President Obama plans to tell your kids to study hard and stay in school. In a national address to school children scheduled for Tuesday September 8, he plans to tell them this and a bit more. While this is not unusual for presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush did the same thing, the original plan tells us a great deal about the man who now sits in the Oval Office.
Though changes have been made due to outrage, the lesson plans accompanying the speech originally included having the children write letters describing how they could help the president. While other presidents saw the value of inspiring children to stay in school, President Obama seems to have no problem using this as a tool for an American Jungvolk. Now, I know he did not write the speech, nor did he create the lesson plans to go with it, but the sycophants he surrounds himself with have shown no reticence to presenting him as the Messiah and Deliverer and he shows no sign of reigning them in.
No other president in modern times has demonstrated such a propensity for forceful expansion of government influence. He has increased government power in the financial industry through bailing out companies that were faltering largely due to liberal congressional meddling. Before long the opportunity came to seize control of a huge portion of the American auto industry. Once powerful GMC was bailed out with a huge chunk of the stock in the hands of the government after years of being pillaged by excessive union demands—unions that backed Obama and his cronies.
I’m not an apocalyptic conspiracy theorist, so I do not believe in an orchestrated attempt to get the nation to this point so at the right moment Barak Hussein Obama could bring us into some near future dictatorship. Please don’t regale me with your theories of the Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission or the Council on Foreign Relations. Neither do I want to hear misguided theories about how Obama is the Antichrist. Such discussions are useful for inspiring fear but have little use in meaningful and useful political discourse.
What I do see is a man who seems to have believed his own press. He seems willing to do whatever it takes to expand government influence (with him at the reigns) into all areas of our lives. Whether it is indoctrinating children to seek ways to support him—not the country, not the Constitution, but him personally— or taking control of industry, redistributing wealth from the productive to the unproductive, determining who gets paid what or bankrupting our children, grandchildren and beyond, his opinion of himself shows through.
Mr. Obama, my children and I do not need a Messiah. We already have one. You are the president which means you have been hired by the American people. Just as you can be hired, you can be fired. It is my greatest hope that in the next Congressional election the teeth of your presidency (control of both houses of Congress) will be lost. In the next presidential election hopefully the American people will tire of their venture into political idolatry and will send you back to Chicago.
Perspective affects perception. The way we look at things, the angle at which we see it or the side of it that we see makes a huge difference in how we perceive it. For example, most people have a “good side” they prefer for pictures.
Government programs are sold to the American people as one thing but a different view will often wipe away the glamour and show it for the sow’s ear that it is. One such program is “Cash for Clunkers.” It is interesting that the new owners of GM—Joe and June Taxpayer—are now forced to shell out for old cars to bait consumers onto the car lot. This stinker of a program has successfully drawn thousands to trade their old rusty gas guzzler for a bright shiny new payment book. Of course, in a recession that is what the American people need, more buying on debt—after all it worked so well for the Democrat controlled Congress.
Over the last few weeks people traded 600,000 vehicles. Now that it is over what has truly happened? Your government purchased 600,000 cars with the stated goals of destroying them. They spent your hard earned money on cars to crush. That is $2.8 Billion of your hard earned money for scrap metal. But this is not all they accomplished. Good manageable used cars with years of life have been gobbled up by a government monstrosity and are gone from the market. Many, whose only chance of a reliable car to get to work or school, face higher prices and fewer choices because of a shortage artificially created by a government that claims to care about them.
From time to time we hear of some terrible scourge to civilized society that the government must do something about. Of course the government in question is always the federal government. The media doesn’t seem to even realize that this country has multiple layers of government so everything gets made into a federal issue. Beyond the problem of always looking for a federal solution, there are difficulties with the problems to be fixed. Many times things need a solution, but is legislation the only solution?
Every time a law is passed it chips away freedom. If the law forbids some action then you are no longer free to take certain actions. If the law requires an action then you are no longer free to refrain from acting. For this reason, I often point out that the freest time in America is when Congress is in recess. This nation has, on the federal level, 535 people paid full time to do nothing more than make laws and seek reelection. I know some will point out that the job of our Senators and Representatives includes meeting with constituents, but these meetings are primarily for three reasons: reelection, build support for legislation and get ideas for other legislation. With the majority of their time consumed with keeping their job and enacting laws the greatest threat to the freedoms we so love is Congress.
So what is the solution? Is it to be found in making Congress part time, similar to many state legislatures? This will actually change little. The best thing is to elect officials who understand the Constitution and honor their pledge to uphold it. For example, earmarks would not be a problem if constituents stopped electing people who shell out federal dollars to get reelected. Of course this is hard when many who balk at earmarks attack their own representative for not bringing home enough project money. Most Americans oppose earmarks, except for the ones that come home to line their own pockets. We need elected officials who are statesmen first and foremost. Such people do the right thing, even if the next election means a job hunt.
We also need passion on the floor of the Senate and House where those who believe strongly for and against any legislation are encouraged to fight it out tooth and nail—verbally of course. Instead of pandering to the CSPAN cameras, let’s have heated debates with partisans (yes, I said partisans) fighting to the point of exhaustion to prevent anything unconstitutional from leaving either floor. Breaking a sweat in defense of one’s beliefs has been replaced with looking good for the cameras.
