Please keeps these words in mind as you await, no doubt breathlessly, for July:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
It is our right as American citizens to be the master of our government, not the other way around. The government was created to protect our Freedom, a function it is no longer performing.
"2010 and 2012 will see the Democrats and big-government Republicans like Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley swept out of the halls of government because of their absolutely outrageous abuses of power."
What will we get in their place? The shifting mists and sands of the future obscure that part of the prophecy. But if the past is any indication, it will be more of the same. Hopefully they will be chastened for at least a little while and roll back all of this scary government growth.
Last year, I made a promise that I didn't think would be that hard to keep. I promised to give President Obama until July, kind of a honeymoon period if you will, before I let loose with my usual tirades of anti-socialist indignation and conservative outrage.
Boy, what a mistake that was.
But, I am a man of my word so I will honor my promise. Either way, with the way things have been going so far, who knows what the world will look like on Independence Day. I can tell you that I will be attending the Chicago Tea Party July 4th in Grant Park. Who's coming with?
Join us in taking back America and putting grownups back behind the wheel.
The job of the President of the United States of America is, primarily, to uphold our Constitution as the chief executive office of the federal government and to direct policy to that end. But as a very visible national figure, the President's other main job is to provide reassurance and confidence to the citizens of our country. George W. Bush and Hank Paulson used fear to achieve political goals, which is reprehensible.
"This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."
These are the dire consequences of the government "doing nothing." Our government is the cause of the problem and the proposed solutions (including the tax "cuts" which don't go nearly far enough) are only more of the same that got us in this mess in the first place. Now the President is actively using fear tactics to basically threaten the American people. If the American people don't support this stimulus, then we only have ourselves to blame when the American Dream goes down the tubes. Shameful. How is that instilling confidence and reassurance? I thought that Obama was going to save us.
Do you know why personal finance and basic economics aren't required coursework in public schools? Because if the American people were educated on these things they wouldn't be so quick to fall for the nonsense our federal government tries to put over on us. As it is, there is quickly diminishing support in the polls for this stimulus bill, which says to me that most Americans still at least have half a brain.
The Euro-socialist social model continues to warm up to the idea that the ultimate enemy of Mother Gaia is her children.
Call me alarmist, paranoid, or melodramatic, but it's only a matter of time before we have a euthanasia and sterilization protocol to curb population growth.
Of course, it will be called something like the "Fair Family Act" or "Sustainable Human Development."
Slathering, shameless, gushing, rationalizing. Nancy Pelosi is so excited that she gets to fulfill all of her collectivist/big government dreams that she can barely contain herself as she tries here to rationalize the idea that babies and children are a "burden" on the federal government. Credit to Stephanolopoulos for asking her, "no apologies?"
You know, Nancy, in Russia they have such low birth rates that the government sponsors huge youth camps where young people are encouraged to have sex so they can start bringing their population back up.
One well-intentioned policy after another, each followed by a disastrous unintended consequence. Typical.
<moot>Do we really want this much government, I ask again?</moot> It doesn't really matter now because it's what we've got. Capitalism and democracy were abandoned early during the 20th century once the Left* got the reins of power. We had about 12 years out of the past 60 where the Right was in control, but they were too disorganized to do anything but copy the Left's drive towards collectivism (with only a few notable shining moments).
It's a sign of the Right's terrible leadership and public relations that they let the Left get away with blaming that our mounting problems on the Right's short reign. Now the Left is in complete control.
I have never really been that concerned about one president or another, knowing that there's not much they can do to really affect my individual life. But now I'm not so sure. Usually the government has enough internal opposition and discord to keep the worst ideas from becoming law. A bill, good or bad, can't get passed unless it's strength is diluted with compromise. That's not going to be the case any more. Even if there wasn't a Left near-supermajority in the legislature, the individuals on the Right are so concerned with protecting their careers that they are lining up to support the Left in a "spirit of bipartisanship." The Left is now free to do it's worst, all for "our own good."
We don't have two parties so that they can work together. Let me say that again: We. Do. Not. Have. Two. Parties. So. They. Can. Work. Together. Period. The American people, whether they know it or not, want partisan politics more than anything. See, that's how the system was supposed to work originally. Two opposing ideologies debate the policies until they hammer out something that is the best for everybody. The best policies were supposed to be found in the marketplace of ideas, just like the best prices for goods and services could only be determined by the free market.
But the American people are warming up to the idea that they are entitled to a living wage, free healthcare, a middle-class standard of living, and freedom from discomfort.
The warm bosom of Mama Government welcomes you, children of Obama.
*Please note that I am no longer using the words Democrat and Republican to personify the ideals of Left and Right. Party affiliation no longer has anything to do with ideology.
"The CDM" — the 4-year-old, U.N.-managed Clean Development Mechanism — "is an excessive subsidy that represents a massive waste of developed world resources," says Stanford University's Michael Wara.
Forced relocations have become common in China as people in hundreds of communities are moved to clear land for factories and other projects, provoking anger and occasionally violent protests. But what happened here is unusual in highlighting not just the human costs, but also the awkward fit between China's authoritarian system, in which complaints of official abuse abound, and Western environmental ideals.
Those ideals produced the Clean Development Mechanism as a market-based tool under the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement to combat climate change. The CDM allows industrial nations, required by Kyoto to reduce emissions of gases blamed for global warming, to comply by paying developing nations to cut their emissions instead.
Companies thousands of miles away, such as Germany's coal-burning, carbon dioxide-spewing RWE electric utility, accomplish this by buying carbon credits the U.N. issues to clean-energy projects like Xiaoxi's. The proceeds are meant to make such projects more financially feasible. As critics point out, however, if those projects were going to be built anyway, the climate doesn't gain, but loses.
It's Socialism. It doesn't work. It never has and it never will. The only demonstrable effects of Socialism are suffering and waste.
"Nobody asked if we wanted to move," said a 38-year-old man whose family lost a small brick house. "The government just posted a notice that said, 'Your home will be demolished.'"
Where's that guy and his family supposed to go? I guess it doesn't matter because he is only a lowly, uneducated peasant and he can surely go find another small brick house to live in someplace else, right? I mean, it's not like he went to Stanford, has an important PR job, and lives in a charming, turn-of-the-century, protected by an historical zoning ordinance brownstone in Georgetown. Those people over there are all "tribal" anyway so things like "freedom" and "democracy" have no meaning for them. Just like in Iraq - you know, those "tribal" people who make hand-crafted rugs and violins, work in the Iraq Stock Exchange, go to the University of Baghdad, or drive a Mercedes? The kind of people who don't want or who can't understand democracy, freedom, or religious and women's rights. Those people.
Dr. George Bush says to his assistant, "this patient is clearly clinically depressed. Bring me my instruments, we're going to have to bleed him. It's the only way." The bleeding doesn't seem to work so Dr. Barry Obama steps in and says, "no, no, no, you're doing it all wrong. You're not bleeding the patient enough. Assistant, pass me my extra big and sharp instruments."
All the patient really needs is some fresh air and maybe a half of a Valium.
