The Quiet Conservative February 23, 2009
Inexcusable and Irresponsible.
"Inexcusable and Irresponsible" was how President Obama described the delay in the stimulus bill that
was being pushed through Congress. He said this while addressing the Democratic Party elite at the
Kingsmill Resort and Spa in Williamsburg, Virginia. The elite traveled there aboard a chartered
Amtrac train that cost the taxpayers $70,000+ according to the Washington Times. In addition, the
retreat costs at the resort were split between the party and the taxpayers. They are not disclosing the
total cost. Why should they? Who are you to ask?
Therefore, the very same people that wanted to cap salaries of executives in companies that received
bailout money, the very same people who expressed "outrage" that company execs receiving taxpayer
dollars were going on retreats to expensive resorts, the very same people that were decrying the
excesses of "Wall Street", were doing this pontificating from a luxury resort paid for partly by
taxpayers while they plotted strategy to blow a trillion dollars of your money. It is hoped they ordered
the lobster, the best champagne, and the full resort package and golf access. After all, don't they
deserve a little relaxation on your money? It is hard work to spend a trillion dollars of your money.
Plus, you don't have the time to object. You have to work. Someone has to make the money to pay
for it all.
From the January 31st column: "A point on economic theory. Does this example make sense to
you? Say, you are hit with an unexpected medical bill that runs into the hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Do you run out and apply for as many credit cards as possible and max them out as a way
to prosperity? Probably not. Try this example: If growing government and taking over large
segments of the economy is kick starting the economy, if massive deficit spending and suppression
of the private sector through increased taxes and regulations is the answer, if raising trade barriers
and controlling the health sector is the answer, then why isn't the Soviet Union still around and East
Germany the crown jewel of Western Civilization?
Whether you call it Communism, Socialism, The Great Society, Liberalism, or a stimulus bill, it
has always failed. It will continue to fail. One hundred years of failure are not going to be
reversed because the press and the liberals in this country want it to. We are taking a recession in
response to liberal meddling in the housing market, and using that condition to destroy capitalism
and our nation's prosperity. Like sitting in the back seat of a car going over a cliff, I can see it,
but can't do anything about it.
President Obama stated:"But broadly speaking the package is the right size, it is the right scope,
and it has the right priorities to create 3 to 4 million jobs, and to do it in a way that lays the
groundwork for long-term growth. This quote comes from an Associated Press article as posted on
Yahoo News. Concerning the loss of jobs it continues: "These numbers demand action. It is
inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as
usual while millions of Americans are being put out of work. Now is the time for Congress to Act."
Also from the article: "They did not choose more of the same in November. They did not send us to
Washington to get stuck in partisan posturing, to try and score political points. They did not send
us here to turn back to the same tried and failed approaches that were rejected because we saw the
results. They sent us here to change with the expectation that we would act."
No, that statement isn't quite accurate. No one sent the Democratic Party to Washington to destroy
the economy. President Obama was very careful to hide his intentions on the campaign trail. He ran
on "hope" and he ran on "change" but it is doubtful the sixty five million that pulled the lever for him
could tell you what he stood for other than those buzz words and his promise for middle class tax cuts.
You could have seen a foreshadowing of his economic theory by the fact that in his one year in the
United States Senate he wrote in nearly one billion dollars worth of earmarks for Illinois. Whereas
his socially liberal Republican opponent, John McCain, had written zero earmarks in his decades in
the Senate. But most people went for the sound bites and press adulation and missed the destructive
clues that gave indications of the coming disaster.
Now, before we get "bogged down in distraction" lets destroy the myth that Americans sent Obama
and the Democrats to Washington for "change."
Sixty five million people voted for Obama. Fifty seven million voted for McCain. The press
portrays that as 53% for Obama and 46% for McCain. But is that really reflective of the cross section
of our nation? Did 53% of America vote for Obama? Look a bit closer at the numbers. There are
three hundred million Americans approximately. There are two hundred and twenty five million over
the age of eighteen. One hundred and twenty two million voted in the election. So now look at the
percentages:
Obama: 53% of the popular vote.
