Massachusetts Makes Far Left Democrats Think Again

Before It's News ^ | January 28, 2010 | Patrick Cox

[2ndDivisionVet]

President Obama exhorted Senate leaders just over a month ago to pass the health care bill. We are on the precipice, he declared, of health care change. At the time, I figured he'd simply misspoken. A precipice, after all, is a situation of great peril or the edge of a dangerous cliff. Now I think it was a Freudian slip.

The health care bill was a cliff. It had become tainted with Chicago-style pressure politics, industry and congressional payoffs, secrecy, profligacy and policy confusion. When the Democratic Party stronghold of Massachusetts elected a Republican senator to the Kennedy seat, Obamas progressive agenda fell into the abyss.

The president then magnified his losses by countering the Massachusetts loss with a populist attack on the very banks he had bailed out. He proclaimed that he would increase regulations on banking institutions. Exempted, of course, were his beloved quasi-governmental agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose fraud and corruption cascaded us into the current Great Recession. Worse, he promised to raise taxes to get our money back from a still unsteady financial industry.

The stock market dutifully and predictably plummeted 500 points. Even loyal supporters in the media, who swallowed the administration line concerning the boondoggle stimulus package, broke ranks. If I had to bet, at this point, my money says Obama joins Jimmy Carter on the list of one-term presidents.

Im writing about this stuff because of the financial consequences, and the news is very good. I never doubted that America would eventually rein in the big spenders and return to fiscal sanity.

I predicted a hard tack to the center when Barack Obama was elected. I also predicted that the health care takeover would not succeed. I didnt predict, however, that this failure would be so hard and so fast.

The reason I was wrong about the timing was that I didn't expect him to abandon his centrist campaign promises so completely. I had assumed that he would govern as a pragmatic opportunist, not one of Eric Hoffers true believers. And I lost faith in my own judgment regarding health care, believing that some watered-down version would pass. Even that outcome is now in serious doubt.

Regardless, the consequence of this shift is extremely positive for the economy and investors because the administrations ability to expand government has been abruptly curtailed. After unnecessary and public humiliations over the Chicago Olympics, Copenhagen and Massachusetts, the presidents currency is looking a lot like the Venezuelan Bolivar.

While the president promises to double down and keep fighting for his progressive goals, Democratic moderates are abandoning ship. Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas, for example, is only one Democrat who has decided not to run for re-election in this climate of backlash. He now openly mocks the presidents belief that he can prevent a massive shift to the Republicans in the 2010 elections.

So let's discuss the benefits of these developments. Primarily, we will now see a coalition of Republicans and moderate Democrats grow in power. This means that the most radical of the administrations legislative goals, cap and trade and a government health care takeover, are almost certainly shelved.

This is extremely good news because cap and trade was an economy killer even in good times. Moreover, it would have had no impact on climate. I believe, as do many scientists shut out of the corrupt U.N. process, that CO2 does not drive climate change. Even if you believe it does, however, many environmentalists have pointed out that the legislation would have no appreciable effect on CO2 levels. Cap and trade was always about raising taxes and delivering control of industry to the intellectual classes.

Incidentally, China and India have confirmed what I predicted. They will not sign even the toothless Copenhagen climate accord. This is the final nail in the U.N.'s effort to institute global governance based on climate concerns. Interestingly, the Indian media credit the vote in Massachusetts for their governments decision to repudiate the U.N. power grab.

I can't express how happy this makes me. Economic growth is the only solution to the enormous debt overhang that has been foisted on us by both our political parties. Its also the solution to most of the developing world's challenges. Like it or not, all economies have been globalized to one degree or another. Growth in Asia and South America will have beneficial impacts on your portfolio.

We can now expect the administration to start talking about the economy. Unfortunately, the enormous pork-barrel stimulus package and the debt it has entailed has already depleted the fiscal arsenal. Fortunately, two-thirds of the so-called stimulus package has not yet been spent. If Obama were to support the repeal of that spending and institute tax breaks, he could probably accomplish the same thing that JFK did when he faced a lousy economy. A CNN poll just showed that 56% of Americans favor doing so.

It is particularly meaningful that Nebraska voters forced Ben Nelson to take the special advantages he won for the state from the health care bill. Americans are clearly willing to forgo politically gotten gains. Obama himself is now talking about deficit reduction, though starting a year from now.

