More scary stuff
March 30, 2010
In yet another expansion of government power that would have been decried had it come from a Republican president, a Senate panel has now passed a new cybersecurity law that would give the President significant new powers. In the event of a declared “emergency” the White House would have the power to unilaterally, without the consent of Congress, block any and all websites desired. Now, the defenders of this bill will say this is only for during a real cyber attack, but as with all things, we should be wary to give any government, especially this one, more power.
I say this in specific light of the tendency in this administration, and its allies on the Left and in the media, to label all sorts of innocuous criticism as potentially dangerous. Again and again, liberals have tried to smear the entire conservative movement as radical, extreme, and violent. It is not beyond the imagination, then, that if something were to happen that major Tea Party and right-wing sites could be blocked. They have already established the narrative that even mainstream sites are “breeding grounds” for possible terrorism.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the Obama team and liberals in general desire to shut down and scare all of us for daring to dissent. Everything they claimed the Bush administration was doing in terms of stifling criticism, they are doing ten times over. We can see this now in the commonplace labeling of activists as racists and bigots. They have no desire to debate or discuss, but to attach pejorative labels to us as a way of invalidating our viewpoint. In this world, then, I don’t think it’s nuts at all to wonder if this new cybersecurity power could be abused.
The crux of the health care bill
March 26, 2010
The health care bill that was recently passed and signed relies on one basic device to accomplish its goals – the individual mandate. Under the bill, people will be forced to either buy health insurance, or pay a fine. The IRS will be hiring over 16,000 new agents to enforce this provision. Now, to those who believe in a limited government, this whole idea is offensive and wrong. The government cannot compel you to purchase a product simply because you exist. This fact is clearly demonstrated when you replace health care with another product, such as a car. No one would seriously entertain the idea that you could be mandated to buy a car.
The problem with health care, though, is that the traditional idea of “insurance”, in which multiple people pay a premium to be covered in case of an emergency, has essentially been destroyed. This is largely the result of government intervention, but whatever the cause, our society has come to think of “health insurance” as being completely different from any other kind of insurance. We entirely expect it to cover not only emergency care, but also all of our drugs, doctor’s appointments, and procedures. Now, this is not to say that there should not be available coverage that includes these things. I, for one, had a couple recent bills that totaled in the thousands that I was glad my insurance covered. The point is – if I wanted to take the risk that I would not need this coverage, or if I was willing to plan ahead and budget for such events, I should be able to purchase the coverage I want.
The issue is that we no longer see health care as a product, but rather as a “right”. We view our insurance policies as expense accounts and have no conception of how much we are spending, or how much things cost. And now that health care has been installed as a government responsibility, this so-called right will be enshrined. The problem is that it’s not a “right” at all. I could spend pages explaining this simple fact, but it essentially boils down to this: A right cannot require that others’ rights be violated to “enforce” it. A right cannot be created by people or government, but is from God (or from nature, at least). And any imagining of the supposed health care right is far too inchoate for it to ever exist in the first place. For example, do you have a “right” to get any medical care at any time?
We on the right have allowed this fiction to be created and perpetrated, and until we can take back the argument we are toast. Unfortunately, the health care right has become so commonplace that it is hard to fight. And as long as it exists, the individual mandate will not be perceived as the unconstitutional offense that it is. If health care is a right, then requiring health insurance is entirely within the government’s purview to enforce that right. If, instead, we can restore it to being seen properly as a product, the mandate is revealed to be illegal and wrong. By restoring this we can open the door to all sorts of market-based reforms. Until then, it will be seen as a public utility. We’ve got to start challenging the progressives’ rhetoric, and restore the idea that rights are not from government but from God.
An apology to future generations
March 23, 2010
As the health care bill was being voted on Sunday night, I looked at my mother and remarked that I was fortunate enough to be born while America was a superpower. Though I only managed to really experience it for a couple decades, my lifetime began in the Reagan’s first term, and has included such events as the falling of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the USSR, and the victory of America in the Cold War. While I was growing up, the world seemed to revolve around America. We were so much richer, more powerful, and more influential than any other power.
