The cynic says that as soon as we’re born, we start dying. Well, that is very nearly true of the progressivist policies of the Obama administration. As soon as the American people got a whiff of what “transforming America” Obama-style was all about, the celebratory balloons began to deflate. The country was abruptly reminded there’s no such thing as a free lunch, particularly when it’s served up by a Democrat Congress and a socialist law professor who signs IOUs in multiples of a trillion. So, folks voted in ’09 and ’10 to stop Obamacare and Obama-taxes and Obama-spending. But voting is one thing; stopping’s another. The president’s an ideologue, so even as his administration withers, he will still seek mightily to achieve his progressivist agenda.
Now, the Republican victors in the recent midterm elections have been talking the talk — “we heard America,” “we’ve learned from our mistakes,” “we’ll act immediately on our pledge” — but will they walk the walk? Do they have the will to really stop Obamacracy? Here’s how to tell whether America elected “Old Republicans” or “Bold Republicans”:
1. Obamacrats speak in terms of the government creating jobs. Bold Republicans know that the government is a voracious consumer — mostly of our tax dollars — and creates nothing. Government “jobs” — while essential in some areas such as the military and the nation’s defense — do not contribute to the economy so much as they add to the increasingly unsustainable public debt. Real jobs are created by American entrepreneurs using their own and investors’ capital. So, Bold Republicans will enable private sector job creation by working tirelessly to cut federal spending, reduce taxes on capital formation and growth, and remove or de-fund politically-motivated regulation that assumes politicians are honest and businessmen are not.
2. Numerous pundits have opined that nothing can be done about Obamacare, reasoning that the president will veto any repeal attempts that make it through the Senate. So, why make the effort? Because, Bold Republicans understand, this part of politics is like shooting pool. A good pool player is excellent at making individual shots and setting up the next one. So, Bold Republicans will vote for repeal and force Democrats and the president to defend the indefensible Obamacare in the public forum. And, just in time for the 2012 elections, voters will be reminded who’s responsible for this socialist trifecta that’s bankrupting America, increasing healthcare insurance premiums, and reducing coverage and choice.
3. Radicalizing the judiciary has become an even higher priority for Team Obama now that it has lost the House of Representatives. Obama apologists maintain it’s only fair that the president gets to pack the nation’s courtrooms with ideological judges who share his progressivism. (Of course, when it’s the GOP’s turn, Democrats do not return the favor.) Bold Republicans want to restore traditional constitutional principles, get the government monkeys off our backs and repair America’s fraying social fabric. Both the president and Bold Republicans know his lifetime appointees will work, long after this president’s out of the White House, to undermine traditional American values. So, Bold Republicans will use all available media outlets to publicize the far-left resumes of the president’s appointees, then do everything in their power to thwart or delay these appointments.
4. For the past two years, “bi-partisanship” has meant the Obama-Pelosi-Reid way or the highway. Now that the electorate has forced several dozen Democrat congressmen to exit along that highway, the remaining House Dems are hoping to grasp hands across the aisle and sing Kumbaya. Fortunately, Bold Republicans grasp that America’s in a jam because most new laws are unaffordable, overly complex and impose unnecessary burdens on people and business. As partisans of liberty, individual responsibility and minimalist government, Bold Republicans will work to undo the damage wreaked by two years of Democrat “bi-partisanship.” Meanwhile, Americans will soon discover that congressional gridlock can be purposeful and worthwhile, especially if it quashes further budget-busting progressivism.
5. The kerfuffle over National Public Radio’s firing of Juan Williams has again highlighted the absurdity of the American taxpayers’ funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, through which NPR directly and indirectly receives significant funding. Old Republicans did nothing to stop this unwarranted subsidy when they controlled Congress and the presidency; Bold Republicans will work to end this travesty. While the $422 million 2010 fiscal year subsidy to CPB is, sadly, a drop in the bucket of wasteful government spending, Bold Republicans understand that it’s a drop that needn’t be spent — and that every drop counts. If the Obama administration and Democrat Senate attempt to thwart the efforts to defund CPB, Bold Republicans will publicize how generously the big spenders lavish American tax dollars on this George Soros-funded liberal media outlet.
6. Bold Republicans will pursue meaningful tort reform. They agree with ultra-liberal former Senator George McGovern that there’s been an “explosion in blame-shifting and scapegoating for every negative experience in life.” The resulting litigation (or threat of litigation) imposes burdensome costs on society that enriches the (mostly liberal-supporting) trial bar and creates a legal sweepstakes for a few lucky plaintiffs, but otherwise raises the costs of everything from hot dogs to healthcare. Bold Republicans understand that, particularly for small business owners such as former innkeeper McGovern, “the endless exposure to frivolous claims and high legal fees is frightening” — and job-killing.
7. Old Republicans have ranged from dreamy nation-builders to belligerent warhawks to head-in-the-sand isolationists. Bold Republicans will do what works best to defend America. Here’s what works:
- Help our friends and enable their self-defense; undermine our enemies and their supporters.
- Go to war for only one purpose — to defeat and destroy an enemy that poses an existential threat to America or its allies. If we’re in a war and won’t fight to win, then Bold Republicans will use the power of the purse to get our brave men and women out of harm’s way immediately.
- Make the bad guys fear the U.S. Let the world know that the U.S. is a generous friend but a dangerous beast when provoked.
- Don’t bargain with tyrants. Tell the U.N. that we don’t need its permission to hunt down scoundrels and killers that threaten our country. Better yet, cease all funding to the United Nations which are “united” only in their anti-Americanism.
Samuel R. Lewis is an assistant general counsel for a global telecommunications company. He writes commentary on current, past, and future events based on his diverse experiences as a former U.S. Army officer, parent and participant in some of the most tumultuous events of the past 20 years in the business world.