Iowa is likely to retain its first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in 2012, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller -- a member of the Democratic Change Commission -- announced following the December 30 report of the commission.

The 2012 Iowa caucuses will be held in early February 2012, along with caucuses or primaries of Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Miller said at a Statehouse news conference.

"A mixed economy is a mixture of freedom and controls -- with no principles, rules, or theories to define either. Since the introduction of controls necessitates and leads to further controls, it is an unstable, explosive mixture which, ultimately, has to repeal the controls or collapse into dictatorship." -- Ayn Rand, "The New Fascism: Rule by Consensus," 1965

The Republicans, it seems, often cannot do anything right -- and, now, we are hearing that directly from the mouth of no less an authority than the chair of the Republican National Committee himself. Michael Steele, in his new book Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda, is convinced that Republicans have "screwed up" for the most part since Ronald Reagan was president.

Well, there's certainly no doubt of that. From Bush Senior's violation of his now-famous "Read my lips: no new taxes" pledge to Bush Junior's bogus "weapons of mass destruction" invasion of Iraq, the Republicans have presided over, and been directly responsible for, some of the most explosive and imperialistic growth of government in history -- while, it should be added, enjoying a majority in both houses of Congress from 2003 through 2007.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy hosted a dinner for 49 Nobel laureates. The occasion provided the opportunity for JFK to display his keen wit in this memorable quote: "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House -- with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

I wonder how many of today's high-school and college students appreciate Jefferson's genius. Our third president -- the author of the Declaration of Independence and the founder of the University of Virginia -- was a masterful scholar of history, a political philosopher for the ages, a noted horticulturist, an archaeologist, an architect, and an inventor. He also knew a thing or two about money and banking. Let's take a moment here to review the wise insights on money and banking left to us by this consummate Renaissance man.

Regarding money, Jefferson commented, "Paper is poverty. ... It is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." We should remember this when we contemplate the loss of 95 percent of the purchasing power of the paper currency called "Federal Reserve notes" in less than a century. As Ben Bernanke and the Fed create trillions of new paper "dollars," we, the richest country in history, face the possibility of a hyperinflationary collapse and accompanying impoverishment.

(Editor's note: Although this commentary dismisses Borlaug's critics, we feel that their claims should be clearly articulated. As this article summarizes, Borlaug was "the man who arguably did more than any other to nurture the era of monocrops, GM [genetically modified] foods, and the intensive use of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers. He may well have saved a billion people from imminent starvation, but by doing so, say his critics, he also inadvertently helped to plant the seed for future environmental woes.")

Called "arguably the greatest American in the 20th Century" during his 95 years, Norman Borlaug probably saved more lives than any other person. He is one of just six people to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And yet Borlaug, who died this past September, is scarcely known in his own country.