Without spending cuts that I doubt he will support, that's a synonym for increased taxes. The Tea Party movement, which now has higher voter approval than either major party, probably wont allow that to happen.

Incidentally, it has taken one of the most liberal representatives, Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, to point out the damage liberals have done to themselves by disparaging that movement. He said, "recently, I met with people who were unfairly ridiculed as being just a bunch of Teabaggers and, frankly, they had basic economic concerns just like everyone else, they felt that government wasnt listening to them, and this is where the Democratic Party better wake up."

Whether or not one agrees with the movement, the individuals have been alienated by those who insulted them, and this includes the failing media as well as the president.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we've turned an incredibly important corner. The delusion that the smart kids could solve all our problems if they just had enough power has been brought back under control, at least temporarily. We will pay the price for the foolishness of the last decade for some time, but lessons have been learned.

I hate to be the optimist in the crowd, but I predict that people will look back in a few years at this as an enormously positive time. Breakthrough technologies will have powered investors and the economy to new financial heights.

The weakness of economists is that we cannot imagine the true nature of exponential growth. In my lifetime, I've seen enormously intelligent economists consistently underestimate the ability of free peoples to solve problems. They are making that mistake again now.

Significantly, these lessons are being learned all over the world. The Obama administration's message has always been that America should be more like Europe. This is contrary to the message of other great Democrats, like JFK. America took that turn toward European-style mixed economies. We did it disastrously with our banking system and then unsuccessfully with health care. And the world has noticed.

If you'd like a little pick-me-up, theres a great article in The Economist. An excerpt: Americas most vibrant political force at the moment is the anti-tax Tea Party movement. Even in leftish Massachusetts, people are worried that Mr. Obamas spending splurge, notably his still unpassed health care bill, will send the deficit soaring. In Britain, where elections are usually spending competitions, the contest this year will be fought about where to cut. Even in regions as historically statist as Scandinavia and southern Europe, debates are beginning to emerge about the size and effectiveness of government.

My old friend Leonard Read, who brought Austrian economics into the U.S. and funded Ayn Rand when she was writing her first novel, had something to say about times like this. Paraphrasing, he said that three steps forward in human progress are inevitably followed by two steps backward. Yet thousands of years of history have shown that those two wrong steps are always followed by another three that lead to increased freedom and prosperity.

It's nice to be moving in the right direction again.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Comments?

[Venturer]

I think we will see the Health Care Bill appearin in bits and pieces of other legislation, until they have us by the short hairs.

[hinckley buzzard]

He has a pretty good handle on the backdrop. As for his optimism, we shall see...

[Gay State Conservative]

I can’t agree.The *far* left couldn’t care less about Massachusetts.Just listen to Hussein,Axelrod,the ballet dancer,Bella Pelosi,etc and you’ll see that it’s true.But the not-so-far left is another story.RATS in states that Republicans ordinarily carry (Lincoln and Nelson,among many others) are most assuredly paying close attention to what’s recently happened in VA,NJ and MA.

[Mariner]

I agree, the commie tide has been turned.

They don't even know what hit them, much less how severe the wound.

"Progressives" have been set back 40 years...due to their own hubris and ineptness.

[MrEdd]

Stopping the regulation advance is utterly insufficient at this point - as far as stopping the movement of the manufacturing sector overseas.

A rollback is necessary. We can expect years of pain until the populace grasps this.

[SunkenCiv]

...Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas, ...one Democrat who has decided not to run for re-election in this climate of backlash... now openly mocks the presidents belief that he can prevent a massive shift to the Republicans in the 2010 elections... the most radical of the administrations legislative goals, cap and trade and a government health care takeover, are almost certainly shelved... CO2 does not drive climate change... many environmentalists have pointed out that the legislation would have no appreciable effect on CO2 levels. Cap and trade was always about raising taxes and delivering control of industry to the intellectual classes... Dennis Kucinich... said, "recently, I met with people who were unfairly ridiculed as being just a bunch of Teabaggers and, frankly, they had basic economic concerns just like everyone else, they felt that government wasnt listening to them, and this is where the Democratic Party better wake up."

