If You Don't Read Anything Else Today...

Read this. Just a little perspective for those Americans who think that our wonderful new president's socialism is just what this country needs. Seriously, go and read the whole thing, but here's a little taste:

"So to The Vilified Rich, I beg you now: do for the rest of the country what my friend did for me… do for us what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. Break us of this addiction to the generosity of others. Just go away for a while, voluntarily, and leave the rest of us to look around and wonder where all the money and the jobs went. It will be painful, and it will be bitter, and our rage will be a terrible thing to see. But then, either we will get better, or we won’t. All will depend on whether or not we still feel the shame, and find the courage, to recover for ourselves the mastery over our own lives that once existed for all Americans, before you few despicable rich people came and started paying for more than half of everything. Which, as is obvious now, was not nearly enough.

If we can break this fever, then you can come back with your jobs and your capital and your vision and your wealth, which was generated by producing something large numbers of people found worth paying for. But go now, while you still love America enough to want to come back some day. Because if you don’t shut this thing down, and soon, the Bergs and Obamas will take and take and take from you until you never want to see this Godforsaken land again."

Reaping What You Sow

This is what happens when I don't post often enough to adequately vent...long, incoherent rants. I've got to start posting more frequently.

(By the way, the picture at right is the controversial cartoon that was published in the NY Post. All the typically ignorant, politically correct usual suspects jumped all over this as racist, even though it's patently obvious that the monkey represents congress, not our new untouchable savior.)

Anyway, it seems our new leadership in Washington is off to a wonderful start - if you're one of the many in this country who believe the government is there to take care of your every need. Of course, the simple fact is that most people in this country can't even be bothered to vote, much less pay attention to what happens in between elections. Then again, if everyone paid as much attention as I do, we'd all have high blood pressure and life-threatening levels of stress.

So what's the big deal about this so-called stimulus package our messiah has just rammed through congress, and why are so many folks up in arms? Unfortunately, our new president and his misguided cohorts in congress have, in less than a month, managed to saddle our grandchildren with several trillion dollars in debt, all for a program that most agree will do very little to solve the actual problems our economy is facing. The stimulus bill is a perfect picture of what's wrong with Washington and the majority of the pathetic excuses for representatives we send to do our bidding there.

The overall goal of this type of policy is to increase spending in order to prop up our shrinking economy. I'm no expert on finance, but I've read enough to understand that our GDP has recently begun to shrink. Keynesian economic policy, to which many of our new leaders adhere, is basically the opposite of supply-side economics. Most of us understand the idea that our economy is based on the rules of supply and demand. When supply increases, demand decreases, and vice versa.

In Keynesian policy, the idea is to use government to artificially increase demand. The average consumer in the free market, during times of economic trouble, stops spending money. It's just a natural reaction. When folks start losing their jobs and companies begin to lay off, we all tighten our belts. This of course only compounds the problem, as our economy is based on consumers buying and spending. In other words, demand shrinks because we all want to play it safe and build our savings back up during a recession. Our new leaders want to use the government to push demand back up.

The idea, basically, is to borrow money from China and other large nations to build roads and bridges, government buildings, and on and on. This will create jobs for people who are out of work, who will then go spend their new salary on cars, houses, etc. The only problem with this idea is that it doesn't solve the financial problems that got us to this point in the first place. All this plan will do is give a bunch of folks some temporary work and artificially shrink our unemployment rate for a while. For more discussion on what's really wrong with our economy, and why this won't work, go here.

At this point, I'm not really interested in whether this plan will work or not. I honestly don't think it will, but the biggest issue I see right now is the way in which this bill was passed, and the utterly ridiculous amount of completely unrelated nonsense that was included in the final product. President Obama revealed himself to be a liar when it comes to many of his campaign promises, and no one is calling him on it. We were all led to believe that this man would transcend partisanship. He would be willing to include ideas from both sides of the aisle, and would lead us into a new era of open and transparent government. So much for that nonsense.

President Obama missed an opportunity to show us all that he would in fact keep his promises to be a new kind of leader. This bill was rammed through congress without any debate over it's merits, without any input from republican lawmakers, and without anyone even having READ IT! He simply turned it over to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, who promptly shut out everyone with an "R" behind their names, and proceeded to draft a bill that includes every liberal pet project that has ever been dreamed up. Our president made a good show of listening to alternative ideas, but made it pretty obvious that he never intended to actually take any of them seriously. "I won." How very bipartisan.

I won't even get into the amount of idiotic, wasteful spending included in this bill because I happen to have a real job and it would take weeks, but the main point that needs to be made is that this entire process just stinks. Our so-called messiah has shown himself to be a liar and a coward. If he had wanted to show us that he's a new kind of leader, he would've insisted that all of the waste and unrelated nonsense be taken out of the bill. Instead, he goes into full campaign mode, traveling the country to convice us all that the sky is falling. Our new leaders, after accusing the Bush administration of using fear to advance their agenda, are fomenting and encouraging panic surrounding the recession in order to advance their own agenda.

