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Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Thomas Sowell :: Townhall.com Columnist
A blank check from America?
by Thomas Sowell
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Senate Republican leaders deserve whatever happens to them. If this election were about the fate of one political party rather than another, it would hardly be worth thinking about.

But elections are not about which politicians get to keep their jobs, though the media cover the news as if the political horse race is the issue. Elections are about the fate of 300 million Americans and the future of this nation.

That fate hangs grimly in the balance as two irresponsible regimes in North Korea and Iran seek to gain nuclear weapons. Neither leader of these regimes can be deterred by threats of nuclear retaliation, as the Soviet Union was deterred.

Both are like Hitler, who was willing to see his own people decimated and his own country reduced to rubble rather than quit when it was obvious to all that he could not win. If you can imagine Hitler with a few nuclear weapons to use to vent his all-consuming hatreds in a lost cause, you can see what a nuclear North Korea or a nuclear Iran would mean for America and the world.

It is obscene that our media should be obsessed with some jerk in Congress who wrote dirty e-mails to Congressional pages -- and was forced out of Congress for it -- when this nation faces dangers of this magnitude.

It would be worse than obscene for some voters to cut off their nose to spite their face by either staying home on election day or actually voting a blank check from America for a party with a decades-long history of irresponsibility on national defense.

Even today, Democrats are arguing for more talks with North Korea and Iran, as if talk is going to stop such regimes from going nuclear, any more than talks with Hitler in the 1930s deterred him.

This is no longer about hawks and doves. It is about ostriches who bury their heads in the sand -- and about those voters who are prepared to give a blank check to ostriches.

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About The Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of The Housing Boom and Bust.
 
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©Creators Syndicate
“TAXCUT AND SPEND” REPUBLICANS...

“TAXCUT AND SPEND” REPUBLICANS have absolutely zero fiscal responsibility! The last time we had a balanced budget and pay-as-you-go legislation Bill Clinton was President and the Democrats instituted these Congressional controls. So much for Bush mythology on who has conservative values. Furthermore, Bush’s supply-side economics has not conserved our economic future.

SUPPLY-SIDE ECONOMICS… has sold our kids and grandkids down the river!

George Bush’s $3 trillion dollar tax giveaway to the rich has been a disaster for average Americans. Supply-side (trickle-down) economics is a bogus theory promoted by those who benefit from it. In a mature capitalist system, supply side never rules, it’s always the demand side of the equation that governs growth and well-being. Think about the 1930s Depression, General Motors had plenty of supply, but demand evaporated.

Previous U.S. recessions have been cured with only $200 billion in tax cuts targeted to the middle class, because the consumer (the great middle class) spends that tax cut and primes the economic pump. But George Bush has raised the debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay from almost $6 trillion to almost $9 trillion for this current recovery, which is uniquely without wage gains, and which has shrunk the middle class that makes America strong and great.

Corporations (the supply side) are now loaded with cash, but there’s no place to spend it because they don’t see any demand. So many corporations are using that cash to buy back their stock – WOW, isn’t supply side wonderful in how it fulfills America’s needs? As the rich-poor divide increases, we’re headed toward previous shining examples of trickle-down economics: South America of the recent past and feudalism in the Middle Ages (South America and feudalism also had no wage gains).

