Why climate change will make you love big government

This essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission.

Look back on 2011 and you’ll notice a destructive trail of extreme weather slashing through the year. In Texas, it was the driest year ever recorded. An epic drought there killed half a billion trees,  touched off wildfires that burned 4 million acres, and destroyed or  damaged thousands of homes and buildings. The costs to agriculture,  particularly the cotton and cattle businesses, are estimated at $5.2 billion — and keep in mind that, in a winter breaking all sorts  of records for warmth, the Texas drought is not yet over.

That kind of whining about the weather, which is the fault of Barack Obama cruising the country in 17 car convoys, continues on for a bit longer. Because weather never happened before 1980 (until you cruise Real Science, and see the newspaper headlines from the past)

Such calamities, devastating for those affected, have important  implications for how we think about the role of government in our  future. During natural disasters, society regularly turns to the state  for help, which means such immediate crises are a much-needed reminder  of just how important a functional big government turns out to be to our  survival.

In the past, people tended to rely on themselves. And there is nothing wrong with government helping out: it’s one of the reasons we have government. There is no need for a massive central government with a giant bureaucracy. Of course, that’s not the progressive narrative: to them, we need giant over-reaching and all powerful government for when the wind blows, it rains, and it snows….hey, remember when the NYC public sector unions slowed the snow cleanup in 2010?

Anyhow, the author goes on and on about how great big central government is, and why the private sector can’t do anything, ending with

In the face of an unraveling climate system, there is no way that  private enterprise alone will meet the threat. And though small “d”  democracy and “community” may be key parts of a strong, functional, and  fair society, volunteerism and “self-organization” alone will prove as  incapable as private enterprise in responding to the massive challenges  now beginning to unfold.

To adapt to climate change will mean coming together on a large scale  and mobilizing society’s full range of resources. In other words, big  storms require big government. Who else will save stranded climate  refugees, or protect and rebuild infrastructure, or coordinate rescue  efforts and plan out the flow and allocation of resources?

It will be government that does these tasks or they will not be done at all.

What would we do without Big Centralized Government taking charge? Just because they’ll need to take more and more money while imposing more and more regulations/restrictions on its citizens and businesses is Bo reason to poo poo the idea. Government is just here to help. Despite being incompetent and taking vastly too long to accomplish the most minor and mundane task is no reason to be concerned about Government. Just because the climate change movement is about fascism (for everyone else) is no reason to worry.

(Bloomberg interviews Attenborough) Q: What would you say to the still sizeable body of skeptics who doubt global warming is man made?

A: It would seem to me that it would be absolutely extraordinary if the most numerous and powerful species that the planet has ever seen didn’t have an effect on the climate. It would be absolutely amazing. But whether we did or whether we didn’t is neither here nor there, when we know we’re faced with the problem of increasing temperatures and climate change. No one can deny that the climate is changing – it IS changing. And if we do nothing, it’ll be changing with increasing speed.

Got that? Whether or not mankind is behind the changing climate, we need to Do Something. Attenborough believes in the same far left Statism that most of the left believes in, part of which belief is that Government Is the Answer. These same statists can’t do more than talk about fixing their own countries economies, yet, they think they can stop world wide changes in climate? They can’t get a train line built on time or budget, yet, they think they can stop world wide changes in climate? They can’t fix (insert pet cause here) beyond some sort of an “awareness” campaign, yet, they think they can stop world wide changes in climate? These people really need to be isolated to adult society.

(via Tom Nelson)

Last week, when President Barack Obama spoke to the National Council of La Raza, he said something that should alarm every American. He confessed that he’d like to “bypass Congress and change the laws” on his own. He added, “Believe me; the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. I promise you.”
He doesn’t need to promise us. We believe him, because we’ve been watching his rogue behavior since the moment he entered office.

Way back in February 2010, even The New York Times unveiled his modus operandi, in its report “Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power.” It summarized, “With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities.”

