Atlas Shrugged - The Prequel

One of the reasons I started this blog was the frustration I felt see letter after letter rejected by the local newspapers. So, while some of the next few posts may be dated by a few months, I think there messages are as timely today as the day I pecked them out on my keyboard. Enjoy...

Atlas Shrugged - The Prequel (12/6/08)

For those of you grasping for an understanding of the tumultuous and seemingly contradictory times in which we live as 2008 draws to an end, the answer is much closer than you may be willing to admit.

We are writing the unwritten story that is the prequel to Ayn Rand’s 51-year old apocalyptic epic Atlas Shrugged.

As Rand taught in Atlas Shrugged, contradictions cannot exist. As Rand writes, “A is A”, “A cannot be not-A”. We can claim that ‘A is not-A’ but saying so does not make it true. To claim “A is not-A” is simply a lie – the language of idiots, brutes and tyrants – not the language of free, honest men and women.

The government tells us that if we take money from those who produce the most and give the money to those who produce the least (in other words, the “Stimulus Package” of 2008) then our problems will go away. Of course, as we know, the “Stimulus Package” did not “work”, because of the moral contradiction inherent, but unchallenged, in its premise.

A society does not create wealth through consumption; it creates wealth through production. Our government fed us the unchallenged lie that we can consume our way into prosperity. When in the history of the planet has a society ever consumed its way into prosperity?

The other contradiction in the original stimulus package is the definition of what defines “success”. What was the desired effect of the “Stimulus Package”? To consume our way into prosperity? We know that to be false. No, the true purpose of the “Stimulus Package” was for those in power to take money from a group of people that has few votes and give that ill-taken loot to a group of people that has more votes.

When viewed within this context, there is no contradiction. Our politicians took, at the point of a gun, earned money from those who produce most and gave this unearned loot to those who produce least (or not at all) to buy their votes. There is no other explanation that does not contain a contradiction.

The initial “Stimulus Package” is all the more sinister due to its secondary and tertiary effects. First, the precedent is set that the government possesses the power and moral right to take (at the point of a gun) earned income from one American and give it to another. Obama said, “it’s a good thing to spread the wealth around”.

Less than a year after the first “Stimulus Package” our politicians are tripping over each other to give the money earned by one to anyone with a tin cup (the bigger the tin cup, the better).

Secondly, the government looters demand the fruit of production but vilify those who produce it. Who are the greatest “villains” in the eyes of the government, media, and, I dare say, Americans under the age of 25? Big Oil and Big Pharmacy. We demand oil products and miracle drugs like crack addicts and then crucify the CEO’s of the companies that produce the products we demand most in sham kangaroo courts called Congressional hearings. Do we not see the contradiction here?

The Big Three auto manufactures, with their $34B tin cup, make good cars (and to argue otherwise is immaterial) but do so at a price that Americans have been unwilling to pay.

Congress, this week, entertained placing further demands, at the point of a gun, upon my money to force a purchase of automobiles from Detroit that I refused to buy in the free market. Upon what legal or moral basis do we allow this?

Pelosi, Reid et al will claim that the Big 3 situation represents a potential calamity for all Americans if the Big 3 are allowed to fail. It is a lie. The political class is willing to give my money to the Big 3 in order to pander to the unions and to provide a quid pro quo for political contributions. There is no other conclusion that does not contain a contradiction.

18 months from now, the failed economic policy of wealth re-distribution that we are witnessing today will have only accelerated the destruction of the freedom of honest Americans.

Pockets of violence will crop-up as frustration devolves into despair. A new special police force will be established due to the “temporary emergency conditions” and firearms will be banned “for the public good during these trying times.” High profile cases of “greed” will be brought, not before rump Congressional Hearings but in front of Federal District Courts.

Production levels will drop precipitously as we continue the policy of consumption vs production and continue to vilify those who produce most. We will tax the biggest producers at unheard of levels “due to these temporary emergency conditions” and because the highest producers “don’t need” money nearly as much as the useless.

