Obama Citizenship

Senate Pushes America Towards Socialism, 60-38

By Phil

The vote, which officially started at approximately 5:30pm ET, came to a close just before 11:00pm ET tonight after Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) got back from Mansfield, OH after attending a wake for his late mother.

Aside from the fact that this bill has been, thus far, the biggest “stimulus” package America has ever passed (and all indications are that it will expand the scope of the federal government, probably even to unconstitutional lengths), I’m not exactly thrilled to hear that certain Democratic members of Congress have such a poor view of their constituents. This is by no means any way to get honest and true leadership moving in Congress per the majority party.

There has been much debate on this site between those who are for and against this bill. I have received critical comments on my calling it “Porkulus Maximus,” as the term “porkulus” does originate from Rush Limbaugh; however, I attached the qualifier, “Maximus” to this label, as I think it’s pretty clear that this bill absolutely maximizes the number and amount of sheer earmarks being pushed through (here’s a listing of some of them, based on the original bill).

While many commenters are clearly Keynesian in nature, I cannot help but be exceptionally Laissez-faire in my viewpoint, and I suppose that this debate will never be completely decided, as each side believes that some semblance of the other is necessary for its own side to proceed forward.

I hope that Congress and the President are right about this bill. I honestly hope things go well, but I am skeptically doubtful, as I’ve never seen government at any level do anything nearly as well as a fully motivated and entrepreneurial individual — or group thereof — could do.

Ask yourself this, dear reader: Can we trust the Democrats going forward? Are they going to continue to run roughshod over legislative procedure in both Chambers of our national Bicameral Legislature with future bills? Will the minority GOP party be given short shrift by not being aloud to negotiate their interests into future legislation?

I respect the Democrats as being the majority party; I do not yet trust them to adequately lead our nation. Yet, the only way to build trust is to act as leaders and not procedural totalitarians. Yes, they have every right to manage both Chambers as they choose; the real question is, just because you can, does that mean you should act in such an authoritarian fashion?

The great debate — and American experiment in constitutional republicanism — goes on.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on February 13, 2009 (boomark / email).