Truth Justice and the American Way April 22, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: deficit spending, Dr. Robert Owens, Justice, National Debt, Progressive agenda
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Who in their wildest dreams ever thought we would see a headline that says, “China Urges U.S. to Protect Creditors”? For those of us who grew up in an America that was the undisputed leader of the free world locked in the Herculean task of containing the godless hordes of the Communist East, an America that was the largest manufacturer, largest creditor, and the economic engine that drove the world’s economy until recently it was unimaginable. We watched as America fought wars around the edges of the creeping red menace. We worked to elect the leaders and pay the taxes that built a 600 ship navy, the best equipped armies in history, and the Space Based Initiative all of which eventually convinced even the Soviets that their centrally-planned monstrosity couldn’t compete as it collapsed of its own weight.
Yes, except for the pages of MAD magazine, Cracked, or Rolling Stone until recently such a headline would have been unimaginable. Today, after 23 years of Progressive leadership it has become the truth. Communist China is warning us to make provisions to pay our creditors in the face of a declining credit rating and an ever growing debt. Have they ever heard of the GM bond holders?
If you’ve ever been to a TEA Party rally or if you grew up in America before it became politically incorrect to love our country you will remember these words, “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This is our hallowed Pledge of Allegiance. It ends by announcing to the world our dedication to Justice.
In a world still run by kings, empires, and tyrannical despots as America rose to become a capitalist colossus of opportunity, we proclaimed that instead of the whims of the privileged riding rough shod over the rights of man we as a nation believed in an objective justice that wasn’t swayed by birth or purchased by fraud. For more than two hundred years this honorable standard was our goal. It wasn’t always perfectly applied, and it was sometimes cruelly circumvented by prejudice and avarice, but at least it was our goal. The statue of Lady Justice wears a blindfold so that she is not influenced by what can be seen and she holds the scales which weigh the truth.
Martin Luther King called us to be more than we had been and all that we can be when he said, our children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That this call was not for something new but instead a fulfillment of our original design is shown in Dr. King’s plea that America, “live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” This was ever the goal: blind justice. This was ever the light which shone from the beacon in the hand of Lady Liberty: freedom to rise above our birth, liberty to rise to the level of our efforts, and justice for all.
Today the Progressives have shackled us to a creed of political correctness which for the first time in our history makes Americans fearful of the penalties for what they say, write, and think. The Progressive ideology of from each according to their abilities to each according to their need, their dedication to the end of American Exceptionalism through globalization, and their worship of the myth of man-made global warming has created a toxic atmosphere where justice has no blindfold and her scales are tipped by the corruption of political power, crony capitalism, and interest groups on steroids.
In the face of these assaults on who we are and what we can do the American people refuse to give up! In the face of the best government money can buy taxing us to penury and spending us to poverty the American people continue to produce, to work, and to hope. In a world where our Progressive leaders have raised stealing from Peter to pay Paul into a national policy the American people have refused to go quietly into that dark night. On the day taxes were due thousands upon thousands of dedicated Americans gathered in city parks, town squares, and fields to proclaim America is still the home of the brave and the land of the free.
This is the American way. We have faced adversity many times. We have stood up to be counted when kings and emperors sought to squash the freedom of man under the weight of their divine right pride. We have shouldered the burden when dictators sought to clamp their totalitarian yoke upon the neck of the world and we will stand before these self-inflated ideologues who seek to smother freedom under a centrally-planned economy and a regimented society. Other countries have shown that when you rob Peter to pay Paul eventually Peter changes his name to Paul and that in the face of a stacked deck they will pretend to work as the government pretends to pay. In America today millions are rising up and saying, we will not have a nation drowning in debt and limited in power! We will not leave a broken dream to our children! We will work tirelessly to preserve truth, justice, and the American way. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Uncle Sam Plays You Pay April 15, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Continuing resolutions, Debt Ceiling, Dr. Robert Owens, National Debt, Ryan Plan
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America is careening towards a financial Armageddon. The president proposed a budget for 2012 that projected a deficit of 1.6 Trillion dollars. That is trillion with a “T.” Gone are the innocent days when one of the perpetually re-elected could quip, “A billion here and a billion there and soon we’re talking about real money.” Now billions disappear into the federal sinkhole at the rate of 4.08 billion per day. What does a trillion look like? If you went into business the day Jesus was born, and you lost a million dollars a day, 365 days a year, it would take you until October 2737 to lose a trillion dollars.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the budget deficit just for February 2011 hit $223 billion, which means more debt was added in just that one month than was added in all of 2007. The personal share of the federal debt borne by every tax-paying citizen is now increasing at the rate of $50 per day seven days a week, 364 days a year. That is an increase of $1,500 per month and $18,250 per year per tax payer.
