The times were dark ones. In some parts of the world communism was taking hold and viewed by some as the future that works. In other regions fascism was gaining in Germany and Italy. In the U.S. President Roosevelt and his administration tried idea after idea to end the Great Depression without success. Despite Roosevelt’s admonition that we only have to fear is fear itself, fear was always at people’s elbows.

The idea that government was the solution, rather than a major part of the problem, can be forgiven those in the 1930s because they didn’t know the outcomes of their actions and the alternatives were seen to be worse. Today, it is no excuse because we have the case study of the Great Depression to demonstrate that all those programs did not end the depression and, arguably, prolonged it.

In his State of the Union address in 1944, Roosevelt introduced a Second Bill of Rights. Much of what was in there has become incorporated and ingrained in our government. The only problem is that these “rights” were not voted on nor ratified, like the original Bill of Rights were. Here is Roosevelt’s list:

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

Americas own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.

For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

Maybe all those meetings with Uncle Joe Stalin rubbed off on him. But looked at in the context of today’s runaway government spending we need to examine some of these concepts and properly put them in the dustbin of history and get back to what made this country great.

The Damage Caused by the Second Bill of Rights

Let’s examine Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights point by point:

1. The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation – Does this mean that I have to provide my neighbor with a job, either directly or through the government or vice versa? What happened to initiative, drive, and motivation. This basically says show up and you are entitled to a job. That is not the American way. Americans have worked hard to get ahead and apply their talents to make a better life for themselves. It is not a right, they earned it.
2. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation — Ah, the vaunted minimum wage. It should be abolished so that any individual is free to negotiate and accept any wage they want in exchange for work. Government should have no power to veto that agreement because government doesn’t think it is good enough.
3. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living — Translation: farm subsidies. Our government pays farmers, many of them large agribusinesses to prop up farm prices. It then turns around and gives out food stamps because farm products are too expensive. The taxpayer gets robbed three ways: 1) paying the farm subsidies to the farmer; 2) paying for food stamps for the poor; 3) paying higher prices for their own food.
4. The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad – Protectionism? Who decides what is unfair? As far as monopolies are concerned we have had anti-trust laws on the books since the Sherman Act in 1890 and the Clayton Act in 1914. What was Roosevelt driving at? It sounds like the proper solution is free trade, which has the government involved as little as possible.
5. The right of every family to a decent home — Uh-oh, here comes Fannie Mae and the housing bubble that is at the root of the current financial crisis. If you want a decent home, save your money and buy one. It is not up to the rest of us to buy one for you, subsidize the purchase, bail out the banks who give you a mortgage you can’t pay back ,etc., etc.
6. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health — ObamaCare! Nationalize one-sixth of the economy and ration health care. It doesn’t take a genius to know that by picking up the paper and reading about more exceptions from the bill and more private companies dumping health care as a benefit, that this disaster must be repealed and replaced.
7. The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment — The great ponzi schemes, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and abusing of unemployment. Unfunded liabilities abound and the Democrat decendents of Roosevelt have no plan and no clue what to do about it. It comes down to personal responsiblity. There should be private insurace available to cover the costs of a catatrophic illness. But everyone should take care of their health and pay for their own annual checkup. Everyone should also save for their own retirement that they own, control, and have freedom to invest it according to their own choices. Unemployment should not be extended indefinitely. Studies have shown that people really become motivated to find a job mainly when their benefits are about to end. When the benefits are extended, the unemployed tend to hold out for a better job to come along.
8. The right to a good education – The concept of a free public education is a good one that should enable all children to become productive citizens, whether or not they can afford it. In the long run we all benefit from an educated work force. But the concept has been destroyed by instead of focusing on the education of the children, the focus has shifted to the welfare of the teachers through tenure, generous public contracts, and a herculean effort to try to remove an incompetent teacher. Switch to opportunity scholarships for every child to be redeemable at any school of their choosing.

Roosevelt did not put his second Bill of Rights in front of Congress for an up or down vote and it wasn’t ratified by the states. What it did was put the growth of the federal government on an unsustainable path. We need to return to those functions that were passed into law and ratified, the specific and limited powers under Article II, Section 8 of the Constitution.

That’s my opinion; I’d like to know yours. Please comment below.

“I always use the word extreme, that’s what the caucus instructed me to do the other week, extreme cuts and all these riders, and Boehner’s in a box but if he supports the Tea Party, there’s inevitably [be] a shutdown.  – Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)

In an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Senator Marco Rubio said:

Every generation has had to confront and solve serious challenges and, because they did, each has left the next better off. Until now.

It brought to mind the movie Generation Zero, that chronicles the origins of the great financial meltdown that we have experienced. In that movie they point to one of the contributing factors the transition in power from those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II to the Baby Boomers, who knew little deprivation in their lives. Now as these boomers, of which I am one, took the reins of power, caution was thrown to the wind.

We are in the midst of a grave situation of out of control spending. Getting it back under control will be hard and it will be painful, but not as hard and painful as it will be if we do nothing. So the Republicans have been battling between cutting a modest amount and a seriously large amount.

The Democrats have been battling to cut nothing. They have no plan. In the last Congress they didn’t even bother to pass a budget. Their plan now is to play partisan politics, and try to demonize the Republicans who are playing the adults in the room. The Democrats are trying to find the right word they can use to extract the most ire from the public against the Republicans. New York Senator and the Democratic Caucus think they have found the word: extreme.

Who is Chuck Schumer

Chuck Schumer is a career politician. He had a very successful high school academic career, he scored a perfect 1600 on the SATs, went to Harvard and then on to Harvard Law School. He has never practiced law. He has never worked in private industry since graduating college.

