Charity and Welfare

I write today something that I am extremely passionate about, something that goes to the very core of political philosophy and fundamentally divides liberalism from conservatism. I think that it is safe to say that all Americans want those in need to be provided the necessities of life. We don't want anyone to go hungry or homeless. We are a compassionate people. I would even argue that we are the most compassionate people on the planet.

Our country was established on the principles of limited government and personal freedom. Our founding father's believed that we as a people would take care of ourselves and reach out to those in need. And so a tradition began that turned into the largest force of private charities the world has ever seen. Both domestic and abroad, no other country is home to so many non-profit organizations. I believe it is one our core values as a people and as country to be charitable.

Two nights ago, President Obama confirmed that he will be lowering the percent of charitable donations that can be deducted from taxes for the top income brackets. This decision sent a message to all America, a message that says private charities are not as important as government welfare. It comes with an assumption that liberalism holds about our very nature, that we as Americans are unable to take care of our own, that only through massive government social programs can these people be helped.

Now, of course most people will still give just as much to charity as they ever have. But not all will, because not all will be able to afford it. And more than anything it is a huge slap in the face to all our wonderful non-profit organizations. President Obama is telling them that they aren't as important anymore. President Obama is wrong. Compared to government welfare programs, charities are exponentially more efficient at allocating donations directly to the people who need them. They are much better at ensuring responsible use of the donations, so that they are not abused and wasted like so much of our government welfare is. In short, they represent everything that is great about our country and everything that conservatism stands for- the people.

Private charities exemplify the idea of personal freedom. With private charities I have the freedom to choose who I give to and how much I give. If I don't like the way they are using my hard earned money, I can simply stop giving to them and find another worthy cause. Government welfare affords no such freedom. They don't care if I don't like the way my money is spent and I don't have a choice about how much I give. That ability to choose is so important. It makes us feel like we are in control of our money and that empowers us to give even more. And American want to give, of this I am sure.

This is simply a strategic move by the Obama administration to find reason and reason again to expand government and take power which it has no right to have. By forcing charitable donations to decline through manipulation of our tax code, they are creating more need for welfare and more justification for the implementation of unnecessary programs. Why liberals think so poorly of the American people I do not understand. But they are wrong about us. We can take care of one another, if only the government would get out of our way and let us prosper.

What do you think?

Founding Father quote of the day

"I now make it my earnest prayer the God would have you and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field; and, finally, that he would be most graciously pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation."

George Washington, June 8, 1783 in a letter to the governors of the states on disbanding the army.

Symptoms and Wrong Questions

Is it just me, or are we constantly seeing the wrong questions being asked? How great can an answer really be if the premise of the question upon which it is predicated is flawed? How beautiful can rhetoric be praised when it answers an entirely irrelevant question to begin with? I am frustrated by the the complete incompetency of our mainstream media to ask the real questions, the ones that get to the heart of all the problems to begin with. I am frustrated with our government which keeps coming out with "solutions" to symptoms instead of problems.

Take AIG for example. The public is outraged with the millions in bonuses being paid to poorly performing executives. That is understandable, I think. So the immediate questions asked and echoed by our congress are: how can we fix the bonus problem? How can we punish them and get back the money? Meanwhile, reports are coming out that these payouts were known for some time. No one seems to be asking the right questions: why are we bailing out failed institutions, again? Should we really have expected anything different when allowing the government to stick its hands into the private sector? The truth is that the millions in bonuses pail in comparison to the billions in bailouts. The biggest question that needs to be asked is why the bailouts are failing to help.

I watched an annoying interview with President Obama yesterday. As seems to be the case lately, reporters tend to give the President rather difficult and thoughtful questions, which is great. The problem is that they all allow the President to mumble whatever incoherent answer he wants and get away with it. Why doesn't anyone say wait a minute! that doesn't make sense, what about...? For example, the interviewer made a very important observation that the financial industry is very concerned about losing their best people who will want to go to industries where they can make more than 250k a year. Obama's response? Well, they should just go to poor, dumpy North Dakota and get a little appreciation for how much 250k is.

Are you kidding me?? And the interviewer let it slide and moved on. Why didn't he point out that it doesn't matter how much 250k is, as long as there is a way to make more, these people will find a way? Why didn't he ask whether or not President Obama thought it was OK for sports athletes and actors to make millions? Why didn't he ask the right questions?

Later on in the interview, the reporter brought up the idea of just spending our way out of problems and asked a good question: is there a limit? Where is that limit? Obama answered that there was, but failed to define the limit except that we must be able to afford it. Then he started talking nonsense about treasury bonds. Again, the interviewer just moved on. I was outraged. Why didn't the interviewer clarify that we actually have NO current means of funding the spending coming out of Washington, that our deficits are going to be worse than anything during the Bush years, and the treasury bonds are NOT going to save us?

