Topic: Decline of the West
With good reason, the 2006-08 rout of the Republican Party has sent conservatism into a tailspin. On Inauguration Day 2009, the Marine Corps Band might as well play “The World Turned Upside Down.” Still, there’s one very good reason why conservatives can look to the future with confidence: Barack Obama and the Democratic Party will fail.
Anticipatory schadenfreude, you say? Perhaps, but consider my reasoning. We know already, from the historical record, that many of the policies espoused by Obama & Co. are unworkable. Indeed, they contradict themselves at every turn. Energy consumption will be rationed by government fiat (cap and trade), thus throttling economic growth, while Congress and the White House strive mightily to stimulate the economy by ballooning the deficit. Healthcare will be made affordable for all through a series of government mandates that will pile a huge new burden of regulation on a sector of the economy whose present problems derive from—an excess of regulation. Detroit automakers will be bailed out at taxpayer expense—and then required to manufacture “green” vehicles that few people are likely to buy. And so on.
When it comes to the economy, activist government represents plenty of downside potential. It would be extraordinarily difficult for the federal government to do anything at all that might actually foster economic growth. On the other hand, it can easily create economic havoc. Washington, D.C., is like the brontosaurus: vast bulk, tiny brain case and none too particular about where it places its feet. That is the sad reality that progressives have never been able to take on board—and it will sink them.
Of course, it’s always possible that President Obama will prove to be more of a pragmatist that his campaign rhetoric indicated. Some of the appointments he’s made so far point in that direction. But power is a highly addictive drug. And it causes hallucinations.
