News You Missed 9.19.13

The pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, freedom and individual liberty

"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington                                       

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Rubio: Only Obama Wants to Shut Down Government By Jim Meyers and John Bachman

Republicans should do "anything and everything" to prevent the "disaster" of Obamacare, Sen. Marco Rubio tells Newsmax. But he insists it can be done without shutting down the government. The Florida Republican asserts that President Barack Obama actually wants a government shutdown to achieve a "political win," and the administration is going to fight to the bitter end to defend its Healthcare reforms.

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U.S. military arsenal frustrates Iran

The position held by the United States is lopsided when it comes to chemical and nuclear weapons stockpiles, an Iranian judicial chief said. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday "there is an opportunity for diplomacy" with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. President Barack Obama sent his Iranian counterpart a letter saying Washington was "ready to resolve the nuclear issue" with Iran. Iran is suspected of pursuing the technology needed to manufacture a nuclear weapon. Rouhani repeated in an NBC interview Iran's long-time claim the country's nuclear program is meant for peaceful purposes. Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, Iran's top judicial official, said Washington has a double standard when it comes to nuclear and chemical weapons. He noted the United States was the only country to use a nuclear weapon in war and had the largest stockpile of such weapons. "The Islamic Republic does not seek nuclear weapons, not because of U.S. threats or claims, but because we have religious standards in our defense and military affairs," he was quoted by state-funded broadcaster Press TV as saying Thursday. The White House said there are no plans for a presidential meeting on the sidelines of next week's annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. The International Atomic Energy Agency last week said it suspected there may be a military dimension to certain aspects of Iran's nuclear program. Knowing the U.S. can wipe them out is a great deterrent.  However, Obama does not understand!

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The Tide FINALLY Turns On Obamacare   By Frank Camp

Cat Stevens said: “I am confident that, in the end, common sense and justice will prevail. I’m an optimist, brought up on the belief that if you wait to the end of the story, you get to see the good people live happily ever after.”  I would like to be so confident as to always expect the end result to be the success of logic and justice. Generally speaking, I’m not an optimist; I’m a cynic. I expect the worst from people, from jobs, from politicians, and from life in general. That way, if something better comes along, I will be pleasantly surprised. And guess what? A new survey from Pew and USA Today has me pleasantly surprised. According to the survey:

“Currently, 53% disapprove of the health care law, while 42% approve. This is among the most negative assessments of the law since it was enacted in March 2010. In July 2012, shortly after the Supreme Court upheld most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, 47% approved of the legislation and 43% disapproved…40% of Americans say Republicans would do the better job [with health care], while 39% say Democrats would. This is the best relative showing for Republicans since April 2011 on an issue that has traditionally been an advantage for the Democratic Party. As recently as last December, Democrats were seen as the party better able to deal with health care by a 48%-38% margin.”

There it is, a shining glimmer of hope for our country. In less than a year, the percentage of Americans who believe that Democrats have a better handling of healthcare has dropped precipitously, from 48% to 39%. That’s a staggering number, considering the sheer volume of propaganda pumped out by the Obama administration and their media allies. It seems as though the more that people understand Obamacare and its implications, the less they like it. To anyone reading this article, that fact may be as obvious as a Stephanie Meyers plot-line, but many people aren’t as well versed in politics. Many people—low information voters—simply watch CBS, NBC, and CNN. They hear the President and the media prattle on about the virtues of Obamacare, and fall into lock-step. We may be witnessing a paradigm shift. If even the lowest common denominator can understand that Obamacare is insanity, we may have a chance to elect someone who is actually capable of running a country. The low information voters may have finally caught up with the politically savvy. Perhaps it was for the best that Obama represented Liberalism so well. Maybe it was the imposition of his strident socialist views upon the American people that has driven the masses to rationality. I guess that to reach the green grass, sometimes we have to crawl through the mud. Time will tell if I’m correct in my prediction.

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How The Left Creates Heroes To Push Their Agenda  By Frank Camp

Joseph Campbell said: “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”

We all want to be remembered. In all of us, there is a need to play a part in the larger scheme of life. Participating in something that is bigger than ourselves has a mythic quality, a feeling of heroism. Generally speaking, humans crave the extraordinary, to be set free from the mundane and ascend to greatness. That is why old Greek myths have lasted for thousands of years. That is why we watch superhero movies; to live out powerful, mythic fantasies.

We all know that in reality, we can’t fly, or save the world from Zod, so we find small ways to make a difference in the world. However, the Left has found a way around the mundane; the Left has discovered how to create gods and heroes out of regular people. They take a person, and build a story around them, exaggerating the facts, and blowing everything out of proportion. It is through this creation of heroes that they advance their agenda.

