THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 172, July 16, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
MY STIMULUS BRIBE
By Alan Caruba
WHAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DIRELY NEEDS: SOMETHING IT CANNOT CONFISCATE -- SOMETHING IT
CANNOT SECURE THROUGH A STIMULUS BRIBE -- THE CONFIDENCE, OR TRUST, OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE -- WHY THE
CONGRESS & THE PRESIDENCY HAVE FAILED TO GAIN & RETAIN THAT CONFIDENCE -- THE INADEQUACY OF AMERICAN
NATIONAL LEADERSHIP, WHETHER COMPRISED OF REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS
FULL STORY:
I received my stimulus check yesterday. It was $600, and I put it into my checking account and immediately paid a bill that
accounted for half of it. I have serious doubts that it did anything to stimulate an economy that is undergoing a crisis of
confidence in its financial and governmental institutions.
There is a serious crisis of trust in Congress. Polls indicate that most Americans think it is the worst in modern memory.
They have good reason as they watch two horribly polarized political parties ignore some of the nation’s most pressing
problems. These are the morons who banned the future sale of incandescent light bulbs. Meanwhile, Democrats and
Republicans concentrate on seizing enough control to decide who gets to spend and waste our money.
It is, of course, our money. Or more precisely, it's the money the U.S. government borrows from other nations in our name.
Giving everyone who paid taxes a pittance in return suggests that Congress thinks we are so stupid that we will actually be
grateful.
Why should we be grateful to a government that, as it grows larger and larger, seems increasingly less competent to
address common sense solutions to our energy needs, refusing to permit the exploration, drilling, and mining of our own
national resources?
Why should we be grateful to be told that we need to drive slower, purchase cars the size of golf carts or use mass transit,
when we have ample, known reserves of oil?
Why should we be grateful for government mandates for ethanol that do nothing other than drive up the price of food and
drive down mileage per gallon?
Why should we be grateful for the push to impose a bogus “cap and trade” system that will do nothing to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions? Why create a market for “credits” that will make those trading in them immensely wealthy? Why do this
when, in addition to oxygen, CO2 is the most essential gas to the maintenance of all life on Earth, vital to the growth of all
vegetation?
Why should we be grateful for the privilege of being the world’s policeman, when Europe thinks we’re a chump for
defending it long after the Europeans should have taken on that responsibility? Or when a prolonged occupation in Iraq is
greeted with the perfectly natural request that we leave? There are 566,000 Iraqis in police or military uniform these days.
Why should we be grateful when we might be taken into a war with Iran over its demand to be a nuclear power, when it is
surrounded by nuclear powers -- Pakistan, India, Russia and China, to name just four? Isn’t a nuclear Iran their problem
too? Why do we assume that the prospect of having its cities obliterated and millions of its citizens killed would not have a
sobering affect on Iran’s fanatical Islamist leaders?
Why should we be grateful to a government that, during the Bush administration, spent $45 billion on "climate change"
research, operating on the assumptions comprising global warming theory, at a time when the Earth is a decade into a
natural cooling cycle that any freshman in Meteorology 101 could understand? Could the billions spent on the mission to
Mars been spent more wisely on repairs to our nation’s infrastructure of roads and bridges?
Why should we be grateful to a government that is inattentive to millions of illegal aliens crossing our southern border,
taking up residence while taking jobs that might otherwise be available to native-born and naturalized Americans, and
draining the financial resources of states and local communities that must educate their children and pay for their medical
care?
Why wouldn’t a wall along the southern border of the U.S.A. have some effect on illegal immigration and the huge flow of
drugs into the nation? Surely, that has a greater priority than Mars?
Why should we be grateful to a government that adopted an idiotic policy to not manage our nation’s forests, leading to
California's catastrophic fires and the previous loss of countless forested acres in Yellowstone? Removing aging and dead
trees and underbrush protects forests. Instead of a thriving timber industry, we have Smokey the Bear.
And why should I believe that my $600 is going to make any difference in the resolution of an economic mess created by
banking and investment institutions that gave away billions in mortgage loans to people who could not afford them and now
want to be bailed out -- with our money? Right now, some of these same institutions are driving up the cost of a barrel of oil
by gambling in the world’s mercantile exchanges.
The nation is being run by people who are clearly delusional over a non-existent “global warming” or committed to a failed
“No Child Left Behind” law that transfers control over the nation’s schools to the central government. In the U.S.
Constitution, there is no authorization for involvement of the national government in education.
We need a stimulus in rational solutions to real problems. We need something that a government must earn, not confiscate,
and not secure through a bribe. It’s called trust. It’s called confidence.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
American Government & the U.S. Congress
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
United States Immigration, Assimilation, & National Security Policy:
Immigration into the U.S.A., Legal & Illegal Aliens,
& U.S. Border Control
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The Earth's Natural History, Global Climate Changes,
& the Future of Human Life & Civilization on the Planet:
Science, Ideology, & Public Policy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity