The Mandate, Part I

"A pox on the houses of George Bush and Congress for violating the Constitution and bankrupting the nation. But when someone leaves a pile of cow dung on the floor of the Oval Office, the solution isn't to make the pile bigger."

By Robert Ringer

For all the reasons I've previously written about, I expected BHO to move fast to implement his socialist agenda once he got in office. But I didn't expect him to be as brazen about it as he has been.

And yet, I shouldn't be surprised, because the man has enormous confidence in his capacity to mesmerize the flock. BHO's great strength lies in his ability to make a large segment of the population get "a thrill up their leg." While Adolf Hitler was a more dynamic orator, BHO is a master dispenser of tranquilizers.

Watching him speak to the choir of House Democrats at their annual retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, I found myself thinking, "Gee, what a nice young man." Yikes! When I regained consciousness, I almost felt a tingle go up my leg ... or was it a tinkle going down my leg?

I was so mesmerized that the thought crossed my mind that perhaps it was time to start buying some Bolshevik memorabilia for my recreation room. Yep, he had me pretty sedated - and I'm a died-in-the-wool conservative-leaning libertarian!

Then, from out of nowhere, the world's greatest Kool-Aid salesman admonished Congress (i.e., Republicans) to "set aside the gamesmanship in this town and get something done." Translation: "Stop following your conscience and support my socialist agenda." Finally, the ever-slick, ever-smooth BHO had blown his cool - and his cover. The bipartisan mask was finally showing some cracks in it.

He then followed up that little snippet with a series of other angry, snide remarks, one of the best of which was, "I found this deficit when I showed up." And he's right about that. A pox on the houses of George Bush and Congress for violating the Constitution and bankrupting the nation. But when someone leaves a pile of cow dung on the floor of the Oval Office, the solution isn't to make the pile bigger.

"We're not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that in eight short years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin," BHO told the House Democrats. "We can't embrace the losing formula that offers more tax cuts as the only answer to every problem we face."

And, once again, he was right ... partially, that is. He's right that George Bush and the Congress ran up huge deficits through a drunken orgy of spending. But he's wrong about the tax cuts. The tax cuts are the part that saved us from an even worse financial crisis than the one we now find ourselves in.

So, what is BHO's solution? More government spending - far more spending than ever before in our country's history. Referring to complaints about spending levels in the suicide package now being debated by Congress, BHO said, "Then you get the argument, 'Well, this is not a stimulus bill. This is a spending bill.' What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point."

Very cute ... very clever. But what BHO and other big-government advocates don't understand is that their basic premises are wrong. Their first invalid premise is that government has the moral and/or Constitutional authority to spend your money without your consent. Their second invalid premise is that government spending will "stimulate" the economy.

BHO is, of course, wrong on both counts. That the government has no right to spend your money against your will is morally self-evident, and it certainly is clear that it is constitutionally out of bounds. Yet, those on the left belittle people who oppose them in their illegal pursuits by calling them "obstructionists," among other things.

Recently, even nice-guy Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said, "The Republicans should get off this identity kick and get behind the president. We have to come together for the good of the country." That's right, forget your identity and support the socialists' cause instead of sticking to your belief in freedom and the moral sanctity of a capitalistic society.

But morals aside (which is the way collectivists like to approach things), the fact is that government spending does not stimulate the economy. Whether the government taxes, borrows, or prints, its actions always have a negative impact on the country. Only spending by individuals and companies can stimulate the economy.

Finally, BHO reminded his choir in Williamsburg that the American people had "already made their choice in the election." And they had ... at least those who voted. They chose tingling legs over reason and reality. They chose to vote against the most embarrassing Republican presidential candidate of our time. They chose to vote for what they believed was the lesser of two evils. And, yes, many chose white guilt over moral substance.

So, in BHO's mind, he has a mandate to pursue his socialist agenda - though I think he may now be wondering about that. Millions of foolish, middle-of-the-road voters who gave him a relatively narrow margin of victory (52 percent to 46 percent - just 3 percentage points above a tie!) are now becoming angry - much sooner, quite frankly, than I expected.

And millions more are sure to become even more angry in the months ahead as they come out of their Kool-Aid stupor and realize that the change they are witnessing is not the change they thought they could believe in. They'll be asking themselves things like: "Yes we can what?" "What kind of new beginning?" "Change America how?"

So, is BHO right when he says that "the people have chosen?" In Part II of this article, I'll address that question by setting the record straight, once and for all, on the Orwellian notion of "mandate" that politicians so love to bandy about.