Unfortunately, such good times must come to end it seems, and the events of Sunday night, and Obama’s subsequent signing of the bill today, surely must mark some turning point. We have been on this path for some time but the health care bill truly marks a new era in our history, one in which government will play a huge role in nearly every aspect of life. Already unsustainable entitlement spending will continue to explode even further, meaning other areas, most crucially defense spending, will have to suffer. This is all intentional – the architects of this bill fully know that it will reduce American influence, cripple us economically, and change the character of the American people. That’s the whole point.
In light of this, then, I see no way that today’s children, including any I may have in the future, will grow up in an America similar to mine in any respect. The nation they experience will still retain some vestiges of our former greatness, but at the core of it will be a people that has been lulled into dependency and weakness. Unable to project force around the world in any meaningful way, they will live in a country that has a limited role in the world. They will experience all of the wonderful things Europeans are living now – declining population, a stagnant economy, a lack of any real drive or innovation, and a government that has come to involve itself in every part of life.
Sadly, I don’t see much hope of this really changing. Now, some of my fellows will balk at that, saying that if the people come together and fight for American greatness, that we can restore it. While we may make some progress, we must face the fact that a sizable portion of the country either does not care about, and may even support, some of these changes. The Democrats have a huge factor in their favor – once a new entitlement takes root, it is nearly impossible to stop. This is why they wanted this bill so badly – it is truly a game changer, and barring unprecedented electoral victories in the next few years, a giant new middle-class welfare system will go into effect. Once it has, we are essentially finished as a great power.
As Mark Steyn points out in this excellent piece, it isn’t likely to be pretty. The powers that are rising to replace America are nothing like us. If counties like China assume our role in the world, the planet is sure to be less free. In history ours truly is an exception – a superpower that still retains some humility and a love for freedom. China has none of that, and even a place like India, a former British dependency, has no tradition of liberty that comes close to ours. In short, the coming world is a scary place, where much of the safety, freedom, and prosperity we have taken for granted is by no means permanent. We will no longer have a vibrant, strong America to protect them.
All of this is depressing, but it’s also true. And for this, I offer our apologies to future generations. We had a great run, but we fell asleep, and let people like Obama and Pelosi gain power. We became complacent and lazy. We forgot our history and our country’s founding. And it is on our watch that freedom lost its greatest defender.
And further on our divided nature…
March 19, 2010
This Jonah Goldberg piece dovetails perfectly with what I was writing about yesterday. We really are entering a new phase in American life. Those that still do not understand this fact will get it soon. While many of them will choose to stand on the sidelines, I think the health care bill will have such a tangible effect on everyday life that even those who don’t wish to be involved will be forced too. While it’s a horrible way to do so, I don’t see this as a bad thing.
Quite simply, the election of Barack Obama, in direct contrast to his campaign rhetoric about uniting people, was a tremendous victory for the ideological left of this country. While Hillary Clinton represented a more moderate wing of the Democrats, Obama is and always has been a true liberal. This is not to say Hillary was not so in her heart, but in her style she understood that the country is essentially center-right on many issues. Obama, on the other hand, was raised in an environment of hard-core, radical Leftist thought, and truly believes in the liberal worldview. He genuinely believes the Constitution is flawed and outdated, that wealth needs to be redistributed, that many of the world’s problems are America’s fault, and that his election represented a mandate to inflict radical change in the country. His fellow Leftists, Pelosi et al, also are devoted to this idea of an all-encompassing superstate.
As a result, then, this country is more divided than ever and it will remain so for some time. Like I wrote in my post yesterday, the signing of the health care bill represents the first major assault in the coming war. It is an idea borne of the assumptions and ideas of the Left – ideas such as the so-called “right” to health care and other government-provided goodies. It is straight out of the class-envying ideas that have powered socialist and Marxist thinking for decades. In truth it is merely the natural destination of progressive thought, but now it has decided to come out into the open.
