Entry 9 - October 1, 2006
Well, for a variety of reasons, I have let this project slip for nearly a year. I am going to get back to his examination of liberalism as presented in this book.
Chapter 1: The Threat
Rolling back the Twentieth Century
William Greider
Originally published in The Nation on May 12, 2003
William Greider is The Nation’s national affairs correspondent.
Part I: Back to the Future (p. 3-6)
On page four, Greider makes the broad claim that President Bush, embodying the “third wave” of conservatism, is part of a movement that drives to roll back the twentieth century. He says that they plan to reduce the scale and powers of the federal government “to a level well below what it was before the New Deal’s centralization.” He goes on further to explain that power would be returned to local levels, individuals, and private institutions.
First of all, this is completely absurd. There is no way that the federal government could ever be rolled back to a pre-World War II level, even if it should be. This assertion by the left is once again without citation and support. If he were to state that the right would like to see a reduction of federal power, he would be right. However, I would then retort “So what?” This isn’t a good thing? The reality is that the federal government has gone far beyond what was envisioned for it in the Constitution. The liberal courts have twisted a small number of clauses in the Constitution to provide for the largest involvement of the federal government in the affairs of State and local governments than at any time in the history of the United States. The theory of federalism is that the central government exercises powers that were allocated to it by the sovereign states that voluntarily joined the union that came to be known as the United States of America. However, the Left has gone way beyond this. In doing to, they are blatantly violating the spirit in which the United States was founded, and showing no respect for the written Constitution of the United States of America.
The author does admit that the notion of self-reliance and getting the government out of our lives has sentimental value based on American experience. However, he seems to think that this is an idea of the past and that it is the government’s responsibility to tell people what is good for them and what isn’t. In this regard, the United States has regressed in terms of personal liberty where much of the world has actually become freer than it once was. While Americans are still among the freest people in the world, others are catching up. While the Left in the United States and Europe seeks greater regulation in people’s lives, many governments around the world are granting people more and more freedom because those people are demanding it. Well, the American people have been demanding that their freedom that has been taken away be restored to them. Among the most important freedoms around are economic freedom and the freedom to raise and educate your children as you see fit. These are constantly under assault from the Left’s desire to control your lives from Washington.
He also admits that there is a widely shared and often justifiable resentment toward big government. However, he, and other Leftists, wants to force that big government on others, whether they like it or not. So typical of the Left.
Entry 10: October 2-3, 2006
Part II: The McKinley Blueprint (pages 6-12)
Greider begins by lambasting President Bush for what he sees as the implementation of a Radical Right agenda. This includes allowing sanctuaries of worship in buildings financed by federal housing grants, slash spending on the poor, prosecute those illegally buying drugs in Canada, forcing the District of Columbia to conduct voucher programs and handing over control of Medicaid to state governments.
Well, let’s take a look at this. Of course, none of this is cited, so it is hard to respond. What is the nature of allowing worship in buildings financed with federal housing grants? Is it really so ominous? It is impossible to know because the nature of this claim is not developed, nor is a source provided. If it is merely the basic right held by all Americans to worship freely, including in their homes, what is wrong with this? Slashing spending on the poor? Source? None given. Even so, what has all of this spending on the poor done? Created a class of people that has become dependent on government. What is wrong with prosecuting people illegally purchasing drugs across the border? It is illegal! Even the Canadian government doesn’t approve of Americans crossing the border to purchase drugs there. As for vouchers in the District of Columbia, he claims that the people of D.C. don’t want it, without providing a source. However, if his claim is true, he should have nothing to worry about. No one would participate. Seems sensible. The fact is that the Left most certainly doesn’t want people to make choices in their own lives – of course, unless that choice is to murder their unborn child.
Grieder then goes on to talk about elimination of taxation on private capital, including cutting taxes on stock dividends, repeal of the estate tax, and establish tax-sheltered personal savings accounts.
What is wrong with ANY of this? Don’t we want to ENCOURAGE investment? Doesn’t investment CREATE jobs for the working class? If I can keep the money I make from this investment, I will be more likely to invest it here than in other overseas monetary instruments, where the money is tied in and not used to create jobs at home! How much sense do these people make? Of course, the death tax is a favorite of the liberals. Getting the money from the living isn’t enough for them. They have to get it from the grave as well! They have their hands in our pockets both when we are alive, AND when we are six-feet under!
Then, he gets into the fiction of the consumption tax being stiff and unfair. He obviously knows little about how the Fair Tax is to operate. For families living at or below the poverty level (which is quite high in the United States,) they will not pay one red cent in taxes! That is less than they pay now because they are currently paying some 16 percent of their income in social security taxes. That will be GONE with the Fair Tax. Simple ignorance. Not only do they love to have their hands in our pockets, they also love to have access to as much of our personal information as possible. They would lose this with the Fair Tax!
