Pure chicanery, is the argument that D. Rand Hillier asserts in his Aug. 9 letter to the editor (online). In it, he insisted that Obama’s change is just what we looked for and got. Yes, maybe for the uninformed sheeple, but not for anyone who is paying attention to history.
He criticizes conservatives for insisting that, “No one can list a car company, an insurance company, a hospital, or a physician’s practice that the government has taken over.” According to a Wall Street Journal article from June, 2009, Obama (taxpayers) plopped down $62 billion for the General Motors bankruptcy.
At the direction of the federal government, seventeen factories and parts centers were closed. The article referred to this action as a ‘government-orchestrated shrinkage’. This plan swindled stockholders by giving them only 10% of the new GM, but 17.5% went to the United Auto Workers union. In essence, the feds own GM. Out of the 6,000 GM dealerships nation-wide, close to a thousand were shut down by the White House, resulting in 100,000 jobs lost. At this corporate level, such interventions by the federal government can only be regarded as totalitarianism.
Student loans will be available only through the U.S. Government, according to language written into the new Obama health care bill. Presently, student loans are made through private banks throughout the U.S. But after Obama’s health care package is implemented, banks will be forced to eliminate hundreds of jobs that support the student loan programs. The Congressional Budget Office states this plan will save the taxpayer $67 billion, but the bill itself has a price tag of $77 billion.
A June 2 Los Angeles Times article stated the Obama administration has launched an internal study designed to create a rescue plan for the nation’s print media. Questions automatically sound: Government helping the press? In return for what? The Federal Trade Commission’s recent study titled “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism”, suggests the feds have no business choosing which divisions of private media will benefit from Obama’s intervention and a big dose of ‘Chicago Style Democratic Strategies’.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) indicates 290 banks have failed in the U.S. since October 1, 2000. Only 27 of those were listed prior to Obama’s election. His administration shut down these banks and took control of their assets.
Aren’t we supposed to be living in a free market society? This has always been our culture. I, and millions of real Americans like me, will ensure this continues. Article 4, Section 4 of the United States Constitution states: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…” Yes, Republican. Not Democrat. And the Obama Administration has no business using taxpayer money to bail out any corporate entities just like it has no business bailing out the mom and pop hardware store in town that did a bad job of managing overhead.
There’s no other way of explaining how some people react to our current President and his administration. Like Chris Matthews from MSNBC, who described his feeling of “a thrill ran up his leg” on national television as he described simply listening to Obama speak. Or Evan Thomas, Editor of Newsweek Magazine, who in June 2009 on MSNBC, actually referred to Obama as ‘God’. These and others don’t seem to be able to recognize the ‘bait and switch’ tactics of this administration, much less question why the extent of ‘change’ was never really described during Obama’s campaign.
For many Americans, there are countless other issues and disturbing aberrations that continue to proceed from this administration. I place my faith in God, and the next election to be the process of purging the country of this inept and brash politburo.
Barry Clemons
Poulsbo