That sounds serious. However, it doesn’t appear as if our elected officials take it seriously at all. The Republicans propelled into the majority by the grassroots activism, high energy and victories of the Tea Party Movement promised to cut 100 billion from the 2011 budget. President Obama submitted that budget which spends 3.7 trillion with a deficit of 1.6 trillion dollars in 2010. It was never passed even though the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. This left the door open for the Republicans to use the continuing resolutions necessary to keep the government operating as vehicles to wring spending cuts from the Democrats. After theatrical bi-weekly dramas these cuts were in the range of ten to twelve billion dollars.
Then finally, with the Democrats imposing an artificial deadline for the passage of a budget that was almost half expended and which they had failed to pass when they had undisputed control, the two parties of power struck what they hailed as a “Historic” compromise. They first told us they slashed thirty eight billion from the budget. The actual number, according to the Congressional Budget Office has since dwindled down and down until today it is estimated to be less than a billion. The Federal Government will still increase the national debt by several trillion dollars this year and our leaders expect us to celebrate their conversion to fiscal sanity. Isn’t the definition of insanity to continue doing the same thing and expect different results? Just because they’re crazy doesn’t mean we have to cheerfully put on an economic straight-jacket and walk voluntarily into a padded cell at the poor house.
Representative Paul Ryan (R. WI) introduced a budget which he says takes on the sacred cows and gores the sacred bulls by cutting six trillion from the projected budgets of the next ten years. The Democrats immediately assaulted this plan as cruel, heartless, and inadequate. The President announces his latest plan which he assures us he meant to introduce all along once someone else had opened the debate. In His plan Mr. Obama plans to cut the projected deficit by stopping waste and abuse in government programs and by taxing the rich.
There are two problems with this approach: if we had all the money politicians have promised to save by stopping waste and abuse we would have a surplus, and the rich don’t have enough money. It has been estimated that if you confiscated every dime every person who makes over one million dollars per year makes it would only generate enough money to run our debt addicted government for less than one year. What would we do for the next year? And the fact of the matter is that the tax increases the President wants are not confined to the rich. They would target everyone with a combined gross income above 250,000. That group includes most small business people. This approach will take money out of the pockets of the greatest creators of jobs: small business people. And it still won’t generate enough money to stop the red ink.
Now the battle looms to raise the debt limit. This is an inside-the-belt-way shell game wherein the parties of power each beat their chests and growl at each other about who is the most responsible before they both vote to increase the limit on their collective credit card. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all just raise the limit on our credit cards indefinitely? And now with the Federal Reserve buying our own debt to finance the repayment maybe we could increase the limits on all our cards so that we can pay our Visa with our MasterCard and our MasterCard with our Discover and our Discover with our Visa. How could that ever go wrong?
The storyline we are supposed to believe now is that in exchange for raising the debt limit there must be meaningful movement towards a balanced budget amendment. That sounds so encouraging. If we just had a balanced budget amendment the problem will be solved. As always there are several spare balanced budget amendments lying around in Congress waiting for enough votes or at least an opportunity to get to the floor for a debate before they are stuffed back in a committee until the next time the shopaholics on the Potomac need to convince the great unwashed in fly-over country that this time they are serious about curbing their over-spending.
Even if they were passed what good would they do? The President and the Democrats have already shown that they think the way to solve the deficit problem is to raise taxes. The Republicans have a plan that appears very dramatic but at the end of a decade still has not ended the deficit spending, which means the debt is still growing.
The International Monetary Fund has looked at these plans and says it appears America is not serious about dealing with its addiction to debt. If we don’t do something soon our creditors are going to stage an intervention, and they will dictate how we must restructure our lives and our nation if we want any more credit. And we are addicted to credit.
A balanced budget amendment merely requires a balanced budget, and budgets can be balanced by increasing taxes instead of decreasing spending. What we need instead is a spending amendment which would limit federal expenditures to a reasonable percentage of the nation’s income. If we can’t stop the spending we will eventually destroy our credit, collapse our economy, and curtail our liberty. In other words, no matter what we the people want Uncle Sam will continue to spend, spend, spend as long as we pay, pay, pay.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
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Are We On Our Way To Gettysburg? March 18, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, energy policy, free trade, inflation, National Debt
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The nightly newsreel rolls and we watch in fascination as our friend and ally Japan struggles to regain its bearings after nature’s devastating one-two-punch seems to have set them up for a potential nuclear knock-out. Boosting the ratings of the wall-to-wall news channels we sit for hours glued to the scenes of devastation waiting to be amazed by the most recently discovered views of water overtaking land in a world where every phone is a video camera. The destruction of this latest mega-tragedy is reminiscent of World War II after America paid back Pearl Harbor in spades and today’s situation even has an atomic twist at the end. One major difference is that this time we are all praying that our partners in the land of the rising sun won’t have to surrender.
