This column by Thomas J. Borelli, PhD., the editor of FreeEnterpriser.com, takes a look at two companies, Whole Foods and GE, that are, indeed, making politics a core component of their business decisions - with drastic results. The fact that such considerations are contemplated is part of the problem. If government and various elected officials didn't write laws to benefit or harm particular industries/groups, there'd be no need for political considerations in the first place.
I wonder what our Founding Fathers would think of this...
* Patrick Henry is known by most people for his 'Give me liberty or give me death' rallying cry. But do you know what got him so angry as to make such a statement? Samantha Hagan, Director of the Patrick Henry Legacy Program at the Patrick Henry Center, has the background in this column, "Liberty and Gunpowder."
You see, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, seized a town's community supply of gunpowder and ordered the disabling of weapons stored in the public magazine. He did so following his disbanding of what today we'd call a house of representatives and the rallying of the public to Henry as a result of his impassioned speech.
"Patrick Henry demanded the return of the gunpowder, or failing that, he called for compensation to replace the colony’s fleeced supply. Lord Dunmore feared Henry and his men, and from the security of the palace he threatened to destroy the town should any hostilities begin.
For days the standoff continued until a deal was finally brokered in which a sum that both sides agreed upon was paid from the royal account to replace the stolen gunpowder."
Property rights, a core basis of our free nation, were also at the heart of the Revolution.
* From CNSNews.com:
"A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study says that all levels of government – federal, state, and local – will have to come up with a total of $16.6 billion in additional revenue to purchase carbon allowances, if cap-and-trade – to allegedly combat global warming -- is enacted into law. Experts say this could prompt increases in taxes.
This is the second government report to estimate that the proposed climate-change legislation, formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, will eventually cost consumers more.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study published on June 19 revealed that the House cap-and-trade bill, passed by a 219 to 212 vote on June 26, would cost an estimated $175 per household every year."
How much are you willing to pay in additional taxes to *potentially* lower the temperature by a fraction of a degree???
* Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, has this scary perspective on Eric Holder's Hidden Agenda. For a long time, I have been concerned about actions by those in the federal government and the courts that seem to indicate a willingness to subject our sovereign nation to the whims of others. While we have a global economy, we do not (yet) have a global government - and that's a good thing. For the same reason I support states rights, I support the ability of nations to govern themselves. If people in positions of authority in our nation's government are not willing to support our nation's laws over all others, they don't deserve their places in that government. You cannot uphold our Constitution if you're willing to place it below the rules and laws of others.
Again I wonder what our Founding Fathers would think. Would the word 'treason' enter their minds?
* This is sick! Melissa Lafsky, at The Huffington Post, speculates on what Mary Jo Kopechne might think about the life of Sen. Edward Kennedy. She writes:
"Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it."
I think there's something wrong with any individual who would make such a comment. Perhaps I've misunderstood the post, but I find it hard to believe that the Kopechne family would agree - and I'm sure they knew Mary Jo much better than Lafsky.
2 comments:
Maggie,
We know a great deal about how the Founding Fathers felt about States rights, as Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island all ratified the Constitution while stating in their ratification that they were "sovereign states".
Likewise Madison and Jefferson, in authoring the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions respectively declared the supremacy of the States, with the Kentucky resolution stating, "the several states composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that by a compact ... they ... delegated to {that government} certain definite powers, reserving ... the residuary mass of right to their own self-government." (excerpted from "The Real Lincoln" by Thomas J DiLorenzo)
By making/changing laws, tax and regulatory, the government is forcing individuals and companies to make decisions not based on their "enlightened self-interest" but on the laws trying to modify behavior.
I have always thought the left is about control. Some of the "true believers" really think that a few elites can make your life decisions better than you can.
In their ideal world, everyone would work, send all of the fruits of their labor to the central government, which then would dole out what they think we should have.
I go back to the simple truth: The government cannot give you anything that they have not first taken away.
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