As The New York Times reported at the beginning of last year, Obama’s exploits to bypass Congress are intended to “advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities.” We now can add America’s border problems to those, as Obama also elaborated last week that the temptation to bypass Congress includes “not just immigration reform.” No wonder the crowd began to chant “Yes, we can!” (Tragically, it seems that too many citizens want a Fuehrer more than they do a president.)

More HERE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, lefty political commentator, and so-called “economist,” is despondent over the failure of President Obama to “tell Americans the truth” about the budget debate now coursing through Washington D.C. Reich is very typical of how the far left in American politics is furious at Obama’s constant failure to go as far left as they want him to go. As absurd as it is, Reich’s ire is something worth keeping in mind.

Naturally Reich started his HuffPost screed slamming Republicans as the “most irresponsible and rigidly ideological” he’s ever seen them. This is, of course, because we are finally seeing Republicans that don’t automatically roll over and cave in to every left-wing demand as a first move. But, such as it is.

But after his paean to the hate-the-right meme, Reich gets to his Obama laments. Reich pins some of the mess we are in right on Obama and, “his inability or unwillingness to use the bully pulpit to tell Americans the truth, and mobilize them for what must be done.”

Reich indulges the prosaic claim that Obama is the smartest man in human history — not that this can in any way be substantiated — but this absurd claim is one of the accepted factoids by the left that makes them really confused as to why Obama has been from their perspective so feckless as president.

Barack Obama is one of the most eloquent and intelligent people ever to grace the White House, which makes his failure to tell the story of our era all the more disappointing and puzzling. Many who were drawn to him in 2008 (including me) were dazzled by the power of his words and insights — his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, his autobiography and subsequent policy book, his talks about race and other divisive issues during the campaign.

The reality is that Obama is not a great thinker. He is not a great leader. He is no deep philosopher, no expert politico, no hardnosed wielder of power. What he is, and this is not insignificant, is a great bluffer, a great con man. This truth has been readily seen over Obama’s entire life. He’s always been able to employ the most convincing tone, using all the best buzz words, and is able to convey a sense that he is the one in the know.

His oratory is not soaring by any means, but he feigns sincerity better than anyone in public life today. His speeches are filled to the brim with bromides and double speak. It is certainly left-wing, but when listening to him speak makes people get caught up in his cadence and rhetoric. It all just sounds so good. But, try reading what he said. Once you do you’ll see how ridiculous it all is.

Further, all one need do to be disabused of Obama’s brilliance is look at his list of actual accomplishments. Doing so will prove that an empty suit lurks behind Obama’s expert public relations image. Obama had no great achievements in school, he had no amazing achievements in his life as a community organizer, he did practically nothing in Illinois state government, he was a no show Senator when he made it to Washington, and as president he’s “led from behind” so much that he has championed exactly one successful law — Obamacare — and even that is hated by far more people than like it.

So, when Obama came up through the ranks spouting every left-wing trope, gave lip service to every union demand, spouted the most socialist rhetoric possible without donning a Mao suit, it is not surprising that the far left, like Reich, have been disappointed by his dearth of actions on their behalf. After all, they expected Obama to cruise into office and turn this country into a less powerful version of France or the Soviet Union redux. He failed to come through on the left’s and Reich’s desires.

Reich goes on to make some hard analysis of what could be wrong with Obama. After allowing that the president may just be caught up in the Washington milieu, Reich posits a more cutting reason.

A more disturbing explanation is that he simply lacks the courage to tell the truth. He wants most of all to be seen as a responsible adult rather than a fighter. As such, he allows himself to be trapped by situations — the debt-ceiling imbroglio most recently — within which he tries to offer reasonable responses, rather than be the leader who shapes the circumstances from the start.

Obama cannot mobilize America around the truth, in other words, because he is continuously adapting to the prevailing view. This is not leadership.

Reich still gives Obama too much benefit of the doubt. Obama has never, ever been a leader. Never. He has no record of coming up with long term policies and seeing them to fruition through the process. He has always been little else but a bringer of bromides afraid to lose by actually leading. He’s been all things to all people with his smooth public persona, but he’s never been a real leader.

The left filled Obama’s empty vessel with their own desires. They saw what he wanted them to see, a man that would lead their far left agenda to their satisfaction. It’s no wonder that the reality of Obama has come to disappoint them.