Today America faces an economic earthquake and a social tsunami. Our leaders have spent us into the poor house. Our melting pot has become a smelting pot. Our social glue consists of eating at the same fast food restaurants and watching the same game shows. Reality shows are more popular than reality. Our President fiddles while Rome burns more concerned about b-ball brackets then about a 14 trillion dollar debt, two wars, and a world aimed at meltdown. The only event able to hold the administration’s interest is the 2012 election and their obsession to maintain their grasp on power.
The lack of a Historical perspective may well prove to be the undoing of our nation. Once a people are divorced from their past they live in the Eternal Now and those who set the agenda can always change now. The study of History not only provides context it also provides an endless number of lessons, illustrations, and warnings.
The magnitude of the calamities currently assaulting Japan cannot help but bring to mind the terrors of total war. In all our wars only one ever visited such destruction on our homeland. In the Civil War the North adopted a policy of total war to destroy the South’s will and ability to fight. After the South under a string of brilliant generals culminating in Robert E. Lee handed the Union defeat after defeat Grant and Sherman were able to convince Lincoln of the necessity of wonton destruction of civilian as well as military targets.
Flush with victory Lee launched his first invasion of the North in 1862. He marched into Maryland, a slave state which stayed loyal to the Union more because of an occupying army then because of popular sentiment. Lee’s goal was to defeat the Union Army and lead Maryland into the Confederacy thus surrounding Washington DC, probably winning foreign recognition, and possibly winning the war.
The previously invincible Army of Northern Virginia led by arguably the greatest tactician America has ever produced met General George McClellan and the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Antietam for the bloodiest day in American combat history. More than twice as many Americans were killed or mortally wounded at Antietam on that one day than in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War combined.
After twelve hours of savage combat more than 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. The fighting ended in a stalemate with combat stopping due to the sheer exhaustion of the armies not because one side had triumphed over the other. However, Lee and his men were at the end of a precarious line of supply through enemy territory with no hope for reinforcement and more Union forces were arriving all the time. Therefore, even though the Union sustained more casualties than the South, Lee was forced to withdraw. This was a tactical victory for the South but a strategic victory for the North opening the door for Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation thus seizing the moral high ground in the war and precluding any recognition of the South by the European powers.
One year later after fresh victories at Spotsylvania Courthouse, in the Wilderness, and Chancellorsville Lee once again sought to end the war with a second invasion of the North. This time he crossed the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry and marched into the heart of Pennsylvania hoping to destroy the North’s will to fight by bringing the war to them.
This time he met the Union Army under General George Meade a career officer and civil engineer. In this pivotal battle of the war the great bold tactician met the plodding bureaucrat. On the first day of the battle General Lee moved uncharacteristically slow and Meade moved uncharacteristically fast allowing the North to gain the high ground. This set the stage for the battle as the South wasted itself attacking strong positions culminating in the fruitless slaughter of Pickett’s charge. Bled white and facing a Union army that was constantly growing Lee turned around and carried the Confederacy’s last hope of victory from the field of honor.
But it didn’t have to end that way. Instead of attacking against fortified positions either uphill or over open ground Lee could have turned to the east to march towards Washington. Meade and the Union army would have had to follow him doing their best to move around him to shield the capitol. Lee could then have chosen his ground and allowed the North to waste itself against a fixed position as they had so many times before. A victory here would have left Lee with an unopposed road to Washington and possible victory.
Hindsight is 20/20 and at this distance without the hazard of battle and the gamble of combat it’s easy for an armchair general to improve upon the real life experience of one of the greatest generals in history.
What we need now is not hindsight but foresight. Domestically, America is facing the perfect storm of crushing debt, dwindling industrial capacity, high unemployment, and creeping inflation. Internationally we’re engaged in two hot wars, a desultory campaign against international terrorists, pirates on the high seas, and collapsing prestige.
Are we boldly marching towards our Gettysburg? Are we blindly relying on our past glories expecting them to propel us to future triumphs? Will we waste ourselves assailing massive debt with paltry cuts? Are we marching over open ground against the fixed positions of free trade agreements that are free in only one direction? Are we hamstringing ourselves with an energy policy designed to keep the earth green by devastating our pockets for the benefit of our enemies?
