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Month: July 2011

Raising the Roof – 4

Part of my family lore is that, through my paternal grandmother, I’m descended from Davy Crockett.  Maybe I am and maybe I’m not.  Someday I’ll join Ancestry.Com and find out.

There’s a Davy Crockett story from his time in Congress that bears repeating during the Debt Ceiling debate.  The reason we have a spending and debt problem in the Federal Government is that people have wanted too much and the politicians have fatuously obliged them with countless giveaway programs including the trio that threaten to bankrupt us: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

But, as I mentioned in my last post it wasn’t supposed to be that way.

The story, which you can read here, regards two bills in the House of Representatives, the first Crockett voted for, the second he quashed by making a speech against, after a constituent told Davy he wouldn’t be voting for him again and gave him a very cogent analysis of the Constitutional powers of Congress.

The first bill awarded $20,000 to victims of a fire in Georgetown. So what’s the problem? The frontier constituent explained:

“The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.”

The man went on to explain that if they could vote $20,000, they could just as well vote $20 million (or $20 trillion!). But he continued:

“No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose…”

“So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people.”

There’s much more to the speech, but the upshot was that when a similar bill was brought before Congress, Crockett spoke against it but pledged one week’s pay for the cause of the bill.  As a result the bill was defeated and other members of Congress contributed their own money to help the people in need.

Congressmen giving their own money?  I know, it’s bizarre.

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Raising the Roof – 3

I’m tired of the Debt Ceiling debate, mainly because I don’t think anything meaningful will come out of it.  A recent poll showed that 69% of Americans don’t want the Debt Ceiling raised, but prefer that the Feds learn to live within their means.  However, in Washington DC, the default attitude is inevitability.  The ceiling will be raised; the only question is how high and will there be any spending cuts to begin fixing the problem?

President Obama says there needs to be compromise, and I’ll take him at his word.  The problem is, the two sides are so far apart, any compromise will enrage their respective bases.

America is deeply divided about the purpose of the Federal Government.  On the one hand, many of those who voted for Obama believe, as he does, that government is the answer and is best suited to provide most services and even some products needed by the citizenry.  They have no concept of a government being too big, because they see government as the source of their sustenance; the bigger the better.  Many of those people pay no income taxes, due to decades of politicians pandering and promising to “tax the rich”.  Almost 50% of Americans pay no income tax at all.  No wonder they have no interest in tax cuts.

On the other hand, those of a conservative-to-libertarian bent, often the same people paying the taxes, are often fiercely independent and wouldn’t stoop to ask the government for assistance.  It would be too humiliating.  But they have seen their taxes go up as politicians spend the money on ever crazier vote-buying schemes to help themselves get reelected.  The money goes to everything from countries that hate us to profane artists to people who have broken into our country to steal jobs and tax-payer funded government services.

How can there be compromise between these poles?

Will we go on down the road, with demagoguery as our background music?  Then, when we reach the cliff we’ll go on over, because no one had the courage to apply the brakes?  Will we dissolve into chaos like Greece because no one had the courage to tell people that the government is not their mama?

We have forgotten long ago that the intention of the founders was that the Federal Government would never make direct monetary payments to individual American citizens.  (You might have to reread the previous sentence because it seems like it’s from another planet today.)

bacdemagoguery

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Local Wisdom

Living in the Atlanta metro area as I do, I’ve watched several locally founded companies like Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Turner Broadcasting, and Home Depot.  Being an entrepreneur myself, I appreciate these rags-to-riches companies’ stories.

So I was interested to see an interview with Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus on Investers.com this week.  What was amazing was that Marcus answered the interviewer’s questions exactly as I would have.

“What’s the single biggest impediment to job growth today?” the interviewer asked.  My answer: The Federal Government.  Marcus’ answer:

“The U.S. government. Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with. Home Depot would never have succeeded if we’d tried to start it today.”

Amen.

Then a great question: “If you could sit down with Obama and talk to him about job creation, what would you say?”

Marcus: “I’m not sure Obama would understand anything that I’d say, because he’s never really worked a day outside the political or legal area. He doesn’t know how to make a payroll, he doesn’t understand the problems businesses face. I would try to explain that the plight of the businessman is very reactive to Washington. As Washington piles on regulations and mandates, the impact is tremendous. I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I just think he has no knowledge of this.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  Marcus gives Obama the benefit of the doubt regarding his intentions, but no one is more dangerous than someone who doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. yet wields unlimited power over people.

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Praying For a July 4th Miracle

This morning in church my pastor mentioned Dr. Yousef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor in Iran.  Yes I know, is there such a thing?  Well, perhaps not for much longer.

Yousef is condemned to die for the crime of being a Christian and protesting the fact that his son was forced to study the Koran in school.  He has been in prison for about 18 months.  Last week Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence issued by a lower court last September.

My pastor mentioned this in connection with July 4th weekend, as a reminder to celebrate the freedom we enjoy to worship (or not) in the mode we see fit.

Here in “the Great Satan” as Muslims refer to the good ole’ USA, Muslims have more freedom of religion than they would in Shi’ite Iran.  However, Muslim countries like Iran allow no such freedom for adherents of other religions. Coincidentally, Palestinians who live in Israel enjoy more freedom and opportunity than those who live in the “Palestinian Territories” of Gaza and the West Bank.

Christianity and Judaism promote and thrive in freedom.  Islam believes it can only survive in tyranny and oppression.  It’s no coincidence that Communism must live in tyranny and oppression, while capitalism thrives in freedom.  The contrast between the Berlin Wall, built to keep citizens from escaping Communism and rickety boats desperately coming to America from Cuba and even Vietnam is stark.

It is also no coincidence that America, with its freedom and opportunity, has an overwhelmingly Christian heritage.  While Christians have wielded swords in past centuries, real Christianity woos adherents with love, not force.

American Christians are praying for Dr. Nadarkhani, but except for a miracle or his recanting Christianity, he will join the ranks of Christian martyrs going back 2000 years.

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