for creating problems (or inventing problems that don't exist) in order to blame someone else for them and to obtain more control over the masses by and setting out to provide a solution to the problem it caused. This is the essence of' [...] 
Some people think the Constitution is almost dead. Some people wish it were dead. And some people are doing their best to kill it. I think, though, that the Constitution is much stronger than we give it credit for since, when its precepts are adhered to, [...] 
Iraqis mourned with Americans on September 11, 2001. It wasn't long, however, before their tyrannical ruler was targeted as a possessor of weapons of mass destruction along with the intent to use them on America. When it was later proven beyond doubt that Saddam Hussein never' [...] 
It's a dangerous political game we play when we pit ourselves as enemies against our actual friends. This is the result of believing the mistake Glenn Beck and others are making with an alarming increase in frequency, in that they claim that President Barack Obama is' [...] 
One of the purposes of existence is to serve one another so that we might become equal. This is the essence of the free market, as well as of the "Invisible Hand" of which the great economist Adam Smith wrote. Yet despite what free market principles [...] 
History demonstrates that climate change is related to a variety of things, of which all the CO2 in the world is a very minuscule contributor. So says a real scientist, Ian Plimer. Real science is unrelated to politics. Unlike perhaps any other clearly observable phenomenon, the [...] 
Might the leaders of Western countries have known just how damaging World War I would be to Christianity, to Islam, to the West, and to the Middle East? Sadly, the Great War was fought for nothing but irrepressible pride. In retrospect, it is probable to imagine [...] 
I agree with President Obama--health care in the United States is in desperate need of fixing. I even agree with some of his proposed solutions. But a national health care/insurance scheme would be a debacle. The federal government currently has the grubby paws of minutiae tightly [...] 
If you want to help someone buy a new car that gets much better gas mileage than the clunker they currently own, write them a check. But don't steal my money under the false impression that government can do a better job of solving problems than' [...] 
Despite the fondest wishes of Franklin D. Roosevelt's cheerleading "historians", FDR made America's economic situation substantially worse. Not even World War II could bring a halt to the Great Depression. Ironically, FDR's policies prolonged the Depression, and it was actually his death near the end of [...] 
Based on my unscientific observation, it seems that very few Mormons believe that people have much effect on the warming of earth. Does this mean that most Mormons have their heads in the sand? Does it make our Church look a bit hickish?
Do you have a friend or family member for which nearly everything seems to be a crisis? Isn't it annoying? Doesn't it eventually become depressing? Have you noticed that almost none of these "crises" really is that big of a deal?
Every function of the Federal Reserve can be accomplished without a Federal Reserve. Why then, do we have one? For precisely one reason. To enrich the few at the expense of the many.
Are you of the opinion that the rich are getting richer at the expense of the poor, because government has given them too many breaks on their income taxes? Or are you of the point of view that it is immoral for government to given Earned [...] 
A recent article on USA Today asks: Could We Be Wrong About Global Warming? The answer? It depends on the meaning of the word "we".
Democrats are very quick to accuse Republicans of the sort of deregulation that creates crises on Wall Street. They're correct. However, Democrats themselves have been guilty of the same immoral sorts of deregulation. It was the Bill Clinton administration that made it possible for some Wall' [...] 
What's worse, having a government bureaucrat between you and proper health care, or having a corporate bureaucrat? When health insurance companies' allegiances shift away from people who need health care and toward pleasing their investors, you get the kinds of runaway health care costs that we' [...] 
While Orrin Hatch is busy being worried about the unfairness of college football's Bowl Championship Series, Wall Street poster child Goldman Sachs has admitted that special "program trading" software that allowed it to manipulate the financial markets has been stolen, which is ironically proof that Goldman [...] 
How was your 4th of July? I'm sure you regularly attend some sort of patriotic service on the 4th of July. I do, too. This time, though, I celebrated with my family in a different way. While traveling home from Canada, it was gratifying to make' [...] 
Those who subscribe to the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes believe that it is the "animal spirits" that reside in people that cause economic manias and panics. They're partly right. Classical economists believe that government mismanagement causes them. They're right, too. It's not hard to [...] 
If you thought that America's foreign policy outlook would improve with the election of Barack Obama, you thought wrong. Part of the problem, being residual blowback from previous American sins, is, admittedly, not Obama's fault. But a great deal of it is. 
