Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 13 Number 10 NOVEMBER 12, 2015

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THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 2

By VICTOR JOECKSSpecial to the Penny Press

“Shaping the path,” a term used by brothers Chip and Dan Heath in their book Switch: How to change things when change is hard, describes how environmental

factors change people’s behavior — often without conscious recognition.

The Heaths describe an experiment in which moviegoers were given a bowl of free popcorn. One group was given a medium bucket and the second was given a large bucket, but both tubs contained more popcorn than one person could possibly eat.

This popcorn, however, was purposely disgusting. It had been popped five days earlier and was so stale it squeaked when moviegoers ate it. One taster compared it to Styrofoam peanuts.

What the testers wanted to determine was this: “Would somebody with a larger inexhaustible supply of popcorn eat more than someone with a smaller inexhaustible supply?”

The answer was unequivocally yes. “People eat more when you give them a bigger container. Period,” found Brian Wansink, author of the study.

This is similar to how liberals “shape the path” to grow government. They define the terms of the debate, including what is considered compromise, so that government is always growing.

Liberals define compromise like

this: I want a $1 billion tax increase. You don’t want a tax increase. Let’s compromise by raising taxes “just” $500 million.

This is why liberals despise the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. They don’t like lawmakers who refuse to play the game by the rules they try and create.

Here’s how Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers define compromise: You want tax increases. I want to shrink government. Let’s compromise by keeping government the size it is now.

While some conservatives insist that they don’t need to sign the tax pledge to vote against tax increases, there are two reasons all conservatives should sign it. First, it increases a lawmaker’s chance of opposing tax increases. In the Nevada Assembly Republican caucus, 90 percent of pledge

signers voted against the largest tax increase in state history, 80 percent of non-pledge signers voted for those hikes.

Second, signing the pledge shapes the path by defining — or redefining — the political environment.

In Nevada it takes a two-thirds vote in each house to raise taxes, which means 15 Assembly members or eight Senators can kill any tax increase. So if, after election night in 2014, 17 Assembly members had been elected who had signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, instead of 10, it would have changed Sandoval’s political calculations about what was possible, sometimes referred to as the Overton Window.

Instead of a $7.3 billion budget proposal, Sandoval may have proposed a $7 billion budget and

Penny PressNEVADA USA 16 PAGES VOLUME 13 NUMBER 10 NOVEMBER 12, 2015

Penny Wisdom I think it turns out he is more Urkel than Thug Life. And that's the Ben Carson I know. —Juan Williams

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of NevadaInside:Mizzou Grads ShouldAsk FB Coach For Job

See Editorial Page 6

RON KNECHT PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6ROBERT RINGER PAGE 7SHARON ROSSIE PAGE 9SALLY PIPES PAGE 10MATT BARBER PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14

How The Guv Screwed The Voters

Commentary

Continued on page4

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 4

waited on his gross receipts tax until 2017. Electing enough Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers — shaping the path of what is politically possible — can change policy proposals before any lawmaker casts a vote.

Liberals try to shape the path by insisting that it’s important to be part of the debate — and then defining the terms of the debate

Sandoval dominated the Legislative discussion by making the debate, “How are you going to fund my wasteful education spending proposals?”

For Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers that’s the equivalent of asking, “When did you stop beating your wife?” Their refusal to enter that debate showed wisdom, not an unwillingness to discuss real questions like, “Are we spending the money we currently have effectively?” and “How big should government be?”

By being so eager to “have a seat at the table,” what too many lawmakers failed to consider was, “What are we debating and compromising over?”

Both NPRI and elected officials, including Controller Ron Knecht and Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, presented line-by-line alternative budgets, but Sandoval and Republican leaders weren’t interested in compromise and discussions on how to spend money more effectively.

And without enough Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers and clear vocal opponents of tax increases to change the question being debated, there was no reason for Sandoval not to keep twisting arms and knocking heads about the question he wanted discussed.

For all the talk about the need to compromise, Sandoval didn’t. He passed a gross receipts tax — which legislative insiders told NPRI was a higher priority to him than his education proposals — and he got his

budget through, almost to the penny. After the session, liberal pundit Jon Ralston visited Sandoval’s “war room” and saw a note on the white board that the Legislature had changed Sandoval’s $7.3 billion budget proposal by .00175% or about $130,000.

