By Brian Curry
Words are powerful — as I realized when I read a Yahoo News headline that seemed strange to me: “Obama to take control of GM.” Apparently he was excited and ambitious about this news. He fired the CEO of the company. This follows right on the heels of the largest government power grab in history: the AIG bailout. This was after a very large reinvestment act. Now, Congress has set the national debt limit at $9 trillion. Not millions or billions - trillions of dollars have been going into a big pot for the government-endorsed spendapalooza. For what purpose, I cannot say. I can only assume that it is for the purchase of all of America’s utility companies.
Why? What business does the government have taking over large private firms? Granted billions have been given in “bail-outs,” and the companies that blithely cash in on this ill-advised spending frenzy are nothing short of terrible. However, I am willing to accept these issues in trade for the new problem rearing its ugly head. I am talking about socialism.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, socialism is “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”
See anything there that baffles you? I do. It is the president’s seemingly endless assumption of the power of failing private industries. Under most circumstances, an economic crash of this magnitude is unsettling, but I have no interest in the government seizing control of private industries because they are “too big to fail.” I reached the end of my rope when reading the March 29 edition of The Kansas City Star. It said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is pushing “the biggest expansion of financial regulatory authority since the Great Depression” to seize control of any company that uses practices that could be harmful to the economy in the long run - not just to the ones that took bail-out money. It is a radical step in the direction of socialism for our country. Am I calling the current administration socialists in Democrats’ clothing? Damned skippy I am.
Economic and political theories are not only advocating but accelerating the governmental ownership of companies that the government has no business owning. This was strongly illustrated by the government’s dictate calling on the firing of a CEO from GMC during their restructuring - that is running a business, not just a federal assistance program. The same dastardly concepts are going to be placed on our healthcare system in a matter of time. It is not a big step away from nationalized housing and nationalized food banks, in favor of other competitive markets. The insurance companies are becoming nationalized. The banks are becoming nationalized. Eventually the very homes we live in and the food we eat will be a regulated system that no one will have the ability to walk away from.
I told myself when President Obama was elected I would reserve judgment until I see the direction he takes my country. After setting a $9 trillion limit on spending, a heap more in the works for healthcare, the nation’s economy in the toilet and a not-so-gradual move to a state controlled society, I have made my decision. Obama isn’t the man for the job.
Brian Curry is a guest columnist from The Maine Campus at the University of Maine.
Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Apr 2009
