2009-03-02
The White House has titled the new Obama budget, "The Era of Responsibility." Yet, even to the casual observer, the "Era of Big Government" would be more appropriate in conveying the nature and intent of this budget.
Complete with proposed spending for ambitious projects like national health care, the $3.66 trillion budget will trigger spending levels of $3.94 trillion and produce an annual deficit of $1.75 trillion. That is $1.75 trillion! Never before has a president proposed to spend so much money in such a short span of time. Then again, this is not your grandfather's president.
The Obama plan will raise taxes, reduce deductions for home mortgage interest and substantially reduce the tax breaks for those of us who believe charitable giving should be voluntary. I understand a socialist wanting to take from the rich – but from charities?
This budget pulls off the mask Obama wears. He detests helping anybody in any way unless the government is involved in the process. He is putting his trust in a broken system
that has proven, time and time again, to be the most inefficient and wasteful purveyor of spending the world has ever seen – short of Paris Hilton, of course.
To announce this budget as "The Era of Responsibility" is laughable. Is Obama really trying to sell the concept that spending money we don't have, incurring trillions of dollars of debt and running a $1.75 trillion deficit is akin to responsible behavior? Only a career politician can believe in such a fantasy.
Recently, our government has spent and committed $2.3 trillion to "fix" our economy and pull us out of the current recession – starting with the $168 billion stimulus bill last year all the way to Obama's $75 billion housing fix.
And the result?
Accelerated job losses, a Dow at 7,000 (1997 levels), frozen credit markets, increasingly negative GDP and the worst consumer confidence number in decades. One would think after that amount of spending with little to no results, Obama would see spending is not the answer to the challenges we face.
To some extent, I have respect for what Obama is proposing. He is being true to his word – a rare commodity in politics today. He told the American people that if they elected him, he would increase government, close Gitmo, raise taxes, withdraw from Iraq and provide health care for all. What the voters neglected to hear, thanks to the lap-dog media, is that we would all would have to pay for it.
America needs to be prepared to get what it asked for: Bigger government and massive spending as far as the eye can see. Government-managed markets from health care to car manufacturing. Banking and finance now run by hot air bureaucrats. Less spending on defense and more spending on social programs designed to make recipients more dependent upon government. That is the future for all who live in America.
That is, unless we get involved.
If the majority of the American people wants to take this path, then so be it. But if not, we must take action now by writing letters, sending e-mails and faxes, making phone calls and keeping in constant communication with the 535 elected leaders in D.C. We must send a clear message: If you vote for wasteful spending and a failed strategy, we will punish you in 2010. If they refuse to listen to the American people, they will be fired. "We the People" must hold them accountable. We can no longer send the same group back to D.C to repeat the same mistake over and over again and allow them to serve. And they need to know we mean business and will follow through.
I hope the "Era of Responsibility" has returned! It will be an era when "We the people" are responsible – an era in which free enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit are the bedrock of growth, not government spending and control. We need an era where smaller government and less spending is mandated by the people and an era when personal political ambitions are not elevated over what is best for the country.
Let's welcome an era when leaders like Obama return responsibility to the people for our future. Otherwise, may I suggest you order the French course from Rosetta Stone because soon we will look much like the failed socialist governments of Western Europe. You may even consider a donation to MoveOn.org or a subscription to the Daily Kos.
Now that the mask is off, Obama is aiming for socialism that would make Francois Mitterrand blush.
Back To Commentary Archives | More Commentary @ WND.com Archives
