Government Policies Are Bringing About America’s National Decline

Occupy Wall Street protester.  Photo: Dreamstime.com

The New York Times reports that “a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future hangs over the nation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with Americans’ distrust of government at its highest level ever.”

Further, “Not only do 89 percent of Americans say they distrust government to do the right thing, but 74 percent say the country is on the wrong track and 84 percent disapprove of Congress — warnings for Democrats and Republicans alike.”

The distrust of government and impatience with the status quo is reminiscent of President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” period. The cure for the “malaise” turned out to be serious changes in economic policy, a sense of cheerful optimism, and pride in America, things championed by President Ronald Reagan.

Today, the Tea Party represents a responsible citizen movement with actual ideas for improving the nation’s economic situation, and actions taken toward accomplishing an improvement. The mob known as Occupy Wall Street (or Occupy ---) demands that the government redistribute the wealth of the rich to them in the form of free college tuition, housing, health care, etc. They are in sympathy with Europeans who have demanded to keep their government benefits uninterrupted, despite the fact that their nations' governments are on the verge of default and bankruptcy.

As Chris Adamo at Renew America points out,

Throughout Europe, the spurious and unsustainable promises of socialist utopia, Ponzi schemes all, are collapsing, leaving entire segments of the population in the throes of riots and revolt. The few remaining adults on the continent are faced with the reality that the massive funding needed to prop up the sham was bound to eventually run out, and now no longer exists. As a result the dream of socialist beneficence simply cannot keep going, no matter how hysterically the short-sighted and morally vacant masses demand it.

These OWSers seem convinced that there is plenty of money to go around, if only the wealthy would “pay their fair share.” More likely, they have no clue about it except they don’t like the idea of people having more than they have – unless they’re celebrities. Actually, America’s public debt obligations are so huge that even if the rich gave up all their annual income to be redistributed, it would not even begin to solve the problem.

The challenge the GOP candidates face is this: Somehow, face up to the fact that nothing being done by the Obama Administration, nothing being suggested by OWS, and nothing the “super committee” is likely to come up with will help in the least. In fact, any of these are making and will make the situation much worse. The results of the 2012 presidential election will in all probability mean the difference between economic and currency collapse, or a real chance at a recovery that everyone can recognize as a recovery.

How the OWS protesters could support Barack Obama in view of the economic damage his administration has done, can be explained only by the fact that the protest’s money and energy is coming largely from people who have no use for America as it has been anyway, and would like to see the whole system fall. Communists, Socialists, Nazis, and fascists are eagerly awaiting what they hope will be the collapse of capitalism and the inauguration of a socialist paradise.

Economically, what they want is not only not feasible, it is not possible, unless they want something like Soviet communism, which is bound to fail. This involves the end of individual liberty and the institution of slavery. We are on Friedrich Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” already; we need to reverse this, not accelerate it. People who are willing to trade their liberty for government “benefits” will be disappointed if they get their request.

See short video depicting the ideas of Hayek’s classic book in cartoon form here. The presentation is a bit dated, but the ideas are not:

Class warfare, stirring up the mob against the supposedly unjust success of the wealthy is the classic appeal. Liberal agitators, and probably the mainstream media, are just waiting for more violent outbursts to occur.

People who want some corrections made, but not a violent upheaval, ought to consider the fact that it is possible to address America’s economic situation in a responsible way that would bring about substantial improvement fairly quickly. This involves electing a competent Republican president and a Congress that will get rid of the “super committee” and reverse their results, and face up to the task of cutting the size and scope of the federal government and reining in the ridiculous spending.

At the least, it should be recognized that Obama has accomplished nothing positive for the economy. Actually, he has brought about much economic, social and cultural destruction. Short of direct divine intervention, four more years of Barack Obama would bring about the tragic failure of American freedom and prosperity for many years to come. That’s how serious our plight is.

Related articles

• Government Lowers The Standard of Living (economicnoise.com)
• Why It's the Mises Institute (lewrockwell.com)
• United Socialist States of America? (fidlerten.com)

As Expected, but Wrongly: Left Blames Right for Tragic Shooting

Seeking to turn a terrible tragedy into political gain, many voices of the left wing of American politics, including the mainstream media, have put forth the idea that the Arizona shooting which took six lives and critically wounded Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and hurt others, was incited by politicians of the right. Specifically, Sarah Palin is being blamed, since she had an electoral map showing targeted congressional seats with a crosshairs graphic.

