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Election Commentary

Yanuck

Well-known member
Conspiracy theorists unite. In President Barack Obama and his platform, you apparently will have plenty of room to say, "I told you so."

Up front, I haven't yet met anyone who voted for Barack Obama. though there are a few acquaintances that I suspect. But then, I've never met anyone who voted for Bill Clinton the first time, let alone the second time. Maybe that's why I woke up Nov. 5 feeling like a citizen without a country.

If you're a believer in socialism parading as humanitarianism and the Golden Rule, there's no need for you to read on.

Likewise, you can stop here if you happen to believe any criticism of the president-elect stems from racial roots and bias. I could care less about the color or gender of this nation's leader. What I care about is what I perceive their value system, world-view and leadership to be. The voters I know are much the same.

If you believe in capitalism - unfettered competition by which you enjoy the benefits of your own ambition and ability, not corruption and greed masquerading as capitalism - it's impossible to rationalize electing a president whose platform is so diametrically opposed to that.

Just consider some of the issues most pertinent to cattle producers (Obama stance taken from Real Leadership for Rural America, from the Obama Campaign):

Packer ownership - Obama will push for legislation that bans packer ownership of cattle. Though it's always convenient to blame the packers and to rail about captive supplies, countless credible studies continue to support the fact that, on average, the marketplace has remained stronger than it would have if packers, feedlots and producers were limited in deciding how best to produce, manage and market the products in which they assume risk.

Renewable fuels mandate - Obama's all for it. In fact, his campaign says Obama was the only Democratic presidential candidate to co-sponsor and actively campaign to establish the nation's first federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which is now law. According to the Obama campaign, "He and Joe Biden believe it's imperative that Congress adopt the Senate-passed proposal to increase the RFS to 36 billion gals. by 2022. They will seek to surpass these targets and establish a requirement to produce at least 60 billion gals. of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel, by 2030."

Yeah, increased international demand and equity fleeing the financial markets to commodities had plenty to do with the run-up in commodity input costs. But when you effectively establish a price floor to corn prices with ethanol subsidies, you necessarily place one industry at a competitive disadvantage to another.

Forced unionization - It's no secret that unions raised a staggering sum of money in support of Obama. As a Senator, one of the few things Obama accomplished, or voted on for that matter, was co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Among other things, that act would force employers to recognize unionization whenever a majority of employees decided they wanted to unionize.

There's obviously nothing intrinsically wrong with unions, nor the desire of some to be represented by them. Forcing employers and employees into it is another matter, though.

It's also hard to dispute the growing irony, too. Unions supposedly want what's best for workers, more jobs and more pay, yet their demands over time have plenty to do with some of this nation's largest industries standing at the threshold of bankruptcy. Think here of what used to be the nation's Big Three auto manufacturers. Think here of airlines that existed not so long ago.

The list goes on.

My feeling of disenfranchisement has lots less to do with the fact Obama was elected than the realization that only a minority of my fellow countrymen apparently still believe in the tenets upon which this country was founded and built.

Of course, consider that there were 16.4 million fulltime equivalent workers for state and local government, according to the 2007 U.S. Census. Add in the 2.4 million federal employees cited in the 2002 Census (last data available), and you're talking 18.4 million. That's about 13% of the civilian work force (basis 2006 U.S. Census Bureau).

Now consider, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, "Nearly half of all domestic government spending (excluding interest on the federal debt) went to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which accounted for $1.16 trillion. The one-year increase in spending for these three programs was approximately $170 for every person living in the U.S.

"The government spent $739 billion on retirement and disability. Of that amount, 80%, or $594 billion, went to Social Security. Social Security was comprised of retirement insurance payments ($350 billion), survivors insurance ($107 billion), disability insurance ($99 billion) and supplemental security income payments ($38 billion).

"The remaining federal dollars spent on retirement and disability went to civilian government workers' retirements ($59 billion), military retirements ($36 billion) and veterans' benefits ($34 billion)."

The point of all of this being that lots of folks depend heavily and directly on government for all or part of their livelihoods.

This comfort with federal government as savior and provider of all things has reached the point that few seemed to even flinch Nov. 10 when the U.S. government assumed partial ownership of American International Group (AIG), the giant and financially beleaguered insurer. That was in return for another $40 billion in government aid, $150 billion all together.

Seeing the government so publicly taking a stake in a private-sector institution does more than smack of centralization and government control. It should worry anybody who believes in the freedoms that have enabled democracy and, yes, capitalism with its warts and all to flourish in America.

Benjamin Franklin, who knew something about governments flexing their muscles, had this to say: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Wes Ishmael

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