The healthcare bill is nothing more than further erosion of our liberty through a greater expansion of the federal government into our personal lives. Let’s not forget the collateral damage imposed by an even larger destructive debt burden. No one argues that Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security are filled with fraud that totals over $100 billion each year (conservatively). When future projections of tax revenues and expenses for these three programs are considered, many people are not aware that we are already trillions of dollars in the hole. Stupidity is giving government bureaucrats more control over our economy when they have failed so miserably with these social programs. While having all of these expansive social safety nets can certainly make some people feel good, the perverse incentives and entitlement mentality they create are not good for the long term “psychological” strength of the country.

The absurd decision to have a civilian trial of KSM’s “crime” is not much more than a thinly veiled disguise of putting the Bush administration and the US intelligence network on trial for political purposes and some sick liberal catharsis. It doesn’t matter that it will be a media rant platform for extremists Muslims, and a symbol of weakness. The hypocrisy is astounding – liberals say they are concerned about terrorists rights in a civilian vs. a military court, but we continue to use Predator drones to bomb suspected terrorists camps in the Middle East when they haven’t yet been tried in a court of law. The disconnect in their thinking between a war and a criminal activity can’t be any clearer. To apply this disjointed logic, we should be using Predator drones to take out suspected gang member hideouts in LA or the organized crime offices in Chicago. Hmmm…maybe there is something there after all.

Cap-and-trade is feel-good legislation based on no conclusive scientific evidence; China and India can’t be any firmer in their position – they will not agree to any treaty that will force them to cut CO2 emissions. Decreasing real pollution is a worthy cause, but cap and trade, or any climate change legislation, will result in additional competitive disadvantages, and it will be economically devastating for many US industries.

The misappropriation of billions in bailouts and stimulus funding will result in more debt, bigger government, and continued corruption. Once the rhetorical window dressing of saving the world economies is stripped away, the taxpayer bailouts of well-connected financial institutions has nothing to do with free market principles and everything to do with more of the same corruption that helped create the financial meltdown. Much of the same holds true for the GM bailout which was accomplished by throwing out the rule of law and by political pay-off to unions. As an added benefit, all of the bailouts’ have unintended consequences (or intended consequences) of expanding the reach of the federal government.

There is an insidious shifting of the massive and destructive credit explosion from the private sector to the government. It is being orchestrated by swapping the massive and politically driven easy consumer credit explosion that fueled 100%+ debt-to-equity home equity loans, NINJ (no income, no job) loans, etc. with massive infusions of government credit through federal bailouts, stimulus programs, federal reserve and treasury inflationary liquidity policy, and general spending programs. The consequences of this will not be good.

The cumulative effect of allowing politicians to become more powerful than what was ever intended by our Constitution is difficult to comprehend and assess since so much of this has been a slow, and some would say deliberate, deterioration in our governing principles. While it would be easy to blame Obama and the current Democrat majority, we started down this path in the early 1900’s, sent it into hyper drive with FDR, and escalated it further with Lyndon Johnson. Republicans in recent years have not helped since they have done little to stop this deterioration; while Reagan was able to reverse the trend, Bush 1 and 2 abandoned many of the core principles of Reagan’s and the Founding Fathers’ limited government philosophy. This failure of the Republican party has not only resulted in the continued move to bigger and more intrusive government – it is also playing a major role in the destruction of the political entity that was a balance to the Democrats’ nanny-state.

All of that being said, it is heartening to see a program recently aired on television (yes – Fox News Channel) where a panel of Americans, who happen to be conservative blacks, support the principles of our Founding Fathers. They realize just how devastating big government can be since it is greatly responsible for many of the problems in the black community. Fostered by Democrat party beliefs, the black community is an example of how ineffective and destructive the government has been when it tries to socially engineer a desired result for people they believe to have been wronged. Look at any of the big cities where taxes have increased to support massive social programs – is there one city where it has been successful? The fact is, wherever government has been the savior for the common man, the common man has paid the price. All one needs to do is look to National Socialists (Nazis), Lenin and Stalin Communism, Mao Communism, or the communist dictator regimes of Africa and South America to see the millions that died in pursuit of the socialist utopia.

The long standing social engineering programs are eroding traditional values and familial strength. Entitlement programs, outcome-based education, affirmative action, and perverse social-based education initiatives (sex education; racial, sexual orientation, and gender diversity sensitivity; etc.) continue to increase almost unabated even though there is an occasional backlash. Again, more intrusions by big government. A similar erosion of our economic strength is also occurring. The explosion in federal regulations, or the enforcement of existing legislation, many times is nothing more than more feel good policies based on emotions and not facts or scientific rigor. It is killing U.S. businesses by putting them at a greater disadvantage in global competition.

These are just some of the assaults that we must deal with almost daily. The taxpaying citizen who understand basic economics and a little history of world governments knows the direction we are going is wrong. While we rely on our elected officials to represent out interests, this is not happening since we have allowed politicians the power to redistribute “wealth”. Not too difficult to imagine that the tyranny of the majority (the tax recipients) over the minority (the taxpayers) – some will say we are already there. This concern was recognized by Plato, Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, and James Madison. Either a revitalized Republican party based on limited government must emerge, or there must be the creation of a viable third party. It is up to us to support and encourage either one.

Obama has put Jennings in the position of a “safe school czar”, a man who has a background that should have prevented his consideration. If that doesn’t insult our intelligence, I don’t know what will. And yet, there is very little outrage in the media, Congress, or anywhere. Our insulated and untouchable elected officials don’t seem to understand why people feel so angry. What should politicians expect when the government takes a larger and larger part of the taxpayers earnings, becomes more intrusive, and dumps lies and filth through our public schools? Most people who have just a modicum of independence, ambition, and sense of individual responsibility hate to feel like they are irrelevant, but yet that is what is happening.

