Some Things To Consider

A couple thoughts as we move towards year-end:

First, Republicans appear to be ready to cave on health care reform.  That should be an unconditional green light to abandon the party and support a third party.  If they can’t stop this legislation given public opinion, then (i) they aren’t trying, and (ii) the party is not worth saving.  How much longer can we support such a party just because they are slightly better than the Democrats?  Meaningful change that supports personal freedom, small government and fiscal responsibility will only happen with a third party!

Second, there’s a lot of chatter about a value added tax.  That is still a tax borne by taxpayers with higher prices.  Because it is a hidden tax, the politicians will love the idea.  Watch our Republicans on this as well.  My guess is they’ll jump at the opportunity.  There’s no talk of a spending cuts or dedicated use of such revenue.  This is likely just another money grab by Washington.

Third, there’s a lot of talk about economic recovery.  We are still very vulnerable with the dollar de-valued, high unemployment, state budgets in crisis, real estate finance unresolved and Congress looking at several new taxes.  We still have energy issues and eventually our lack of a sound foreign policy will lead to a security breach that could result in economic chaos.

Finally, there’s a lot of talk about “stealth” bills and legislation add-ons to pass unpopular legislation.   Congress – Republicans and Democrats alike – needs to be held accountable for their actions in the 2010 elections.  We need to vote these people out.

Do We Still Make Foreign Policy?

Does anyone really know what our current foreign policy is — other than apathy to everything happening in the world?  Has anyone heard from our Secretary of State in weeks?  How about her husband?   There’s a whole lot happening in the world.   I guess one approach is to sit on the sidelines and watch while the world around us changes. I would be a little more comfortable if we were proactive.

Venezuela seems to be aligning with some dangerous folks and building up arms, Iran is working on nuclear bomb capabilities and is getting close, Russia is courting anyone who dislikes us, Cuba is talking with China and others, North Korea is still just being North Korea.  What have we done?  We distanced ourself from our ally Israel, we decided not to protect our allies in Europe with a missile shield, we don’t know whether to surge or run in Afghanistan, we started our abandonment of Iraq, and we even managed to tick off Canada with our trade policies. 

I hope our whole foreign policy isn’t: (i) follow the United Nations and (ii) hope everyone likes us more now that George Bush is out of office.   I fear that we are losing our grip as a global and we do not have the economic clout we once had to overcome bad foreign policy.  As the dollar dives, our position in the world declines and our safety is in jeopardy.

We need a strong foreign policy and a strong Secretary of State.  We currently have neither.  Does any reasonable person feel more secure with respect to Iraq, Iran, N.Korea, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Afghanistan or Russia in 2009 than they did in 2008?

Labor Day

Yesterday as we celebrated Labor Day with picnics and parades, I couldn’t help but look at unions as a lost  resource in the 21st century.  Are there any unions that will  put the issues affecting their members first?  It appears that the larger unions are: (i) more concerned about political agendas, (ii) maintaining power and influence for their leadership and (iii) like certain other special interest groups, such as AARP, little more than political puppets for the left.

Maybe I am just not seeing it.  Maybe the unions need better public relations for their nonmembers.  However, has a single unions suggested that deficit spending by the government may ultimately hurt their members or that something is wrong with a stimulus plan that has not resulted in decline in unemployment?  Has a single union ever questioned whether ”cap and trade” may hurt their membership by driving more jobs overseas.  More directly, has a single union ever proposed that illegal immigrants take jobs from union members or that negotiated health care may be better than government health care?  I follow the news pretty closely and I haven’t seeen any of these issues debated in a reasonable fashion.

The American worker has been an essential part of making America the greatest country in the world.  During the last half of the 20th century, the worker had opportunities for growth and even to buy into many companies.  Workers prospered as America prospered.

The recent economic downturn has hurt workers at all levels – union and nonunion. It has hurt owners and management as well.  In fact, the only group that appears exempt from the pain is the federal government.  Yet, the unions have not demanded accountability from our federal government.  Instead, they have fallen lockstep in line with policies that may be hurting their members.

What are the unions getting out of it?  They are hoping for legislation that make union membership much more likely by making it more difficult for employees to exercise their free choice not to unionize.  There’s not a whole lot of transparency in this power for power bargain between the unions and Congress.  Unfortunately, the workers are being used for power and money grabs by both the politicians and the union leadership.  That’s a shame.