But the left’s brush is big enough to smear not only Palin, but the entire Tea Party movement, Glenn Beck, and others.

“Progressive Arizona Rep Gabrielle Giffords is shot. In her ads, Sarah Palin had her targeted in a gun site. Inciting to violence.” – Jane Fonda on Twitter [1]

“In addition to issuing the map with cross-hairs on it, Palin told her supporters on Twitter: ‘Don't Retreat, Instead-RELOAD!’” [2]

Additionally, within minutes of the attack, hard left-winger Paul Krugman of the New York Times asserted that the reason Giffords was shot was because her seat was not turned over to Republicans. Despite that no political motive was at all known, Krugman immediately asserted that it was the fault of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.

As to Andrew Sullivan, on his DailyDish blog for the Atlantic, Sullivan posted an unconfirmed and anonymous claim from “a reader” who claimed to have heard people in a store callously saying that they were glad that a Republican could be appointed to replace the wounded Giffords. This “reader” also claimed that one of them said, “Well, that’s to be expected when you’re so liberal.” [3]

This horrific incident is being exploited for political advantage in a way that is devious and desperate. The left has a new opportunity to falsely blame their opponents for something for which those being blamed have zero responsibility. The media will repeat the lie often and loudly enough that some will believe it.

Let’s consider a few relevant points:

1. Political partisanship has always been part of our culture. It is the main reason that we are not already enslaved by people like Barack Obama. It has never been wrong to use metaphors involving targets, guns, etc. for political purposes. That is taken by only the mentally unstable as being anything other than a metaphor. It is not anyone’s responsibility to make sure that what they’re saying won’t send some insane or mentally unstable person over the edge. Anything might do that for someone. Our Constitution designed our political structure to be an adversarial system on the belief that this would help prevent anyone from gaining too much power. Otherwise, we would have one-party rule and a communist-type government.

2. Extreme rhetoric is not nearly as much a problem as the extreme political positions and actions of radical fascist-socialists in positions of power in the federal government. Right-wing and Tea Party responses to government have necessarily and rightly been loud and strong. Our freedom is at stake. But none of this is responsible for the violence. The shooter is.

3. The Obama Administration has been steadily working to reduce and eventually virtually eliminate freedom of speech, especially political speech that opposes them. They will seize upon this as an excuse to try to force people to make their speech more friendly to the government, and to crack down on guns.

4. The person charged in these shootings cannot be classified as a right winger or Tea Party type. He appears to be a lunatic with political beliefs that are simply weird. He likes the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf , for example, and does not seem to have made any political statement that makes any sense. His alleged crime is on the order of that of John Hinckley, Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan, or Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the IRS.

To try to link this crime to Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, or the Tea Party, etc. is a disgusting display, and those who are doing it will not be successful. The American people (mostly) are able to see through this travesty.

Meanwhile, we express our sincere sympathy and offer prayers for all who have been hurt by this senseless and tragic event.

[1] Quoted by Boyce Watkins, Ph. D., “Critics Blame Sarah Palin, Tea Party for Shooting of Congresswoman,” 01/08/2011, BV Black Spin.


[2] Ibid.

[3] Warner Todd Huston, “As Arizona Shooting Story Unfolds, Media Already Blaming Tea Party/Sarah Palin,” 01/08/2011, Big Journalism. (Good analysis, recommended reading)

Related articles

• There Was A Shooting In Arizona, Sarah Palin Is Not The Story (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Staffer: Palin Rhetoric Not to Blame for Attack (cbsnews.com)
• In Blaming Sarah Palin, Our Violent Culture Gets a Pass (politicsdaily.com)

Don’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You: GOP Mainstreamers Attack Tea Party

Image via WikipediaMaybe it’s just that some of their friends lost their GOP primary races to Tea Party candidates. Maybe some good-old-boy networks are feeling the heat. Could be it’s more the changing times that are uncomfortable to some established officials.

But the complaints about the Tea Party, coming from Republican establishment figures are off the mark.

