So, what if Obama is really, really wrong about the big stuff like energy, education, the economy, the environment, taxes, spending and health care? We are currently blazing a political path into parts unknown, and millions are lined up wearing smiley faces for the long march.
What am I talking about? OK, one at a time now.
Energy: Obama wants Americans to use less of it, and he wants to tax it to the tune of more than a thousand dollars per family per year. This is a recipe for human disaster on a massive scale. The dividing line between the depths of the dark ages and the bright heights of human progress is drawn by access to affordable and abundant supplies of energy.
It still costs more to generate energy from wind and solar than it's worth. Ronald Reagan reputedly summed up Washington, D.C.'s, guiding economic principle: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it." This also sums up Obama's energy policy.
Wind and solar enthusiasts urge us to embrace these "alternative" energy sources. Alternative to what? Profits? Well, yes, but also alternative to meeting the economic needs of the world's poorest people. The only energy supplies that are currently both affordable and abundant are the carbon-based big three -- oil, coal and natural gas. Nuclear provides the real alternative answer. Obama is against all four.
Education: Why does President Obama refuse to support the Washington, D.C.,
The economy: After capping executive pay, bullying General Motors to accept government terms coddling the union demands that bankrupted the company in the first place, bailing out ne'er-do-wells across the land, castigating the entrepreneurs and capitalists who power economic growth as greed-mongers and calling communist Hugo Chavez "mi amigo," it is clear that in his heart Obama is anti-market. Historically, politically and culturally, anti-market forces are prone to tyranny, repression and all forms of human suffering.
That Obama is a family man and appears to be a nice guy is small comfort. Markets make the world go ‘round. Stop them, hinder them, impede them, punish them, and you also stop, hinder, impede and punish human progress, hope, wealth-generation and peace.
The environment: Just imagine if the human-caused-global-warming theory isn't true. Then what? Not only will an entire generation of American school children graduate with brains crammed with entirely useless propaganda and no real science, but we will have subjected our nation to a U.N. energy-rationing scheme which points us toward poverty and away from progress.
The real issue is not the environment. If it were, an honest Obama would celebrate the increasing population of polar bears and the expanding U.S. forests instead of scaring up disaster stories as covers of Al Gore's greatest hits. The real issue is a nexus of the first three -- limiting energy supplies, limiting choice and limiting economic incentives, all in the name of protecting the environment. Of course, it doesn't come out very well if protecting the environment means lessening the opportunities of people seeking better economic and educational lives. This is not a small concern.
Taxes and spending: On this one, it's hard to know where to start. Michael Jackson died a half-billion dollars in debt. This was after three-quarters of a billion albums sold, so when all was said and done, Michael Jackson was in the hole almost 67 cents per album. Out-of-hand spending overcame the King of Pop, but it apparently has no negative effect on the mind of Obama, whose unprecedented spending spree has already tripled the total deficits of the Bush years.
Printing money to keep up with the dearth of real revenues to cover his binges, the president seems to have faith that this will be the first time in history that overheated printed presses won't drive up inflation and interest rates. If you voted for hope and change, you really need it now. Obama's tax-and-spend program necessitates a hope that the basic laws of economics will change, just for him. I wouldn't bet on it.
Finally, health care: We're kidding about a "government solution" to the "health care crisis," right? The approach that got us something like $50 trillion in unfunded entitlements via Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is now going to suddenly save money and expand choice and efficiency across nearly a fifth of the economy?
The initial price tag for Obama's brand of "health care reform" comes in somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 trillion. As it spirals up, there will be no way to pay for it. There's no way to pay for it now. With bureaucratic health care cost controls in place, the government next needs to become concerned with how many pepperonis are on your Friday night pizza. And your Tuesday night pizza, if the health czar let's you have that one.
Doesn't this sound fun? Here's your smiley face. Keep on marching.
Matt Kinnaman of Lee writes his column every week for the Transcript. Feedback is welcome.
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