First example: Matthew Shepherd. According to Breitbart:

“Almost everything you think you know about the Matthew Shepard narrative is false. Matthew Shepard was the winsome young homosexual in Laramie, Wyoming who in October 1998 was tortured, killed, and left hanging grotesquely from a fence. He was discovered almost a day later and later died in the hospital from his horrific wounds…Almost immediately Shepard became a secular saint, and his killing became a kind of gay passion play where he suffered and died for the cause of homosexuality against the growing homophobia and hatred of gay America. Indeed, a Mathew Shepard industry grew rapidly with plays and foundations along with state and even national hate crimes legislation named for him.”

An author by the name of Steven Jiminez is revealing the truth in his new title, The Book of Matt.

Second example: Michael Bloomberg. According to Breitbart:

“POLITICO’s September 8 Playbook signature letter contained an ad from NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun group claiming ‘seven kids are murdered with guns…every day in America.’”

As it turns out, once you run the statistics, that is not true in the slightest. It’s a patent exaggeration. This is Liberal hero-making in action.

First, you have Matthew Shepherd, whose image the Liberal community has used for years to wage their war on Conservatives. Obviously, what was done to Shepherd was evil, but that’s not the point I’m trying to demonstrate. The Left only needs this story for purposes of ginning up their base to fight the opposition. The Left saw a murder—among numerous others—plucked it out, and proceeded to build a myth around it. They glorified Shepherd. Any time anything related to gay people comes up in politics, the Left trots out Matthew Shepherd. It’s a glorified version of the victim game the Left is so good at playing, using people like Michael J. Fox to promote embryonic stem cell research. Because he’s a victim of disease, he may not be criticized. The same thing is going on with Shepherd. If you criticize the gay community, you are personally attacking the Martyr.

Moving on to Bloomberg: Michael Bloomberg cites a false statistic to build a case for gun control. In this case, the hero-making is a bit different. In this case, the hero is conceptual: a dead child. Any dead child will do, so long as Liberals can use them to get what they want. They begin by constructing the story that seven children are murdered every day by guns. The faux statistic seems just reasonable enough that many people won’t attempt to verify it. They then proceed to trot that statistic around, so that gun advocates will look evil and thoughtless. How dare those Conservatives! They’re practically killing the children themselves! But the statistic is a lie to begin with. The Left has lied to create a hero: fictional dead children.

The elite Liberals know that the average Democrat Joe will fall right into these hero-traps because they also know that human beings want to be extraordinary. And if the average Joe cannot be extraordinary, they will cling to people that are. Liberals will use the story of Matthew Shepherd, and the statistic about the seven murdered children to make their acolytes feel like heroes themselves. It’s a very attractive idea.

Truth is often simple, not grandiose. Matthew Shepherd was brutally murdered; that is the truth. Guns sometimes kill children; that is the truth. But it is the perspective applied to these stories that makes all the difference. The Left knows that, and they warp any story they can to advance their agendas.

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Saved From the 'Stupid' Man By Sean Goldsmith
Not to worry… "One of the stupidest people ever placed in a position of leadership in the history of the United States" will not become the next Federal Reserve Chairman. Over the weekend, Larry Summers – the reported frontrunner for the top spot at the Fed – bowed out of the race. As you can glean from the quote above, we think this move is for the best. Summers almost single-handedly ruined Harvard University's endowment, losing $1.8 billion. And as Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton, Summers championed many of the policies that led to the credit bubble and subsequent crisis. He also used public money to bail out hedge fund Long Term Capital Management in 1998.  Unfortunately for the U.S. dollar, the new frontrunner, Janet Yellen, won't do any better…

At its core, the Fed is a flawed institution. Our currency shouldn't be manipulated and debased by the men in power.  So by our measures, whoever takes the helm of the Fed will be a failure… We need to stop printing money. And we know current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's replacement won't do that… Especially Yellen, who is likely to keep interest rates low for years and keep the printing press running.
The thought of Yellen running the Fed – and the subsequent easy-money policies that would likely come with her at the helm – pushed the stock market to a record high. Ten-year Treasury yields fell from 2.98% less than two weeks ago to 2.80%. Gold rose nearly $10 to $1,316 an ounce.