Sandoval didn’t need to compromise. By shaping the path around the question he wanted discussed, he got enough Republicans in the Senate and Assembly to capitulate.

Taxpayers should be grateful to every elected official who voted against tax increases, including Assemblymen Chris Edwards, John Ellison and Ira Hanson and Senators Pete Goicoechea and James Settelmeyer. In a building where the path is shaped to expand government and lawmakers are surrounded by lobbyists whose job it is to gain government-granted privileges, the easiest thing is to give into the pressure and vote for higher taxes. Voting against tax increases takes tremendous courage.

But taxpayers should be especially grateful to Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers who opposed the tax increase, including Assembly members Jill Dickman, Vicki Dooling, Michele Fiore, Brent Jones, John Moore, Victoria Seaman, Shelly Shelton, Robin Titus, and Jim Wheeler and Sen. Don Gustavson.

By signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and honoring their word to their constituents, those lawmakers intelligently sought to shape the path — by changing the very terms of the debate.Victor Joecks is executive vice president of the Nevada Policy Research Institute, a nonpartisan, free-market think tank. For more visit http://npri.org.

Inside Baseball: Sandoval 1, Taxpayers 0Continued from page 3

www.pennypressnv.com

The Big Picture: Economic Outlook Dim Due to Government

Since 2010, mainstream rosy economic forecasts each year have yielded to continued slow-growth reality, producing our worst recovery ever. Most economists still project economic activity as determined mainly by business cycles. We think such cycles are now dominated by long-term trends that will keep us bumping along the bottom until government at all levels makes significant reforms.

First, government itself long

ago became so big relative to our economy that it has been retarding growth. And the problem is getting ever worse because government at all levels and in all areas continues to grow relative to everything else.

This problem includes taxes, public debt, regulation and intervention of all kinds, and monetary and credit-allocation policy. Its primary driver and best measure is public spending, which has exceeded optimal levels for 55 years and is now 50 percent higher than it should be to maximize human wellbeing. Not just at the federal level; state and local government has grown even faster.

Nevada is an exception only in the wrong way. We were a low-tax state, but now we’re right in the middle of the pack – before adding in the destructive taxes passed this year, which will move us far toward becoming a high-tax state.

Second, public policy has

long fostered increased debt levels relative to economic output – borrowing by consumers, businesses and government itself – to pump up growth. Debt levels got so high that they were a major factor in the Great Recession. They remain so high that they will continue to be a serious drag on growth.

Total debt in our economy is four times levels of 20 years ago, but the economy itself is only 2.4 times as big. Although this problem has improved somewhat since the crash, we have far to go to get to sustainable levels and we’re making very slow progress.

Third, present demographic trends not only slow growth but also create huge social problems. Falling birth rates are both natural and policy-induced factors slowing long-term growth and creating social and economic imbalances as the fraction of the population in their working years producing value declines and those not working but still consuming grows. Falling labor force participation rates among the prime working age men exacerbate both problems. Increased legal immigration (with border control) would be very helpful.

Finally, strong economic growth elsewhere and increasing globalization (trade and investment) have helped feed US economic growth, but the long-term outlook for other major economies is now worse than ours. The key problems plaguing us burden them even worse. Government excess of all kinds is greater, debt has grown faster, and population aging and workforce participation decline are already well along in many places. China is too late and too little in changing its evil and destructive one-child policy to avoid catastrophe in coming decades. So, we’ll remain the cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry basket.

Fortunately, Green dogma of The Population Bomb and The Limits to Growth was spectacularly wrong. The real population bomb is an implosion, not explosion, and that is

a major part of our challenge going forward. And Malthusian resource scarcity has again been found wrong in so many ways – witness the plentitude and thus falling costs of fossil fuels and other commodities and energy. So, we have made great progress recent decades and can still see some economic growth going forward despite government excess and policy mistakes.

