In true "Glorious Cause" form, we have seen a bit of history made this week by the people of Massachusetts.  After major Conservative victories in Virginia and New Jersey, now we have seen that the Senate campaign in Massachusetts has shown, once again, that the American people have had enough of the seemingly never-ending array of liberal democratic idiocy that our Government has repeatedly tried to force down the peoples' throats by miraculously voting in a Republican after the seat had been occupied for nearly four decades by a very liberal democrat.

As indicated in an earlier article, Conservatism and it's champions of the past-- the Republicans--have once again proved that, even in historically strong democratic domiciles, liberty and Conservatism can take the day.  We also find that political "poetic justice" has never been so poignant nor more sweet than for the United States' (founding) "hornet's nest" of liberty that is Massachusetts to, yet again 234 years later, send a strong message to those in power who would endeavor to unjustly usurp the will of the People.

The Senate Campaign's snickering jokes from the Media Elite and even "The Meddlesome Messiah" himself  concerning Senator-elect Brown's automobile selection of a GM truck would seem to have appropriately back-fired on them all leaving a thin and yet characteristic patina of "oafishness" clinging to each.  Perhaps we should not cue President Obama in on the fact that the vehicle company that he heads-up owes much if not most of its thin (at best) success to the pick-up trucks that it both manufactures and sells.  Hearty congratulations to Senator Brown, and we thank him for an excellent campaign and the extreme headaches that he, rather heroically, may have helped us all to avoid...(and we should only note further that we at Conservative Refocus "truck-u-lently" prefer a Dodge Ram).

The Inept Punishers play Tic-Tac-Toe with a Complex Economy

Events of this past week also find that the President has now--brilliantly yet again--come out with a both new and exciting idea for the economic doldrums that the US finds itself continually enduring.  On Friday, January the 15th, Obama forcefully stated:  "We want our money back," and then set forth plans to impose a new tax on the banks which accepted (or were forced to accept) bail-out money from the US Treasury.

While being mindful of the fact that many of these banks are not the innocent simpletons that they often make themselves out to be within this drama, they are, indeed, one of the most important venues for a successful sojourn out of our collective quagmire.  While piling money into the banks has had little practical economic effect that any can see--piling money out of them in the form of "punishment taxation" will certainly not improve the as of yet precarious situation.

In fact the "wunderkind" that is our President, it would seem, has never met a tax that he did not love nor a fee that he could not embrace.  The true and simple fact is that finding new and artful ways to tax business and then, therefore, individuals, seems to be this particular President's answer to virtually every problem under the sun, the moon and even "Pluto-like" planetary bodies.  While we both know and understand that the President's venue of "intelligentsia" is the law, despite his trying to overcome its Constitutional origins at every turn, the President's consistent failures within the economy bespeak of a mind-warping ineptitude at even the simplest of rudimentary financial  maxims.

A Legislative Tag-Team of Economic Demolition

Some might suppose that the one good thing about being an American, under the control of the left-leaning Democrats of this past year, has had a defining effect on the populace.  In our current economic and legislative straits, we now at least have some small understanding of what our brave and skilled soldiers go through.  Our lives, in this economy, have been a continual experience of enduring long periods of boredom punctuated by extreme bouts of abject terror.

Truthfully, it would seem that the President and our Legislative branches have been so terribly intent upon forcing their Socialist vision onto our unwilling American system that they have, in many ways, caused the extreme economic damage that is our current state of affairs.  The President and Congress shot out of the figurative "holding Pen" that was January 2009 like a Mad Bull on a rampage within the "Fine China Shop" that is the American Economy.  The Statists' smashed into and careened off of the often fragile free capitalistic principles of our nation much like a mad, "bucking bovinic demolition team" of damage.

Whirling and kicking anything that might improve the economy, make a profit, or hire employees yearning for work,  the Administration's constant threat of (or actual attempt to) tax anything that moves is what has in part soured our economy.  And if it stops moving, it may well then winsomely swipe funds from another disjointed enterprise in order to jump-start the former--damaging both and only worsening our economic plight.

