The Republican Party of John McCain and Mitt Romney lost two presidential elections, the second to a weak candidate in a weak economy. Left to its own devices, it will lose the next presidential election and all the following ones.

By picking a fight on Obama's least popular position, namely health care, the conservative wing of the party led by Ted Cruz galvanized the party base and forced the House leadership into a fight. In a recent poll, the Gallup organization found that just 22% of Americans expected Obamacare to improve their family's health situation, while 47% expected it to make it worse.

As my old partner Jude Wanniski used to say, the electorate is like a diamond, waiting to be cut at exactly the right spot. Ted Cruz pointed the chisel correctly.

It well may be true that shutting down the government hurts the Republicans in the short run. That is immaterial; there is no way to get from here to there except by making a stand against Obamacare. There is no downside, for the Republican Party as presently configured already is a guaranteed loser. A reinvigorated conservative leadership has a chance of leading the party to victory.

Knowledgeable officials are expecting a regulatory tsunami after the election. By law, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is required to publish a report each April and October about new regulations that government agencies are considering. OMB failed to publish the April report.

The question is why -- what is Obama's OMB hiding?

Given the highly political behavior of the Obama White House, it is not unreasonable to suspect that because of the failure to give notice of impending regulations and the backlog of regulations under review, there will be a tidal wave of new "midnight" regulations immediately after the election.

It also is reasonable to suspect that many of the regulations may be politically unpopular and do great economic damage. If Mitt Romney wins, he may be able to pull back many of those regulations, but if Mr. Obama wins, given his rhetoric and previous behavior, a torrent of new regulations is likely.

As most of you know, I have an expedition company called Wheeler Expeditions. The expeditions I run myself are mostly for private clients. I am very proud to say that my son, Brandon, has joined me in the business - and he has conceived and organized an amazing adventure which he calls The Gods and Heroes Triathlon.

Next June, Brandon will lead 16 young and young-at-heart adventurers to:

Swim the Hellespont like legendary Leander in Greek mythology (the Hellespont, now in Turkey, is the straits separating Europe from Asia and is where the Trojan War was fought)…

Climb Mount Olympus to the home of the Greek gods…

Run the original Marathon of 490 BC in the footsteps of Pheidippides.

You’ve got to admit that is seriously cool. Brandon has also included visits to Meteora, where Christian monks in the Middle Ages built monasteries atop giant rock spires, Delphi, the center of the Greek spiritual world, and of course Athens, to explore the Acropolis and party at the Plaka.

Brandon wants this to be a Fun Triathlon - not a competitive one. The object is to have as much fun as possible experiencing and recreating the most legendary athletic achievements in history.

Yes, you have to be in good shape. But this is a personal challenge, a personal adventure. The goal is to participate in history, not compete against it. It is not to compete against one’s fellow adventurers, but to share legendary experiences together that everyone will never forget for the rest of their lives.

If you (or anyone you know) would like to make these epic feats and legends of history a part of your (or their) life, the full itinerary is on the Wheeler Expeditions website.

Most everyone has seen the nature documentaries of Sir David Attenborough and is familiar with his name.

Publicizing his imminent new series about the evolution of animals, Sir David said in an interview last week that he thought a reduction in human population during this century is impossible and "we're lucky to be living when we are, because things are going to get worse." People will look back in another 100 years "at a world that was less crowded, full of natural wonders, and healthier."

His is a common view. He longs for people to enjoy the open spaces and abundant herds of game that he has been fortunate enough to see. To that end he thinks it vital that there should be fewer of us.

I would now passionately disagree with the two premises of his argument. It's actually quite likely, rather than impossible, that population will be falling by the end of this century and it is also quite likely that the people alive then will have lots more wilderness to explore and wildlife to admire than today.

The facts that show this and disprove Sir David are fascinating.

If there is one thing government bullies like Barack Hussein Obama and his accomplices in Congress do not understand is that, in Adam Smith's phrase, the "invisible hand" of self-interest is what makes the world work, not them.

A perfect example is their fascist power grab called FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.  The cost of compliance and associated risks of FATCA are so high for foreign financial institutions that it will result in the United States losing hundreds of billions in foreign investment and millions of attendant jobs.

For three decades, a thorn in the side of the big-government bullies like today's FATCA fascists has been a remarkable woman, former U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Faith Ryan Whittlesey.  You should know about her.