Prosperity Floweth Not From Bills And Washington
By: J.J. Jackson
Senator Arlen Specter does what liberals always do when they talk too much; they prove that they don’t have a shred of a clue. By now Mr. Specter’s little tussle with Rep. Michele Bachmann has been the topic of much scorn.
Senator Arlen Specter does what liberals always do when they talk too much; they prove that they don’t have a shred of a clue. By now Mr. Specter’s little tussle with Rep. Michele Bachmann has been the topic of much scorn. In that dustup Mr. Specter, who cannot simply let anything get in the way of his talking points, told Ms. Bachmann in an arrogant voice to, ”act like a lady,” when she dared to interrupt the words stumbling out of his mouth as the Senator was searching for a coherent thought.
That was probably bad enough and it was the topic of many conversations over the past week. But what has been glossed over in most accounts of the incident is a rebuttal of Mr. Specter’s actual claims against Ms. Bachmann. In the interview when asked what she voted for, Ms. Bachmann responded that she voted for, “prosperity.” To that the embarrassment that is the Senator from Pennsylvania scoffed, “She said I voted for prosperity. Well, prosperity wasn't a bill.”
The arrogance of Mr. Specter with this comment shows exactly why he was set to lose the Republican Primary this year against Pat Toomey. That is, until he got too scared to face Mr. Toomey and ran back to his true home in the Democratic Party.
This is the arrogance that has brought us to the cliff over which we look this very day. It is the intellectual vacancy which has corrupted this nation and which has been promoted in full by the Democratic Party and even somewhat by the Republican Party for the better part of the past century. It has corrupted our leaders into thinking that by their hands shall flow the prosperity of this nation when in fact we have witnessed time and again that the opposite is actually truer in that poverty, debt and corruption are the most common things that flow from their fingers and the words they so pen with them. There is no shortage of acts that have all been promoted by our leaders and signed into law all with the intent of increasing the prosperity of this group or that favored interest.
In the name of prosperity we have seen a creeping socialist nanny state where our leaders have constructed a huge bulwark of bureaucracy, taxes and regulations often in the name of saving us from our selves and the decisions that free men and women might make. They are decisions that are certainly not always for the best, but decisions which are our birthright as human beings none the less. These actions from our leaders have however done nothing except to enrich the selected few and punished all others making new and numerous criminals from among the American public and of people who have done nothing wrong but to offend the sensibilities of a legislator who enacted a commandment which they desperately needed to further their own power while appeasing others with funds from the federal treasury.
To even suggest, as Mr. Specter did, that prosperity flows from bills and from Washington is a laughable suggestion! How does prosperity flow from laws that tax one man to pay the way of another? How does prosperity ensue when by law companies are forced to produce products of a quality the public does not demand and with features that free people do not want thus consuming their disposable income faster because of increased costs? How does prosperity spring into being when the labor of citizens is directed by fiat to those who have curried favor enough to warrant the malevolent hand of government to intercede?
For years people like Mr. Specter have passed bills upon bills to lift up the poor, to aid the elderly, to benefit minorities who claim an inherent unfairness in American society and to pad the government payrolls with bureaucrats who would better serve this country if they were unleashed from their current roles and sent to create something of true value for their fellow man. These programs have done nothing except expand in number and scope and cost to the point where the debts that they have brought upon us are crushing to not only this generation but threatening to be even a greater weight around the necks of all generations to come.
How is this prosperity? I ask you Mr. Specter. I ask you how raking up debt as far as the eye can see and without a care for paying it back is prosperity.
The answer is simple. It is not prosperity.
All that the hand of Washington has given us in the name of guiding us to prosperity is a death of such that they tell us they will surely provide! We have cars that cost more than they should because of government regulations on gas mileage. We have goods in stores that cost the consumer more than market value because of taxes on those that produce those things and which are passed on to the end user. We have corporations that send legions of lobbyists to the seat of government power each and every week and who promote regulations to punish their competition while securing special favors and exemptions from these same laws for themselves. We have tax payers who have their wages garnished so that others might benefit and in the process have their own ability to save for their own future irrevocably harmed by such leaving them as scared dependents upon their government masters later in life. We have a society where those who are producing for their fellow man must spend far too many hours fearing the hand of government and that they might be running afoul of some obscure regulation or another so they waste valuable time and money on making sure that they are not going to get an unwelcome visit from Uncle Sam.
Senator Arlen Specter says that Rep. Michele Bachmann could not have voted for prosperity because prosperity was not a bill. This shows his incompetence on where prosperity comes from. In fact considering the actions of our government and its track record of inhibiting prosperity much more often than not with its proposals and plans it is very reasonable to consider Ms. Bachmann’s votes against hideous further encroachments upon liberty as most certainly votes for prosperity.
This sort of stand by so many Republicans, although sadly it is has been selective, has led to the derisive ad hominem attack from the left that they are the party of, “NO!” But in reality when such stands are made by anyone, and any political party, against more government stepping into realms which our federal government was not designed to touch, in reality they are indeed the Party of Prosperity. Because prosperity will only happen when government is peeled back to its roots and the insatiable advancement of its appetite is halted.
And of course that will not happen until poor, deluded souls like Mr. Specter are sent home permanently.
J.J. Jackson is a libertarian conservative author from Pittsburgh, PA who has been writing and promoting individual liberty since 1993 and is President of Land of the Free Studios, Inc. He is the Pittsburgh Conservative Examiner for Examiner.com. He is also the owner of The Right Things - Conservative T-shirts & Gifts http://www.cafepress.com/rightthings. His weekly commentary along with exclusives not available anywhere else can be found at http://www.libertyreborn.com
Cover
•
Commentary
•
Books & Reviews
•
Climate Change
•
Site Links
•
Feedback
