The Progressive, Statist, Globalist Agenda

Throughout the 20th century, there have been many attempts by Progressives to increase the power of the Federal Government, to mitigate the United States’ power and influence on the world stage, and to create domestic systems by which the government creates new “rights” by assuming the responsibility for taking over aspects of the private sector and making decisions *for* the citizens.

Domestically, the social programs they create (an abject failure, every one) represent a sort of war on the middle class, where those who can least afford to are compelled to pay for an increasing dependent class in the name of social “justice” which is anything but.  The larger the group dependent on the government, the more secure they believe their power to be.

The Progressive agenda has become almost a religion to the Left,  replete with the promise of an unattainable utopia, a holy mission (social “justice” and climate change), prophets (like Marx), saints (like FDR, JFK, LBJ, Gore), martyrs (the Rosenbergs, anyone on McCarthy’s list, etc), scripture (the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, NPR), original sin (our past prosperity and exceptionalism), a messiah (Obama) and a self-righteous worldview that discounts from consideration all counter theories and reviles those who question the complete moral authority of their ecclesiastical body (the Democratic Party)…and that’s just the denomination that operates in the United States…the most delusional of the “ultra-orthodox” zealots have been in control of Western Europe since the 60s and Eastern Europe since 1917.

In the end, their goals are antithetical not only to our prosperity and ideals, but the continued existence of the Republic as a whole.  There’s a part of me that questions whether or not they are purposely attempting to destroy the dollar to cut the US down to size and force more steps along the road to world government.  This staggers me, because as recently as two years ago I would have thought such a suggestion was crazy.  This past year in particular has me singing a different tune.  I urge you to keep an eye on the irresponsible spending of money, and watch out for any moves to “monetize the debt” or future moves by the government to fix prices…they are sure signs of deliberate attempts to destroy our currency as well as the US itself.

Also watch whether or not President Obama signs the Copenhagen treaty and the Democrats try to browbeat the American people into supporting ratification of it.

If any or all of those events come to pass, there will then be no question in my mind that the Democratic Party has committed itself to our destruction in the name of some globalist, statist Hell-on-Earth that will represent a new dark age for humanity and an end to Western Civilization.

Still doubt me?  Consider how this has developed over the course of the 20th Century, and note the preponderance of one political party in this list:

Federal Reserve Bank, Woodrow Wilson, Democrat

League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson, Democrat (largely Wilson’s baby; fortunately, the US Congress refused to join)

The New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt, Democrat (a plethora of social programs and government interference in the private sector that prolonged the Great Depression by 10 years)

The United Nations, Franklin Roosevelt, Democrat (he formed the first concrete plan for it under the State Department in 1939, but did not live to see it created in its current form)

The Bretton Woods Accord, Franklin Roosevelt, Democrat (this agreement took most other countries off the gold standard and linked their value to the US Dollar, which was still linked to gold at the time)

Social Security,  Franklin Roosevelt, Democrat

The Great Society and the modern Welfare State, Lyndon Johnson, Democrat

Medicare, Lyndon Johnson, Democrat

Medicaid, Lyndon Johnson, Democrat

New Federal Reserve Notes start to be issued as a “fiat” currency, Lyndon Johnson, Democrat

Silver coinage eliminated, Lyndon Johnson, Democrat

Federal Reserve Silver Certificates made into “fiat” currency, Lyndon Johnson, Democrat

Creation of Department of Education, Jimmy Carter, Democrat

First Auto Bailouts, Jimmy Carter, Democrat

Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Democrat (this caused the housing bubble that caused our current global recession)

First run at NAFTA treaty, George HW Bush, Republican (with roughly equal support from both Republicans and Democrats in the House, failed to pass the Senate)

Second run at NAFTA treaty, Bill Clinton, Democrat (successful this time)

First attempt at Socialized Medicine, Bill Clinton, Democrat

Expansion of Community Reinvestment Act, Bill Clinton, Democrat (this made the disastrous effects of the CRA even worse)