Now, this is not all to say that Obama is not a leftist. He most certainly is. If the way was cleared for him by others — like the rest of his life had been — he absolutely would bring to us all a new U.S.S.R. He is by ideology a statist, a leftist, an anti-capitalist, a hater of American exceptionalism. But he is not a doer to the point where he is capable to bringing all these desires to fruition by the force of his leadership.

As it is Obama’s class warfare rhetoric has helped destroy any sense of recovery and his inept leadership during this debt crisis has done nothing to ease the world’s worries that the U.S. is falling to its knees. Were it up to him and him alone, the U.S. would be falling even farther into decline.

So, why is this all so instructive, why is this all something worth keeping in mind as I said at the top? It is instructive to see where the reality of Obama’s far left administration as measured against the even farther leftism of what folks like Reich want to see occur. Obama’s leftism has failed miserably, yet his ever more annoyed far left followers want to go even farther down the path of failure.

At this point, we can only thank the good lord that Obama is as much of a failure for the left as he is. Imagine how bad it would be if he were an effective left-wing president!

America is fast coming to a crossroads from which there will be no return if we take the wrong path. Do we take the road that leads away from America and toward a Euro-esque way of governing? Do we cast aside our American character and bury our great nation in a grave of socialist-styled authority? Do we damn our progeny to a failed superstate that violate every tenet of our original ideals?

I say we do not. I say we reject the Democrat’s Euro-esque ideas and refocus ourselves on American exceptionalism. Our federal system has strayed far from our founding ideals and we may soon find that its time for a new Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical government that has usurped power from proper authority.

Since it was just Independence Day over the weekend (and I waited until it was over on purpose so as not to obviate from that celebration), I offer this new Declaration as a rallying cry to all those willing to return to our true American character…

A New Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events it again becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with a failed authority and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God as well as our original, properly constituted laws entitle us, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that we should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of we the people; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to repair to their former Systems of Government. The history of the present President, his Congress, and our recalcitrant federal government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

It has abused its role over the law and instituted fiat rules that are detrimental to the common good — welfare, cap and trade, oppressive taxes, onerous regulation on business are recent examples.

It has forbidden governors of states to pass laws useful to local needs and has interfered in state business.

It has refused the right of local government to govern at home and has as a matter of course caused local legislators to carelessly assume they have no power.

It has defacto dissolved the authority of state governments so that the representatives of the people constantly defer to rule from Washington.

It has refused to secure the borders so that all manner of foreigners of the lowest station might flood these shores without hesitation while refusing to allow those foreigners with useful skills and education to enter and apply for citizenship.

It has allowed capricious courts to usurp proper legislative duties and to rule from the bench.

It has seated judges with no opposition or investigation and has not required judicial candidates to express an interest in the true meaning of the law of the land.

It has erected a multitude of new regulatory offices few of which have any basis in the Constitution and has as a form of graft filled them with friends, lobbyists, and placemen.

It has refused to properly fund our armies in times of peace without including graft and monies unconnected to the needs of our armed forces.

It has therefore interfered with the military stopping it from operating at peak efficiency.

It has conspired with powers outside our duly constituted authority to take away our constitutional rights, to subvert our national laws, and has given assent to forces such as the UN to rule us from afar without accountability. These outside forces are hateful of our system and desire it’s end. Therefore we accuse our government of attacking us from inside.

For positing that UN forces are superior in authority to our own:

For signing treaties inimical to our national interests:

For cutting off free trade with worthy countries such as Colombia, yet opening trade with evil countries such as China:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us of our constitutional rights of property, life, and self-protection at every opportunity:

For creating rules that encroach on freedom of religion:

For increasing the size of government to never before seen size and power in a manner against our founding principles and for purposefully creating chaos in business, banking, and every other area of the private sector with never ending regulations that strangle, confuse, and stifle American growth:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

And for corrupting our legislatures with federal largess and assuming unto the federal government all powers to rule from Washington D.C.

It has abdicated its Constitutional role and essentially come to see the people as an enemy and waged philosophical war against us.

