J.S.Mill - Comments On Liberty Today

BROKEN TAX PROMISE - Just Say NO!!!!!

So, will Barack Obama be held as accountable for his broken promise as he wants to hold his predecessor accountable for interrogations? Probably not. His promise will be broken, and he will argue that it had to take that action because Bush left him a mess. 

This "spin" must be exposed for what it is: A Lie!!!

Yes, he will say that, and the lie is obvious. He is the one spending all the money that will require the tax increases, not Bush and his economy. For now; it would be enough for Bush to ask: what was the growth rate in the economy during my two terms vs. what has been the growth rate during the Obama Term? That statement is clearly not rational either; but is is no less rational than a statement that the deficit requiring the financing through added taxes is because of Bush.

This economy, and the phenomenal deficit is an Obama condition, and the loyal opposition must put the responsibility where is belongs. Obama is creating the most disastrous economic policies since the failed policies of FDR. Yes, failed policies. FDR never fixed the economy: the war did. It is essential that Obama not be allowed to spin his way out of this mess. His spending programs are literally creating the seeds of rampant inflation and currency devaluation. These are inevitable, and once that happens, we will also probably be experiencing the Obama version of Carter's "deflation." 

These policies must be stopped and we must fire with fire. The Rules For Radical strategy that got Obama into the White House must be used to defeat him. More on that as the coming weeks and months pass. 

One thing: we must encourage the Republicans and the moderate Democrats to "just say NO!" Yes, being the party of NO is exactly where the opposition must be. It must say NO to the truly bad ideas. Incidentally, the Democrats managed to win the White House and the majority in the Congress by saying no and being obstructionists. The current minority must continue to say NO!!

CAP & TRADE

Ok, the House voted because the leadership "whip" process pulled out "all the stops" to get the votes. I am convinced that the leadership actually knows that the Senate will never pass the measure, hence all those who voted for the bill will have the cover with their constituents who want the bill, whole the rest of the Democrats who were at risk in their districts were given a pass. This tax in my mind is the most bizarre act of legislative folly I could imagine.

I am not convinced that Global warming is actually happening, but even if it were, this bill is an irrational effort, supported by radical advocates for environmental causes; not a single one of which seems to evidence any knowledge of basic economics. Further, the United States has more energy resources in the form of oil, oil shale, coal and world class nuclear technology that could, and candidly should, be used to create energy independence from the scourge of the Middle East. 

Over ten years ago, I started arguing for us to have a "Mission to the Moon" commitment to be energy independent. I know that we must make change happen in order to accomplish that, but had we actually committed to that goal ten years ago, we would be at least half the way there. As has been stated by many commentators, France currently generates over 80% of their energy needs from nuclear power. Combine nuclear, with clean coal technology that is already available, with oil shale, with further oil exploration in Anawar and off shore, plus the potential contributions of solar, wind and bio fuels, we have the opportunity to make major headway. The key: No tax, CAP & Trade, required. Just do what we already know how to do, and use existing economically viable options that are prevented by environmental fanatics. 

It is actually obvious to anybody who might care about objective thought, that this Cap & Trade Legislation is driven by the "Climate Change" protagonists and the big government advocates. Yes, Climate Change is now what they are arguing because they are now beginning to get significant scientific opposition to the warming arguments. Indeed, there is climate change, and some of it might be influenced by humans, but through the millennium, well before we created "green house gasses" the environmental impacts of life created those gasses and if they caused environmental change, few thought so. 

But I digress: This bill must be defeated when it gets to the Senate. It will not change Climate Change one iota; it will not add jobs, indeed it will kill jobs in the coal industry and will clearly drive activity oversees where the companies will not be required to pay the tax for using energy. 

Obama's Leadership Challenge

I have had a pretty strange few days. From taking time off to visit with my family to being a bit "under the weather" with some type of flu; I have had some time to reflect on the various events during the last week or so. I am actually much fascinated by what has happened in the US and world events. Indeed, I am not just fascinated, I am actually intellectual intrigued with what is happening, and believe that events are moving far too fast for the President. In the long run, I predict he will lose control. 

Admittedly, I am quite unhappy with what Barack Obama has been doing, and I have expressed those views on many occasions in this Blog. But, that said, I am also intrigued by the leadership issues that the country, and Barack Obama seem to be facing. These issues are huge, deep and broad, and they are having a significant impact on our country and on the President.

