Can We Survive Our Politicians?

I am so angry I cannot even see straight. On August 27th, Senator Diane Watson of California, a Democrat stated, "that Fidel Castro was a bright man and great leader." I saw the direct quote on the Glenn Beck Show, Monday, August 31st. Unbelievable. I am stunned. We have Senators praising FIDEL CASTRO of CUBA. A brutal dictator. Cubans have swam to our shores for decades, the last 4o years, to escape this brutal dictator and a U.S. Senator had the nerve to praise him.

This says it all AMERICANS. Democrats are idolizing communists, socialists,and dictators. THIS SHOULD SCARE YOU!!! No wonder they want more and more of our liberties.

Praising FIDEL CASTRO, stunned, just stunned!

Here it is for your viewing. Let me know how you feel? This goes beyond party lines. Americans should be upset. Period.

Fascism, Socialism, Welfare, Capitalism what word doesn't belong?

Typically, we assume that when we use words that everyone agrees on the definition. In politics this assumption should not take place. It is amazing to see how the definitions change. I'm not sure they change, I think people get a little confused with all the pundits. Even the politicians themselves have a tendency to use the words, oh, let's just say, in a manner that comes across in a better light if that is what they need at the moment. Therefore, I am going to warn you. I am starting this post with a definition of terms. This way you know exactly how I am using the terms. Here it goes.

Capitalism: is an economic system in which wealth and the means of producing wealth, are privately owned and controlled rather than community, publicly, or state-owned and controlled.

Centralization: the concentration of administrative power in the nation's capital, allowing little or no local autonomy.

Conservatism: political mood or movement aimed at preserving older or traditional values, economic systems and laws.

Federation: political system in which component territories enjoy a high degree of autonomy or home rule.

Nationalization: governmental takeover of private industry.

Privatization: The selling of state-owned enterprises to private business.

Socialism: political movement at greater equality by means of welfare measures and/or nationalization of industry.

Totalitarian: a dictatorial regime that attempts to impose total ideological, economic, and political control over society.

Welfare: redistributive measures that provide health care, food, housing and insurance to poorer classes.

Oh, my goodness, that was a lot.

Well, as I continue to watch our politicians and our President ( I mean really you cannot help but see Obama the man is everywhere, it is a little creepy) go on and on about how the government needs to save us one can easily see that capitalism is dying in America. I would argue that America has not been a true capitalist society for a while but what was left of our capitalism is truly dying.

What seems to be happening right before our eyes is the nationalization of our industries. What will be next? Will we cease to be a federation? If you ask me the United States his heading towards the centralization of government.

The government is growing. This stimulus package. Unbelievable. I mean when you start talking about trillions of dollars, I cannot even wrap my mind around those figures. Worse, does it make any sense to anyone that they are lowering taxes and increasing spending and bailing out industries. Do the math? This cannot work.

In addition, if you notice now the President is turning Americans against business owners. He has insinuated it is their fault. I think it is high time everyone takes responsibility for their actions. Also, let the business fail if it is not making it. You learn from failure, not from the government taking over and giving you a strong talking to. What I find interesting is the fact that all the workers want their jobs saved but they want the people at the top canned. Um, not how it goes. If a company fails, it goes out of business and everyone loses their jobs, including the executives. That is how it should work. Therefore, if the government saves a company shouldn't everyone be saved. No, the President is making sure he is setting up a fall guy and making himself look like a hero to the little guy.

