I’m working to the conclusion that most of what the “loony left” says is true. Many of their claims towards Bush, the War, and Business Deals are valid. I did not accept that for a long time and have been trying to figure out what was wrong with their presentation that kept me from accepting it.
It is because their message is hypocritical in nature. You can’t hold two simultaneously contradictory positions. The left correctly identifies a problem, but is blindly ignorant of the causes of the problem. In many cases, their solutions would only exacerbate the causes and permeate the problem further. I will start with Business deals.
Business Deals. Bush’s administration and Congress are deeply involved with lobbyist. Bush has lucrative deals with companies and the left cries foul. However, their solution was additional regulation and oversight. The government is only able rob the citizens to give to companies because there is regulation and oversight in the first place.
Since they are in a position of arbitrary authority over businesses, the businesses will naturally try to corrupt the government to their advantage. It is completely about protecting themselves from competition. They buy Laws protecting “Union Shops” and expensive regulation that keep fresh competitors out of the market, hurting the consumer and innovation.
The entire government is engaged in mercantilism. Because the government is following a non-capitalistic economic model, they have placed themselves in a position of control over business. With the threat of control comes the protection of bribes. Why does a business need to get involved with a non-Union politician? So he can keep his costs down and continue giving people jobs. He must give money to politicians to buy their influence. After the influence is bought, the politician is going give money back to ensure future bribes. It is truly pathetic they are giving $10 million for a steak dinner on a yacht.
It then becomes highly profitable for a well-connected business to lobby politicians. In some cases taxes are being taken from the citizens and given directly to the corporations. The government gave Enron $800 million in grants, loans, and tax breaks. Tax breaks are not giving, but when tax laws are passed saying, “Enron [only] gets an $800 million tax credit.”, that is a gift. This $800 million was used to prop up a failing business. By remaining in business longer, more individual’s retirement savings and careers were damaged then could otherwise have happened.
The left hasn’t identified government control as the problem. They have identified the problem as an Individual, Bush. It isn’t. The government is full of individuals that routinely perform the same actions. The Left’s complete position is: it is wrong of this guy to benefit the wrong people, but don’t worry, our guys will benefit the right people.