Common Sense Ideas to Create Jobs and Shrink Government

In his first term, President Obama has given us an unemployment rate at or near 8 percent, more debt than President Bush’s 8 years in office, and more despair.  What is his solution to his less jobs, more debt, and more government agenda?  It’s the same failed deficit spending, and more regulations so government can have more control over our lives and businesses.

Policy makers and the established elites debate what the best policy is to fix our economy and get it growing again.  Supply-siders argue that we must keep taxes low so that the private sector can create wealth and increase production, and create jobs.  They seem to be willing to ignore the problems of our high debt and deficits to keep taxes low on individuals and small businesses.  Then there are the deficit hawks who are willing to raise taxes while cutting spending to shrink the overall size of government.  The American people just want their leaders to use Common Sense to fix our nation’s problems.  Common Sense argues for low taxes, spending restraint, and more freedom for all Americans.

Why can’t we have an economic plan that maximizes production to create jobs and grow the economy, and shrink the overall size of government?  Common Sense says that with the combination of low taxes, sound money, free trade, less regulations, balanced budgets, less spending, and protection of property rights will grow the economy and save our Republic (with an ultimate goal of fundamental tax replacement).

Keeping taxes low will help individuals and businesses, particularly small businesses, keep more of their earnings so that they can save and invest more of their own money.  The supply-siders are correct that lower taxes can lead to greater wealth creation and increased production by the private sector.  I fundamentally reject the idea that having low tax rates increases our deficits.  What increases our deficits is spending in excess of our receipts (excessive spending).

The real solution that will close our deficit gap and fix our deficits is not to raise taxes, but to cut spending and shrink the size of government.  The deficit hawks are also correct to point out the dangers of having such a high deficit and national debt.  That is why Common Sense says to cut spending, unnecessary regulations, and shrink the size of government, while keeping taxes low.  The decrease in spending and regulations, and smaller government will be what pays for the lower taxes.

Common Sense argues that a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) that requires a balanced budget every year, requires a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes, and limits spending to 20 percent of GDP will bring accountability and checks on the federal government.  This is the only way to force our Representatives to spend only the money that we have.  If we can’t systematically encode these Common Sense ideas into the system by law, then we have no ability to force our elected officials to do what must be done.

Common Sense also proposes that we need to expand free trade.  Free trade helps grow our economy because when American companies can buy and sell more goods and services to more people, we get more jobs and growth.  According to Kim Holmes at The Heritage Foundation, free trade has “created millions of jobs and is responsible for almost a third of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).”

Common Sense argues for sound money.  A good example of seeking sound money is that during the Ronald Reagan Administration, Reagan’s monetary policy was to keep inflation low and strengthen the Dollar through price stability.  Another aspect of having sound money is making the value of the US Dollar reliable, constant, and certain.  We should also go back to a Classic Gold Standard, and even advocate for an International Classic Gold Standard.

The final Common Sense idea to create jobs and shrink government is the protection of property rights.  People should be encouraged to acquire and possess their own property, and have the freedom to use their property the way they think is best and not dictated by central planners.  The government can seek justice by protecting property rights against people who encroach on others, which should also include encroachment by government itself.

Deficit hawks and supply-siders should unite around these core set of Common Sense ideas.  These Common Sense ideas focus on maximizing production to create jobs and growth by keeping taxes low and expanding free trade while also addressing the dangers of high deficits by shrinking spending, regulations, and government.  These Common Sense ideas also include accountability and justice by requiring balanced budgets and the protection of property rights against encroachments by people and government.

The Libya Debacle and the Growing Chaos in the Middle East

On this year’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Islamic fascists attacked our embassies in Libya and Egypt, which eventually spread to over 20 Middle Eastern and surrounding countries.  The initial reactions by the Obama Administration are puzzling.

They first call it spontaneous and blame the assault on an anti-Islam video posted by an American.  Then they walk that reaction back and call it a pre-planned attack by a group connected to Al-Qaeda.  What’s puzzling is that it has taken the Administration somewhere between 1 to 2 weeks to admit that it was a terrorist attack and that it was pre-planned.

Did the Anti-Islam Film Cause a Spontaneous Uproar?

I’ve seen the anti-Islam film.  It was frankly disgusting and a dumb thing to do.  The person was an idiot to make it and post it.  However, there were barely any views of the film before the attacks to have caused the attacks and the murders.  Virtually all the views of the film came after the attack happened.

The fact that the Obama Administration’s first initial reactions to the terrorist attacks were to, in so many words, sympathize with the attackers and apologize to them is very revealing about Obama.  I find it odd that our President seems to sympathize with foreigners, and sometimes terrorists, better than he sympathizes with his fellow Americans.

I found it interesting that the Obama Administration called the attacks spontaneous.  Obama seemed to be trying to find an excuse for the terrorists before he had to condemn them.  What is also interesting is that Obama called the occupy movement spontaneous as well.

I have no proof that Obama equates the Islamic terrorists with the Occupiers.  However, he has seemed to sympathize with the Islamic terrorists in his initial reactions just as he has sympathized with the Occupiers.  He has also referred to both uproars as spontaneous.

Forced to Acknowledge the Attacks as Pre-Planned by Terrorists

When the argument that the anti-Islam film caused the attacks started to unravel the Obama Administration was forced to acknowledge that the attacks were pre-planned.  Obama still seemed to try to find a way to tie the anti-Islam film to the pre-planned attacks though.  However, they still maintained that the embassies were well guarded and that they didn’t know about the attacks beforehand.

