In the midst of an economic crisis we find our government in the hands of the Liberal ideology.  We find Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, David Obey, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Joe Biden anxious to use their Liberal policies of an increased governmental interference.  The old policies of Carter and Roosevelt have come to be exchanged for the “new” policies of Obama and Pelosi.  Of course, maybe this nothing more than “…the change we need.” but in many ways it seems to me that the Obama stimulus package is nothing more than a package any old Liberal would implement during his presidency.  Bringing the package before the House of Representatives to a tune exceeding $800 billion, Obama’s plan is full of many a spending project, ranging everywhere from universal broadband access to research for STDs.   Of course, while the packages seems more like a list of Democrat pet projects than a stimulus package, the Liberal leaders of both Houses of Congress are trying to convince us that the stimulus package is the only way to solve our problem.  Throw money at the problem, is the philosophy, increase the deficit, is the mantra.  Of course, the Left has produced those who want to increase the size of the package.  As Harry Reid put it before the spending amount was finalized, (in fact it was in early January, before Obama was even inaugurated:)

“We -- I have not received, of course, the exact package from the president-elect and his folks, but he has indicated that there's at least 20 economists that he's talked with, and all but one of those believe it should be from $800 billion to $1.2 trillion or $1.3 trillion.”

Of course the package is less than the alleged trillion, but the idea still remains.  The Liberals are cash hungry, and they want tax money.  Not only do they want the money, they want to take it and spend it.  Of course, one must take into consideration that spending $800 billion while we are already in debt, merely creates the problem of an increased national deficit, thereby not helping the economy, but putting yet another entity in deeper debt.  Of course, the argument has been made time and time again, that the Democrat Party is ready to be “bipartisan.”  This so-called bipartisanship coming from the party who’s candidate won the presidential election and now has said to a member of the Republican leadership “I won.”  This coming from the party who was alienated in the House vote on this bill; with all present Republicans voting against the bill.  Bipartisanship?  Hardly.  This economic “stimulus” package has been called “mortgaging” the future generations of American taxpayers.  I agree.  Yet, when one looks at the debt owed by this entity, one might say that the next generation is going to inherit a “toxic” mortgage, just like the ones the government spent money to bailout in 2008.

            While it is clear from my introduction that I am in stark opposition to the current bailout proposal, it is also clear that I believe something still must be done.  As a Conservative, I believe in a three-pronged economic approach, namely:

Lower Taxes

Less Government Spending

And a Free Market Approach to the Economy.

This, in every way shape and form is the polar opposite of the current package, even after the so-called “compromise.”  What we need is not “compromise” but real solutions!  The current plan is not a solution!  The current plan is nothing but a Liberal spending program, with a somewhat lower price tag then the original.  The principles, though, remain clear in both the original and “compromise” stimulus package;

More Government Spending

And More Government Interference in the Free Market and the Average Citizen

Of course, the main problem is certainly not that this kind of plan can be labeled “Liberal,” but that such a package has not worked, cannot work, and will not stimulate the economy. To give an example of the Liberal nature, and the anti-stimulus prospects of this bill let me use some examples from the bill itself; for example, $9,000,000,000 in spending for universal broadband access, $2,000,000,000:

“For an additional amount for ‘‘Construction’’ for expenses necessary for the construction of river and harbor, flood and storm damage reduction, shore protection, aquatic ecosystem restoration, and related projects authorized by law,” 

$1,000,000,000:

“For an additional amount for ‘‘Federal Prison System, Buildings and Facilities” ”

$483,000,000:

“For an additional amount for ‘Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup’ ”

$5,527,000,000:

“For an additional amount for ‘Defense Environmental Cleanup’ ”

And this small list is just the beginning!  As one can easily infer, these are not the kind of spending projects that will stimulate the economy.  In fact, one can also easily discern, that these kind of projects are more of pork barrel projects than stimulus projects.  And yet, in this economic climate, it is clear that something still must be done.  For this reason, I, Jonathan Krohn, propose a different plan of action.

            Let’s solve the problem; that is my message to the President, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and others on Capitol Hill who have placed their chips in favor of this bill.  This is not our only option, as many on the Mall have said, to fix our economy.  There is another way of rejuvenating our economy, and that is to follow three basic steps in economic reconstruction:

1.     Lower Taxes

   Too few are the provisions in this bill for lowering taxes.  The lowering of taxes must be a crucial part to any stimulus package!  Carter tried to stimulate an economy without lowering taxes, and he failed miserably; putting America into a deep recession in 1980.  Reagan, on the other hand, inheriting Carter’s recession, lowered taxes as part of his economic plan and fixed the recession.  Lower taxes work because, as the government stops taking more of your paycheck, you are able to keep more and spend it on whatever you want.  Instead of the government spending it on non-stimulus measures, like environmental clean up, you can spend it on a new piece of furniture (for example,) thereby stopping that furniture company from laying off somebody else.  That is the real economic stimulus.  The people, not the government, should be the ones deciding who does well in this economy.  The people, not the government, should be stimulating the economy.

2.     Less Government Spending

   One problem caused by spending more is the deficit.  On top of not promoting a substantial amount of economic stimulus, this current package also increases the deficit; not a good way to stimulate the economy!  If we increase the deficit we will be in more debt, if we are in more debt then the economy will need stimulus; plain and simple, increasing the deficit only puts us in worse economic condition requiring more thought and more answers to the tough economic questions that face us.  Why not, then, lower spending instead of increasing it?  This would save us money, would it not?  It would help us as we try to pay of the national debt, would it not?  The answer to both of these questions is yes!  On top of this, more government spending, only allows the government to intrude upon the lives of Americans more and more.  It allows the government to encroach upon the borders of the Constitution, and that is not what we want.

3.     Respect for the Free Market Approach

                        We need to respect the free market, the private sector, and the American citizen as the main answers to our economic woes.  The private sector has long been forgotten as the key to economics.  The citizens of this country are who the government was set up for.  As Daniel Webster would put it:

“It is the people’s Constitution, the people’s government, made by the people, made for the people, and answerable to the people.”

That is what fiscal responsibility must be.  It must be the government answering to the people.  That is why we have a government in the first place.  As Jefferson put it in the Declaration of Independence, the government is:

“…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

If the government does not recognize the sovereignty of the free market system in the economy than the intrusion of government upon the people will be endless.  Economic freedom, freedom for the people to choose winners and losers, freedom for the peoples to spend money the way they wish.  Freedom for the people to pick what America’s economic future will hold; these freedoms are the key to a better economic society.

America is not a nation of the government but a nation of the republic.  A nation where the people choose.  Sure we are not “mob-rule” but in our country the government should represent the people and their interest, and this package is not protecting the interests of the people at all!  The aforementioned Conservative approach is more geared toward the interests of the people and future generations of Americans instead of the interests of the Liberal majority in Congress; and that is what American government should always be geared towards, because the American people are the people who make America America.