I am a confused American. I'm not sure if we are leaning towards socialism, fascism, totalitarian or Obama Welfare State. Go back to the top and look at the definitions. O.K. see why I'm wondering. Now, fascism, yeah, that one is over the top. I mean it is probably extreme to compare him to Mussolini but hmmm let's see. Mussolini favored big businesses, allowing the small ones to fail. I do believe the bailouts are for big businesses. Mussolini called it the Agency for Industrial Reconstruction, we just call it a bailout or stimulus package. The early supporters of Mussolini were students and white - collar workers who found jobs in the expanding party and government. Yikes, sounds a lot like Obama supporters. Mussolini created bureaucracies and public works to create jobs and lift spirits. Sound familiar? Just a little piece information Mussolini came to power legally in 1922, it took a few years for him to create a dictatorship. He promised the people prosperity at a time when they were down and out. It is easy for us to judge and say, "how does a society let that happen?"
Well, look at us. Americans seem to worship Obama. He is everywhere. He does commercials to get the American people to side with his political ideas now. He is on Twitter, Facebook, all over the web. He was interviewed five straight mornings on the Today show. Obama was on ABC, not sure if CBS had him on too. All the makings of, dare I say it, a dictator. I mean, you cannot say anything bad about him or people get nasty. Responses are unreal. You get called racist. You are told, "how dare you speak of this President, it is history in the making." What? O.K. Obama won the election but since when do we stop critiquing our President? This is America! It was what use to be great about our country. We always had a smooth transition but we just didn't say, "hey, let the new guy do what he wants."

See, why I am leaning towards fascism? My goodness!

I truly think Obama is following closely in the footsteps of FDR. What FDR did to combat the depression changed the role of government in American life, setting a pattern unchallenged until Ronald Reagan. The government grew under Roosevelt and it was because of Roosevelt continually winning elections that the amendment was created to limit the term on the presidency. It was believed that Americans, yes Americans could actually allow a strong leader to be in power too long.
Anyways, FDR's handling of the depression has been hotly debated. Conservatives think its basic mistake was to attempt, vainly, to change the normal operations of a free market-economy. Spending more money than the government had collected. Roosevelt began the system of federal budget deficits that have become so enormous today. Obama is now skyrocketing it! At the end of the 1930's , Roosevelt admitted, one-third of Americans remained "ill housed, ill fed, ill clad." Oh, didn't work out too well and the government was digging itself a hole. Glad we learned from FDR.

Lastly, confusion seems to surround the term 'socialism'. Many call the welfare states of Scandinavia 'socialist' because freely elected social Democratic governments have gradually introduced elaborate medical, unemployment, educational, housing and other schemes designed to lift up the lower rungs of society: 'cradle-to-grave welfare'. The aim of these parties is to wipe out poverty without resorting to coercion or state control. And here's where Scandinavian 'welfarism' differs from Communist style socialism. The Scandinavian lands have little nationalized industry and they pay very high taxes. What was nationalized was done for non-ideological reasons. The bulk of the economy is privatized. Bottom line, first came capitalism, then welfarism or socialism if that is what you want to call it but they still maintain a society that is highly privatized with high taxes. It is the high taxes that pay for their welfare programs because they want those welfare programs.

Americans, well, as usual we want it all. Low taxes. Welfare. That is going to lead to Socialism with nationalized industry. We all know how well that worked. U.S.S.R.

Us Conservatives have to continue to speak up. We must remind Americans that the United States is a federation that believes in an individuals rights. Individuals don't need the State to control their lives. Our industry should be run by individuals. Capitalism works. If Americans want welfare then they should pay for it. Our taxes should be for our welfare. Our taxes should not be for huge government spending and buying industries thus giving all the control over to the STATE . We need a resurgence of conservatism and we need it fast!


My sources for this post are from:

Twentieth Century World, Findley/Rothney 1998

and

Countries and Concepts (An Introduction to Comparative Politics)/ Roskin,Michael G. 1998

Definitions from: Countries and Concepts (An Introduction to Comparative Politics)

Why we need LESS social programing

Last night on the way home from work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few items; it was just enough to get us through to our next paycheck. We are both preschool teachers and live off a very small budget (well worth it to both of our points of view). However, we live off a budget and live paycheck to paycheck.

We don't rely on federal or state funding to get our needs met. This is partly because we make about $100 more a year than we should in order to qualify. But even if we made $100 less, we still wouldn't. We take responsibility for our actions and don't think that the hard working citizen should have to put food on our table just because we want an xbox 360.