For example: Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama) claimed that Sarah Palin prevented the GOP from taking control of the Senate because Tea Party candidates Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell, who won their primary races, failed to defeat their Democratic opponents in the general election, although it was believed that had they not challenged other GOP candidates, the Senate seats would have ended up in the GOP column. The Hill reported:

“The Senate would be Republican today except for states [in which Palin endorsed candidates] like Christine O’Donnell in Delaware,” Bachus said at a local Chamber of Commerce event last week, the Shelby County Reporter wrote Sunday. “Sarah Palin cost us control of the Senate.” [1]

The Tea Party backed candidates on the basis of principle, which trumped some people’s idea of electability, thinking that electing a RINO (Republican in name only) is hardly better than electing a Democrat. The Tea Party is issues-oriented.

While it may be true that certain Tea Party candidates were less electable than their establishment primary opponents, the Tea Party should be given a lot of credit for the Republicans’ success in the general election. What they brought to the table was great energy and a focus on issues. Perceived RINO’s did not receive their support because they did not support the Tea Party’s issue positions, notably, small government, spending cuts, and repeal of Obamacare.

According to The Hill’s article, Bachus spoke for others in the GOP as well: “Some Republicans have privately groused that Tea Party-backed candidates who were not electable prevented the GOP from taking control of the upper chamber.” [2]

 Well, the GOP picked up enough seats to deny the Democrats anything near the 60-vote supermajority that they wanted, and now they are in a position to stop legislation they don’t want. That’s a substantial increase in power. Even though the Democrats may have lacked the full 60 votes before, they could sometimes get some Republicans to vote with them. Now (that is, starting in 2011), that will be much more difficult.

Some mainstreamers, especially those who were defeated in the primaries, will probably never have any love for the Tea Party, but the GOP is actually better off without the ones who are too timid to put up opposition to the Democrats, and are just as out of touch with voters as the Democrats are.

Senator Lindsey Graham has gone from wholesale dissing of the Tea Party movement in early July to “reaching out” to them by September.

A New York Times Magazine article of July 4, 2010, quotes Graham:

"Everything I’m doing now in terms of talking about climate, talking about immigration, talking about Gitmo is completely opposite of where the Tea Party movement’s at,” Graham said as Cato drove him to the city of Greenwood, where he was to give a commencement address at Lander University later that morning. On four occasions, Graham met with Tea Party groups. The first, in his Senate office, was “very, very contentious,” he recalled. During a later meeting, in Charleston, Graham said he challenged them: “ ‘What do you want to do? You take back your country — and do what with it?’ . . . Everybody went from being kind of hostile to just dead silent.” [3]

 He went on to predict the demise of the Tea Party movement: “The problem with the Tea Party, I think it’s just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country. It will die out.” [4]

An angry reaction by the Tea Party was forthcoming, as one might expect, as reported by The Democrat Daily:

“Lindsey Graham’s repeated public attacks on the hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians like me who have participated in tea party events displays an arrogance and contempt for the views of his constituents that is beyond the pale,” says Allen Olson, chairman of the Columbia (S.C.) Tea Party. “It is among the reasons three South Carolina GOP committees from Charleston, Greenville and Lexington Counties have censured him in the past two years.” [5]

 However, Sen. Graham, while not changing his views on the issues and on working across the aisle, seemed more conciliatory in September. According to an article in The Hill, Graham met with a Tea Party group in Charleston, SC:

Graham defended himself as a mainstream conservative, and expressed worry that public officials like himself were being effectively prohibited from expressing disagreement with the party.

“If you can't accept me pushing back, then our party does have a problem. It's OK for you to push back against me, but it's OK for me to push back against you,” Graham said on WTMA radio in South Carolina, where he received a grilling over his record. “You may not like my political style of trying to find compromise on the big issues of our time, but I think it's the heart and soul of what makes America great.” [6]

 A Politico article states:

With tea party-backed candidates going down in Delaware, Colorado and Nevada, depriving Republicans of what would have been a 50-50 Senate, a bloc of prominent senators and operatives said party purists like Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had foolishly pushed nominees too conservative to win in politically competitive states. [7]

 So, the GOP is involved in a needless and possibly destructive quarrel, when they need to be united in their election victories. Where would they be today without the Tea Party? Probably where they were before the election, with citizens deeply dissatisfied with Obama’s policies, yet finding inadequate response from the GOP in Congress, mainly because of low numbers. There would be public protests, but with a lot less organized action to change things.

The Tea Party led the way to the GOP victory. They understood and shared the dissatisfaction of most Americans with Washington and found ways to make changes. To me, this is the epitome of citizenship in action. The energy they contributed was indispensable. And it should serve notice that the people still have some power. Democrats and Republicans, take notice.