But those grim fantasies have now been replaced by the notion that man-made global warming will unavoidably result in terrifying disasters unless we completely trash human liberty, our society and economy by bending every effort to minimizing greenhouse gases. We can hope that before these statists are able to wreak their primitivist vision and destruction on the rest of us, this new sect of the Green religion will be debunked by events and knowledge as thoroughly as population bomb and resource scarcity arguments were.

Are there reasons for hope? Human creativity remains the scarce resource, but it has been plentiful enough to sustain Moore’s Law growth (at differing rates) throughout our economy. So, although some people have forecasted recently, as at other times in history, that we have invented and innovated as far as possible, the progress and productivity that drive growth continue to offset somewhat the metastasis and mistakes of government.

But unless we grow government significantly slower than the economy for many years and extensively reform it, we’ll continue real annual per-capita growth of one percent or less, not the historic normal 2.5 percent. That means our children will be one-third less well off, a reduction that will compound for future generations -- with less economic mobility and greater economic inequality, too.

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 5

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:Fox Business Channel for not only performing well in the GOP Debate but allowing anyone who wanted to watch the show to see it for free in direct contrast to the jerks at CNBC and the parent company who tried to make voters pay to see a Presidential debate. Also Neil Cavuto and his crew who showed that you could have a credible debate about business and economic topics. Overall, it may have been the best debate in terms of substance so far.

Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin who offered $1.3 billion last month to buy The Mirage, but the neighbor-ing casino's owner, MGM Resorts International, rejected the deal. The whole company isn’t worth a net $1.3 billion and Ruffin has graphically shown that the stooges who run MGM have the judgment of fruitflies.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:Nevada District Judge Susan Scann who seems to think that the criminal justice system can be conducted in secret by a rogue Clark County DA’s office paying for witnesses without any disclosure. What’s really interesting is that the same elected judge ruled the other way only months ago. Hopefully the Nevada Supremes—who are also elected—will see things more clearly. www.pennypressnv.com

Tips Of Our Capand

Bronx Cheers

Commentary: Ron Knecht & Geoffrey Lawrence

RON KNECHT and GEOFFREY LAWRENCE

I have never met Tim Wolfe and it has been years since I have set foot on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia.

But I did grow up on a college campus where my father was a high level administrator as well as a full professor, and I can tell you that if you think the United States Senate is a challenge, try the faculty and student senates of any university. That’s where the real politics of destruction lies. Campus politics makes the real thing seem like a walk in the park.

Wolfe was, until last Monday, the President of Mizzou.

Some morons on campus who think that somehow they’re more equal than anybody else because they’re “minorities” chased him out of town with, a hunger strike, some demonstrations and, get this, a 4-5 football team.

That’s right. A football team, which has been on a four game losing streak, told the media it would boycott Brigham Young this weekend at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City if Wolfe didn’t resign because of his alleged poor handling of racial issues on campus. And their football coach, a clown named Gary Pinkel, said he stood with the students. Now I need to point out that the President of Mizzou makes about $400,000 a year while Pinkel makes about $3.1-MILLION. Ahh, state run academia… Of course Wolfe resigned.

What’s this all about?

Apparently, you are not allowed to even mildly disagree if someone calls a campus institutionally racist. And, when a student cries “racist” the President better hop to immediately.

Hey, I’m all for freedom of speech on campus.

But freedom should mean freedom. I saw NBC interview some student who said that some other student “called me the N word”.

Really?

I have a question for him that the NBC correspondent forgot to ask:

Did you ask your mommy to pick you up and dust you off afterwards? And did he call you a nigger or the N word? Apparently, some words are simply unacceptable unless they’re said by rappers or black big shots. And the penalty for a white student at Mizzou calling a black student at Mizzou a nigger is that the President has to resign? Seriously?

Let me tell you punk/clowns where all of this is getting you.

Mizzou is reputed to have a great school of journalism. My colleagues and I hire a lot of journalists.

Do you think a recent degree from Mizzou will hold much weight with us going forward?

The reason you go to college is to get prepared for life.

In real life, you can’t get the football team to threaten a boycott if your boss doesn’t get fired.

