I just re-watched "Lucky Number Slevin" with Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley. If you haven't seen it and you like the mystery/gangster genre, I highly recommend it. In one scene, Morgan Freeman gives a wonderful monologue (as only Morgan Freeman can) about the Shmoo. The Shmoo is a wonderful creature from the L'il Abner comic. It essentially is all things to all people – it gives milk, produces eggs, its whiskers make excellent toothpicks, and it dies of sheer ecstasy, ready to be cooked, if looked at with hunger. Ultimately, the Shmoo was deemed bad for society. Since it provided for every need, people no longer had the will to work or provide for themselves, so the Shmoo was made extinct by giving everyone a picture of Andy Capp's mother with a hungry look on her face. Through the united will of the people, the Shmoo was no more. The Shmoo reminds me of the mythical Moderate Democrat, promising to do everything for everyone. The Moderate Democrat is pro-life while being pro abortion, spends money freely while being concerned about debt; they oppose war while supporting our troops; they're champions of small business while designing larger government entities to make small business suffer. In the end, their programs will provide for the people, taking away the people's desire to provide for themselves.
Speaking of the myth of the moderate Democrat, I recently received an email from accidental Colorado Senator Michael Bennet. In this email, he speaks about the deficit, saying:
"…if we don't get serious about bringing down the debt, our kids will be left to pay for today's irresponsibility, and our economy will suffer.
Our national debt now exceeds $12 trillion; a debt that poses enormous danger to our fiscal stability."
I could not agree with Bennet more. With the passage of Obamacare, our debt is now spiraling out of control. As a country, we are facing the loss of our AAA rating, meaning we will pay higher interest rates for our borrowed money. For individuals this is known as "exploding debt theory" – where the same amount of money borrowed now costs more due to increasing interest rates. Think about adjustable mortgage interest rates and the housing bubble. How did that work out for the country? Now imagine that on the scale of $13 trillion of debt (i.e. America's mortgage). More of our tax receipts will be going to pay for interest, leaving less to spend on government programs, like Obamacare, Social Security and Medicare. This effectively means we will need to either borrow more money, worsening the situation, increase our tax receipts to offset the rising interest, or a combination of the two. Already people in congress are talking about a Value Added Tax – or VAT – to help fund these programs. While this means more money for Washington, it means less money in all of our pockets; and in fact, it can reduce tax receipts as people under a VAT system will tend to delay or avoid purchases because of the added tax burden. A new TV is much less attractive when the cost just went up by 10 or 20%. A used car purchased privately is much more attractive when the $30,000 price tag on a new one suddenly becomes $36,000 with no additional value for the additional cost. Lastly, the 'black market' thrives under a VAT system, leading to an increase in organized crime.
This brings me back to Michael Bennet. I applaud his concern for our fiscal health. It would be more impressive if he didn't support every single act of wanton government spending that came down the pike for the last year.
He approved the stimulus.
He approved the GIVE act – expanding funding for volunteer programs
He approved the Omnibus bill
He voted against ending the TARP program
He voted for the Senate version of Obamacare (but against the amendment that would have had the congressional leaders purchase their health insurance through the same exchanges to which they're subjecting the public).
Then to really demonstrate his commitment to fiscal responsibility, he voted against the amendment that would have banned earmarks in years in which we run a deficit (effectively banning earmarks).
So forgive me if his concern for our financial security rings hollow. It's a desperate attempt to appear to have some conservative values only appeal to fence sitters and middle of the road voters who still believe the Moderate Democrat is real and not just a cousin of the Shmoo.
Just as the Shmoo was made extinct by the will of the people, so too must we unite and rid our congress of these pretenders to the conservative crown. It's time for Bennet to go.
P.S. For those concerned about the second amendment (hopefully everyone reading this) he voted to confirm Eric Holder and Sonia Sotomayor, two of the biggest threats to Second Amendment Rights (2AR). According to the Denver Post, in another act of chicanery he voted for the Thune amendment for concealed carry – AFTER the votes were there to defeat it, rendering his yes vote meaningless.
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