This column by Thomas Sowell is something all Americans should read. Not just because it is right on point about how tax rates often act in reverse of tax revenue, but because he enlightens the reader on how politicians use tragedies to their pork barreling benefit. There is more than enough money to go around for infrastructure upkeep and when the Federal money runs out then State and Local governments should be there to fill in the rest. Local option sales taxes are used very often by Local governments for road improvement projects. No citizen of a town would, in their right mind, object to a temporary increase in sales tax in order to pay for infrastructure repairs.

The problem with raising taxes at the Federal level for infrastructure repairs is that there are too many "hands in the cookie jar" and they will take and take for their pet projects until none is left for the serious needs. Local governments know that if they neglect important projects for pet projects that the local community will vote them out and find leaders who will perform their duties. Its all about accountability, Local governments are held accountable much more easily than the Federal government. Unfortunately, the Left has told the lie long enough that the federal government can solve all problems if properly funded. Sadly, many buy into this ridiculously flawed thinking. 

The more I read from Fred Thompson, the more I like what I read. His thoughts on federalism are especially good. It will be interesting to see what happens when he gets into the Presidential race. He is much closer to a true conservative than anyone else in the race and from what the Iowa Straw Poll showed us, Republicans are rather underwhelmed by the current field. Which is not surprising when you consider the frontrunners are two Northeasterners from Liberal states along with a maverick Senator who betrayed the party base on campaign finance and tried to do it again on immigration. Thompson's only competition for the "Conservative" mantle would be Mike Huckabee who, while finishing strong in Iowa, lacks the name recognition and charisma of Thompson.

I like Huckabee and if I felt he could win nationally I'd support him, but Republicans have to be very smart about who runs for President in 08. It is completely obvious that the base HAS to be excited by the candidate to come out and vote. In 06, the base was fed up with corruption and reckless spending and they stayed away from the polls. The base has yet to really come out of that funk, but nominating a strong conservative candidate would really entice them to vote. Thompson will entice the base. A Guiliani or Romney will not be as captivating due to their flip-flopping and out of touch positions on core issues.

Additionally, I don't believe Republicans can bet on the base being motivated to keep Hillary Clinton from being elected as a reason to nominate a Guiliani or Romney. The base voters excitement could also depend on who Guiliani or Romney would choose as a VP. If they chose a young, strong conservative that could make base voters look into the future and see a chance to get the presidency into strong conservative hands eventually. Mike Pence Congressman from Indiana, JC Watts former Congressman from Oklahoma, Steve Largent, etc. would provide a lot of conservative credibility to a Guiliani or Romney campaign. Even Mike Huckabee as a VP candidate would be a conservative boost for Guiliani and Romney. I still believe, once Fred Thompson shows he's serious about the campaign and he jumps in, he will be the candidate for the conservative base. Once he gets that moniker he will overcome any lead Guiliani presently has in polls.

This article breaks down the 9/11 commission report according to what it means in terms of the Iraq situation. Using the reports language, Michael O'Shea shows us the importance of finishing the job in Iraq. He goes after the Democrats using the very language which they so vigorously fought to pass through Congress and even made it a campaign promise. Seeing this, you really get a sense of the utter hypocrisy and flip-floppedness (I don't care if thats really a word or not, haha) of the Democrats in regards to the War on Terror. Its not just terrorism, either, its all issues. The Democrats will finagle any position they have on an issue to make it "appear" they want what the mainstream of America wants, when in fact they do not. Unfortunately, that philosophy by the Democrats has worked many times.  

American Thinker which is a great site for Conservative commentary and thought has an interesting article about how the MSM believes the Stock Market drop on Friday was such a huge story yet when the market rebounded at the same level as it fell Friday that wasn't much of a story at all. The man I hope gets into the Republican Presidential race soon, Fred Thompson, has a very good column on Townhall.com (another good site) about the untold story of economicsuccess we have had over the last 4 years in America.

I saw a segment of the CBS Early Show or whatever its called and it had "The Purveyor of Pessimism" as I now call him, Lou Dobbs, on there doing a commentary on the putrid state of our economy. Unfortunately, Lou is so caught up in becoming a Populist Icon that he forgets what it means to live in reality. I know, I know, the subprime market is going into the toilet and we're racking up huge debts on credit cards, but what have we learned about the economy in this Country over and over again. What goes up must come down. The market sometimes overextends and has to correct itself. (I only took two ECON classes in College, yet I know this). The goal is to keep those down periods short and the up periods long. The U.S. has had a very long uptick in the housing market and some overconfidence in that market caused some lenders to lose all sense of smart business practices and lend out money to people who really had no business borrowing as much money as they were borrowing. Due to that we're seeing the beginning of the market correcting itself as it always does. It would really help if the FED Reserve would lower interest rates, but they neglected to do that today so we're stuck for a while longer with higher rates. I wish I had the Capital to do some real estate investing in the next year because there are going to be a lot of cheap houses on the market soon. The market will come back and maybe be even better than what we've seen the last several years, so there is absolutely no reason for people to freak out over a market correction.