I am saddened, not surprised, to read that Random Lengths News is drinking in and spewing out the media-hyped kool-aid about the federal sequester. Using “Mr. Pennybags” as a symbol for the “Big Bad Rich Guy” scheming with a meat clever over a photo of two adorable little children is great propaganda, but not great reporting. Lindell Tollstrup of San Pedro suggested that RLn use better editing. I suggest “truth serum”, followed by better ideas.
President Obama cried “Wolf!”, as in the sky would fall, if Congress did not avert the sequester. The sequester has sequenced through. Low and behold, life goes on. A few air traffic control towers in the Los Angeles area may have to close, but private airline pilots do not need air traffic controllers to land at Hawthorne or Santa Monica Airports. Housing subsidies may diminish, and private operators may have to cut costs instead of take federal dollars. Still, there are jobs out there, if people are willing to get out and get them.
What the American people should take away from the “piece-meal” sequester is the expansive dependence that “We the People” have on the federal government. I am not even talking about “poor people”, but also middle-class entitlements, and elite handouts, like tax credits for Big Business, Big Labor, Big Pharma, and other Big Special Interests (which seem to get Bigger every time Progressives come to power). Now more than ever, cities, states, and even the federal government need a handout. Former US Senator John Sununu lamented in Time Magazine that the United States is turning into “One Nation on the Dole.” Aside from Social Security Recipients, who paid into the system, and Medicare recipients, as long as they receive what they paid in (not three times the amount), the rest of states’ and our cities’ dependence on federal dollars is unconscionable, unsustainable, and unacceptable.
Americans have two hands on the ends of their arms. A firm faith in God’s grace and good will can do much more than state subsidies. Dependence breeds more dependence. Was it not “The Declaration of Independence” which signaled to the entire world that we would conduct our own affairs without handouts? For the record, a growing majority of Americans approve the sequester, believe that the country must cut spending, and also think that Congress should balance the federal budget. These statistics are from ABC News, not FOX.