That only happens on college campuses where the long suffering taxpayers are picking up the tab for a bunch of dilettantes allegedly getting an education.

You show me a legitimate example of institutional racism at Mizzou which rises to the level that the President should have to resign because of it and you might get some sympathy.

But, so far, you have been long on noise and very short on details.

So the net effect is that the next time a recent Mizzou grad sends my colleagues and I a resume looking for a job, you know what we’ll be thinking.

Why don’t you ask your football coach for a job?

FRED WEINBERG

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 6

OPINIONFrom The Publisher...

Mizzou Students Screw Themselves

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 7

Happiness in Our Golden Age of EnvyEnvy is an emotion that all human beings possess to one extent or

another. It has no doubt been around since “civilized” man first arrived on the scene. But today’s envy is much more extreme than it was just a few decades ago.

I believe we are now in the midst of what historians may someday look upon as the Golden Age of Envy. I am convinced that envy is, in fact, the motivating force behind most of the world’s evils. So the question is, how did America and the Western world devolve to such a low point on the moral scale?

I believe the answer is the advancement of democracy and government, which are the twin drivers of envy. Like a parasite, envy leaches onto democracy and disfigures its noble intent, while government is its chief enabler.

That’s why the Founders were so apprehensive about democracy. They were well aware that democracy could lead to tyranny of the majority, which in turn would lead to socialism. And socialism, by definition, is a loss of freedom.

But today, it’s even worse than tyranny of the majority. What we now have is something I doubt ever occurred to the Founders: a democracy that has led to tyranny of the minority. With impunity, the minority now steals from, bullies, and makes demands on the majority to conform to its moral standards (or, more properly, immoral standards) and values.

The First Amendment is alive, but certainly not well, as it can no longer be used as a protective shield for those who are accused of offending any self-proclaimed minority. The Supreme Court, in effect, writes laws to accommodate the minority, notwithstanding the fact that it is specifically forbidden by the Constitution to do so.

I find it to be more than just a bit absurd that one of the talking points of the radical left is “We must ‘reform’ capitalism to save it from itself.” I say absurd, because true capitalism — i.e., laissez faire capitalism — does not need to be saved.

On the contrary, what is needed is for the virtues of capitalism to be taught to the world’s youth beginning at a very early age. Capitalism is, after all, nothing less than freedom — economic freedom. Do people really need to be saved from freedom?

Nevertheless, what today’s children are taught instead are the virtues (actually, evils) of redistribution. In real terms, what the doublespeak phrase “economic justice” means is: “I demand that you give me what my neighbor has.”

At the heart of all this poisonous thinking is the word comparison. Envy is an intellectual and moral vice that prompts people to view things only in relation to other things. This is the philosophical base of the cliché “keeping up with the Joneses.”

Envy — particularly in its most extreme form — is a costly disorder, not only because the envious person supports government-enforced reduction of freedom. In addition, he also robs himself of happiness, because he is obsessively focused on what the other person has rather than what he himself has.

This is why you rarely see a person of the far left smiling. Who has time to smile when he’s overwhelmed by envy, endlessly comparing what he has with what others have?

While jealousy is the resentment toward, and the desire for, another person’s success or possessions (e.g., a prestigious position, a big house, a beautiful wife), envy is the desire to bring the other person down to one’s

level — or, even more deliciously, below one’s level.In other words, envy is not so much about improving one’s own lot,

but, rather, seeing another person stripped of what he has. The French Revolution was a perfect example of the endgame of envy. There’s nothing quite as satisfying to an envious individual as seeing the head of the person he envies rolling down the street in a river of blood.

For the envy-ridden individual, an all-powerful democratic government is the solution to his pain, because government has a monopoly on the use of force and is the only entity that has the legal right to make an individual give part of what he owns or earns to someone else.

In simple terms, only government has the unrestricted power to quash freedom, and those who hold the reins of power have considerable motivation to do just that. Envy is a disease of the mind that politicians fully understand, and they are adept at using it for personal power and financial gain. To achieve their ends, they are highly motivated to promote envy and reduce freedom.

