Overall, there was nothing too surprising about Obama’s address to Congress. Early on he said that he doesn’t support big government, but then he went on to list all the things he wants the government to spend money on. He says he doesn’t want to create a huge national debt, but he just pushed through a nearly $1 trillion stimulus package and is now planning to place the burden of reducing the budget deficit solely on financially successful people. Here are two of the main things in the speech that I took issue with:
1. Obama’s comment that “a surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy.” I really disagree with this statement because it presumes that money fundamentally belongs to the government, which (supposedly) has the right to distribute the money to people however it sees fit. I think money belongs to the people who earn it. Stealing less money from the rich (as Bush did) is NOT the same thing as transferring money to them. Ever since the 16th Amendment was passed, the government has been transferring money from the rich to the poor, not the other way around.
2. His statement that “Tonight I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training…Every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country.” This deeply offended me for three reasons:
- Although these comments were just Obama’s opinion and do not have the force of law, what a paternalistic, un-American thing to say! How dare Obama tell Americans what decisions to make in their own lives? Dropping out of high school is just as good a choice as going to college. The choices that individual people make are not the business of the country as a whole – that would be socialism. What makes America beautiful is that people have the liberty to make their own decisions without being judged by others.
- Additionally, to expect everyone to get a college education is collectively self-defeating. The purpose of a college degree is to gain an advantage in the job market. If everyone gets a college degree, no one will have an advantage. The situation will be exactly the same as if no one went to college, except everyone will have spent 4 years of their life working hard with no financial compensation. Sounds pretty stupid to me.
- Third, society needs all kinds of people. That includes plumbers, electricians, truck drivers, cooks, cashiers, and people who work in Dunkin’ Donuts. Blue-collar jobs that require no college education, and maybe not even a high-school education, are in many ways more useful to society than doctors, consultants, and even lawyers. The world wouldn’t be a very good place if all the Dunkin’s shut down because there was no one to make coffee and get donuts for people. Contrary to what Obama seems to think, in America, it’s okay to have people with a variety of jobs and education levels.
Various people have been making a ruckus over the New York Post’s cartoon that allegedly compares Barack Obama to a chimpanzee. The cartoon shows police officers killing a chimpanzee and saying “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” Numerous people have been calling the cartoon racist, and now Al Sharpton is trying to organize a boycott of the paper.
I disagree with the claim that this cartoon is racist. First of all, the chimpanzee could just as easily be representing Congress as Obama, since Congress actually created and passed the stimulus bill. Additionally, even if the chimpanzee represents Obama, that does not make the cartoon racist. Maybe the cartoon is meant to call Obama stupid, or compare his out-of-control spending to the Travis the chimpanzee’s rampage (a pretty good comparison, by the way). Under none of these interpretations is the cartoon criticizing Obama for his race, so I don’t see how the cartoon could be interpreted as racist.
People in America are becoming oversensitive about racial issues. Just because Obama is black doesn’t mean that anyone who doesn’t like him is racist. Believe it or not, there are many things that a non-racist person could find to criticize about Obama, such as his support of a more progressive tax system and excessive government spending. Al Sharpton actually said that the Post “thought we (African-Americans) were chimpanzees.” Since when does criticizing the stimulus package amount to calling all black people chimpanzees?
The only thing about the cartoon that I find offensive is that it is making fun of a tragedy that resulted in a woman being mauled by a chimpanzee and the chimpanzee being killed. I love animals, and I find it icky that the paper is making fun of a chimpanzee dying. For the most part, however, the cartoon is just criticizing the stimulus bill, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I really hope Governor Deval Patrick does not succeed in passing all the new taxes and fee increases he wants to. To close the Massachusetts budget deficit, Patrick wants to…
- Extend the 5% sales tax to alcohol, soda, candy, and other good-tasting foods
- Raise the meals tax from 5% to 6%
- Raise the hotel occupancy tax from 5.75% to 6.75%
- Allow towns to create their own meal and hotel taxes
- Raise RMV fees (which are already pretty darn high)
- Charge 50 cents a month for Fast Lane transponders to pay tolls
- Either double tolls on the Turnpike or more than double the gas tax
This is just ridiculous. There are way too many taxes as it is. Why do Massachusetts politicians (and many regular people) think it’s normal and expected for taxes to keep increasing and increasing? Wouldn’t the norm be to establish a good level of taxation, and then leave taxes the same? If taxes are too high (as they are now), then wouldn’t people want and expect them to go down?
Plus, it’s obvious that Governor Patrick isn’t just trying to raise revenue with the candy and soda taxes; he’s trying to influence people’s behavior. But what’s wrong with eating food that tastes good? Eating tofu isn’t superior to eating candy. Contrary to what Deval thinks, a world in which people ate less candy and soda would not be a better world. The best world would be one in which people had the right to make their own choices, about eating and everything else, without others trying to influence their decisions. The government has no right to declare which foods are good and which are bad, but that’s exactly what they’re doing by taxing some foods and not others.
Yes, Massachusetts has a budget deficit, but I think that 100% of closing the deficit should come from budget cuts. With no exceptions that I can think of, I’d always rather see a budget cut than a tax hike.
I found this hilarious quiz that tells you what kind of conservative you are, and it was too cool not to post about. Apparently I am an anti-government gunslinger!
Check it out: What Breed of Conservative are You?
Or if you’re a liberal, check out What Breed of Liberal Are You?