Then when the bureaucratic rage at liberty and Capitalism is sated for a time, the Governmental Beast seems to exhaustively pause--steam puffing out of its nostrils--while satisfyingly surveying the extreme damage, the gore of industry grotesquely entangled in its legislative horns.  It then gives ironic lip-service to how it is doing every thing possible to fix the damage and restore the economy, wash down the over-heated and sweating leviathan legislative bodies, removing the bloody evidence of its cause, and then whirl into bucking action yet again--sparing nothing in its wake.  Car companies--take that! smash those bad banks...tenderly avoiding only a few; health insurance companies, you get a special kick in the groin.  Auto dealers...must obliterate as many as possible; mortgage brokers--skull smash!  Small business? well, that's the dirt and scrabble-laden stage upon which the Beast performs its mad bucking dance of obliteration....or is that, perhaps, the sturdy foundation upon which all else is both built and supported?

The Foul Embrace Of the Meddling Statists and their favorite Pet--Inflation

The one simple truth that the Statists seem to always miss is that the extreme wealth redistribution that they find so endearing and self-satisfying will only cause more extreme poverty, decline, and eventually failure in the end.  The free market principles and self-empowering liberties that a free Republic enjoys while hardy and tough beyond imagination are not built for extensive Government meddling, nor the coddling coercion of Special Interests, and will soon wilt and decline for lack of proper nurturing.

The President who, by his own admission, had stated that the time for partisanship and political grandstanding was over during his campaign and even during his inauguration--has now proven that we should often look at the inverse of what he exclaims in order to discern what events are actually forthcoming from his administration. In stark retrospect, we have never seen a populace so terribly divided nor a Congress where the fault-line running through it is so easily viewed that it rivals the Grand Canyon in its breathtaking chasm.

The leader which was supposed to bring this nation together has now piously split it asunder without even a second thought, it would seem.  In addition, never has a forced legislative agenda such as we have had this past year been more intrusive, nor more disruptive of business and the economy, nor more damaging to the constitutionally intoned sensitivity of the American people.

In fact, history has shown us that the man-made national disaster that is our current economy will only get worse by imposing new taxes.  While to many the seeming increase in revenue might ease the strain on the treasury, it will actually end up only stunting any growth that the economy might see.  Additional taxation will further ramp up the cost of doing business for banks, health insurance carriers and therefore others, and thus the resultant costs will be passed along to consumers and businesses which will then only hasten the foul embrace of inflation that we can almost feel coming.

It's The Economy..... Einstein

The President purportedly also has been, of the extreme late, setting forth plans (in the "virtual" embryo stage, no doubt) of helping the tattered remains of small business within the US in the form of tax relief.  One can only hope that this idea does not go into the same bin as the "legislative transparency" promise of C-SPAN's monitoring Healthcare Reform.  The relief would--most likely--come in the form of a silly, weak tax credit for new hires which will end up helping only the businesses who were going to hire anyway.  If I may, what the President needs to be doing is to define new and bold strategies that will offer immediate relief, such as in the form of quarterly FICA and Federal /State tax relaxations for both small business and small business employees across the board--if he is, indeed, serious about helping small business get back on track and get the citizenry back to work.

When President Ronald Reagan took office the economy of his time was suffering much as this one after Jimmy Carter's four years in office.  The problem then was interest rates that were sky high at 20%, unemployment that had peaked at 10.8%, and a dizzying inflation rate of 13% as compared to our current 3% .  President Reagan's vision to repair the nation was to cut taxes down to 28%--from the high at the time of of 37% for most families and an astounding 70% for the most wealthy.  The President had also paired the size of government back down to a healthier state while increasing defense spending in order to parry back the aggressive Soviet Union, which was eventually contained and economically defeated without firing a shot.  All of this caused the 80's to be a time of great prosperity and growth.  By lowering taxes for the wealthy, the Pro-business President Reagan then excited the wealthy to invest more of their money into the economy thereby "trickling down" the effects of both wealth and growth into the populace.   The growth that ensued had a dwarfing effect on any deficit spending that President Reagan had called for in his outrageously successful efforts to grow the economy.

