M2RB: Boston
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
It's a new horizon and I'm awakin' now
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin'
the clouds are breakin'
'Canse I can't lose now, there's no game to play
Sir Winston Churchill, whose mum was American, once famously said, "America will always do the right thing, but only after exhausting all the other options." Let's us hope that he was right.
By Simon Heffer
On the streets of Manhattan last
week, the American public were more concerned about the delay in
restoring their public services after Hurricane Sandy than about the
entrails of politics following the presidential elections.
New York votes Democrat. It took for granted that Barack Obama would get a second term, and did not look much beyond that.
Now, though, all America is having to peer into an abyss – or, to use the metaphor of the moment, over a ‘fiscal cliff’.
It
describes the moment on January 1 when, unless the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Democrat
President come to an agreement, huge tax rises will be accompanied by
some deep federal spending cuts that experts fear will tip the country
into recession.
The plan
is that $136 billion (£85.5 billion) in cuts – 0.8 per cent of GDP –
will come in at the same time as $532 billion of tax increases, taking a
total of $668 billion out of the deficit, or four per cent of GDP. The
cuts include defence and unemployment benefits; the tax rises reverse
all the Bush-era tax cuts, and will hit the middle classes. They will
also hit employers by increasing payroll taxes.
The
programme will be anti-growth and anti-enterprise, but Republicans
claim that it is the only option, given the Administration’s refusal to
address the deficit, and the country’s colossal debt, in other ways. It
is the main reason why the euphoria of the first Obama victory in 2008
has not been repeated and why the stock market slid south when it was
realised four more years of Obama were being served up.
Corporate
America especially is in despair. For them, there is no end in sight
for over-regulation, debt and financial incontinence: and the Chinese,
especially, are in their rear-view mirrors, coming up fast.
This
is a deeply divided country: divided not between Democrats and
Republicans, or even liberals and conservatives, but, it seems, between
givers and takers.
On the one hand there are the
wealth creators and the self-reliant, who want the state out of their
lives and a fair chance to rebuild business, enterprise and their bank
balances after the debacle of the banking collapse of 2008.
On the other is the coalition of
minorities put in place by President Obama, and which he exploited to
secure his victory. Many of these people depend upon the welfare
culture he has created – what the state calls ‘entitlements’.
The President’s plans to implement
Obamacare – his health insurance programme – will only add to this,
with the current $16 trillion debt reaching at least $20 trillion by
the end of his term. One reason why taxes are scheduled to rise so much
is that the Democrats have been so reluctant to cut back on welfare
benefits for their clientele.
The
problem is that entitlements have to be funded, and the private sector
increasingly resents being asked to pay higher taxes to do this,
draining the productive sector of the economy of funds for investment.
People
who run or work in private enterprises fail to see why they should work
harder to fund Mr Obama’s clientele. And when they feel
disincentivised, the country fails to achieve the growth it needs to
prosper again.
The American
electorate, on the other hand, took a conscious decision last week to
avoid a confrontation with economic reality. The debt crisis, however,
cannot just be brushed under the carpet.
As several European countries will testify, the more a nation borrows, the more expensive its debt will become to service.
Even
some Democrat supporters refer to the ‘Latin American’ way in which
politics is now done in this country. Large groups of voters are bought
by bribes, and are bribed by a President who poses as morally superior
and who uses public money to buy off his clientele.
The ethics of this stink, and it will
become harder and harder to turn a blind eye to the practice, even with
a media as supine as America’s.
The economics of it, however, are
even worse. There is a link between unemployment stubbornly at around
eight per cent – where it was when Mr Obama was first elected – and
higher ‘entitlements’.
The
incentive to work and to create wealth, as opposed to taking it from
someone else, is steadily reduced. Meanwhile, the government borrows
another $3 billion every day.
Even
if a compromise is reached before January 1, and some means of saving
more money can be found to prevent the enterprise-crushing tax rises,
that will only be buying time.
At
some stage a serious deficit reduction plan will have to be agreed, or
America will head the same way as the eurozone. Paul Ryan, Mitt
Romney’s running mate, is the architect of such a plan. However, the
public just weren’t ready for that last week.
The
mood is likely to change by the time of the mid-term elections in 2014,
especially when it is realised how much Americans in work are paying
for Americans who won’t work.
There
may then be a historic, once-in-a-generation moment when someone like
Mr Ryan – or possibly even Ryan himself – can convince the public that
the whole balance of the American state has to change. But at the
moment, all that is on offer is the hope of compromise on the fiscal
cliff.
When things get
worse – as they will – it will be America’s moment to realise that the
rhetoric of ‘change’ has, instead, to be put into painful practice.
Don't Look Back - Boston
Don't look back
A new day is breakin'
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is callin'
Today is the day
I can see
It took so long to realize
I'm much too strong
Not to compromise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
It's a new horizon and I'm awakin' now
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin'
the clouds are breakin'
'Canse I can't lose now, there's no game to play
I can tell
There's no more time left to criticize
I've seen what I could not recognize
Everything in my life was leading me on
but I can be strong
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
A new day is breakin'
It's been too long since I felt this way
I don't mind where I get taken
The road is callin'
Today is the day
I can see
It took so long to realize
I'm much too strong
Not to compromise
Now I see what I am is holding me down
I'll turn it around
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
It's a new horizon and I'm awakin' now
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin'
the clouds are breakin'
'Canse I can't lose now, there's no game to play
I can tell
There's no more time left to criticize
I've seen what I could not recognize
Everything in my life was leading me on
but I can be strong
I finally see the dawn arrivin'
I see beyond the road I'm drivin'
Far away and left behind
1 comment:
QUOTE: "The mood is likely to change by the time of the mid-term elections in 2014, especially when it is realised how much Americans in work are paying for Americans who won’t work."
The American public is already aware that the working group is paying for Americans that won't work. The problem is the rampant voter fraud out there, and the growing belief that votes and voices are being squelched.
This half of Obama followers are using Alinsky tactics verbatim -- through insults, labelling, and name-calling, and outright dismissal (i.e., "They're all a bunch of idiots/racists/nutjobs ad nauseum). We conservatives can sit around all day and blame the public school teachers, blame the Democrats and whoever else for this debauchery...but what it comes down to is ALL OF US.
Conservatism isn't just an attitude, it isn't just a philosophy....it's a LESSON. And we conservatives have failed in teaching that lesson to future generations. "From complacency, to apathy...from apathy to dependency...." We know the rest, don't we?
We can spend all day pointing fingers at The Left about "being in a bubble"...."being dillusional"...."being misinformed"....or "being sheltered" We are JUST AS MUCH to blame for this as they are. We failed to teach this lesson to the new demographic of voters and the next generation. African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Latinos DO INDEED SHARE conservative values!!! The GOP's messaging completely sucks, and for a party that prides itself on being the party of business-minds, forgetting how to "sell a message" in inexcusable.
Here is the crux of the argument: if we truly are Conservatives, and we believe the best solutions come from the lowest levels (i.e., We The People), then what are we doing about it? It bears repeating -- we are JUST AS MUCH AT FAULT for this happening.
The time to push back is now. The time to spread the message about the great reward of conservatism is now. Quitting is the easy way out.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -- Thomas Jefferson
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