The Press-Dispatch

The Press-Dispatch D-3 Wednesday, October 12, 2022 OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg The Thomas' are American patriots Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his political activist wife, Ginni, are a high-profile Washington conservative power couple. Power couples are a common Wash- ington phenomenon. Each spouse wields political power and influence in a certain arena. Together they concen- trate power and influence. Per Public Citizen, of the 115th Con- gress, 59 % of retiring congressmen re- mained in Washington, taking jobs as lobbyists or in consulting firms, trade groups or business groups, working to influence government. So, we have power couples that are in office, that were in office — congress- men and ex-congressmen, federal reg- ulators and former regulators, lawyers, etc. But there is something very different about the Thomases. Washington pow- er couples are about money, power and influence. But the Thomases are about principles. "America is in a vicious battle for its founding principles," says Ginni Thom- as. Really, if the Thomases are success- ful in their struggle to restore Amer- ica's founding principles, the result is less power and influence peddling because the result is much less gov- ernment. Those who are concerned about influence peddling in Washing- ton should enthusiastically support the principles that Judge Thomas and his wife, Ginni, stand for. It is exactly what the founders of the country had in mind. Limit influence peddling and cor- ruption by limiting the size and scope of government. In 1900, total take of government from the U.S. economy was 7.8 % . In 2020, this was up to 43.3% . Those on the left who are so critical of Judge Thomas and Ginni Thomas are also those who support the vast expan- sion of government that we have expe- rienced and struggle with today. This wholesale expansion of government is exactly what the founders did not want for the very reasons we see today. What about those who argue that Justice Thomas should recuse himself from cases in which his wife has been politically active? The rules for recusal, as I understand them, are far from black and white. It is very much a subjective decision on the part of the judge to recuse himself/ herself. A key issue is it that it is forbidden for a judge to discuss a pending case with a third party. Ginni Thomas categorical- ly rejected that such discussions ever occur between her and her husband in her recent voluntary testimony before the House Select Committee on Jan. 6. "I can guarantee that my husband has never spoken with me about pend- ing cases at the Court," she told the committee. "It is an iron clad rule in our home." But perhaps most importantly, Thomas noted "It is laughable for any- one who knows my husband to think I could influence his jurisprudence — the man is independent and stubborn, with strong character traits of indepen- dence and integrity." It should be clear to anyone who has followed Judge Thomas over the years that this is true. He is a man of deep principle who loves America and is very serious and committed in his Christian faith. Bottom line on the whole thing is that Judge Thomas and his activist wife are the solutions we need, not the problem. We are getting the problem from big-government leftists who view Judge Thomas and his wife with such animosity. We should also give Ginni Thomas credit for her activism for American principles. It is ironic the criticism she gets from the left, from the feminists, who pretend to be advocates of strong and independent women. This is exact- ly what Ginni Thomas is. She should be the role model for the left, for profes- sional women and young women who aspire to be professional. We keep the country free, per the founders, by limiting government. The source for guidelines for ethical behavior is in the very Christian prin- ciples that the left has worked so hard to purge from our nation. This is exactly what Judge Clarence Thomas and Ginni Thomas bring to the table, for the benefit of all of us. Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show "Cure America with Star Parker." Race for the Cure By Star Parker Give Me a Break By John Stossel Hurricane myths In just the last few weeks, Liz Truss, Britain's new prime minis- ter, has been denounced by critics as a "fascist." So has Giorgia Melo- ni, Italy's newly elected prime min- ister. Along with all Republicans in Congress, Texas and Florida GOP Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSan- tis and, of course, former President Donald Trump. Every one of the tens of thou- sands of "MAGA Republicans" who attend Trump rallies, too. Danger- ous fascists, for that matter, all of whom critics say need to be shut up. Truss is a fascist because she wants to cut taxes. Meloni is a fascist, and getting banned from several social media platforms, because she gave a rousing speech endorsing God, family and country. What a danger- ous tyrant. Republicans in Congress are fas- cists because they support work for welfare and are trying to block the Green New Deal. Hillary Clinton said after a recent Trump rally in Ohio, "I remember as a young student...I'd watch news- reels and I'd see this guy standing up there ranting and raving, and people shouting and raising their arms." Trump's defeated 2016 Democrat- ic presidential rival was referring to Hitler. "You saw the rally in Ohio the other night," added Clinton, the for- mer first lady, senator and secretary of state. "Trump is there ranting and raving for more than an hour, and you have these rows of young men with their arms raised." She didn't quite say it, but the implied message was clear: These crazy Trump sup- porters wanted to say, "Heil Hitler." At least President Joe Biden doesn't call his political adversar- ies fascists. They are only "semifascists." What a relief. Aren't these the same peo- ple who have urged raising the level of civil discourse? Wasn't Biden sup- posed to "unify" the country with Trump out of the picture? What is so infuri- ating about these slurs is that the Left doesn't even understand what a fascist is. According to the Merri- am-Webster dictionary, fascism is "a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government." The Britannica Dic- tionary defines fascism as "a way of organizing a society in which a gov- ernment ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government." Let all that sink in for a minute. Who are the fascists here? A gov- ernment that "controls the lives of the people." Let's see - - we have a group of politicians who shut down schools, businesses, restaurants and churches during COVID-19. A government that is now telling us what kind of light bulbs we can put in our homes, what temperature we can set our thermostat in our liv- ing rooms, what kind of car we can buy and