Freedom is a demanding task-master

LEE’S SUMMIT, August 13, 2011 – I ran across an interesting blogger by the name of Tina Dupuy (http://blog.cagle.com/2011/08/politics-reality-show-style/) and the more I read her opinion the more I disagreed with her conclusions.  I think her style is refreshing in that she’s not going on the constant attack; but I can’t agree that all the faults with the United States of America can be placed at the feet of the Tea Party.  It may make for interesting reading, but it is factually incorrect.

I wrote the following e-mail to Ms. Dupuy because the thoughts and the questions were clarified in my mind while I read her post (and others by her on the Tea Party).

Dear Ms. Dupuy,

I’ve read a couple of your articles on the Tea Party and I have to say that your style is very good.  You are clear and to the point, and you keep my interest.

I left a comment on one of them because it seems that the more I read and understand the Housing Bubble Collapse of 2008 the more clear the problem becomes.  Sure, it is as expedient for you to blame Bush as it is for me to blame Obama for the current economy.  Neither is 100% true.

The Tea Party is a group of American’s (like myself, although I’m not what you’d call a Registered Member) that look at the current situation and say clearly and loudly: this is an untenable situation.  Einstein wrote that the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing, and expect different results.

I think you and I can agree that the deficit is over $1.6 trillion.  I think you and I can agree that the debt is over $14 trillion.  I think you and I can agree that unemployment is over 9%.  I think you and I can probably go as far as agreeing that continuing to spend at a rate that requires us to borrow forty two cents of every dollar is not the solution; in fact it will drive us deeper in debt.

Let’s call this “Moment Zero” where the clock now starts to tick and we have to decide what we’re going to do going forward; regardless of how we got here.  So, I ask you (as a fiscal conservative) what would you do at Moment One, Two, Three, etc.?

Blame is great for politicians; they have to get re-elected.  You and I are not.  You are a successful writer, and I’m just the average Joe with a blog full of my own opinions – I say I closely qualify as a true “political nobody”.  Neither one of us is up for re-election; so placing blame gets us nowhere.

What would you do going forward?  Is spending the answer?  What good are safety nets that don’t have the financial wherewithal to remain effective?  What good would it do to confiscate 100% of the wealth of the top 400 richest Americans according to Forbes: do you realize that their entire combined wealth won’t even cover next year’s planned deficit?  I did the math, I’m an engineer and therefore a math geek.  My numbers have no bias, but the form the foundation for my question: What happens after you sell the family jewels and you drive yourself back into debt; then what do you do?

I hope I hear back from you; because these questions go to the heart of the issue.  What would a Rational American do, given the current situation without the politics of placing blame?

There are a couple of very good books out on the leading factors to the 2008 collapse.

Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner.

The Great American Bank Robbery, The Unauthorized Report About What Really Caused the Great Recession by Paul Sperry

The Betrayal of American Prosperity, by Clyde Prestowitz

These three books, and many other articles I’ve read have one thing in common.  The true issues we are facing today did not start with either President Bush, nor President Obama.  It literally took over a decade of hard work to dig the so-called “ditch” we find ourselves in.  It is truly irrelevant to today’s situation who is to blame.  If you have to place the blame somewhere, read the books, make a list (you better use a computer with a lot of memory) and publish it.  When you’re done assigning blame look around: the problem is still here.

Understanding the history is important to avoid repeating it in the future.  Placing blame on one individual or even a thousand or a million people won’t solve the problem; and trying to place the blame on the Tea Party is nothing short of ludicrous.

Recently I wrote a blog entitled “Obama’s Economic Grade: F” and in it I show the run-away spending of the last year of the Bush administration and the first two years of the Obama administration.  Spending is the problem.  Further to the point, in a blog I called “Washington; What a Town” I researched Forbes top 400 Richest Americans and found that even if we confiscated 100% of their wealth we’d still not cover the 2012 projected deficit.  So that being the case, can you explain to me what benefit (well, other than the “gotcha” feel-good) would taxing the top 1% income earners have?

The Gotcha won’t fix the problem.

Continuing to spend like we had it; won’t fix the problem.

We must stop spending money we don’t have.  Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich said it well on Thursday Night’s Debate.  We need to revamp Government, review every single program, and analyze every single penny we spend and decide if that is the right place to spend it.

It is hard to do this?  Yes!

Will it take some time?  Yes, but we have to start today; not 10 years from now.

John F Kennedy (one of my favorite presidents) said about going to the moon, and I paraphrase it for the current situation:

We choose to… [do this]… and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision… to shift our efforts in… [budget reduction]… from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.

It is imperative that we as the citizens of the United States of America demand from our politicians to quick spending money that they do not have, to fix the budget problems, to focus on limiting government to those things that the Constitution intended for them to control, and to lead us into an “individual” based prosperity that celebrates the rugged individualism that lead Americans from the oppression and tyranny of 17th and 18th Century Europe to our shores:  The individualism that lead us to drive across the wilderness and expend from sea to shining sea.

America was not founded on Welfare, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Farm Subsidies and all the manner of Governmental intrusions into American lives.  America was founded on Freedom (the Freedom to succeed, and the Freedom to Fail and get up again to try once more with our new found knowledge and wisdom).

Respectfully Submitted,

The Lee’s Summit Conservative