Economics

Barack Obama ran on the slogan “Change You Can Believe In.” Since his administration came to power in January, many Americans and people from all over the world have wondered what those changes will be. Would he be a far left ideologue (he was the most liberal-voting US Senator), would he govern from a center-left position (Bill & Hillary Clinton), or would he form a bi-partisan coalition from both sides of the political spectrum to deal with the nation’s problems (John McCain)?

I have also anxiously watched the moves of the new administration and listened to much commentary on the style and policies of our 44th president. I’ve heard the term “socialist” used to describe the new president. Some have even wondered whether there are “communist” leanings among his appointees and approach to various policies.

Like many of you I’ve been intermittently prayerful, worried, frustrated, burdened, and confused about the road America appears to be taking in 2009. The bad signs include:

• The federal government passing a “stimulus package” that increased our debt by nearly one trillion dollars. It was too much debt that got us into this mess.
• The so-called stimulus package contained over 9,000 pork barrel earmarks–basically paybacks to certain groups and constituencies that voted in our current leaders.
• Certain banks, financial institutions, and now the auto industry have been partially nationalized. Government is becoming the master of some businesses, their profits, even salaries.
• Now we’re about to add a nearly four trillion dollar Federal budget–meaning that in less than one hundred days, Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress will have spent more than all past presidents and Congresses combined. Remember that four trillion dollars is equivalent to spending four million dollars a day since the birth of Jesus Christ.
• Certainly all this out-of-control spending will lead dangerous inflationary pressures, the tanking of the dollar, and maybe even a Depression.

On April 3, 2009, during the G20 summit in Europe, Barack Obama announced, “Let me say this as clearly as I can: America is changing.” What does he mean? What direction does he want to take us?

I think I finally know.

Many years ago I learned during my basketball-playing days that you can’t be effective on offense if you don’t understand the defense you’re up against.  That understanding will dictate your offensive strategy. We the people of faith and commitment to the American Dream must understand what we are up against in 2009 in order to win the battle for our nation and civilization.

We are fighting against an American version of fascism.

Let me explain.

A very prophetic and insightful book was written in 2007–well ahead of the 2008 elections. Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg became a New York Times #1 best-seller. I read it soon after it debuted and marked it up extensively. Though I thought it was a little extreme two years ago, I realize now Goldberg was amazingly prescient about the changes some people wanted to bring to America. Barack Obama, not willing to let “a good crisis go to waste” is now the supreme change agent. The change in the air is moving America from freedom to fascism.

What is fascism? Here’s the Webster’s definition: “a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” Oxford scholar and historian Robert Paxton further explains that “fascism is a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victim hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”

Do Moveon.org, ACORN, or blame-America first community activists come to mind?

Goldberg points out that fascist states like Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany didn’t nationalize all businesses. They just controlled enough private businesses to achieve their social and political ends. Whereas socialism is total control of industry, and communism is complete control at gunpoint, fascism is a milder version of the same philosophy–a “partnership” between government elites and private commerce for the collective purposes of the “common good.” That’s where we’re headed in America today.

Jonah Goldberg states that American fascism has been a long time in the making. Teddy Roosevelt had fascist tendencies; Woodrow Wilson was the first truly fascist American leader. An intellectual, like Obama, he pursued grand visions for global government–the league of Nations which morphed into the UN; Franklin Roosevelt’s New deal was a quantum step forward in government control of private industry; LBJ’s Great Society was the social program format, and even some Republican presidents allowed the tentacles of Big Government to invade private industry under their watch.

Yet, the American version of fascism has a unique face. Goldberg says, “the American fascist tradition is deeply bound up with the effort to “Europeanize” America and give it a “modern” state look that can be harnessed to utopian ends. This American fascism is very different from its European variants because it was moderated by many special factors–geographical size, ethnic diversity, Jeffersonian individualism, a strong liberal tradition, and so on. As a result, America fascism is milder, more friendly, more “maternal” than its foreign counterparts; it is what George Carlin calls “smiley-face-fascism. Nice fascism.”

Goldberg’s book cover shows a smiley face with a Hitler mustache on it. Not very comforting.