So, is there is an antidote to envy? Yes, and it’s surprisingly simple: happiness. But it’s a tricky proposition, because, paradoxically, the very nature of envy precludes the existence of happiness. So even though it’s simple in concept, it’s also a Catch-22 of sorts.

One thing for certain is that being evermore successful does not assure happiness. That’s because no matter how successful a person is, there will always be someone more successful than him, which invites comparison. Thus, the more successful the envious person is, the more envious he will be of those who are even more successful.

Your best bet is to think in common-sense terms and recognize that the key to happiness is learning to enjoy, and being grateful for, what you already have — and making a conscious effort to condition your mind to avoid making comparisons. Envy and happiness are mutually exclusive objectives, and the good news is that you have the power to choose which one to embrace. ROBERT RINGERRobert Ringer (© 2015)is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Charlie Rose Show, as well as Fox News and Fox Business. To sign up for a free subscription to his mind-expanding daily insights, visit www.robertringer.com.

Commentary: Robert Ringer

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 8

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Commentary: Sharon RossieReal Nevada Families

So who are the families applying for Education Savings Accounts, Nevada’s best-in-the-country school choice program?

Nevada State Treasurer Dan Schwartz last week gave us all some of the latest data.

Of the over 3,000 applicants, over half of the students came from families earning less than $65,000 a year. Over 20 percent of the families qualified for free and reduced lunch.

This is before any money has been dispersed, before regulations have been finalized and even before any final determination has been made whether kindergarteners are eligible.

That’s an unqualified success. Arizona’s more-limited ESA program, which is the country’s oldest ESA program, has just 1,311 students in total.

Clearly, parents are responding in record-setting numbers — demonstrating a significant pent-up demand for educational freedom.

Naturally, the usual crowd that hates the idea of parents and students having choices is out to put a negative spin on what is great news. They argue that too few of the “right” children are using this program, because more of the applicants came from zip codes with higher average household incomes than from zip codes considered low-income.

First, if any parents now have an opportunity to improve the education of their children, that is a great thing. I firmly belief that all children matter and personally rejoice that any parents now have a better pathway for their children than before.

Second, over the last several years, school district officials in Clark and Washoe County have been bemoaning that classrooms are overcrowded, especially in growing suburbs. Just months ago — using such overcrowding as an excuse — state lawmakers unconstitutionally passed a $4+ billion property tax increase without voter approval. But now that ESAs are about to relieve school-district overcrowding, dropping attendance by close to one percent, that’s suddenly a bad thing?

Apparently school overcrowding is a bad thing until it’s not.The clique that incessantly — and baselessly — demands more spending on

failing public schools should actually be thrilled by these numbers. That’s because every child using ESAs actually increases per-pupil spending for the students remaining in public schools!

Third, talk about moving the goalposts. Before any money has been distributed,

over 600 families that qualify for free and reduced lunch have taken advantage of this program. That’s huge. A new ESA program in Mississippi has a cap of just 500 students. Total. We have more students than that using our ESA program who qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Fourth and most fundamentally, the faction that is trying to spin these numbers as some sort of negative is the element that has long worked to prevent families in poorer neighborhoods from having more options.

It makes complete sense that — before ESAs — private schools tend to be sited in parts of town where the median income is higher. Private schools have to pay the bills and, by definition, poorer zip codes are going to have fewer families able to afford private schools.

It’s basic supply and demand. ESAs, however, change that paradigm. Now every single public-school student has $5,000 in his or her backpack.

It doesn’t matter if you live in the poorest or the richest part of town: Now every family can customize each child’s education.

The reality, moreover, is that private schools are very interested in coming to Nevada. Current private schools also have new hope when it comes to expansion.

But there’s a problem. The ACLU and the Rogers Foundation have challenged the constitutionality of ESAs. And while brilliant attorneys with the Attorney General’s Office, Institute for Justice, Goldwater Institute and NPRI think those challenges are baseless, they are delaying investment by private schools otherwise interested in coming to or expanding in Nevada.

After all, why invest tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in a new private school in a low-income neighborhood, if a bad Supreme Court decision could render your investment worthless? The mass influx of new schools Nevada kids need awaits a good high court ruling.