And to the complaining GOP members of Congress: You will have a House majority and a much-improved Senate-seat count largely because of the energy and determination of the Tea Party. They didn’t win all their races. But they were successful enough that there shouldn’t be a lot of whining from you. Count your blessings.


[1] Jordan Fabian, “Key Republican: Palin cost us the senate,” 11/08/2010, Blog Briefing Room, The Hill.



[2] Ibid.

[3] Robert Draper, “Lindsey Graham, This Year’s Maverick,” 07/04/2010, The New York Times Magazine.



[4] Ibid.

[5] Scott Nance, “Tea Party Groups Blast Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham For Criticism In Times Profile,” 07/06/2010, The Democrat Daily.



[6] Michael O’Brien, “Sen. Graham reaches out to Tea Party,” 09/03/2010, Blog Briefing Room, The Hill.

[7] Jonathan Martin and Manu Raju, “GOP senators fight over failure,” 11/03/2010, Politico.

Related articles

• Karl Rove's water boy strikes again (michellemalkin.com)
• Speaking Of Palin, Here's The REAL Reason The GOP's New Financial Services Chief Is Blasting Her (businessinsider.com)

Photo: Portrait of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina). Public domain.

The Tea Party Movement Is a Force To Be Reckoned With

In spite of all the elitists’ dismissing of the Tea Party Movement, the liberals are going to awake to find that this movement has changed the political landscape of America. America is not Europe. Americans don’t accept European-style socialism, which is visibly failing, and they do not accept would-be dictators. President Barack Obama is likely to find his next three years fraught with political difficulty.

So far, the president has resisted public protests against his policies, which consist largely of liberty-destroying programs, massive spending, and vague talk of future deficit cutting, while planning even more big spending. The unemployment, deficit, or inflation figures will not stay this administration from their micro-managing, tax-and-spend, socialist-fascist agenda.

Congressional Democrats are beginning to get the message that Obama wants them to support all this despite their likely loss of reelection in many instances. He thinks they should sacrifice their political careers and the representation of their constituents in favor of his radical “change” projects. Some are retiring (Bayh, Dorgan, Kennedy and Dodd), and others will soon have decisions to make. Republicans are seeing a great opportunity to expand their numbers in Congress, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to govern accordingly if they win more seats.

That’s where the Tea Party Movement becomes critical. Their strategy should involve moving the Republican Party closer to their constitutional and libertarian principles and away from big-government, big-spending, and high-tax policies. They need to strongly oppose further government takeovers in the private sector and more government supervision of Americans’ daily lives and major decisions. Republicans who won’t support conservatism should expect to be replaced by some who will. The Tea Party movement finds problems in both major parties, but a third party is not the answer.

The New York Times reports that Obama is preparing to use more executive power to get around frustrating difficulties with Congress. The newspaper reports, for example, “Mr. Obama has already decided to create a bipartisan budget commission under his own authority after Congress refused to do so.…” Also, the Administration seeks to affect gays-in-the-military cases without waiting for Congress to act. “And the Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with possible regulations on heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change, while a bill to cap such emissions languishes in the Senate.” [1]

If Obama can’t get his way on “health care reform,” what executive actions is he prepared to take? On this and other items, he is seeking to override not only Congress, but the American people. His “summit” on health care with Republicans participating shows he has not given up trying to enact a plan that is opposed by the American people. It’s a cornerstone of his “change” agenda. Unconstitutional, too.

Tea Partiers in various states will probably encourage lawmakers to pass “nullification” laws over Federal legislation and executive orders they view as unconstitutional. This may bring on a constitutional crisis, but maybe it’s time to have this fight. Government officials who try to overpower states on this type of law can probably forget ever getting many votes in these states. The people hold the ultimate power under our system, and they can’t be continuously ignored.

The Democratic leadership has unveiled their radicalism and conspicuously failed to deal with the economic woes of the unemployed to the extent that their policies are very unpopular. Their policies are heading over the cliff. The next “bailouts” we see will likely be more Democrats bailing out on Obama’s ill-advised program. They can cite “gridlock” and “ideology” as their objections, but gridlock is greatly preferable to the Obama agenda, and ideology is what guides Obama. The “pragmatism” he practices is to find what will work to get his radical ideological program installed, not what will work best for the economy, etc.