It’s important to understand that liberalism, socialism, fascism, and communism are all cousins that are rooted in the same world view–atheism. They are man’s attempt to dethrone God, overthrow individual liberty, and force collective, politically correct behavior through an all powerful State. There are really only have two choices of final authority in a fallen world: under God or under men. Self-government under God brings liberty and prosperity to societies who live in freedom. Man-worship via the State brings bondage and poverty. William Penn said it best, “Men will either be governed by God or ruled by tyrants.”

America is again facing that choice in 2009. Will we restore our republic to being “one nation under God” or will we abandon it to Big Brother because we’re either asleep at the wheel or not willing to stand up and reform our own lives and institutions? American fascism–and maybe global fascism–is arising quickly in the body politic. What are we going to do about it?

We must begin a new American revolution to bring our nation back to God and his ways of liberty. I suggest the following points of action:

1. Commit to pray regularly and fervently for awakening among the people of God and repentance and faith among the nation as a whole. Get involved in the National Day of Prayer in your community–Thursday, May 7, 2009–and other local prayer thrusts.

2. Educate yourself on the threats to liberty that we face. Order Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, and study it well. You can also purchase the latest book on this subject, another #1 book New York Times bestseller, called Tyranny or Liberty by Mark Levin. Mark is a constitutional lawyer and radio host who makes the alternatives as clear as day and night. His book reminds me of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense which so stirred the American colonists to action some 250 years ago.

3. Probably the clearest television thinker on this subject is Glenn Beck on Fox . Glenn is a passionate and funny communicator that tends to extremism at times, but I think he’s got the right approach on this one. His TV ratings are soaring at the moment for good reason.

4. Join a Tea Party being held all over the nation on tax day, April 15th, to peacefully protest the growing government takeover of America. We, the people, need to take a stand for right. It is “right that makes might.”

5. Vote for a change of governmental direction in 2010 (House and Senate) and 2012 (Presidency). We made a terrible wrong turn in 2008. We must elect leaders who believe in God, liberty, and limited government.

Otherwise we will all live under smiley-faced fascism.

The man who won the presidency with a message of faith and hope doesn’t seem to know how to govern by those principles.

If the first month of the Obama administration has any early trademark, it’s that faith (Yes we can!) has been replaced by fear, and hope by the looming shadow of Big Government. This is a stunning turn of events for the man that captivated America with a big smile and rhetorical visions of promise.

It’s also a lousy way to lead–and because of it, the markets continue to lose value, the financial confidence of the business community is teetering, and consumers aren’t spending. For the first time in my lifetime, our nation seems to be losing its economic faith and hope.  This could be disastrous if Barack Obama continues to flail in his leadership. Good Leaders inspire confidence; Poor leaders create fear.

Yes, we understand that Barack Obama inherited a serious recession caused by three major factors:

• Thirty years of liberal over-regulation of the housing market that created the monstrosities of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac and forced other lending institutions to compete with them in selling bad loans to people who couldn’t pay their mortgages. The federal government is the biggest culprit in the current financial shake-up and the world’s largest debtor.
• Some businesses followed the government greed into bad loans and excessive debt.
• Some American consumers bought homes they couldn’t afford, maxed their credit cards to the hilt, and also ran up excessive debts.

So we can’t blame the president for this toxic mix of stupidity, but we can for his early governing response to it. He has done nothing but multiply fear and hopelessness so far.

In a speech last week in Colorado, President Obama, who would like to be known as a 21st century Franklin Roosevelt, did exactly the opposite of his esteemed predecessor. In less than thirty minutes of oratory, he called the current financial recession a “crisis” no less than twenty-six times–promoting fear and unease in the hearts of his listeners.  Wasn’t it FDR who said during the dark days of the Depression and World War II that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?” President Obama seems to think that the only way to get out of this mess is to play the fear card again and again.