Then he completely misrepresents efforts to reform the American pension system. The reality is that the current system is fatally flawed. The current system simply is unsustainable. People are living longer, and there are fewer young people today as a proportion to the total population than at any time in U.S. history. To think that the youth of the next couple of decades is going to be able to support the retired is classic “ostrich head in the sand syndrome” if I have ever seen it. Something HAS to be done. If people can invest their own money in a tax sheltered savings plan, it will reduce long term pressure on the taxpayers to support the retired. Of course, the Left loves taxing us to death. We have to live to their dictates, OR ELSE!
Then, be decries the notion that the federal government should withdraw from having a direct role in housing, health care, assistance to the poor, and other cherished Leftist social priorities.
Question: where in the Constitution is the federal government given responsibility for these areas? Answer me that question, but of course, they can’t. They simply reply that since its in the public good, it MUST be ok. Well, we may agree or disagree with whether or not it is in the public good. Regardless, it should be handled by state and local governments, NOT the federal government.
Next, he attacks the notion of people actually having a choice in where to send their children. Imagine that, people HAVE to send their children to government schools to learn the world according to the Left, rather than have a choice of where to send their children. He reserves special venom for “Catholic parochial schools.” That is religious bigotry! The fact is, they don’t want people to have the choice to send their children to Catholic schools to learn Catholic virtues. They want to force their secular humanism on as many people as possible. He also falsely indicates that people would be forced to fund private education. That is also completely false. The mainstream proposals out there only have parents being assigned a voucher no greater than the value of their share of education taxes. How is this public funding of private education? Of course, they had the idea of their secular humanistic educational system being challenged because they know that in many places throughout the United States, large numbers of people will choose schools that hold their values, not the values of the educational establishment.
There is more representation regarding environmental policies. He claims that “market driven” solutions will not result in any improvements. This is simply not true. The proposals are to establish overall goals, giving targets that all companies are to meet. However, if you are CLEANER than you are required to be, you can sell credits. This gives INCENTIVES to be cleaner because you can make money and PENALIZES those who can’t make the goals for whatever reason. Still, the overall goals are still met. However, the Left continues to block such common sense initiatives.
Now, he claims that the Right wants to smash organized labor. Now, I must admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing organized labor taken down a notch. They are one of the primary reasons that the United States is becoming less competitive. Furthermore, he links this with pensions. He would rather that unions have authority over workers rather than workers have independence of action to plan for the future of their families.
Now, he makes it a deliberate point to compare the conservative movement of today with that of President McKinley of more than a century ago. This is a red herring of the type that the Left loves to bring up. I don’t know anyone outside a radical fringe who would like to hearken back to that era. However, typical of the fear tactics of the Left, they have to keep up this mantra to keep their cowed masses in line.
This section is simply another example of a hack attack on the Conservative movement. There is nothing but un-cited lies and distortions by the Left with absolutely no sense whatever in the realm of reality.
Entry 11 – October 7, 2006
III: The Ecumenical Right
On page 13, Greider makes the claim that the Right, now in control of all three branches of government, are working to shrink federal authority, block citizen challenges of important institutions, and hack away at liberal precedents on civil rights, regulatory law, and other matters.
Let’s look at those claims. First of all, it is about time to shrink federal authority. It has gone FAR beyond what the Constitution prescribes. They don’t attempt to change the Constitution to subscribe to their worldview because they know that the support isn’t there for it. So, they have relied on liberal judges who have read things into the Constitution for which there is absolutely no support. It is this which most mainstream Conservatives wish to roll back. As for blocking citizen challenges, it is the Left who have used liberal judges in California to repeatedly block initiatives by CITIZENS! I have lost count of the referenda that have been initiated by the citizens of California, passed by healthy majorities, only to have them overturned by liberal judges. They have no leg to stand on on this point. As for hacking away at liberal precedents, are they talking about such precedents as the right to murder your own baby before it’s born?
Then Greider makes the point of noting that fewer and fewer Republicans are refusing to sign the no tax increase pledge! GOOD! Taxes are already too high. This statement merely confirms that all the Left wants to do is to get into your wallet.
Then, he complains that not only is Bush a devout Christian, but that he dares to show it! Wow! To the Left, it is now criminal for those in public life to actually show that they have faith. This is very telling to this commentator, who is also a man of faith.
While this section’s title refers to the ecumenical right, it focuses on taxes. He complains constantly, and in many different ways, that the Right wants to reduce taxes. Please tell me what is wrong with making government smaller and more responsible to the citizens of the United States?
He does lament that the Republicans have now drawn in observant Catholics, Mormons, ecumenical Jews, and Muslims. These are groups that have traditionally been a part of the Democratic base. Why do you think they have fled the Democratic Party in droves? This is simply because the Democratic Party has increasingly become seen as the party of anti-faith, as Greider has already shown us earlier in this section of the article.
Comments on the Comments:
I will save them for my next entry after I get home.
Another Home Run by the master of legal thrillers, September 28, 2006
