The State of the Union

President Obama is set to give a state of the Union address tomorrow. Since we have entered a very difficult period of history, I thought I might offer him some suggestions on things he might want to say.

“Jobs have continued to decrease in the United States. Nevertheless we have followed a path of regulating the remaining jobs out of existence. This is a part of the change we can be proud of. We have leveled the playing field in America by pulling more and more of the middle class down into poverty. A major portion of this leveling affect has been the mandates of the Affordable Care Act. This law has pushed employers to decrease hours of their workers in order to avoid paying the unwieldy mandated benefits.

“There are more people on public assistance in this country than ever before, which we also claim as a victory. Nothing makes a voter come to be in favor of welfare as much as being a recipient. No one should go hungry in this, the greatest nation on earth. Neither should we the policy makers miss a chance to make hungry voters dependent upon us and our policies.

“Millions of people have been dropped by their health insurance, but we have successfully made them dependent on the government by making it impossible to pick up private insurance. They now must rely on a chaotic, expensive, unreliable government system for their healthcare. This too is a part of the change we are proud of. We can point to several hundred people who were benefitted, and the millions who were called on to make sacrifices should be proud to do so, or face the political name calling of left.

“This overhaul of the healthcare system is going to be the legacy of my administration. Nothing leaves the brand of change quite as deeply as voting for laws we don’t understand and have not discussed. As this law is phasing its way into implementation, we have guaranteed the ripples of change will continue to reverberate through our economy.

“The financial adjustments necessary to pay for these changes drove up our national debt in astronomical ways. This is another first of this administration. We can truly say we have driven the United States up to the brink of default without accepting blame. In fact we have managed to lay the blame for every battle at the feet of our opponents.

“In summary we have created new formulas for political success, for suppressing political opponents, and for restructuring American society. All we really promised was change, and everyone must agree, we have blindly and foolishly followed a policy of change.”

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Not Socialism

I am one of many people, who have thought our current government was moving toward socialism.

In order to consider this opinion I studied the definition of socialism from several sources today.

Here is one definition, very much like the others: Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. (Emphasis is mine.)

Based on this definition I need to abandon the idea that our country is moving toward socialism, because a central part of the definition is the production and distribution of goods. Since it seems to be the government’s goal to regulate businesses out of existence, or at least outside of our borders, their actions do not fit the definition of socialism.

This revelation leaves me with few choices left when trying to determine the goals of current policy and policy makers. They could be intentionally working toward the destruction of our economy and therefore the destabilization of America. Or they could be compassionate toward the hurting and too shortsighted to see the outcome of their actions. This leaves me, the average American, with a horrible choice. Were they too stupid to see the outcome of their actions or were they intentionally hurting America?

For the past couple of years far sighted people have been warning us about the ramifications of ObamaCare. These voices have been relegated to the sideline as naysayers, members of the Tea Party, or those under the influence of Fox News. Now ObamaCare is shaping up to be exactly what these people have said it was, and policy makers are apologizing and claiming ignorance.

It seems obvious to me, and I hope to you, that people who cannot see the outcomes of the legislation they pass (or who intentionally hide it) must be held responsible. At the very least, this should include the press reporting the economic damage, what created it, and who caused it. Only reporting on the misery caused by this economy prompts further actions, aimed at being compassionate, but which continues to undermine our economy. Thereby creating a vicious circle.

Obama’s Legacy

I suspect President Obama was hoping ObamaCare would be his legacy. I am beginning to agree with him.

I think it might well be a benefit to future generations if America learned the lessons of ObamaCare and never made those mistakes again. So for today’s post I am going to try to enumerate what I believe are the top three lessons we can learn from the disastrous legislation.

1)      The idea big government can afford to pay for anything no matter how expensive is simply wrong. The costs may be hidden in the murky waters of a ballooning deficit, but not even government can afford to forever spend more than they bring in.

2)      Allowing legislation increasingly invasive control of how we live is a violation of freedom, which is probably the central point of American culture. Don’t legislate how I eat, don’t tell me I must abandon Biblical ethics, and don’t insist I have medical insurance.

3)      The best use of freedom is to improve yourself and your life, therefore demonizing or punishing people who wish to be successful is nonsensical. A healthy economy requires both employees and employers. Punishing businesses and entrepreneurs with expensive and restrictive regulations is counter-productive.

The Great Car Campaign

I thought I just might run for president.

My platform will be that every American deserves a car, not just a car, but a new government car.

Those that cannot afford to buy their own will be supplied one by the government. Those that can afford to buy a new car and choose not to, will be fined.

The rich will be berated for having better cars than they deserve, and will be asked to sacrifice to help pay for the cars of those who can’t afford them.

When the proposition is being debated I will explain this is the greatest country on earth and surely we can do anything we set our mind to. I will avoid going into real details of what it will cost, impact the economy, or change our culture.

Then when the measure is written into law I will make it massively complicated so that few people really understand how it will work or what changes it will bring. Everyone is getting a car, surely that is a good thing?

My friends will pass it without reading it. My opponents will not be given any chance to review it to see if it even makes sense.

This will make it the law of the land, so I will demonize everyone who disagrees with it.

After this, when it begins to be implemented and things are beginning to look like it isn’t working so well, I will hide as much information about it as possible insisting it’s too soon to tell.

When they begin to see the government cars are not really the same quality, they notice the work was contracted to Canadians, or notice the cars are more expensive than promised; then I will blame the other party for nitpicking.

Finally when it all begins to fall apart, well I don’t know what I will do then. Just let me watch a little longer and see what happens next with ObamaCare.