NO ALTERNATIVE

Now that I write letters to the ICO, my “otherness” apparently kindles a desire among some of my liberal friends to convert me to the rightness of their position. This is nothing new, but their arguments have become a bit more subtle, and to quote the Bard, “too clever by half.” Recently at a wonderful dinner, a person of the Left looked at me with evangelical fervor and said something like, “We’re too divided as a country. We should just get along and not be writing divisive things.” 

Not seeing any other “letter writers” at the table, I responded to the concerned Liberal that our government was designed to allow differing views. The framers of our Constitution specifically sought to ensure that all sides would be heard. The response was, essentially, “But we can’t get anything done. We can’t get our problems solved.” 

“But that’s what elections are for,” I said, “that’s how we settle things in this country.” To my great dismay I heard, “But elections aren’t working. We need to do something else.”

“Okay,” I said with my usual control (i.e., no spittle was spewing from my mouth), “what would you recommend - - a dictatorship, Communism, Socialism?” I got no response, but the “elections aren’t working” phrase stuck with me. I’ve recently read several dreamy paeans from the Left  extolling the “efficiency” of the Chinese. Even President Obama stated (jokingly, I hope) that if we followed China’s system, he could quickly solve our problems. Are some on the Left advocating silencing dissent to “get things done?”

Certainly elections don’t always work for your positions or your Party, but what’s the alternative? The answer is there’s nothing outside our democratic system that is worth considering. And if people don’t know that at this point in history, then God help us all.

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA

FDR REDUX

Many of us were taught in school that FDR’s New Deal brought the country out of the Great Depression by using massive government spending to create jobs. This “truism” has been a mainstay of the media for generations, but the “truism” isn’t true. Roosevelt’s economic programs failed so miserably that by May 1939 unemployment stood at 20.7%! Secretary of Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, lamented, “after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started . . . .”  (Sound familiar?)

The seamier (fascistic) side of the New Deal was epitomized by such actions as federal National Recovery Act hooligans kicking down doors and arresting tailors whose only crimes were to work overtime and charge a few cents less to sew pants than the government allowed. Businesses drowned in wave after wave of stultifying red tape, and reams of regulations strangled incentives to hire and expand. (Sound familiar again?) New Dealer bureaucrats implemented dozens of hare-brained schemes, such as paying farmers not to plant crops, or destroying crops and livestock to raise prices. Many believe such nefarious actions prolonged and worsened the Depression.

Seventy years later, New Deal advocates once again control our government. In 2009 President Obama pushed a trillion dollar stimulus bill through a majority Democrat Congress. The bill was based on two premises: (1) it would ensure the unemployment rate would not exceed 8%, and (2) thousands of “shovel ready” jobs would immediately put Americans to work rebuilding our infrastructure. Neither happened. In early 2010 ObamaCare was rammed through a filibuster-proof Democrat Congress with promises of more jobs and lower health costs. How has that worked out?

“New Dealism,” now repackaged as “Hope and Change,” remains a failed economic policy. The American people rejected it in November 2010 and will resoundingly reject its advocates in 2012.

GUNGA DINS

Conservatives speak of the “Left” to describe politicians and their supporters who view big government as the solution to all problems. Want more jobs? No problem. Just prime the compliant media (CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, New York Times, etc.) with fairy tales about “shovel ready jobs” and Voila!, they’re carrying water for the Democrats like modern day Gunga Dins. Want a national health care plan that ensures government bureaucrats armed with ten thousand pages of regulations will control and ration private medical decisions? That’s easy, too. Just give the media lap dogs their daily talking points about how evil “right wingers” are blocking health care for the poor and wavering Democrats fall in line. Want to increase our debt by trillions without presenting a plan to reform entitlements? Have the media blame the Tea Party.

Clearly a battle is joined between two differing views. Progressives believe the government is best suited to control our commerce and every aspect of our lives, whereas, Conservatives believe that excessive government stifles individual initiative, creates dependency, and pushes us closer to economic and social ruin.

The mainstream news media in this country falsely touts its objectivity while aligning itself with and fully promoting Left Wing/Progressive views.  I would love to see documentation of the number of times that major media news anchors routinely refer to Democrat politicians as “Left Wing,”  or even “Liberal,” versus the number of times Republican politicians are referred to as “Right Wing,” or “Conservative.” The fact is that the large media, with few exceptions, do not recognize that President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and dozens of Democrats are to the far left of the majority of Americans. Sadly, the same media that failed to vet candidate Obama protects the Left’s behind, while daily demonizing the Right.

Jim Littlejohn

Concerned Coastal Voters

Gualala, CA