This premise that the people should control their own resources and fate goes against everything the present administration stands for and embraces. It wants and is taking the people’s power and money from them at an alarming rate. It is being allowed to implement their socialist agenda with ease, seemingly without opposition. In fact, anyone who dares to disagree with this administration is viciously attacked by the media and the administration’s own henchmen. It is unabashed in its fervor to create a world where those of us who play by the rules, work hard to make a living (which now takes two incomes per household in many cases), pay our taxes, are law abiding, and are just trying to get ahead, are summarily dismissed as second class citizens and taken for patsies and fools. Mr. Obama has admitted in his own words that The Constitution of the United States is “a charter of negative liberties” and that the Supreme Court should have addressed “the redistribution of wealth” in the Warren Court. It is interesting to note, that while the rest of us are struggling through this recession, the “government” is enjoying a rebirth, an expansion, if you will, the likes of which we have never seen. Those who chastised the previous administration for saddling this country with the largest debt in history have conveniently ignored the fact that the current administration has quadrupled the debt and did it within the first two months of coming to power, unlike Mr. Bush who ran up the bill over an eight year period, mostly in defense of the nation against radical Islam extremists. Don’t get me wrong, I am no fan of Mr. Bush either, based on his spending habits. He and the established Republican Party have forgotten their core principles as conservative-minded, fiscally responsible, stewards of our resources. In fact, both parties have contributed to the bastardization of government over time. It is now a bloated entity of itself, by itself and for itself that has created its own constituency made up of nearly 50% of the population by means of income redistribution. It has effectively propagandized this constituency into “conditioned” dependents, rather than promote an independent, self sufficient citizenry.
Regarding the redistribution of wealth and intervention and manipulation of government into the private sector; a case in point is the mess we find ourselves in concerning the economic meltdown. The truth is that, during the Carter and Clinton administrations, politicians decided that more people should own homes, whether they could afford them or not under the guise of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). So, the justice department began pressuring banks, on the pretext of racial and socio-economic discrimination, to lower their lending standards. This, unfortunately, gave rise to tremendous unabashed abuse by, fraud in, and corruption of the banking system. Again, while this policy was well-intentioned, it went against free market principles and every day common sense. It was designed, through free market manipulation, to artificially improve the lives of the poorest among us without having to endure the sacrifices needed to truly achieve the American dream of home ownership and independence by building equity (savings). Contrary to popular belief, not everyone is suited for or responsible enough to own a home. Once again, the government has shown itself to be a faulty social engineer. When government intervenes in any free market system, it fails and fails with far reaching, unintended consequences as we are now realizing and experiencing. Sadly, government’s answer to the problems they create is more intervention after blaming everyone else for the crisis. Now we are faced with astronomical debt that cannot be paid off for generations to come unless taxes are increased to the point of crippling this nation and bringing it to its knees. The answer has always been and always will be to get out of the way and let free market principles work with sensible regulation not borne of ideological intent. When markets over reach there are consequences and it should be left to the market to correct itself. This means that no business should be “too big to fail.” For if “rescue” is the path we choose, it serves to encourage bad behavior, because the greedy among us will know that there are no consequences for their actions when government is all too willing to step in and “rescue” those that misbehave. Regrettably, the pull of personal wealth creation and self aggrandizement has created a culture of politicians “cozying up” to “big” business, which is not good for anyone except those at the top of the food chain, including those politicians who “cozy up” to big business and other special interests to the detriment of the American people. We must all recognize that this incestuous behavior happens far too often between politicians and any number of special interests. The problem is that we, as “stewards of our own destiny,” are far too myopic in our perceptions and attitudes toward government. We must keep in mind that government does not create jobs and it does not create wealth. In the end, government only complicates matters by trying to manipulate free enterprise. What it does do well is to take from its productive citizens and redistributes the wealth created by those citizens, but in the process it becomes a burden to society. When all is said and done, the government is a cost that the taxpayer must bear. The problem with trying to solve every ill for every citizen or special interest, no matter the cost, is eventually you run out of other people’s money.
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