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet! This is a great little must-read!

[Psalm 144]

I was discussing exactly this with a friend today. He remains pessimistic. I am more in agreement with this author. The Turd Reich has crested. Their failure to be able to steal elections in New Jersey and Massachusetts convinces me that the tide has turned.

Two issues remain that are worrisome.

1) Someone in the GOP of the ilk of Steele, Graham or Powell snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Each of these is a quisling awaiting the opportunity. Well, Powell already seized his.

2) That the rot is so deep that our economy is not merely infected with fraud, but instead is gangrenous. In short, that our debts, foreign and domestic parasites, and paper currency aggregate to critical mass which will well and truly collapse the economy, ala the Weimar Republic.

The author makes this cogent point:
“In my lifetime, I’ve seen enormously intelligent economists consistently underestimate the ability of free peoples to solve problems.”

Free people can do this, but will we remain free?

Can we keep our personal and economic liberties in the face of Democrat Consittutional usurpations, aided and abetted by collaborators in the GOP old guard? It was a Republican administration that brought us Ruby Ridge. It was another Republican administration that brought us the DHS which now brands nearly every one of us as suspect terrorists. We need to acquire zero tolerance for Statists, without regard to party affiliation of the Statist in question.

There is justification for optimism, but the Beast is only wounded. It needs to be killed, and nearly one hundred years of “progressive” policy needs to be culled if not eliminated. Both of the major parties will seek to subvert, sabotage, or divert the purging of federal powers which have been embezzled from the People since Woodrow Wilson.

[Nick Danger]

The delusion that the smart kids could solve all our problems if they just had enough power has been brought back under control, at least temporarily.

I think the health care debate had a lot to do with that. In the SOTU address, Obama said of the health care bill,

this is a complex issue, and the longer it was debated, the more skeptical people became

That's because the longer it was debated, the more people had time to think about how mind-numbingly complicated the health care system really is, which sowed doubts about anybody — no matter how smart — being able to re-design the whole thing from the ground up without inevitably leaving smoking train wrecks all across the landscape, which might take decades to clean up. During which time things would be measurably worse.

Obama thinks that if people had just listened to his explanations, they would have been won over. But I think the reverse is true. When "health care reform" was just a buzzword that nobody really wanted to think about, it might have been possible to sell the program. But as people started to hear details, they realized just how many details there were. And then their common sense kicked in to tell them that anything with that many details will be screwed up if you try to change it all at once. That's what killed "health care reform" and the same effect will always kill any attempt at 'comprehensive reform'. It's too complicated for any collection of human beings to mess with without screwing things up.

[dajeeps]

I wonder what Sen. Kirk was doing on the floor voting today. I remember seeing an excerpt of the senate rules that says an appointee’s term is up on the day of the special election. Going by that, he shouldn’t have been there, but there he was.

[pray4liberty]

The American people are still waiting for the health care debate to show up on C-Span, as duly promised by Obama.

It might take a while before they realize they have a knife sticking out of their backs.

[mo]

“Can we keep our personal and economic liberties in the face of Democrat Consittutional usurpations, aided and abetted by collaborators in the GOP old guard? ...”

That’s really up to We the People now at this point.

[the invisib1e hand]

makes ‘em think how far left the “right” has become.

[Retired COB]

That's what killed "health care reform" and the same effect will always kill any attempt at 'comprehensive reform'.

That's part of what killed it. I think the show-stopper was what Sarah Palin called "Death Panels". Of course the administration derided her description, but they did have committees that were set up to ration health care to keep costs down. In other words "Would it be cost effective to have the public pay for this medical procedure considering the patient's age and their ability to contribute to society?".

Not only did they include these panels, they included language that would prevent future Congresses from disolving them. That's another aspect of this bill that is totally unconstitutional....current congresses can not restrict future congresses legislative options.

Every one of us will come to a time in our lives where we have to make a decision about our end of life medical care. The question is: Do we want to make it ourselves or do we want the government to do it?

I watched a commercial this morning which featured Dr C Everett Coop who at age 93 described his various health problems to date and pointed out that if the Obama health plan passes he would have been declined for his artifical joints, his pacemakers, and his heart stents. Catch this one if you can....it's one of the best arguements for our side.