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You Didn’t Build These Ten Things – Barack Obama Did

It’s not like he didn’t warn us that his goal was to fundamentally transform America – but most of us didn’t think that meant wrecking the economy, killing the golden goose, giving away the farm and generally screwing the pooch. But here we are and here are the top ten things Obama owns – despite him blaming everyone else – he built them:

10. Created the Food Stamp Nation: The government said the recession ended in 2009, but people getting on food stamps didn’t. The Obama Administration dispatched armies of workers into the streets to find people eligible to get on the program and it’s worked: A record 47.8 million people are on food stamps as of December 2012 — a 70 percent rise since 2008. It will be over 100% by this year’s end.

9. The Sin, Envy of Success: It used to be not that long ago that folks who succeeded were looked up to and emulated. Not anymore, because after 5+ years of Obama propaganda, the successful, go-getters, job-creators, upwardly mobile, wealth-creating Americans are nothing more than evil white devils who exploit poor working families – then don’t pay taxes. Forget that the top ten percent of taxpayers pay .. oh forget it -you’ve heard it a million times and would rather hear Obama’s pitch I guess. Anyway – he built it, he owns it.

8. Destruction of the greatest healthcare system in the world: They’ve been trying for 100 years to control us by controlling our health care, but it took a community organizer to force, lie and bribe it through. Everyone, Barack Obama included, knew the American people didn’t want socialized medicine. Polls showed it. Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s seat by promising to vote against It. He forced and bribed it through anyway and now is ignoring key parts of it and issuing waivers to keep it alive.

7. Burdening Our Children’s Future with Debt: $17 trillion in debt and $90 trillion in unfunded mandates assures many generations of economic slavery. Yes, it’s you President Obama. You. Not Bush, Not the fairy god spender. You.

6. Lowering The Bar for Future Presidents: When future presidents rewrite legislation, ignore the separation of powers or flaunt the Constitution – we can point to the pioneer of those practices – Barack Obama. This partially explains why folks like John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, etc. do so little to curtail Barack Obama’s obvious unconstitutional behaviors. They see the box he’s opened up for future Republicans, should they ever get in power. It’s very tempting for them to allow Barack to test how deep the waters are – to see exactly what he might get away with. They aren’t against his spending – they’re just mad it’s not going to their folks.

5. Re-creating Race Wars: This was supposed to be our shining achievement – to show the world we could evolve and put the final nail in the coffin of slavery by electing a black president. Barack Obama had the opportunity to be the greatest leader since Lincoln, but instead he chose to not just divide us along racial lines, but to incite hatred between the races. He doesn’t like white people – it’s clear – and perhaps the resentment he feels toward the black side of his family may fuel it. I personally don’t care – he’s been bad for this country whatever his skin color or psychological problems.

4. Declaring Season on Christians: If Barack Obama is a Christian, I’m a diving board. At every single turn, the President has sided with Muslims over Christians and radical Muslims when possible and Islamo-Nazis on more than one occasion. In Egypt and other locales, Christians are tortured and murdered with impunity and this president does nothing, says nothing and hears nothing. It’s un-Christian, even though he swears he’s a Christian. You can stick a branch in your eye and it doesn’t make you a tree.

3. Hustler for The Muslim Brotherhood: Barack Obama owns the Muslim Brotherhood, brotha. The gains they’ve made in the world are part and parcel because of the assistance of Mr. Obama, their brother from a white American mother. Nice one, Mr. President. I’m sure this will end well when a future president will have to clean up your mess with young boots on the ground.

2. Dumbing Down, Not Extolling Excellence: Whether it’s Common Core, Amnesty, or kids living at home until they feel it’s time to put the bong down and drive over to get their welfare check themselves – this president does not demand excellence. He doesn’t believe America is exceptional and does not inspire hard work or entrepreneurship. The answer to all problems is government. But we know from history this doesn’t work, will never work and isn’t working now. But you built this belief Barack Obama and people are being hurt by it.

1. One Good Thing Will Happen: You reminded us how great we are, sir. We’re going to bounce back from this and you’re going to go down as the worst thing that ever happened to this country. People will eventually get educated as to just what happened and how it should never happen again. We’ve been through this before – a couple centuries ago. We threw those bastards aside and we’ll do the same now. You’ll fly off with your family to some Muslim country where you’ll be lauded as the man who tried to bring America down and almost succeeded.

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Census on Obama’s 1st Term: Real Median Income Down $2,627; People in Poverty Up 6,667,000; Record 46,496,000 Now Poor By Terence P. Jeffrey

 During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau. The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012.  In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama's first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to $53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, it dropped to $51,017.