My caution to the Tea Party Movement is three-fold: (1) Forget a third party; transform the GOP; (2) Emphasize the positive aspects of conservatism (freedom, prosperity, strong defense, limited government, low taxes), well articulated. Anger may temporarily unite, but it doesn’t inspire; and (3) Don’t associate with any groups that sanction any kind of violence or anything that smacks of racism. The Tea Party Movement is about policy. It is already strongly influencing American politics. It is a mainstream movement, not a fringe effort. Its weapons are true and persuasive arguments and the ballot.

[1] Peter Baker, “Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power,” 02/12/2010, The New York Times.

Further reading: David Barstow, “Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right,” 02/15/2010, The New York Times. I’m surprised to be referring to NYT this much.

Photo: Dreamstime.com

Top (But Not Necessarily Best) Political News Items of 2009

I write this as the final few minutes of 2009 are ticking away. The year has not been a particularly good one in terms of the American economy and American politics. Rather, it has been a great challenge for many families and individuals, and full of disappointing actions by our federal government. It seems we have been set up for a good deal more suffering in the future in the areas of taxation, inflation, and more importantly, loss of liberty and increased government control over our everyday lives.

Here I am listing, with brief comments, what I consider the top items, organized by category. You can refer to my previous blog posts for comments on most of these items if you are interested.

First, the economy
Double-digit unemployment. This has probably been the top news story of the year, and it continues month after month in spite of the stimulus and increased spending in general. Forecasts suggest high unemployment rates will continue through much of 2010.
Auto company takeovers and bankruptcies. These were more government takeovers of private-sector industry. GM and Chrysler went through bankruptcies anyway. About $110 billion was spent on these items, with more losses to come.
Cash for Clunkers program. This program helped some people get new cars at a substantial cost to taxpayers. It ran out of money at one point and had to have new authorization to continue for a while. Dealers had to wait a long time to get paid by the government. The program was useful in illustrating the fine-tuned efficiency of government management that we can expect in other programs, like health care and cap and trade.
$1.42 trillion budget deficit. Annual deficits of over $1 trillion are projected for the next decade. This is not only disappointing and difficult, but actually dangerous to our economy.
Largest national debt ever. Currently $12.15 trillion [1], not including tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
House passes financial regulatory bill. Really a thinly disguised government takeover, as the bill includes authority to seize failing companies, or force them to split up. Maybe the Senate will have better sense than to repeat this nonsense.
California faces financial crisis. The liberal welfare state policies of California have naturally led to big deficits and near bankruptcy. Yet these same priorities are being pursued in Washington, where it is thought that the ability to print money will protect us, unlike in California. This, however is not true. A day of reckoning is coming if corrections aren’t made, and sooner than people think.

Second, Health Care
House and Senate pass differing health care bills. Harry Reid and friends will work out the differences in conference. Democrats have all the votes they need, and aren’t getting any help from Republicans. This strictly partisan bill is supported by only a minority of American voters. Democrats will see this in the 2010 elections.
Swine flu scare. “Pandemic” or not, this issue has been exploited as another “scare” to encourage people to look to government for help.
States raise constitutional questions about health care bills. Several state attorneys general are preparing to file lawsuits over various features that might show up in the final health care bill, such as mandates to purchase insurance, and special deals for certain states, that were negotiated to obtain votes enough to get to 60 votes in the Senate. The courts will likely rule on several constitutional issues. I hope they consider the Tenth Amendment.
Citizens protest against Obamacare at August town hall meetings. Several members of Congress were startled at the harshness with which many of their constituents received information about Obamacare, and got an earful at their town hall meetings that were supposed to explain the plan to the people and build support. Obama had to call out his SEIU thugs to assault some people.

Third, Climate Change
House passes cap and trade. A far-reaching and costly cap and trade bill was passed by the House, which drew ridicule from conservatives. House Minority Leader John Boehner spent an hour reading from the bill on the House floor, pointing out some of its ridiculous provisions. The billed was passed having been read by few or no members.
President Barack Obama goes to Copenhagen for climate meeting. The conference resulted in a five-party non-binding “agreement” among large nations, including the U.S., but overall was a major failure. But Obama promised tens of billions in aid to other countries, which is what the meeting was all about anyway.
HHS declares carbon dioxide is harmful to health. Thus, if cap and trade does not pass, the government can use HHS regulations to force CO-2 standards on industry and impose draconian regulations.
“Climategate” shows dishonesty of so-called climate science. The so-called science of climate change is severely distorted and is questioned by many scientists. It is a fraud and a hoax which serves as an excuse to seek more government control and power.

