More federal government control has made things much better, right?

 

Commentary by James H. Shott

Most Americans probably have at best a foggy concept of the degree to which the federal government intrudes into their lives, and just how many people are paid to conduct that intrusion from dozens, perhaps hundreds, of departments, agencies, bureaus, divisions, boards and other bodies.

In March of this year the U.S. Census Bureau reported that as of March 2010, the last year for which complete data exist, there were 3,007,938 total federal employees, 2,583,768 of them working full-time, with a payroll that month of $16.2 billion.

Depending upon whom you believe, federal employees either make lots more than their private sector counterparts (according to Republicans and other small government advocates) or lots less than private sector employees (according to Democrats and federal employee union leaders). Looking at total wages and benefits, the Republicans and small government advocates are closer to right, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

A CBO report in January of this year concluded that federal employees with no more than a high school education and those with a bachelor’s degree averaged higher total compensation than their private sector counterparts by 36 percent and 15 percent, respectively. But where benefits are concerned, the lower the education level of the federal employee, the greater the disparity in paid benefits. “Average benefits for federal workers with no more than a high school diploma were 72 percent higher than for their private-sector counterparts,” while those “whose education ended in a bachelor's degree were 46 percent higher” than for similar workers in the private sector, whereas workers with “a professional degree or doctorate received roughly the same level of average benefits in both sectors.”

We euphemistically refer to federal government employees as “public servants,” but increasingly it seems that it is we who serve them. And just what is it that they are up to?

Many of them are madly creating rules and regulations with the force of law and enforcing them. Most of them were not created by Congress, the only government branch empowered to create laws, and Congress is not even specifically aware of many or most of them, except when someone writes a letter of complaint. Furthermore, all of this regulating and penalizing often occurs without oversight by anyone besides other bureaucrats.

“A man’s home is his castle” is a phrase that once represented America’s personal freedom, meaning that people enjoyed the position of rulers in their homes, and others had no right to enter without the householder's permission. That is no longer true; now, Washington is in charge.

This situation has become so perverse that attorney and author Mark Levin describes it thus: “America has become a society in which the people are wise enough to select their own leaders, but too incompetent to choose the right lightbulb.” In his brilliant book “Ameritopia: the Unmaking of America” he cites as one example of the degree to which the feds have become entangled in our day-to-day lives the government’s involvement in the food industry where “the federal budget for regulating nearly all aspects of food, from production to consumption, exceeds the entire country’s net farm income.”

And that is just for our food.

Here’s a test: Before reading further, make a list of the things in your most personal space – your home – that government at some level doesn’t regulate. It will not be an impressive or long list.

Now that you have completed the test, here are some of the things in your home about which you have little to say, courtesy of Mr. Levin: washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, dishwashing detergents, microwave ovens, toilets, showerheads, heating and cooling systems, refrigerators, freezers, furnace fans and boilers, ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, lightbulbs, certain renovations, fitness equipment, clothing, baby cribs, pacifiers, rattles and toys, marbles, latex balloons, matchbooks, bunk beds, mattresses, mattress pads, televisions, radios, cell phones, iPods, and other digital media devices, computer components, video recording devices, speakers, batteries, battery chargers, power supplies, stereo equipment, garage door openers, lawn mowers, lawn darts, pool slides, toothpaste, deodorant, dentures and virtually everything one could put in a medicine cabinet.

Things are not improving under President Barack Obama. Dr. Robert Moffit, writing for The Heritage Foundation, reports that “[s]ince President Obama took office in 2009, federal agencies have issued 75 major regulations with an annual additional cost to the economy of $38 billion. Taken altogether, the Small Business Administration last year estimated that the total cost of America’s regulatory burden reached $1.75 trillion—more than twice what Americans pay in individual income taxes,” and more than the annual budget deficits each year since 2009. And that is just from the federal government; state and local bodies also contribute.

And if it isn’t bad enough that these multitudinous rules and regulations stifle productivity and make things cost a lot more, some of them are manifestly stupid. In order to close down a business, Milwaukee, Wisconsin requires purchasing an expensive license, submitting a pile of paperwork on the inventory to be sold, and a fee based on the length of the "going out of business sale."

What has happened to the “Land of the Free” and the self-reliant spirit that made this country great?

