Tom Skypek

Does Eric Cantor Want a Third Party?

The Republican Party doesn’t want the Tea Party movement to spin off and form its own political party.  At the presidential level, this would be a disaster, at least in the near-term.  However, this is becoming an increasingly greater possibility as elected Republicans in the 112th Congress shrink from their responsibilities, as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor recently did when he, along with 91 other Republicans, voted against the Jordan amendment to cut $100 billion in federal spending. 

$100 billion is a drop in the bucket.  We have no money.  I thought the message of the November 2010 elections was crystal clear:  cut federal spending.  This message seems lost on many in GOP leadership positions.  What we expect are deep cuts and bold proposals.  Rand Paul…

Cantor and 91 Other House Republicans Cower from Spending Cuts

As Adam Bitely from NetRightDaily.com reported, 92 House Republicans voted against Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s amendment to the Continuing Resolution which would have cut nearly $100 billion in spending.  Among those voting against the spending cuts were House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.  The real conservatives in Republican leadership positions, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and Republican Caucus Chairman Jeb Hensarling, voted in favor of the amendment.

Either you’re serious about cutting spending or you’re not.  Despite his tough talk, Cantor let down the voters of Virginia.  We have no money.  We’re broke.  This isn’t the first time that Cantor has failed voters.  In 2009, Cantor and 84 other Republicans voted to support the unconstitutional AIG bonus tax.  These…

The Tea Party Movement Must Stand with Governor Walker

Like the federal government and much of the rest of the country, Wisconsin is broke.  As such, Governor Scott Walker has courageously asked public employees to make a 5.8% contribution to their pensions, which is roughly equal to the national average.  He’s also asked them to pay 12.6% of their health insurance costs, which is about half the national average.  These are hardly unreasonable requests considering that most Americans are paying much more out of their own pockets.  At a time when most Americans are tightening their family budgets these unions expect a free ride when it comes to health care and retirement savings.  Governor Walker stands in stark contrast to Barack Obama who has passed up every opportunity to cut the deficit and…

Book Giveaway and Review: “The Dollar Meltdown” by Charles Goyette

The Dollar Meltdown:  Surviving the Impending Currency Crisis with Gold, Oil, and Other Unconventional Investments

by Charles Goyette

Charles Goyette has made an important contribution to the conservative and investment literature by distilling complicated economic and financial matters into an easily digestible volume.  This is a must-read for conservatives and personal investors in search of a better understanding of a host of economic and financial topics including:  the federal bailouts, the national debt, monetary policy and the Federal Reserve, inflation, and the role of gold in currency valuation throughout history.

The author’s thesis is simple:  America’s massive national debt, coupled with reckless intrusions by government regulators,…

Put the Students First: Fire the Striking Teachers

From the Editors at Investor’s Business Daily:

Labor: Unionized Wisconsin teachers should be ashamed of their response to legislation that would end their privilege to bargain collectively. And if such lousy behavior continues, they should be relieved of their duties.

The Wisconsin government is in a financial hole, operating with a $137 million deficit for the current fiscal year ending June 30. Its future is filled with bigger deficits, projected to be as large as $3.6 billion.

One way to cut into the shortfall is to end the public employee unions’ collective bargaining privilege that has landed them the generous salaries and benefits the taxpayers are struggling to pay.

Doing what voters elected him to do, new Republican Gov. Scott Walker introduced a…

Conservatives Shouldn’t Fear Cuts to Defense Budget

Social Security may be the third rail of American politics, but the defense budget is at least worthy of notable mention.  In fact, the defense budget is arguably the most politically sensitive budget item after entitlement spending.  Conservatives and Republicans, who have enjoyed an advantage over their liberal counterparts on national security issues since Vietnam, too often associate a “strong national defense” simply with increases in defense spending—without considering the expenditures in the context of broader U.S. grand strategy.  Many conservatives and Republicans are reluctant to propose cuts to the defense budget out of fear for appearing weak.  Many just lack any strategic sense and simply follow the big government internationalism crowd which includes both liberals and parts of the conservative movement.

Liberals and Democrats are split…

It’s the Oil, Stupid

To borrow a line from James Carville, it’s the oil, stupid.  Much of the commentary on the Egyptian uprising has failed to address the underlying strategic issue for United States foreign policy:  our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.  It is our continued dependence on Middle Eastern crude oil that compels Washington to remain deeply engaged in a region which, according to poll after poll, is rabidly anti-American.

Relative to other states in the region, Egypt is not a major oil exporter.  But Egypt has been a stable ally of the U.S. in a turbulent region for the last thirty years.  Egypt fought alongside U.S. forces during the Gulf War and has honored its peace treaty with Israel, thus preventing another major…

In Defense of Mitch Daniels

God Bless them both but Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are dead wrong on Governor Mitch Daniels.  I’ve listened to Rush for almost a decade and Levin for several years now, and I enjoy them both but their commentary on the Indiana governor is counterproductive for conservatives and is based more on a knee-jerk reflex than an evidentiary claims.  What is more, they’ve lost sight of the critical question for conservatives as we approach the 2012 presidential election:  who is the most conservative candidate with the most viable path to 270?

For whatever reason, the talk radio giants have elected to mischaracterize Mitch Daniels’s record when it comes to the “social issues,” seizing on Daniels’s “truce” comment from last year.  Sound bites aside, as Indiana blogger Josh Gillespie…

Obama’s Reckless $3.73 Trillion Budget

Today President Obama submitted his FY2012 budget to Congress and the numbers are staggering.  The president had a real opportunity to provide leadership and make good on his promise to begin to address America’s fiscal crisis.  But for all the president’s talk of fiscal responsibility and a renewed commitment to deficit reduction, the proposed budgets lacks any meaningful cuts, though the White House purports that it will cut the budget by $1.1 trillion over the next decade.  This figure assumes very optimistic rates of growth for the economy–rates of growth most serious economists would refute.  According to Bloomberg News, “The deficit for the current fiscal year is forecast to hit a record $1.6 trillion — 10.9 percent of gross domestic product –…

Why Sarah Palin Can’t Win the Presidency

I’m going to catch some slack from my conservative brethren for writing this, but I don’t believe that Sarah Palin can win the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency.  If you’re trying to analyze objectively a candidate’s presidential prospects, you need to think in terms of electoral votes.  More specifically, ask yourself, “Which states does the candidate need to win in order to get to the magic number of 270?”  But Sarah Palin isn’t the only potential candidate who would have trouble getting to 270.  Like Palin, conservative favorites Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul don’t seem to have a viable path to 270, either.  To beat Obama we will need to win a number of independent voters and both Palin and Gingrich…