AMERICAN CONSERVATISM IN 2008 AND BEYOND

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19858&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
John Maynard Keynes, R.I.P.
The basic Keynesian stimulus argument goes something like this: If the federal government engages in deficit spending during a recession, the added government expenditures (unaccompanied by tax increases) will boost "aggregate demand." Greater federal spending on a road, for instance, will create jobs for construction workers, who can then spend their additional income on, say, bread. Bakers now will have more to spend on, say, cars and so on, says Richard B. McKenzie, a professor in the Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine.

National income stimulated by the initial government road project can grow by some multiple of the expenditure, Keynes' theory says. A stimulus package (and budget deficit) of $1 trillion would morph into a minimum of $1.5 trillion in additional national income -- maybe even into $4 trillion or $10 trillion.

But if it sounds too good to be true, it is, says McKenzie.

If such income growth were possible, the country would be awash in prosperity, given that the federal government increased the national debt by $1.88 trillion in fiscal 2009 and could run deficits of $1.6 trillion and $1.3 trillion in fiscal 2010 and 2011, respectively.
Between 2012 and 2015 it will add at least another $3 trillion to the national debt.
As economist Milton Friedman observed, when the government engages in deficit spending, it must borrow the extra funds from someone who could have spent them on private-sector projects. Thus, an increase in government spending could be totally offset by a decrease in private spending, as lendable funds are diverted from private to government uses. The net effect can be no net increase in aggregate demand -- and no multiplier effect. Indeed, with the inevitable waste in government stimulus projects, the multiplier effect could as easily be negative as positive, says McKenzie.

Source: Richard B. McKenzie, "John Maynard Keynes, R.I.P.," Freeman, October 2010.

The Contract from America
We, the undersigned, call upon those seeking to represent us in public office to sign the Contract from America and by doing so commit to support each of its agenda items, work to bring each agenda item to a vote during the first year, and pledge to advocate on behalf of individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom.

Individual Liberty
Our moral, political, and economic liberties are inherent, not granted by our government. It is essential to the practice of these liberties that we be free from restriction over our peaceful political expression and free from excessive control over our economic choices.

Limited Government
The purpose of our government is to exercise only those limited powers that have been relinquished to it by the people, chief among these being the protection of our liberties by administering justice and ensuring our safety from threats arising inside or outside our country’s sovereign borders. When our government ventures beyond these functions and attempts to increase its power over the marketplace and the economic decisions of individuals, our liberties are diminished and the probability of corruption, internal strife, economic depression, and poverty increases.

Economic Freedom
The most powerful, proven instrument of material and social progress is the free market. The market economy, driven by the accumulated expressions of individual economic choices, is the only economic system that preserves and enhances individual liberty. Any other economic system, regardless of its intended pragmatic benefits, undermines our fundamental rights as free people.

Nowhere in the Constitution has the President, the Congress, or the Judiciary been granted the power to transfer private property from those who lawfully earned it to those who have not lawfully earned it.

okie wrote:

I think it might be cowardice, because I think he might be realizing that his position on this issue of left vs right is leading to a situation of being boxed in and unable to win the debate. I think he might be realizing that his opinions are losing out to the reality of the facts, especially when he realized how dumb his statement about there being left and right facsists really was, and he doesn't want to have to defend his own statements.

Either, okie, you are really stupid or you can't read.
Just do try, please, to find some books and have a look ... not at them, but read them.
You'll then notice that there are a few who have written about left-Fascism, like Habermas, Horowitz, Wollin, Arendt and perhaps a few more.
(If you could read German, not the English translations only, you'll find some interesting definitions by a couple of German communists and Social-Democrats as well.)
To call someone coward to just follows an academic, worldwide way of interpreting fixed political and historical terms - that's hurtful.
But perhaps, it's just another sign of .... whatever is wrong with you.

www.SupportTCC.org
Under the Constitution of the USA, the federal government is supposed to be
a government of specifically enumerated powers. The 10th Amendment states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

COMMANDERING THE STATE LEGISLATURES
ObamaCare requires the states to pay for part of the program – which is part of the budget trickery, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid used to make ObamaCare appear less costly than it actually is.

FORCING CITIZENS TO BUY A PRODUCT
ObamaCare forces citizens, under penalty of the law, to purchase health insurance. This provisdion is antithetical to liberty.

FRAUDULENT BUDGET NUMBERS
To secure passage of ObamaCare, it was necessary to put out fraudulent budget numbers to the American people concerning its likely cost.

UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROPERTY SEIZURES
Not satisfied with placing banks, insurance companies, and the car industry under federal control, President Obama is now preparing to seize huge tracts of land throughout the American West.

REFUSING TO ENFORCE THE LAW ON UNION ACCOUNTABILITY
Labor unions in America receive special favored treatment under the law. You can’t work in some states without being a member of a labor union, which requires members to pay dues to the labor union. In return for this special favored status in American law, labor unions are supposed to itemize and report their expenses.

But the Obama Administration has openly announced it will no longer enforce these disclosure requirements

REFUSING TO ENFORCE THE LAW CONCERNING HOMOSEXUALS IN THE MILITARY
On March 25, 2010, the Obama administration announced that it would no longer enforce the 1993 law (Section 654, Title 10, U.S.C.), which states that homosexuals are not eligible for military service.

PROSPECTS FOR IMPEACHMENT
There is every indication that the American people are alarmed by wholesale destruction of our Constitutional Republic they see taking place right now by President Obama and this Congress. So we will have a brand new Congress after November 2, 2010 – hopefully one that has a greater appreciation for America’s heritage of liberty.

Yes, the Supreme Court has upheld this exact point on several occasions. But the Supreme Court is not granted the power by the Constitution to amend or legislate the Constitution.

okie, You're not interested in what Walter has to say; you have already made up your mind about politics, and that will never change - in a million years.

ican, You wouldn't know "abuse of power" if you faced it face-to-face. GW Bush broke not only domestic but international laws. Let us count the ways in how GW Bush "abused his power?"