It has plundered our businesses with overweening regulations, capriciously outlawed entire fields of business, and burdened the lives of the people with oppressive taxes.

It has created an army of police, taxmen and regulators to fan out across the land to assault and imprison our citizens, to confiscate lands to federal ownership and to lay waste the economy and bring our people into a form of dependency akin to slavery.

It has often sent our armed forces to foreign nations without a proper mission, held back necessary funding, and burdened it with untenable “rules of engagement” which has limited our troop’s ability to fight to win, and has allowed barbarous enemies to gain the upper hand on the battle field.

It has attempted to separate the citizenry into warring factions yet has allowed our enemy to easily enter the country and perpetrate a merciless Muslim warfare which is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, religions and American institutions and intends enslavement of us all.

In every stage of these violations millions of citizens have gathered in the streets to protest these government outrages yet no heed has been paid to the agony of the people in its hallowed halls.

Nor have we been heard by our Democrat brethren. We have warned them of the destruction of the American rule of law, yet they are uninterested in this plight. We have appealed to their love of country and we have reminded them of the glorious history of our great nation to no avail. They have turned a deaf ear to Constitutionality, a cold shoulder to our American character, and our law and we find their sympathies lie with Europeans instead of their fellow Americans. We must, therefore, consider them enemies of our national interests, safety, health, and welfare.

We, therefore, the representatives of the American tradition and character assemble as citizens proud of our history and institutions, and in the tradition of our national power being held in the hands of the people, assert our loyalty to our true American system. We hold this government to be illegitimate by its usurpation of power and its obviation of our laws. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence that has been rejected by our enemies, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

We’ve already had the tea party. Now, let the new revolution begin!

After the worst recession since the Great Depression, our economy is growing again, and we’ve gained almost 2 million private sector jobs over the last 13 months. But I also know that a lot of folks aren’t feeling as positive as some of those statistics might suggest. It’s still too hard to find a job. And even if you have a job, chances are you’re having a tougher time paying the rising costs of everything from groceries to gas. In some places, gas is now more than $4 a gallon, meaning that you could be paying upwards of $50 or $60 to fill up your tank.

Of course, while rising gas prices mean real pain for our families at the pump, they also mean bigger profits for oil companies. This week, the largest oil companies announced that they’d made more than $25 billion in the first few months of 2011 – up about 30 percent from last year.

Up partially due to the anti-oil policies Team Obama has put in place.

Now, I don’t have a problem with any company or industry being rewarded for their success.

But, he just told us that he had a problem, and is about to tell us what he wants to do to magically lower gas prices

The incentive of healthy profits is what fuels entrepreneurialism and helps drives our economy forward. But I do have a problem with the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies we’ve been handing out to oil and gas companies – to the tune of $4 billion a year. When oil companies are making huge profits and you’re struggling at the pump, and we’re scouring the federal budget for spending we can afford to do without, these tax giveaways aren’t right. They aren’t smart. And we need to end them.

And that will solve the rising gas prices how, exactly? Show your work, Mr. Obama. Let’s see the plan, and we need to see concrete cost decreases included. Just a quick PowerPoint SMART plan, which includes the action steps, who’s in charge of each step, when each step is due, and the predicted outcomes.

That’s why, earlier this week, I renewed my call to Congress to stop subsidizing the oil and gas industries. Understand, I’m not opposed to producing oil (ROTFLOL!). I believe that if we’re serious about meeting our energy challenge, we need to operate on all cylinders, and that means pursuing a broad range of energy policies, including safe and responsible oil production here at home. In fact, last year, America’s oil production reached its highest level since 2003.

OK, what say we cut the subsidies on all energy, including “green”? Oh, wait, sorry, Chump has a different idea

But I also believe that instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, we should invest in tomorrow’s – and that’s what we’ve been doing. Already, we’ve seen how the investments we’re making in clean energy can lead to new jobs and new businesses. I’ve seen some of them myself – small businesses that are making the most of solar and wind power, and energy-efficient technologies; big companies that are making fuel-efficient cars and trucks part of their vehicle fleets. And to promote these kinds of vehicles, we implemented historic new fuel-economy standards, which could save you as much as $3,000 at the pump.

