It authorizes Federal Reserve banks to provide as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. So much for “no-more-bailouts” talk. That is more than twice what the Fed pumped into markets this time around. The size of the fund makes the bribes in the Senate’s health-care bill look minuscule.
What FactCheck.org contends is that this is just a change to existing powers the Federal Reserve already has so there should be no worries. Granted, the Federal Reserve by virtue of rule 13 (3) of the Federal Reserve Act does have such powers:
“In unusual and exigent circumstances, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, by the affirmative vote of not less than five members, may …,” and then there’s a lot of technical language which essentially means that the Federal Reserve can lend money to “any individual, partnership, or corporation,” as long as certain requirements are met.
Imagine yourself sitting at home watching TV late at night when suddenly all interesting programming ends, and the always entertaining infomercials begin. You think to yourself, “It’s not my cup of tea, but I’ll endure it for the moment.” The usual marketing ploys begin: a common problem a person encounters, and a product that promises to fix it.
One of the first reactions as the infomercial runs on is that it sounds too good to be true. For some reason we humans are a naturally skeptical bunch. Often times we refuse to take outlandish claims at face value and look beyond the marketing for a scam. I say often times because there is one area that is curiously exempt from this natural distrust for the unknown: politics. Such an exemption may be an evolutionary phenomenon. Nevertheless, it is a curious social mutation.
To illustrate my point let’s try a simple thought experiment. One day we cross paths at a local market. Let’s imagine you have a child with you. For whatever reason we begin a casual conversation and as we become further acquainted I ask if I could watch your child tomorrow while you work. Immediately you become disturbed by such an odd request and alarms go off in your head. The moment is uncomfortable, threatening, and all you can think of is escaping. “I’ll feed him, and give him healthcare, and pay you for the privilege.” No matter what I offer, a sensible parent would scream, possibly taser me and run! This reaction is a healthy, natural response in defense of your offspring.
Enter the political arena. Here, hopeful incumbents make similar requests, only instead of your child they ask for your liberty, your property, and your loved ones future. In exchange for your vote, you will be granted goodies beyond your wildest imagination. Rather than alarms sounding as they did during our little experiment, or the suspicions running through our minds while watching the infomercial, the opposite occurs. We embrace the politician with open arms. We invite them into our homes. We give them free access to our income and other private information. We urge them to decide for us how to use our bodies, who we can marry, what we can eat, and how we can travel. All of these important responsibilities are very personal items that we would never otherwise dream of entrusting a complete stranger with. But for whatever reason, we abandon our natural defensive tendencies when election season arrives.
I wonder how long nature will endure such willful stupidity.
I’ve often chastised politicians for not obeying their oath to the U.S. Constitution and I may have to rethink my strategy if they keep pulling “rights” out of thin air faster than the Fed can print fiat currency. It seems Ed Perlmutter (D) from Golden Colorado is trying to follow the Constitution…just not the same Constitution I was thinking of.
“It’s a mess,” said exasperated Congressman Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat from Golden, last week, noting that he’d be happy as long as Congress manages to pass a provision prohibiting insurance companies from excluding coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
“That’s still my focus, that will be my focus when it comes to health care stuff. . . . It’s a moral imperative and I think it’s a constitutional (emphasis mine) one,” he said.
Excuse me? What the heck are you talking about Edwin? Certainly not the U.S. Constitution in which no mention of “health” is written in the document. To be fair, Perlmutter isn’t the first politician or judge to liberally interpret the Constitution to fit his or her own desires but you really have to dig deep into imagination land to come up with a constitutional “right” to health care. I wonder if Ed Perlmutter even read the Constitution prior to taking his oath? It seems unlikely but what’s even scarier is the thought that he did read the Constitution and still came away with the idea that health care is a constitutional right. I shudder to think what other “rights” the next politician will conjure.
The progressive site DailyKOS recently released their new poll on Republican views conducted by Research 2000. It’s common wisdom that a poll is only worth the quality of it’s questions. By this standard the DailyKOS poll is worth less than the bandwidth used to post it. To say the questions asked in this poll were slanted to give answers they desired would be a gross understatement. The following are some of the questions asked with DailyKOS’s interpretation and mine:
Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63 No 21 Not Sure 16
That’s the power of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, after one year of relentlessly claiming Obama is the second coming of Lenin … and Hitler!
DailyKOS gives far to much credit to the influence of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. Actually, the vast majority of Congress could be charged with socialistic tendencies. Apparently, DailyKOS isn’t aware of the definition of socialism.
Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?
Yes 42 No 36 Not Sure 22
We still have over a half of Republicans who don’t think Obama was born in the US or think it’s a matter open to debate.
This question clearly was asked to paint Republicans as “crazy right-wingers” who harbor conspiracy theories.
Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?
Yes 53 No 14 Not Sure 33
Sigh…
Although Sarah Palin hasn’t spent her entire career milking the teat of government, she has had more executive experience than a “community organizer.” Let’s be honest and admit that most recent presidents have had questions regarding their qualifications. In my opinion, the most important qualification is adhering to the Constitution and if we use that standard, the last truly “qualified” president we had was Grover Cleveland.
Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?
Yes 31 No 36 Not Sure 33
I bet more people think Obama is racist, but were too afraid to tell a live operator the truth.
Are marrigiages equal partnerships, or are men the leaders of their households?
Men 13 Equal 76 Not Sure 11
Should women work outside the home?
Yes 86 No 4 Not Sure 10
Phyllis Schlafly is crying. That looks a lot more enlightened than I expected, likely because the economic reality is that few people can get away with single-income homes. But whatever the reason, on this front, there’s progress.
Oops. There’s a couple of questions that didn’t go their way. Sorry to disappoint DailyKOS, but perhaps you haven’t realized that it’s 2010 and most people, let alone Republicans are cool with women working.
Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is though Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?
Christ 67 Other 15 Not Sure 18
Two-thirds of Republicans assume anyone that is not a Christian is going to hell. It certainly makes it easier for them to dehumanize their enemies, either real or perceived.
I’m not sure which rock the DailyKOS bloggers have been living under but nearly %90 of Americans call themselves Christian. Sorry to rain on your secular parade but believing in Heaven and Jesus Christ kinda goes with the whole “Christian” theology, whether they are Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Independent.
There’s many more ridiculous questions related to gays, abortion, same-sex marriage and every other divisive issue they could conjure in the full version of DailyKOS’s poll if you are in the mood for some laughs and want examples of how not to do an accurate poll. I’m quite certain that I could come up with some questions tailored to make progressives look downright silly as well….wait a minute…they don’t need any help with that.
For a little Obama humor check out this video from SuperNews (warning: adult language and content.) Let’s hope that 2010 really is about nothing. I know I’ve had enough hope and change to last a lifetime.
I’ve often chastised politicians for not obeying their oath to the U.S. Constitution and I may have to rethink my strategy if they keep pulling “rights” out of thin air faster than the Fed can print fiat currency. It seems Ed Perlmutter (D) from Golden Colorado is trying to follow the Constitution…just not the same Constitution I was thinking of.
