On...A Wonderful Birthday and an Unhappy Birthday

Robert Samuelson continues to be a great voice in our Republic's present skirmishes. The linked piece may be a tad pessimistic on a glorious day for our nation, but he really is presenting a reality that many of our citizens are ignoring. Along with William Russel Mead he is in a smooth groove.

I particularly loved the bit about the reactionaries versus radicals. I think this is becoming truer and truer.

Unhappy Birthday

How Big a Government Do We Want?

How Big a Government Do We Want?

Robert Samuelson continues his roll. These are the real questions that every American has to ask. What size of government do you want and what do you want it to do? It cannot be everything to all people. There needs to be a real message and desire to change and it has to be more than anger and elitism.

On...The Only Question That Needs to be Answered (Especially by Obama Voters)

Robert Samuelson at Newsweek has been writing some of the most profound short-length essays about the economy the last nine months or so. I have posted many of them. I think what makes them strong is his total lack of agenda beyond a sound economy. He has acted like one of the few level two thinkers out there. He poses questions without getting partisan or angry. He's not a Paul Krugman who clearly has an agenda and blathers it out to everyone who will hear. And he's not a Republican hammering away at the President and Congress for purely politically reasons. Instead he gathers the data, looks towards the future, and asks the hard questions Americans of all stripes wish to avoid.

His latest essay poses the one question every American must answer and I hope everyone who voted for Obama will seriously ask themselves and then answer the tough follow up questions.

That question is How big a government do we want?

On the surface this is clearly a level one question, but it really is a reflective one when you take the time to break it down. This was really the question people should have been asking themselves going into the voter's booth last November. And then the second question is how do we pay for an expanded government flush with even more entitlements. USA Today had a series of polls regarding Health Care and low and behold it found the majority of Americans want better health care but don't want to pay for it.

Right there is a big problem that has been plaguing the Republic for some time. Too many people believe they are entitled to stuff on someone elses dime. As Samuelson states, "We face an unprecedented collision between Americans' desire for more government services and their almost-equal unwillingness to be taxed." Something has to give. Our president, the Democrats, and too many Republicans in Congress seem to want it all. This isn't practical or realistic. Though it is how many get elected. Unfortunately someone always has to pay and the Democrats' old song and dance about the rich paying only works for so long. The middle-class will have to pay as well down the road. And then free people will find ways around tyranny. They will even move with their feet if they have to.

So I ask merely for all the Obama voters out there to read Samuelson's article and reflect on the only question and then for them to formulate a real answer--not merely a level one response but also on the consequences of an expanding Federal Government today and in the future. Unfortunately I don't think anyone will step up to the plate.

Big decisions need to be made. I only hope they are the right ones.

On...Infatuation

Gettin' Away with the Goods

Robert Samuelson has written a great number of fine articles and I have posted a bunch in the past, but his latest needs to be blessed with a greater audience. The Obama Infatuation is a very non-partisan examination of the dangerous (or perhaps dangerous) love-fest the media has on our current president. The Crush they carried throughout the election (See SNL's awesome early take on it) has carried well past the honeymoon. As Samuelson suggests, we need a skeptical media. We need tough questions asked on our behalf. No government regardless of party can just skip around and do what it wills with no questions asked. That's a dictatorship or worse yet a banana republic.

I'm afraid that no good will come of this. For either the nation or Obama. He needs to avoid flying too high. The last step can be a doozy. We can't be blind. Honest people and courageous people need to debate his agenda and his view of the future. And we need it now.