Let’s see, subsidizing vs “investing”. He’s talking about where we should go with energy, but, are not even close to being there. One day we will. Yet, we aren’t there yet, and replacing oil, coal, and natural gas with what is mostly fictional means that prices on what most people use goes way up. Furthermore, those “historic” fuel standards (because no other administration has ever implements fuel standards) might save you $3k at the pump, but cost you $7k more for the vehicle.

Now, I know that in this tough fiscal environment, it’s tempting for some in Washington to want to cut our investments in clean energy. And I absolutely agree that the only way we’ll be able to afford the things we need is if we cut the things we don’t, and live within our means. But I refuse to cut things like clean energy that will help America win the future by growing our economy and creating good-paying jobs; that will help make America more secure; and that will help clean up our planet in the process. An investment in clean energy today is an investment in a better tomorrow. And I think that’s an investment worth making. Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend.

A better tomorrow. Fantastic. Most people don’t give two [edited] about that when they are suffering NOW. None of what he is yammering on about will help the plight of Americans now. But, now he’s off to the White House Correspondents Dinner. And I’m waiting for someone, usually CBS News’ Mark Knoller, to report that Obama’s playing golf again, having driven over to the links in his behemoth limo with motorcade, using $4 gasoline paid for by you, the taxpayer.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

At the Detroit Economic Club today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tried to claim the auto bailout is a success.

It certainly doesn’t seem like a success for the taxpayers. GM stock is about $30 today, and unless it gets up to $54, the taxpayers lose money on the deal. Why would it go up? You want to fight high gas prices by buying a Volt? How does $41 grand a pop sound? And still GM loses money on every one it sells even at that price. Not only that but we are seeing that government subsidies for electric cars is good tax money wasted in any case.

It doesn’t get any better. Worldwide, U.S. cars aren’t selling worth beans and domestically, GM is lagging because people who hate the bailouts won’t support it with their car-buying dollars any more than they did with their votes last year when they kicked out every incumbent they could find who’d been for it. And GM still has all its old problems, too, like those big fat union pension obligations. Sadly, nothing that caused GM’s financial trouble has been fixed.

But the spin continues. Last December, Geithner said the auto bailouts were “investments,” which “will show a positive return, not a negative return.”

As the 2010 midterms proved, the people know better. They know government can’t run an automobile company and they know the deal was mostly political payback to the UAW, the biggest culprit in why GM and Chrysler were in trouble in the first place — not that company execs did themselves proud, either.

People didn’t believe Geithner when he said we’d make money on the deal, and they were right. Today’s speech was more of the same, and it still won’t fly.

Geithner, Obama and the rest of the gang that brought us this monstrosity may or may not actually still think they kept the economy from chaos by the bailout, but they’re just believing their own scare tactics if they do.

As George Mason University Professor Todd Zywicki pointed out in depth, a normal bankruptcy would have worked just as well. Sorry, Timmy. Your spinning wheel is getting us nowhere.

On so many levels, 8/28 was a victory for conservative, Constitution-loving America. Which means, on so many levels, 8/28 was a defeat for the liberal, progressive, Blame America First crowd. That said, I do hope that Beck gets back to that other thing he does so well: sniffing out and exposing the danger of progressive infiltration in our government. Don’t let that torch drop, Glenn!

The 8/28 rally was all about politeness and civility, about love of fellow man and country, and especially about faith in God. And that is good, it is fundamental.

But most Judeo-Christians also believe that there is such a thing as a just war. We are facing such a just war as we square against the Progressives. In reacting against that which aims to destroy America as we know it, “Polite” is important but can only go so far in the real world. Sooner or later, “Polite” must confront “Dastardly” (viz., the enemy’s tactics). While we should not stoop to evil and hate as they do, we must choose to stand up and fight for what is right and just. After all, the Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor – were even willing to die — to thwart the tyranny under which they suffered.

And, yeasure, we may end up leaving a little more litter on the Mall than we’d like. But we can always clean that up afterward.