The next thing we need is an informed electorate that will hold its representatives responsible by demanding for each vote the constitutional grounds upon which that person voted. If a politician is unable to give good constitutional reasons for a vote he or she should look for other work. Until the American people realize that this is our government that has been allowed to rob us of wealth and chip away at our freedoms there will be no meaningful change. I hear complaints all the time about how bad politicians are. Can you imagine any business owner having nothing but complaints about an employee continuing to employ that person? We must realize that the politicians are our employees and if they are not performing up to standards (the Constitution) then we must fire them.
When the USS Abraham Lincoln returned from war in May 2003, President Bush stood before a giant sign that shouted, “Mission Accomplished.” The media and their liberal overlords twisted this sign’s meaning in attack after attack. I recommend the current President and Messiah of the Liberal World proclaim the accomplishment of one of his chief goals.
Later this month one more liberal landmine is set blow another hole in our already frail economy. In 2007, shortly after the Democratic takeover of Congress, the minimum wage was raised. This act was praised by the media and their friends on the left as help for the poor. We were barraged for years with images of unfortunate people who could not earn a ‘living wage’ flipping burgers and mopping floors. The left claimed these people needed help and that everyone working full time deserved to earn enough to live on. So in charged the Cavalry, riding Democrat donkeys and Republican RINOs, defending the rights of the worker from the evil capitalists enslaving them. No longer would these people be taken advantage of, the liberals would see to that and Bush would sign the bill. To ensure future prosperity for these disadvantaged souls, Washington legislated regular automatic increases. One of these is set to go off on July 24.
The latest news buzz has been on Barack Obama’s plans for universal healthcare. It is easy to bring out sad stories of people who seem to fall through the cracks in the system and go without care, but before we scrap the greatest healthcare system in the world we must make sure we have the facts straight. It is seldom helpful to base laws on emotional appeals.
While Congress is away from Washington for the Fourth of July, President Obama replied to charges that his plans for healthcare reform were rushed and too costly. Of course, his reply was quintessential political boilerplate. He says “doing nothing would cost far more than changing the system.” He made no appeal to the need for change and no details of the changes or what we will get for our money–just an unprovable claim that doing nothing would be worse.
Take notice whenever a politician says that the expensive program he is touting is less costly than doing nothing. This is not an attempt to convince but to obfuscate. It is easy to point to statistics and stories of failings of our current system, because his own system has not been implemented and therefore is difficult to examine. Liberal programs are never measured by what they do or do not accomplish but by what they meant to accomplish. Welfare is a good thing because it meant to cure poverty. Never mind the destruction of minority families and the harm done by these programs.
The healthcare status-quo could never be more expensive than surrendering control of one-fifth of our economy to the government and control of our healthcare decisions to bureacrats. The cheapest healthcare system is one that allows market forces to determine costs, and that rewards creativity and innovation. Government healthcare will choke off innovation, will cost everyone in higher taxes and will drive market forces from the equation. Costs, procedures, and standards will be set by government fiat. Anyone who has experienced healthcare systems run by the US government (welfare systems, BIA Indian Health Services, Veterans Administration, etc.) wouldn’t wish that care on the rest of the country.
Recently the House of Representatives passed a huge tax bill masked as an energy plan. HR 2454, which none of the House read prior to the vote, adds artificial costs (just another form of tax) to energy production and distribution. The goal of the bill is to make green energy more palatable and competitive so that market conditions will coax the nation to develop and switch to these new technologies. This is sort of a round about way to answer the critics of green energy who say that these sources of energy are cost prohibitive and that the market does not want them. Rather than letting market forces work, Congress wants to make the energy we currently use so expensive that other sources will become magically attractive. This is in keeping with the motto of the Democratic party: “If you can’t beat them, tax them into submission.”
Unfortunately, certain Republicans in the House of Representatives thought that you and I do not spend enough on utilities and voted with the majority to dip into your wallet. It is my hope that the eight voting for the bill will face serious primary opposition and be removed from office next time around.
The eight who voted to raise the consumer’s cost of energy:
Mary Bono Mack (R CA)
Michael Castle (R DE)
Mark Kirk (R IL)
Leonard Lance (R NJ)
Frank LoBiondo (R NJ)
John McHugh (R NY)
Dave Reichert (R WA)
Christopher Smith (R NJ)
Recently Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) stated, “House Republicans are more united than they have ever been before in our commitment to fiscal discipline and limited government.” When I hear these quotes I am torn. Part of me wants to believe. I have twenty five years with the Republican part and want to see the GOP succeed. I don’t mean merely succeed at winning elections, but succeed at effective leadership. Unfortunately, I am skeptical. The most recent Republican majorities were committed to bigger budgets, bailouts and expansion of government. For too long the only difference between parties was one of honesty and hypocrisy. The Democrats at least admitted their plan to expand government power and increase taxes. They claimed these were needed for the good of America, but stupidity is not the same as dishonesty. The Republicans preached limited government and lower taxes while spending like sailor on shore leave and increasing entitlements.