At the same time the number of people living in poverty in the United States increased. In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, there were approximately 39,829,000 people living in poverty in this country. In 2012, there were 46,496,000. That is an increase of approximately 6,667,000—of 16.73 percent—from 2008 to 2012.  The number of people in poverty increased during three of the four years of Obama's first term--taking a slight dip from 2010 to 2011, but then rising again from 2011 to 2012. In 2008, there were 39,829 people in poverty in the U.S. In 2009, it climbed to 43,569. In 2010, it climbed again to 46,343. In 2011, it dipped to 46,247. And, in 2012, it climbed to an all-time high 46,496. In 2008, the year Obama was elected, people in poverty represented 13.2 percent of the national population. In 2012, they represented 15.0 percent of the population.  The income threshold at which a person was determined to be in “poverty,” according to the Census Bureau, depended on the size of their household. If a person lived by themselves and earned less than $11,270 in 2012, they were considered to be in poverty. A family of two people was considered in poverty if they earned less than $14,937. The threshold for a family of three was $18,284, for a family of four it was $23,492, and for a family of five it was $27,827.

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$1.29 Billion in Disability Checks Sent to 36,000 Workers Still on the Job  By Alissa Tabirian

House investigators say Social Security is approving state-rejected claims for disability benefits at strikingly high rates for people who might not deserve them. Compounding the problem, the agency often fails to do required follow-up reviews to make sure people still qualify for benefits months or years later. Since January, the Social Security Administration (SSA) sent disability insurance (SSDI) checks worth $1.29 billion to an estimated 36,000 people who were still on the job and thus ineligible for benefits, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Friday. (See GAO -13-635.pdf)

Yes, let's demand the federal government run healthcare!!

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'We have the bad guys in the halls of power'  Erick Stakelbeck reveals Muslim Brotherhood's quiet invasion of America

 “People would be shocked to know about the Muslim Brotherhood presence in the United States,” terrorist expert Erick Stakelbeck told an interviewer recently. “They are here.”  “Individuals with strong ties to the global Muslim Brotherhood network absolutely are advising our government, the U.S. government, on its counterterrorism and Middle East policies. This is the epitome of the fox guarding the hen house,” Stakelbeck continued. “And you wonder why America’s Middle East policies right now are kind of a mess and we see all this chaos in the Middle East? We have the bad guys, the Brotherhood, in the halls of power and in our lawmakers’ ears.” Watch...

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Obama proposes what country wants and still gets hammered David Ignatius is a left wing columnist for the Washington Post.
How did it happen that, less than a year after Barack Obama convincingly won reelection, his every move as president now draws hoots and catcalls from nearly every point on the political spectrum? Perhaps his Syria policy really is a story of “epic incompetence,” as Charles Krauthammer opined last week. Maybe he has an “unbelievably small” presidency, as Marc Thiessen commented, or that no one is afraid of him, as Ruth Marcus argued. And that’s just a sampling of opinion from my colleagues at the Washington Post.

What’s puzzling about this latest Obama-phobia is that recent developments in Syria have generally been positive from the standpoint of U.S. interests. Obama has accomplished goals that most Americans endorse, given the unpalatable menu of choices. [No, he screwed up royally and Putin jumped into the fray]  Polls suggest that the public overwhelmingly backs the course Obama has chosen. [actually they opposed a military strike that Obama declared he was going to conduct unilaterally] Asked in a Washington Post-ABC News survey if they endorsed the U.S.-Russian plan to dismantle Syrian chemical weapons as an alternative to missile strikes, 79 percent were supportive. Yet elite opinion is sharply negative. [not about the agreement but on the Presidents performance]

Here’s what I see when I deconstruct the Syria story:
» Russia has been drawn into a process of collecting and destroying Syria’s chemical arsenal. This has been a goal of U.S. policy for two years. It finally worked thanks in part to Obama’s pledge to use military force to punish Syria if the Russians didn’t step up. [there is no evidence Obama's cowboy tactics caused anything]  In this messy world, there is considerable value in agreement by Moscow and Washington on the “soonest and safest” destruction of Syrian chemical weapons, with a timetable for implementation.

» The United Nations has taken new steps to affirm the international norm against use of chemical weapons. The 41-page report delivered this week to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon isn’t a joke, as some predicted; it’s a surprisingly thorough, careful documentation of the horrific attack on Aug. 21. The report doesn’t directly accuse Syrian President Bashar Assad of using the weapons; assessing blame unfortunately wasn’t part of the U.N. mandate. But the evidence demolishes the absurd Russian-Syrian claim that the weapons were used by the rebels. [on the contrary; that assertion cannot be proven. The rebels made the claim they used the chemical weapons]  If you’re frustrated by a feckless and unreliable U.N., [up until now, the U.N. was "it" for Friedman] you should be encouraged by a line in the opening paragraph of the report: “The international community has a moral responsibility to hold accountable those responsible and for ensuring that chemical weapons can never reemerge as an instrument of warfare.”