Cross-posted from Observations

The Constitutional Crisis in America’s Near Future

The Constitutional Crisis in America’s Near Future
President Barack H. Obama -- or – President Barry Soetoro?
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

I really hate to direct your attention to yet another crisis in America, but we have one headed our way. Yes, it is down the road aways – but it is a monster and will very likely set the USA down amidst the biggest constitutional crisis this nation has ever seen. It has the potential of becoming our undoing as a nation. And it is out there -- just staring us in the face.

I know you have heard it all before, but sooner or later we, as a nation, are going to have to deal with it. Yes, I am writing about the lingering question of whether or not the man formerly known as Barry Soetoro, now known as Barack Obama, is legally qualified to hold the office of President of the United States. And who the hell is he, anyway? WHERE did he come from? WHAT has he done to America?

"He has, inside of a year, destroyed our alliances, abandoned our allies, nationalized banks, insurance companies, and the automotive business, and rammed communist healthcare down our collective throats. He has bankrupted this country and stolen the wealth of our nation and our children. He has embraced Islamic anti-Semitism, sanctioned the Islamic bomb of the Iranian mullahcracy, handed Russia Eastern Europe on a plate, thrown away our nuclear advantage, and despised us for our superiority. And then contemptuously told us to thank him and kiss his Marxist ass. “ -- Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs (SOURCE).


But WHO IS HE? Barry Soetoro? Did the President legally change his name from Soetoro to Obama? Well, we know that when Barack/Barry and his mother lived in Indonesia, with Oil executive father, Lolo, he went by the name Barry Soetoro.

So, where was Soetoro actually born? According to an article at “ Indonesia Matters” “Barrak Hussein Obama II was born to a white American Ann Dunham and Kenyan Barrak Hussein Obama Senior, in Nyang'oma Kogelo now in Kenya.” You’ll find the entire article HERE.

From the same article there is this: “In his tellingly-titled Memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama describes his Indonesian interlude as "one long adventure, the bounty of a young boy's life". But he also recalls being troubled by the poverty around him: "the empty look on the faces of farmers the year the rains never came," and the desperation of the disabled beggars who came to the family's door.

"The world was violent, I was learning, unpredictable and often cruel," he writes. Obama and his mother thus we were very well acquainted with the harsh realities of indigenous Indonesians.
Fermina Katarina Sinaga, recalled yojhng Obama in her class: in the common task of class to write an essay titled “My dream: What I want to be in the future.” Obama “wrote ‘I want to be a president,’ ” she said. During a later writing assignment on family, he wrote, “My father is my idol.” You will find the entire article HERE.

Above, I referred to a constitutional crisis in America’s future. Here’s what I mean: Just suppose the courts rule that Obama/Soetoro is NOT legally qualified to be President of the United States? What is to be done about all the bills he has signed into law? What is to be done about all the Executive Orders he has issued over his signature? What about all the military commands, appointments, promotions, etc, he has made? What about all the negotiations associated with treaties, international agreements, etc, Obama/Soetoro has been involved in as the US President? Are they not, at the least, null and void, and, at the worst – illegal?

Do you begin to sense the monumental “MESS” the country will find itself?

And what about the Vice-Presidency? How would a court finding that Obama/Soetoro was not legally qualified to be President affect the Vice-Presidency? Should Obama/Soetoro be forced to step down, would the court order Vice-President Biden to step down as well? If so, will Nancy Pelosi move into the Oval Office as President of the US? Talk about a nightmare!

There are some who believe that officials within the current government already KNOW Obama/Soetoro is NOT the legal President of the US and yet they are keeping quiet and not coming forward with the evidence.

J. B. Williams has written an article that will shake you to your core. In the article he states his opinion that THAT is exactly what is happening in our national government. This is a “Must Read” article. The title of the article is: “DC Knows that Obama is Ineligible for Office.” You will find Mr. Williams’ article HERE. We urge you to read it.

The next question is: Who, if anyone, will go to jail? Even more importantly – what do we do to ensure a candidate for President of the United States is properly “vetted” and his natural born citizenship confirmed well before he stands for election?

It may take an amendment to the US Constitution to guarantee this never comes up again. Then so be it! Let’s get her done!

J. D. Longstreet