I just hung up from a conference call with US Congressman Mark Schauer. I don’t know how it is I was phoned. The whole process was set up by his office. Apparently, people throughout Michigan were randomly called and were allowed to listen in on the conversation. There appeared to be a mechanism where one could ask the Congressman questions and in answering the question you were allowed to hear the Congressman’s response to political questions. We were periodically told that if we wanted to ask a question we should push #3. I pushed #3 but never got a chance to ask a question. I wanted to ask the Congressman where in the US Constitution he and the government found the authority to spend 800 billion dollars. I also wanted to ask what a provision to create health care bureaucracy was doing in this legislation.
Anyway, having said all that, allow me to tell you that if the microcosm of the Michigan citizens I heard tonight is representative of the American public at large, we are so toast as a nation. The Michigan citizens who asked questions (assuming it wasn’t rigged) were all statist. They all asked in one form or another what the stimulus package was going to do for their special interest. An auto worker from Eaton Rapids phoned in and wanted money for the auto industry. A senior citizen from Grand Ledge phoned in wanting to know what money was in the legislation for senior citizens. (She also was offended that people wanted to criticize the President, who was, after all, only trying to do what the great Franklin Roosevelt did.) A guy from Washtenaw called in complaining that Wall Street shouldn’t have got bailed out but rather guys like him should have got bailed out. A guy from Charlotte called in who has been trying to sell a house for over a year and he wanted to know what the government was going to do to help houses sell more briskly. Are we beginning to see a theme here?
As long as Americans believe it is the job of the state to provide nourishment and it is their job to suck at the teat of government we will continue to spiral into tyranny and oppression. I fear that the one two punch of government schools and mass media over the course of several generations have effectively rendered the citizenry (at least the sampling from Michigan I listened to tonight) brain dead. There is no desire for freedom, but instead a long plaintive cry to be fed, taken care of, and to have their diapers changed. People really have come to believe that in the state we love and move and have our being. People really have come to the point where they are looking to the state for salvation. This mindset which I repeat endlessly as being part of the American psyche, was born out in spades in this telephone conference this evening. It was most discouraging.
Congressman Schauer was unfailingly courteous, but then nobody he spoke to was disagreeing with the BS he was shoveling. Congressman Schauer made it clear that there is going to be a huge push for alternative energy. Carbon fuel is out and bio-fuel, wind energy, and other forms are in. According to Congressman Schauer this bill provides money to invest in “green cars.” Congressman Schauer noted that it was his hope that some of those cars would be built in Michigan. Interestingly enough there was a great deal of talk about ending free trade in favor of fair trade. Congressman Schauer said a great many things that were untrue. I don’t think Congressman Schauer purposely is a liar but rather it is my opinion that his false worldview causes him to speak lies that he genuinely believes are true. Most of his lies had to do with how this spending is going to help the economy and how this is all the previous administrations fault and how doing something is better than doing nothing and how every $1.00 spent by the government will result in a $1.50 return in the economy. This is Keynesianism that has long since been proven as completely false. Congressman Schauer also faulted people who just wanted to continue to pursue the failed ‘tax cuts for the rich’ policy pursued by the Bush administration. The obvious answer to this is that tax cuts without spending cuts was irresponsible — indeed almost as irresponsible as pursuing a policy to go deeper in debt through irresponsible spending legislation in order to solve being in debt.
What is sad about all of this is that these people have so few that can challenge them from rank and file America. What is sad is that Americans are largely drones that have been reared and trained to keep the machinery of our fascist culture running and consequently have not be reared and trained to ask questions about the nature of the machine. People need to quit warning about coming fascism or socialism. We already are far into Huxley’s Brave New World.
I wanted to ask the Congressman where in the US Constitution he and the government found the authority to spend 800 billion dollars.
I’ve been asking this question myself. Unfortunately, I’m not able to ask this of our Congressmen directly.
If you remember, in the U.S. Constitution (which is now treated like a blank piece of paper) it says that all power not delegated to the Federal Government belongs to the states and the people.