Friday, August 29, 2008

McCain's Easy Rebuttal to Obama

McCain can easily hit back at some of the ridiculous assumptions and claims made by Barak Obama during his convention speech. Obama's entire speech hammered home that Americans, despite our remarkable history, are now unable to achieve the great heights achieved by our forefathers.

Americans today have even more opportunity and support to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Leftists want to tell you that you are not entitled enough. Obama even claims you can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps because you have no boots. Now, how could anybody in this country today be without boots? There are numerous, quality churches throughout this nation that help clothe the naked and feed the hungry, every day of the year. When people fall on hard times, neighbors and friends are there with a helping hand. It is only when people look to these handouts as their source of income do they begin to dry up. This is where the government fails people. It does not have the ability to tell when the need is gone, yet the individual fails to take responsibility for their own existence. This is why welfare should not be a plank in any party's platform. It makes sense to offer short term assistance in unexpected or dire situations. It does not make sense to provide suckling to full grown adults.

Democrats want to measure progress by unemployment and savings rates. But, at the same time, they offer incentives for those who live beyond their income. They want to rescue you from your own decisions; leaving you no opportunity to learn and grow through a process of finding your own solutions. When you remove the consequences from people's actions, you will quickly find that the worst decisions will be the most oft repeated.

Barak Obama has numerous examples of where his forebears and others have fought the hard fight, and come out the victor. These people deserve every ounce of praise they receive. They deserve to have a child that can be a candidate for President of the United States. This is what they fought for. They do not deserve to have thier sacrifice belittled by claiming that it is not a worthwhile endeavor today. We should not stand idly by while we are told that we do not have the fortitude to be able to do as they did. We are not entitled to honor, bravery, strength, or courage. Nobody can bestow these admirable traits upon us. They can only be attained by working the long hours, making the hard decisions, and doing the thankless jobs.

Too many people are asking us to turn our lives over to someone else. They want employees of the government to make the decisions on how we will receive our health care. They want the government workers to decide what is the best course to pursue when it comes to Energy, Transportation, and Housing. They feel that a small group of centralized people can make a better decision than those who are closest to home and the everyday experiences that these decisions will impact. Americans need to consider the effectiveness of ANY single-provider system. When you limit your options to a single provider, the provider no longer has a motivation to provide quality service or affordable prices. Don't let them tell you that this will change. Health Care will become exactly like the electric company that brings power to your house. The only way to change your options will be to move away.

Taxes: Regardless of your feeling on whether tax reductions or tax increases will better fuel the economy, one thing cannot be disputed. Enacting an even greater tax disparity between what is considered rich and what is considered poor will only serve to keep the poor from ever becoming rich. The gap that will have to be overcome, for a middle income family to become a wealthy family, will be widened by the increase in taxes on the "rich". At that point, individuals and families will be faced with the very real possibility that a relatively minor increase in their income will drastically increase their tax burden.

Obama has big plans for our automotive and energy industries. But, how sound are these plans. I'll assume they are more complex than inflating tires and getting regular oil changes. But, how many freedoms do we have to give up for the gains they promise to deliver? Obama wants to put a stop to all decision making that does not fall right in line with his fairness doctrines. Insurance companies cannot discriminate against those who wish to be insured. He means that they will be required to pay for the treatment of ill or injured patients. But, it will also be discrimination if they fail to pay for drunk drivers, illicit drug users, and arsonists? Sen. Obama would like to build a society so full of safety nets that Americans will be entwined in a web of bureacracy at every turn.

Where will the money come from, to fund all of Sen. Obama's big plans? That is easy to answer. It will come directly from the corporations and individuals who are fueling the largest economy in the history of the world. There is no possible alternative economy plan to replace the dollars that will be taken from the personal investments, retirement savings, and research and development accounts. Billions of dollars have been already been poured into the promise of cheap solar energy for over 30 years. What guarantee do we have the Obama can deliver the breakthroughs in alternate energy that he intends to spend an additional 150 Billion Dollars for?

Change does NOT happen because we rise up and demand it. Change happens when we go to work and enact it. Our soldiers entered Afqhanistan and Iraq because we were not getting any results although the United States, alongside the United Nations, demanded change. Our soldiers stepped up to do the job that needed to be done, without demanding a lifetime of security for their service. We will only retain our freedom if we, too, go to work each day and show that we can do more with our personal freedoms than the government can do with its central planning.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Conserve our way out???

There are some obvious facts that the Pelosi types refuse to acknowledge. Americans, and the rest of the world, will continue to use oil. America is literally flooded with oil. And, nobody runs a larger, cleaner economy than the United States of America.

Conservation is a great idea. There is no reason to waste a resource. But, we use oil for more than just refining it into gasoline to put in passenger cars. When you consider jet fuel, diesel fuel for trucking, and cheap plastics, there is no viable alternative to oil. Alternatives may one day be developed, but they are still in their infancy, today.

America has huge deposits of oil, which are easy to tap. Centuries ago, oil seeping to the surface was a pollutant, with little practical use. We have turned this pollutant into a valuable resource. It has reshaped the political scene, providing power to states that have not earned the trust of their constituency. This is the strongest reason for keeping the government's hands out of the pockets of the oil companies. Governments that earn their own income have no need to listen to their citizens. The profits he gleans from the nationalized oil companies is how Hugo Chavez is able to remain in power, against the will of the Venezuelan people.

The only way to release ourselves, and our friends, from the tyranny of countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Russia is to produce our own oil. There is no reason we cannot. This independence in the energy arena will spill over to become strengths for our economy, political muscle, and our options for the future.

No other country should be granted the opportunity to capitalize on America's resources, over and above America's companies. American companies will be able to recover the oil more efficiently than any other country's. Americans will hold themselves to higher standards of ethics and environmental concern than other countries, because we will be the ones directly harmed by any accidents.

The oil is there for our use, and sitting on it just causes our economy and political strength to sink further down the pit that environmentalists have been digging over the last few centuries. America has the ability to quickly and cleanly return to a position of strength and leadership in a world that needs the shining light of Free Enterprise.