Give Up or Fight On?

Dr. Larry P. Arnn

It has occurred to us that in spite of the millions of words written about last month's election, we may be looking in the wrong place for answers to many of the questions it produced.

By structure, we were forced to chose between two individuals, each representing a political party, one of whom emerged victorious, but by a small enough margin that some now speak of the United States as a House Divided. While the Democrats have retained the Presidency and a majority position in the Senate, Republicans continue to lead the House. As we creep ever closer to the fiscal Cliff, the dividing line is at the same time both stark and obscured.

During the election. the Left hammered away at the Republicans' purported lack of empathy for the needy of America. The charges were colorful, but not helpful in that they steered attention away from the key issues as they created the illusion of an infinitely wealthy upper crust refusing to help those less fortunate. Millionaires and Billionaires became the bogeymen of the day. If only those fattest of cats would pay their "fair share", all would be well. Would that it be so easy. The Federal deficit is ballooning to the point that even a 100% tax rate wouldn't help for very long. The focus, as of late, has been on tax rates, but the real issue is runaway spending. "Tax and Spend" has morphed into "Spend, Tax, Borrow and Print More Money." We don't have to look farther than some of our European neighbors to see where this strategy leads.

For his first two years in office, The President's party had full control of both chambers of the Legislature.  This period of free reign, that is, free, to some extent of the normal checks and balances provided by the government's design, produced several blockbuster bills, that might have, had there been more balance, emerged in a more effective form, or, perhaps, not at all. In spite of the stacked deck, the Affordable Care Act was passed only through parliamentary shenanigans that would have impressed Houdini. Many of us are still not sure exactly what it does, or what it might eventually cost.  Yes, there were, and still are, serious concerns regarding health care, serious enough to merit open debate and discussion and perhaps some carefully crafted remedies.

During the same two-year reign, a massive federal stimulus bill was also passed. This Keynesian handout failed miserably in its stated purpose of stimulating the economy as it was tightly aimed at the Left's special interests. These two acts were the headliners in a spending spree which threatens to push the Federal deficit to astronomical levels, where amounts of less than a $ hundred billion are now considered rounding errors. The effects of unfettered deficit growth are both real and frightening.

Many in both the government and the media are quick to point to the Republican-led House as the fly in the ointment. We would rather argue that the House is performing the exact role for which it was designed in demanding fiscal responsibility. John Boehner, for all his barnacles, stands as a colossus against  this rush to fiscal perdition.  Checks and balances are not just quaint antiques. Yes, the President won re-election, but the office to which he was elected was President, not Emperor. We suggest that he might dust off his constitutional law text books while he vacations.

A tip of the hat to Dr. Larry P. Arnn , president of Hillsdale College, for his comments in a recent radio interview with Hugh Hewitt. Click on the link to read a transcript as presented in the December issue of Hillsdale's publication, Imprimis. Dr. Arnn does an excellent job of putting the constitutional concerns stemming from the results of the November election into historical context. His resounding answer to the query: "Time to Give Up or Time to Fight On?" is a resounding call for a redoubling of effort by all right-thinking Americans.