While standing in line, there was a girl/woman/female in front of me with some chips, dip, and some other junk food. She was also holding a food stamp EBT card. This is a new system for handling food stamp money in which a person gets an ATM-like card to make their purchases. She then told the cashier that she wanted a bottle of some high priced alcohol. The cashier reminded her that the card would not pay for it; the girl said, "I know, I have cash for that."

She then proceeded to take out a wad of $20's from her purse. Seriously! She could have paid for my groceries, her junk food, AND her alcohol with that cash. Okay, let's give her the benefit of the doubt; maybe that money was to pay for her bills. However, I cannot overlook the fact that the alcohol she bought cost more than the junk food we tax payers paid for.

See, we need to make choices in our life. Sometimes these choices suck. I can eat or I can drink alcohol, I have to choose. Hey, I can either pay for gas in my car to get to work and make money or I can spend that money on the DVD for series 4 of House. Would I like to have that DVD? Of course! It would bring me much more happiness that trekking off to work everyday. But I have to live within our means in order to not be a burden on society.

In my program, we do home visits. I go into people's homes of children who are receiving free child care (free to them, tax payers pay the price). We also provide free food to these children and families.

There are some families that I feel really good about helping. I've had a widowed 23 year old mom with 2 kids whose husband was killed in an car accident on his way home from work. She was a SAHM and was going to home school her boys. He wasn't old enough to have but that much into SSI to hel his family out.

There are some other families that have just been dealt bad times and really appreciate the help and are trying hard at getting back on their feet.

Unfortunately, this is the minority.

There are many other homes that I drive up to and the house is falling apart. Literally, screen doors falling off hinges, roofs need to be replaced, lawns dead and not taken care of, broken windows, etc... The children are playing outside with no shoes; not because they don't want to wear them, but because the parents "can't afford" them. These children come to our program and eat three meals a day with us and scarf it down because it's their only meal in a day.

I walk into the homes and am greeted by several adults sitting around watching a big screen tv (many times too big for the room and unimaginable how they even got it in there) where the newest xbox game is being played.

The attitude is (and I've had several people tell me this to my face), "Hey, the government will pay for (this or that) why should I? I can spend my money on other things."

I do think that there needs to be some social programs available for some people; but I know from experience that our tax money is being wasted on things that it shouldn't be. No, we didn't pay for that big screen tv; what we payed for was the food or clothes so that the families didn't have to spend their money on needs so that they could get what the want.

My Son Saw the Light!

Today, my son listened to the President to be talk. My son said, "Oh, I wish I would not have voted for him." I said, " I tried to tell you to look farther back than just his campaigning days to see the 'real' Obama.

My son said, " He wants to nationalize everything. Right? Isn't that just what you heard mom?" I said, " If you would have listened closely you would have realized that all along dear." I then said, " You are forgiven, you got caught up in all the frenzy and it was your first election. In addition the media was slanted. Learn and move on." He said, "I am so disappointed and he hasn't even started. I don't want everything nationalized." Then, as every child does ( he is in college but still young) turned to his mother for some reassurance and asked, "It will be hard for him to get that past Congress, right?" Now, my son is counting on Congress to hold Obama off. I turned and said, "Let's hope." I then said, "It does sound an awful lot like socialism, wouldn't you say?" My son said, "Yeah, it is scary." I proceeded to say, "You know FDR tried to do something like this and we got nowhere with it. I certainly hope someone, anyone is remembering their history lesson and they won't go down that road again." My son said, "I don't think this is going to work." (still a little stunned after listening to the broadcast) You could see and hear my son's disappointment today.

Well, it is kind of funny how a young college student can so quickly hear the words on television now and comprehend the consequences but during the campaign got all caught up in the frenzy. The media helped keep the wool over their eyes and it seemed no one could uncover Obama's true colors. No hiding it now! Too late America. Here we go!!!