Economic Thoughts

Can we all just admit that our Founding Fathers were a lot smarter than our current leaders? Obama's economic policies are almost a 180 degree departure from the wisdom of those who gave us our Constitution.

"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents..." ---James Madison

As James Madison described it in his era: "[I]f industry and labour are left
to take their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects
which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner
than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out."

Jefferson similarly observed: "Were we directed from Washington when to sow,
and when to reap, we should soon want bread. ...[W]hen all government,
domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to
Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks
provided of one government on another." He noted correctly, "The natural
progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

Jefferson was clear on his disdain for taxes: "To take from one, because it
is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much,
in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised
equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of
association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry
and the fruits acquired by it."

Obama's economic plan is nothing more than a remake of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's class-warfare proclamation: "Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to
ability to pay. That is the only American principle."

In fact, Roosevelt's "principle" was no more American than Obama's. Not to
be confused with the biblical principle in the Gospel according to Luke,
"From everyone who has been given much, much will be required..." (which,
ironically, some Leftist do-gooders cite as justification for socialist
policies), Roosevelt was essentially paraphrasing the gospel according to
Karl Marx, whose maxim declared, "From each according to his abilities,
to each according to his needs."

Jesus used parables to enlighten the heart, in this case, about our personal
responsibility. Marxist methods are a bit more coercive---rejecting God and
anointing the state as the supreme deity.

Politics is not about facts. It is about what politicians can get people to believe." ---Thomas Sowell

Disclaimer: The above comes from Friday's PatriotPost but I found them worth reprinting here.