Fourth, the Tea Party Movement
Tea Party rallies draw thousands in various locations, a million or more in Washington; media loath to cover them.

Fifth, Foreign Affairs
Obama delays Afghanistan policy decision. Finally, Obama announces a troop increase of about 30,000, but his speech announcing this was halfhearted in tone, with more emphasis on getting out than in fulfilling the mission.
Higher rate of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan than in 2008.
Obama visits China; talks seem unproductive. No specific agreement announced about China financing U.S. debt, or China’s human rights policies, etc.
Talks with Russia seem unproductive. Hillary Clinton and the President have talked to Russian officials at different times. The on-again-off-again missile shield in Eastern Europe is a barrier, in Russia’s view, to the kind of nuclear disarmament Obama wants. In the interest of American security, one may hope it won’t happen soon.
North Korea pushes ahead with nuclear program.
Iran pushes ahead with nuclear program.
Iran experiences substantial internal dissent. Obama has been criticized for not taking a stronger position in support of Iranian dissidents protesting the Iranian presidential election.
Obama apologizes for U.S. in Europe and Latin America. Seemingly never wanting to miss an opportunity to criticize and apologize for America, Obama seems to think that before he came along, America was usually the bad guy.
Israel invades Gaza in response to attacks. The Democrats’ response? Many billions of dollars in aid to the Gaza regime, i.e., the terrorist organization Hamas.
Terrorist airplane bombing averted although security measures failed. According to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the system worked, then it didn’t. Obama characterized the perpetrator as “isolated” despite his contacts with terrorist groups.

Sixth, Obama’s People
Obama appoints 30+ “czars.” They supposedly wield power like Cabinet officers are supposed to, but don’t need Senate confirmation and report only to Obama. That’s the Chicago way, I suppose.
Ben Bernanke appointed to another term as Fed head, named Time’s Person of the Year. A lot of people are unhappy with these developments.
Several of Obama’s appointments shown to be tax cheats, some have had to withdraw, such as Tom Daschle. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, tax cheat, stays on. He’s over IRS and a good many other things. He worked with Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke in the bank bailouts and other Obama moves to take over the financial sector.
Rep. Charles Rangel in trouble over taxes. He’s chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes and oversees tax laws
Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, who had a significant role in causing the financial crisis, have significant responsibility for dealing with it.

Seventh, the GOP
New Jersey and Virginia elect Republican governors. This is said to portend trouble for the Democrats in 2010. The Democrats probably think the voters will have short memories about Obamacare, etc. Are they right? Not if the Tea Party movement can keep going.
Sarah Palin publishes autobiography/memoir. This rekindles liberals’ fears of her, which they express through ridicule and abuse.

Eighth, Miscellaneous
Obama goes to Copenhagen to promote Chicago for the Olympics. Chicago is then the first city to be rejected by the International Olympic Committee. And after all that trouble.
Obama blames Bush Administration at every opportunity. Ho, hum, what else is new?
Obama’s talk to school children leads to controversy. Liberals don’t seem to know why. Could it be because now he’s the education Indoctrinator-in-Chief?
Obama wants more school days and hours for American students. He wants them to beat these foreign students on math and science tests. Also, he wants the federal government dictating policy to local schools. A better idea is to encourage school districts to expand vocational education.

So that’s briefly how some things happened in 2009. Let’s hope things improve in 2010. Happy New Year, everyone!

[1] U.S. National Debt Clock, 12/31/09, 11:53 PM CST, at http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Government and Media Try to Downplay Protests by Tax-Paying Voters

The 9/12 Tea Party protest march on Washington, in which “as many as one million” people participated (according to the Daily Mail Online, UK, which is less biased in reporting this than most U.S. newspapers) [1], represents a majority of American citizens, most of whom could not be in Washington, but a good many of whom participated in local events. Also, many who did not attend any event still strongly support the views of the protesters and are expressing themselves in other ways, such as letters to their representatives and newspapers.

If you get “as many as one million people” together, as happened Saturday in D.C., you find quite a variety of individuals, but this group was united in their displeasure with the current policies of the federal government, particularly excess spending, taxes, and “health care reform.” They came from many parts of the country. They paid their own way. They weren’t following some charismatic leader, but were showing up to support their beliefs.

