Posted on 07/13/2002 1:53:24 PM PDT by weikel
What distinguishes our country from the majority of the world? It's not complicated. We celebrate and cherish liberty and freedom, and that includes free speech and free enterprise. In order for liberty to thrive, there have to be certain rules by which we all play, and that's what the Constitution does. It lays out where the power of the federal government begins and ends.
Now folks, it's time we get something straight in this country. When I see the United States Senate vote 97 to zero on a so-called corporate reform bill that has, as its real purpose, the further empowerment of un-elected federal bureaucrats at the expense of free enterprise, I get really worried. These amendments are too far-reaching and capricious to do anything but undermine business, generally, in our country. There are already over 300 federal criminal laws dealing with fraud and misrepresentation. We don't need new ones.
We're talking about un-elected bureaucrats at the SEC who are going to be empowered to deny corporations and employees of corporations due process. If this bill is signed into law, they're going to be able to single them out and accuse them without going to court. This will have the effect of placing federal prosecutors, in essence, in the boardroom of private businesses. Imagine if the IRS assigned an agent to your house year round?
Our economy is the most powerful engine of broad-based opportunity, innovation, and prosperity ever known to mankind. Unlike Europe, which has fully embraced Democratic socialism, where parliaments rule the economy and the Third World, our tradition and founding principles reject both the dictatorship of the mob and the dictatorship of the few.
Yet I see a relatively recent trend in our public governance that concerns me greatly. We're moving dangerously close to a European style Democratic socialism. The constitutional and legal barriers that once proscribed government action are diminishing, and all three branches of the federal government are contributing to the problem, rather than serving as checks and balances on each other.
The left has always sought to criminalize Republican legislative or policy ideas. One of the ways they tried to get Reagan was to make criminal, standard conservative policy. So not only are businesses denigrated when they make money, it's called profiteering. And sadly, profit has been made a dirty word, as unsuccessful or poor business decisions are now going to be punished in the name of corporate reform.
The thing is, everyone makes mistakes. Corporate mistakes are now going to be considered criminal. This does nothing to root out and hold accountable genuine bad actors. Instead, it continues Washington's assault on free enterprise, and the Senate Republicans, by voting 97 to nothing, are willing participants in this.
My friends, this is bigger than any one party, politician or president. The Constitution and our liberties are more important than the politics of the day. This is about the country we leave our children. It's about upholding institutions that make this country prosperous, powerful, and great. This so-called corporate reform bill is an attack on our way of life by people who detest individual liberty and all of its manifestations because it's an interruption and an obstacle to the acquisition of their own power.
That's why they practice the politics of division, exploitation, class warfare, race baiting, and fear mongering. That's all they've got, and they do it consistently. That's why they'd have you believe that all corporations are run like Enron and WorldCom. Of course they don't mention Global Crossing. To do so would highlight the 18,000% profit made by the Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
When Bill Clinton was president, we complained about his ability to use his office and the bully pulpit to advance his agenda. The bully pulpit belongs to us now. And it's our turn to advance our own agenda. If we don't use the communication tools available to us to articulate our principles, properly characterize the dangers of the liberal agenda, and contrast our views with theirs, then we are shirking our responsibilities to the next generation and making it even tougher on them.
You can hear more of my thoughts on this in the audio links below. Oh yeah, and then there's also the depressing call I received right after delivering this brilliant monologue, some of which is highlighted in the above text. Folks, you'd think the caller, not me, was the deaf one, because this guy couldn't possibly have heard a word I said. It's just mind-boggling sometimes. But don't worry, folks. It was only momentarily depressing. I remain, as always, the eternal optimist.
Bush is on track to go down as one of the worst presidents economically. But he isn't known to change course, and his legions of Myrmidons won't demand change, either.
BTTT
Yet I see a relatively recent trend in our public governance that concerns me greatly. We're moving dangerously close to a European style Democratic socialism. The constitutional and legal barriers that once proscribed government action are diminishing, and all three branches of the federal government are contributing to the problem, rather than serving as checks and balances on each other.
Yepper. And we get burned by Bushbots everytime we speak out about Bush lighting it's fire. *sigh*
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