When every student in a disadvantaged neighborhood is getting $5,000 in his or her backpack, parents, churches and other private organizations will be starting schools in those neighborhoods. It simply awaits resolution of the constitutional challenge.

Because we at NPRI know that Nevada kids can’t wait on the Nevada Supreme Court, the Institute is working hard to let all Nevada parents know about ESAs. Even if brick-and-mortar schools aren’t yet sufficiently available, online classes, tutors and homeschooling option are.

To learn more, check out our website, NevadaESA.com. You can inquire about our grassroots organizing efforts. SHARON ROSSIESharon Rossie is the President of the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 10

Uncle Sam Can’t Haggle Better than Private Insurers

The White House is declaring war on prescription drug prices. “The administration is deeply concerned with the rapidly growing prices of specialty and brand name drugs,” notes President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal. To keep prices down, the president wants the government to negotiate prices for drugs dispensed through Medicare.

But that “solution” derives from two false premises. First, that the federal government can get better deals than the private sector. And second, that it “negotiates” at all.

Let’s consider the second premise first. Governments don’t negotiate prices — they dictate them. Federal, state, and local governments already cover about half of all healthcare costs. Government can effectively name the price it will pay. If drug companies don’t like the price — or if that price would cause them to lose money — tough luck.

In other words, government “negotiations” amount to de facto price controls.

The government already sets prices in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Affairs health system. All three programs are characterized by shortages, a lack of innovation, and massive consumer harm.

In Medicaid, for instance, the government dictates reimbursement rates for doctors — often below their costs. As a result, many doctors limit the number of Medicaid patients they’ll see or refuse to admit them altogether. Medicaid beneficiaries thus face interminable waits for appointments.

The VA, meanwhile, directly controls the price of drugs. Shortages are the result. VA beneficiaries have access to just 81 percent of the brand-name drugs most commonly used by seniors.

Price controls also stifle innovation. On average, drug companies

spend $2.6 billion to bring a drug to market. Price controls prevent firms from recouping these substantial research investments — and discourage companies from developing life-saving drugs in the future.

Even if the government were to negotiate prices, it would struggle to do much better than the private sector.

Consider how Medicare Part D, the drug benefit program, has fared.Under Part D, private insurers negotiate with drug companies to secure

discounts. They must compete with one another for the best deal from drug firms. And then they must vie for seniors’ business by offering a variety of plans with differing levels of benefits, cost-sharing, and coverage. Patients can then choose the plan that meets their needs and budget.

Because it’s unleashed the power of competition to reduce costs and improve quality, Part D has continuously cost seniors and taxpayers less than even the government projected.

Average monthly Part D premiums are more than $20 lower than anticipated. From 2011 to 2014, the average Part D stand-alone premium remained flat. This year, average premiums dropped in six states.

Consequently, taxpayer costs are 50 percent below the Congressional Budget Office’s original forecasts. The federal agency has lowered its 10-year spending estimate for Part D four years in a row.

Part D is single-handedly slowing the growth of health costs. The program accounts for 10 percent of Medicare spending. But it is responsible for more than 60 percent of the slowdown in such spending since 2011.

These savings haven’t sacrificed quality. Almost nine in ten enrollees report that they like the benefits they’re getting.

Medicare Part D is an example of what free-market competition can accomplish — and why the government has no business negotiating prescription drug prices. SALLY PIPESSally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is The Cure for Obamacare (Encounter 2013).

Commentary: Sally Pipes

Christian Voters Score, Liberals Strike Out

And somewhere men are laughing and somewhere children shout, but there is no joy in Libville – the lefties have struck out.

But it’s not just liberal Democrats who lost big on Tuesday. The “centrist” Republican establishment crashed and burned as well, lending credence to the growing narrative that a thoroughly exasperated America has entered the age of the political outsider.

While this week’s midterms saw sweeping victories for both conservative candidates and ballot initiatives nationwide, the big winners were religious liberty and family values. Two particular victories best illustrate this national shift in the electorate’s “tolerance” for “progressive” socio-political extremism.