America's foreign policy toward Iran should be to apologize. Had the United States not meddled in Iranian domestic policy, Iran would hardly be the boiling cauldron that it is today, where secret police and military thugs kill hundreds and arrest thousands of their protesting countrymen. The [...] 
Sometimes I wish that fewer people would vote in elections. (Actually, I just wish they would become a little bit more informed before they cast their votes.) We have had some great choices in recent elections. Unfortunately, though, it's nothing new that most Americans are content [...] 
I had to listen to Glenn Beck's monologue a couple of times today about the discussion between President Obama and Nico Pitney of The Huffington post. And I still didn't get what Beck was so inflamed about. Perhaps Beck ought to be paying more attention to' [...] 
In Farsi, Neda means "voice". The accidental "voice" of the New Iranian Revolution has also become its first martyr. The murder of Neda Agha Soltan has become the nourishment needed for the blossoming of freedom in Iran. Millions of Iranians, now honoring her innocent memory, will [...] 
For many years I have admired the passion of the Iranian people. Regardless of having lived for decades beneath the damning hand of dictatorship, they still have not lost their innate yearning for freedom. If only Americans could be as passionate about liberty as the Iranians [...] 
At the recent convention of the Western Governors' Association, Nick Bridge, British counselor for global issues, stated that the earnestness of global warming is like "driving towards a cliff at high speed and [you] have a 30 percent chance of brake failure. Would you get in'" [...] 
The man who committed murder at the Holocaust Museum yesterday is being deadpanned by hordes as a "right-wing extremist". The murderer was certainly an extremist, as, blessedly, these things are the exception rather than the rule. But the murderer was far from being "right-wing". Defining "Left" [...] 
For the first 5,000 years of man's existence on earth, very little advancement was made in things technological. In the two centuries following the pilgrims' arrival on America's shores, technological innovation became unprecedented. In the two hundred or so years since, advances in technology have been' [...] 
If the United States cared to pay attention to great examples of crappy foreign policy, it could have easily noticed what hell Belgium wrought in Rwanda during most of the 20th century. Belgian intrigue paved the way for the hatred, persecutions, and massacres that followed their [...] 
Ironically, especially for those who have not been keeping score, liberal Democrat administrations committed the United States to every major conflict in the 20th century except one. That one exception, George H.W. Bush's foray into Iraq, along with his son's clean up project to kick off [...] 
The one good thing about the government's takeover of General Motors is that they won't have to change their logo very much. In fact, I've already fixed it for them. (see image, right). Governmental Motors has a short-term advantage in the auto market, but that will' [...] 
Beginning in late 2008, the RAND corporation began lobbying for war in an effort to jump-start the moribund American economy. In an apparent effort to provide more fodder for that cannon, globalist extraordinaire Newt Gingrich warned recently that our next ticking time bomb scenario is likely [...] 
Should judges make law? Do judges make law? Barack Obama's first appointment to the Supreme Court says yes to both. Does that make for an activist judge? It depends on who you ask.
In just over 100 days, President Barack Obama, once thought by many to be the man to right the wrongs of the Bush Administration, has now out-bushed Bush and out-cheneyed Cheney. In a speech given last Thursday, President Obama unveiled a brand new approach to the [...] 
Both the U.S. and Japan have gigantic social welfare programs. Japan's program is just about as costly as ours, but it works much better, and Japan's crime rate is much lower than that of the United States. Why has Japan's welfare program has worked so much' [...] 
The California Supreme court is scheduled to decide on Tuesday whether the recently approved Proposition 8 was done legally or not. In the run-up to the decision, Prop 8 taunting is in high gear--most of it vilely and hatefully against the new law. In March the [...] 
Socialism doesn't work, no matter by whom it is tried. Life would be so much simpler if the rest of the architects of social doom would get this into their thick heads. California is the latest unfortunate example of social experimentation gone awry. It looks, perhaps' [...] 
There is at least one worldwide organization which, although many of its members are also members of the mass media, prohibits discussion in public of anything that goes on inside its closed-door meetings. It meets annually. You've probably never heard of it, but it's important that [...] 
It's been quite a while (a few years, probably) since we have gotten any "tantalizing" credit card offers in the mail. I thought it was just because we had ignored them all, but a friend of mine ignores them all, too, and his family still gets' [...] 