Before it’s too late we should turn and march towards victory! Stop the over spending. Renegotiate all our trade deals, and make them equitable for all sides. Put the welfare genie back in its lamp before Ali Baba and his 535 thieves pass another budget, loot the treasury, and we end up sitting in the dirt eating leaves.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
And the Dead Beat Goes On March 3, 2011
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2010 election, Dr. Robert Owens, National Debt, Republican majority, Tea Party, Thomas Jefferson
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Now we’re getting tough! Since the Tea Party Turnaround last November the new Republican majority in Congress is taking the bull by the horns and showing that they mean business! They would only agree to raise the debt limit for two weeks. That’s like telling your shopaholic alter ego who’s emptied the family savings, overdrawn the checkbook, mortgaged the house, and taken out a juice loan with a loan shark just to cover the interest, “This has got to stop! Here’s a new credit card, but you can only use it for two weeks.” How could that possibly go wrong? Just charge it to someone who hasn’t been born yet. They never seem to complain.
In a letter to James Madison, referring to the idea of running up a national debt beyond the power of the current generation to fully fund or pay off, Thomas Jefferson said, “I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.”
Currently the national debt of the United States stands at over 14 trillion dollars and it’s growing at the rate of more than one trillion per year for as far as the eye can see. It has increased by an average of $4.13 billion per day since September 28, 2007. We can question the wisdom of this but did you know that it is illegal to question the validity of the practice? According to the14th amendment Section 4 it’s illegal to question the validity of the National Debt. This section says, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned.”
When we take actions like making Health Care a right we have just placed an obligation on everyone else to pay for it. I want to be healthy. I want everyone else to be healthy. I also want the economy to be healthy. Creating another entitlement that requires taking money from productive people and using it to give benefits to a third party only points to the coming double-dip in this Great Recession and the shell game which is our national budget. We sent Bernie Maddoff to jail for doing on a smaller scale what our government does every day: robbing Peter to pay Paul. The problem with robbing Peter to pay Paul is eventually Peter changes his name to Paul.
Although it was stated before it was illegal to do so Thomas Jefferson was willing to say the practice of robbing our children and grandchildren because we cannot quit spending is not a valid way to manage our affairs, “The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time.”
Along with much of the wisdom of our Founders this has been forgotten by an ever growing government seeking to be all things to all people. Our current leaders may have forgotten the wisdom of our Founders but they seem to have accepted the wisdom of Salvador Dali, “I believe that the moment is near when by a procedure of active paranoiac thought, it will be possible to systematize confusion and contribute to the total discrediting of the world of reality.” This may describe our current descent into the bizarre world of a fundamentally Transformed America, but it doesn’t sound promising as a plan for political success.
We can’t spend our way to prosperity. We can’t borrow our way to solvency, and we shouldn’t condemn our descendants to a life of limited opportunity crushed under the debt for the entitlements we wanted but couldn’t afford. That’s the reality our actions are ignoring as our shopaholic alter ego pouts, “But, I want it now!”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the author of the History of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2011 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
Thanks for Nothing November 20, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: 2010 election, Dr. Robert Owens, Dream Act, Insolvency, National Debt, START
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Sometimes not getting everything you want is the best thing you can get. Sometimes enough is too much already. Sometimes the next time might be the last time if this time is just like the last time. Sometimes when we try to run out the time, time runs out on us. Then again, sometimes time seems to stand still, which is exactly the time we need to realize time never stands still.
Sometimes not getting everything you want is the best thing you can get. In the run up to the game-changing election of 2010 many people hoped the Republicans would gain control of both the House and the Senate. This did not happen and that is a good thing. The staggering scope of the re-alignment in the House reveals the breadth and depth of America’s repudiation of the Progressives and their welfare nanny-state. However, if the Teanami had given conservatives complete control of the legislative branch it would have set the stage for President Obama and his accomplices in the media to run against the Tea Party Congress 24/7 for the next two years. As it stands today, the House can act as an anchor slowing down the precipitous rush into the Progressive’s socialist dream world without being a foil for the next comeback kid.
Sometimes enough is too much already. While the House is now in a perfect position to slow down the Progressives march towards Utopia it might be too late. By standing on the promises they’ve made to get another chance at legislative leadership the Republicans can stop anymore over-the-top spending. They can use their power to modify bills and bring some sanity back to our budgetary process. This will be good, but it won’t be enough. The looting of the treasury that’s gone on for the last two years combined with the projected looting already commits us to trillion dollar yearly deficits for the next 10 years. Slowing the rate of growth will do nothing to stop our mad rush into insolvency. Standing still is not good enough, we must reverse course or this Titanic is going to hit the iceberg no matter where we place the deckchairs.
Sometimes the next time might be the last time if this time is just like the last time. The Republicans are hitting the right note as they prepare to take over the House. They aren’t crowing about the victory of their Party. They’re acting chastened and aware that if they mess it up this time they may end up following the Whigs they replaced in the 1850s unto the ash heap of history. After 40 years in the wilderness, the Republicans gained power in 1994. They followed through on their contract and brought in the first balanced budget in a generation, ended welfare as we had known it and inspired a pragmatic progressive to utter those long sought after words, “The era of big government is over.”
