. . . its going to be a bumpy night!*
Actually, if Obama/ACORN wins, the next four years may be very bumpy indeed.
I have commented hardly at all on the presidential race over the past few months. That is because I am better positioned than most others to discuss issues particular to Athens-Clarke County – so that is where I concentrate my efforts – and I realize that I probably would not have written anything significantly different than have thousands of others in the blogosphere.
Even so, I am old enough to vividly remember the self-professed “malaise” of the Carter Administration. Domestically, it was typified by “stagflation,” consisting of low economic growth coupled with high unemployment and interest rates (which the Keynesians said could not happen), and Arthur Okun’s “misery index” consisting of the inflation rate plus the unemployment rate. In foreign affairs, it took the form of aggressive Soviet (and by proxy Cuban) expansionism around the globe (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Namibia, Angola, Afghanistan, etc).
I find the prospects of an Obama Administration, coupled with probable Democrat majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate (G-d forbid a filibuster-proof one), far worse in all respects.
There is no need to catalog the specifics here, as many others have done so ad nauseam elsewhere in the blogosphere. Suffice it to say that Obama’s professed redistributionist (and deliberately mischaracterized – anyone else see Neil Cavuto’s show yesterday?) tax plan is economically insane and that our enemies abroad cannot wait to test the neophyte president (this may well be the only serious foreign policy issue on which Joe Biden had been correct in the last 35 years). And don’t forget all of those affinities for Communist dictators, those political affiliations of choice with radical leftists/terrorists (that have continued to this day), and the willingness of Obama campaigners and supporters to turn the machinery of government against those who dare to ask pointed questions.
I fear that most people simply do not care that the Obama campaign has been patently fraudulent from the very beginning – not yet, at least. Just remember that the warning bells were sounding and the red flags were waving all around you before you cast you ballot.
With the caveat that John McCain was not my first choice for president of the United States on the Republican side, or even my second or third choices for that matter, I cast my vote for the McCain/Palin ticket last week during advance voting because I felt that there was no conscionable alternative.
*Apologies to Bette Davis’ Margo Channing in 1950’s All About Eve.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Fasten Your Seatbelts
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3 comments:
Considering that the tax cuts of the Bush administration did not leave us with an improved economy but yet another stock market crash, I don't think your logic holds up in your criticism of Obama's tax policy.
Seriously, no "conscionable" choice other than McCain? That is strong language that shows how divided our country has been. We actually had good choices for president from the major parties.
I don't think your memory of the Carter administration is going to correlate with anything you'll be seeing over the next four years.
Sorry for being late with a reply, but sometimes life interferes with blogging.
Regarding your first point, blaming the current economic downturn on Bush’s tax cuts is grossly incorrect. I will remind you that they spurred the economy (and in a big way), resulting in considerably economic expansion and money pouring into the federal government’s coffers. Over the course of the entire Bush Administration, unemployment rates have compared quite favorably with those of recent decades and presidential administrations, just as have interest rates, productivity rates, etc. Also, you will remember that the DJIA was at an all time high just about a year ago. Yes, gasoline prices spiked, but have dropped precipitously of late (and when adjusted for inflation, they are actually less than a generation ago). The sub-prime mortgage fiasco occurred independently of tax policy (and in any event has the fingerprints of Democrats all over it). Unfortunately, W did not bring out his veto pen until far too late in his Administration and spending got completely out of control.
In the face of a deteriorating economy, the worst thing to do would be to take money out of private hands and send it to Washington so as to serve political ends.
Insofar as Obama’s tax policy is concerned, the rhetoric coming from him and Joe Biden is instructive. Obama says that he wants to “spread the wealth around,” using a federal judiciary dedicated to “economic justice” and “redistributive change.” Joe Biden equates paying higher taxes with patriotism. For months, the Obama campaign has deliberately conflated the public’s perception of marginal income tax rates and capital gains tax rates. It has typified income transfers as refundable tax credits, which they emphatically are not. And it just goes on and on. See the following from yesterday:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122586244657800863.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584345511799173.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584281440799055.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
Not that it matters. When capital flees our shores (as it already is) and job creation is curtailed (as it already is) to avoid Obama’s confiscatory taxes (not to mention Barney Frank’s desire to “recoup” income that does not belong to the government and the Democrat’s plan - see Teresa Ghilarducci of the insanely leftist New School - to have the feds confiscate your private retirement accounts and roll them into the Social Security Administration) it will all be blamed on the “failed policies” of George Bush. You know, like when FDR continued to blame Herbert Hoover for the failure of the first round of New Deal programs in the early 1930s – and the failure of the second round of New Deal programs later in the decade, too.
Regarding your second point, I will agree that there were better choices earlier during the primaries (to which I alluded in a backhand sort of way). For what it is worth, though, I thought that the presidential nominee of both parties was seriously flawed. My use of the word “conscionable” referred to the three choices on the Georgia ballot (McCain/Palin, Obama/Biden, and Barr/Root). I could not in good conscience vote for Obama/Biden for ideological and philosophical reasons and I could not vote for Barr/Root for practical reasons, specifically that of lessening the number of votes that Obama/Biden would need to win Georgia’s electoral votes. Thus, the only “conscionable” choice was McCain/Palin.
Regarding your final point, I hope that you are right. Unfortunately I see the constellation of forces aligning in an alarming manner both in terms of domestic (a declining economy) and foreign policies (aggression by our enemies).
I wasn't trying to blame the downturn on the tax cuts but rather point out that they didn't end up leaving us with a stronger economy by this point. Of course, there is so much at work. Anyway, you and I can agree on your blog's points about a conservative approach to local government.
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