All the Difference

Hmm, no takers on that last post. I've either offended you (and it had to happen sometime) or, I was preaching to the choir.

I've been considering Robert Frost as of late, and perhaps his most famous poem, "The Road Not Taken." However, instead of personalizing it, I am looking at it from the perspective of our country, good ole' US of A.

At this point, our country is at a fork in the road, and there is a huge impetus to drive it left, while the majority are comfortable staying to the right.

For the past nary 200 years, we molded "progressive" ideology into the nation and more or less, have benefited from that. By more or less, I mean we've established national parks, liberated slaves, gave voting rights to women, civil rights to all, and so on and so forth. Progressive does not mean the modern day liberal we see around us. Yes, that is their new moniker, but back in the day, it meant for the betterment of society. I think we can all agree the above mentioned changes were for the better, and interestingly, it was the Republicans who gave us 3 of those 4.

Looking at another "progressive" standpoint -- the newer version -- we have a myriad of social programs that meant well, but are on the brink of failure. But, before we get into that, we need to look at a bigger picture.

I've spoken about it before, but the Democrats mean well. Or at least I hope they do. They want to help as many people as possible with as many government sponsored projects. That's why we have Social Security, MediCare & MediCaid, Welfare and so on and so forth. In a way, it is good to have these crutches to fall back on in the time of need, just as is unemployment insurance which is something that we pay into every month and then receive when the going gets rough.

The problem is that as Roosevelt set up Social Security, it was supposed to be a retirement plan for everyone that paid into it. On your checks, this is known as FICA, or Federal Insurance Contributions Act passed during the Great Depression. I've said before, and I'll say it again, it is the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. A Ponzi Scheme is when you take peoples money, say you'll invest it into stocks, bonds, whatever, and then you use the money for your own hedonistic purposes. When it comes time to pay the piper, you just take other potential investors' monies, and divvy them out. Bernie Madoff had a scheme of nearly $50 billion, but this is peanuts comparatively speaking. Coincidentally, insomuch as Roosevelt started Social Security, he was also the first politician to rob its coffers: $90 million to fund the Manhattan Project. (Some analyst believe Social Security is up to $100 trillion in the red after all governement IOUs are talibrated, but all agree that it is at least several trillion behind.) From their own report, in 2016, the FICA tax will be insufficient to meet recipients. Read this article for a better idea on the matter.

This can be fixed, but not easily. You can raise the age for retirement, make some people grumpy but stave off the inevitable topple. You could raise the taxable amount able to be 'donated' to FICA, currently $108,600 is the maximum the feds can take out -- meaning, there is a cap and eventually the tax does end. Or, just raise the FICA tax altogether. Or, go soylent green. Less people taking out benefits makes it easier. Wow, nice segue into the next social program.

Health care! Honestly, if you have government run health care, people die quicker. I thought this was an ironic thing the other day, but apparently Medicare denies more claims than all the private industries, percentage wise. I've heard arguments about how insurance companies don't offer good rates to the elderly. Well yeah, when the government is giving away insurance coverage, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield wants $300 a month, which would you choose? But, I've already discussed this topic, and as noted in my previous post, MediCare and MediCaid are going down in flames, financially speaking, and they want all of us to join in on that ride. They probably will pass some legislation, whether it be the Baucus bill or some aspect of it, something will be passed just to stroke the ego of The One. (P.S. Don't believe the price tag of this bill, they calculated it from 2010 - 2019, when the actual full coverage doesn't begin until 2015.)

Welfare benefits started with LBJ and his "Great Society" and subsequent "War on Poverty" back in the mid-sixties. Sounds nice, but how about a study from the Heritage Foundation which recently calculated that since Welfare's inception, we've doled out $15.9 trillion dollars in "benefits," which is more than double all of our wars and conflicts combined in price, and adjusted for inflation. And yet, the poor are still among us. You could say we are still at war with poverty, and from the looks of it, reinforcements are headed their way. Does this mean I am against helping the poor? No, I've been there. I lived in a tent for 3 months in a field with cows. I kid you not.

All these programs are/were a step towards a liberal utopia, where everyone has equality. Obviously, with the legislation on the docket these days, we're pushing once again for that utopia. The problem is that they are pushing it. Compelling citizens to accept this dream world fantasy will never work, because it conflicts with our current utopia, i.e., the way of life we've come to accept.

I read an interesting blurb about Arnold Schwartzneggar the other day. I've always been a fan of his -- even wrote a fan letter once (he didn't reply). We also starred in the same movie together, Kindergarten Cop, though I am a mushy background extra.

Anyway, a few days after arriving here from Austria (a German speaking country...), he was watching a debate on television between Nixon and Humphrey. His friend spoke German and English, translated the exchanges for him. As he related the story, he said that Humphrey was repeating socialistic rhetoric, and Arnold having left Eastern Europe, wanted nothing to do with it. Then he heard Nixon talk about free enterprise, lower taxes, and so forth. He asked his friend what party Nixon was, to which he replied, "Republican," and then Arnold stated, "Then I am a republican."

Not to say Republicans are perfect, nor, for that matter, Arnold, but the world has already seen the lackluster performance of socialized countries, and the devastation of communistic ones. These are not utopias, yet it is clear that this is the path 'the Left' is taking us. This is evident with the supposed health care reform, the cap-n-trade law, immigration reform (amnesty for illegals), the Respect for Marriage Act which will repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and probably a litany of others that escape me after mid-night.

So here we are, at cross-roads, one leading down a path that Frost described as "fair [a]nd having perhaps the better claim," and another path so well described as "I doubted if I should ever come back." And that's the point if the US becomes even more socialistic. If the Leftist policies that are being put into motion are not stopped, then I think the end of this poem captures the possibility that we should be alarmed about: "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Remember, Frost doesn't say it was the right decision, but merely, a choice that "has made all the difference," regardless of whether it was a good idea. Yet, in this case, we even know where that road leads; just ask Arnold.