Unfortunately, they nominated a lackluster candidate and were out maneuvered by the Clinton Machine in 1996 and then fell into an impeachment debacle wherein they had to fight the administration, the media, and their own Progressive wing. Following their impeachment fiasco the GOP legislative majority followed their Progressive leaders and wallowed in the pork until disgusted voters decided to give the Democrat Progressives a chance.
The Republicans are wise to realize they’ve not been embraced by the Silent Majority / Tea Party. They’ve been given one last chance. Do what you said you would do, fight to reverse the slide, fight to save the Republic, don’t just mark time, or this time will be your last time because sometimes when we try to run out the time, time runs out on us.
Sometimes time seems to stand still which is exactly the time we need to realize time never stands still. The lame duck session grinds on, and we still don’t know what lame laws these ducks will lay before they lose the keys to the House. In a way, with the holidays fast approaching and the blessed sound of a recess bell not too far away it feels as if time is standing still. As if the angels are holding their breath awaiting the first snowflakes as we all gather to give thanks, Congress is going home.
However, the Progressives are not standing still. In the last two years they’ve effectively abdicated their Constitutional responsibilities moving much of the decision-making and oversight from Congress to the bureaucracy. Right now the multiple thousand page bills are being unwrapped like Christmas presents by the departments and bureaus and soon new regulations with the force of law will cascade out of nondescript offices continuing the transformation of America. Those dedicated to the salvation of the Republic cannot rest upon the glow of victory. We must redouble our efforts to turn back the tide. We must limit the government before the government limits us.
Now is the time to petition our representatives, asking them to actively do nothing in the lame duck session that isn’t absolutely necessary. There was no budget passed, so a continuing resolution is required. That’s all that must be done. The tax question can be postponed until the next Congress and made retroactive. The START treaty needs a closer examination. Everything else being proposed such as the Dream Act is nothing but political payoffs for members of the Progressive coalition. The best thing this Congress can do for us after all they’ve done to us is nothing. If they’ll just do that we can all be thankful.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
My Name’s America and I’m a Debt-a-holic November 6, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Robert Owens, entitlements, monetizing the debt, National Debt, tax cuts
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Anyone who’s walked down the twelve-step path or knows someone who has, which is almost everyone in America, has heard the saying, “Until you admit you have a problem there’s no hope for a cure.”
We, as America have a problem: we’re addicted to debt. Now is not the time to point fingers. This isn’t the time to figure out whose fault it is or when was the fatal binge that sent us over the line from recreational user to addict. Now is the time to man-up, to admit we have a problem, and take the first steps toward recovery. And I’m not talking about some over-priced, jazzed-up, Betty Ford type recovery “Program.” I mean real recovery. This won’t happen overnight. It won’t happen without fears and tears and soul-searching honesty as we look in the mirror and admit to ourselves, “We aren’t controlling the debt. The debt is controlling us.”
Like many survivors of the Summer of Love, and the other social scams of the 1960s, when so many of we Boomers danced in lock-step like lemmings at mass festivals loudly proclaiming our induhvidualism while wearing identical tie-dyed shirts and patched-up jean uniforms, I found myself one day admitting I was addicted to something. No longer could I pretend I was taking the formerly magical something for fun. I was ingesting something that was bad for my body, because if I didn’t I’d get sick. My body, my mind, my soul had become addicted, and if I didn’t keep flying I was going to crash. I had that realization. Step-by-step I learned to walk on my own again. Maybe you’ve never had that experience personally. Hold on to your treasured memories of missing that degrading rite of passage, because we as a nation are about to hit the wall.
If we don’t sober up and take the cure ourselves one day soon our friendly local debt dealers are all going to get together and pull an intervention on us, and that will not be pretty. The austerity you place upon yourself is easier to bear than the austerity placed on you by someone else. If we don’t seize these last few moments of independence to stand up and say, “My name’s America and I’m a debt-a-holic” before we can print enough funny money to pay off our massive debts the countries holding that debt will cut us off and we’ll have to go through withdrawals cold-turkey. Or worse yet, we may be so strung out on living beyond our means that we’ll agree to anything the debt dealers demand if only they’ll extend our credit for a few more days. The borrower is slave to the lender and he who pays the piper calls the tune.
