There’s no telling what legislative debacles await our country over the next year, until the new class of 2010 is sworn in and Obama’s ability to implement his remake of America comes to a screeching halt. In the meantime, we can suggest a few resolutions for Congress and our President, or at least aspiring candidates, to consider:
We will not give away that which we do not own. As we come out of the Christmas season, we must realize that while Congress loves its adopted role of Santa Claus, it is not a role that is found in the Constitution. Adopting this resolution would nearly single-handedly restore the government to its original limited purposes, as prior to “giving” something to anyone, Congress must first take it from someone else. And in one fell swoop, government would become dramatically cheaper as well.
Alas, there are not nearly enough elves in Washington or anywhere else to create all of the “toys” that society has lobbied for. But even if somehow there were, why have we tolerated a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats determining who is naughty and nice, delivering stimuli, redistribution and favors to the latter, and coal (not even “clean coal” at that) into the stockings of the former?
We will not “triangulate” our national security. Ah, imagine the calculus that screamed in the backroom meetings about Afghanistan…. How many votes do we lose if we stay? Who do we gain if we appear tough? How blatantly can I ignore my field generals? Osama bin Laden is on record that 10 million dead infidels, which includes both conservatives and liberals — the enemy does not care — would be an acceptable goal for their cause. Meanwhile, we offer full Constitutional courtroom rights to self-admitted wartime terrorists. Just what are we thinking?
We will make the “death tax” permanent. Could there be a more blatant act of class warfare and demonstration of the Politics Of Envy? Wealth accumulated through a lifetime of work and saving, wealth on which taxes have already been paid, is taxed again because supposedly the government can redistribute the wealth more efficiently that those that created it. How is it that we tolerate the transfer of wealth from those with the best track record of creating it, to the entity with the best track record of squandering it?
We will repeal Obamacare. Or whatever it’s ultimately called. In a spectacularly stupid tactical maneuver, the Democrats have both a) followed a path of ramming through legislation that no poll can describe as being wanted by the American people, and b) structured the financial pain of the plan to come before the supposed gain. This sets up a massive opportunity for those running in the 2010 elections (and probably 2012 as well) to run on a campaign cleanly targeted against the Democrats and tapping into the public’s disgust for government waste and overspending by selling the repeal of Obamacare as a cost-cutting measure.
Furthermore, if they have the spine not displayed for the last several elections, they’ll aggressively market a health insurance reform plan centered around Health Savings Accounts, true nationwide competition between insurance companies, malpractice reform, and directly addressing the uninsured. In other words, a plan that will cost a tiny fraction of Obamacare, but more importantly, will actually be successful in driving down the rate of inflation in medical spending. Why? Because where HSA’s are being adopted, that’s exactly what’s happening.
The bottom line on Obamacare is that it simply can not work, because there are no elements in the plan that give any incentives to individuals to seek less medical services. Indeed to the contrary, it will dramatically increase those demanding medical care without correspondingly increasing the supply of service providers. The existing on-the-road-to-bankruptcy plan that is Medicare is being held up as a model to emulate, which would simply be laughable if it weren’t so outright dangerous. But hey, this is consistent with the rest of the Obama adminstration’s thinking: Identify the cause of a major sociological problem and then do more of it.
We will not sit idly by as a politically active minority transforms the character of our country. In other words, the giant that is a nation that still leans conservative will not stay asleep any longer. It is obvious what happens when that takes place: It sets up the stage for a demagogue like Obama to tap into a fawning national press corps and sweet-talk himself into office, promising the world (or “change”) to any and all supporters/worshipers along the way.
Instead, we will vote in record numbers and shut down the attempts to overturn the defining characteristics of our society, namely, limited government centered around freedom in all forms. We will no longer watch the irony of formerly communist countries like Estonia racing towards freedom while we race away from it. We will return to our global role as a country that leads by example, one that recognizes God-given liberty as the most effective way to improve the condition of mankind.
Lastly, we will actively encourage and support politicians who support the above. We will donate our time and resources to ensure that they are elected to office and hold them accountable for promoting true change in the form of reducing the size and role of government in our lives. Likewise, we will have the courage to tell those who promote the opposite, in no uncertain terms: You are wrong.
Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply.Name (required)
Mail (will not be published) (required)
Website
best wordpress themes Categories Economic Illiteracy (4) Education (1) Global Warming (1) Health Care (7) Limited Government (7) Regulation (2) Taxation (2) Readers say… Administrator on Economic Illiteracy Elected Barack Obamapolitical humor websites on Obama’s Reality Distortion Fieldfilc on Economic Illiteracy Elected Barack Obamafilc on Economic Illiteracy Elected Barack Obamafree grant programs on Economic Illiteracy Elected Barack Obama Recent Posts New Year’s Resolutions We’d Like to See DeMint 1, Bernanke 0 Democrats: Economic non-starters Global Warming: Show Me The Money Why Jamie Dimon is Correct The More Important War Economic Illiteracy Elected Barack Obama A Static Peg in a Dynamic Hole Read The Bill… Really? John Dingell’s Sausage Factory Organizations Acton Institute American Enterprise Institute Americans For Prosperity The Cato Institute Competitve Enterprise Institute The Foundation for Economic Education Foundation for Teaching Economics The Fund for American Studies FreedomWorks The Heartland Institute The Institute For Humane Studies The Leadership Institute The Ludwig von Mises Institute The Manhattan Institute Media Research Center Mercatus Center Archives January 2010 (1) December 2009 (1) November 2009 (4) October 2009 (5) September 2009 (6) August 2009 (4) Meta Register Log in Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS) Icons by Famfamfam WordPress FB.init("The-Civil-Society-Trust", ""); // 2.0) { z=z+"&s="+screen.width+"x"+screen.height; z=z+"&o="+navigator.platform; v="1.2"; if (navigator.appName != "Netscape") { z=z+"&c="+screen.colorDepth; } else { z=z+"&c="+screen.pixelDepth } z=z+"&j="+navigator.javaEnabled(); } else { v=1.0; } z=z+"&v="+v; document.writeln(""); } wpvisit(); //]]>
Name (required)
Mail (will not be published) (required)
Website
Read Full Article »
