Junto Boys

DIVIDED COUNTRY

I saw an old friend from work this week. He’s sort of the henpecked guy who was raised conservative but now gives his vote over to Gore and Kerry because he married the daughter of two college professors. He’s worried about voting for Hilary because he thinks she’s too divisive and the country needs a President that can unify the country. I could have nodded and hoped that he come back into the fold, but no President can unify this country.

George Bush was the least partisan guy the Republicans could have elected. He’s always reaching out to the other side and where does it get him? Ted Kennedy writes the education bill and now the immigration bill. President Clinton is sent on goodwill missions around the world. If 9-11 isn’t going to unify the country behind killing terrorists then there is no unifying the country.

The campaign finance reform guys said that there is too much money in politics, but instead of tackling the cause, big government, they tackled the industry that has risen to have influence over a government that dictates too much of their lives. Lobbyists wouldn’t have any power if the size of government was smaller.

In the old days you could pretty much live and let live. You could raise your family and run your business. A president was elected to run foreign policy. Now we have thousands of bureaucrats who exist to “protect” us from everything and they do this by wielding unelected power. Once you name something “The Department of Education” it’s almost automatic that such an organization will then run amok without any oversight or common sense. The intentions alone of such a body vaccinate it from real scrutiny.

Who controls the size of government controls the real power in this country. They can forward their own causes and stymie the causes of their enemies. It was all evident in the fight to create additional airport screeners. The Democrats insisted on federalizing and unionizing the jobs rather than hiring less expensive private firms. If Haliburton made a killing on the war, then Democrats made a killing on security at home. No wonder they would rather play defense.

It shouldn’t matter that much who becomes President. The American people make the country great, not politicians. But the government beast has gotten so far into our lives that it’s become too important. The idea that Barrack Obama is going to change that fact and unify the country is a misunderstanding of the problem.