“Only” Government

Our President has reminded us that the“…federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle…” (Obama: ‘Only Government’ Can Break Cycle of Job Loss, Economic Downturn, Fox News, February 09, 2009). It now becomes our choice whether we believe Obama or do we draw on the vast experience we have with our government and come to our own conclusions?

I admit that, although cyclic, our economic Titanic has sunk and many of us are floating around in the water. However, in this particular case we’re not in the North Atlantic, we’re about 1/8th of a mile from shore and there are empty dinghies all around us that we’re being forbidden to use. The shoreline is within reach and we all could more than easily swim to shore. However, we’re being admonished by the Captain of the ship to stay where we are and not to advance on our own strength. Many of us want to head for dry land but the government is placing impediments in our way and telling us if we try, we’re doomed and will all drown.

The Master Communicator is using his bully pulpit to reestablish his belief that as a group we do not have the capability to save ourselves and our individual survival instincts and inbred abilities are being blatantly demeaned. The bullhorn is broadcasting, “We are in a crisis, only government, only government, only government can prevent catastrophe” and although inherently we know that the closer to the shore the shallower the water and the better chance we have for survival, we’re being forced en masse to tread and remain in the water.

While floating around out there we have lots of time waiting for the rescue team to come and save us when a stray copy of the 647 page “stimulus” bill floats by. Hanging onto a full copy of the bill as a buoy, anticipating governmental assistance to come to our rescue, we have the occasion, while splashing around, to reflect on all the other things that “Only the Government can do!”

All of us in the water should reconsider our options because this government, who we’re told is our only hope, is also responsible for other things that we all know only they can do. For instance, “Only the government” can:

• Have a Nuclear Regulatory Commission that cannot guarantee the safety of our nuclear plants.
• Continue to spend taxpayer money on programs that have been proven not to work.
• Only the government can foster failure and call it fairness.
• Take an $819 billion dollar bill, hike it to $920 billion and finally settle at $837 billion and call it a cut!
• Give tax money to people who don’t pay taxes and call it a rebate.
• Support a department like the USDA, which can’t keep E Coli and Listeria out of our food.
• Put a man on the moon but can’t insure its’ citizens a safe and fair election (FEC).
• Take from the “doers” and give to the “don’t -ers” and call it justice.
• Pass a law that forbids discrimination and then hire people based on their gender, race or ethnicity.
• Have an FAA whose technology is almost 50 years old.
• Interfere with the private sector causing a crisis and then promote themselves as the fix.
• Support a Custom’s and Border Protection Agency and still have 9 -12,000 illegal’s crossing our border every day.
• Establish an agency that has full control over the entire United States during a real or perceived crisis (FEMA), but then be responsible for the deaths of its citizens in a real flood.
• Finance a public school system where its graduates cannot read, put together a coherent sentence or calculate change for a $5.00 bill.
• Have an agency like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has 15 agencies and administers 30 laws related to food safety but can do nothing to insure the safety of our food supply.
• Set up agencies like the IRS and have people in charge who don’t pay their taxes.
• Finance a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC), who is unable to track down the source or block the import of unsafe products, especially in the area of toys.
• Bankrupt Medicare and Social Security and then have the hubris to propose national health care as a viable option for the well being of its citizens.
• Give government backed loans to people who can’t afford them and then blame the people who do pay their mortgage for the problem
• Become endorsers of predatory lending and then use the negative results of that policy as an excuse to undermine the free market.
• Have a Senator proposing legislation who has a record of traffic violations, one of which resulted in the death of another human being
• Propose a bill loaded down with pork and partisan social initiatives and call it a “stimulus” bill.
• Intervene in the private sector causing problems and then propose further intervention to rectify the problems they caused.
• Institute a welfare state and then call it inequity toward those who they’ve trapped in the system.
• Be incapable of running an efficient Department of Motor Vehicles and still convince the public they can efficiently run health care.
• Appoint judges who interpret the “Right to Privacy” as the right to kill 6 million unborn babies.
• …and much, much more!

I think it would be wise for those in the water to drift away from the “stimulus” bill, leave it in the water—and begin to swim to toward the shore!

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