The recent stress tests conducted on America's largest banks is a brazen attempt to convince us that our economic situation is not nearly as bad as it really is. Of particular note is the fact that the Federal Reserve has not accounted for nine trillion extra' [...] 
President Barack Obama's first budget proposal is a travesty. His first deficit is projected to be $1.8 trillion. The numbers could be worse except for potential nickel-and-diming of American servicemen and women. "Option 96" in the current Health Care budget proposal would reduce the cost to' [...] 
"Dad, the more I study American history, I can't figure out why America has not been more isolationist," my daughter, exasperated, exclaimed to me yesterday. She cited as examples of baffling U.S. perfidy the Korean and Vietnam wars. I could only say to her that I' [...] 
The Taliban is moving gradually, but consistently from Afghanistan into Pakistan. President Obama and the U.S. Defense Department are poised to do something about it. Unfortunately, the United States is already to blame for the Taliban surge. U.S. foreign policy has an uncanny way of backfiring; [...] 
Gold - Not every automaker needs a bailout. Ford is doing just fine without fascism, thank you.
There exists a surprisingly large number of Christians, including a lot of Mormons, who think that the modern nation of Israel was created by an act of God. I happen to think that it was created by intrigue, something with which God does not involve himself. [...] 
I just did a check on about ten different national news sites. Not one of them any longer has anything about the torture memos on its front page. Rather, the top item on the list is now swine flu hysteria. Swine flu is affecting thousands, but [...] 
KNRS 570 radio talk show host Bob Lonsberry advocated waterboarding and other forms of torture during his show on April 21, 2009. More grotesquely, he was beaming with pride about his advocacy campaign. It's difficult to imagine then, that, by the same rationale, had Lonsberry been' [...] 
I applaud the Obama Administration's recent release of torture memos that were the primary legacy of the Bush administration. The release of the memos rings hollow, however, since Obama indicated that no further investigation would occur into the matter, let alone any punishment being meted out' [...] 
In 1996, the number of LDS converts was just over 321,000. In 2004, 80,000 fewer people were converted to the Church. I was surprised to learn that in 2008, the numbers were only about 265,000--still a far cry from the trends of previous decades. What gives? [...] 
Why are pirates attacking ships off the coast of Somalia? Because it's very profitable! You'll be surprised just how profitable. This got me wondering...is profitability the same reason that most bankers want to be bankers?
I've already documented how Obama is still using mercenaries, just like the Bush administration. I documented how Obama hires the same Establishment schmucks for his administration and how he's equally in bed with Wall Street as Bush was.
How I wish that mercenary armies had been just an aberration of the Bush/Cheney Administration. It would have convinced me that Barack Obama had at least some sort of significant change that I could believe in. But instead of my predictions being wrong, [...] 
If I had been the one to make the mistake, I would have been mortified. But if I'd been a member of the LDS First Presidency or the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, I'd have laughed about it. I haven't heard anything about their reactions yet, but' [...] 
I predicted that someone from South or Central America--a hispanic--would be the next member of the Quorum of 12 Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Instead, it was Neil L. Andersen, another caucasian Brigham Young University graduate. Some people have intimated [...] 
On March 28th, the LDS Church participated in Earth Hour by dimming the lights of the Salt Lake temple for one hour. On April 2nd, church leaders met with globalist global warming crusader Al Gore. Rumor has it that the LDS church leadership will make a [...] 
Mormons, if they really looked, could find more areas where practices of the Republican party clash with their faith than do those of the Democrat party. The self-righteous arrogance of Utah Mormon Republicans, then, is much more than ironic. In some ways Utah Mormon Democrats are [...] 
According to Establishment cheerleaders and evangelists, the housing crisis is now over. It conjures in my mind an accident scene: "C'mon people. Keep moving. There's nothing to see here." Hmmmm...
I've just become a fan and a participant in "tweeting" on Twitter.com. That's why I found the following cartoon so elegantly funny. If he tweeted, what would Barack Obama's twitter log look like?
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People are like seagulls in one important way: when things are done for them that they should be doing for themselves, they not only come to depend on the aid, but they gradually forget how to support themselves at all. Government, in an attempt to be [...] 