This has been one of Obama’s failures as a President.  His Administration is always too quick to respond to incidents or terrorist attacks with specific initial responses, and then they always have to change their responses as new information suggests something else.  It makes me start to contemplate whether Obama is just flying by the seat of his pants as President.

Slow to Acknowledge Terrorism in the Middle East

As of this writing, FoxNews.com has just reported, “U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that it was a terrorist attack and suspected Al-Qaeda-tied elements were involved.”  This news should cause heads to roll in Washington.  If our government knew about the attacks in advance and did nothing to secure our embassies on the anniversary of 9/11, then the incompetent people that let four Americans be murdered should be fired.

I think one reason why Obama seems to be slow to acknowledge terrorism is because he fights for “democracy” in a different way than Bush did.  Bush seemed to be more methodical in who his Administration supported to spread “democracy” in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world.

Obama seems to support groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a known terrorist group, without much investigation into what type of groups they are.  If we truly believe in spreading freedom and democracy across the world, then we need to make sure we’re supporting the right groups and not just groups that when in power will basically continue the policies of the regime we’re trying to topple.

Chaos in the Middle East and the Broader Struggle for Liberty

Is anyone really surprised at the current chaos that is happening right now in the Middle East?  It started in Egypt and Libya – where the Arab Spring essentially started.  Now it has spread to Yemen and Tunisia, and to more than 20 other countries around the Middle East region.  The only true peaceful country in the Middle East is Israel.  Even when they have bombs fired into their country nearly every day, and an Obama Administration throwing them under the bus at nearly every turn.

The Middle East is “Chaostan” when the radical Islamist fascists control the Middle Eastern and Arab governments.  What is happening in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, and Yemen should cause the United States to take the necessary actions to ensure that the terrorists responsible for the attacks are brought to justice (preferably dead) and that the governments of those countries do what is necessary to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

These attacks and murders should also cause us really to take a hard look at whom we are fighting in this Global War on Terror (the war that President Obama refuses to acknowledge).  These attacks are not one-time incidents.  It’s not the first time these radical Islamist fascists have attacked Americans on American soil (at home and abroad).

The Global War on Terror isn’t just a military war that we’re fighting.  It is a much broader ideological war against the ideals of Islamist Fascism.  To fight an ideology that is so evil and destructive to all of freedom-loving civilizations we must first understand the ideology that we are fighting.  Once we understand their ideology, we can begin to do what is necessary to defend our Freedom Ideology.

Islamist Fascism is our most vocal enemy now.  We have another enemy that never died; it just went into hiding until they can make their move again.  The second enemy that we seem to ignore is Secular-Communism.

Everyone seems to think Secular-Communism died when the Soviet Union collapsed.  I don’t understand this because we still have Secular-Communist countries like North Korea, China, and Russia.  North Korea is trying to build a nuclear warhead.  China is attempting to control and strong-arm the Asian-Pacific region.  And Russia, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, seems to be trying to rebuild the Soviet Union under the name Eurasian Union.  Democratic-Socialists also control a majority of European countries, which is just a moderated version of Secular-Communism with both ideologies fully committed to a universal utopian collectivism devoid of God.

When is America going to wake up and realize that we are living in a world with evil and destructive people who are wholly committed to destroying civilizations where freedom, opportunity, and civil society flourish?  When are we going to elect leaders who won’t apologize for the freedom, opportunity, and civil society that have made America the greatest, most exceptional, and most envied country in the world?  America has a moral responsibility to use her global leadership prowess prudently and independently to spread the ideals of liberty all over the world.

Never Forgetting 9/11... 365 Days a Year

When I was 14 years old, the biggest tragedy hit American soil since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.  At the time, my parents were homeschooling my brother and I, and the morning of September 11, 2001, I woke up to the news of the first plane hitting the first tower.  My mom decided we were going to still go on our morning walk, and when we returned there was the second plane hitting the second tower.  We knew America was under attack.

As I continued to watch the news, another plane flew into the Pentagon.  The terrorists had just flown a plane into the symbol of the strongest military in the world.  America was in this state of gloom and despair.  However, the terrorists couldn’t keep Americans down long.  The American spirit in defense of freedom and liberty showed her face when the first American heroes sacrificed their lives in defense of their country on United Flight 93.

It became very clear to me that those radical Islamic terrorists were declaring an official war on the greatest country in the world.  It’s okay to have a disagreement with President Bush’s policy decisions concerning the Global War on Terror and foreign policy.  However, the fact is that President Bush was one of the first to recognize that 9/11 was an act of war, and had the strong leadership capability to treat it as a war instead of as a law enforcement matter.  President Bush protected Americans from other terrorist attacks, and put in place policies and infrastructure that allowed President Obama to be able to make the call to kill Usama bin Laden.

The Global War on Terrorism isn’t a conventional war.  We’re fighting an enemy that is committed to finding ways to kill anyone who supports the spread of freedom and liberty, and an enemy willing to use innocent civilians as shields.

America is the biggest and the strongest country militarily and economically in the world.  We are the only country in the position to take a strong leadership position in this ideological fight for freedom and liberty.  However, right now we have leadership in Washington that is pushing policies that is crippling our economic and military strength at a time when no other country is strong enough to fill the void that would happen if America were to collapse.

A stronger and freer economy can and will lead to a stronger defense and military.  America needs leaders in Washington who understand that a free economy is needed to build a strong defense.  If our economy continues to weaken, we won’t be able to continue sustaining the strongest military in the world.  We will no longer be in a leadership position to defend freedom and liberty abroad.  America needs leaders who will renew American leadership if we are going to win this ideological war for the survival of freedom and liberty everywhere.