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Townhall...
Choice, Not Compromise
By Terry Paulson
Ayn Rand: “The government
was set to protect man from criminals, and the Constitution was written
to protect man from the government.”
Rep. Paul Ryan’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union
provides a clue to the political battle that is coming: “The principles
that guide us; they are anchored in the wisdom of the founders in the
spirit of the Declaration of Independence and in the words of the
American Constitution. They have to do with the importance of limited
government and with the blessing of self-government. We believe that
the government has an important role to create the conditions that
promote entrepreneurship, upward mobility, and individual
responsibility. We believe, as our founders did, that the pursuit of
happiness depends on individual liberty, and individual liberty
requires limited government.”
There is no compromise on opposite principles; it’s either empowered
individuals or an all-powerful government. Thankfully the recent
overreach by President Obama on healthcare reform, the Republican gains
in November, and recent court decisions are moving things closer to a
showdown in the Supreme Court and in the coming budget battle.
Judge Roger Vinson of Federal District Court in Pensacola, Fla.,
concluded that it was unconstitutional for Congress to enact the
Affordable Care Act that required Americans to obtain commercial
insurance. Judge Vinson argues that to allow the law to stand, would
fundamentally transform our constitutional scheme from limited to
unlimited federal power and narrow the scope of individual liberty. In
Judge Vinson’s words, “the more harm the statute does, the more power
Congress could assume for itself under the Necessary and Proper Clause.
This result would… allow Congress to exceed the powers specifically
enumerated in Article I.” A Supreme Court decision looms on the horizon.
As President Obama delivers his 2012 Budget this week, the battle will
accelerate. With Republicans looking to cut the size and spending of
government by cutting the funding for implementing the Affordable Care
Act, additional stimulus investments, and relief for debt-ridden
states, the battle of all battles will begin. Glenn Beck, in his
well-documented book Broke, challenges conservatives to focus the fight
on the Constitution and core principles. Our founding fathers fought
for equal rights, not rights to benefit some at the expense of others.
Beck points to Ayn Rand for an easy way to distinguish whether a right
is in accordance with the Constitution. After any right is proposed,
simply ask the question “at whose expense?” Is there a universal right
to a college education or healthcare? At whose expense? Your right to
life and liberty was not to come at expense of anyone else. As Ayn Rand
wrote, “The government was set to protect man from criminals, and the
Constitution was written to protect man from the government.”
Individual rights were to supersede any government power.
Could it be that government “help” has just escalated the cost of
healthcare and education? While published college tuition and fees
increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, the median family income rose
only 147 percent and healthcare cost rose only 250%. Are those
increases a result of true costs to improve education or are they a
result of the fact that they can get away with such charges because
government provides more loans and grants? Parents, students and
taxpayers are left with more debt because government tries to “help” by
throwing your money at the “problem!”
How can citizens afford the cost of college and healthcare? By keeping
most of the money they now give to government.
John Stossel, in Give Me a Break, shows Federal spending from 1789 to
2003. The line is all but flat until World War II. When America began,
government cost the average citizen $20 in today’s money. That’s $20 a
year! Taxes rose during wars, but for most of the history of America
spending never exceeded a few hundred dollars per citizen. During World
War II, government got much bigger. It was supposed to shrink again
after the war. It never did; it just kept expanding. In 2010, federal
spending ($6.3 trillion) cost every man, woman and child in this
country just under $20,000 a year! If you aren’t paying that, you’re
making your neighbor pay your share!
It’s not too late. Support politicians who are fighting to take back
America to what it was formed to be—a beacon for liberty and
opportunity not an invitation to dependence on big government!
Read it at Townhall
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