Listen at the :15 mark: "Obama Has a Plan to Rebuild America From the Ground Up". This is what we call a "radical" idea.
rad·i·cal [rad-i-kuhl]
adjective
1. of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radical difference.
2. thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy of a company.
3. favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.
4. forming a basis or foundation.
5. existing inherently in a thing or person: radical defects of character.
In order to build any building "from the ground up", you first must remove anything that is already there. The so called radicals of the sixties believed that society as we knew it needed to be torn down so that a new, "occupy type" society could be built upon the rubble of civilization.
Clinton was a child of the sixties. He is not uncomfortable discussing rebuilding America "from the ground up". In 2008, Obama said, " In five days we are going to fundamentally transform America". He has not yet succeeded. Obamacare will fundamentally transform America if it is allowed to proceed, by changing the relationship between the citizen and the government. The crushing amount of debt incurred by this administration, on top of what was already there, will fundamentally transform America if not curtailed. And none of this will transform America in a good way.
"Now, wait a minute", some might say. "What about the Tea Party? Aren't they considered radical?" In the sense that the Constitution was and is to be the foundation of our government, yes. As far as tearing down society, by tearing down the economy so that government can take a greater role in people's lives, no! And government is the last thing the Democrats want to tear down to the roots, they want government to continue to grow and become more powerful.
A "radical" approach to government could be summed up in the Tenth Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The power of government is to be based upon "the consent of the governed". Ideally, the closer the government is to the voter, the more accountable it will be. Tea Partiers believe that much, if not most of government has grown beyond what the Constitution set forth as limits and that we have far more government than we can possibly afford.
In education, for example, many people believe that education is primarily the responsibility of the parents, and the more local the control of education is, the more control the parents have over what their child's is being taught. A completing philosophy believes that the government and education bureaucrats know what is best for your child. A federal, top down structure is as unaccountable to any individual parent as possible. And the hubris of thinking that some six figure bureaucrat knows what is best for every student, across fifty different states, in a country of 300 million, in a one-size-fits-all plan, demonstrates an unfounded faith in the power of government. The money to support a federal department of education would be better spent in the classrooms of the communities where the money was siphoned from in the first place.
There are many examples that could be cited of government waste. Unfortunately, other than a little election year lip service, the ruling class of the Nanny State have no interest in government becoming smaller or less intrusive, or less expensive.
There are competing visions this November. One wants to rebuild America from the ground up. In order to do this, they must first tear down what is already there, including the world's premier healthcare system. The other wants to reform our government, by cleaning out the deadwood, and get back to the Constitution that has helped safeguard our freedom for hundreds of years.
"Obama Has a Plan to Rebuild America From the Ground Up", said Bill Clinton. And Obama approved the message. Let's do what we need to do to get rid of the disastrous policies of the last four years and put America back to work again. You owe it to your children.
Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.
Posts
"The power of government is to be based upon "the consent of the governed".
ReplyDeleteNo. The moral validity of government is based on consent...according to we the free. Power is another matter altogether. Many people consent to slavery.
America is a constant, but she isn't a norm. She's an anomaly. A freakishly beautiful accident of history.
I was referring to the phrase in the Declaration of Independence:
Delete"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed..."
This post reminds me of an obscure quote I once heard. I wish I remember where I had heard it so that I could attribute it properly.
ReplyDelete"Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts."
I've heard that one before, too. Don't know where it originated.
Delete