Patriot Act, George W Bush, Republican (although most associated with Bush, the Act passed both houses with wide margins from BOTH parties.  It was also largely reauthorized in 2006 with fairly wide BIPARTISAN support, including support from Barack Obama)

Global Warming Panic, Al Gore, Democrat (this becomes important later)

Quashing of warnings about the Community Reinvestment Act in 2004, Barney Frank, Democrat

Quashing of warnings about the Community Reinvestment Act in 2006, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Democrats

TARP Bailout, George W Bush, Republican (in concert with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress)

$1trillion “stimulus,” Barack Obama, Democrat

Cap and Trade legislation, Democratic Party initiative

Second auto bailout, Barack Obama, Democrat (this time the government maintained an iron fist in their day-to-day operations, essentially a private sector “takeover”)

Second attempt at Socialized Medicine, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Democrats (at the very least this represents an unconstitutional expansion of governmental powers further into health care…but that’s being kind, I’ll call it what it is, a Trojan Horse to fully nationalizing the industry)

Creation of World Government for Climate/Energy in Copenhagen Treaty, Barack Obama (?), Democrat (will he sign?)

Now I ask you, is an intentional undermining of the power of the dollar really that far fetched considering the pack of rodeo clowns that are calling the shots and married to this globalist, statist agenda?

An Open Letter to the European Press

Inspired by reading articles in the Guardian after the time when comments were allowed (yet all I say is true of most of the reports Europeans are being given by their own press):

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To the European news outlets who make the US out to be some third world medical wasteland,

I’m afraid you’ve reported numerous inaccuracies in the way you have portrayed the current US health care issue. This gives your readers a false sense of what the situation is over here. There are 47 million (about 15% of population) without insurance, however:

* approximately 12 million (4%) are illegal immigrants

* approximately 20-25 million (6%-8%) make $50,000+ and choose not to carry health insurance

* approximately 10-15 million (3%-4%) have trouble getting private health insurance due to poverty or health. These people qualify for Medicare or Medicaid and simply haven’t registered for it.

* There is Federal health insurance for the poor (Medicaid) and the elderly (Medicare) already, as there has been for the last two and a half generations.

* No one (not even illegal immigrants) is denied medical care in the US. Free medical care can be had in Emergency Departments (and with about 1/3 the wait Canadians experience) and free clinics throughout the country.

* Those who can afford health insurance but elect not to carry it due to good health are billed for services when they see a doctor or go to the hospital. That is the calculated risk they choose to run by not carrying the health insurance. If they are wise, they instead choose to spend the money they save on a Health Savings Account or other investments (which theoretically gives them even more money to pay out of pocket).

* When I quit teaching full time to work part time and go to school part time, I lost my employer-based health insurance. Consequently, I do not qualify for student discounts (I just went full-time with school last year, so I suppose I qualify for it now) and have paid for private health insurance (with which I’m thrilled) since 2003 on $10-$15,000 per year. True, I could go on Medicaid, but I am very happy with my private insurance ($140 per month) and have no intention of dropping my current insurer until I’m done with this degree and have an employer-based plan once again.

It is important to remember that all but one network or cable news outlet in the US is as invested in “making things work” (in a big-picture sense, anyway) for the current administration as Pravda was invested in its state back in the 1950s. If you’ve compiled your numbers by simply parroting what US news is reporting, then you have been gravely mislead (and in turn mislead your own readers). If you performed some kind of spurious survey of your own, then you have lied. In either case, I exhort you to apply higher standards in the future.

Why Ireland Can Be A Beacon Of Liberty In Europe

As Ireland gears up for the re-vote on the infamous Lisbon Treaty, I am struck by similarities between what’s going on there and in the US.

For those of you who don’t know, the Lisbon Treaty is an abomination that will effectively create the first incarnation of a United States of Europe. This will render the member nations the equivalent of States in the US in terms of sovereignty – something the EU was NEVER supposed to be able to do.

