Scott Brown’s election has terrified the left in Washington. Good. Will they learn from it at all?
Nope.
David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s 2008 Campaign Manager, wrote in the Washington Post yesterday, “we are trying to boost the economy in the short term while also doing the long-term work on health care, energy, education and financial reform that will lay a strong foundation for decades to come.” That long term work no doubt includes much, much more government in your life.
The President, who hasn’t done a traditional press conference since last July and may never do one again, took Tuesday’s election set-back as a call for new taxes and a reorganization of Wall Street. I can’t for the life of me figure out how disfiguring Wall Street will lead to more jobs in America. Stocks of course dived on the news.
I’ll put forth that it is Mr. Obama’s tone deafness and willingness to punish private industry, a la Hugo Chavez, that has the markets rattled, not the Obama plan itself. By pivoting from heath care to Wall Street, without accepting that Americans didn’t like much of his health care plan, Mr. Obama is walking a dangerous line. At some point blaming Wall Street and George Bush will not only be stale, it already is, it will look pathetic. To make matters worse Mr. Obama left out the union-controlled auto industry and government owned AIG from his call for new punitive taxes and regulation.
As has been repeated ad nauseum this last week, Bill Clinton wisely moved to the center, where most Americans live, after 1994. I’ll add this column to that chorus. Articles by Mr. Plouffe and others, however, indicate this will not be the case. The Democrats look set to dig in their heels and continue to push this country leftward.
More government means more power for Democrats, I get that. That fact alone may prohibit a move to the center for team Obama. The problem is that if we have much more government this society will be a ghost of its former self.
Chillingly, if current trends continue, at some point more than 50% of U.S. workers will be in the employ, directly or indirectly, of the government. Add in the number of people on the government dole and private sector workers will be vastly outnumbered. The purpose of private industry and private endeavors at that point will be to serve government, not the other way around. What will America look like then?
Scott Brown’s election may not lead to the course correction we all hoped for. America can do better. I hope someone gets this through the collective thick head of the power mad Democrats. I won’t hold my breath.
Related posts:
- Democrats: A Case of Projection
- Democrats Play Politics With Payroll Tax
- Democrats Outfox Republicans Again
John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
