Does it occur to you that a government or administration whose expansive policies had been soundly denounced through the electoral process, might curtail said expansiveness in light of this, rather than escalating them?
Of course it does. It only makes sense.
That isn’t what you do if you’re the Obama administration, however. Oh, no. Instead of taking a cue from the public you’re supposed to represent, instead, you do even more toward coalescing government control over the lives of the citizenry.
As I and others predicted would occur, since November, this administration proceeded to use the executive branch more liberally (no pun intended) in order to edge us as close as they can get us to totalitarianism before the new Congress convenes in 2011.
And speed is of the essence.
Since the midterm election, we’ve seen the audacious fast-tracking of draconian and reckless measures that had been under heavy scrutiny by civic-minded Americans and analysts for quite some time. The START (Strategic Arms Reduction) treaty with Russia was hastily approved by the Senate this week. This ankle grab was lauded by the administration as a crowning foreign policy accomplishment, even though it will limit our missile defense options and contains insufficient procedures to verify Russia's compliance.
The Food Safety Bill added new layers of bureaucracy to food inspection processes, and threatens to bankrupt small farmers. If everything else the federal government has done to “protect” Americans is any indication, I would wager that it will serve to stultify the economy even further.
Also this week, the Federal Communications Commission voted to implement “net neutrality,” a set of policies that are supposed to foster competition amongst Internet service providers. This despite admonitions from economists and industry leaders that it will lead to devastating levels of job losses (what, more?) and dangerous destabilization of our economy.
To the casual observer, this suggests imprudence, or even stupidity. If you’re in the foxhole with me, however, this doesn’t surprise. Policies that compromise or endanger the economy are part of Obama’s agenda: cripple America to such a horrifying degree that the populace will accept any government fix.
Yes, kiddies – that means any government fix…
Meanwhile, our sick caricature of a Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, announced that DHS would be creating the “Climate Change and Adaptation Task Force” to “mitigate the affects of global warming on security and response operations,” whatever that means. Despite the fact that government intervention in the name of climate change has been progressives’ wet dream since ObamaCare was passed, we’re not supposed to believe that this is Obama’s back door to regulating greenhouse gases six ways from Sunday and soaking American energy consumers into financial destitution.
And though it failed, we cannot forget the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act , a radical-backed piece of legislation that would have rewarded illegal immigration and greased the wheels of eager Democrats’ amnesty apparatus.
While President Obama claims to be compromising with Republicans (while positioning himself to take credit for any political and/or economic benefits thereof), what he has “given in to” are small potatoes compared to that which he continues to attempt to take.
It has also been observed that congressional GOP leaders have missed out on political opportunities, selling themselves short in terms of their present influence. This has been much to the chagrin of conservative commentators and voters, particularly those who mobilized to turn the political tide this Fall. If nothing else, they’ve made it clear that spinelessness will not be tolerated this time out, so it would seem that the aforementioned GOP leaders need to cultivate a pair with all due alacrity.
Everything I have cited characterizes brazen, statist measures which unequivocally substantiate charges that this administration and progressives in Congress are essentially, well, evil, and represent the ascendancy of a tyrannical regime that will resemble the vision that the Founders of this nation had about as much as I resemble a runway model.