What this means is that for the near future, at least, there really are two Americas. There is the America of Obama, which views the government as the provider of rights and the giver of all things. Then there is another America, that of the Tea Parties, that just wants to be free and left alone. These two are deeply opposed and the clashes are just beginning. The good news about health care, if there is any, is that people will come to understand what the liberal superstate really means in practice. Coupled with stiff environmental regulation, people will come to see what it means to have government involved in every single facet of life. And it is my belief that this will wake up the masses to the evils of big government and ignite the country’s fire for freedom. If it does not, we are finished as a great nation.
This means war
March 18, 2010
The news today is disheartening – the Democrats are planning to vote for health care on Sunday. This either means they have the votes, or they are bluffing. While the best outcome would be to have the vote and lose it, in this system that is not likely to happen. Barring some particularly steel-spined Democrats who stand strong and defect when the vote actually comes, votes like this are generally not held until the party whips know the votes are there. So working with the assumption that somehow the votes have materialized, we can make the guess that by some method the Democrats will manage to jam the health care bill through this weekend.
I can honestly say this fact makes me scared. I don’t remember ever being so afraid of a piece of legislation, because, quite simply, we’ve never seen anything like it. This bill will single-handedly demolish the innovation and freedom that have enabled this country to thrive. By fundamentally changing the nation’s nature and saddling us with trillions more in unfunded debt, this could be the most damaging, lethal bill to ever go through Congress. Everyone will feel it, and millions will suffer under much higher costs, oppressive debt, and onerous regulation.
This, then, will surely be the defining moment for this president and his Congress. It is an act so brazen, so arrogant, and so destructive that no matter what comes to pass in the years ahead, this is a sin that cannot be forgiven. It is an atrocity that cannot be forgotten, and cannot be ignored. Indeed, we must all understand what has been done here, and what it means. In short, what we have now is the beginning of a war. We have a president and leaders who, in a mad lust for power, will take a sledgehammer to the private sector and whatever freedoms we have left. How this does not make them genuine enemies of the republic, I don’t know.
I say this with great sadness because I have no great desire to hate my own president. I would love to live in a world where he actually lived up to his promises of moderation and bipartisanship. I would love to restore some civil dialogue where all ideas can be offered and debated. But that is a fairy tale. Obama has no desire for that, and with the signing (or even just the support) of this health care bill he has made clear that he is at war with much of what has historically made this country great.
I think it’s high time, then, to really start seeing things in that perspective. There are a million policies and decisions we can disagree with. We can complain and argue until we are blue in the face about education policy, military decisions, even environmental laws. What we cannot do is stand by while something as important and personal as our health care is turned into a government-controlled nightmare. If this bill does indeed become law, this country will have changed and we must too. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, and now we must respond.
Health care is the great spark
March 9, 2010
As nauseous as it makes me, my honest gut feeling is that the Democrats will find a way to pass their health care bill. The opportunity is simply too great and too close for them to resist. It is much like Rush has described – it is like Sauron nearly grasping the One Ring. In many ways the ultimate prize for the statists, government health care is potentially the most important achievement of their political lives.
The reasons for this are clear. Passing this health care “reform” bill will establish a new entitlement that will be very hard to roll back. It will extend the tentacles of government into every facet of life. It has long been understood that, much like carbon controls allow government to regulate every part of economic life, health care control will allow government to regulate all elements of personal life. The “obesity crisis” all of a sudden becomes a national emergency, and addressing it becomes an argument about saving taxpayer money and working for the common good. And of course, addressing it means bans, laws, taxes, and the like. In general, everyday health decisions gain national significance as they all affect the health care system in some way.
In short, then, this health care bill passing is in many ways “game over” for a long time. This is not to say it cannot be defeated someday, but doing so will become increasingly hard under our current system, as the above-mentioned tentacles grasp tighter and deeper and people get used to subsidies and controls. To the tyrants intent on passing this, that is the entire point. The near-totalitarian mindset of much of the Left is on full display as politicians lie, extort, and bribe in their quest for the Holy Grail. It has become clear that no tactic is too low, no attack too base.
