michaelmedved.townhall.com...
Posted by: Michael Medved at 5:56 PM
Some conservative activists, despairing (prematurely) about the chances for victory on November 4th, argue that an Obama win could be a blessing in
disguise. According to this logic, The One would occupy the White House for only One term and whatever big government, liberal programs he managed to
enact could be swiftly repealed by some future "true conservative" champion.
Yes, it’s true that some changes by liberal presidents can be erased by future conservatives – for instance, George W. Bush cut the top marginal
tax rate to 35%, after it had risen to 39.6% under Clinton (it’s sure to go back up to the Clinton rate – or higher – under Obama). Yes, the
President and Congress tinker endlessly with details of the tax system or the levels of appropriation or regulation so that the growth in government
and spending under President Obama could be adjusted after his departure, if not reversed.
But conservatives need to face the fact that Barack Obama has promised profound systemic changes that will be irreversible—absolutely permanent
alterations of our economy and government where there is no chance at all that Republican office-holders of the future could in any way repair the
damage.
For instance, consider two sweeping new entitlements that Obama plans to offer for all Americans – universal (but, he insists, “voluntary”)
federally-funded pre-school for all children starting at age three, and a low-cost, heavily subsidized federal health insurance plan for every low or
middle income American who wants it.
A President Obama would no doubt promote such proposals in his first year in office and a compliant, heavily-Democratic Congress would approve them
promptly—perhaps making the benefits even more generous. This means that before the next election, tens of millions (probably hundreds of millions)
of American families will take advantage of “free” pre-kindergarten education (and day care), as well as cheap, subsidized (to the tune of at
least $160 billion per year) health insurance. The chances of ever taking away such goodies are nil --- Presidents may come and go, but entitlements
are forever. New government give-aways may accomplish nothing constructive but they’re all but impossible to eliminate once they’re up and
running.
Consider Jimmy Carter’s horribly misguided establishment of two vast new cabinet level departments --- the Department of Education and the
Department of Energy. When the indignant public swept out of office the worst president of modern times, Reagan took the White House with talk of
eliminating one or both of these two wasteful bureaucracies. Even the Great Gipper failed in this endeavor, and the Departments of Energy and
Education continue to soak up hundreds of billions of tax dollars and to employ tens of thousands, despite their abject failure at improving either
public education or our energy supplies.
Obama’s new entitlements will similarly survive all attempts to eliminate them. If he becomes President we’ll be permanently stuck not just with
federal pre-school and a subsidized health insurance guarantee (Obama described it as a “right” in the last debate), but with a $4,000 annual
check (a so-called “refundable tax credit”) to all “non-wealthy” college students, a doubling of the Peace Corps, vast increases in
AmeriCorps, new billions for “National Service,” a tripling of the foreign aid budget (a specific Obama promise) and much, much more. For those
who believe it’s easy to reduce or erase such spending in future administrations, consider the example of Bill Clinton’s cherished “service
program” AmeriCorps (which pays its “volunteers” close to $30,000 a year). Gingrich, George W. Bush and countless other conservatives recognize
that this is a wasteful, crooked, outrageous effort to use taxpayer money to fund leftist activism, but even when the GOP controlled all levers of
government they made no progress in slaughtering the monster.
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I just posted the first few paragraphs of the article. It's a pretty good read on what may be coming if Obama-mania sweeps the nation.
And don't underestimate the SCOTUS appointments. These are UNELECTED, UNACCOUNTABLE judges who, through the system of checks and balances, are far
more powerful than most think.