President Obama's regimen for economic repair has so far emulated nothing that we have learned from the 80's and President Reagan.  Obama has espoused a "trickle up" economy by either increasing taxation or threatening to increase taxes and fees in all manner except for the bottom 50% of the population, thereby setting up a scenario in which those who do not wish to produce are repatriated for their non-efforts by those who do.  Obama's efforts at growing Government can be seen in the rampant increase in government employment and pay.

Obama further wishes to swipe into the government fold 1/6 th of one of the more successful components of our economy in the form of healthcare.  As we can see, the prospects for business have been gloomy so far, and all signs point to nothing more than sluggish growth at best, which would seem to indicate a certain level of hesitation for business interests to even cautiously embrace the Grim Reaper that seems to be the President's legislative agenda.

Walking On Water is Not The Same as Walking On Fresh Paint...

The true and simple fact is that when this president came into office the United States had just suffered one of its most terrible financial crisis that this country and the world has ever seen.  What was the President's answer to this calamity?  A stimulus so filled with pork and slow-moving molasses that it has accomplished nothing but prolonged malaise.  Second Answer?  Cap and Trade regulations and energy taxation based upon a hoax which could only disparage the economy even further.  What was the President's third answer to the financial meltdown?  Redefining our superlative healthcare system.  Like a poor marksman--the President keeps missing the target!  Our economy and the people's well-being and security is one of the first and foremost responsibilities of the executive position that is our Presidency.  The President and Congress have failed beyond miserably at staying on point.

The sad if not depressing conclusion that seems the most plausible of all possibilities is that both the President's and the Democrat's agenda has been one of a severely myopic vision that sees nothing but what it wishes to see, which would explain the state of our economy.  This vision, which would seem to exclude all else except the socialistic mandate of severe energy restrictions and Draconian Cap and Trade regulations, which can only massively increase costs.  This vision also demanded Government mandated healthcare which would still leave 23 million individuals uninsured while forcing those who have satisfactory coverage into a one-size-fits-all plan.  And finally, an often spoke of vision that is quite pathetic in its empathic desire to be loved and cherished by all of the other nations, some of which wish us harm, but at the possible cost of the security and the respect that this nation has so long enjoyed.

Interestingly, as the dust from the Massachusett's election continues to clear, we are  seeing a "singular disingenuousness" among Obama, Barney Frank and many other Liberal politicians now that their "best laid plans" have been dashed on the shores of liberty.  Obama has come out the day after the election warning the Senate not to try to jam the bill through until after Sen. Brown was seated, which is akin to a lion warning a gazelle not to run or the poor creature might have to be chased and eaten.  Barney Frank has even stated , along with many others, that perhaps we have gone too far in trying to push healthcare, which is a bit like the legislators pointing a "Congressional pistol" at the American peoples' heads, and after hearing an impotent final click--oops! dud! saying "umm....maybe we won't shoot this gun after all."

The Liberal Statists in our government now know that the game is up in oh-so-many-ways and are tenderly trying to retrace their steps backwards out of the figurative room that is our Constitution--where a fresh coating of  "Statist paint" has been laid down--as if they were never there--but the stark evidence of their legislative footprints, Ladies and Gentlemen, are everywhere.

We must now remember that the House could still accede to the Senate bill and pass the healthcare bill that they now have via a House acceptance vote on the Senate bill to which the American people would simply say to the the Democrats "Go ahead--make our day."

The Democratic Party's extreme carnage that would result in the November elections might be a gentle solace to the Democrats compared to the present-day reaction of the American people.

Regardless....we will Never Forget.  Never Forget.

"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: 'We the people.' 'We the people' tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. 'We the people' are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the people' tell the government what it is allowed to do. 'We the people' are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years."

~ Ronald Reagan