First, voters flushed Houston’s anti-woman “HERO” ordinance. This radical “LGBT” policy would have, among other things, allowed sexually confused men in women’s public restrooms and showers, severely punishing anyone who tried to stop them.

Second, was the unexpected trouncing Kentucky businessman and outspoken Kim Davis supporter Matt Bevin laid on Democrat Attorney General Jack Conway in that state’s governor’s race.

While Houston’s bathroom bill was crushed by 62 to 38 percent, Bevin, who was behind in the polls all the way to the end, nonetheless handily beat Conway by 53 to 44 percent.

The Bathroom BillHouston, Texas, is anything if not “progressive.” After all, voters there have

thrice elected a militant lesbian activist as that city’s chief executive. After Mayor Annise Parker’s misogynistic bathroom bill spiraled down the toilet bowl of life Tuesday, she angrily proclaimed, “No one’s rights should be subject to a popular vote!”

On this we agree, Ms. Annise. No woman, teenager or little girl should ever have her absolute right to safety and privacy subject to a popular vote. How dare you place women and children in danger and force your constituents to reaffirm this self-evident truth.

If you have a trace of honor, you’ll resign.Women have a right not to be confronted in the shower by a naked,

mentally ill man in lipstick. To say that he’s the “discriminated against” party here, represents everything wrong with today’s America. While I’m proud that Parker, a public official, has blocked me, a private citizen, on Twitter, all the foot stomping and “equal rights” propaganda in the world couldn’t block the people of Houston from protecting themselves, their wives and their daughters.

But we shouldn’t be surprised at Parker’s rage. HERO was her own personal Rosemary’s baby – the bastard byproduct of corrupt political artificial insemination. She had already pulled out all the stops to ram it through. You may recall that just last year, in an effort to bully them, she illegally subpoenaed the sermons and privileged communications of a number of Christian pastors who vocally opposed the bathroom bill, as well as having her city attorney, David Feldman, subvert Houston’s citizen petition process by illegally tossing out nearly three-quarters of the already validated petition signatures needed to put her utterly insane “gender neutral” ordinance up for a vote by the very people whose privacy it would sexually assault.

It took the Texas Supreme Court and the voters of Houston to set Ms. Parker, um, straight.

Matt Bevin’s ‘Kim Davis effect’Kentucky Gov.-elect Matt Bevin ran on a bold and unwavering conservative

platform. While he won the election fair and square and is eminently qualified

to serve as governor, both his supporters and detractors alike agree that it was his courageous public support of embattled Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis that tipped the scales. This support got out the evangelical vote and made a difference – big time.

After Kim Davis was thrown in jail by a rogue federal judge for refusing to waive her First Amendment rights and violate her conscience by signing her name to counterfeit “same-sex marriage” licenses, Bevin visited her in jail and publicly voiced his unequivocal support for both the institution of marriage and for Davis’ absolute right to defend it.

“The election was not even close,” said Mat Staver, Davis’ attorney and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “The lopsided victory for Matt Bevin stunned most political pundits. There is no question that the issue of religious freedom and same-sex marriage played a role in the results. The people favor traditional values and marriage, and they are tired of the political elites, represented by Governor Beshear, who are out of touch with ordinary, God-loving citizens. We look forward to working with Governor-elect Matt Bevin to accommodate the religious convictions of Kim Davis and other Kentucky clerks. Finally, we will have common sense and the Constitution prevail in Kentucky,” concluded Staver.

And work together they shall. Bevin publicly announced Friday that he will exercise his legal authority as governor to ensure that Ms. Davis receives the accommodation she both deserves and the U.S. Constitution demands.

In short: Kim Davis wins. Bullies lose.The big take away

This midterm election proves, once more, that when the evangelical, Catholic and Orthodox communities get out and vote en masse, both conservatism and family values prevail.

In Houston we saw a highly motivated group of Christian pastors lead their flock to the polls in unprecedented numbers. It took a perverted threat against their wives and daughters to spur it, but they stepped up and did it – and they are to be commended for doing so.

In Kentucky we saw the persecution of one woman inspire a Christian political outsider to take up her cause and stand firm in her defense. He will soon take over as governor and, rouge courts notwithstanding, guarantee that her right to freedom of conscience is protected.

