Something You Might Like: April 2012

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Obama Unbound (Part 2)

Pool photo (via USA Today)

“… a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson

There are many good reasons to vote against Barack Obama in November. As far as I can see, the main reasons to vote for him are to try to assure that entitlements will be added and not reduced, and that if you’re currently not paying any income taxes, you still won’t, although everyone else will pay substantially more. That evil upper 50 per cent, ya know.

Obamacare, if it is permitted to stand, will lead to massive tax hikes during an Obama second term (if any). If Obama is reelected, he will have no concern about accountability to the people, since he will not face another election (assuming we still have elections by 2016). He has demonstrated this by his refusal to be accountable to any great extent now.

Obama thinks we need just one branch of government, namely, himself. He will not feel much need to get Congress to do much, since he thinks he can rule by decree. So far, no one is stopping him. Who knows if he would abide by a Supreme Court decision to strike down Obamacare even though Attorney General Eric Holder assures us he would.

The president who debuted basketballs decorated with his own image at the White House Easter event, would likely have giant portraits of himself placed in conspicuous places, a la Saddam Hussein; maybe statues, too. Maybe he should get work started for a future Obama Memorial in Washington. To make room, he could tear down the Jefferson Memorial.

There is no lack of signs that something is definitely amiss about Obama’s thinking, in terms of American tradition. He maintains that capitalism has never worked and is the main cause of our economic problems, when in fact it is capitalism that has brought about our historic prosperity, not because of, but in spite of government interference. He believes it would be judicial activism for the Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare on constitutional grounds (“unprecedented”), when it is rather frequent that the Court strikes down federal laws on the basis of the Constitution. Remember how he whined and even chastised the Supreme Court, over the Citizens United decision, in his State of the Union speech, with justices sitting right there, unable to respond.

He submits a so-called budget that is defeated in the House of Representatives by a vote of 415-0. Does anyone see anything strange about that? Not even one member of his own party voted for it. They knew it was a joke, and if they had voted for it, the joke would have been on them. But Obama don’t need no stinkin’ Congress or Supreme Court, just his own little circle and several czars.

He occasionally hints at fiscal responsibility, but never fails to keep our deficits and debt growing at astronomical, potentially catastrophic, rates, and never fails to call for higher taxes. He criticizes the Ryan budget plan while offering exactly nothing of his own to deal at all with the growing deficits. He still pushes Obamacare when it has been conclusively shown that it will greatly expand the federal debt. He pushes for more EPA regulations, effectively shutting down coal plants.

If the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports some added jobs and a slight decrease in the unemployment rate, he neglects to mention that the rate drop is due to more people giving up trying to find a job, and therefore not being counted as unemployed. This deception seems to work with some people, although it is obvious to anyone who is paying attention.

Obama supports the Attorney General in spite of Operation Fast and Furious, the infamous gun-running scandal that ought to result in Eric Holder’s firing. It was an attempt to create an excuse for more gun control (part of Holder’s “brainwashing” scheme?) and it has contributed to the deaths of at least one American agent and many Mexicans. This alone is grounds for impeachment of both Obama and Holder.

My main point is this: Given the things Obama has done in his first term, what should we expect from a second Obama term? The answer is: The hole we’re in will be dug deeper and deeper, more people will become more dependent upon government, and much less able to earn, spend, save, or invest. Our currency will be at risk.

More big banks will be bailed out, more money created out of thin air will be used to prop up irresponsible national governments overseas and crony business interests in the U.S., and more aid will be given to Islamists of Egypt, Gaza, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the war in Afghanistan will languish until Obama decides that it’s pointless to continue, something which is obvious now, and we’ll likely see further military adventures in other places.

There will be even more support for labor union thuggery from such as the SEIU, which does not hide its sympathy with the Communist Party, nor its willingness to act violently if it so chooses. Forced unionism will be backed even more strongly by the Administration.

Environmentalist weirdness will increase, and be the excuse for even more denials and delays in oil and gas drilling, and even more stupid green energy fiascos. The EPA will be given more and more leeway to over-regulate everything until many more businesses fail, unable to comply with the unending rules.

