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.

A Marked Contrast

I just couldn't resist pointing somthing out to those who are still wavering as to their allegiance in this election. As millions of college professors and students, hollywood actors, and the undereducated masses dream of the socialist utopia coming from what they see as an inevitable Obama victory, those who actually keep this nation's economy on track - the evil rich business leaders - are running for the hills.

There is no question that Obama's economic policies will take money from those who achieve and give it to those who don't. Even Joe the Plumber can see through the insulting platitudes. What so many don't realize, is that those who achieve are also those who provide jobs. Punish them, and you punish everyone else. Are we really going to welcome Jimmy Carter's policies back to the White House? Because that turned out so well the first time...

So, undecideds: who are you gonna listen to? If you think the people who have made something of themselves deserve to be punished for their success, then I can't help you. But if you've worked hard to achieve something, or plan to any time in the next few years, then I suggest you listen to those of us in the real world. Obama's plans will provide success and power for no one save his own political party, at the expense of everyone - not just the achievers.

Let's Stop Kidding Ourselves

Over the past few days I've been trying to convince myself that things will be fine if Obama is elected president. I've tried to tell myself that his disasterous policies will awaken the sleeping masses of ordinary Americans, who I believe are still moderately conservative overall, much like the Carter administration helped to sweep Reagan into office. I told myself that the damage Obama, and an overwhelming Democrat majority in congress, will undoubtedly cause can be reversed in the years following his time in office.

Then I read Michael Medved's column in Townhall. Talk about a wake-up call. Those of us who are already trying to rationalize away the potential ramifications of an Obama presidency would do well to listen to these warnings. There is no question that a likely 8 years of this kind of leadership would have dramatic effects on the future of this nation. My daughter will be leaving for college at the end of this hypothetical Obama presidency, and the picture I see for her future is not bright.

Under Obama's promised policies we will no longer live in a nation that rewards hard work with success, but will see those who achieve success duly punished by having to pay for those who don't. We will see even larger groups of people bought and paid for by the Democrat Party - "free" health care, unlimited access to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and an unprecedented expansion of every failed government program in existence, all in exchange for thousands of new welfare addicts - aka, loyal Democrat voters.

I believe this is why it's so difficult for the conservative movement to maintain power for long periods of time. The New Deal laid the ground work for a powerful political strategy: secure power for the Democrat Party by using government to buy people off. Let the government pay for its citizens' healthcare, housing, education, retirement, etc. Give the ignorant, short-sighted, lazy masses what they want, and you have a strong base of loyal voters for life.

The conservative philosophy, however, encourages a strong sense of personal responsibility, hard work, and individual freedom. Get the government out of the way, and the American people will prosper as a result. There is a reason socialism has failed every time it has been tried - it removes any incentive for success. And as Michael points out, once a government entitlement program is created, the likelihood of it ever being dismantled is very small.

I'm just now starting to appreciate the true significance of this election. Barack Obama's policies, easily implemented by a huge Democrat majority in congress, could not only run this country into the ground, but could create millions of new loyal Democrat voters at the expense of our economy. Yes, it may awaken the silent majority of honest, hardworking Americans to usher in the next Ronald Reagan; but at that point it will likely be too late.

I don't honestly believe that the American people, on the whole, want our nation to move more towards socialism. But I also doubt that too many people are thinking about the direction of our nation right now. Most people are more concerned about their own problems, and at this point want someone to "pay" for them. People want change. They want someone else to make their oversized mortgage payments, pay for their healthcare, and provide free daycare in the form of government "preschool" programs. That all sounds great to the cash-strapped masses.

These are frightening times for those who worry about the direction of our nation. We need to remember to trust in God's sovereignty, and in His ability to work out His will, even in the face of leaders who are likely to oppose it. It's time to stop worrying, and start praying.

100

Apparently, this is my 100th post since stepping into the blogging realm. I hate to be so gloomy at such a milestone, but things are not looking good for conservatives. Most of the folks "in the know" within conservative circles are preparing for a very bad day on November 4. John McCain remains the only hope for salvaging something from what looks more and more like an impending electoral slaughter. And even his chances have been severely hindered by the current economic mess.

