Killing Greatness, Let's Double Down!

Op-Ed Columnist - When Greatness Slips Away - NYTimes.com

Bob Herbert is left of left, and apparently being left of left means that one sees the world with two left eyes. There is no "other side", only doubling down on the policies of failure. Bob seems old enough to realize we have been here before -- Jimmy Carter!!! We let the left have the keys in the late '70s and they promptly drove in the (left)ditch, plus sowed the seeds of a lot of what became more recent/current problems -- increasing the capabilities of S&Ls to try to help the poor which became the S&L debacle 10 years later, and Community Reinvestment Act, which became Sub-Prime, the root of our financial crisis.

The collapse of the economy in the Great Recession gave us the starkest, most painful evidence imaginable of the failure of laissez-faire economics and the destructive force of the alliance of big business and government against the interests of ordinary Americans. Radical change was called for. (One thinks of Franklin Roosevelt raging against the “economic royalists” and asserting that “we need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer.”)

Well, first of all, Carter policies coming home to roost -- along with all the FICA, Medicare and other heavy taxes slowing the economy helped at least as much as "laissez-faire economics". I wonder if the thinkers around laissez-faire would have envisioned the SEC, SOX, the IRS, and hundreds of other federal and state agencies as some sort of "pure market"??? Somehow, when the Vikings lose a game, the zebras are always a major factor. How come when the economy goes bad, even though the government is an ever growing part, it NEVER shares in any blame according to the MSM ... including the Bob corner.

As a nation, we are becoming more and more accustomed to a sense of helplessness. We no longer rise to the great challenges before us. It’s not just that we can’t plug the oil leak, which is the perfect metaphor for what we’ve become. We can’t seem to do much of anything.

TRUE! But the question is WHY? Can it possibly be that we are "short on government"? We have more of it than we have EVER had at all levels, and even by Bob's analysis, things suck! Bob can't envision that pouring water on the engine of productivity puts out the fire, but are the rest of us that MSM blinded??? **THE** reason that America used to be exceptional was FREEDOM ... which meant INDIVIDUALS had a shot to make vast improvement in their lives, and as a result, in the lives of their countrymen.

What happened is that in the 20th Century, the "progressives, statists, liberals, socialists, collectivists, etc (they are all really the same)" showed up and crapped all over the basic element that made us exceptional!! Now Bob is surprised we are no longer exceptional? When people are looking to the government to solve their problems, that is an extremely good definition of helplessness.

There are plans aplenty for demolishing large parts of what’s left of Detroit, which in its heyday was the symbol of an America that was still a powerfully constructive force, a place that could produce things and improve the lives of its people and inspire the rest of the world.

YES, YES Bob!!! Detroit was the VERY MODEL of the "progressive experiment" -- huge unions, huge income re-distribution, corporate and government partnerships, urban planning, huge investment in the public school system, entirely under the direction of union teachers. It was indeed a symbol of the "America" that Bob sees as best -- a "progressive" sort of America that isn't really American at all. The Detroit experiment FAILED!! Completely!!! Even Bob can see that -- he just doesn't realize what the problem is, or more likely, just doesn't want to admit it, even though it is awfully plain.

How is it possible that we would let this happen? We’ve got all kinds of sorry explanations for why we can’t do any of the things we need to do. The Democrats can’t get 60 votes in the Senate. Our budget deficits are too high. Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck might object.

Meanwhile, the greatness of the United States, which so many have taken for granted for so long, is steadily slipping away.

Bob, it happened because you and the progressive movement never understood what America was and you are well on your way to destroying it! Stop now, before this once great nation looks like Detroit and even more of the population are lost and unable to see the sad truth that America was exceptional BECAUSE it had LIMITED GOVERNMENT!

UNlimited government has killed a once exceptional nation! Look around the world, there is NO SHORTAGE of unlimited government -- and unsurprisingly, a lot of the rest of the world looks a lot like post-liberal Detroit!