Happy New Year!
Not that 2009 begins without cause for concern and, for many Americans, suffering. Three of the nation’s most important states—New York, Illinois, and California—are mired in some type of government crisis and politicians continue to proscribe the wrong solution, government intervention, to economic problems caused by government intervention. Months ago, President Bush, President-elect Obama, Republicans, Democrats, and the media demanded in unison that the multi-billion dollar bailout (read partial bank nationalization) be approved or the economy would collapse. When that monstrosity passed, the economy grew worse as a result, so the same gang demanded a bailout of auto companies, which will also lead to nationalization and government-run cars. Now, there’s talk of subsidizing (read controlling) newspapers. Anyone with an active mind can see where that leads.
With mounting financial problems, California—run by the Republican governor and Democratic legislature—is preparing to raise taxes on its citizens (including numerous fees on this and that which are essentially also taxes) which will hurt the people and further cripple the economy here. The state needs to slash programs and get out of the way of business.
New York is apparently on the verge of naming the highly unqualified daughter of a dead president, Caroline Kennedy, to the U.S. Senate, which represents what Ayn Rand called the “aristocracy of pull” and is the opposite of what the Founding Fathers sought in a government of, by, and for the people. Early in America’s history, men served after distinguishing themselves as practicing lawyers, businessmen and producers and becoming known and respected among the people. Not Caroline, who, like Sarah Palin, is an opportunist cashing in on celebrity worship. Kennedy isn’t qualified to serve as a garbage collector.
Trash describes Illinois politics and Gov. Blagojevich’s resistance to resignation is merely a sign that U.S. politicians no longer feel it necessary to step down in shame; instead, like Republican Sen. Larry Craig, they have no sense of decency let alone wrongdoing. Blago may have something on the President-elect and his Chicago gang—he’s certainly acting like he does—and brazen Blago is a pathetic figure. So is Roland Burris, deified by the press, who accepted the Senate appointment when he should have hung up. Barack Obama, who called Burris a fine man who is qualified but demanded that the Senate refuse to seat the legally designated senator, is offering a preview of his presidency—making an argument from intimidation while talking out of both sides of his mouth. If Burris is noble (he is not) and qualified (legally, he is), on what moral and/or legal grounds does the President-elect claim Burris should not serve in the Senate? The Illinois scandal speaks volumes about the incoming Obama administration.
So does Obama’s selection as his inaugural minister the Reverend Rick Warren, a rising Judeo-Christian who proposes tearing down separation of religion and state. Leonard Peikoff was right when he warned in a recent podcast that Obama is profoundly religious and we’re about to find out. That the anti-homosexual Warren was invited, and not disinvited in the wake of opposition, shows that Obama will actively seek to expand government-sponsored religion. Gays will be among the first to suffer under Obama; whether being thrown under the bus by that other liberal Democratic president that gay intellectuals unquestioningly supported—puny-minded Bill Clinton, who caved on gays in the military early in his administration—or the slow, incremental criminalization of sex that can only be achieved through the spread of religion in affairs of the state, gays, smarting from a Mormon-Catholic-Christian axis victory banning gay marriage, are religionist Obama’s first, not last, disposable constituency.
That the left and Judeo-Christians are comrades in the same cause—government control of individual lives—is fully on display in an excellent motion picture about a liberal Democrat who was the first openly gay elected official in the nation, Milk, which is outstanding on its own merits and especially thanks to left-winger Sean Penn. That Milk was gunned down by a religious Democrat is an ominous reminder for today’s homosexual of the dangers of supporting those, like Obama, who support religion in government. I recommend Milk to every adult who values the right to make private sexual choices. See it instead of watching Obama and his chosen reverend; it will brace you for what’s to come.
More uplifting, though no less somber, is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, an achievement in movies. I like the visual feast so much I want to see it again—if you can, see it beside someone you love—and it shows that Hollywood can reject the death premise and produce an invigorating and breathtaking movie about life.
