GOP Suicide: Amnesty Now, Gun Control Next, Gone in 2016
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
The origin of the quotation, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad” is ancient and unknown. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has Prometheus say the words in his poem, The Masque of Pandora. Because it has the meter and theme common to ancient Greek tragedies, it was once attributed to Euripides (480-406 BC). However, very similar quotations appear to be even more ancient. A common ancient variation attributes a man’s destruction to foolishness, especially in the sense of moral blindness, confused judgment, or willful rejection of self-evident truth. Several Biblical passages have this theme. Romans 1:22 says it plainest of all: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”
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Do You Really Know American History?
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Maryland, My Maryland!
Following the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter at Charleston on April 9, 1861, Lincoln ordered Governors of the remaining Union states to call up their state militias and supply an army of 75,000 to invade and subdue the seven Southern states that had seceded. While this was received enthusiastically in many Northern States, the Border States viewed this order as a tyranny they would not follow. Consequently, the border states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas seceded and secession efforts were underway in Missouri and Kentucky. The order was likewise not well received in Maryland.
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The Battle for National Sovereignty
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
According to recent Washington Post/ABC, Rasmussen, and IBD/TIPP polls, President Obama’s weakest policy vulnerability is immigration. Americans have never favored illegal immigration, amnesty, or bringing in so many immigrant workers that it hurt American wages and job prospects, but the leadership of both parties have suppressed full discussion of immigration issues for at least two decades. This has worked out well for the Democrats. In fact, it is a major part of the reason Barack Obama is President. Illegal immigration has been a major problem since 1965, but it accelerated after the 1986 amnesty, and especially after Republican President George W. Bush embraced the idea in 2001 that amnesty would convert Hispanic and Asian illegal immigrants into “natural Republicans.” A little homework on immigration issues would have prevented what the American public now believes are two of our biggest problems: illegal immigration and too much legal immigration. But most politicians don’t like homework. They like big campaign donations and acclaim by the liberal press. So Congress passes momentous legislative disasters without even reading them, much less thinking a couple steps ahead about their consequences. However, good government and sound immigration policy require honest homework and principled dedication to the best interests of all Americans.
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Obama’s Islamic Fantasyland
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
Sugar-coated Islam versus Reality
When President Obama says that ISIS, which now calls itself the Islamic State, is not Islamic, perhaps he is trying to tell us that because ISIS is violent and fanatical, it is not the “true Islam.” Unfortunately, the President’s benevolent “true Islam” is the fantasyland of Muslim Brotherhood propaganda, thoroughly deceived liberal academics and media personalities, and politicians more concerned with political correctness than thorough homework and reality. Sadly, this counter-factual version of Islam is the so-called religion of peace and tolerance exuberantly praised by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, and George W. Bush. This deceptive sugarcoated version of Islam differs sharply from the Islam of the Koran and the example and teachings of Muhammad. Moreover, it conflicts with Islam’s 1400-year record of fanatical violence, despotism, and expansion by coercion, sword, and terror. Undoubtedly, vast Middle Eastern petroleum reserves and billions of petro-dollars have lent foreign affairs credibility to the fantasy that Islam is peaceful and tolerant.
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Lincoln’s Economic Legacies
- By Mike Scruggs
- Category: Mike Scruggs' Column
This series is based on the author’s presentation of a paper to the Stephen D. Lee Institute in Savannah, Georgia, in February 2012.
In December 2010, Allen Guelzo, Professor of Civil War Era History at Gettysburg College published an article in National Review entitled “Mr. Lincoln’s Economics Primer,” Quoting Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon, he asserted that Lincoln liked to study political economy. Quoting his fellow Springfield, Illinois lawyer, Shelby Cullom, he asserted that Lincoln was great on political economy. Although Herndon once wrote that Lincoln seldom finished an entire book, Cullom gave him credit for voraciously digesting and assimilating directly or indirectly the works of classical economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo. He also mentioned John Stuart Mill, Mathew Carey, John Ramsay McCulloch, Francis Wayland, and Henry Carey.
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Mike Scruggs is the author of two books: The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths; and Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, and over 600 articles on military history, national security, intelligent design, genealogical genetics, immigration, current political affairs, Islam, and the Middle East. 