The only country to put their ratification vote to the people themselves was Ireland. Back in June, the Irish people sensibly voted “no.” Since the treaty requires unanimous ratification, this effectively meant that the treaty was dead in the water until Ireland’s concerns were “addressed” in the form of another piece of European Parliament legislation that supposedly guarantees extra protections. The treaty, however, remains completely unchanged (any changes would require unanimous reapproval, which would not happen) and the extra protections have yet to be unanimously approved (gee, what’s the likelihood that they won’t be, even if the Irish pass the Treaty?).

Basically, the Irish are being told, “you didn’t vote right…now we’re just going to sit here until you finish your vegeta-…I mean, come up with a ‘yes’ vote!” How insulting!

What’s more, the yes/no debate has taken on the general color of the US healthcare debate.  I think it’s a common philosophy of statists and progressives. “Keep voting or recounting until you come up with the answer we like.” The shamelessly fraudulent Franken/Coleman election and blatant rule changing in Massachusetts put the demands for incessant recounts of the Bush/Gore 2000 election in the shade. For those of you who don’t know, it was independently verified three months later that Bush did actually win that election and had the Supreme Court not intervened, and Gore been allowed to keep playing with the cards, the only difference would be that Gore would have lost by a wider margin…not that that got much press…

But Europe is already farther down the road to serfdom than we are, and even nonWestern countries are falling victim to similar attempts by politicians to cast themselves as surrogate parents to their unwilling citizens, “for their own good.”

Anyway, the contempt shown by progressives and statists for the people they aspire to govern is fueled by a zealous, near-religious belief that They Are Right™ and there can be no serious opposition to their idiotic, tyrannical, dystopian vision.

Isn’t it time, after nearly a century of their failed programs, contempt and nonsense, that the US and Western Europe saw these tyrants for who they really are and sent them packing? When will the West’s failing experiment in progressivism finally be tossed where it belongs…on the trash heap of history’s mistakes along with fascism, totalitarianism, flower power, and slavery?

The US Free Market Allows Others To Practice Socialized Medicine

You know, places like the UK and Canada manage to make due with socialized healthcare.  But anybody who knows even the slightest bit about how those systems work knows that it can take years to get a GP, and most citizens are reduced to going to clinics and hospitals whose efficiency makes the waits at even our overtaxed ERs look like the local fast food drive-thru.

So what do they do when they want medical care but can’t afford to wait for their governments without, you know, dying?

They come to the US and pay out of pocket.

So it’s good to know that when we have a gravely flawed system like theirs, we can still get quality healthcare by going to the United – oh, damn…that’s us…

Well, at least wealthy Canadians can go to private clinics and buy private health care (provided they can afford it after paying for the insane state system, one which its architect  has declared a failure and calls for re-privatizing).  So, at least those with money to burn can still shop around for better choices and buy the care they believe best serves them.

Oh, damn…maybe not…looking at the now-infamous “Page 16″ of the health care bill discussion draft, it seems that private insurers in the US will be prohibited for signing up new customers for, well, everything.

Now, the whole plan is a two-step to a single payer system (which is a disaster EVERYWHERE it’s tried, without exception). And considering the mentality of those given unelected yet powerful positions, like Pres. Obama’s “Science Czar,” there are some very dark things on the horizon for the sick, poor, elderly and disabled.

Once a government-controlled single payer healthcare system is in place, the next step to “control costs” is full-blown eugenics….

And I’m sorry, but given the Democratic Party’s mentality in the last 15 years, and their respect for life in general, if you think it will be any other way you’re absolutely dreaming…

This is nothing less than a struggle for our very survival and the survival of the Republic based on the personal liberties and rights for which so many have bled and died.  It is not very often that a person or organization strikes me as literally “evil,” but I’m afraid that the Democrats are getting dangerously close to joining the ranks of Al Quaeda, the Nazi’s and Caligula.

And beware – even if this particular bill is killed, ANY bill which involves a “public option” will put us on that same road, just at a different speed.

If the Democrats continue to get what they want, there will no longer be an America to save.  Sure, the borders may be there, and the flag and an all-powerful government administrating an Orwellian nanny-state from Washington DC, but “America” will effectively be dead.