It’s easy to pick out all the pet projects of the opposition and say those are what caused us to go over the line. If we’re truthful we will see that it wasn’t just entitlements it was providing garrison troops to maintain the peace around the world. It wasn’t just tax cuts it was also spending. Truthfulness is a required ingredient for this cure. It won’t work if we just stop drinking, because dry drunks just find something else to fill the hole in their souls. It won’t be good enough to kick the heroin of debt just to become strung out on the methadone of printing money. We can’t just click our heels three times and say “I wish I was home” as Bernanke pumps out billions of increasingly worthless paper dollars. We can’t start using our Discover Card after the shop keeper cuts up our MasterCard and our Visa.
Some fear the cure will be worse than the disease. Some are afraid to admit there’s a problem fearing there will be a stigma. We’re past time to worry what the other countries down the block are going to say. We cannot hesitate because we’re ashamed all the other countries will point at us on the UN playground and say behind phony smiles, “America couldn’t handle their budget and now they have to live within their means.”
We can’t let divisions divide us. We must remember we are the UNITED States. We have to realize we cannot remain anonymous buying our debilitating debt on the corner from dealers who’re laughing at us behind our backs. We cannot continue spending like drunken sailors at the first port-of-call in six months and expect that there will be anything left for the kids. We’re sacrificing our children at the altar of our own desires. It’s time to admit that being generous with other people’s money isn’t generosity, its theft. It’s also time to realize that if everyone demands what they want no one will get what they need.
Yes, this will mean hard choices. Yes, this will mean that we all must roll-up our sleeves, tighten our belts, and go to work for the long haul. But we’re America. We can do this. Instead of expecting our representatives to bring home the bacon let’s ask them to balance the budget no matter how that may gore our sacred cow. Perhaps it’s time we remember to ask not what our country can do for us, but ask instead what we can do for our country.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.
How True is the Truth? February 14, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Budget deficit, Declaration of Independence, National Debt, progressive tax system, Rep. James Clyburn, Taxes
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Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. In a similar fashion everyone wants smaller budgets and lower taxes but nobody wants their services cut. Like all truisms these sound right but are they?
Consider the first one. Agnostics aren’t sure whether there is a God or not consequently they say there is no heaven and pray there is no hell so they have a vested interest in remaining above room temperature. Atheists are sure there isn’t any God and sure there isn’t any heaven so they want to hang on as long as they can since the alternative isn’t. The big rub comes when we think of believers. They know there’s a God and know there is a heaven so why don’t they want to die? Some believers believe there’s a God and believe there’s a heaven but aren’t sure if they’ll make it in so it makes sense they want to hang around at least long enough to earn enough points to get to where they want to go instead of any alternatives they may also believe in. The real puzzler is the believers who believe in God and believe in heaven and who also believe they know they’re going to heaven. I know many people who fit into this category and without an exception none of them appear to want to die. Now if heaven is a better place and dying is the entrance fee wouldn’t it make sense to want to die?
One of the principle leaders of the we know there’s a God, know there’s a heaven and know we’re going to heaven party once said if it was up to him he’d just as soon go to a better place but since it would benefit others if he kept on keeping on he’d forgo the pleasure dying would bring and continue to live. Now a selfless choice to keep on living makes sense in that situation and I want to imagine that’s what everyone fitting into this category is doing but I also imagine I should see a whole lot more “Benefiting of others” going on. So actually the saying should be, “Some people believe in heaven but for one reason or another nobody wants to die.” That doesn’t have the impact of the original does it?
Turning to the second truism, “Everyone wants smaller budgets and lower taxes but nobody wants their services cut.” Not everyone wants a smaller budget. Most people who work for government don’t. Most people who receive benefits don’t. Most elected officials don’t. And among those who do it usually comes down to take theirs don’t touch mine. If an environmentalist wants a smaller budget they want subsidies cut from big oil but support subsidies to big ethanol. If supporters of military intervention want a smaller budget they may support cutting off the tree-huggers at the knees but they want that latest weapons systems. Then there are those who want to increase the budget dropping pearls of wisdom like, “We’ve got to spend our way out of this recession.”
What about taxes? Doesn’t everyone want taxes lowered? No, taxation without representation may have worked to stir this country to rebellion but today there are many people who don’t vote yet want taxes raised higher and higher. How can this be? In America today we have certain groups of people who’re essentially exempt from taxes and recipients of direct benefits and others who pay taxes and don’t receive much from the government except next year’s quarterly tax vouchers. The progressive tax system has achieved its goal, from each according to their ability to each according to their need.
Since people from the boomer-living-life-large-petal-to-the-metal generation are in charge budgets equate to if one is good ten is better so if the milk cow rich finance our lifestyle now how about a bigger day? Let’s milk them twice, three times, how about four times as much. Problem is we want more cheese than we have milk. As the national Visa bill grows and our foreign bankers want more interest the income level it takes to be considered one of the milk cow rich keeps getting lower. The long coddled poor still don’t realize that the amount they receive in their monthly dole will eventually paint a target on their wallet to help the still poorer in our globalized village. The morbidly obese welfare recipient with three color TVs and two cars is one of the wealthiest people on earth and this redistributionist plunder empire can only continue to survive with fresh victims to plunder. Have we changed our national motto to “Stand and deliver” yet?
