Yesterday a miracle happened. No, a lion did not lie down with a lamb, the lame did not walk and neither did the blind see. Instead, a miracle of an unprecedented magnitude happened in the state of Massachusetts. A Republican was elected to fill the seat of Teddy “One-for-the-Road” Kennedy. To say that the left is in shock is an understatement.
The question I ask coming out of this election is how will the GOP read it? The election was spun by the left as a referendum on healthcare and that is exactly what won it for Brown. The people of Massachusetts came out in droves to vote against Obama’s plans to extend control over 1/7th of the US economy in the guise of healthcare reform. GOP leadership is of course ecstatic over the victory and they should be (heaven knows it’s been a while since good news involved the GOP). The danger to those of us who value freedom is a misread of Brown’s victory by party elites.
If party leadership reads this victory to mean people are so fed up with the Democrats they will vote for anyone wearing the Republican moniker the potential for big wins in 2010 will be lost. The Republican Party lost big in the last round, not because the country had shifted left, but because the Republican Party had shifted left. Under Bush it was hard to tell a Republican voting record from a Democratic one. Keynesian deficit spending alongside rampant Congressional corruption and moral turpitude produced a perfect storm for the left. The left won because the right stayed home.
It may be possible for the GOP to go one cycle or perhaps two with the old practice of running RINOs and Rockefeller Republicans. It is possible the electorate, shocked by the abuses of a strong Democratic majority, will vote for any elephant walking down the street, but this will not last long. Unless the party of Reagan returns to its base it will find itself exiled from power again and again. If this happens it is not the Republican leaders who will suffer but the American people who are forced to watch more and more of their freedoms wheedled away by misguided apparatchiks.
Like many liberals President Obama places too much stock in his own plans and places way too little in the American people. America has created more wealth, freed more people, and overthrown more tyrants than any other nation to ever exist. Amazingly, this was all done without Barrack Obama as president.
On December 16, our president told ABC news that if his healthcare plan is not passed America will go bankrupt. Whatever happened to Mr. “Yes we can.” The reason for his dire projection is Medicare and Medicaid spending. Mr. Obama proposes that we transfer these broken programs into a new program that will oversee the healthcare of all Americans, claiming this as the only way to keep down costs. We remember all the government programs that so effectively kept down costs in the past. There was . . . well . . . what about . . . perhaps . . . Ok, so no government program has kept down costs. Instead, the record of bureaucracies is out of control spending and poor service. This means the president of this country claims that unless we spend more government money and interfere in the lives of more Americans the United States in doomed and the federal government will go bankrupt.
This president has shown he has a very limited play book. When attacked, use the race card. When overcome with bad press, take action to distract the media. When optimism fails, switch to fear. What this country cannot afford is more of Barrack Obama’s good-money-after-bad policies. Whether it’s healthcare, bailouts or ‘stimulus’ checks, all he offers is more of the same—freedom is bad, government is good, responsibility is to be avoided.
The latest evolution of the health care monstrosity slinking through the Capital is just as dangerous as earlier versions. The House is considering a version that would supposedly allow doctors to negotiate prices with the government instead of the earlier plans that included set prices that amounted to price controls.
Price controls are a problem because they are historically unrealistic and, over the long run, produce shortages. When a company is forced to sell an item at a price below the cost of production, distribution, and profit they stop producing—resulting in a shortage. Price controls also cause shortages through overconsumption. Thomas Sowell in Basic Economics (pg 29) tells of wealthy people who did not even live in the city holding on to apartments covered under New York’s rent control laws. This reduced the number of apartments available for the poor who were supposed to benefit from the laws.
When one of the agents is the government, negotiated prices are price controls with a less offensive name. Control is negative and implies a use of force. Negotiation sounds warm and fuzzy, sitting down over coffee and biscotti, and seeking what is best for both parties. In order for a negotiation to be effective, and balanced, each must have something to offer and negotiate from an equal footing. When one agent is far more powerful than the other, negotiation quickly gives way to demand. How is anyone, other than a separate sovereign nation, to negotiate with the US government? This is not possible because the government will set the terms of the negotiation. This will quickly degenerate to hidden price controls along with the resulting shortages.
What our healthcare system needs is a healthy dose of free market economics. Our system has been under the boot of big government for too long; Mr. Obama and his cronies in the Congress want us to believe the solution is adding the other boot.
That’s right. The White House has declared war against Fox news. Why? Fox News broadcasts the opposing view. In other words they practice journalism. I would not be so naive to say that Fox new is always unbiased. They have commentators who regularly speak against the left, just like CNN does. The problem is that the Obama administration loves CNN and MSNBC because the love is returned. These two stations have been in a love fest with this administration long before Obama was sworn in. Of course, MSNBC is the worst of the two. If they didn’t occasionally broadcast the weather MSNBC could not even be called a news station. CNN, formerly the Clinton New Network and now in the thralls of Obama, has yet to air a story in any way negative of the new president.
The First Amendment was not put in place to protect the government’s mouthpiece but to protect those who would speak against the government so that the people will hear more than the official side. This role has fallen to Fox News, the only station following its First Amendment mandate.
