Voting No Confidence in Government

Voting No Confidence in Government

Commentary by Sanford D. Horn

July 15, 2010

Here’s a shocking revelation: government, regardless of the party in power, does not create jobs. Confidence in government, however, is a driving force in job creation by the private sector.

Giving government unfettered freedom to run roughshod over our Creator-endowed rights – that hinders job creation. When government passes legislation it typically closes doors instead of opening them. By its nature, government is restrictive – it tells the people what they can’t do.

This is the beauty of the Constitution – it limits what government can do – not what the people can do. Since the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, however, government has done as much as it can do to control, limit and even shackle the people by thwarting the noble efforts of a free people to be creative, innovative and inventive. The pinnacle of this destructive trend is the coddling and patronizing attempts to stifle the creative process by using taxpayer dollars to bail out corporations seen as too big to fail in the eyes of this administration.

Failure is the mother’s milk of invention. Bailing out a flailing company is akin to giving it false hope of future success. The public made a decision that they did not want the “widget” being manufactured and sold by John Q. Businessman. By bailing that company out, the government artificially props up that company hoping that a new day will spark a desire by the public to want that widget.

Letting the company fail forces the owner to don his thinking cap and invent the next new and improved Widget II. The new and improved product forces the competition to conjure up its next great product. That is how the economy is genuinely stimulated as opposed to the artificial stimulation being thrust upon the people by the government all the while using the taxpayer’s money to force us to by the widgets we didn’t want in the first place.

It is the creative, innovative and inventive who hire people – create jobs. When the people have confidence that government will leave them alone, and not steal from them via oppressive taxes to pay for unnecessary social programs and the needs of illegal aliens as well as those people who wantonly avoid work in exchange for government support (welfare), there is job creation. The job creators have a willingness to invest in their own creativity and inventiveness.

This confidence is further exuded when taxes are low because people have a greater amount of disposable income. However, with unemployment approaching double digits at 9.5 percent, confidence has been eroded mightily, and that stunts growth considerably, ultimately driving unemployment even higher and production down. This leads to greater layoffs of people who will have less disposable income to spend on taxable goods and services.

Meanwhile, the rising unemployment figures drives government spending higher in an effort to pay the unemployment benefits of those folks out of work. Simultaneously, with private sector spending down, so too is the intake by the government of revenue derived from taxes that come from the spending of people’s disposable income. It’s a matter of the dog chasing his tail. Additionally, this lack of confidence has spilled over onto Wall Street as the business community is equally as skittish because of the culture of anti-business and even anti-capitalism awash in the White House. This is evidenced by the redistribution of wealth philosophy that came pouring out of the mouth of Obama during the 2008 campaign.

One exception to government does not create jobs: the current lawsuit by the Obama administration against Arizona simply because the Grand Canyon State dared to pass legislation to protect itself because the federal government won’t. Thanks to such a moronic lawsuit, money is pouring into Arizona by people supportive of the passage of SB 1070. These are every day Americans – tourists taking vacations, business people scheduling conferences, on-line purchases, etc. This is their own economic stimulus – with their own money that they earned and not given them by government.

And just what legislation did Arizona pass and how does it relate to the current economic quagmire? Arizona picked up the gauntlet fumbled by the federal government by not enforcing the laws pertaining to illegal aliens. And while liberals are having conniptions over the legislation, it should really be conservatives, because the Arizona law is not nearly as strict as its federal cousin. As for the impact on the economy, illegal aliens are a drain on the system with billions of untaxed dollars being funneled back to their countries of origin.

After all, who pays when an illegal alien needs medical care and shows up at the hospital? The taxpayers. Who pays for their food stamps they should not possess in the first place? The taxpayers. Who pays as class sizes continue to expand when the children of illegal aliens are not permitted to be turned out of school? The taxpayers. Who pays to feed those same children breakfast and lunch in those same schools? The taxpayers.

Arizona is attempting to stave off becoming California or Illinois, who in turn are fast turning into Greece as they are going bankrupt. Illinois, for example, is facing a $5 billion shortfall. Vast numbers of illegal aliens milking and bilking the system coupled with the problems regarding the various pension funds has created an economic disaster that is neither untenable nor unsustainable. High praise must go to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) for combating the economic problems the Garden state is facing by not just standing up to the overreaching teachers’ unions but also by calling for the privatization of some state services. And kudos to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) for producing a budget surplus.

Taxes can only be raised so much before those who endure the brunt of that burden will simply work less, earn less, and ultimately pay less in taxes. As they produce less, they will lay off more workers, who, in turn, will spend less. And on and on it goes – there’s that pesky dog chasing his tail once again. Priming the pump is not sustainable either, nor is it the purpose of government.

“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government,” said James Madison, the credited father of the Constitution and Fourth president of the United States.

The government cannot tax its way out of this economic hole. The haves will not continue to sustain the have nots. They will take their businesses elsewhere or shutter the doors in utter frustration. Remember, the first rule regarding getting out of a hole is to put the shovel down. The Obama administration had best learn this rule and put down the shovel before we all get buried.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and political consultant living in Alexandria, VA.