Before that, and many other speeches on the subject, came the infamous “Stimulus Bill”–really a  Democratic wish list of social programs, paybacks to unions and other special interests, with a stealth universal health care provision. In the court of public opinion (a dismal 37% approval rating) and the only real polls now being taken–the voting of the financial markets–the “Porkulus Bill” bombed.  It also produced such disdain and loathing that it even elevated CNBC’s Rick Santelli to instant rock star status with his tirade before the Chicago stock exchange on February 20th. Here are his words which echoed the frustrations of a nation:

“The government is promoting bad behavior! We certainly don’t want stimulus pork and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check and think that they ought to save it. And in terms of modifications, I tell you what–I have an idea. The new administration is big on computers and technology. How about this, Mr. President and new administration. Why don’t you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages? Or would they like to at least buy cars, buy a house that is in foreclosure … give it to people who might have a chance to actually prosper down the road and reward people that can carry the water instead of drink the water?”

“This is America! How many people want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgages that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills? Raise your hand! President Obama, are you listening? You know Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they’re driving ‘54 Chevys. It’s time for another tea party. What we are doing in this country will make Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin roll over in their graves.”

Wow. Even former president Bill Clinton was concerned about Barack Obama’s current lack of positive leadership. Clinton said he was glad that President Obama “shot straight with us” about the economic crisis, but added that “Obama should also offer Americans more hope.” Clinton said he would like to hear that Obama “is hopeful and completely convinced we’re gonna come through this.”

Maybe he’s not convinced because he’s either a star-struck rookie still learning how to govern (something he’s never done before), or he just doesn’t have the faith himself. He should take a lesson from the last US president who presided over an economic recession–Ronald Reagan–who guided us steadily out of the malaise of the Jimmy Carter years into the greatest economic boom in history (1982-2007). Here are Reagan’s faith-stirring words:

“Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.”

Another person who understands the place of faith in economics and American history is author and political consultant Doug Simpson who ran my 2006 legislative campaign. In his wonderful book, Looking for America: Re-Discovering the Meaning of Freedom, Doug shares a magnificent perspective on faith and economics, hope and freedom. Here are some of his inspiring words:

• “Faith allows creativity, where fear does not. Faith always finds a new idea to make things better, to grow and multiply. In a word, faith is creation. Fear holds back, shrinks into bitterness and stifles new ideas…Faith loves and believes in the future, where fear covets and can only see the reality that exists in the present.”
• “The secret to the success of capitalism and free enterprise is faith. The secret to the failure of socialism and its children is fear.”
• “Faith cries out and innovates. It believes that even failure can be transformed into success, as long as you get one more shot at it. The key to the success of opportunity has always been faith. Fear cannot see opportunity, therefore it merely prophesies failure and, in the end, guarantees disappointment.”
• “Free market capitalism should be the eighth wonder of the world. It has been the primary economic governing system responsible for creating the wealthiest nation in all of history…Our poor are richer than the rich of the majority of foreign countries…We have produced an endless list of wonders of creation–creation born out of a desire to make life better and receive an achiever’s reward. That is what America is about.”
• “So what do we have that others don’t have? It’s on our money–In God We Trust–Trust means faith…When free market economics are coupled with faith they are an unbeatable combination.”
• “The reason why the free market has worked so well in America is not because we were a Christian nation by label, but because we’ve lived by the principles of Christianity of which the primary characteristic is faith. In other words, the system that we know as capitalism is a faith-based system.”

Let’s pray for President Obama–that he would stop speaking about fear and the need for ever-increasing government and lead us into the light of faith and freedom.  If our president will find his own faith, and lead us back to God, trust, repentance, hard work, liberty, and the economic blessings that follow those principles, then we can begin to believe in him.

And then we can all say, ”Yes We Can!”

Amazing Greed, How Sick the Sound!
That Destroyed a Great Nation Like We
We Once Were Free, But Now We’re Bound
Were Wise, But Now We Bleed

You can mark February 10, 2009 as another infamous date on our national calendar. It ranks with December 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy” when the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor. It will live in our memory like September 11, 2001 when Muslim Jihadists sent three thousand Americans to their deaths.

February 10, 2009 could be remembered as the day America died–socially and economically. It was the day that three hundred foolish American politicians sold the heart and soul of our great nation for a pot of greed. It is a day to weep for our families, children and heritage that has been lost.