I could continue, but my point is that we have to ask more questions and we have to ask the right questions. We have to be careful about the premise of questions asked and we should never just accept the answers given to us without asking even more follow up questions. I think Washington is purposefully putting the attention on all these "symptoms" and coming up with these courageous efforts to cure them because they know if we ever shifted our attention to the actual problems, we would all realize that Washington is to blame for almost every single one.

Founding Father quote of the day

An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.

John Marshall, McCullough v. Maryland, 1819

Recession and Production

There has been much debate over the past months about how an economy best recovers from a recession. It is clear that President Obama and Congress believe the answer is to simply spend our way out of it. The argument goes that by government spending money it will act as a catalyst that will ignite our economic engine once again. I reject that theory entirely. I do not believe we can spend our way out of a recession, because it has never worked before. The answer, then? We must produce our way out of a recession.

Now let me be clear. Producing our way our of a recession necessarily involves a certain amount of spending. But that spending has to a painful necessity, with a clear purpose. The spending has to be directed towards investments that are capable of growing on their own (this is important), and add to the utility of the people. For example, investing in alternative energy is a terrible idea, because none of these industries have reached the point to be self sustained without government subsidies. You are simply adding debt to more debt. The gleeful notion that we just need to spend and spend and everything will get better is ridiculous. History has taught us this.

The great depression was a terrible time in our country's history. Text books teach us that it was a heroic President Roosevelt and his life saving New Deal that finally pulled us out of our slump, thus proving that government intervention and massive spending works. Even Obama stated that this was inarguable. The facts, however, tell another story. The New Deal began in in 1933 and four years later the economy actually got worse! From 1933 to 1939 the federal expenditure tripled. And employment did not recover until into 1940. According to wikipedia, there is still widespread debate about whether or not the New Deal actually lengthened and deepened the depression.

That is the equivalent of saying that the economy will still be as bad in 2017, but yet somehow Obama's policies are working. Are you kidding me? And a look into history shows us that the real catalyst to our recovery from the Great Depression was World War II. We produced our way out the depression, and the war provided the means whereby we could do so. Of course, it required a responsible investment, but it wasn't the spending, the government intervention, or the massive regulations that saved us. It was the ability for our country to find a way to increase productivity.

Flash forward to the 1980s. Again, American found itself in a serious recession. This time President Reagan inherited the problem and was faced with tough decisions about how to help put the economy back on track. Massive spending? Tax the rich? See, this is the dirty little secret that you will never hear from a liberal. Reagan did neither. And it worked. In fact, he cut taxes from a staggering 70% to a reasonable 28% over 7 years for top personal tax bracket. He did not expand domestic government or churn out massive spending bills and regulations. Why? Because he understood that it was only the productivity of the people that would reverse the economic trends. He knew that he needed to foster an environment where that could happen. He believed in free market principles and in the American people.

After 7 years, the results speak for themselves. The GDP almost immediately began to grow at an annual rate of 3.4%, unemployment tumbled, and 16 million net jobs were added to the economy. What an incredible contrast to the 7 years following the new deal. So, why aren't we being taught this? Because liberalism owns our government and our media. Because the goal of liberalism is power, not prosperity. We must reject this notion that spending our way out of a recession is the only way. It has never, and will never work.

Founding Father quote of the day

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity.

Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.

More common sense and Americans

More news today that Americana are on the path to awakening. The WSJ published an intriguing article, that I am sure you wont see in any of the main stream media. The article showed how polling numbers indicate that Americans are growing increasingly disatisifed with President Obama and his wreckless spending. From the article:

"Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president's performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.

A detailed examination of presidential popularity after 50 days on the job similarly demonstrates a substantial drop in presidential approval relative to other elected presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries. The reason for this decline most likely has to do with doubts about the administration's policies and their impact on peoples' lives."

It is interesting to note that President Bush had a much higher approval rating at the same point in his presidency. Read the entire article here.

Common Sense and Americans

I know I have been delinquent in my posting, which I hope to find time to change, so I bring everyone some good news. As the true socialist agendas of President Obama and Speaker Pelosi continue to emerge, it looks like Americans are beginning to wake up. Here are some statistics (from Gallup) to show a few very positive trends:

-More Americans than ever believe that the media reports of global warming is exaggerated (41%) versus those who believe it is underestimated (28%) and the rest who believe the media is accurate. In conjunction with this, a staggering 60% of Americans believe that global warming is not a threat to their lives.

-More Americans believe that the government is doing too much (47%) than too little (42%) with the rest being mixed. And more Americans think that the government has too much power (50%) than not enough (13%).

-Americans are not happy with and do not see improvements as the result of the enormous stimulus bill passed three weeks ago. The Gallup "Consumer Mood Index" has fallen 5 points this past week alone. Gallup points out that given the unprecedented effort to boost the economy, there should have been a significant boost in consumer psychology by now.

I think we are a long way from seeing Americans really start to wake up, but I believe that it starting to happen. I believe in the American people. We are smart, compassionate, and have a long history of exercising that one thing we need above anything else right now- common sense.