Reading "Between the Lions"

Of all the articles I read yesterday trying to wrap my head around what happened during the 7 1/2 hour health care summit, THIS one by David Bauder for the Associated Press stood out. A snippet:

By 2:30 p.m., at the opening of the session's second half, Fox News Channel had shifted to its studio show (occasionally showing a mute picture of the summit on a portion of its screen) and CNN's Wolf Blitzer was reporting on poll results. Both covered it fitfully in the afternoon. MSNBC moved on to the Finland-Sweden ice hockey game from the Olympics. PBS aired "Between the Lions."

Another one I totally agreed with:

Fox spent the most time presenting uninterrupted coverage before the lunch break. Afterward, the network cut back sharply following it after reporting that its online poll found 90 percent of respondents saying the event was just "political theater."

I agree that it was political theater and I don't see any true backlash due to bad behavior or performance on the part of the Republicans who were there. The only thing I find alarming today is the abundance of news coverage stating that either the senate bill or the bill proposed by the President this past week are going to be rammed through no matter what. So taxpayer dollars were wasted a charade yesterday when nobody was really planning to change anything.

But I REALLY Need A Pony...

The title suggests what has been on my mind this week as President Obama unveiled his very own personal trillion dollar health care plan as the alternative to the other two similarly priced plans already on the table. On every side the people of America are saying "NO" to this. Not "no, thank you." People are screaming "NO!" from the rooftops, yet just like a child who is determined to break down their opposition, here he is again.

Tomorrow Obama is hosting a televised Health Care Summit where he plans to produce some sort of "bipartisan" charade to make it look like he really wants to consider outside ideas. It seems like a political setup to me and I find it all very troubling. The President has said that they will not start from scratch, so the starting point will be the current proposals. Given that everyone knows Republicans are not on board with those proposals it seems impossible for Republicans to not look like the "naysayers" Democrats are projecting them to be.

Further disturbing to me is that I believe every major speed bump for health care legislation by this administration has been the result of concerned citizens. I don't view any of the sitting Republicans as responsible for the difficulty Democrats are having in passing their socialized medicine framework. That being said, it seems more fitting for the President to take on his true critics - the citizens who have been writing the letters, sending the emails, and making the phone calls. Do the Republicans really know what we want? I have little faith that they will deliver tomorrow night, yet they are being posed as the only people against this legislation. I feel a underrepresented.

On that note, have you seen this? It's...interesting. I've had it emailed to me a few times and I'm not sure what I think. It was on the Fox News homepage today.

Expand Your Mind

I read this article today about economic policy and thought it was an informative read from history. I know very little about the presidencies in the early 20th century - what can I say, I went to public school. Seems like all I've ever heard were negative things about Warren G. Harding. Maybe I was brainwashed by progressives? :)

Here are some snippets I found interesting:

One of Harding's campaign slogans was "less government in business," and it served him well. Harding embraced the advice of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon and called for tax cuts in his first message to Congress on April 12, 1921. The highest taxes, on corporate revenues and "excess" profits, were to be cut. Personal income taxes were to be left as is, with a top rate of 8 percent of incomes above $4,000. Harding recognized the crucial importance of encouraging the investment that is essential for growth and jobs, something that FDR never did.

Top rate of 8%??? What? We've come a long way. I think I read this week that in 2011 when the Bush tax cuts expire, the top rate will be almost 40%. That's federal tax. Add Social Security, Medicare, and state tax if applicable and wow. When every other dollar of ANYONE's money in our country is going to the government, something is very wrong.

Powerful senators, however, favored giving bonuses to veterans, as 38 states had done. But such spending increases would have put upward pressure on taxes. On July 12, 1921, Harding went to the Senate and urged tax and spending cuts. He noted that a half-billion dollars in compensation and insurance claims were already being paid to 813,442 veterans, and 107,824 veterans were enrolled in government-sponsored vocational training programs.

In 1922, the House passed a veterans' bonus bill 333-70, without saying how the bonuses would be funded. The senate passed it 35-17. Despite intense lobbying from the American Legion, Harding vetoed the bill on September 19— just six weeks before congressional elections, when presidents generally throw goodies at voters. Harding said it was unfair to add to the burdens of 110 million taxpayers.

I'm sure this was largely controversial, but he was sticking to his guns on fiscal responsibility. It doesn't matter how much you want or even need something - if you don't have the money you can't afford it. Long lost policies we all must embrace if America is ever going to be great again.

Harding's Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover wanted government intervention in the economy— which as president he was to pursue when he faced the Great Depression a decade later— but Harding would have none of it. He insisted that relief measures were a local responsibility.

I haven't heard a politician say that relief measures were a local responsibility in my lifetime. I would LOVE to hear it. I completely agree and I know that if our individual communities would take care of their poor, hungry, and afflicted the federal government would not have anything left to do. It's our job - mine and yours. Not Washington's.

Click HERE to read the full article.