At least 52% of Americans believe that they are entitled to that which they have not earned. Until we have at least 50% of voting Americans stand up and say, “I am entitled to no more than that which I can produce as valued by those who would pay money for my products”, then there should be no mystery as to where America is headed. Ayn Rand documented that journey in 1957.

Craig Powers

Voices of the Apocalypse

"I didn't come here to be partisan, I didn't come here to be bipartisan. I came here, as did my colleagues, to be non-partisan, to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest."

-- Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Speaker of the House, 1/29/09

"When you can't win on policy, you always turn to process, and then you turn to personalities."

-- Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Speaker of the House, 1/29/09

"There's a pattern here of Republican economic mismanagement and Democrats stepping up to do what's needed for the good of the country while Republicans acted in a partisan and irresponsible manner."

-- Brendan Daly, Speaker Pelosi's top spokesman, in a memo handed to reporters 1/29/09

"And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."

-- President Barrack Obama in an Op Ed in the Washington Post, 2/5/09

"So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point. No, seriously. That's the point."

-- President Barack Obama, 2/5/09 speaking to a House democratic retreat

"...if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold."

-- President Barack Obama, 2/7/09

"But at the end of the day, we are passing a bold and responsible plan that will help our economy get back on its feet, put people to work ad put more money in their pockets."

-- Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) Senate Majority Leader 2/7/09

"Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now."

-- President Barack Obama, 2/7/09

Obama ratchets up the rhetoric on stimulus plan, AP, 2/6/09

One Cannot Compromise with Evil

To live and love life, one must live rationally. Lies and deception are the enemies of life. Lies and deception are the stock of death. Life cannot compromise with death. Nectar cannot compromise with poison.

The "porkulus" package that Obama is pushing, like a five year old holding his breath until he gets his way, is evil. It is the most singular violation of that which we hold dear as Americans - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Americans in general, and Republicans in particular, would do well to continue to their resistance to this offensive redistribution of wealth. They should resist not because of their assessment of its utter lack of efficacy, although that is a sufficient argument. Instead, Americans should resist this bill because it is evil. We should never compromise with evil. We should never compromise with death.

Some good reading around the web... enjoy and keep fighting.

The Stimulus Tragedy, The Wall Street Journal 2/6/09 Review & Outlook

Bracing Ourselves, Peggy Noonan, 2/6/09

Pelosi dismisses bipartisanship calls, Politico, 2/6/09

Capitalism Should Return to Its Roots, Carl Icahn, 2/7/09

The What and How of Obama, Kimberley Strassel 2/6/09



Harry Reid Admits Stimulus Bill "Approaching A Trillion Dollars"

Stimulus Package - Who Gets What

The Wall Street Journal featured a neat little gizmo in its on-line edition today (1/28) that showed the distribution by state of the planned pork in the gazillion dollar "stimulus" package being voted on today.

"Winners" and "Losers" (we're all losers if we allow the Dems to get away with this robbery) by major category (in terms of per capita spending):

Aide to states: Highest Utah ($225.64 per capita) Lowest Florida ($193.51 per capita)

School and College Modernization: Highest DC ($118.49 per capita) Lowest Nevada ($43.59) per capita

Job Training: Highest Michigan ($20.07 per capita) Lowest Virginia ($5.06 per capita)

Transportation / Infrastructure: Highest DC ($634.88 per capita) Lowest N. Carolina ($108.02 per capita)

Other tidbits from this data...

$15.2 Billion to California; $10.1 Billion to Texas; 0.5 Billion to New Hampshire; $6.6 Billion to Florida...

Read more here...

