Last week, during the State of the Union speech, our President squandered a golden opportunity, one that could have been a defining moment in this, the second full year of his presidency. He could have used it as the perfectly timed occasion to say: ”I have heard the collective voice of Americans all across the country who are saying, ‘We oppose enormous bail outs to banks and the car companies.’ I have heard the anger of those who say, ‘We oppose an $800 billion stimulus that has created very few jobs while during the same year 3.4 million people lost their jobs.’ I have heard loud and clear the angst of a nation who believes that our approach in the past year to spend our way out of debt is absolutely unsustainable. I have heard the will of the people expressed at the polls, in places like New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts, that says, ‘We want no part of a government takeover of our health care, under the guise of reform.’ And I have heard the pathos of a people who are groaning under the weight of excessive taxation, intrusion into their lives and steady erosion of their liberties. And so, I stand before you on this night, prepared to plot a fresh, new, common-sense course for our Country.”
Yes, our President could have and should have taken advantage of his national stage this way–but alas, he did not. Sadly, we heard no such words. Not only does our current administration not have its hand on the pulse of where Main Street USA lives and breathes, it seems not to care. It’s not that they do not know what Americans are going through as unemployment continues to rise–and foreclosures with it–and are just acting as though they are blind to these cold, harsh realities. It’s that they do see and they do know and are acting against the will of the people anyway.
What we got last Wednesday night was a lecture, a scolding as it were, and no one was left out (just ask your Supreme Court justices). The President’s words, seemingly underscoring his resilience–”I’m no quitter,” in reality only served to emphasize a level of defiance of the will of the People that is unprecedented. Translation: “We’re going to find a way, some way, any way to get our agenda pushed through, no matter what–and no matter how many object to it.” If you doubt that, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s commentary the very next day: ”If the gates are closed, we’ll go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in, but we’re going to get health care reform passed.” Make no mistake, whatever the People say and however they may protest, their government says: ”We know better what’s better for them than they do.”
The message out of Washington isn’t anything resembling, “You know, we may have spent way too much after all.” It’s, “We haven’t spent nearly enough.” And so, there is more to come. Much more. Including the most bloated budget proposal in our nation’s history. This fiscal insanity is a runaway train, and liberal “leadership” is its engineer.
As the American Conservative Union reported today:
“Today’s Wall Street Journal screams with the headline, ‘Deficit to Hit All-Time High,’ as they report that President Obama’s budget projects the deficit will shoot up to a record $1.6 trillion this year.” The Associated Press says: ‘Obama unveils $3.83 trillion budget with massive deficits.’
Worse, Obama and the liberal Democrats controlling Capitol Hill now say they want even more stimulus spending, what you probably heard talked about in that State of the Union speech as a “jobs bill.”
Massive government spending does not create jobs, it merely puts America’s families, children and grandchildren in even more debt. Massive government spending does nothing to help America’s small businesses on main street. Massive government spending does nothing but give liberal Democrats another blank check to hand out goodies to their liberal special interest friends.
The spending must stop. The stimulus bills cloaked as jobs bills must stop. We must speak out.”
And so, we are. And we will.
–Dan Blanchard
