Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Why Does Government Exist?
Why does government exist? It sounds like a silly question in this day and age of all-pervasive
government. But really think about it for a bit. Why?
The Declaration of Independence says we are all endowed by our Creator with the rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness (aka the pursuit of property or material security). In a free society, the people ALLOW a government to exist as
a necessary evil in order to protect these rights. This is the sole reason a government exists in a free nation.
Yet it seems that governments from the federal all the way down to local these days do everything but what they're supposed
to be doing. And it's time to start pushing back against this. It's time to proclaim loud and clear that any government
that does not first and foremost as its reason for existing protect our lives, freedom and property, is an illegitimate government.
From a federal government that refuses to secure our borders even after September 2001, and first instinct is to slash the military that protect us, to local governments whose politicians first (and many times only) cuts to spending is the police force and other first responders, the examples of government failing to perform its one legitimate role are many.
It's time to get back to basics, folks. We've strayed so far from the blueprint of a free society, we are now suffocating
under the weight of government run amok bother in our personal lives, and seen across the broader economy as government
interferes in everything from light bulbs to fuel economy on automobiles all the while neglecting the real security of the
citizens that fund its existence. Government budgets don't need a paring knife or slowing to their increases. They need
a meat cleaver taken to them.
The entire disconnect can be seen in what our so-called representatives in Washington are talking about now. Gun control.
Immigration reform. Meanwhile, millions of Americans still are jobless and struggling from a four year old economic collapse
due to government dictates to banks to loan to people that could never afford to pay said loans back. Ignore the fact that
government dictates have caused anguish among the citizens in this country in favor of more government dictates. Meanwhile the
priority is how can we reward non-citizens that came here illegally. Priorities are all out of whack. More signs of illegitimate
government.
We allow the government to exist to serve us. Not for us to serve the government as subjects.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Election Day 2012
So today is the day many of us have been waiting for nearly four years. I could go on with useless predictions about how this isn't even going to be close and that Romney is going to win not only Virginia and North Carolina, but also Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, but why should I? Predictions, just like polls mean nothing, and the actual vote is everything, and we'll know all we need to know in a few hours.
Update: Seems I've had too much faith in people, and the people want tyranny over liberty. Ben Franklin are you looking down right about now as the people have voted away the last of the Republic making you a prophet?
Monday, June 18, 2012
On Political Compromise
It's been a week where the Bush-wing Republicans have been speaking out once again for the need to compromise and how the "new" Republican party couldn't nominate people like Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush. I speak primarily of course, of Colin Powell and Jeb Bush and their thinly veiled disparagement of us Tea Party patriots.
Let us take a brief history lesson, shall we?
In 2006, Republicans were thrown out in a big way from Congress, losing control of both the House and the Senate. The federal deficits had grown from the end of the Newt Gingrich era in 1999 of a thirty-five year low 17 billion dollars to over 500 billion. The people were sick of the spending, the growth in government, and threw the Republican majorities out, looking for a change.
In 2007 the Democrats under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over and the 2007 fiscal deficit doubled, to over a trillion dollars. And George W. Bush, being the typical namesake of his wing of the Republican party, didn't fight against this doubled deficit. Instead of taking a hard line stance and vetoing this outrage, he compromised and signed it instead. This wasn't exactly the change the voters had been looking for.
In 2008 Barack Obama was elected President, giving full control of the elected branches of government to the Democrats. The fiscal deficit that year nearly doubled again and was 1.8 trillion dollars. This included the continued bailouts of the UAW, and failed stimulus, all signed by Obama.
In 2009 the health care fiasco took place. The Affordable Care act ("ObamaCare") was rammed through the House and Senate with no Republican support and nearly two-thirds of the public against it. So much for compromise, eh? The fiscal deficit that year was 1.6 trillion dollars. No official budget was ever passed by the Democrats in Congress, and the spending from the previous year, including the trillion dollar stimulus was carried over.
In 2010, the budget, still carrying built-in baseline spending and the refusal of the Democrats in the House and Senate to pass a 2010 budget continued the built in baseline spending. In November, the voters threw the Democrats out of the House, and thinned their numbers in the Senate from 60 to 53. In January 2011, the Republican controlled House passed a budget that was deemed "dead on arrival" by Harry Reid in the Senate, and disparaged by the President. The Senate once again, did not bother passing a budget. The deficit for this year: 1.2 trillion.
We're still waiting on official numbers for fiscal 2011 since it runs until the end of September this year, 2012. But they're not going to be any better than FY 2010 since the Senate STILL has not passed a budget, and the softball leadership of John Boehner and Eric Cantor in the House refuses to shut down the government to force action. They instead continue to compromise with continuing resolutions that continue the Pelosi/Reid trillion dollar deficits.
So this is what compromise has gotten us. An out of control spending government, no matter who controls it.
The American people do not want compromise. They want a responsible government populated by responsible people. People who represent us, not dictate to us.
There's a reason why people like Senator Jim Demint and Congressman Paul Ryan are painted as "extremist". It's because they actually want to cut the budget. Not expand it, or just slow the growth of it. They want to cut it. And that said, several organizations have said that even Paul Ryan's "extremist" budgets may not be enough to save the United States from fiscal disaster. That's how knee jerk the Democrats and media are to any slowing in spending, no matter how modest it is. Incidentally, it's also why Newt Gingrich was forced out by his own party. He had successfully shrunk the deficits to nearly zero by refusing to compromise with Clinton and his own party, and disgruntled politicians in both parties were feeling the pinch of less money to spread around for political favors and votes. That, in Washington, is a high crime and ethical violation you know. And it's why most politicians and media types scream shrilly whenever they even think someone is serious about cutting budgets. Less money for them and all their friends.