What can the left do when their president slips in the polls daily? President Obama has failed miserably at everything he has done so far. He has not ended the Iraq war as he said he would. He will not be able to close Guantanamo as promised. He has not stopped the Iranian nuclear program. He has alienated friends and cuddled up to enemies and terrorists. He has spent the nation into a record debt, likes of which our nation has never seen. He has handled over the reins of his office to self avowed Communists and America haters. He tried to put his own people in charge of the Census. He has meddled in the finance industry and GMC, seizing control of huge swaths of the economy. Then there is of course healthcare, and his related failures there.
So how is the left to rehabilitate this president’s ratings and raise his poll numbers? Simple, give him the Nobel Peace Prize—no need to produce peace or even move towards it. Of course the prize has nothing to do with producing peace—remember Jimmy Carter won it. It has more to do with making political statements and influencing public opinion. The Nobel Committee is the new PR department of Obama political machine. Do you hear that whirring sound? It’s Alfred Nobel spinning in his grave.
Max Baucus of Montana is hard at work trying to force his healthcare bill through committee and onto the floor of the Senate. If he succeeds we could have a new healthcare system in this country before long. Of course the new system will take care of few if any of the old problems and simply create higher taxes and more government red tape.
The Baucus plan will provide subsidies to families and individuals to help defray the cost of getting insurance. This subsidy is available to any family making under $88,200 or any individual making less than $43,230. Of course when we look simply at the dollars one can see why this would be offered. Neither figure is a huge income these days, because the cost of coverage can run to 5 digits for some families. The problem is when you consider what portion of the population will now be subsidized. According to 2005 census figures, this would cover 80% of American households. If Max’s plan goes through 80% of Americans will have their healthcare costs subsidized by the Federal Government. Is anyone silly enough to believe that this will not require higher taxes or cuts to other spending? This is simply an effort to buy support from the American people. By casting wide the net of those on the dole Max hopes to get more people supporting his proposal.
The next problem doesn’t seem like a problem at all. It can almost be spun as a fix to a problem I already addressed. Max’s plan to require all Americans to buy coverage or face a fine is obviously problematic. In recognition of this Max had lowered the fine for not having coverage from $3800 to $1900. This is recognition that many will defy the plan and admission that the purpose is not to defray the costs to the system of uncovered patients. If the system were enforceable and truly for the purpose of getting Americans covered a higher fine makes sense. By lowering it Max is admitting that his plan will quickly make many previously law-abiding Americans into criminals. What will their crime be? Choosing to spend their money elsewhere.
For most people a few months is not very long. A child thinks of this period as an eternity, but an adult facing a wait of several months is a different story. By the time we reach adulthood we learned to wait. We have also had things we wanted put off for months and observed how quickly that time passes. Even with the relative shortness of a few months a lot can happen in that time period.
In nine short months a fertilized egg becomes a fully formed human being. The transformation from single cell to sentient intelligent being is an amazing miracle to consider. Compound that complexity with the quickness of the process and awe is only natural. The mother feels her bond grow daily as her child develops; a father’s first experience of the child is at birth. Just as the bewildered father finds himself bewildered by miracle that has changed him from man to father and feels mixed emotions as he realizes the weight of his new responsibilities, a society can find itself overcome by the changes wrought in a few months by a misguided agenda.
The last few months of US history are a perfect example. We have seen changes in the land unforeseeable only a few years ago. I still remember the days when the media was bemoaning the destruction of the Democratic Party and declaring that the whole country had taken a sharp turn to the right. With the leadership of the American Triumvirate (Obama, Reid and Pelosi) we face a brave new world—not so brave, and if you listen to Solomon, not so new.
Over the last few months the following has come to pass under the leadership of the most left leaning president and Congress in history:
• American’s largest auto manufacturer is majority owned by the federal government.
• The President of the United States has removed the CEO of a major corporation.
• The financial industry is under the heavy hand of the fed.
• Major segments of society are being managed by Czars, not one of them elected.
• Veterans who served their country have been labeled potential terrorists.
• A government website has been established for reporting opposition.
• The government is poised to expand its control of our healthcare.
• War has been declared on the entire health insurance industry.
• Members of previous administrations are being criminalized for policy differences.
• Business is being attacked with higher mandatory wages and proposed new requirements.
• Our children’s wealth has been spent before the children have earned it.
• Government debt has risen to unprecedented levels.
• Art and education are being suborned to speak in support of the president and his policies.
• Our economy is being sacrificed to the new religion of Global Warming.
As if this isn’t enough, imagine what a few more months will bring. Already, in 2010 taxes will increase without any action by the Congress or President. This automatic tax increase will kick in when the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire. It will be spun by Obama and the boys as not being a tax cut, but if your taxes are one amount this year and nearly double next year what do you call it? It is a tax increase and it will be Obama, Reid and Pelosi’s baby.
Some used to be say, “One election doesn’t matter; how must damage could be done in four years?” If the last few months are an example every election counts because the damage done can be irrevocable. Mister Obama, “I’ll keep my current health coverage, my current income and my current freedoms; you can keep the change.”
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.