President Obama, our great deliverer, is taking advantage of the crisis in order to enact legislation that Americans, in ordinary times, would never tolerate. No debate, no review, and no alternative opinions allowed. I'm not surprised at all. Democrats have been abusing the ignorance and apathy of the average American for decades. Why should this guy be any different?

Well done America. Excellent choice.

It's All On You, Donkey

We're about to see exactly what happens when liberal ideology is put into practice. President Obama, the Democratic Congress, and their cheerleaders in the press are about to have to put up or shut up. For eight years they've all railed against everything the GOP has done. Offering plenty of criticism, but not one actual alternative solution to any of the problems we face.

During his campaign, we were led to believe that Obama would be a transformative leader - one who brought new ideas, and a new kind of leadership, to the running of our nation. Well, just as some of us knew all along, we are going to get nothing of the sort. Every solution offered to date is nothing more than old-school liberalism, and just like in years past, it's going to fail.

Oh, the president is making a good show of listening to alternative ideas, but don't expect him to do anything other than try and spend his way out of this recession. It's the typical democrat response to any problem: throw more money at it, put more inept bureaucrats in charge of it, let Nanny government kiss-it-make-it-better. Just like FDR's New Deal nonsense, it won't do anything other than saddle our grandchildren with ridiculous debt, and permanently enhance the government's intrusion into our lives.

Our president's so-called stimulus package is nothing short of a joke. It will do nothing more than mask the problems within the financial sector, but more importantly, it will purchase many more loyal Democrat voters. If he gets his way, a significant majority of Americans will no longer pay taxes, but will reap unprecedented benefits from the government. Those who achieve success will be paying for those who don't bother. Joe the Plumber was dead on - if this isn't redistribution of wealth, then I don't know what is.

And now, our illustrious joke of a Speaker, Pelosi, has decided that government-provided contraception is the way to stimulate our economy. I'm really at a loss for words here. All I can say is, this is what you asked for, America. We're reaping the results of all the government-educated, ignorant, lazy fools in the voter pool, and it isn't going to be pretty.

No Rest for the Depressed

Ok, so I'm not really depressed, but it has been difficult lately to find the motivation to put my thoughts into words. The vomit-inducing cries of hope and change, coupled with the sudden swell of patriotism from the same folks who professed outright hatred for their country until yesterday, has dampened my enthusiasm somewhat. Thankfully, I'm beginning to come out of the fog.

I suppose I can find some satisfaction in the idea that millions of naive Obamanuts are waking up this morning only to find that Santa didn't come last night, and they still have to pay their mortgages and work for a living. It's also kinda nice to be able to sit and watch the other side screw things up for a while. I can't help but realize, however, that all these screw-ups are going to have big ramifications for me and my family. So, as a tribute to all those normally center-right leaners who thought we just needed change for the sake of change, let's look at what we can expect from Democrat leadership over the next few years:

1. If you are currently succesful enough to have to pay taxes every year, and that's only about half of the nation, you can pretty much count on the fact that you have now enjoyed the lowest tax payments you will ever pay.
2. Any business owners out there? Like the idea of your employees being able to unionize at the drop of a hat, forcing you to pay them 3 or 4 times what the market justifies? How about the idea that union thugs can target the one or two employees who don't want to unionize, because they've lost their right to a secret vote? Obama's got to repay Big Labor for putting him in office.
3. This is for all of you so-called pro-life voters who decided Obama was moderate enough to win your vote: On his first day in office, President Obama has decided to repeal a law which prevents your tax dollars from being used to fund international abortion groups. That's right, taxpayer funded abortions, and that's just his first day...
4. Go ask a Brit about government-run healthcare. Need I say more? Well, I will anyway. Have we lost our minds? Please to name one thing the government has ever run that has been run with anything resembling competence. Public schools? Social Security? Welfare?

I could go on, but it would be too depressing. Basically, if you think the government is the answer to all your problems, you'll love this guy. At least until the government taxes the people who provide your job to the point that they can't be competitive, and they move their operation overseas.

It's not a popular thing to say right now, but I refuse to generically "hope our new president succeeds." Succeeds at what? Making us into a more government-reliant, socialist nation? No thanks. I'll support him if I believe that his policies are what's best for America, but judging by his campaign, he doesn't have a clue. His ideas are not new. They certainly don't represent change. They're the same old liberal ideas that have failed in the past, and if he goes through with them, they will fail this time as well.

I hope I'm wrong about this guy. And I refuse to stop loving my country, like so many on the left, just because "the other side" is in charge. We have to take this nation back from the ground up, and republicans don't need to go along with any of the policies that we don't believe will work. I echo Erick's cry concerning the de-Stimulus Plan. None of our GOP representatives should support it, or any other policy that undermines conservatism, just so we can say we got something done.