what kind of drugs we need to be inserted into our arms. Who is the leader who is vastly super- sizing our centralized government? Biden and congressional Democrats have al- ready spent $4 tril- lion expanding near- ly all the power struc- tures of government in Washington. If this isn't fascistic, what is? But here's the rub. The defini- tion of "fascism" has gradually been evolving over time. Nowadays, ac- cording to the Collins Dictionary, fascism "is a set of right-wing po- litical beliefs that includes strong controls of society and the econo- my by the state" (emphasis added). By this definition, leftists can't be accused of being fascists because they want to use government for vir- tuous ends, while the Right wants to use government to further en- rich the rich, spread racism and de- ny science. What we have here is a clinical case of "projecting." Democrats and other leftist parties around the world accuse the Right of wanting to expand government powers when that is precisely the overriding ob- jective of the modern-day Ameri- can Left. It is prototypically fascistic. Ele- vate race and skin color into the pub- lic debate. Trample civil liberties. Squash those who disagree with the reigning government. Partner up Big Government with Big Busi- ness and micromanage the econo- my through dictates from the cen- tral planners. Put your political enemies in handcuffs and jail without a trial. Trample over the traditional guard- rails that were installed to protect liberty – by changing voting rules, ending the 60 -vote filibuster in the Senate and discrediting and trying to pack the Supreme Court. Declare everything, including COVID-19 and climate change, an existential threat to justify more power to the politicians. So what is a fascist really? The Left says it is anyone who oppos- es what they want to do to expand government. But the real definition of a fascist is a leader who wants to exploit governmental power to sup- press the basic liberties of individ- uals. It is the partnership of govern- ment and private industry for polit- ical power and monetary gain. To find it in modern-day America, the folks at the White House may want to look in the mirror. Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and an economist with FreedomWorks. His latest book is "Govzilla: How the Re- lentless Growth of Government is De- vouring our Economy." Eye on the Economy By Stephen Moore Who are the neofascists? Hurricane Ian is gone, but the me- dia's myths about hurricanes live on. Reporters say the federal govern- ment must direct disaster response, as if only the feds have the knowl- edge and money to do it. "Debate is already growing about how big federal aid must be," says CNN. Why?! Don't they know that gov- ernment has no money of its own? That everything federal bureaucrats spend is taken from the rest of us? They don't think about that. Federal "disaster relief" is doled out after storms because, as a New York Times headline put it, "A Big Storm Requires Big Government." But it doesn't. My video this week debunks four myths about hurricanes. Myth No. 1: We need the Feder- al Emergency Management Agen- cy for disaster relief. That's just dumb, given FEMA's history of incompetence. FEMA once spent millions on bot- tled water and expensive trailers for housing. Then they just left them on an airfield. Matt Mayer worked at the Depart- ment of Homeland Security during Hurricane Katrina. He says the fed- eral government was just too bureau- cratic to be much help. "States, locals, communities, neighbors" just do a much better job, Mayer told me. FEMA fails because, like all gov- ernment bureaucracies, there's no incentive to spend ef- ficiently. Charities are more flexible, and "they've been doing it for 200 years." Right now in Florida, while some people wait for FEMA, religious charities help people rebuild. Myth No. 2: Govern- ment must stop greedy businesses from abus- ing customers. Some businesses do raise prices when storms approach. Politicians call that "illegal price gouging." This is just dumb, if not cruel. When storms approach, people rush to buy supplies. If stores don't raise prices, people buy anything they might possibly need, and prob- ably some stuff they won't need. The first shoppers buy extra bottled wa- ter, generators, sandbags, etc. Stores sell out, so only the quick- est customers get what they need. But if stores raise prices for items in demand, fewer people hoard, and more people get what they need. Yes, it's tough on poorer people, but the price boosts give stores extra incen- tive to restock. Prices quickly come back down. Banning price increases harms more people. A fter Hurricane Katrina, when John Shepperson learned that parts of Mississippi lost pow- er, he bought 19 gen- erators, left the safety of his home and drove 600 miles to the disas- ter area. He offered to sell his generators for twice what he paid for them. People were ea- ger to buy. But Mississippi po- lice called that "goug- ing." They jailed Shep- person and confiscated his generators. I bet the cops used the generators themselves. What the law calls "gouging" is just supply and demand. It saves lives. Myth No. 3: Hurricanes are get- ting worse. The media say, "Storms are get- ting worse because of human caused climate change! " Are these "climate experts" sure it's "human-caused"? All of it? Never mind. When I showed video of report- ers talking about hurricanes get- ting stronger to the late climatolo- gist Pat Michaels, he shouted, "No, they aren't! Look at all the hurri- canes around the planet. We can see them since 1970 because we've got global satellite coverage. We can measure their power ... There is no significant increase." There isn't. Even our government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration admits, "There is no strong evidence of century-scale increasing trends in U.S. ... major hurricanes." There may be evidence in the future. But there isn't now. That doesn't stop media fools from say- ing there is. Myth No. 4: America must have government flood insurance. A fter all, private flood insurance costs "too much." But private insurers charge more for good reason: Homes in flood zones are more likely to flood. That's why federal flood insurance is a scam and a handout that rips off taxpayers. I should know. I once built a house near the ocean. It was a stupid idea. The ocean was a stone's throw away. Private insurers wanted fat premi- ums. I couldn't afford that. I wouldn't have built had I not discovered cheap government insurance. Thanks, Un- cle Sam! Ten years later, my house washed away. It was upsetting, but I didn't lose money. You covered my loss. I won't do it again, but others will. Until we learn the myths about government "help," we'll keep mak- ing the same costly mistakes.

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