Neal Boortz, a politics / talk radio host down in Atlanta, is not so thrilled with President Obama. A Libertarian through and through, he’s had some thoughts about Obama’s governance philosophy:
- American greatness comes from government.
- The economy is to be used as a political tool. Political objectives should be pursued through a command economy
- In a free market economy people acquire wealth by exploiting and taking advantage of the weak. It is the government’s job to right these wrongs.
- The people, are the property of government. Therefore, wealth produced by the people belongs to the government and the political class shall determine the manner in which that wealth is distributed back to the people.
- Money spent by government will lead to economic growth. Money spent by the private sector leads to wealth and income inequality.
- There is a point, which point shall be determined by the political class, at which individuals have made enough money.
- Government dependence is to be encouraged in all matters
- The United States is no more important in international affairs than Turkey or Greece.
The money line is "The people, are the property of government." Indeed, to a Progressive like Obama, the pinnacle of Society IS Society – not the Individual(s) that make up Society. Unlike the underlying philosophy of the Founder, Progressives aim for an "efficient" society – individuals are but a cog in the machine of Society with one pretty much like another ("hot swappable" in IT jargon). Sure, they talk about the freedom of choice, but their use of the term is quite limited, and can only be utilized within choices that they have pre-determined to make up the range of choice we see.
I would add a couple to Boortz’s list
- Equal outcomes are mandatory
Unlike one of the shining jewels of the Founders’, equality before the law, Obama simply wants equal outcomes. While that might be a positive outcome for the politically protected class (or connected, as the case might be) it means that the State must take from someone else to provide that.
The outcome to be really feared outcome is that the State truly owns all – the Right to Private Property is lost
- An Administrative State is preferable to an elected one
In this, the State moves from being an accountable one via Society determining who represents them (and tossing them if they do a bad job) to one of the Progressive Administrative state. We are seeing this in real time with Obama’s "We can’t wait for Congress" Executive Orders where he is deliberately changing the relationship of citizens to its Government on his own. This flies in the face of our American tradition of WE decide for ourselves (within our Representative Republic framework).
