March Madness is in full swing and I am blessedly out of Thin Mints.
No, I didn’t give them up for Lent. I gave up trying to figure out the Obama Administration’s energy, domestic and foreign policies for Lent.
Frankly, it has been a liberating experience.
No longer do I spend hours watching and reading the news discerning the decisions of this administration. After all, why try to make sense of the senseless?
Recently we have seen the wunderkind take on school bullying, childhood obesity and NCAA basketball brackets for both the women’s and men’s tournaments.
School bullying and childhood obesity issues should be the domain of the state legislatures but the states have devolved into administrative arms of the federal government. Anyone looking to repeal the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution will have an uphill but worthy battle. The Founders set up our nation such that the US Senate would represent the states to the federal government. Now, the opposite is irreversibly true. More’s the pity.
I don’t have a problem with the POTUS playing golf, filling out NCAA brackets or vacationing in Rio. I have a problem with the POTUS playing golf, filling out brackets and vacationing without dealing with $107 Trillion dollars in unfunded entitlements, a $231 Trillion derivative market that is hedged with federal taxpayer (my) money, and a monetary policy that is bordering on maniacal if not criminal.
Tackle those and then hit the links, go to the Bellagio and lay a few Franklins on Baylor beating UConn in the Women’s NCAA, and then take Michelle and the kids to Cirque Du Soleil. Go for it. Until then, try what so many Americans are doing for spring break – having a “staycation”. This is when people stay home for vacation and catch up the things that have been neglected for so long.
Instead the POTUS goes to Brazil and offers US FINANCIAL assistance in helping Brazil drill, safely mind you, off the coast of Brazil. Brazil. You remember that great ally of ours who has come to our aid in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya.
Direct quote of the POTUS in Brazil “We want to help you with the technology and support to develop these reserves safely. And when you are ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers.”
We do? We want to be one of Brazil’s best customers? No, we don’t. We want to be energy independent. We want to control our own destiny. We don’t want to send any more of our hard earned money to any country for their oil. We would prefer that to stay here so that we can help grow an economy that currently cannot pay the bills that are not just in the drawer but overflowing the drawer.
This is March Madness. But sadly it is going to continue for every March of our children’s and grandchildren’s future. All of their Marches and years will be devoted to paying our bills. Not their bills – ours.
If you had to fill out a bracket of 68 of the leading countries in the world and had to put money on it, real money, who would you pick to reach the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and the Championship Game? Who would you pick to win it all?
Mr President, fill out that bracket and make decisions accordingly.
When Obama was elected, many conservatives hoped that he would fail. I was not among them for when an American president fails, America fails.
I want every president to do well, regardless of party.
Our president is not doing well and it really has not affected his team a discernible iota. President Clinton, after the GOP won control of the House and Senate in 1994, took to the House floor and historically declared “the era of big government is over”. He understood that in order to govern, he had to make peace with his political adversaries.
And did.
After that momentous speech in January of 1995, the GOP and Clinton competed against each other to balance the budget. Guess what? It worked. They balanced the budget. Not Clinton or the GOP. They both did with a combination of economic growth(fueled in large part by massive investments and stock option baited hyper productivity in the tech sector) and keeping spending under control.
Nietzsche said “Madness is something rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, peoples and ages it is the rule”. He also said that “Out of chaos comes order”.
Supposing that along the way in his life Hawaii to Indonesia to Hawaii to Los Angeles (Occidental College) to NYC (Columbia U) to Harvard to Chicago he picked up some Nietzsche, he would see the merit in American rugged individualism and start leading this country out of and not into more chaos.
Apparently he has a far too unhealthy intellectual diet of Saul Alinsky and Rev. Jeremiah Wright barren of fly over country common sense that leaves him building a Brussels style European government. Which is quite perplexing given that Europeans are punting on Brussels. Hell’s bells – FRANCE is leading MILITARILY! Read that back. That’s madness!
The Ides of March has passed and the “groups, parties…rule”. Madness.
But why do I root for the Pittsburgh Pirates after 18 losing season in a row? Hope springs eternal (Alexander Pope) and since there will be snow on the daffodils tonight, spring is on the way! I hope….Thank God for baseball.
Column by Chris Saxman
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