What do we do then, in the face of this impending juggernaut? We, quite simply, go to war. I don’t think it is much of an exaggeration to compare this bill to Pearl Harbor. Certainly not in the sense of lives lost (at least visibly), but in terms of its brazenness, violence, and offensiveness. Just as Pearl Harbor shocked the nation, instantly readied us for war, and launched us into fighting against the Axis, the health care bill needs to launch Americans into battle against the power-hungry, oppressive leaders who would dare enact such a wretched thing. We need to understand that the very fabric of our country is under assault and act accordingly. This is not a fight any of us wish for – we would much rather live our own lives, and mind our own business. But when the forces of statism launch an unprovoked sneak attack on us, we damn well better respond in kind.
They're not serious
March 2, 2010
This week, a couple events happened that prove that most of Washington, including virtually the entire Democrat Party, are not serious about anything they claim to be. Again and again, our politicians claim they are against corruption and for responsible governing. And, seemingly mere seconds afterward, they prove what a joke that idea is. The fact is, this week, especially, proves that the large majority of our leaders are NOT serious about doing anything. They are essentially lying hypocrites who stand for nothing.
The first case is the reaction to Jim Bunning’s brave decision to stand on principle. He objected to passage of a $10B spending bill that would, among other things, extend unemployment benefits yet again. Because of this, the bill’s progress was halted until a full vote could be scheduled. Regardless of one’s feelings about extending benefits, or one’s opinion of Bunning’s strategy, the reaction to this tactic was extremely disturbing. For daring to suggest that Congress should actually abide by its “pay-go” rules and pay for what it spends, he was demagogued and abused. Democrats all over mocked him, attacking him as cruel and inhuman for opposing yet another unfunded handout.
In the grand scheme, this bill was not a major piece of legislation. Many workers already have had unemployment benefits for up to 99 months and it may do them well to get off the public dime. No one will die without this bill – there will merely be some minor inconvenience, and it appears a fully-funded replacement is in the works. Yet to hear our glorious leaders speak, you’d think Bunning was walking around the city stealing food from the homeless. These leaders have thus proved that even in the smallest of circumstances, they have no interest in any kind of restraint or responsibility. Quite simply, they have no intention of ever reforming or taking seriously our desires to rein in government craziness. They have no business leading anything, let alone our country, and letting them continue to lead would be like turning the country over to children. Perhaps worse.
The other event that shows beyond doubt that most of our leaders have contempt for us is the treatment, or more accurately the lack of treatment, regarding Charlie Rangel. Faced with a host of serious ethical questions, Rangel has been embattled for many months, yet at no time did it seem possible he could even be forced to step down as Ways & Means chairman. Even now, with some of the charges confirmed, it still seems as if Rangel will hold on to his chair. Remember, this was supposed to be the “most ethical Congress ever.” The fact that it has not been, and has in fact been in many ways worse, proves that when Pelosi uttered that line, she was flatly lying to us. That Rangel still holds his chair, and that many Democrats and liberal columnists have defended him, show for certain that when it comes to their own members, there are no standards and no rules. And in full honesty, some Republicans are just as bad.
Both of these events should prove, even to the most stubborn out there, that our current leaders are unfit to lead. To even call them leaders is a sad commentary on the level of corruption we as a country have allowed to fester. We’ve come to the point where our politicians feel able to lie to our face, as if we are idiots who will never hold them to their words. This tendency extends even up to our president, one of the most dishonest among them. Thankfully, there is a movement afoot to change this state of affairs, and this is wonderful. For to tolerate this nonsense any further would be an abrogation of our duty as citizens.
UPDATE (3/3/10): It appears now that Rangel is stepping down, though his likely replacement, Rep. Pete Stark, is the guy who accused President Bush of sending troops to Iraq “to have their heads blown off for [his] amusement.” So, still a pretty despicable choice. And it also seems that Bunning relented on his objection, and the bill he was blocking passed anyway. Disappointing, but not surprising in both cases.
