By John Andrews
Will the USA be around to celebrate 2076? Or will America’s goodness and glory be but a sad memory to our grandchildren? Historians warn that great nations undo themselves with moral and fiscal laxity after about 250 years. My new book, Responsibility Reborn: A Citizen’s Guide to the Next American Century, looks at our chances (more…)
By Pamela Zuker
On the night of November 9, 1938, Nazis unleashed unimaginable violence on the Jews of Germany. The wave of atrocities became known as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Adolf Hitler, in one of his frequent cynical attempts to cloak pagan barbarism with Christian respectability, declared that the horrors were inflicted (more…)
John Andrews writes: My comrade-in-arms Kevin Miller, the former CCU business dean who is now a Centennial Institute Fellow, has brought out a book-length treatment of his landmark essay on freedom and virtue
Remember Berlin
By Joe Gschwendtner
When Mamoru Shigemitsu, the Japanese foreign affairs minister, signed the surrender papers on board the USS Missouri in 1945, the drama of World War II drew to a close. The end of the war set the stage for another great play – one in Berlin where America would take center stage. Unlike the European continent, the United States emerged from the war physically strong, economically robust — and in a position of global leadership. As the sole owner of nuclear weapons, it would have been possible to dominate the defeated nations of Germany, Italy and Japan and destroy the malevolent Soviet Union. Instead, America harkened back to the spirit of Abraham Lincoln’s (more…)
By Tom Tancredo
Editor: We at Backbone America have had our concerns about whether former Rep. Tom Tancredo should have jumped in the recent Colorado gubernatorial race, and about how he then campaigned, and about his uncertain return to the Republican Party. But if such displays of backbone as this column are result of his stance (for now) as a friendly outsider to the GOP, we can only applaud. The piece first appeared on WorldNetDaily.com, Nov. 13, under the title, “Bipartisan games or downsizing government?” Well said, Tom!
Bipartisanship is greatly overrated as a formula for good government. Every major government boondoggle in recent memory was launched with bipartisan enthusiasm. Bipartisanship has its role in the day-to-day affairs of government. What separates genuine bipartisanship from bogus bipartisanship is one thing: honesty. (more…)
A 2010 Republican Survival Plan
By John Andrews
With reluctance, I will cast no vote for the office of Governor of Colorado in this year’s general election. The choices are so unsatisfactory that I cannot in good conscience put my moral weight behind any of them. When my fellow citizens have made their choice on Nov. 2, no matter who wins, our state will be looking at a seriously flawed claimant to head the executive branch for the next four years. I say this without personal disrespect to any of the candidates. And I am confident that our constitutionally resilient self-government will come through the next governor’s term all right, (more…)
By Tom Graham
Why is the FasTracks fiasco still with us, when the studies and reports of the regional and transportation districts themselves, the federal watchdog agency, and the advice of experienced transit experts say that bus rapid transit is superior to rail in every way? Following is the whole picture. Those who read and assimilate this analysis will have passed the definitive course on RTD and FasTracks. (more…)
One need not be Christian or Jewish to embrace America’s founding principles, but there is no denying that those principles are rooted in the Old and New Testaments. So it’s strange to see individuals or institutions that profess allegiance to the Bible but disallow its relevance to the way we govern ourselves. For those who say Scripture is authoritative, it should guide them not only in religion on Sundays, but also in politics, economics, and academics (more…)
By Jay Ambrose
(Scripps Howard Syndicate, June 13) Just maybe, possibly, conceivably we’ve come to a non-violent revolutionary moment in America, and here’s one reason I think so: A Denver area conference. Called the Western Conservative Summit 2010, it impressed me not just because of the recitation of principles to which I subscribe — individual liberty, limited government, constitutionalism, strength in the face of our enemies — but because of the mood conveyed by both the audience of some 600 and more than a dozen speakers. Their disposition struck me as cheerful, positive and informed more by an idea of mission than anger at the other side. (more…)
Denver conference to feature
Bachmann, Morris, Prager, Malkin
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-MN, one of the most fiery conservatives and sought-after speakers in the House, will address the opening dinner of Western Conservative Summit 2010 on Friday, July 9, in Denver, sponsors announced today. The Centennial Institute expects hundreds of activists from a dozen states to attend the weekend event at the Denver Marriott South, July 9-11. Tickets are just $150 (more…)
By John Andrews
Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which Obama, Holder, and Napolitano have harshly condemned without even reading it, merely authorizes the beleaguered state’s police and sheriffs to enforce federal immigration law in fully constitutional fashion. Anyone can ascertain this simple fact (more…)
By Peg Brady
(April 15) As I reached the already vast gathering at the Colorado State Capitol this morning, a speaker proclaimed, “Let freedom ring!” The crowd echoed his joyous words, 
(more…)
By Tom Graham
A Letter to Atty. Gen. John Suthers
Thank you for joining the attorneys general in 12 other states to challenge Obamacare on constitutional grounds. Although I don’t officially represent a group as spokesman, I can state that all of my many associates and friends believe that the health care bill is unconstitutional from a number of standpoints, especially the policy purchase requirement. (more…)
Thoughts on Lewis Sorley’s A Better War
By Bill Moloney
In the sixty-five years since the end of World War II the most significant and formative single event in American history- beyond any question- is the Vietnam War. It reshaped our domestic politics, foreign policy, military doctrines, and popular culture in ways that still resonate powerfully nearly two generations after it ended. The Vietnam War was waged not just in the rice paddies of Southeast Asia but also in the streets and campuses of the American homeland. It divided families and regions in a manner not seen since the Civil War. It shattered the Great American Consensus that was forged in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor (more…)
By John Andrews
“We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law.” So begins the Mount Vernon Statement, an important and timely declaration of principles issued on Feb. 17 by the heads of 16 major conservative organizations. Originating with intellectual leaders on the Right, rather than elected officials and candidates, the statement sets a baseline for thinking patriots in weighing the claims we’ll hear from politicians (more…)
