John McCain's latest war gospel hangs an alarming tale. The rule of law has been dethroned and the president has been endowed with absolute power as the American Empire has eclipsed the American Republic.

If Tea Party Caucus Members wish to keep their constitutional escutcheons unsullied, they should not tarry in taking legislative action against unconstitutional presidential wars and unconstitutional unaudited military spending.

While I strongly disagree with the modern libertarian movement, I understand why my government-averse friends believe the things they believe, as opposed to, say, my friends who are Yankee fans.

Barack Obama understands that the country wants a president who acts. And as the new, Tea Party-tainted Congress is spoiling for confrontation, now is the ideal moment for a true veto strategy.

The boast of American exceptionalism betrays ignorance of the Founding Fathers and the tarnished history of the United States. In any event, to overlook faults because other nations are more flawed is juvenile, and leads nowhere.

History buffs, take note: the odds are you won't see anything like this again even if you live to be 100.

We need the good sense, and the political will, to ensure that Jefferson and Hamilton continue to thrive in the public arena. This will require comparable acts of statesmanship.

Historically, protectionism has been, in fact, the real American Way; this pattern even predates American independence.

As every fifth-grader knows, our Founding Fathers rebelled against the British tea taxes primarily because the taxes were imposed upon the colonies without any representation in the British Parliament.

The Tea Partiers are not entirely wrong to warn about the potential of the state to repress freedom, but in overlooking the role of the state in ensuring these freedoms, they foolishly misread history.

Rand Paul's thinking on refusing to serve minorities and other issues is one dimensional. It's hard to admire a mind that can't accommodate real world solutions to problems.

Following Liz Cheney's call to remove the "Al-Qaeda Seven," here's a list of seven additional U.S. officials whose work on behalf of enemies of the state would make them unfit to serve their country.

Dick Cheney occupies a historically unique position: He is an ex-VP who left office electorally undefeated and has not sought the Presidency. As a result, he retains some of the trappings of an undefeated elder statesman.

The mistakes or missteps of President Bush lie not merely in his administration's lack of transparency, but in its disregard for the establishment of goals.

While many are criticizing the gross AIG taxpayer-funded bonuses of senior executives, the truth is that this kind of corruption is relatively small time -- even at $165 million -- and was predictable.