Until more people like Demint, Ryan and Gingrich get a hold of the purse strings, and people like Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell are thrown out of leadership roles, nothing will ever change. But that's what primary elections are for. This isn't going to change overnight because we haven't gotten to this point overnight. Continued punishment of all these politicians that spend money that isn't theirs is required. Continued defense of people like Paul Ryan and Jim Demint is also required.
This is a lifetime commitment if things are going to be changed. The Republicans have been compromising their principles since throwing Gingrich out, and it's gotten us to 15.8 trillion dollars in debt, over 100% of our gross national production. That's the de facto definition of bankrupt, folks. And there's no getting away from that, no matter what political label you slap on yourself.
And when the fiscal house of cards finally comes tumbling down, the spending cuts will be immediate, and on everyone. There will be no social security, medicare, medicaid, SCHIP, food stamps, welfare, or disability. For anyone. That is what compromise will get you. It's long past time for that.
Let us take a brief history lesson, shall we?
In 2006, Republicans were thrown out in a big way from Congress, losing control of both the House and the Senate. The federal deficits had grown from the end of the Newt Gingrich era in 1999 of a thirty-five year low 17 billion dollars to over 500 billion. The people were sick of the spending, the growth in government, and threw the Republican majorities out, looking for a change.
In 2007 the Democrats under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took over and the 2007 fiscal deficit doubled, to over a trillion dollars. And George W. Bush, being the typical namesake of his wing of the Republican party, didn't fight against this doubled deficit. Instead of taking a hard line stance and vetoing this outrage, he compromised and signed it instead. This wasn't exactly the change the voters had been looking for.
In 2008 Barack Obama was elected President, giving full control of the elected branches of government to the Democrats. The fiscal deficit that year nearly doubled again and was 1.8 trillion dollars. This included the continued bailouts of the UAW, and failed stimulus, all signed by Obama.
In 2009 the health care fiasco took place. The Affordable Care act ("ObamaCare") was rammed through the House and Senate with no Republican support and nearly two-thirds of the public against it. So much for compromise, eh? The fiscal deficit that year was 1.6 trillion dollars. No official budget was ever passed by the Democrats in Congress, and the spending from the previous year, including the trillion dollar stimulus was carried over.
In 2010, the budget, still carrying built-in baseline spending and the refusal of the Democrats in the House and Senate to pass a 2010 budget continued the built in baseline spending. In November, the voters threw the Democrats out of the House, and thinned their numbers in the Senate from 60 to 53. In January 2011, the Republican controlled House passed a budget that was deemed "dead on arrival" by Harry Reid in the Senate, and disparaged by the President. The Senate once again, did not bother passing a budget. The deficit for this year: 1.2 trillion.
We're still waiting on official numbers for fiscal 2011 since it runs until the end of September this year, 2012. But they're not going to be any better than FY 2010 since the Senate STILL has not passed a budget, and the softball leadership of John Boehner and Eric Cantor in the House refuses to shut down the government to force action. They instead continue to compromise with continuing resolutions that continue the Pelosi/Reid trillion dollar deficits.
So this is what compromise has gotten us. An out of control spending government, no matter who controls it.
The American people do not want compromise. They want a responsible government populated by responsible people. People who represent us, not dictate to us.
There's a reason why people like Senator Jim Demint and Congressman Paul Ryan are painted as "extremist". It's because they actually want to cut the budget. Not expand it, or just slow the growth of it. They want to cut it. And that said, several organizations have said that even Paul Ryan's "extremist" budgets may not be enough to save the United States from fiscal disaster. That's how knee jerk the Democrats and media are to any slowing in spending, no matter how modest it is. Incidentally, it's also why Newt Gingrich was forced out by his own party. He had successfully shrunk the deficits to nearly zero by refusing to compromise with Clinton and his own party, and disgruntled politicians in both parties were feeling the pinch of less money to spread around for political favors and votes. That, in Washington, is a high crime and ethical violation you know. And it's why most politicians and media types scream shrilly whenever they even think someone is serious about cutting budgets. Less money for them and all their friends.
Until more people like Demint, Ryan and Gingrich get a hold of the purse strings, and people like Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell are thrown out of leadership roles, nothing will ever change. But that's what primary elections are for. This isn't going to change overnight because we haven't gotten to this point overnight. Continued punishment of all these politicians that spend money that isn't theirs is required. Continued defense of people like Paul Ryan and Jim Demint is also required.
This is a lifetime commitment if things are going to be changed. The Republicans have been compromising their principles since throwing Gingrich out, and it's gotten us to 15.8 trillion dollars in debt, over 100% of our gross national production. That's the de facto definition of bankrupt, folks. And there's no getting away from that, no matter what political label you slap on yourself.
And when the fiscal house of cards finally comes tumbling down, the spending cuts will be immediate, and on everyone. There will be no social security, medicare, medicaid, SCHIP, food stamps, welfare, or disability. For anyone. That is what compromise will get you. It's long past time for that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)