Each morning over coffee,
I skim the Drudge Report and then, more often than
not, I walk out to the corral and bang my head
against a railroad tie. The repetitive pounding
conditions me for the upcoming 2011 Montana
legislative session. To progressives, and we are
surrounded by them, every societal problem could be
solved with just a little more government power, tax
money and regulation. Do you need proof?
For clarity’s sake, let’s ignore that fact 18
million stimulus dollars were sent to dead people
and 4.3 million went to consumers who were in
prison. (If you didn’t receive a $250 check it is
probably because you are either alive, or not
incarcerated. Do you feel better?) Also, please
disregard the $4.6 million wasted, I mean invested,
on a horse bridge over Route 24 of the Blue Hills
Reservation in Massachusetts. Since almost 50 horses
actually use the bridge, spending $92,000 per horse
could seem wasteful, but instead of fretting, be
thankful for the good intentions of the progressive
ruling class who generously gave us these stimulus
plans. The results of this reckless spending is in
and with our national unemployment rate solidly
above 9.5 percent for a record breaking 14
consecutive months, plus the number of Americans
receiving food stamps hit a record 41.8 million, the
data is clear; their policies have failed and
something must change. Blind to reality, the left is
offering the wondrous solution of…even more
government. It’s called resuscitation by regulation.
Just last week, a committee of the progressive San
Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 to prohibit
toys in Happy Meals unless accompanied by healthy
fruits and vegetables. On the opposite coast, New
York Governor Patterson (D) and New York City Mayor
Bloomberg (R) joined together to request the USDA
ban the use of food stamps to purchase sugary
drinks. (The party designation demonstrates
progressive ignorance can be a bipartisan disorder;
voters better learn the core values of candidates
for public office or they will be bankrupted by
progressive good intentions.)
Bureaucrats are also advocates of mindless
regulation and October 8th, US Transportation Sec.
Ray LaHood urged a national ban on all driver phone
use in all 50 states. The state run media love this
idea so recently, when a city cell phone ban was
implemented in Billings, Montana, our progressive
state paper ran a news story explaining how the new
ban actually stimulated the economy by forcing
residents to purchase hands-free devices. (Billings
Gazette, 10-3-10). This wasn’t satire my fellow
patriots, they were serious.
I apologize if my columns seem redundant, but the
progressive regulatory attack is incessant and
ubiquitous. There is absolutely no difference
between liberals of the Treasure State, Golden State
or Empire State. Their thought progress, or lack of
it, is the same. Ronald Reagan explained it best
when he said “The trouble with our liberal
(progressive) friends is not that they are ignorant;
it is that so much of what they know to be true,
just isn’t so.” Care to borrow my railroad tie?
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