2010/2012/2013

Suggestions abound from any number of sources: BP seems to have opted for some lovely black beaches. Obama – jolly old elf that he is – (Or is that for Christmas? No, it can’t be: I don’t think Obama believes in Christmas!) In any case, Obama – jolly old whatever he is – seems to have a whole sleigh full of goodies: He’s already brought Healthcare Reform; and now, do I detect an immigration amnesty, higher taxes and “skyrocketing energy prices” in that bulging bag? And while there may not be the usual assortment of Lords a’leaping, maids a’milking, and French hens, he certainly seems to have brought more than just one pear tree full of czars and Marxists.

I’m reminded of an episode of “The Simpsons” a while back that featured Homer buying Marge a bowling ball for her birthday: Marge didn’t know how to bowl, and the ball was drilled to fit Homer’s hand and had his name engraved on it, but it was certainly a present for her… at least that’s what the card said.

That’s what everybody’s saying about what they’re doing for this country, too. Just as Marge didn’t want a bowling ball, we didn’t want a government takeover of healthcare. Or of the auto industry. Or of Wall Street. We don’t want government to take over the internet, either, which is what the FCC seems to be trying to do, or to force unwanted trade unionism with “Card Check”, or to consolidate its takeover of education, now that the government is our students’ only source for Student Loans.

We don’t want any of the things that are being forced or foisted on us “for our own good.” We’re not Marge Simpson; we’re not sheep; and we’re not children, who are unable to judge for themselves what’s good or bad or right or wrong.

We have judged that we don’t want “Cap and Trade” and the certain damage that it will do to our economy. Why should we want it, when we’re not at all certain that there’s even a problem for it to fix? We have judged that we want our borders sealed to illegal immigration. Does government – except in Arizona – not believe what we say? Or does it simply not care? We have judged that “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” is just another political weasel word for “amnesty.” That’s already been tried, and it didn’t work. Doesn’t government know that? Or, do they know and not care? Or could it be that they really believe – as they obviously did and still do on the issue of Healthcare Reform – that they know best and we know nothing? That by disrespecting us and ignoring the two most important things in this country – the Constitution and the will of the American people – they are not serving us and honoring their sacred oath of office?

This country was founded in the belief that the American people are both capable and responsible, and that they have sufficient wisdom and intelligence to select their own leaders, who will then represent them and do their bidding. The Founders did not envision an aristocracy or any otherwise privileged class that would take the helm of the American ship of state. Instead, it was their belief and often-stated intent that the people, themselves, should be the leaders, and that they should, if elected, serve their term in office and then return to their farms or businesses and to their lives as ordinary citizens.

There was no imagined political class of career politicians who would, by their self-declared greater wit and wisdom look after their fellow countrymen and decide which, if any, of the things that those poor lesser beings believed or wanted should be put into effect and which they should be denied or “protected” from.

For this coming birthday of this great Land of the Free, let us truly give “the gift that keeps on giving.” Let us restore the Constitution. Let us re-establish ourselves as neither sheep nor children, but as free Americans, in rightful control of our own country. Let us stop apologizing for our country’s genuine exceptionalism, abandon our flirtation with European Socialism, and demand the restoration of our well-earned position of honor among the nations of the world.

Let’s have the happy birthday we truly deserve!

– END –

Curing cancer is an apple pie issue. So is conquering AIDS or ending poverty. So is the entire issue of being “for Motherhood and against Sin.”

How could anyone be on the wrong side of any of those? It would be like not liking apple pie, and to not like apple pie is not only inconceivable but – you remember the old saying, “…as American as apple pie” – it might even be considered unpatriotic.

“Progress” is another apple pie issue, and “Progressivism”, a political philosophy transcending conventional political party lines, has taken it, dressed it up nicely and, presenting it as the cure for all of humanity’s ills, has used the quest for progress as a marketing tool for statism and to cover the creation of – unlike real apple pie — the most unpatriotic arsenal of ideas, institutions, and events ever to endanger our country and our Constitution.

Everybody loves progress. By its very definition, it’s a good thing; all about improvement, advancement, or moving forward toward some desired goal.

