opportunism

I saw a couple of blurbs yesterday commenting on how Obama's "taking advantage" of the economic crisis to implement his agenda of healthcare and energy reforms.  It seems to be a recurring theme to equate what Obama's doing with George W. Bush's policies in response to recession and the war on terror.  Personally, I think that's horse's hit.

Yes, tax cuts are the conservative tool of choice for recession.  But that's because of a principled, well-founded understanding that government is a major drag on commerce, and that reducing taxes is one of the quickest, most effective ways to get the government's jackboot off of an ailing economy's neck.  Looking at Kennedy and Reagan, Bush had plenty of evidence that lowering tax rates works, and despite egalitarian complaints that income taxes on the wealthy are too low, the fact is that government revenues nevertheless soared under Bush's tax cuts.  And the wealthy assumed an even larger share of the national income tax burden, to boot.

As for the war on terror, remember that regime change in Iraq was Bill Clinton's policy.  To suggest that Bush seized upon 9/11 as an opportunity to implement Clinton's agenda is absurd.  Furthermore, there's an obvious relationship between our fight against terror and Bush's much-maligned international surveillance.  It's not like Bush used the war on terror as an excuse to implement a school voucher program.

Obama, on the other hand, uses the economy as justification for nationalized medicine and "green" energy programs.  These goals are not only unrelated to what is clearly a financial problem, they are also certain to enslave our weakened economy.  The economy is down, and Obama sees an opportunity to reach in and pull out its heart -- our freedom.  That is not a plan for recovery, but simply a great excuse to implement an agenda.

Obama may have hit the perfect storm of incremental socialism: Start with a financial crisis caused by millions of unqualified buyers in government guaranteed mortgages.  When bank nationalization kills the stock market, demand socialized medicine as the cure.  When things continue to worsen, try huge energy taxes to pull another million people from the private economy to work on wind and solar energy.  Gosh, what a surprise that these policies aren't making the economy any better!  What's the next solution he'll offer -- gay marriage?  No, wait, that wouldn't do enough damage.  I know: we'll disband that pesky, burdensome defense department.

The question isn't whether this is what Obama's doing, the question is how far he'll get before voters figure out that he's wrecking the economy.  It's scary.

Look at it this way: What if Obama had been president on 9/11?  Why, we'd be fighting the war on terror with socialized medicine and green energy.  Pearl Harbor? Um, socialized medicine and green energy.  Suppose there was a famine, a national crop failure this summer -- sounds like the perfect opportunity to divert more nutritious corn into the biofuels agenda, doesn't it?

It's been probably three years now that we've been hearing how Obama would not have gone into Iraq.  Maybe somebody should have asked him how he would have dealt with dealt with the middle eastern threat, because I'm thinking the answer has something to do with healthcare and energy.

That's the John Galt Line.

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[Dustin Dippen]

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