How true is the truth? The definition of a truism is an undoubted or self-evident truth. We see from the short examination above truisms often falter when they collide with scrutiny. What about these truisms, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” They acknowledge a creator and speak of life. They acknowledge liberty and a right to pursue happiness. Milk cows don’t pursue happiness they only exist to give milk and they only live as long as they do. And that’s the truth.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
How Dumb Does He Think We Are? February 8, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: China buys American debt, Cornhusker Kickback, Freeze on spending, James Clyburn, Louisiana Purchase, National Debt, Obama, remaking America
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As the economy constricted from the latest bubble what have we done? On an individual basis unless we have an economic death wish we cut back spending, increase saving and pray we don’t get downsized, rightsized or thrown under the bus to free up capital for someone else’s bonus. As a business owner we follow the same pattern. People wonder why banks aren’t loaning money to small businesses. Don’t mistake a symptom for the disease. Banks aren’t loaning because businesses aren’t borrowing.
Businesses aren’t expanding they’re trying to survive. With the re-making of America still an enigma wrapped in a riddle on the horizon no one knows how to make an educated guess as to what the future holds. Without a clear vision of what will be required tomorrow it’s impossible to plan today. From Main Street to Wall Street people are keeping their heads down hoping if we click our heels enough times we’ll end up back in the America we know and love hoping we won’t have to admit this transparent collectivist shell game is the New Normal.
According to a Gallup poll in October of 2009 only 20 % of the country describes themselves as liberals. It’s only through deception and manipulation this minority has the power to re-make America. They don’t campaign as what they are because they know they’d lose. They always campaign as middle-of-the-road and rule as left-wing ideologues while continuing to deny that’s what they are.. Although the President and the other Progressive leaders consistently blame the Republicans for the stall in their efforts to re-make America everyone can see that it’s in-fighting among the government party that’s holding up the change. The Democrats have more than enough votes to pass anything they want if they could just agree as to what they want. These so-called public servants elbow their way to the trough with everyone against everyone else grabbing for a bigger cut of the swag, a Louisiana Purchase here and a Cornhusker Kickback there. It isn’t the legacy of George II. It’s this disgusting battle of greed and avarice is what’s restraining the enlightened from imposing the unwanted on the unsuspecting.
It’s just this uncertainty that is clouding the vision of business leaders from Mom and Pop to those at the top. While the threat of more progressive do-gooderism whether by legislation, regulation or executive order prohibits anyone from knowing which way to jump the Obama administration’s recent budget proposal proves that any talk of deficit reduction is just talk. According to President Obama and his teleprompter he never faces a single challenge that isn’t someone else’s fault and the only reason he’s mortgaging our great-great-great grandchildren to the Communist Chinese is because George made him do it. Does he really believe if he talks deficit reduction while proposing the biggest budget with the biggest deficit in history anyone is going to fall for it? The question comes to mind, how dumb does he think we are?
This budget says the answer to this question must be he thinks we’re real dumb. The proposed smoke-and-mirrors freeze on discretionary spending, something he opposed during his campaign, is like someone who’s seriously overweight saying they’re going to stop putting ketchup on their fries as if that will solve the problem. We can see this kind of logic everyday at Mickey D’s as we watch the morbidly obese order double this and extra that along with a diet soda. It may make them feel as if they’re doing something about their weight while actually moving in the wrong direction. The proposed savings of 250 billion over 10 years amounts to a rounding error in a budget of 3.5 trillion with a one year deficit of 1.35 Trillion. During the same 10 year period the National Debt is projected to grow by 9 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office Report projects yearly deficits of over one trillion dollars every year for the next decade. So in other words at best this “freeze’ merely slows the rate of growth in the future destroying national debt. Maybe we should try that with MasterCard or Visa. “Hi, I over spent by 1.5 trillion last month and now I’m cutting back, I’ll only over spend by 1.499 trillion next month that should solve the problem.” I’m guessing that wouldn’t work too well. Who would even propose such an outrageous solution? Only someone who thinks the credit card company is as dumb as a bag of hammers.