I was pretty optimistic a month ago, with the race virtually tied in a political climate that should have provided any competent Democrat with an easy victory. The economic crisis has changed all that. Never mind that it was Democrats who got us into this mess in the first place. Americans are too apathetic and ignorant to bother finding out the real causes for this crisis. The GOP was in charge, so it must be their fault. Unfortunately, it looks like this ignorance may help to put those people in place who can do the most harm in such a situation.

Some are now talking about a 60 vote, filibuster-proof majority in the senate. Even Saxby may now be in trouble. If this does occur, we're in deep horse manure - especially with Barry McSocialism in the White House, ready to sign whatever take-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor plan Reid and Pelosi can come up with. It's all very depressing to be honest. Thankfully, we have some assurance that we're not really at the mercy of the ignorant masses:

"Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to men of understanding." Daniel 2:20,21

Who knows...a lot can happen in 3 weeks time. If John McCain can come out swinging in this last debate, challenging Obama on all of his lies and distortions, he can go a long way towards energizing his base, if nothing else. But if not, we can rest in the fact that God has proven in the past that His will can be accomplished by, or in spite of, even the worst of leaders.

Besides, Rush was at his most entertaining when America had its last bad president. If nothing else, the inevitable resurgence of conservatism after the Carter-like performance we are sure to get from Obama shows, once again, the idiocy of liberalism, will make it all worth while.

Bailout Bust

Well, it looks like our good friends in Washington have managed to once again take a bad idea and make it much worse. I admit that the bailout bill was probably necessary, and that after having looked at the actual details of the plan, the charges of socialism are a wee bit exagerated. The populist rhetoric about taking money from the taxpayers and giving it to the Wall Street fat-cats is not exactly true.

The plan was necessary to avoid a total collapse of our financial system, or so we were told, and I was okay with it in the end. I didn't like it, but would rather be able to cash my paycheck next week, even if it meant moving wildly to the brink of socialism. Unfortunately, congress couldn't even get that right. From what a lot of folks are now saying, the bill has been passed too late to have its full effect. If that's true, we've just flushed $700 billion down the toilet, and will suffer anyway.

The biggest issue with all of this, however, is that we need leadership in place which will take us back from the edge of socialist policy once this crisis is over. I believe it was necessary for the government to step in and help avert a disaster, but the government must be made to step back once all of this blows over. Folks are now talking about the Fed nationalizing the major financial institutions in the U.S. If this happens, things are even more critical.

Barack Obama is not a free market kind of guy. His instinct is to use government to solve everyone's problems, and he cannot be trusted to lead our nation back to its proven system of captitalism. Combine that with the fact that he plans to increase government spending in virtually every area (besides defense), and this crisis will look like a tea party after 4 to 8 years of his leadership.

Do we really want to put a glorified political activist, with the arrogance and common sense of a college professor, in charge of all of this? Seriously?

Let's put a socialist in charge!

It's been difficult to find time to blog lately, but I feel the need to vent. I'm starting to believe that this financial crisis could be the end of McCain's chances for the presidency. The problem, of course, is that we're about to put an avowed socialist in charge of our nation. This socialist will have the responsibility of charting a course out of this economic mess, and I have little faith that such a course will lead anywhere but down the path of more government control and less freedom.

Obama's charge that it was a lack of regulation that led to the current crisis is not only silly, it's insulting to those of us who actually bother to educate ourselves concerning such things. Even Saturday Night Live has a better grasp on the cause of this crisis. Obama's buddies over at ACORN and Fannie/Freddie have run our economy into the ground. Sure, we can say that republicans did too little to stop shady lending practices encouraged by the government, but they at least acknowledged the problem years ago, and made an attempt at regulation.

The simple fact is that this crisis can be laid at the feet of liberal democrat policy, pushed by Clinton, Barney Frank (at the behest of his lover at Fannie Mae), Obama, and every other Democrat who wanted to give everyone a home - regardless of their ability to pay for it. Liberal policy and government regulation created this problem - it is not the solution.

Government is never the antedote to anything...other than prosperity.

Pathetic.