» The U.S. and Russia have restarted their push for negotiations in Geneva toward a cease-fire and a political transition in Syria. Yes, it’s unfortunate that Assad is still in power, but is his hold really stronger now that he has been forced to admit he has chemical weapons and agreed to destroy them? I’m not so sure. The U.S. and Russia have agreed to meet in New York in late September with U.N. representative Lakhdar Brahimi to continue this political process. The Russians know that Assad must go eventually; they’ve now moved a little closer to a framework for beginning the transition. Suggestion: Assad’s official “term of office” expires next year. [More "hope" from the left, not realistic]

» Amid all this diplomacy, Obama has pressed ahead with a covert program of training and assistance for the moderate Syrian rebel forces headed by Gen. Salim Idriss. My Syrian sources say that as these CIA trained commandos take the field, they make a difference: They begin to tip the balance away from the jihadist fighters associated with al-Qaida, who (as the Russians correctly warn) are a dangerously potent factor in the opposition. [You have read plenty where the rebels are heavily infiltrated by terrorists]

The showdown that’s ahead between the moderates and extremists was signaled this week when the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams announced a military campaign emphatically code-named “Expunging Filth” against two of Idriss’ brigades in Aleppo. This second Syrian war is coming, and even the Russians may end up relieved that the CIA is training fighters who can counter the jihadists. [Here we go again, just like Vietnam]

The mystery is why this outcome in Syria is derided by so many analysts in Washington. Partly, it must be the John McCain factor. The Arizona senator is in danger of becoming a kind of Republican version of Jesse Jackson, who shows up at every international crisis with his own plan for a solution, sometimes through personal mediation (as with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), other times demanding military intervention (as in Syria). Because McCain is a distinguished figure, he commands respect, even when his proposals have no political support at home. [The norm for the Left; have to have a boogey man and someone to blame] Not so, Obama. He can propose what the country wants, and succeed at it, and still get hammered as a failure. [This is probably the most outrageous statement in the whole article and you know why!]

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White House, GOP Clash over Obamacare Fraud Claims

The fight over Obamacare’s rollout intensified on Wednesday, as the White House and Republican leaders clashed over whether the public can trust the government to properly manage new health insurance exchanges. Sensitive about growing public uncertainty over the president’s signature legislative achievement, the Obama administration sought to convince Americans that Obamacare benefits would only go to eligible recipients and that their personal information would be protected. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Attorney General Eric Holder, and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough held a meeting with state health officials at the White House on Wednesday to tout anti-fraud measures. They outlined measures including a call center for consumer complaints, a website to report fraud and an education campaign offering tips for how to avoid insurance scams. “With these initiatives, we think we’re making significant contributions toward preventing … prosecuting and punishing activities that we will not in any way accept,” a senior administration official said Wednesday. Republicans, though, are hardly convinced that the administration’s efforts will protect Americans’ private information. GOP officials targeted their concerns on the so-called “navigators” who will handle the data of those enrolling in health exchanges beginning in October. [see above]

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Cost Curve: Federal Study Finds Obamacare Accelerating Health Spending

The federal government’s own bookkeepers have once again determined that President Obama’s so-called “Affordable” Care Act is driving up overall health spending. In the lead-up to the law’s passage, Obama and his Democratic allies promised the American people that the new measure would have the opposite effect, bending down the “cost curve.” Not even close:

The nation’s health care spending will jump by 6.1 percent next year as the big coverage expansion in President Barack Obama’s overhaul kicks in, government experts predicted Wednesday. That’s more than 2 percentage points higher than the growth rate forecast for this year, and compares with a growth rate that has hovered under 4 percent, historically low, for the past four years. Much of the increase projected for next year is attributed to the new health care program…Without it, the estimated growth would be 4.5 percent, according to the report Wednesday from Medicare’s Office of the Actuary. The findings were published online by the journal Health Affairs.

Re-read the sentence in bold font. Without Obamacare, national health spending would be projected to increase 4.5 percent. Not great, obviously, but comparable to the recent historical average.

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Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification." –George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

"[T]he government must be a weak one indeed, if it should forget that the good of the whole can only be promoted by advancing the good of each of the parts or members which compose the whole." –John Jay, Federalist No. 64, 1788