On February 10, the American Congress signed into law the “American Recovery and Re-Investment Act of 2009.”  We were told that this bill was “absolutely necessary,” that “something needed to be done,” that it would be a “catastrophe” if we don’t move quickly, and that to delay would be “inexcusable and irresponsible.” With fear tactics reaching all-time highs on Capitol Hill and in the White House, our normally deliberate Senate gave us the worst piece of legislation in American history. The cost of this boondoggle is staggering both in the short term and long run. Could it be the tipping point in America becoming a second class nation?

So many things amaze me about the passage of this bill.

I’m amazed at the brazen greed that is at its core. Let’s be honest: This is not a stimulus bill. Even liberal senator Diane Feinstein admitted that the bill was only 15% stimulus. What it really creates is the Biggest Pork Barrel Project in the history of the world. It’s twenty years of earmarks in one piece of legislation. Basically, our politically ravenous leaders decided to bribe their states and constituencies with goodies–millions for this and billions for that.

I won’t even bother you with the wish list–63% if Americans are already disgusted with it.  Every liberal politician pulled out his or her pet project list, bundled the numbers together, and voila!–nearly a trillion dollars was thrown to the special interests. Pure greed serving “pork sirloins” to secure power. Governments don’t make profits because they can’t create wealth. What they seek is power over people by creating dependence under the illusion of compassion and “leadership.” It’s Big Brother buying votes from his little, unthinking siblings. It’s a crock–fundamentally motivated by a greedy desire for power.

I’m amazed that we are throwing a trillion dollars of debt at solving a problem that is all about debt. It was too much debt that got us into this mess. The US Government was the biggest culprit piling up ten trillion dollars worth of IOUs (before the bailout money)–and that irresponsible behavior led corporate America and individual citizens to follow suit. We said, “If Uncle Sam can live on credit, why can’t we?”  Then the house of cards crashed.

What we really need is to work through the debt crunch by all of us paying down our obligations. When your boat is sinking you don’t fire hose the engine room. You bail like mad to get the water out of the stern. If the federal government, state governments, businesses and individuals got serious about foolish deficit spending this ship could be righted in months, not years. Instead, we could actually sink to the bottom of the economic ocean.

I’m amazed that the housing crisis–the government encouraging bad loans via Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae–which drew many banks and consumers into poor business decisions–is nowhere addressed in this pork barrel fiasco. If the housing collapse is at the center of the current economic recession, you’d think our leaders would be smart enough to aim their legislative powers at the heart of problem. But smart doesn’t seem to be a part of DC politics these days. They’d rather give 400 million dollars to fighting STD’s, 45 million to ATV trails, and 40 million to the National Endowment for the Arts. Maybe they think their “Thousands Points of Earmarks” will trickle down to the hard-working, struggling homeowner.

I’m amazed that this bill bails out the careless spending habits of many state governments. This is nearly 20% of the bill. California has a 16 billion dollar deficit due to reckless politicians. New York’s liberal leaders have overspent by 15 billion dollars. My home state of Washington, due to out-of-control spending, is facing a 6 billion dollar deficit. Other states are in trouble–but the fiscally responsible ones are not. Only 19 governors favor this bill, and guess which ones they are?  They are the governors of the poorly managed states. Instead of forcing the “bad businesses” (states) to change, we’re rewarding them with loot. This is economic marketplace insanity that will not force the bad states to change their ways. Two hallmarks of freedom are the importance of correction and the freedom to fail. If those consequence are removed–you never learn.

I’m amazed that President Obama and other liberal leaders can look us in the eye and say that this bill is about stimulating the economy. It’s equally stunning that the so-called “best financial minds” in the country advising our president are parroting this nonsense. What are all these guys smoking?  The evidence of the past is clear: Government spending does not stimulate growth because it is not focused on the wealth creating sectors of the economy–the entrepreneurs, the small business owners, and the large corporations who actually produce goods & services. The only jobs this bill produces are government jobs and labor union jobs who will be the prime recipients of the government contracts. No wealth is created–it’s transferred to the Government Bureaucracy and its primary cheerleaders, the Democratic Party.

