Monday, October 26, 2009

By Jacob M. Jordan

I’m sick of hearing about Obama’s czars and how he delegates everything to others.  I’m wearied by constant talk of how the president is waffling on Afghanistan and has met with his general one time since August.  For those who believe Obama was not entitled to a Nobel Peace Prize, back off.  Stop being an unsupportive citizenry and consider the sacrifice involved in this colossal accomplishment:  In the first nine months of Obama’s administration, he has played an amount of golf that it took the lazy George W. Bush two years to get through.

Roughly speaking, one Obama-year is equal to over two and a half Bush-years.  Hopefully, this means that Obama’s term should pass more quickly as well.

This further highlights the political reality America finds itself in.  Practically speaking, it is ridiculous to currently call the country a representative republic.  Who is being “represented”? For instance, in order to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to 3% of our population, our government wants to assume control of over 16% of our economic infrastructure.  Talk about overkill.  Essentially, everyone will be taxed to pay for the few.  Not to mention the bureaucratic control that will be imposed on the 11 million who work in healthcare.  Nevertheless, even though the legislation is totally rejected by the American people, the democrats are going to abuse a congressional procedure that prevents congressional debate.  Consider the cap-and-trade scam that will subject private industry (and citizens) to stifling regulation.  Energy is about 8.5% of the GDP, has gone as high as 14%, and affects everyone on a visible basis.  Yet Rasmussen tells us that only 24% of the populace is even familiar with the controversial measure.  There was no majority backing this, even though its consequences will be incurred by the majority.  It is redundant to mention the public’s opposition to the various bailouts (which did happen on Bush’s watch).

The members of our executive and legislative branches have it all wrong; in a representative republic, you are not representing yourself once you get into office—you represent the people who are not there to speak for themselves.  Occasionally there will be deviations from the popular will—especially in matters of national security.  In the case of our government, however, it is inverted; they are dangerously “transparent” with matters of national security, but disinterested, arrogant, and elitist in what should be public issues.

I apologize for digressing.  The point is this:  the president talks about protecting “Main Street”—while denigrating and punishing Wall Street.  At the same time, he is out golfing, taking his wife on $250,000 weekend dates, and sticking it to the taxpayer for his Martha’s Vineyard vacationing.  There is nothing wrong with this behavior.  Every president does so in one form or another.  There is something wrong with it, however, when you are judging (and legislating) the morality of other rich people.

Milton Friedman, in exposing the flaws of socialism, once asked who it is that we will appoint to be “those angels who are going to organize society for us.”  The government now runs billion dollar industries through GM, Citigroup, AIG, and other companies.  Pretty soon the government will end up running healthcare.  At this time, following the hotly protested stimulus we were told we need, unemployment is running at 10%.  In a nutshell, we have a president who speaks of helping the poor, uninsured, and unemployed (at someone else’s expense), is failing miserably at it, but engaging in the high lifestyle he condemns as being the cause of the problem.  The Soviets had their version of this kind of hypocrisy.  Even though the basis of communism was financial and social equality, there still existed the “angelic” class who had to do the management.  While millions starved, they lived privileged lives in lavish country homes, touting their superior system and calling capitalism an unjust system.  I am reminded of the fact that those voting on our healthcare overhaul decided to exempt themselves from the new system.

Obama comes off like Huey Long in his rhetoric.  “In order to cure all of our woes,” said Senator Long in 1934, it is necessary to scale down the big fortunes, that we may scatter the wealth to be shared by all of the people.”  Sound familiar?  The difference with Obama is that once the Teleprompter’s words stop rolling, he rushes off to the driving range on your buck and let’s his czars dismantle the nation’s economy.