Here's an easy question for Republicans going into the primaries. (It may even be productive for other Americans.) Given candidates in each of the three groups below – which candidate is more likely to fix America's problems?
- Candidate 1 is from the group whose policies caused the problems;
- Candidate 2 is from the group who experienced the effects of the problems, but had nothing to do with causing them; and
- Candidate 3 is from the group who actively opposed the policies that brought about the problems.
America has a lot of problems. For the most part, they were caused by faulty policies implemented by those in power. So let's simplify our question further, and say that our overwhelming problem is the failing economy and a lack of jobs.
Ding! Time's up. Who is your choice?
Now let's put some faces on our three possible answers. Because I think your choice is a pretty accurate model of how the Republican primary is shaking out.
No. 3 is easy: Ron Paul, known affectionately in Congress as Dr. No (and yes, he really is a medical doctor). Paul has a very consistent voting record: If the constitution doesn't permit the federal government to do what a piece of pending legislation requires it to do – he votes no.
No. 2 has several faces, but the person who experienced the most meteoric rise was Herman Cain. Now it seems that Newt Gingrich has sneaked into the void left by Cain, perhaps because he wasn't visible in the nation's recent memory.
No. 1 goes to Mitt Romney. I'm sure he would argue that he belongs in group 2, because he wasn't in the federal government. But the fact is, Romney led the state he governed far more deeply into mandates on private health care, which has driven up prices and left only the bad parts of government health care – mandates and punitive enforcement – for private citizens.
Group No. 2, you see, is where all the candidates want to be. "I'm a victim – just like you! Elect me and I will push more legislation to turn this thing around."
Yeah, sure you will. And that's the problem.
We don't need "more legislation" to turn this thing around. We need less legislation. We need to undo a lot of the legislation we already have – beginning with Obamacare. Every piece of legislation the politicians in Washington, D.C., pass kills another part of my freedom, and another part of America with it. But it always manages to enrich those who pass it. Funny how that works, eh?
The Constitution we were given would have prevented this. The federal government would never have gotten the money that enabled it to grow into the grotesque monster that it is today. The income tax is simply a repeat of what the English king did to the colonies, trying to bleed off their income and tuck it in his pocket. The Potomac, not the Atlantic, is the battleground for this American revolution.
Not only does D.C.'s insane ship of fools demand ever more money through the income tax – they debase it via the Federal Reserve, which now prints money as fast as electrons can fly. "Bail out Europe? No problemo!"
The bottom line is that a tweak here and there won't fix legislation the Constitution does not permit. The socialist cancer and backslapping good ol' boys in Washington, D.C., are killing the rest of the nation. And they don't care. They just don't care. As long as they get theirs.
This election, it's incumbent upon us to make sure that they do get just exactly what's due them.