That is the only word for Obama's sorry excuse for leadership during this financial crisis. If this is what we can expect from an Obama presidency - waiting for you opponents to come up with a solution, and then criticizing it while offering nothing in the way of a solution yourself - then God help us. Jeff Emanuel gives us the details:

"As always, Barack Obama takes the easiest (and lowest) road. From having his political opponents removed from the ballot so that he could run unopposed (or the next closest thing to it), to repeatedly voting "present" on legislation, to, in this race, waiting for John McCain to take a position on an issue before making up his own mind on it, then coming out firing at McCain (rather than actually talking about his own position on, and proposed solution to, the issues), Obama's career has been marked by cop-outs, relationships of convenience with very disreputable figures, and machine-politics-as-usual attacks.

"This situation is no different. Obama is allowing the President, the rest of the Congress, and his own opponent in the presidential race to take all of the risk and make all of the statements, while he sits up straight on his highest of horses and tells them all that they're going about fixing the problem the wrong way."

This guy is the worst kind of man, let alone politician. He must not be president.

Dirty Campaign Tricks

I learned a new term today - astroturfing - and apparently David Axelrod's name is synonymous with this lame tactic. Here we see yet another attempt by the Obama campaign to manufacture support from evangelical Christians. Conservative blogs across the net are experiencing an upswing in "Concerned Conservative Christians" who are suddenly spouting Obama campaign talking points.

Fortunately, it's easy to spot these morons. They almost always give themselves away by acting out the caricature of conservative Christians they have in their own mind.

And now, a PR firm with connections to the Obama campaign has been posting professionally made videos on YouTube, pretending that they're the result of a new "grassroots movement." They know they've been caught, and are already taking the videos down. Fortunately, the folks on our side made back-ups.

Seriously guys. This is pathetic.

Wishful Thinking

More proof that Obama is the political messiah that his worshippers think him to be:

He is apparently going to demonstrate that he is able to create, from nothing, a brand new species of supporter for his faltering campaign. How will he accomplish this unprecedented feat? Easy. By producing thousands of yard signs, bumper stickers, and buttons, appropriately labelled for said species of supporter. Think of it as a new take on "If you build it, they will come."

Get your "Believers for Barack" campaign paraphernalia, and become a part of Barry's newest experiment in wishful thinking. Check out the link to the campaign email, encouraging "people of all faith backgrounds" to become a Believer for Barack. In other words, it doesn't matter what you are a believer in, just that you believe something....which pretty much includes everyone on this planet. And now you know why he's the messiah.

The Highest Form of Flattery

Obama has given more evidence that Sarah Palin's jabs in her incredible convention speech hit a nerve. Apparently, after seeing how successful and popular Palin's clever comments were, Obama thought he'd give it a try.

"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."

What a classy guy. Please keep this up, Barry - and let me know how this new strategy of name-calling works out for ya. It's gotta help win over those disaffected Clinton supporters. You are either incredibly stupid (we know you went to Harvard, so probably not the case), or remarkable arrogant. Given your record to date, I'd go with the latter.

Now It's Personal

Barack Obama:

"Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old," he said. "I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

Such calculation. Note the extremely vague, but obligatory reference to "values and morals", which is supposed to convince us that he is in a terrible, but necessary moral conundrum.

I would, however, like to state that my own particular "punishment" turned 10 years old 2 weeks ago. If Obama understood the sovereignty of God, then he might realize that sometimes what seems like the worst possible circumstance can be turned into the greatest event of your life. ALL THINGS work together for the good of those who love the Lord. If what resulted from our making the difficult choice of life, after a lapse in judgement at the age of 18, was indeed a punishment...well then, "Thank you, sir, may I have another."

I suppose this explains my hostility towards the establishment of abortion on demand, but hindsight is a frightening thing when I realize how easy it would've been to make the wrong choice. The bottom line is that it shouldn't even be a choice. I now have proof that life is too precious to be treated with such disdain.

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way. I'm not trying to boast about the fact that we were able to make the right choice in a difficult situation, and I would never condemn anyone who has been down the other road. It was only by God's grace that we were able to do what we did. I will, however, condemn those who have worked to make abortion the form of birth control that it has become, creating a so-called easy way out for people in desperate situations.

This also ties in to my previous post concerning evangelicals and the situation with Bristol Palin. My own similar experience with fellow believers gave me confidence that the base would stand by the Palins during this difficult time, despite the naive and ignorant hopes of the liberal media.