28% of the eligible voters.
22% of the population total
McCain: 46% of the popular vote
25% of the eligible voters.
19% of the population total
It is fair to look at the numbers as a segment of the total population because the total population will
be suffering under the next great depression designed and built by the current economic philosophy.
"They did not send us here to turn back to the same tried and failed approaches that were rejected
because we saw the results." Yet, it is the philosophy that didn't work for the Soviet Union for eighty
years, that didn't work for the "Great Society" for thirty years, the liberal home lending policies pushed
by the Democrats, the confiscation and redistribution of wealth, it is this socialist philosophy that
shows no sign of reinventing reality and working now, that President Obama wants to try full scale.
The failed approaches he denounces? Capitalism and the prosperity it provides. Capitalism and the
free markets built this nation and are the engine of the entire world's economies. Even Vladimir Putin
took a break from trying to resuscitate the Russian empire to warn the US from adopting socialism.
He knows it is a failed economic philosophy. It is really something when our administration's economic
policies scare even a former KGB villain who would like to take over the world.
The government does not make jobs. The government does not produce wealth. These 'billions
and billions' numbers they are throwing around are billions they do not have the ability to generate as
real money. They require the private sector to generate the money. When you see the billions they
are talking about, they are writing checks on your efforts. From now and into the future of your
children the debt they are accumulating is money they are going to take from you to give to people
who either do not produce money, or do not produce enough to satisfy their needs and wants.
What they do have, however, is the common philosophy of voting together to get what they want.
The number of people doing that, and concentrating their support behind one national party, has meant
that twenty two percent of the population is putting a paper gun against the head of the rest of the
nation and robbing it blind. America as a nation was founded on the idea of the sacredness of private
property and limited government. The government was there to provide for the common defense of
the nation and to provide certain services for the common welfare of its citizens. The individual
contributes only as much as needed to fulfill this limited role. This is no longer the case. The
government now tells you how much of your paycheck you will be allowed to keep, and whether you
will be allowed to keep your home if someone can generate more revenue from the property than you
can (Kelo v. New London).
Rather than rant at the 22% of the American people who are responsible for the world's economy
circling the drain, it is instead proper to understand many of that 22% don't think what they are doing
is theft. Many just aren't informed; many are uneducated, misled, or well meaning but wrong. The
unscrupulous among them, Senators, Congressmen, civic 'leaders', labor leaders, communist and
socialist party members, criminals, former community organizers, etc, are all too eager to take
advantage of that segment of the population. The press, who have shed all integrity, are the willing
mouthpieces of the unscrupulous leaders. So it might be important to remember that much of the 22%
is salvageable.
Instead, while not harping on placing blame, it is curious to note that the other 78% apparently have
allowed this to happen. Conservative leaders, Congressmen, Senators, civic 'leaders' and most
corporations and small businesses, have not only not objected, they have swooned before the
opposition and have adopted the appeasement philosophy of rushing to the 'middle' or 'moderate'
position in the effort to be the last one robbed.
It is time for the 78% to band together and stop this depression. For surely, such reckless and
uncontrolled accumulation of debt will take decades or generations to overcome if it can be overcome
at all. America's prosperity relies on the rights of the individual, not the group. It relies on the
individual prospering, not the group. It relies on the right of the individual to private property and
wealth accumulation. The individual is the one who succeeds. It is the individual who grows the
economy, not the government or the group.
It is also incumbent to teach the entire population the basics of what capitalism is, and how the
market driven economy is what provides prosperity for all. "A rising tide floats all boats" is the
expression attributed to the icon of Democrats, President John F. Kennedy. He is said to have coined
the expression to justify tax cuts which the left claimed benefited only the rich. It is time to stop
demonizing success. It is time to once again think on the premise that getting rich as a nation is a good
thing.
As has been written in these columns before, "It is only in the land of so much plenty that
wanting to be poor and miserable is being promoted as something virtuous." How long this
philosophy holds sway and drags down the nation and the world depends on the 78% not allowing the
22% to destroy our future greatness.