by Sam Pierce
What has brought our nation to this point? How have we sunk so low into what feels like a quicksand pit of irresponsibility? Does the irresponsibility chain start at the top with the federal behemoth, at the bottom with the individual citizen, or somewhere in between? Perhaps the chain is circular and possesses no distinguishable beginning or end.
In spite of the House Republicans and eleven rational House Democrats rejection of the outlandish Recovery and Regurgitation Act of 2009, it is likely to pass and hasten the suffocating effects of the quicksand. It is ironic that Barack Obama campaigned on a vague notion of “hope” and now he is in position to lead the assault on hope, which he and his groupies have undertaken with vigor. How can there be hope without independence? How can their be hope without liberty? How can there be independence or liberty without responsibility?
Individual responsibility might be preached in order to gain votes from a certain audience, but it is the natural enemy of Obama and the Regurgitation Act. Tax paying citizens are to be responsible to the government and to those that benefit from the government’s redistributive generosity. How stimulating!
The Telegraph has an article from AP that demonstrates the snowball effect of the Reguritation Act, “GOP governors press Congress to pass stimulus bill.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.
Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.
The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to meet in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state’s share of the package.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked the phones last week with members of his state’s congressional delegation, including House Republicans. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican vice chairman of the National Governors Association, planned to be in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate to approve the plan.
The snowball is growing and gaining momentum. These Republican governors are in a situation in which they must decide between “getting their states’ share of the pork” and taking a position of perhaps painful responsibility. Situations like these make those “No Incumbents” movements look even more appealing. Do these governors know how the federal government gets revenue? Why do they believe it is appropriate to have taxpayers from outside their states pay for projects in their states? Why have the federal filter/diverter, as opposed to leaving the money with the states and citizens to begin with? I suppose these governors are resigned to the idea that the federal monstrosity cannot be contained and they should take what they can get… even though it only encourages further bloat.
The article mentions a couple of positive signs such as MS Governor Haley Barbour indicating that “he wasn’t sure whether he would accept the approximately $3 billion his state would be in line for.” Apparently SC Gov. Mark Sanford is the lone advocate of responsibility among the Republican governors:
The most outspoken critic has been South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who has warned for months of a steep spike in inflation and a severely weakened dollar if Obama’s plan passed. His state is on track to receive $2.1 billion of the stimulus money; Sanford has not yet said whether he would accept it.
“It’s incumbent on me as one of the nation’s governors to speak out against what I believe is ultimately incredibly harmful to the economy, to taxpayers and to the worth of the U.S. dollar,” Sanford said in an interview. “This plan is a huge mistake and is going to prolong and deepen this recession.”
Even the small central Illinois town of Effingham is entrapped in the irresponsibility chain as I was disappointed to read in the Effingham Daily News a week or so ago:
City pins hopes on stimulus
Angie Faller
Effingham Daily News
Mayor John Lange opened Tuesday’s Effingham City Council meeting with a hope and a prayer: a blessing for newly inaugurated President Barack Obama and a hope his economic stimulus package would be passed quickly.Working on that assumption, council members decided to go ahead with a design of the reconstruction of Pike Avenue ending at Raney Street so the city would have a “shovel-ready” infrastructure project just in case the stimulus package is passed.
I understand the desperation motivation (which conveniently plays right into the hands of the Obammunists) but where will it end? Common sense would dictate that a town’s needs be met by that town’s revenue, that a state’s needs be met by that state’s revenue, and the federal government’s needs (NOT THE WASTE THAT IS THE BULK OF FEDERAL SPENDING) be met by its revenue. Are we a nation of welfare communities? Just print more worthless dollars and spread it around.
If anyone would like a dose of sanity, The Heritage Foundation has your medicine. The link leads to an editorial by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) in which he outlines an alternative job plan. Just a snip of Senator DeMint’s plan:
First, we must protect the fragile economy from the massive tax hikes coiled to spring on us in 2011, when the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire. Extending those rate reductions at least to 2013 will provide the economy with the long-term stability and predictability necessary to encourage new hiring and investment, consumer spending and entrepreneurial risk-taking.
Once the 2011 tax bomb is disarmed, we should take the next logical step and lower marginal tax rates across the board on individuals, small businesses and corporations. Our plan will call for a 10-percentage-point cut in the top rate (from 35 percent to 25 percent) and comparable reductions for the lower brackets — reductions to be maintained also through 2013 at least. These tax cuts would soften the recession and expedite the recovery to the tune of 500,000 new jobs in 2009 and 1 million new jobs in 2010 and surpass by 2012 the president’s stated goal of 3.5 million new jobs.
I would encourage everyone to go to the link above and read Senator DeMint’s entire editorial. Jim DeMint is a strong voice for reason and conservatism and therefore his assertions are largely ignored or disregarded by the (leftist) media and the big government vermin that infest all levels of our government. Although it is pretty clear that a common sense approach will not be accepted by the powers that be, it does provide a small glimmer of hope for the independence that could be enjoyed.
Cross-posted at: Malignant Liberal Idiocy