Yes, people are angry because they hate being used.

Fred Young,
Dallas, Texas

From the Washington Times, Monday, September 28, 2009:

EDITORIAL: At the President’s Pleasure

Mr. Jennings has made extremely radical statements promoting homosexuality in schools and about his utter contempt for religion that render him unsuitable for a prestigious White House appointment. His job in the Obama administration is to ensure student safety, and this scandal directly calls into question his ability to perform that job. Mr. Jennings and Obama administration officials refuse to answer any questions about this newly discovered evidence. A lot of Americans want answers about this guy and how he was approved for a job in the White House.

Why are people so concerned about the treatment of the Gitmo detainees and their due process when we have Obama-approved Predator drones flying over Afghanistan and Pakistan firing Hellcat missiles into suspected terrorist hideouts (operative word is “suspected”)? I don’t think there was a lot of due process for those on the receiving end, but this is an inconvenient fact that makes the treatment of Gitmo detainees look tame – unless you believe that death is preferable to prison. Are these “suspects” that much different than the people we captured and brought to Cuba? We know collateral damage occurs (translated – innocent bystanders killed), but this gets less coverage than our lengthy discourse on what is torture – some of which would only be considered hazing at many college fraternities – since it is no longer the Bush administration that is in office. Is this not blatant hypocrisy? The Pelosi, Obama, Cheney drama is a real treat as the facts slowly trickle out.

It seems our politicians are more interested in scoring political points by attacking Bush policies than giving workable alternatives or being objective. When the Somali pirates captured the American ship captain, and his life was “threatened”, the Navy Seals killed the pirates. It is interesting to note that while this plague of pirates off the Somali coast has been costly, they have not been killing their hostages – but it was okay for Obama to give the kill order with no due process. What would have happened if Bush was still in office and he gave the kill order?

You would think this debate would make us appear weak, but I think people who are objective understand that the Obama administration, once confronted with the reality of the world post 9/11, realizes it is much easier to pontificate about appropriate actions in the abstract than deal with reality. As long as we keep in place the deterrents to terrorist attacks, I am not certain Al Qaeda or the Taliban will look at the new administration as weak, irrespective of the sideshow on Capitol Hill.

Fred Young,
Dallas, Texas

You may recall early last summer, there were quite a few foreign leaders (from countries with the some of the largest global economies) who were relieved that their economy was at long last delinked from the US economy. They commented with certainty that even if the US economy went into a downturn, it didn’t matter anymore to them since the US was no longer the dominant industrial driver. Much to their chagrin, when our economy began to slow, it was clearly apparent they were mistaken. To the extent that the US is responsible for close to 25% of the world’s GDP (IMF and World Bank 2007; 27% in 1990), I guess this shouldn’t have been a surprise. Now we hear from many of these same people a kind of delight in the potential demise of the US as a leading world economic power. While we can’t say it is impossible, no one is too convincing about who is going to replace the US as the driver for the recovery. Many of the countries that are so critical of how the US has conducted itself in the affairs of finance and commerce(and rightfully so in many cases) are in much worse shape. It is difficult to listen to the Putin’s, Wen’s, and Chavez’s of the world when they have such glaring socio-economic imbalances that you can safely say are far worse than anything we see in the US. These countries should be thinking, “what the hell are we going to do without the US to boost world demand?”. The US had 29% of world GDP in 1970. While the explosive credit debacle may be partially responsible for recent US and global economic expansion (in real dollars), sound economic fundamentals have been primarily responsible for past US GDP expansion.

The prosperity we have experienced throughout the last 150 years, with its inevitable ups and downs, has been based on something that may not be so easily achieved by others. There are layers upon layers of cultural and economic developments that are uniquely insinuated throughout our country, and no matter how far we may stray from these fundamentals, there has always been a recalibration that brings us back. The work ethic, individual responsibility, limited government, regulated capitalism, and the ability to align so many people in the proverbial melting pot are reasons for the success of the US. While other countries have attempted to replicate some or all of this, they have never been able to sustain it. The question is, are we moving too far in another direction to where we cannot recover?

Finally, there are many reasons to worry about the future when we hear so much that is negative, and prognostications are so pessimistic. Not to take away from the seriousness of the situation, but could there be ulterior motives of those that encourage this sense of doom and gloom? The fact is that the Kennedy’s, Rothschild’s, Rockefeller’s, Howard Hughes and other families all made massive fortunes during the Great Depression. When I see some of these people who still have huge sums of capital parked safely (and sometimes clandestinely) somewhere being so pessimistic in a public forum, it makes me wonder if their motives are pure. I have talked with more than one private equity person that told me directly they have 100’s of millions of $’s (and in one case more than 1 billion) available and are waiting for the bottom to fall completely out so they can but things on the cheap. From a political perspective, the Great Depression allowed the Federal Government to make significant strides in expanding its power while encroaching on individual liberties. As we witness the current approach from DC to resolve the crisis, the move to a more powerful and invasive Federal Government is obvious. So when I hear politicians or financiers talk down the economy, it makes me wonder.

As for when will there be a reversal of the downward spiral, only a few contrarians will get this right. I think everyone would agree that once the herd starts to move one direction, the momentum builds quite rapidly. A change in direction is never realized by the majority until the evidence is overwhelming.

Fred Young,
Dallas, Texas