Look at what is going on in Greece and you'll understand what is
driving the grass-roots uprising taking place across our country.
It's perfectly clear that big-government, welfare-state policies
drove Greece into bankruptcy and that the path on which our own
Democrat-controlled government has put our nation mirrors where
Greece and other European welfare states have gone.
As much as those on the left want to portray tea partiers as
right-wing nut cases, or as racists, truth is these are rational,
clear-thinking Americans who see our beloved nation being wrecked.
They are serving as an early warning system that the things
Americans hold most dear are in danger.
Government spending accounts for 50 percent of Greece's national
output, and taxes take 40 percent of it. Debt exceeds 100 percent of
GDP. One-third of everyone employed in Greece works for the
government.
Now they can't pay the interest on their massive debt
– and violence has hit the
streets as Greeks discover that on the other end of what they
thought were entitlements are empty government promises.
Just a few years ago, American debt was about 35 percent of our
GDP. Now it's double that, and projections show it approaching 100
percent in just a few years.
President Obama's budget calls for $3.83 trillion in spending in
2011. Ten years ago the federal budget was $1.86 trillion.
A year and half ago our newly elected president sold the American
public the idea that an almost trillion-dollar stimulus was needed
to keep unemployment from going over 8 percent. Today unemployment
hovers at slightly below 10 percent.
There's a debate going on about whether it's accurate to call our
president a socialist.
Here's what I say.
Socialism has three key characteristics, all of which I believe
he buys into.
First, socialism disdains private property.... Any doubt
where our president stands on this? As former Council of Economic
Advisors head Greg Mankiw notes regarding the health-care bill, the
prime motive was not "health per se but … redistribution of income."
Recent data from the Tax Foundation make this clear. Families in
the upper 1 percent of income will pay an average of $52,000 more in
taxes, and families in the bottom 50 percent will get an average of
$1,000 in benefits.
Second, socialism puts faith in government social engineering.
Just think government health care, government takeovers of banks and
car companies, and cap-and-trade.
Third, socialism is a godless, secular religion. It sees human
redemption in government planning. I'll get nasty letters by saying
our president also signs on to this. But consider the facts. He
endorses abortion, including partial-birth abortion, and the
legitimacy of sexual behavior that traditional religion abhors. He
believe in the redemptive possibilities of government planning, and,
going beyond tolerating all religions, he presents them all as
equally legitimate.
In this context, I would only point to the incredible dis-inviting
of Pastor Franklin Graham to the National Day of Prayer ceremonies
at the Pentagon.
Consider the three points above and see their relevance to the
collapsed Greek nation in Europe.
The secular religion of government –
which I would call socialism –
is a lie and a failure.
Other than the left-wing elite, the only others in this country
willing to buy into this are low-income individuals. But they aren't
buying in for ideological reasons. When a politician shows up at
their door with money taken from others, do we expect them to say
"no thanks"?
They only will say no if they hear from their pastor that it is
wrong.
So here we are at the crossroads today.
Are we going to be Greece, or will we wake up to the inconvenient
truth called reality?
