A magic way to make billions
Government serves up another plate of porky goodness, via big tax credits for bogus synthetic energy projects.
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[ EvilTyrant – The Completely Evil Blog ]
Government serves up another plate of porky goodness, via big tax credits for bogus synthetic energy projects.
March 3rd, 2006
Where to start? I think I’ll limit my comments to those who tend to label all Democrats and independents as evil and think the sun shines from the collective ass of the Republicans. Since 1964 when Senator Barry Goldwater revitalized the Republican Party which ultimately achived its goals of electing folks who would roll back; or seek same; the progressive movement’s legislation dating back to President Franklin Roosevelt. The first great victory of this movement was the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1980. With the exception of President Clinton, this part of the Republican Party has had the Oval Office and each occupant has done little to shrink the overall size of government, one of their chief planks when running for the office. Contrary to their talk, each increased the size of government in terms of personnel, budget, and various forms of reward for their supporters in the corporate world. The president does not do these things alone, when they happen. The US Congress is also culpable. I also will not say that the Democrats, when they’ve had control of either executive or legislative power, have not also engaged in favorable treatment for corporations at the expense of the citizenry. Given what I’ve seen since 1980, it is clear to me that the Republican Party, as it has stood and stands, is not the party of small, or smaller government. It is simply the party that makes no bones about giving away the treasury and environment to corporations in exchange for various forms of support and patronage. It also does this in a much bigger way than any of its historical or present day fellows, be they Democrat, Whig, Federalist, or other.
This does beg a question, as I read it for clarity. If I see this, why do they keep getting elected? Don’t others see this? To be fair, perhaps it is widely seen and folks continue to vote for them because they feel it beneficial, or perhaps they don’t see a viable alternative offered by Democrats or others. I certainly rarely see a viable alternative to what the Republicans offer, at least for US Congress and The White House. Take, for example, the most recent presidential election. President Bush, in my view at least, had done a poor job overall in his first term and did not deserve a second one to do more harm. No popular independent came along to oppose him, and what did the Democrats offer, Senator John Kerry? Senator Kerry offered very little, at least from my reading, save for nay saying anything that the president said in the campaign. When I engaged in discussions with The Evil Tyrant, he had been kind enough to share some research he’d done on Senator Kerry. In the 1990’s, he was sponsoring legislation to give the government the same sort of powers granted President Bush by the so called “Patriot Act”, specifically making it very easy to spy on American citizens without oversight or legal support by a judge or court. In view of this one example, so much for a viable alternative. I made myself sit and watch the first debate betweeen Candidates Bush and Kerry and it was pathetic. Neither made a positive impression, but I gave the nod to President Bush if only because he offered somewhat the things he would do or continue doing if re-elected. Senator Kerry seemed limited to saying his opponent was wrong, doing it wrong, or some other variation on that theme. Granted, it certainly looked like the President was receiving coaching by some electronic audio device, but the words did come out of his mouth.
What a sad testament to the world our democracy seems in view of our participation in elections, our input into political issues, and many of the results we have. This is particularly ironic given the current administrations stated obsession with spreading democracy throughout the world, especially in places we rely on for petroleum. I would argue that what the administration really wants are governments that are submissive to us and will go along with what we want from them, hence the special focus on nations that supply us with petroleum, or could do so. Perhaps Adlai Stevenson had it right when he said, “People get the government they deserve.” We’ve got it and collectively, we deserve it.