After graduation, he ran and was elected to the New York State Assembly at the age of 23, becoming the youngest member of that body since Theodore Roosevelt. He served three terms and then ran for the vacated Congressional seat of Elizabeth Holtzman in 1980. He remained a Congressman for eighteen years until deciding to run for the Senate in 1998. He won that election in 1998 and was reelected twice, most recently this past November.

So Chuck Schumer knows how you should live your life, right? He has been living off the tax dollars of his constituents for thirty-seven years and writing the rules for how to live their lives during that time. What happens if Congress does not stop spending? Does Chuck Shumer’s business go bankrupt? No, but yours might. Does Chuck Shumer, get laid off? No, but you might. Does Chuck Schumer feel an impact to his lifestyle? No, but you will. He has made sure that all of the special interests who have helped reelect him are well taken care of and they will surely be there again in 2016.

But you, my fellow Americans, are extreme because we want a government to live within its means, just like the rest of us do. What we need are extreme spending cuts, and if that means Chuck Schumer has to live in the private sector rather than just pander to it, so be it.

That’s my opinion; I’d like to know yours.  Please comment below.

Today Barack Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize in Norway for his accomplishments in the area of …..?  Well, nothing actually.  It was called anticipatory, in other words, he got the prize for what they hoped he would accomplish.  There’s that hope thing again.  I hope he stops burying this country in debt.

TR and Woodrow Wilson

In some puzzling way, President Obama’s acolytes like to make comparisons to two other presidents who won the Nobel Peace prize.  But they actually accomplished something or introduced a concept that eventually prevailed.  In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt successfully negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War, and that peace actually stuck.  Woodrow Wilson created the League of Nations which, although it failed survive, it was the forerunner of the United Nations.  Gentlemen, take a bow.  As for President Obama, I guess we’ll have to keep holding our breath and hoping.

Damaged Goods

However noble, the Nobel Peace Prize might have been, it has been reduced to a sad joke.  Let’s look at some past recipients:

• 2007 – Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  Al Gore won the Peace prize for his deeply flawed documentary, which by the way two members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have called for him to return the Oscars he won  for the same film.  He didn’t win the Nobel Prize in Physics or Chemistry.  Meanwhile the IPCC is embroiled in the midst of Climategate. Who lost out to these two?  A woman who smuggled approximately 2,500 Jews, mostly small children, out of the Warsaw ghetto before the Nazi’s could exterminate them.
• 2005 – Mohamed El Baradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way” .  While investigating Iran El Baradei “opposed the publication of a secret report generated by his own agency, one which indicated Iran was using its civilian program as a cover to make weapons. And why did he oppose publication?” {more}  Do you feel blissfully peaceful now when you ponder Iran?
• 2002 – Jimmy Carter – “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”.  Well he must have gotten tired as he mused about how any opposition to President Obama’s policies being racially motivated for the most part.
• 2001 – The United Nations and Kofi Annan – for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.  It seems they wanted to wait until the UN was nearly irrelevant in world affairs and Kofi Annan’s son was ripping off the UN’s Oil for Food program.  Hmmm, that must have come from the “better organized” part.
• 1994 – Yassir Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin – for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East. How’s that working out?

Notably Absent

So where are the Nobel Peace prizes for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, for ending the Cold War without firing a shot?  That wasn’t just peaceful that was miraculous.  But then again, they were conservatives and therefore they don’t qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize.

$18 Million for This?

$18 million folks, that’s how much the federal government is going to spend to improve the web site that tells us how they are spending the stimulus money. $18 million. They will be spending $9.5 through January, and another $8.5 million through 2014.  I don’t need a calendar nor a calculator to figure out that’s five years from now.  Are they trying to tell us now that this recession is going to last five years?

Stagnant Stimulus

If we remember President Obama and Vice President Biden telling us how urgently we needed the stimulus package and that there was no time to waste to avert a catastrophe.  Right now the unemployment rate with the stimulus is higher than they told us it would be if they did NOTHING.

Less than 10% of the stimulus money has been spent with most of it being transfers to state and local government.  The economy is showing signs of turning around on its own, and I say that because with such a small percentage of the stimulus having been spent it contributed little to the improving conditions.  So naturally, the political class is starting to talk about another stimulus package.  You would almost think that they wanted to drag this out.

Reminiscent of Roosevelt

Through the Great Depression, the steps that Roosevelt took didn’t turn the economy around.  Unemployment remained high until World War II absorbed every able bodied man into the armed forces.  Yet Roosevelt was elected to four terms in office.  Why?  The first three terms were through the Depression.  Although Roosevelt’s policies didn’t work, he knew how to communicate on a personal level.  He held “fireside chats.”  He, through the radio, came into people’s living rooms and soothingly assured them that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.  Trust Roosevelt, he will take care of us, he will see us through.

President Obama’s personal approval ratings continue to fly high, even as the wreckage of almost every campaign promise is strewn around the countryside.  He is certainly likable and his election is historic, but will that be enough to carry him as his inexperience is laid bare at every turn.  But, as the former governor of New York and Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt had executive experience.  Obama brought no executive experience with him.

Czars Aplenty

So who is running the government?  Obama had 16-18 Czars, depending on who is counting, who are not vetted by the Senate like Cabinet Secretaries and a host of other appointees are.  So where are the checks and balances?  Even Robert Byrd is concerned that the may be violating the Constitution.  If this weren’t so serious, you would think it was a pilot for a sitcom.  What aspect of this administration is not out of control?  Let’s hope we can all survive long enough to make it back to the voting booth.