What I want as an American Citizen.
Americans value our citizenship and resent when it is devalued by giving it away for the sake of cheap labor. Seal the border against illegal immigration. Legal border trade and traffic would be unaffected. Seal the border.
You keep saying that there is no real way to deport 12 million illegal immigrants. The American public is not stupid. We know that you have a bunch of W-4 forms on file that you cannot match with employees. Line one has the employees name but line 8 has the name of the employer. Really, it is right there. So go to the employer of the illegal alien and arrest him. Bust a couple hundred employers, throw him in the slammer, deport a couple thousand illegal immigrants and you will have a flood heading toward the border. This will go a long way to dispel the criticism that the Republican Party is in the hip pocket of the American Chamber of Commerce. Besides if you deport the illegal aliens you will no longer have a need for the minimum wage law.
If the illegal aliens do want to work and live in the United States induct them into the U. S. Military. If they are willing to sign a contract with the military for the duration of the conflict then immerse them in English and train for combat. When the conflict is over they are a U. S. Citizen and have conveyed all the rights and privileges that the status entails. They will have earned it.
We are the United States of America. We speak American English. Make it official and eliminate all bilingual programs. If a immigrant or the children of immigrants do not speak English then immerse them in a year long course in American English. This will hold them back a year in school but would put them years ahead of their peers that do not understand the language.
Stop the lawsuit abuse. You have done much but need to do more. There is not a single small aircraft manufacturer left in America due to lawsuits. Browning rifles are manufactured overseas.
Americans want real campaign reform. Limit campaign donations. This is pretty simple. Only American citizens should be able to donate to a campaign. And they should only be able to donate to campaigns that they can vote for. Donate as much as they want but old Hillary would not be able to take campaign donations from the donors on the “left” coast. Pac’s and companies are made up of people. The people can donate if they so choose or not if they so choose. The unions will no longer be able to spend the union dues to support candidates that represent positions that the members do not support.
The way the budget is created with ear marks must be stopped. Pet projects and pork must be eliminated. The government has very specific duties as outlined in the Constitution. They also have very specific limits on power.
Speaking of the budget we as a people need to stop throwing good money after bad. A review should be done of budget expenditures to determine what kind of bang we are getting for our buck and all programs should be given a rating from one to ten, ten being the best rating and one being the worst rating. Eliminate anything with a one two three or four rating immediately. In two years review all the programs again and cut the bottom off again. In six years most of the inefficient programs would be eliminated.
Combine like services. We have programs for children that are separated by location, sex, race and creed. This must be stopped. Children are children and we must stop turning a blind eye to segregation in any form.
Eliminate the federal department of Education. It is a totally unnecessary layer of government. Review all Federal departments and eliminate as necessary.
“One citizen has one vote! If I am registered to vote in a district in one county of a certain state then I should only be able to vote in that district. Now you can vote in New York and Florida in the same election. If it takes a national voter registration database then that is fine. And we really do not mind showing ID to vote. Make the id free to any citizen. That should shut up the ACLU and their democratic allies.
Americans really do not like to fight. But when we are forced to then it is our belief that we should bring out the big hammer and really give them hell. The Iraq war should have been fought years ago so now that we are in it, let’s finish it. Send the GI’s out to hunt them down like they did in Falluja. They did a great job and we knew it. Make sure that the American people know the successes on the war in Iraq and elsewhere (except when it would compromise National Security)
On the subject of national security the American people understand. They get it. Stop beating around the bush and when something is necessary to keep America safe. Oh you will hear squealing from the left but that is what they are good at.
Americans do not like to be threatened. Make it a national policy that if the United States is ever hit by a nuke that we will consider an act of war by Iran, Korea and Hezbullah and will respond in kind.
Americans believe that we should have one law for one people. Throw that nasty pervert Foley in jail and shout loudly about the difference between Foley and Studds. After all Foley resigned for sending disgusting emails and IM’s to pages. Studds was lauded by the Democratic leadership after having sex with a seventeen year old male page. That speaks loudly about Party differences.
Americans appreciate straight talk. Call an Islamic fascist an Islamic fascist, a liberal a liberal and a democrat a cut and run politician. Emphasize the differences between the parties. You can do this.
Be the party that wields power. Push the opposition to get what your constituency is demanding. Use the nuclear option when necessary. Get the judges voted on. Get John Bolton through the Senate. Whip your errant Senators in line. Once you do this the opposition will fold.

So lets sum this up.

1. Close the border.
2. Deport or enlist illegal aliens.
3. Jail the employers.
4. American English the official language.
5. Stop Lawsuit abuse.
6. Real Campaign finance reform.
7. Eliminate earmarks.
8. Eliminate inefficiency.
9. Combine like programs.
10. One citizen one vote. National voter ID.
11. Fight the war to the max.
12. Stand for strong national security.
13. Nuclear Response.
14. One law, one people.
15. Talk straight.
16. Wield power.

I want good government.

David
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