We have a President, who has come to the conclusion that winning an election gives him the mandate for "change." He promised that in his campaign, and he believes he is obligated to deliver. He is emboldened by the fact that the Democrats in Congress, who probably are not as radical as the President, but are almost as "left wing liberal" in their thinking. 

What I mean by "left wing liberal" is that they all fundamentally believe that big government is the only way that justice can be achieved in the society. They believe that they, will always have better answers than the public and the market. They are intellectual elites, who masquerade as being "of the people." They want a welfare state for two critical reasons: 1) because they believe that they can help the less fortunate, and only they can do it, and 2) because by having the welfare state, they can control the "masses" and the way the masses vote. 

President Barack Obama believes that his mandate must be achieved, or he will be at risk, and I actually agree with that. He rode to office on a wave of populism financed by wealthy "do gooders" and small contributions from the "masses" who believe that he will solve all their economic problems by "taxing the rich." Wealth transfer is what his entire program is all about. He truly does intend to "redistribute wealth" and every, yes every society that has attempted to do that has killed economic growth; stopped individual initiative, and driven wealth from the society. AND...every one of those societies has taken away most individual liberties. 

This is the leadership issue facing Obama, and facing the country. Obama will only be a second term President if he delivers on his promises to the masses who voted with their hearts. Yet, the true dilemma for him is that he is also about to create an economic nightmare, which I am convinced will lead to rampant "stagnation in growth" and inflation in prices. That was called "stagflation" and I believe it is inevitable. In addition, I am convinced that this economic scenario will also create huge monetary system problems for the US when the other countries decide that the dollar is so devalued that they do not want to "hold dollar denominated debt." Once that happens, the dominant role of the US economy will evaporate, and our leadership as an economic power will take us down the road of Europe. 

Conservatives, no liberty loving Americans, who believe in the core principles of liberty, equality, Justice and the capitalistic system, must not allow these radical, "trans-formative" progressives take us down the "Road to Serfdom." 

Sorry

Sorry, I caught a stomach flu or food poisoning and so I have been down and partially out. I am back, and candidly, the world of Obama seems to daily increase my frustration with his philosophy, policies and legislative priorities. 

I must admit, it pains me to say, but Bill Clinton looks good compared to this radical President. He is not trying to cause change, he is trying to completely destroy everything that this country was founded on, and create an entirely new society. I know that may seem radical thinking to some, but his policy and legislative agendas are ample evidence of just how radical his thinking really is. From the trillions of deficits, to the socialized medicine, to funding of "community organizers (Saul Alinsky style) like Acorn, to nationalizing almost anything he can find an excuse to grab, to simply being unable to defend effectively freedom throughout the world; he is off focusing on his radical agenda.

To his credit, he is focused on his agenda. It certainly is my hope that he will fall on the same sword that the Republicans did when they tried to reverse 40 years of Democrat rule with the contract with America. They assumed they had a mandate when they simply had a victory. Obama is making the same mistake, the only problem is, he has a Congress that is simply as radical left as he is, hence, he has a better chance to win his agenda than the Republicans did. They control both houses of Congress and the Presidency. The Republicans did not have the Presidency. 

This is what makes this situation in Washington so dangerous. There is no question that the President could end up changing this country forever because these kinds of social transformational programs just never seem to be repealed. 

The Bus

Ok, so how many readers expected Barack Obama to throw Israel under the Iran bus? Not even I thought that he would be so overtly pro Muslim and anti Jew. I am not accusing him of anything but ignorance and arrogance, but the Jews have a much larger reason to suspect this man of all manner of things.

For our President to abandon the only true democracy in the Middle East is appaling. Not even the debacle in Iran's election can explain his behavior. Any real hope that the "opposition" would be materially different than the current regime is fantasy. Iran us a theocratic dictatorship, a d the secular "leader" is irrelevant, except as a "mouthpiece" for the dictators. Israel, on the other hand, must feel naked in the wind. If Iran and the Palestinians are not dancing in the streets, it us only because now they have a real chance of total domination in that region, and the real prospect of having nuclear weapons to back it up. Jews will then be looking fir a new "homeland."I know that us very pessimistic, but it is not easy to see a positive future with the Obama "sell out."

New Labels Required

One thing the real intellectuals I studied under in graduate school would have said was that "labels" used to describe ideas, may at times be a useful shorthand, but in the long run, ideas are complex and one word labels can never be effective at explaining ideas. That has never been more true than now. 

