I admit. I'm getting more than a little nervous. Unemployment is still rising, the markets are still rolling around, we are borrowing 50 cents of every dollar we spend and our government is STILL trying to ram more spending projects....BIG SPENDING PROJECTS...down our throats. In a recent interview with CNN, Colin Powell has also expressed concerns with President Obama's spending agenda. He has cautioned the administration against taking on too many things that we can't afford while debt is piling up. He believes "We can't absorb it all". Powell has asked the administration to take a hard look at the cost of Obama's initiatives and determine if the effectiveness justifies the cost. Here are a few more things I wish the President would apply that same effectiveness vs. cost analysis to:
1. His first executive order as President: Shutting Gitmo down. I'm willing to spend the money to keep this baby afloat. Where are all of these prisoners going to go? Obviously, my backyard since Senator Murtha is one of my go-to-guys. It was just in the news, a few days ago, a recently released detainee has resumed his place in the al Qaeda network and is working on opposing US lead campaigns yet again. The costs are high and the prison is set to close in 6 months. Feeling any less nervous yet?
2. The Stimulus Plan: As of the first of the month, less than 10% of this alloted money has been spend. Really? How is it that a second stimulus plan is already being talked about? Our Country is facing mounting national debt that has never been heard of before and is looking at a multi-trillion dollar budget. Joe Biden remarked earlier in the week that perhaps they had underestimated how badly damaged the economy was. And he thinks a second stimulus bill is going to fix it? He better hope China likes to throw buckets of money away on his crap shoots.
3. Cap and Trade: Obama is looking to overhaul our whole energy systems through a carbon tax. When has new taxes ever achieved it's intended goal? I've said this before and I'll say it again....cap and trade is going to kill jobs, business, and industry. It's going to chip away at the poor and middle class who will not be able to afford their energy costs. I'm all for developing new innovations and new sources of power but let's not limit ourselves. Let's use everything that is on the table...wind, solar, natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear, etc. Let the markets push the agenda and not the lawmakers in Washington, DC that would like to dictate our lifestyle to us.
4. Universal Healthcare: We already have a universal healthcare system in our Country that doesn't work....Medicare and Medicaid. We simply can not afford to keep saddling the average taxpayer with more entitlement programs that are mishandled. Why has the government been recommended for the job when they clearly do not have the resume for it. What else can I say about this initiative that hasn't been said already?
What about you? What has gotten the hairs on your arms standing on end in the past 6 months? I am proud to say that between our blogspot and Facebook followers, we are almost 70 strong and growing by the week. Keep introducing friends to The Rising Patriot....you never know where the next great idea may come from.
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ReplyDelete!. Yes, they did rejoin al Qaeda. They were released from Gitmo into a Saudi "rehabilitation" camp. Clearly that didn't work. However, do you think that it's appropriate for our tax dollars to be used for a prison that essentially makes people disappear, hold them indefinitely without trial or investigation and is set up outside US territory for the express purpose of circumventing US laws and international treaties? Not to mention that a significant number of detainees are not actually found guilty of any crimes - aside from being a "person of interest." All-in-all, not a very good representation of American ideals, is it?
2. I'm not sure what to say here. You have no actual argument aside from making a base assumption that because the national debt (an inherited legacy created by the prior administration exclusively) has not been immediately alleviated that somehow it won't work at all. And honestly, no one can say that either way for sure but I appreciate that, for the first time in 8-9 years the economy is at least being addressed.
3. I don't understand what you see as cause and effect between cap & trade on the energy industry & the poor and middle class. Aren't we already paying upwards of $2.50 a gallon for gasoline? That's a very real, very tangible strain on the poor and middle class. And hasn't that steep price increase a result of relying solely on one limited natural resource and allowing the market to dictate price? Really, oil companies had a fairly substantial run in the market, which in addition to overuse of our other limited resources such as coal, has lead us into a big environmental mess. Moreover, can you really claim that, without government incentive plans, businesses will altruistically develop alternative energy plans? that seems awfully naive.
4. Yeah, Medicare and Medicaid are indeed a mess. But let's give credit where credit is due in terms of mishandling the programs. Perhaps because any mention of raising taxes for Universal Healthcare elicits an immediate, knee-jerk cry of "Socialism!" from the peanut gallery, Medicare and Medicaid have been drastically watered down by ridiculous reform after ridiculous reform. You say the government is ill-suited for the job, but don't offer an alternative. Insurance companies? Right, because if you have more money, you deserve better health care. That's what is so ironic about your derisive reference to universal health as an "entitlement program" - what you say in this post in other posts all have the unstated notion that, for some reason, having wealth is the appropriate criterion for determining if someone is worthy of receiving health care.
Essentially, that's the difference in views isn't it? I feel that adequate education, health care and things that you see as handouts, should be things we provide to all citizens via government regulated programs. They're basic rights, the essentials necessary for raising children as productive members of society. When we turn these things over to the free market and allow them to become commodities, it cheapens and degrades all of us.
hopes this helps you understand some opposing viewpoints to you own.
Dear Anon,
ReplyDeleteExcuse my delay in response to your posts. I have been having trouble with my account as of late.
I could go back and defend each and every point I have made in my past blogs in reference to your objections of them....but I won't. Seems a waste of time when, at the fundamental of things, we disagree at the core of the large majority of issues.
I do not believe government is an answer to people's problems....that is the only "unstated notion" you should have about me b/c all your others about me are off base....but that's fine....I really wouldn't expect anything different. Your views aren't anything I haven't already heard.
Government does not solve people's problems. History shows us that - and whether we choose to ignore that going forward, well, that's our choice as free minded people. I have tasked myself with reading about our Founding Fathers this past year. The lessons are amazing. If you have not done so, I highly recommend it because of it's relevance even in today's climate.
I wasn't expecting a full rebuttal. It's an open dialogue; though I appreciate the response. I'm curious how, though I dislike labels, you would define your political views? Libertarian? Anarchist? Republican?
ReplyDeleteI did read this post pretty thoroughly before writing my first set of comments. I'm all for crticizing government when necessary; blind allegiance to anything on the basis of party lines is short-sighted and foolish. However, where are your alternatives? Fine, government shouldn't handle healthcare, but then, what should we do as a nation? The umbrella answer of "free-market economy" is not a sufficient response, especially when so many people in this country don't have healthcare. I'm just asking you to support your assertions with more than general statements. "Government does not solve people's problems" is a perfect example - history has shown us many things, good and bad, about government. It just can't and shouldn't be boiled down to one reductive statement.
I have read quite a bit on the Founding Fathers; especially their individual histories - I think it's important that everything be approached from the proper historical context. I agree that they are incredibly relevant even today. Thanks for the recommendation though.