A Rasmussen poll, out today, shows Mitt Romney in a statistical tie with Obama among likely voters. Since Rick Santorum has dropped out of the presidential race, the nominee will be Mitt Romney. I hope he will stay true to his conservative promises and that Republicans will unite to support him. We need a president who is in favor of America being returned to normal, not increasingly whacked out. If Obama wins, freedom will continue to disappear. America will be in a constant crisis mode under a government managing for decline. And probably still blaming George W. Bush.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Obama Unbound (Part 1)

Dreamstime.com

“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson

If President Barack Obama is reelected, he will be in office four more years without having to worry about another election, and hence even less accountable to the American people than he has been thus far. The mainstream media will cover for him, slant things his way, rarely criticize him, and generally be his obedient servants. He won’t have to worry much about the truth being published, and even when it is he won’t be much affected.

So what would be the prospects for America in an Obama second term? We haven’t fared too well during his first term. Most of the “change” we’ve seen has left us “hoping” for something to reverse many of the changes. Perhaps the Supreme Court will strike down Obamacare, but there is no guarantee. If they do, a second Obama term would likely see an effort to introduce single-payer insurance, especially if Democrats are somehow able to retain the Senate majority and regain the House majority. Only a GOP filibuster would stand in their way.

In all probability, we would see several more Solyndra-type debacles with billions of dollars wasted in grants, loan guarantees, and subsidies to enterprises that are doomed to failure from the start for lack of market. All to satisfy the enviro-fascists, who are willing to sacrifice economic recovery for ill-fated “green” programs that won’t work. Oh, and Mr. Obama might get another crack at cap and trade, though at the moment it seems the global warming scare is being more widely seen as the fraud and hoax that it is.

The Food Stamp president would further expand the poverty rolls, create even more government-dependent families and do a great deal toward allowing the illegal immigrants to receive social services, unionize, and vote (Democratic, of course.)

The Buffet Rule states that no millionaire should be taxed at a rate less than 30 per cent. This would likely be heavily propagandized as a great necessity, using typical Marxist/Alinsky techniques of class warfare, claiming that failure to enact the Buffet Rule is the grossest injustice ever, and economic inequality is the main problem (except for the “God-awful recession we inherited,” as Vice President Joe Biden recently described it). Apparently the Bush Administration was so bad, its ill effects can never really be overcome. Not true, but it may take generations to undo Obama’s damage to our liberty, let alone our economy.

Obama, unfettered by electoral concerns, and already on record as having favored infanticide, may try to promote the killing of newborn babies because of their cost and carbon footprint. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently testified that more contraception would be an economic cost-saver.

Gay marriage figures to be even more of an in-your-face demand than ever, with Obama probably “pivoting” to a full endorsement of it in a second term. That would surprise basically no one.

Religious liberty would suffer further, with attempts to make it a “hate crime” to preach or advocate against homosexuality or Islam, as it already is in much of Europe. You can contrast Europe and other Western countries with America and see the still-great contrast between the U.S., which has the First Amendment (still sort of intact) and the others, which have no First Amendment guarantees, but still claim to be part of the “Free World.” And they are, in the sense that totalitarianism has not yet resorted to death camps, and it’s still possible to have a relatively pleasant life as long as you don’t say or do anything that someone might find offensive. In America, the First Amendment is under attack and needs special efforts at protecting it. A new Obama Administration would make progress toward finishing it off.

These are a few of the doubtful prospects under an Obama second term. Maybe he would do a lot of positive things, but I wish someone could show me even one beneficial policy he has got enacted in his presidency thus far. It is a sick joke for Democrats to accuse Romney of being “out of touch” compared to Obama, who daily displays his disdain for the Constitution and the American people. He is a special interest in himself, constantly grasping for more power and more money.

I like Rick Santorum and hope he will be the GOP nominee. But any of the four remaining GOP candidates, or whatever dark horse may emerge from the convention, would be greatly preferable to another four years of Obama as president.

Socialist dictatorship should not be our fate.

Stay tuned.