Progress is not only good; it’s necessary: Nothing is ever perfect; how could it be? But, whatever it is, it’s always possible to make it more perfect, and if it can be more perfect, doesn’t it need to be? And if it needs to be more perfect and we don’t work to make it so, aren’t we standing in the way of progress and choosing to live a life less than it might be? And isn’t that foolish, misanthropic, or downright evil?

That’s “the apple pie trap” – set up a goal that no one dares to oppose and use it as justification for policies and actions that no one would otherwise ever accept. Progressives have used it for more than a century to push radical ideologies, cash-in on the goodness and gullibility of the American people, and gain position, power, and wealth for themselves.

One of the Progressives’ favorite issues is “world peace”. Even people who aren’t beauty queens think that “world peace” is a good thing, and no one would ever dare to declare himself against it. That would be like not liking apple pie or talking against somebody’s race or religion. “World peace” is why the League of Nations was formed in the aftermath of World War I –“the war to end all wars” — and why, when the League failed, it was replaced by the United Nations after World War II — the even bigger war that the League didn’t prevent, and may even have had some role in causing.

A whole group of other apple pie issues are embodied in FDR’s proposed “Second Bill of Rights” (1944), which, among other things, promised everyone a good job, a decent home, “the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health”.

Every one of FDR’s proposed “rights” is unquestionably a wonderful thing – even government guaranteed healthcare, which we are still wrangling about today. The problem is that every one of them is also a part of the apple pie trap: It proposes something that, on its face, is undeniably good; uses its obvious goodness as a means of blocking all opposition; and then seeks to put it into effect to advance an ideology without fully considering its consequences.

The fact is that in order to guarantee everyone a job, a home and health care, the federal government would either have to act by fiat, without information, which would be disastrous, or, in order to gain the necessary information to do its job properly, would have to impose itself into every aspect of its “beneficiaries’” life and circumstances, which would be intolerable.

And to make sure that the job was “good”, the home was “decent” and the medical care “adequate”, government would have to establish its own standards, which would necessarily deny Americans that most basic of all freedoms: the freedom of choice.

Cancer “cures” can also kill. AIDS and poverty can both be wiped out by euthanizing all their victims, and world peace could certainly be gained by establishing a totalitarian world empire, but what good is a treatment that’s more pernicious than the disease?

Something that Progressives forget and that the American people must always remember is that the ends DON’T automatically justify the means. Sometimes a thing that sounds terrific, like “free” government-paid universal healthcare, proves, upon examination, to be not to be so good, after all.

It was hoped that the election of Scott Brown to break the Progressives’ stranglehold on the Senate would block passage of the Healthcare Reform Act of 2010. Even if that had happened, or even if that Act, now the law of the land, is ultimately repealed, as so many Americans so fervently hope, it doesn’t mean that Obama – and even after Obama, other Progressives in both major parties – will stop trying to push through programs that will sound great, but result only in more government, less freedom and an ever growing trend toward European-style socialism.

The next issue coming down the pike will be “Cap and Trade”, which. If passed, will – in the name of “saving the planet” – cause the price of electricity (in Obama’s own words) to “skyrocket”; will kill jobs and hurt our economy; and will, as spelled out clearly at the Copenhagen Summit, result in the United States and all other countries losing at least elements of their sovereignty to a world governing body that reigns supreme over any national government.

According to the Bible (Timothy 6:10), it’s not money, but the love of money that’s the root of all evil. The same applies to progress: As long as we’re progressing in a desirable direction, it’s not the progress that’s the problem. The real problem is the love of progress that can all too easily cause us to support idyllic goals without carefully examining where they will lead us and exactly what it will cost us to get there. The way for us to escape “Cap and Trade” and other Progressive attacks on our economy, our freedom, our sovereignty and our Constitution, is to learn to avoid the apple pie trap.

Especially when an issue seems unassailable, we must set aside our idealism until we have learned all there is to know about what we will be doing and what will be at stake. Only when we know that it can be achieved and understand the cost and the actual means for achieving it should we embrace any social goal.

Eating too much apple pie can make you sick.

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