Al Jazeera reports that Saudi Arabia has unveiled a 900km multi-layered security fence along its border with Iraq. The five-layered fence project will include watchtowers, night-vision cameras, and radar. The Saudis have already sent a troop force of 30,000 to the Iraq border. Anything the Obama administration might learn here regarding America’s wide-open border with Mexico? Talk about a perfect campaign plank for non-statists this fall.

Would you be astounded to read that (1) the most tax competitive country in the world is tiny Estonia and (2) close to the worst tax burden on businesses in the industrialized world is the United States? Estonia, despite reasonable tax rates, ranks #1, while the U.S., with the world’s highest corporate tax rate, ranks #32.

A new global index—the International Tax Competitiveness Index—measures “the extent to which a country’s tax system adheres to two important principles of tax policy: competitiveness and neutrality.” This new ranking comes out just as Mr. Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer are jointly campaigning to raise taxes on businesses and punish corporations that move their legal domicile overseas to avoid paying the already punitive U.S. tax rate.

In pointing out the glory of enlightened big government, liberals often praise the large social safety nets of Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden, but each of these countries ranked in the top 20. Even England, with its socialized medicine, came in 11 points higher than the U.S.

Read here in the WSJ’s “Review & Outlook” how Washington and this administration are missing what could be the single biggest tax boost to economic growth and worker incomes.

Looking at the Scottish independence vote, Pat Buchanan hones in on the worldwide move toward populist parties and secession. Pat writes that “what assures the growth of these parties is what engendered them—mass immigration from the Third World from across the Mediterranean? Nothing. Out of a Middle East descending into chaos will come millions of Arab and Muslim refugees. And the attendant rise in crime, Islamism and social disorder.” Pat asks, “… what is there to halt the waves of immigration in boats and rafts? … the African continent, which had 1.2 billion people in 2013, will have 2.3 billion in 2050, and 4.2 billion by century’s end.”

Debbie and I will be heading to France in a couple of weeks on a number of missions. High on our list is a first-hand update on the emergence of Front National and Marine Le Pen. Le Pen is strongly nationalist and would not only seal France’s borders against the type of immigration hordes Pat refers to here, but also send packing a big percentage of current immigrants that do not contribute nor blend in with traditional French society. We have been watching this transition for a number of years. Were an election to be held in France today, Marine Le Pen would have a good shot at winning. It is long past time America adopts a hard-line immigration policy to head off just the sort of issues Pat Buchanan rightly outlines above.

Rather than running a political campaign of “Not Obama,” Republican candidates need to run on positive messages that will resonate with voters. The Cato Institute’s Richard Rahn lays out a laundry list of sensible, specific policy suggestions Republican candidates could run on that would be a breath of fresh air to voters.

1. Does America really need to be #32 in tax competitiveness among industrialized countries? The U.S., with the highest corporate-income tax in the world, is driving investment, innovation and jobs out of the country.

2. Most voters would be behind candidates who demanded an end to the practice of asset forfeiture. Asset forfeiture is the hallmark of an out-of-control government. A keen example would be delivering a real punishment to the IRS for its continued misdeeds.

3. Most Americans recognize that excessive regulation is a clear drag on economic growth and job creation. Candidates need to properly address the need to make it easier for individuals and companies to challenge regulations that do not meet a reasonable cost-benefit standard. Reimbursement for legal and associated costs would also resonate well.

4. Because of contradictory regulations, government agencies have been able to extract huge, unjustified fines from companies, especially banks. Candidates need to propose ending this hypocrisy and double standard.

After you read David Rothkopf’s (CEO and editor of the FP Group) article you will wonder why such a resignation has not already been announced. Regarding a profanity-filled lecture from Rice, Germany’s national security advisor Christoph Heusgen, according to Mr. Rothkopf, told an American confidante it was the worst meeting of his professional life.

David Rothkopf also tells readers, “More than at any time in the past, Obama’s administration has chosen, in a very deliberate way, to concentrate more power within the White House. Although the NSC has continuously increased in power since it was formed in 1947, under Obama its staff has grown to around 370 people, roughly 10 times the size it was during the early Bush years.”

The U.S. Constitution leads off with “We the People.” Neither major political party is in the slightest sense constitutionally based, though Democrats starting off with the scourge (thanks, Michael Scheuer) that was Woodrow Wilson and continuing through Barack Hussein Obama have been the leading Constitutional violators. And the constitutional revolution, long overdue in America, is going to have to blaze off from the bottom up, from the people. The politicians are not going to put America back on track until such time as the people demand change.

Any American can quickly read in Article. II. Section.2 of the  Constitution the limited and clearly enumerated duties of the President. The executive branch of government was intended, by the Founders to be a weak, even part time, office. Think, if you will, shaking hands and kissing babies

The office of President was most certainly not intended to project power in any way shape or form.

You simply will not believe your eyes. The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell in a single display demolishes the argument for third-party payer and subsidies that involve the likes of health care and college tuition and fees. I hope that every free markets, small government Republican, running against the socialist policies of the Obama administration this fall, will feature posters, adds and placards of this shocking third-payer display.