The protesters with their signs, flags, and speakers expressed outrage, anger, and determination not to be overcome by their socialist “leaders,” who are constantly thinking up new ways to take away their money, freedom, and future. The multi-trillion-dollar deficits are seen as dangerous and affecting future generations. It doesn’t take a Washington “expert” to see that. They see the Constitution being ripped to shreds with nary a thought, day by day, by their liberal so-called representatives.

They see a harmful and tyrannical “health care reform” about to be shoved down the throats of the American people, a majority of whom don’t want it. And they see the problem of unemployment affecting America’s families, with nothing being done about it, while government seeks to set up more oppressive socialist programs.

None of these observations requires political or technical expertise to know about and be concerned about, although many of the protesters are experts in the affected areas of taxes, health care, law, etc.

Also, past experience could have predicted that the events of 9/12 would be under-reported and even misrepresented by the Obama propaganda division, a.k.a. the mainstream media. You can’t just ignore a million or more people gathered in one place, but you can try to play down the importance, misrepresent the numbers, and offer biased and incorrect analysis.

It’s race-based, say many liberals. As an example, the Boise Weekly takes up Maureen Dowd’s accusation of racism.
“The casual and ignorant use of socialism and Communism and Marxism at these rally's (sic.) have strong historical precedents, including the official red baiting of Martin Luther King, Jr., spurred some 50 years ago by the same Birchers.” Then, quoting Dowd,

“‘I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race….’” [2] People are racist enough that they can’t accept the fact that we now have an African-American president, so they cry “socialist!” to mask their racism. In fact, it’s some liberals who are crying “racist!” to mask their socialism, as one of their online comments points out.

The liberals and elitists just can’t grasp the fact that the protest is policy-based. It is also angry, widespread, sincere and justified. It is not overstating things to classify Obama’s policies as socialist and fascist. They fit the patterns very well. Heavy-handed mandates for citizen participation in socialized programs, government takeover of one-sixth of the economy (government option or not) in addition to the previous nationalizations, and the endless spending and stifling deficits that will last for many years. All this spending, bailouts, and takeovers, yet unemployment continues to rise, as Obama ponders his next heavy yoke upon the taxpayers of America, cap and trade. I’m sure Hugo Chavez is very proud of his protégé.

The protesters can’t be ignored. The key to their lasting effectiveness will be the continuation of the movement up to the 2010 elections and beyond. Congressmen will need to pay attention if they are interested in being re-elected. And Obama will have to start early mobilizing his ACORN, SEIU, and Black Panther thugs to work the elections.

As reported by Manu Raju at Politico.com, “President Barack Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, said Sunday conservative protests in Washington are not indicative of the country's mood.

“‘Conservatives have the right to protest,’ Axelrod said on CBS's ‘Face the Nation,’ but ‘they don’t represent a mainstream view.’” [3]

Oh? If the protesters can get “as many as one million” people to Washington, plus many thousands more in local events – and these are people who work for a living and who vote – how can you be sure it isn’t a mainstream view? Axelrod tries to dismiss this protest as of no real importance. Is he trying to convince us or himself?

One comment at the Daily Mail: “Wow, now there was a message to Obama and Congress that's going to be hard to ignore. My favorite sign was the ‘King George didn't listen to us either’ one. - Eggs Ackley, Wilmington, NC USA, 13/9/2009 03:57” [4]

The following video should convey a good idea of what happened in Washington:



[1] David Gardner, “A million march to US Capitol to protest against ‘Obama the socialist,’” Daily Mail Online (U.K.), 09/15/09, at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1213056/Up-million-march-US-Capitol-protest-Obamas-spending-tea-party-demonstration.html

[2] Nathaniel Hoffman, “Tea Party Inspired by Racial Fears,” Boise Weekly.com, 09/13/09, at http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2009/09/13/tea-party-inspired-by-racial-fears

[3] Manu Raju, “Axelrod: Protests may not mean much,” 09/13/09, Politico.com at http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive /0909/Axelrod_Protests_wont_mean_much.html?showall

[4] Gardner, see [1].

Jim Malmberg has an excellent article on the protests on Bloggersbase at http://www.bloggersbase.com/articles/world-affairs/politics-and-opinions/more-teaparty-misinformation-coming-your-way-courtesy-of-the-us-government/