While barnstorming the country campaigning as a deficit hawk President Obama proposes the biggest budget in history consuming the largest percentage of the economy since World War II. A budget that’s clearly re-distributive in nature with huge tax hikes on the demonized rich to fund vote-buying benefits for the preferred classes. This re-making of America budget is the culmination of generations of Progressive class warfare taught in schools, promoted by unions and enshrined through legislation. The capstone of their arrogance and a statement which shows just how dumb they think we are was shamelessly shared by the third ranking Democrat in the House, majority whip James Clyburn, “We’ve got to spend our way out of this recession.” So when Visa calls and says your over your limit just tell them, “I’m going to spend my way out of this” and see if that works. Then again, nobody’s that dumb.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Beyond Brown the Second Round January 25, 2010
Posted by Dr. Robert Owens in Uncategorized.Tags: Cass Sunstein, Cp-N-Trade, David Axlerod, Immigration Reform, Liberals, National Debt, Obama, Populists, Progressives, Regulatory Reform, Scott Brown, Universal Registration
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In the recent Massachusetts election Republican Scott Brown confounded the purveyors of conventional wisdom and caused a magnitude 10 earthquake in the political world by liberating the Kennedy Senate Fiefdom from the grip of the Democrat machine. To the 24 hour talking-heads this changes everything since the Democrats can no longer cut-off debate in the Senate though they can still stifle debate in the House and hold the Executive Department in their iron fist. But did the Party of Power really experience anything besides a bump in the road?
In President Obama’s estimation, “we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people.” In reality Mr. Obama has made 52 addresses or statements specifically on his health care proposals, holding 42 news conferences, participating in 158 interviews, hosting 23 town hall meetings, making 46 out-of-town trips to 58 cities and towns in 30 states. If he hasn’t been speaking directly to the American people what has he been doing? He’s on TV more than Vinny from Sham Wow. Considering that after the seismic electoral event in Massachusetts Mr. Obama’s political Svengali David Axelrod said, “We’ll have to think through this next year from the standpoint of tactics but in substance the mission can’t change.” It isn’t that the President hasn’t talked enough the problem is he isn’t listening. Communication is a two-way exchange and what we have here is a failure to communicate.
The day after the Massachusetts megaphone shouted loud and clear, “We don’t want your big government pork-barrel ways!!!” The party of power signaled their shopping spree wasn’t over yet when they proposed raising the debt limit farther and faster than ever before. Raising the debt limit is nothing new. What’s new is that in our RE-Made America instead of billions now it’s trillions. The Democrat Senate proposed raising the limit by $1.9 trillion in one fell swoop. This is a record increase which raises the official national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.
Although this level of debt is wildly unpopular the legislation is needed to prevent the default of the United States. Maybe if we charge the Visa on the MasterCard and the MasterCard on Discover and Discover on American Express and American Express on the Visa it will all work out? We can’t spend our way back to prosperity and we can’t borrow our way to solvency. The fiscal insanity in Washington is one of the things the American people are protesting against in Tea Parties, town halls and elections.
In the 1890s a movement grew out International Socialism. It manifested itself in many ways in the United States. In religion it became the Social Gospel, in education the Dewey Method and in politics Progressivism. In the first half of the 20th century America had three Progressive Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and FDR controlling both major parties. These three leaders and the movement they represented attempted to change America from a country of limited government to a country of massive government. Once people realized that progressivism meant government intrusion into the smallest parts of their life and the redistribution of wealth through oppressive taxation they repudiated them and sought other leaders.
As people rejected Progressivism the Big Government cadre in both parties perverted an old label and became Liberals. As people realized modern Liberalism is nothing more than a scheme to redistribute wealth and buy votes with entitlements they morphed back into Modern Progressives. As people begin to realize that modern Progressivism is nothing more than a scheme to redistribute wealth and buy votes with entitlements watch as the shape-shifters turn into Populists. It should be interesting to watch as the captured media transform a Harvard lawyer who rails against people clinging to guns and Bibles and makes fun of people driving pick-up trucks into a man of the people. Running out of the besieged Tower of Doom shouting “Down with the Banks!” pretending to lead the crowd marching on his agenda isn’t going to fool anyone.
The defeat of Democrats in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts will cause pragmatists to split off from Progressives. Those who’re merely professional politicians especially those in competitive districts will scramble to the middle trying to keep their jobs while those entrenched in gerrymandered districts and the committed Progressives will try to push through their collectivist agenda by any means possible. They’ll get something they can call Medical Insurance Reform through Congress that will metastasize into one-size fits all universal coverage. If they can’t pass Cap-N-Trade the EPA will impose it through regulations. If they can’t pass Import-a-Voter Immigration Reform they’ll continue to tear down what’s left of the Southern Border while winking at the lack of enforcement everywhere else and if they can’t pass Universal Registration extending the vote to every name on a government form they’ve always got ACORN. If they can’t pass Regulatory Reform the Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein will impose it.
Everyone else may see the Massachusetts vote as breaking new ground all the Administration heard was the bell for the second round.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2009 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 