This power grab didn’t help America under FDR or LBJ and won’t help now. We need tax cuts on capital gains, payroll taxes, small business, and corporate rates–and decreasing government spending–to stop the recession and spur economic growth. Democrat JFK applied that remedy and the economy soared in the sixties. Republican Ronald Reagan cut tax rates further and launched a 25 year boom in economic growth (1982 to 2007). Supply side economics work–Keynesian remedies don’t. How can our leaders be so blind?

I’m amazed at the claim that “44% of the bill is about tax cuts.” This is a lie that Barack Obama repeated for nine months on the campaign trail. He said he would give a “tax cut” to 95% of Americans–the so-called middle class. But he wasn’t telling the truth. 45% of all Americans pay no income taxes.  This means that half of the “tax cuts” are simply welfare handouts. Obama is simply buying votes from the lower classes by giving them money. This bill is the Mother of All Welfare State Bills. This type of stimulus sounds good on the surface, but it never translates into private sector-producing jobs.

I stand amazed at the type of leaders we’ve elected to run the United States. Instead of an Alexander Hamilton guiding wise banking policy, we have Barney Frank, an egotistical congressman who ran a gay brothel out of his DC apartment and Timothy Geithner who cheated on four years of taxes; Instead a Sam Rayburn or Henry Clay leading Congress, we have San Francisco madame Nancy Pelosi; Instead of national statesmen like Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams we have Jim McDermitt and Larry Murtha; And for president, instead of choosing a wise businessman like Mitt Romney or a trusted war hero like John McCain, we elected an inexperienced two year senator who speaks well.  When are we going to start electing wise and experienced leaders again?

I’m amazed that 53% of Americans believed that Barack Obama would bring change and bi-partisanship to Washington, D.C. Why would he do so as president when he’s never been bi-partisan in the past? His record was clear. He’s a far left politician who wants to do radical things–and that’s exactly what he’s racing to do in a un leader-like partisan manner. Barack Obama’s definition of bi-partisan means “you change and accept my far left policies.” That’s how he led this first significant policy fight.

Republicans were locked out of the House bill. The twenty US senators who fought for balance and compromise on the Senate bill were told to shut up (”we won”) and sent home. That’s why this bill was supported by only three Republicans out of 535 Congressional leaders (three liberal Rs). There is one silver lining to this disgraceful partisanship: This bill is Obama’s Abomination and the Ds and 3 Rs will be held accountable for it. Mercifully, the next two years cannot be blamed on George W. Bush.

I’m amazed that we’re abandoning our incredible free enterprise system and its accompanying freedoms and blessings for the failed policies of socialism. Socialism, or its political form–communism–have never out-performed free men and woman who dream, create, and work hard to improve life around them. America’s greatness was never found in government power and financial redistribution. It came from free people acting with faith, hard work, strong morals, independence, limited government and unquenchable hope that we the people, not an Omnipotent State, could create a better world for our children and grandchildren. This was the essence of the American Dream. In 2009, President Obama and other liberal politicians are leading us into an American Nightmare where

• faith is replaced by fear and angst
• hard work is discouraged by welfare and government controls
• strong morals give way to immorality and a culture of death
• independence yields to dependency and victim-hood
• limited government is replaced with monstrous government intervention
• and hope is a hollow slogan, not the result of our faith and trust in God

And as Bloomberg Press pointed out yesterday, this is only one trillion of a total of 9.7 trillion in lending programs and guarantees that our government has rolled out over the past nine months. That’s two-thirds the total value of our 2008 gross domestic product. It’s enough money to give $1430 to every man woman and child in the world. It’s almost enough to pay off every mortgage in America. When does the concept of trillions mean something? When our kids and grand kids have to pay it back?

Let’s call this bill what it is: The American Anti-Recovery and Redistribution Act of 2009.  Amazing Greed, How Sick the Sound!

So where do we now turn to right this incredible wrong?

More then ever we need amazing grace from God to save us. It will come when we admit we’ve done wrong, turn from our foolish actions, put our faith in Him and not men, return to his principles in every area of life including economics, and build our individual, family, and national life on the time tested ideals of our magnificent history. Maybe the painful road down will lead us to the upward road of hope and renewal.

God, forgive us for what we’ve done. Lead us to your Amazing Grace.