The further our country moves to the Left, the more glaring some of the problems with Leftist ideology become. Somewhere along the line liberals confused the word “care” with “control”. Maybe we need to tell them that they are NOT the same thing?
Let’s put this in the context of socialized medicine. Of course, health care is a “right” according to President Obama. And he has announced recently that there will be a proposal by July 31st. Socialized medicine is in the near future… we will all have free health care! What’s the trade off? They’re already proposing taxes on everything under the sun to pay for it. Soda. Wine. Liquor. Beer. Anything else they decide is bad for us (which, by the way, we will be paying regardless of whether or not we decide to hang on to our current health care plan, like he has drilled into our head that we will be able to do). Because after all, they have our best interests at heart. It’s for the good of the country – for the children! Except for the part where I shouldn’t have to pay more for a regular Coke than a Diet Coke. And red wine has medical benefits. And these taxes will cost a whole lot of jobs in an industry that already paid $41 billion in taxes last year. And deliver a hard blow to the hospitality industry in general.
The committee believes these taxes would “nudge consumers away from products deemed likely to boost health costs, including alcohol and sugary sodas. The committee is considering a uniform excise tax of $16 per proof gallon for beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages. Another option would be to place a federal tax on drinks sweetened with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup”.
So basically, if they’re paying your medical bills, they’re going to try and figure out ways to keep you healthy and cut costs. Because they want to be our mommy. “Eat your veggies, kids!”
There’s also, of course, the way they swoop in and rescue poor, struggling industries. In the past, companies that have screwed up repeatedly have been allowed to fail. This time, we’ve deemed the banking industry and the Big Three too big to fail, so we handed them billions to hang on for just a little while longer in hopes that they would… what? Restructure, I guess. Super Congress here to save the day. But guess what. It didn’t work out so well for anyone. Chrysler is bankrupt. The banks are stuck picking up their tab, because, well, they can’t say no, because the government owns them. So we have a banking industry that is entirely under the government’s thumb, and an auto industry that either accepts government assistance and is subject to their administrative whims (See: GM), or a company that toughs it out and puts itself at a financial disadvantage to their competitors. Lose/Lose. Seizing control of the auto and banking industry, instead of saving them, has just given the Feds the upper hand and cost everyone else money. We have not seen an auto industry recovery, nor a banking recovery. Oh wait, yes we have – from Ford, who refused extra bailout funds.
I’m sick of individuals and businesses playing poor helpless victim of the economy. This is not a fun game anymore. The government will never know what is best for you, or me, or your business. Government handouts are not random acts of kindness. They are not little welfare checks of love from Team Lightbringer. They are put on the tab of every taxpayer in this country by Congressmen, governors, and Presidents that have the power to spend as much money as they can get out of us. They are meant to buy votes, to give us a false sense of security, and – on rare occasion – out of a genuine bleeding heart that thinks it’s actually offering a “hand-up” by enslaving people to government support. Mandating things that are “in our best interests” is not “caring” as much as it is controlling”. The two are not one in the same.
I, for one, would rather they not “care” about me.
