October 11, 2008
Losing Liberty
There is one big loser in the current political and economic debate. Liberty.
The debate has moved beyond the questions of should government control our lives and the economy. The questions have become about how much and how.
Both candidates supported massive government intervention in the financial industry. Both parties supported the Federal Government taking equity in financial corporations. The technical definition of political system in which government controls capital is Socialism.
The Republican candidate, the supposed conservative, is supporting the notion that the government purchase individual mortgages and renegotiate them based on the decreased value of the underlying asset. Giving a pass to those who cannot meat the obligations they signed onto at the expense of those who are not defaulting on a mortgage they cannot afford.
It is ironic that in the midst of the current financial crisis the president of France pronounced it to be the failure of the American capitalist system. This country has been on the path of European socialism for decades. We're just not as far gone as some of them. It is only a matter of degree. And a matter of time.
When asked at the recent debate if health care was a right, a privilege, or a responsibility Senator Obama answered that it is a right. Senator McCain answered that it is a responsibility. However based on his "health care plan" I believe he sees it as a government responsibility. McCain wants to tax employer paid benefits, provide a $5,000 refundable tax credit and allow people to shop for insurance across state lines. On the surface this looks like he wants to put the individual in charge of their own health care. However, by doing this through a refundable tax credit the government is buying your health insurance. A refundable tax credit can be paid to an individual even if the amount of the credit is more than the person paid it taxes in the first place. He would replace the government established system of employer provided insurance with government provided insurance. Making the future insurance credit a political issue to frighten or buy votes.
The debate between the Obama and McCain health care plans is not about weather or not we should have socialized medicine but rather how big should the next step in that direction be. The only argument I can find for the GOP plan is that its a smaller step and given the composition of the congress it would never be enacted.
The Obama campaign has a well earned reputation for being intolerant of criticism. They have used a number of tactics on a number of occasions to try to shut down the speech of others. They tried to use the justice deprtment to block an ad highlighting the candidate's relationship with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. They called upon their supporters to flood phone lines with complaints to shout down a radio interview with a reporter investigating aspects of Obama's relationship to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.
The Obama campaign is not the government, yet, so its actions disturbing as they are cannot be labeled as unconstitutional. But they do demonstrate a clear disdain for the concept of free speech.
On the other side of the ballot we have a candidate who worked hard to pass legislation that limits the ability of citizens to participate in the political process by limiting what they are allowed to say and when they are allowed to say it. Meaning freedom of speech does not have friend in this election.
It is tempting to argue that our only hope to avert disaster is to elect a divided government. But I don't think we have that out in this case. A McCain presidency with a far left controlled Congress would not create the log-jam needed to protect what individual freedom we have left. McCain uses his willingness to cast aside his "conservative principles" and work with the other side as an affirmative reason to give him your vote. There is no chance for a strongly conservative congress to stand in the way of either candidate's plans to chip away at freedom.
I don't see there being hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil option this time around.
The debate has moved beyond the questions of should government control our lives and the economy. The questions have become about how much and how.
Both candidates supported massive government intervention in the financial industry. Both parties supported the Federal Government taking equity in financial corporations. The technical definition of political system in which government controls capital is Socialism.
The Republican candidate, the supposed conservative, is supporting the notion that the government purchase individual mortgages and renegotiate them based on the decreased value of the underlying asset. Giving a pass to those who cannot meat the obligations they signed onto at the expense of those who are not defaulting on a mortgage they cannot afford.
It is ironic that in the midst of the current financial crisis the president of France pronounced it to be the failure of the American capitalist system. This country has been on the path of European socialism for decades. We're just not as far gone as some of them. It is only a matter of degree. And a matter of time.
When asked at the recent debate if health care was a right, a privilege, or a responsibility Senator Obama answered that it is a right. Senator McCain answered that it is a responsibility. However based on his "health care plan" I believe he sees it as a government responsibility. McCain wants to tax employer paid benefits, provide a $5,000 refundable tax credit and allow people to shop for insurance across state lines. On the surface this looks like he wants to put the individual in charge of their own health care. However, by doing this through a refundable tax credit the government is buying your health insurance. A refundable tax credit can be paid to an individual even if the amount of the credit is more than the person paid it taxes in the first place. He would replace the government established system of employer provided insurance with government provided insurance. Making the future insurance credit a political issue to frighten or buy votes.
The debate between the Obama and McCain health care plans is not about weather or not we should have socialized medicine but rather how big should the next step in that direction be. The only argument I can find for the GOP plan is that its a smaller step and given the composition of the congress it would never be enacted.
The Obama campaign has a well earned reputation for being intolerant of criticism. They have used a number of tactics on a number of occasions to try to shut down the speech of others. They tried to use the justice deprtment to block an ad highlighting the candidate's relationship with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. They called upon their supporters to flood phone lines with complaints to shout down a radio interview with a reporter investigating aspects of Obama's relationship to Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.
The Obama campaign is not the government, yet, so its actions disturbing as they are cannot be labeled as unconstitutional. But they do demonstrate a clear disdain for the concept of free speech.
On the other side of the ballot we have a candidate who worked hard to pass legislation that limits the ability of citizens to participate in the political process by limiting what they are allowed to say and when they are allowed to say it. Meaning freedom of speech does not have friend in this election.
It is tempting to argue that our only hope to avert disaster is to elect a divided government. But I don't think we have that out in this case. A McCain presidency with a far left controlled Congress would not create the log-jam needed to protect what individual freedom we have left. McCain uses his willingness to cast aside his "conservative principles" and work with the other side as an affirmative reason to give him your vote. There is no chance for a strongly conservative congress to stand in the way of either candidate's plans to chip away at freedom.
I don't see there being hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil option this time around.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 04:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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