While Congress has been putting on a live theater show about how "concerned" they are that some AIG executives got several million dollars in bonuses, you're not being allowed to find out that people in higher places than that have stolen thousands of times as much' [...] 
Newsweek's cover story from its February 16, 2009 issue declares smugly that "We Are All Socialists Now." I'm sure at some point along the way they also declared that a consensus exists that man is causing irreversible global warming.
Have you filled out your March Madness tournament picks yet? I have, under the name of one of my all-time heroes--Ben Bernanke. Even though I work for BYU, I picked BYU to win one game. But there is one reputable group that picks BYU to make [...] 
FDR was probably sincere when he expressed his desire to help "The Forgotten Man"--the everyday American. The policies of his administration, however, had the opposite effect. Not only did high wages keep many individual Americans out of work, the draconian rules of the National Recovery Act [...] 
Here's part two of your basic economics quiz. The five questions below deal with inflation and deflation. When you come out on the other end, you might find that your definitions of these terms have changed.
How much do you know about free market economics? After reading the answers to the following quiz, you might be surprised at how simple the answers are to what you may have thought were complex economic questions. If the questions have heretofore seemed complicated, chances are [...] 
Hopefully there'll someday be a consensus on global warming. Right now there is nothing of the sort, despite the fact that a vocal minority claims that there is a consensus that man is causing the bulk of global warming. If, ultimately, we can get enough honest' [...] 
No they didn’t really break out of the state pen. But those who support an amendment to the Utah Constitution to allow the legislature to limit the number of appeals of death row inmates are apparently afraid that such an event is likely to occur. There [...] 
Utah has, for the last several years, been one of the best fiscally managed states in the country. Accepting $1.7 billion of federal money to help fix what Utah has done a masterful job of taking care of on its own would precipitate a financial catastrophe. [...] 
On April 29, 2007, a bridge on Interstate 580 in Oakland, California collapsed after one of its supports was hit by a fuel tanker truck. Under the "give me a call and we'll take care of it" form of government that Barack Obama seems intent on' [...] 
A racist comment about a black baby. A crusade in favor of a Christmas KGB. You probably recognize those faux pas positions as being held by Utah State Senator Chris Buttars. It couldn't possibly get any worse...could it?
You might not have heard of Adam Smith's Invisible Hand theory. That's okay. Of those who have heard of it, though, a fair number of them belittle the Invisible Hand, a metaphor for the process which is supposed to guide a free market economy to generally [...] 
From 4% of GDP at the turn of the 20th Century, now government controls 33% of the U.S. Gross domestic product--up from 25% just a year ago.
Advertisers constantly attempt to manipulate consumers into wanting--and therefore buying--the advertisers' products. That often doesn't work, so, more and more, advertisers have turned to manipulating our children. This is the essence of the scientifically proven and continually refined process known as "The Nag Factor". Have you [...] 
Republicans are crying foul that the Democrat leadership in Congress forced blitzkrieg votes on the second most stupid economic stimulus plan in world history yesterday. They have short memories. It was their leadership only four months ago that was advocating the most stupid economic stimulus plan [...] 
It all depends on what you mean by the term "civil union". I fully support the existing Utah Marriage Amendment to the constitution, as well, which doesn't allow marriage of same-sex persons or anything like unto it. It appears that that's the same thing that Utah [...] 
The biggest mistake I made during the 2000 election was to not notice what was going on in Florida, because to me by that point it didn't matter. Since I felt there's wasn't a toilet-paper square's worth of difference between Bush and Gore, I spent time [...] 
Even today, students of Karl Marx seem to be enthralled by his supposed wisdom. Jesus Christ taught that "by their fruits ye shall know them." The fruits of Karl Marx were dark and hateful. As we learn more about the demonic life of Karl Marx, it [...] 
I oppose homosexual marriage because of its effect on children. Some people seem to be opposed to a lot more things that I think homosexuals should be allowed to do. They seem to be afraid of giving an inch, but having a mile taken from them. [...] 
You've got to hand it to Orrin Hatch. In a day when our economy is in a shambles because of greed in the highest places of government and corporationdom, and in a day when international respect for the United States is at an all-time low because' [...] 
No wonder President Obama's administration members are warning that the economic recovery is several months away. He's doing nothing different than George W. Bush did when his attempts at economic recovery failed. 
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