While the rest of us were eating, drinking and making merry (or turning in early) the drama queens in Washington were burning the midnight oil. They haven’t done their job all year, so we all had to endure the theatrics of the past several weeks with their climactic high drama last night.
And it’s still not over. Although the old media is talking as though all this is done, the House has still not voted on the bill. Stay tuned.
I don’t know all the details of it yet. Lots of info is swirling around. There’s more money for unemployment benefits in it. And most of us won’t see our taxes rise. Except that we will. The payroll tax cut was allowed to expire, so all our take-home is going down. It’s being reported that for every dollar in cuts in the bill, there are $41 in new taxes.
That’s what they call a balanced approach in Washington.
It doesn’t matter. As expected, this bill is small and punitive, just like those who crafted it. It won’t make much difference in our financial situation. And in several weeks it will play out all over again when the same inept leaders are faced with what to do about our debt ceiling.
To be fair, the House (led by republicans) did get their work done. They passed a bill last summer that would have avoided raising anyone’s taxes. Sadly, the Senate (led by democrats) never took the bill up. Senate Leader Harry Reid filed it with all the other bills and budgets passed by the House in some bottom drawer, never to be seen again.
But the republican leadership is so weak, not many people know this. The old media certainly doesn’t report it and but for a handful of conservatives, the republicans are simply lousy at making their case. Their leaders fear the dishonest media.
What has gone on in recent weeks, this circus side-show act called the fiscal cliff, is a tiny window into the bigger problem we face. There are opposing forces competing for the very soul of America.
One side is true to our nation’s founding and core principles. It believes in the smallest government possible, with liberty, equality and opportunity for all.
The other prefers an all-powerful government which dictates its own version of equality and redistributes wealth to achieve their vision.
This is the great question of our day. Who do we want to be? Were our Founders wrong? Do the Greeks actually have it right?
Washington is currently being run by the latter group, the redistributionists. They have the support of our dishonest media and so they are very powerful. How else do you explain President Obama’s speech yesterday afternoon? It was small, arrogant and confrontational. An honest member of the press would ask, “Mr. President, you have been calling for civility and mutual respect for years. Why then, sir, do you speak so arrogantly and disrespectfully about the opposition party?”
None of them asked.
An honest member of the press would ask the president, “Mr. President, you promised to cut our deficit, get spending under control and have talked endlessly about a balanced approach. Why is it then that this newest legislation cuts only $1 for every $41 in new spending? How is that balanced sir, and what effect will in have on the deficit?”
None of them asked.
I have great faith in average Americans. I believe most of us have a great love for our country as it was founded and have no desire to go the route of the failed socialist states. But when people are fed constant lies piled upon lies, when reality is so distorted and the truth is so hard to find, is it any wonder that they become confused about who it is who actually has their best interests in mind?
We are at a cliff. It’s not the one that’s getting all the play in the news, though. It’s a choice that will have profound consequences for us all, and for our children and generations beyond them.
As the progressives gain more and more ground, the stakes become higher and the point of no return gets closer. Are you still sitting on the sidelines? Are you still expecting someone else to come along and stop them? Are you content to continue stealing from your children and grandchildren? Will you continue to willingly hand over your liberties and theirs? Do you still think “someone” is going to fix all this?
“If we lose freedom here, there’s no place to escape to.”
And good luck getting it back once it’s gone.
What we have all just witnessed – the fiscal cliff drama – was designed by a handful of those Washington elites that President Reagan spoke of, to keep us occupied while they rob from us our wealth, our liberty and our heritage. If you’re ok with that, continue to do nothing and don’t dare speak up.
They’re counting on you.
-Kathy
Reblogged this on YouViewed/Editorial.
For some reason an old phrase reappeared to me over the holiday – “the people’s business”, or “the people’s money”. It’s part of an old fashioned, forgotten concept that our elected officials in Washington are there to be responsible and competent manager’s of the people’s money. But these elected officials have a completely different concept of their responsibilities. They think their job is to argue over how they will spend the government’s money – their money, professionally speaking. Consider the arrogant charade that has been conducted up there the past month or so. A few “leaders” meet in private (what we used to call smoke filled) back rooms, out of site of the public and the press, to conduct what is, in fact, the people’s business. But in their minds, it’s none of our business what they are saying or doing.
Folks, it’s our money they have so carelessly squandered, but they don’t see it that way. They do not recognize their primary job is to be a competent and responsible steward of the people’s money. Instead, they have this antiquated, arrogant notion that they are some sort of royalty, and the people can just “eat cake” as they strut around up there carrying on some sort obscene mating dance with our money. We have no need to know.
A pox on them. The President conducted a “news” conference yesterday. He filled a stage with some paid stooges, cracked jokes about Congress, laughed about the “fiscal cliff” and then pointed the finger at Republicans in his best political campaign style, excusing himself from any responsibility or accountability for the dire financial condition of the nation. It’s very clear he does not, in any way, shape, or form, think that this is about the people’s business, or that it’s the people’s money being squandered with so little regard for fiscal responsibility. Here is one thing on which the people can rely – no matter what happens, this President will not accept any accountability or responsibility. None. As a result, what he has to say, or who he decides to blame, is irrelevant. The majority of people elected him again, so the majority of people can just “eat cake”.
Superb Post, Thanks
The last hope for resistance, the Republican Party, committed suicide last night. They are now owned by the big government, tax and spend, political elite. The nation will have to go through an enormous financial crisis and collapse before there is any chance of recovery. The fascist economic system is firmly entrenched for the foreseeable future.