This past week, the  "liberal left" (sorry for that) started the latest campaign to discredit the "conservative right" and it was so upsetting to me that the trip to the Disney World escape from reality was actually a good way for me to cool down. The intellectual snobs of the New Yoprk Times, lead by Paul Krugman, began asserting that the American conservatives were "silently" the cause of the killings by a radical Muslim and a seriously ill racist, "jew hater" who killed at the Holocaust Museum. The reason, because these were "right wing" fanatics and that the political proponents "on the right" were in the same class and held the same, or similar views. I was so insulted, I simply needed time to cool off. 

After "cooling off" for a few days, I remain no less offended, but now I am very concerned that this is what Saul Alinsky discusses in Rules For Radicals. This is the "marginalize the opposition" strategy. I hate to admit again the brilliance of that message, but it works. Instead of Krugman blaming the political hatred on the left for the vilification of George Bush being the tone that encourages the hatred by these radical, it is the conservatives who are the target. If the "left" can create the "straw man" right radical as the cause of all violence, then the right can be blamed for fascist ideas, rather than the left. Yes, I am convinced that the message about the fascist left is much more accurate than the fascist right, yet, look at the history books and you will not read that. Mussolini was a populist leftist, long before he became a "true fascist." Yet that term is clearly identified as a "right philosophy" not a left idea.  

There is no doubt in my mind, that the left which can not get the "share of voice" on radio and TV that it thinks it "deserves," wants to silence the conservative voices. We should never forget that the fairness doctrine is nothing more than an effort to force the media to air the views of those whose views can not gain traction in the market of free ideas. 

Ironically, there is one term that I actually think is a terribly misused term, and it is the term "Liberal." As most of you who read this Blog already know, the first "Liberals" were those who hold the clear view that individual liberty is the paramount value of their belief system and hence, they fought for Liberal ideas. Our founding fathers in the US where really liberals in their day. They fought for the right to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." They fought "against the oppression of big government in the form of the "King," and not for Big Government. 

I truly wish that we "conservatives" could reclaim the "liberal label" because it better describes our beliefs than does conservatism. People who claim themselves as "Libertarians" have the right idea, they just simply have not been able to rally the voters. In my heart, I am a "Libertarian!"

Escaping Reality

I am sorry for the absence, but I managed to take a few days off with my wife, daughter and her family. The trip was to Disney World, and I promised not be distracted during the time there. The fact is, every time I go there, I realize how that place draws thew crowds of kids, but even more importantly, adults. When there, the real world virtually disappears. Every time a cast member says anything to you, you get the "Have a Magical Day" greeting. After a while, you almost begin to believe you can have one. 

Then somewhere along the line, you see a newspaper, or even a limited TV broadcast, and reality comes back. I kept my promise to not get so caught up in current events that it dominated my focus, what I realized, as we all do, is that the world events just can not be escaped. There really is no way that magic can make all that go away, and we as citizens of the US can not make the problems of the society go away, and should not expect them to be cured without our voices, because those who would try to change our way of life, are not having a magical day, but are hard at work and just as passionate about bringing about that change, as we might be to prevent the erosion of our liberty. 

Pay Go

He is on the run. Yes, There is no doubt that the polls are turning on the President, and he knows the problem is serious. The absurdity of his suggestion yesterday that we needed legislation that would institutionalize Pay Go is clearly an overt admission that he is in trouble. The key, however, is that the Republicans can not be lulled into agreeing with any proposal for Pay Go, because it will simply be structured in a way to guarantee that he will get the programs he wants, and taxes will be increased. The Pay/Go world is a ruse by tax and spend profligates to make taxing easier.

Well, I may have been wrong, but...

Tragic. I must admit, I am truly saddened by the Supreme Court decision not to take the case. I truly believe that this was a constitutional issue and represents a significant abuse of power and an abrogation of property rights. This was an opportunity for the court to look carefully at the issue and make a reasoned judgment on the merits of the arguments, not on the political winds created by a President who wants to save Chrysler. This is a "sweetheart deal" for Fiat and the unions, and they were not going to walk away before the court decided the issue.

Wow...Was I wrong!

I must admit, I was completely wrong. I predicted that Judge Ginsberg would not allow for a review of the Petition by the Indiana Pension funds to challenge the Chrysler bankruptcy petition. As you probably know, l I believe that this action by the Obama administration is a complete violation of our well founded property rights and the protection of secured creditors. I would probably have bet that she would deny a review, but for whatever reason, she agreed to allow the review. I am delighted, I just hope that the issues get a fair hearing, because I am convinced that this move is a constitutional violation by the overreaching Obama administration.