Jasper Journal

Well the president returned to the old democratic playbook in his budget speech today: get the rich.  I don’t consider myself rich financially, but I sure don’t begrudge people who have succeeded.

America is a land of opportunity. That means to me that we all have the opportunity to excel and do well in life. Some do better than others, but that is the basis of capitalism.  In Obama world, those who are rich are somehow to be taken down a peg and penalized.

I see people with money as business owners and creators, investors, buyers, employers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists. They took risks and succeeded. Others saved and scrimped and are now enjoying the fruits of their savings. Isn’t that the American dream?

 But to this administration and many old school democrats, the rich are the enemy who need to have  more of their money taken away. Where is it fair to change the  financial rules retroactively? The democrats would be the first to complain about changing social security rules, but they have no trouble changing military retirement, tricare, tax laws, etc.

Look at the drain of corporations and wealthy individuals from New York City and New York State.  The government  was greedy and the people and companies left for the south and southwest. That could happen to America too. We need to come together not play partisan games pitting the country against itself. A real  leader would never resort to class warfare…but we don’t have a real leader, we have a community organizer with a real chip on his shoulder. Even Hillary would have been better…she knew how to make money!

As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the civil war, it was so appropriate to have a reenactment of the first major battle, Bull Run, this weekend in Washington.  The only diference was this reenactment took place in the halls of congress. The anti government spending rebels went after the union and special interest  supporting democrats. Like Bull Run or Manassas, it took the governemnt by surprise. Having stopped the runaway spending train even slightly, the rebels can now move onto bigger battles. The war is on and the forces have met.

The president intends to lay out his strategy this week… woefully late and surely inadequate. His senior advisor stated  today that the president will use a scalpel rather than a machete to trim spending. Really? I truly believe that he still doesnt get it. Friday’s crisis proved that the democrats are willing to go over the cliff to protect special interests like planned parenthood, the EPA, NPR. They were even willing to not pay the military so long as planned parenthood was a target of budget cuts.  How can this be the case? What is so sacred about planned parenthood other than it is a standard bearer and symbol of abortion on demand.  So special interests do indeed trump everything for this administration. I guess that’s why he will only use a scalpel.

Bull Run shocked the union army and began a four year national tragedy. Friday night began a campaign to restore the country

As I write this there is no clear indication that the two sides in Washington will agree on a compromise that will prevent a government shutdown on Friday.  So what we have is a national game of chicken with the entire world watching on the sidelines. 

 Aside from being  political theater of the highest degree, I believe this crisis is the most significant act in a battle to retake our country. On one side we have republicans who are attempting to bring sanity and reason to a bloated, out of control spending process that is sure to bankrupt the country. On the other side we have the old guard democrats beholden to special interests such as unions and other groups that immediately charge that budget cuts will kill children and make people homeless.

 To me this is shameful. The democrats refused to pass a budget last year and have offered nothing in the way of proposals to bring down the deficit. They are playing politics and hoping the republicans pay a price for a government shutdown.

The president claimed he would reduce the deficit and now states that politics should not be a part of this budget battle. Who is he kidding? Everything with him is about politics.  Who in your lives has not had to cut their spending, do without, scrimp on food and other items in hard times? I think we all have. So why is it so hard for the democrats to give up the excesses they and their surrogates are addicted to? 

Some have compared this to the first major engagement of WW II. I think they are right. Paul Ryan unveiled  a bold and sweeping plan today  to cut the deficit by trillions over ten years. Clearly the democrats are in a panic mode. But they only have themselves to blame. There is no more money and business as usual cannot continue. I hope if it comes to a shutdown that you will understand that this was brought about not by the republicans, but by the party that spends like a drunken sailor and refuses to act like grown ups and take meaningful action.

I am so tired of listening to hackneyed Democrats utter the same old charges about republicans being for the rich and killing children.  How we ever let them get into power for so long amazes me.   Let’s see if President  Obama is a leader or just another failed politician. As the famous sports announcer says at the beginning of boxing matches,  “Let’s get ready to rumble.”