Partisanship or Common Sense?

A long-time friend who I respect a great deal recently commented that he thought my commentary had become more partisan in recent months – and perhaps it has.  And if that’s the case, it’s not because my political views have become more strident, but rather because my tolerance level for hypocrisy, has.

I love my country; I’ve served my country, and I believe in the vision of the Founders more than ever.  And if pressed to describe myself ideologically I’d call myself a libertarian.  At the same time, I also believe if John F. Kennedy were alive today, he would be a republican.

Having said that, democrat presidents FDR and LBJ set the wheels in motion for a dramatically expanded federal government embedding it deep into every aspect of life.  But it’s been since the Obama administrations, that the Democrat Party has gone off the rails – hence the partisanship my friend may see in my writing.

Most government programs are noble in intent, but the first thing the general public must realize is that whether an economic system is capitalist, socialist, feudal or whatever, we must look at economic policies and economic systems in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim.  Said another way, consequences matter more than intentions, which is why it’s always wise to look at results when examining public policy.

~ Examples ~

The Department of Education was created in 1980 with a budget of $14 billion – its budget is now $270 billion.  After its creation our kids’ test scores improved, but as the department grew, scores began to stagnate, and today we spend more on education per capita than any society in history yet we have the lowest test scores of any western democracy.

Even more egregious is what’s happened to Medicaid.  The idea was noble and when created coverage was limited and designed to benefit specific low-income groups tied to welfare eligibility, i.e., low-income children, pregnant women, and elderly, and low-income individuals with disabilities who qualified for welfare.

But the cost of Medicaid has exploded due to Obamacare where it now covers moderate-income families, pregnant women, low-income adults even if they don’t have children, low-income elderly individuals, people with disabilities, needy individuals (try to define that), anyone earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level and in many if not most cases, illegal aliens.  Meanwhile its cost has risen from $1.4 billion in 1966 ($12 billion in today’s dollars) to 10% of the federal budget or $734,000,000,000, yet the democrats scream foul and challenge every cost saving measure in the courts.

More alarmingly, since 2008 when the ‘anointed one’ was elected, our foreign policy under the democrats has been a laughingstock on the world stage.  Iranian Mullahs extorted nearly $2 billion, including $400 million in hard cash from Obama, and what did we get for it?   Videos of ten detained U.S. Navy sailors on their knees broadcast around the world, and Iranaian support for every terror group in the Middle East.

Putin annexed Crimea in 2016 under Obama but was kept in check during the Trump years.  Then, after Trump left office, Biden picked up where the anointed one left off and allowed Putin to invade Ukraine, and oversaw the abomination that was the Afghan withdrawal, arguably the most shameful moment in American military history.  Further, in what would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic, just weeks before the slaughter of Jews on October 7th, 2023, the Biden administration told the world the Middle East was as stable as it had been in decades.

But the democrats didn’t stop there, and in what was the worst and most egregious abdication of responsibility imaginable, they invited 15,000,000 illegal aliens into our country and are now daring Trump to remove them.

~ The Continued Democrat Hypocrisy ~

The republicans are far from mistake free or principled in all their governance; however, their actions simply don’t compare to the duplicity and fecklessness of the left.  The summer of love resulted in 37 dead, 2,000 injured cops and $2.3 billion in property damage; but the democrats and their lapdog media said these protests were peaceful – and they expected Americans to believe them.

Two impeachment attempts and unprecedented lawfare comprising a Russian collusion hoax and 91 federal indictments, all of which blew up in their faces.  Meanwhile, Anthony Fauci an unelected bureaucrat and a doctor who hadn’t seen a patient in more than 25 years, was making decisions about our children’s health, their schooling and our very livelihoods, and that was OK; but the world’s most successful businessman, Elon Musk trying to eliminate waste, abuse and fraud is a threat to our democracy.

Bill Clinton fired nearly 400,000 government employees and that too was just fine, but Trump fires less than a tenth that many and it’s a constitutional crisis.  Elon Musk owns roughly 13% of Tesla stock, yet the democrats say nothing and watch Tesla automobiles burn in front of store showrooms.  When conservatives boycott, they don’t buy Bud Lite; when liberals boycott, they burn dealerships.

Yes, it’s true the people did not elect Elon Musk, but it’s also true that the people didn’t select Kamala as the democrat candidate for president – where’s the outrage?  And when Joe Biden was firing federal workers and the Pentagon was discharging soldiers, sailors, airmen & Marines for not taking the vaccine, we heard nary a word from the democrats.  But when Trump fires unnecessary federal workers the democrats call it threat to democracy.  But perhaps most ludicrous of all, was the democrats telling us 86,000 new IRS agents was a good thing, but 40 DOGE employees hired to audit the people wasting and stealing our tax dollars foments a constitutional crisis.

I’ll close today’s post by stating clearly, yes, I probably am becoming more partisan these days, but I also believe much of my partisanship is predicated on common sense.