by Tina Grazier
One of the really tough things about being a conservative in America today is the frustration that arises when economic policies that make sense are dismissed in favor of policies that are proven failures. We are currently doing things that will cause economic malaise…if we’re lucky…and total collapse if we’re not. We are moving to put government in charge of nearly every important aspect of our lives, healthcare, energy, banking and industry.
The policies of John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan produced a positive economic result and the policies of Jimmy Carter produced a very different result. Big government socialist countries around the world always suffer economically and the more despotic they become the more the people suffer. It’s a matter of historical record. What is the problem? Why don’t people get that? Is it ignorance, fear, childlike dependency, or craving for instant gratification? Is it a naive expectation that perfection is possible if only we grow government jeeuust a little bit “more”…what?
Conservatives vent about this crazy nonsensical aspect of the political argument with a great deal of passion and zeal, sometimes even anger…and, why not? After years of sharing the statistical and historical evidence it is maddening that people don’t get it. What does it take to get them to act in their own best interests instead of chasing some utopian dream that has failed again and again? What does it take to get them to see that big government policies and programs will ultimately will cost them, and future generations, not just in terms of their prosperity but in terms of their physical and mental well being as well? It’s a great frustration.
I read a Wall Street Journal article last night that I hope…pardon the word…has the power to reach into a few of those reluctant brains to produce a cacophonous ahaaa…a pin ball machine effect complete with popping lights and wild music…yeee hawww!!!
I will tease you by sharing my favorite excerpt from the article but you really should read the entire piece. The writer, John Steele Gordon, wrote a book published in 2004 called, “An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power”. If this article is any indication, the book must be a fascinating and informative read. See if you get what I mean:
** …in 1917, Theodore Vail, the president of AT&T, admitted that his company was, effectively, a monopoly. But he noted that “all monopolies should be regulated. Government ownership would be an unregulated monopoly.” *** It is government’s job to make and enforce the rules that allow a civilized society to flourish. But it has a dismal record of regulating itself. Imagine, for instance, if a corporation, seeking to make its bottom line look better, transferred employee contributions from the company pension fund to its own accounts, replaced the money with general obligation corporate bonds, and called the money it expropriated income. We all know what would happen: The company accountants would refuse to certify the books and management would likely — and rightly — end up in jail. *** But that is exactly what the federal government (which, unlike corporations, decides how to keep its own books) does with Social Security. In the late 1990s, the government was running what it — and a largely unquestioning Washington press corps — called budget “surpluses.” But the national debt still increased in every single one of those years because the government was borrowing money to create the “surpluses.” **
Read this article, “Why Government Can’t Run a Business – Politicians need headlines. Executives need profits,” by John Steele Gordon. It’s pure common sense. The evidence for the truth of it is all around us, in cities, counties, states, and nations around the globe. Free market capitalism, though not perfect, still works best. And big government, hello State of California, just doesn’t.
(The results of our election yesterday would indicate you might be ready…)