From 'Can Do' To 'Gimme'
By Harris Sherline
February 23, 2009
It's heartbreaking to watch helplessly as an out-of-control political leadership systematically dismantles the political and economic structure of the most successful nation in history. In the span of my lifetime, I have witnessed the transition of America from a "can do" to a "gimme" society.
The blame can be pretty well laid at the feet of a political class that is not just uninformed but is largely so ignorant that they have no clue about the consequences of their actions, or don't care. Unfortunately, there's plenty of culpability to go around, including both the Democrat and Republican parties, and lest we forget, the voters who elect them.
Now signed into law, the stimulus bill continues to be analyzed, and the list of changes to our nation's economic system that Obama is ushering in keeps growing at one of the most troubled times in our history. Following are just some examples of the many provisions that have absolutely nothing to do with stimulating the economy:
>More than $3 billion for "neighborhood stabilization" and Community Development Block Grant funding.
>$1.3 to bail out AMTRACK, which has never made a profit.
>$1 billion for educational programs, including courses on sexually transmitted diseases.
>$20 million for restoration of wetlands (in Nancy Pelosi's district).
>$45 million for ATV-four-wheeler trails.
>$200 million for a low-pollution, coal-fired power plant (in the president's home state of Illinois).
>$200 million for computers in community colleges.
>$50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts.
>Over $650 million to help consumers buy digital TV converter boxes.
>$8 billion for a high-speed-rail between Disneyland (in Orange County, CA) and Las Vegas.
Both Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have been quoted as saying, "We won," meaning they, that is, the Democrats, have the right to do anything they want and that those who disagree with them should not try to make any changes to the legislation or object. But, they fail to comment on the fact that not one member of Congress read the stimulus bill before voting on it. Not one.
It's extremely troubling, even frightening, to realize that this is the way the people we trust to represent us operate, especially considering that about half the members of the Senate and around a third of those in the House of Representatives are lawyers. How often do attorneys advise us not to sign anything, ever, without reading it first? Yet, those same attorneys who would advise clients to always read documents before signing them were perfectly willing to approve a 1073-page bill without having read it or even knowing what was in it.
Furthermore, in direct contradiction of all the talk about bi-partisanship, the Democrats in the House shut their Republican counterparts out of the process of writing the stimulus bill, going so far as to hold closed-door meetings without them when the final version was prepared.
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