This is Christian leadership in action. If we, the Christian faithful, wish to see an America that once again reflects our values and honors and glorifies the God of our creation, then we must take charge. It is leading that makes a leader, and each and every Christian is empowered to leadership by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

A first step toward leadership is to exercise your Christian duty by voting for men and women who hold to the objective truths found within the pages of God’s word. The anti-Christ pagans can take nothing from us that we don’t surrender.

The establishment, be it Democratic or Republican, is lying to you. Not only do the “social issues” matter, it is these issues that drives voters to the polls. The “social issues” are biblical issues – moral issues that transcend politics. The “social issues” belong within the purview of the church. They always have. Values voters represent the base of the Republican Party, and when the Republican Party takes the biblical position on these issues, it wins.

But, as they say, “This was just a midterm election.” It was a base hit. If we’re going to hit a grand slam in 2016, Christian voters must step to the plate once more.

And then we have to swing for the bleachers. MATT BARBERMatt Barber is founder and editor-in chief of BarbWire.com. He is an author, columnist, cultural analyst and an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. Having retired as an undefeated heavyweight professional boxer, Matt has taken his fight from the ring to the culture war. (Follow Matt on Twitter: @jmattbarber).

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 11

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Commentary: Matt Barber

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 12

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Trump Missing the Target on Super-PACs

At the recent Great Debate Debacle in Boulder, Colorado, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump launched an attack against so-called “super-PACs.” Here’s what he said in a pair of tweets on the subject…

“Re Super PAC scam: What the other candidates are doing is a disgrace. … All Presidential candidates should immediately disavow their Super PAC’s. They’re not only breaking the spirit of the law but the law itself.”

Well, not really. But first a few disclaimers.One, I consult for the 2016 Committee, a super-PAC that supports Dr.

Ben Carson. So while my opinions on this subject may be considered biased, they’re also informed by first-hand knowledge and experience.

Two, the opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone, not the 2016 Committee’s.

And lastly, while I’m supporting Dr. Carson I absolutely love how Mr. Trump has completely discombobulated the Republican establishment and won’t lose a wink of sleep if he ends up being the GOP’s presidential nomination.

That said, I think he’s missing the point as it relates to super-PACs. It’s not that super-PACs are bad. It’s that stupid campaign contribution

limits imposed by do-gooders who think you can legislate money out of politics are bad. Like life at Jurassic Park, money will always find a way.

And by limiting how much money you can donate to candidates, the candidates have increasingly lost more and more control over their own campaigns as money flows to “independent expenditures.”

Once again and as always, in an effort to solve a perceived problem our busy-body Congress has found a way to make it worse.

Not only are the contribution limits counter-productive, but the bureaucratic regime of rules and regulations administered by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) are so complicated, convoluted and confusing that even a rocket scientist can’t figure them out, let alone the average candidate or citizen.

You wanna get rid of super-PACs? Great. I’m with you. But you first have to get rid of the contribution limits to individual candidates, as well as the FEC regulatory nightmare.

One additional point….Just as bankruptcy – which Mr. Trump admittedly has used to his

advantage – is legal, so, too, are the nation’s super-PACs. And as long as super-PACs are legal, then citizens have as much a right to use them as businessmen have to use the bankruptcy laws.

Indeed, super-PACs, under current circumstances, are a necessary field-leveling mechanism for candidates who, unlike Mr. Trump, aren’t wealthy enough to self-fund their campaigns. Political office in the U.S.A. shouldn’t be restricted to only the rich and famous.

Again, the problem here isn’t the super-PACs. The problem is anti-free speech campaign finance laws that have shifted inordinate amounts of power away from individual candidates to deep-pocketed special interests.

THAT’S the target Mr. Trump should be shooting at. CHUCK MUTH(Mr. Muth is president of CitizenOutreach.com and the publisher of www.NevadaNewsandViews.com. You can reach him at ChuckMuth.com)

THE PENNY PRESS,NOVEMBER 12, 2015 PAGE 14

Commentary: Chuck Muth Every week in Nevada, someone is trying to screw us.

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