I know what the left will say about the news today that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is turning down some of the stimulus money. They will say that he's denying his state money, that he doesn't care about people who have no jobs, etc etc etc. But this decision by Jindal, and his reasons for it, explain to us the reason why conservatives felt Obama was so unfit for office and why the stimulus has taken the direction it has.
For his whole life, Barack Obama has been an agitator. In college, as a lawyer, in his community organizing work, and as both a state senator and US Senator Obama's life's work has been getting stuff for people. For constituents, for friends, for the party. And by getting that stuff, we mean getting it from government. In the form of whatever it might be, Obama as a rule has been a agitator. In his organizing, he has worked the government for money and services for the poor, same as a lawyer, and definitely the same as a state senator. The goals of his political career have been Robin Hood-ish in his mind, take from the undeserving and give to the deserving. But Obama's definitions of those who are deserving and undeserving are class-based and often forget how hard the "undeserving" work to get what they have, and how that work when allowed to grow will create oppurtunities for the have-nots. Obama lives by class politics, and lives on the idea that only government can even the playing field. That is what this entire Stimulus bill is all about. It represents Obama's entire career and philosophy, that its the role of government to protect the have-nots from the haves. Obama has taken that even further now, using the government as an entity to punish the haves and force them through tax-driven federal money and bailouts to prop-up and protect the have-nots, both individually and in business. Now this isn't to say there is no place for help for those who need it, but in this stimulus bill we are talking about proping up bad business and bad business models. We are talking about proping up not people who have done the right thing but stuff happened, but people who knowingly made poor decisions at the expense of those who made good decisions.
Bobby Jindal, on the other hand, gives us a life and a list of accomplishments the polar opposite of Obama. A son of hard working immigrant who earned eveyrthing they got by themselves and without bailouts and handouts, Jindal instead of using agitation to get ahead used his genius intellect as an administrator and executive. Not just being a governor, Bobby Jindal was put in charge of the Louisiana state health care system in his 20s and turned it completely around. He ran the state's sprawling university system with distinction, worked closely on health care issues, and then on the federal level both in HHS and in Congress. This is a man who doesn't use government to pick sides, but to streamline it and actually make it work properly. Jindal has always had to meet a deadline, or a mandate, or a budget. He's had to make decisions for government at every level, and has been responsible for them. Being an executive requires not only skill at handling bureaucracy, but handling budget's decisions, and being solely responsible for his decisions. Furthermore, being an executive requires foresight and understanding that when you make your decisions, especially with a budget, that you can't simply cobble together budget after budget without thinking about the future. That's what has happened here in Virginia and look where we are at.
So that gets us to the stimulus. When you strip away the pork, what this is is simply a one-time infusion of cash for the country, while at the same time planning long term use of money that won't be there but for two or three years. It provides money for infrastructure and insurance, et al. But like all government spending of this kind, its dangerous because it gives states all this money and builds up these mandates, but slowly strips the money away year after year. The problem? The mandate still exists for the state to fill, which is why so many of these states in the Union are in such buget holes. So what happens? The states look to federal money and federal pork to cover their needs. It puts the state in further subjection to the federal government with no way out. Its a vicious cycle of subervatude that federalizes the states and puts them at the mercy of Congress and Barack Obama, which is what he wants. And you thought George W. Bush was a power-grabber, Barack Obaam wants to take over the states!
Its easy for Obama to do this, just like it is for Congress. They get to spend as much money as they want too because Congresss has no constitutional requirement to meet a balanced budget every year. They can just keep printing more and keep borrowing from China and against our future. Obama gets to keep putting off paying the bill, no matter how astronautical it gets. But Bobby Jindal doesn't have that option. But when you look at their backgrounds and ideology, its no secret we are here. Obama has no qualms about spending tax money, raising taxes, and taking and giving wealth from class to class. It what he does, its what he's always done, and as President this is his dream. Make everything fair. Even steven. But Jindal has to worry about the welfare of his state. He knows what will happen if he allows the federal tentacles into his state and what it will mean. This quote to The Poltico puts it best:
In a statement, Jindal, who is slated to give the Republican response
to President Barack Obama’s message to Congress on Tuesday, expressed
concern that expanding unemployment insurance coverage would lead to
increased unemployment insurance taxes later on.
“The federal money in this bill will run out in less than three years
for this benefit and our businesses would then be stuck paying the
bill,” Jindal said. “We must be careful and thoughtful as we examine
all the strings attached to the funding in this package. We cannot grow
government in an unsustainable way.”
Jindal is exactly right. The GOP governors who have run to this are one of two. They are either A) near the end of their terms and only need one more year before they get the hell out of town; or B) they have decided that winning reelection means taking this cash and dealing with the consequences later. On the A) side we have Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bob Riley, and Sonny Perdue; and on the B) side we have Charlie Crist. Off-year elections are big years for governors, there are 36 seats up for grabs in 2010. By proposing this in 2009, Obama is putting a political gun to the heads of every governor in America, to the total detriment of their state.
But what Jindal is doing is looking honestly at the future, and understanding that the money won't be there for long, but the mandate will. The hole will have to be filled somewhere. Its wonderful to help out the unemployed, and this allows Obama to get on TV and before Congress and shout from the heavens off his teleprompter that he is caring for the poor and down-trodden, standing up the millionaires, and evening America. But he doesn't have to deal with, nor will he be held responsible for, the tremendous damage it will do to state budgets and state services. Bobby Jindal will have to figure out two years later how to replace this money he's not getting any more. And that means those people that Obama promised and sort-of delivered for will be worse off then before because not only will the money be gone, but the state won't have the money to replace it. So the state will raise taxes, businesses don't bring jobs to states with high taxes (cough - Michigan - cough - California - cough), and that means less jobs and higher taxes per captia.
When conservatives talk about small government, this is what we mean. Because it is impossible for government at any level to fully sustain what Obama is talking about here. This will not only federalize our states, but it will bankrupt them. In the short run, it will get state legislatures out of session, but it will create larger problems later. Governors like Jindal in the end will pay the price for what Obama is doing. And Obama doesn't realize it because his life has been trained towards this. Giving money to the poor, the downtrodden, the less-fortunate; but doing so now at the expense of people who did the right thing, made the right decisions, and are now actually being punished for it. Jindal, meanwhile, has spent his life learning that the best way to govern and take care of people is to make sure not only that government is responsible, but that the real services people need will be there in five years, ten years. He understands that setting Americans against each other doesn't work. That the haves will help the have-nots when the haves are allowed to build there businesses and grow them in an environment of low taxes and balanced budgets. When conservatives talk about getting government out of the way of the people, this is what we mean. Obama is creating a country of entitlements, promises that will never and can never be kept, and an atmosphere of punishing people and business who did the right thing by using the power of the federal government to prop-up the people and the businesses who made the wrong decision.
And let me add one last thing. Bobby Jindal is the only Republican with the knowledge, charisma, credibility, and position to fight Obama, the Democrats, the Mediacrats, and the other class/race-based followers. You can't say Jindal is a white southerner, you can't say he's dumb, you can't say he has no experience, and you can't say he's a flip-flopper. This is why I am so anxious to hear Jindal give his response to Obama next week because we will finally see for the first time the difference between an agitating orator and a accomplished executive.
Bobby Jindal IS The Republican Party
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