And once that happens, the dark age to follow will make the one that followed the fall the western Roman Empire look like a walk in the park…

If you think it’s expensive now, just wait until it’s free…

…it may not only cost you the fruits of your labors but also your life, health and precious liberty as well.

It occurred to me when I found myself banging my head on my desk during Pres. Obama’s recent press conference that I’d better start writing.

During a number of questions about the impact of any government offered “alternative” health plan, the President responded that he couldn’t see the logic in the argument that somehow a government that people say can’t run the DMV is going to put private providers out of business.

But then he proceeded to mention several points that would need to be part of any bill he signs.  And if he really can’t see the logic there, well, perhaps a better logician like George W. Bush can be called in to explain it to him with pie charts and sock puppets – because it screams to be heard.

First, he said that no government plan would be “profit driven.”  Thus, like every government program, it can be a massive money sink and still stay in business.  Responsible businesses are profit driven.  It leads them to make sensible decisions and keep waste to a minimum.  The private insurers would still be playing by those rules.

And don’t think for one minute that the massive red-balance expense of the government plan will come from approving more procedures or better technology – no, that’s where they’ll be visibly tightening their belts to justify the massive administrative waste, just like everything the government has ever run.

Then, he said that the private insurers would be able, through proper management, to compete with the government, low-ball plan-that-doesn’t-care-how-much-money-it-loses by making “better” decisions.

However, in the next breath, he went on to say that, like the CRA and the mortgage industry, the government will mandate the use of unsound business practices to the industry.  The insurers will be prohibited from “cherry-picking” people without pre-existing conditions and be required to cover everybody.  Now, they currently cover many people with pre-existing conditions (just not at the same price, and rightfully so).  People that are refused coverage are refused for cause…seriously, why else would a “profit-driven” enterprise refuse to sign up a customer?

Now, if the people with massively expensive pre-existing conditions were charged what it truly costs the insurer to insure them, they could never afford the insurance.  Also, I fully expect another government mandate to limit how close to the real mark they’re allowed to charge.  So this means that people with highly expensive pre-existing conditions will be offered expensive insurance while the healthy see their premiums driven up to cover the difference between the true cost of insuring the seriously unhealthy and what they’re actually charged.

So the government is going to force private insurers to raise their prices while competing with a government option that can lose billions a year and stay in business.  You don’t see the “logic” in that objection, Mr. President?  And here I thought the Left were all supposed to be so much smarter than the rest of us.  It seems they’ve got nothing on the third graders who can do that kind of math.

Inevitably, this will force private insurers into dire straits.  Once they start going out of business there will be a panic, the healthcare industry will need a “bailout” (read: federal takeover), and eventually the government will have to “reluctantly” nationalize a collapsing healthcare industry while claiming that “free markets” obviously don’t work in all industries.

And that’s where the danger begins.  Once the government is in sole (or almost sole) control of health care, it can be used to force social policy: free abortions and euthanasia for all!  This naturally comes along with refusal of claims to force people into those positions.  Simply refusing to cover care for babies born with disabilities and they will force mothers to choose between poverty and abortion.  Add to that refusal of government assistance to people filing on account of medical expenses incurred because of refusal to take up the government plan on a treatment and they can really leave you no choice.

The government refusing to cover a disabled child after birth as well as refusing welfare to people who are poor because they refused to abort a child with a disability (against the advice of the government-run healthcare) is as good as mandating the treatment for just about everybody.  And don’t for a minute say that “it won’t happen like that.”  It already *has* happened that way in state run healthcare plans in the US in the 21st century.  Oregon’s state healthcare was approving euthanasia instead of cancer treatment and would not bend.  However, there are limits to what Oregon can do by itself with free markets in the neighboring states; there will be no limits to the power of a government monopoly.

Once you’ve done that, you’re only a step away from outright eugenics.  Now, when I first heard that government healthcare was going to be patterned after European models, I never imagined they’d be looking toward Germany’s medical plans of the 1930s.

It’s not about insuring the poor, it’s about statism and institutionalizing power over you, the citizen.

And if you don’t think the modern Left has it in it to force social policy down our throats, trampling our liberty, think again…