Quotes of the week:
“Let me just make this point, John, because we’re not campaigning any more…the election’s over.” – President Obama to John McCain at the Health Care Summit.
“I am reminded of that every day” – Response from Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
“You’re right, there was an imbalance on the opening statements; because I’m the President…I didn’t count my time in terms of dividing it evenly.” – President Obama on why there was not an equal distribution of time for remarks at the Health Care Summit.
Command and Control: I have said before that the Obama/Pelosi/Reid cabal is more about ruling than leading and that their plans entail an oppressive government that runs everything and tells us what we can and can’t do. Here are just a few more pieces of evidence towards that point (in addition to the above quotes):
- During the so-called Health Care Summit, The 17 Republicans in the room spoke for a total of 111 minutes. The 18 Democrats from Congress in the room spoke for a total of 135 minutes. But President Obama, all by himself, spoke for 122 minutes, more time than all the Republicans and nearly longer than all of the Democrats. This speaks more about this President than his words ever could.
- In the Budget Committee this week, Treasury Secretary Geithner made it clear that they (the administration) have no intention of proposing or supporting any legislation to replace or wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year. Why is this important? Fannie and Freddie are now completely owned by the federal government, they are losing lots of money, and they now make about 95% of all home mortgages. This is so because no private entities can compete with the borrowing power of the feds. There are lots of ideas out there on what to replace them with including: a public utility type model, nothing at all, or something similar to what they were before. But there will be no movement on that. Why? Because this is probably what the statists in charge want. You can’t get a home loan unless you get it from the government. Great! The legislation that is popping up now includes all kinds of things including requiring these loans to be based on meeting environmental or social goals. Whatever happened to loaning money only because you figured that the borrower could pay it back? The latest proposal would ban foreclosures anywhere without the approval of a government panel. President Obama wants government-run health care but he is having a hard time getting it to happen. He already has government run home loans. Why change it? Command and Control.
- Friday, the House passed the bill to reauthorize our intelligence agencies, and like everything else in this Congress, it passed by a near straight party-line vote. In the past, this has never been a party-line thing. We’re talking about securing the nation here, and we have always been able to come together. But not in the Pelosi Congress. As has been demonstrated time and again, intelligence is vital in the prevention of terrorist attacks and helping to protect our men and women in uniform. The bill is terrible because it continues to give more rights to enemy combatants and actually imposes new burdens on our intelligence agents, making their job more difficult, at a time when they should be concentrating on keeping us safe. Command and Control.
- Not a single bill in this Congress has been brought to the floor under an "open rule." An "open rule" allows any Member of Congress to submit an amendment to the bill being considered and get an up or down vote on it if they want. This is the first Congress in the history of Congress in which not a single bill has been subject to an open rule for amendments. Ms. Pelosi knows what’s good for you and the other 434 of us may not be allowed to interfere with that. Command and Control.
- The latest proposal on the death tax is an idea to eliminate any deduction from estate taxes for money given to private charitable foundations. Such foundations run the gamut from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the many families involved with the Orange County Community Foundation. Couple this with the President’s latest proposal to eliminate charitable deductions for families with incomes over $250,000 (By the way, this is the segment of the population which makes the majority of charitable donations in dollar terms) to partially pay for socialized medicine. There seems to be a clear Democratic move here to eliminate any tax deductions for giving to charities. Why would they do that? Because charities are the method by which people help other people without anyone telling them what causes they should or should not be supporting. Without charities, only government is left to do that. Command and Control.
- And finally, of course, health care. In spite of all the polls, and in spite of 3 resounding defeats at the ballot box, it is now clear that the Democrat leadership intends to press forward using reconciliation (which means they only need 50 votes in the Senate) to pass their socialized medicine bill. If they do this, it must start in the Budget Committee in the House, on which I serve. America is actuarially bankrupt. This is so because the legacies of the New Deal and the Great Society cannot be paid for in the future. What is astounding to me is that even if you believe that socialized medicine is a good idea, we cannot pay for it on top of the already bankrupt Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If they move forward with this, it will hasten the time when either America cannot pay its debts or we inflate our way out of them, thereby destroying much of the wealth of the people. But the President and his minions are going to press ahead because they will command what we do and control it.
The Obama/Pelosi/Reid vision for America includes a government that is bankrupt and must confiscate most of your income; and a government that controls your medical care, home loan, and charitable efforts. Resistance is futile and you must obey……………
No you don’t. I’m not going to. The battle for America’s future is still heating up. Don’t let up.