Also, if your stomach isn't already turning, read the Wall Street Journal's Review & Outlook piece this morning about what is contained, in what it described as "A 40-Year Wish List"

Odds N Ends

The AP reported today that former President Bill Clinton earned nearly $6 million in speaking fees last year, almost all of it from foreign companies, according to financial documents filed by his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. So, tell me again, Secretary Clinton why there is no potential conflict of interest. Exactly how much does Bill need to earn from foreign companies and governments before there is a conflict of interest?
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Kudos to Rep. Mike Pence (R - Indiana, 6th District) for calling the House Democrats (the Pelosi rouge) in today's meeting with President Obama for their attempt to appear to be engaging Republicans in honest, bi-partisan discussions regarding the proper path for the government to take vis a vis the economic mess, when in fact the Pelosi-nistas are ram-rodding through the same old, worn-out, liberal agenda. Rep Pence, in a statement released on his website, asked:

“What does $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $200 million to plant sod on the National Mall, $400 million for climate change research, and $200 million for contraception have to do with creating jobs?"

The Democrat bill won't stimulate anything but more government and more debt. The slow and wasteful spending in the House Democrat bill is a disservice to millions of Americans who want to see this Congress take immediate action to get this economy moving again.

“House Republicans have a better solution. By enacting the Republican plan for fast-acting tax relief for working families and small businesses the American people will see immediate results that will put our nation on the road to recovery.”

House Republicans would do well to close-ranks tonight and vow to vote down any such pork fest and force Democrats to take responsibility for, this socialist country-killing bill, that Michelle Malkin has appropriately called The Generational Theft Act of 2009. Remember, the socialists in public now have no interest in controlling the means of production. Instead they look to control the fruits of production. Power is consolidated by taking from producers who are shamed into giving-up that which they have fairly earned and giving it to those non-producers whose votes can be bought.

Mike Pence is one of our country's leaders willing to stand in the face of the Liberal Storm, protected only by the strength of his convictions. Notice when Congressman Pence speaks and then watch, say, Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi and compare their composure and confidence. Congressman Pence shows no guilt, no pain, no remorse and no doubt. While each of us is entitled to his / her own opinion, we are not entitled to our own facts. A is A. A is not not-A. Saying that extorting hundreds of millions of our money to fund pet liberal projects will stimulate jobs will not make it so, no matter how urgently liberals want to believe it will. No matter how much they want to believe that A is not-A, liberals will never look you in the eye and say it is so. Mike Pence has no such worries. He is right and knows it. As Americans we owe it to House Republicans to fight the monster that is growing in Washington...
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The sound of Evil

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, explained on Sunday (1/25) how funding hundreds of millions of dollars for family planning (aka abortion planning and execution and condom hand-outs) is, not only a proper role for government but, a compelling and urgent part of the stimulus package. To suggest that Madam Speaker, behind only the Vice President in the succession to the presidency (scared yet?), was disingenuous or somehow uniformed about this incredibly offensive and inappropriate step (each of us will have another buck taken out of our wallets to pay for this)is giving her a free pass, one she has not earned. Click on the You Tube below and listen to the sound of evil.




Some priceless Pelosinomics:

Well, the family-planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now, and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those—one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

We have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy. Food stamps, unemployment insurance, some of the initiatives you just mentioned. What the economists have told us from right to left: There is more bang for the buck, a term they use, by investing in food stamps and in unemployment insurance than in any tax cut.



Check-out the outrage across our country with the links below. I plan on asking my Congressman if he agrees with Speaker Pelosi's priorities.

Also, given the urgency with which Madam Speaker has said we need to address that portion of the economic crisis that finds itself in not having enough condoms to hand out, I intend, and I invite all patrons of Hugh Aktson's Diner to send Madam Speaker a condom in the mail. Perhaps an outpouring of support will provide the prophylactic timulus our economy needs. Madam's address is:

Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

If, instead you would like to send Madam Pelosi an email detailing your outrage at her purposeful wasting of taxpayer money by using the immediate crisis as an excuse to advance her far-Left agenda, then click here. No free passes. Hold her accountable.


Pelosi: Free Condoms And Food Stamps Better for Economy than Food Stamps

Capital Commerce by James Pethokoukis: Pelosi: Contraception is Good Stimulus for the Economy

Fox News Blogs by Andrea Tantaros: Show me the Economist Who Says We're in a Crisis Because of a Birth Control Shortage