Posted on 10/28/2010 3:19:22 PM PDT by jazusamo
|
|
Most elections are about particular policies, particular scandals or particular personalities. But these issues don't mean as much this year not because they are not important, but because this election is a crossroads election, one that can decide what path this country will take for many years to come. Runaway "stimulus" spending, high unemployment and ObamaCare are all legitimate and important issues. It is just that freedom and survival are more important. For all its sweeping and scary provisions, ObamaCare is not nearly as important as the way it was passed. If legislation can become laws passed without either the public or the Congress knowing what is in those laws, then the fundamental principle of a free, self-governing people is completely undermined. Some members of Congress who voted for ObamaCare, and who are now telling us that they realize this legislation has flaws which they intend to correct, are missing the point. The very reason for holding hearings on pending legislation, listening to witnesses on all sides of the issue, and having Congressional debates that will be reported and commented on in the media, is so that problems can be explored and alternatives considered before the legislation is voted into law. Rushing ObamaCare into law too fast for anyone to have read it served no other purpose than to prevent this very process from taking place. The rush to pass this law that would not take effect until after the next two elections simply cut the voters out of the loop and that is painfully close to ruling by decree. Other actions and proposals by this administration likewise represent moves in the direction of arbitrary rule, worthy of a banana republic, with only a mocking facade of freedom. These include threats against people who simply choose to express opinions counter to administration policy, such as a warning to an insurance company that there would be "zero tolerance" for "misinformation" when the insurance company said that ObamaCare would create costs that force up premiums. Zero tolerance for the right of free speech guaranteed by the Constitution? This warning comes from an administration with arbitrary powers that can impose ruinous costs on a given business. Those who are constantly telling us that our economic problems are caused by not enough "regulation" never distinguish between regulation which simply enforces known rules, as contrasted with regulation that gives arbitrary powers to the government to force others to knuckle under to demands that have nothing to do with the ostensible purposes of the regulation. As more businesses reveal that they are considering no longer buying health insurance for their employees, as a result of higher costs resulting from ObamaCare legislation, the administration has announced that it can grant waivers that reduce these costs. But the power to grant waivers is the power to withhold waivers an arbitrary power that can impose millions of dollars in costs on businesses that the administration doesn't like. Recent proposals from the Obama administration to force disclosure of the names of people who sponsor election ads would likewise open all who disagree with Obama to retaliation by the government itself, as well as by community activists and others. History tells us where giving government one arbitrary power after another leads. It is like going into a Venus fly-trap, which is easy to enter and nearly impossible to get out of. The headstrong, know-it-all willfulness of this administration, which threatens our freedom at home, also threatens our survival in the international jungle, because Obama seems determined to do nothing that will stop Iran from going nuclear. The Obama administration goes through all sorts of charades at the U.N. and signs international agreements on sanctions that have been watered down to the point where they are not about to bring Iran's nuclear weapons program to a halt. The purpose is not to stop Iran but to stop the American people from realizing what Obama is doing or not doing. We have a strange man in the White House. This election is a crossroads, because either his power will be curbed by depriving him of his huge Congressional majorities or he will continue on a road that jeopardizes both our freedom and our survival. |
A well thoght out article.
“When the government fears the people you have liberty”
I love this guy.
VOTE VOTE VOTE
Love this guy.
This is Administration and apparatchik code-speak for "Add more shit on the pile"..
This election in 5 days is the STOP WORK order on this whole mess. Throw ANY Democrat out, vote for any new TRUE Republican aspirant, and vote out any RINO Republican....
Bump! & Bump!
Man, how this wish THIS MAN had been the first African American President.
It's a rare day that I would accuse Dr. Sowell of understatement! :o)
Sowell punches the center out of the bullseye each and every time.
I wish I had the calm head that he has. I greatly admire Mr. Sowell.
Exactly my thoughts when reading it. I stopped and thought for a moment how I could have worded that much more forcefully but probably a lot less tactfully.
Very well said, JS.
What is amusing at this point is anyone on the Left wondering (apparently sincerely) where the anger is coming from. It's coming from people who were deliberately and systematically slapped in the face. The people who did it knew perfectly well what they were doing - need I cite Pelosi's oversized gavel waved in the public's face? The only real surprise is how quickly retribution is coming down.
Did you ever nail that! I wouldn't have thought in a hundred years that the backlash would take place this quickly. We conservatives were instantly ticked but I full well thought it would take much longer for moderates, I's and a few Dems to come over to our way of thinking for the o'care fiasco.
That's a $$$ line right there.
“History tells us where giving government one arbitrary power after another leads. It is like going into a Venus fly-trap, which is easy to enter and nearly impossible to get out of.”
Even if Republicans control both Houses of Congress, Obama could push much of his agenda through. The lame duck session is not the only problem. He could use the bureaucracy, as he did for Cap and Trade by getting carbon dioxide declared a “pollutant” and therefore subject to regulation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.