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| http://www.cato.org/blog/sequestration-cuts-perspective |
On his March 21st show, Rush Limbaugh made the following statement: "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country." Audio can be found here.
Rush lists as his reason for shame the way we are having "our common sense and intelligence insulted the way it's being." The latest insult to our intelligence for which Rush has gotten so incensed is the maelstrom that is being whipped up over the so-called sequestration cuts to the budget. As Rush said, it is only "44 billion dollars...that's the total amount of money that will not be spent that was scheduled to be spent this year. And, in truth, we're gonna spend more this year than we spent last year...There is no real cut below a base-line of zero." But we are to believe that any cuts at all to the planned spending of our bloated bureaucracy will cause a collapse of all of our necessary government services. It's as if the line from the movie Ghost Busters is about to come true:
"What he means is Old Testament...real wrath of God type stuff...Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!...Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...The dead rising from the grave!...Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! "All this over a $44 B cut to the baseline budget. As Larry Kudlow states, "According to the CBO, budget outlays will come down by $44 billion, or one-quarter of 1 percent of GDP (GDP is $15.8 trillion). What's more, that $44 billion outlay reduction is only 1.25 percent of the $3.6 trillion government budget." And remember, that is 1.25% of the proposed increased budget over last year...so no real cuts. Kudlow also observed that:
"Federal outlays as a share of GDP peaked at 25.2 percent in fiscal-year 2009, fell to 24.1 percent in 2011, and came in at 22.8 percent in 2012. The long-term historical norm is about 19 percent, so spending is still way too high. But some progress has been made. And if the GOP sticks to its guns and implements the current sequester, a lot more progress will be made, opening the door to a stronger economy."
"In other words, lower spending and limited government are the exact right medicine for free-market prosperity. The sequester cuts are pro-growth. Finish the job, please."So, should this make Rush ashamed of his country? Well, it makes me ashamed. I love this country and what it has stood for in the history of the world. But there are many things I am ashamed of when it comes to the current state of our country. I am ashamed that as a whole, through our votes and indifference, we have allowed our country to come under the control of unscrupulous, power hungry statists. I'm ashamed that the majority of citizens have given up on the founding principles that made this the freest and most prosperous country in the world. More than that, they don't even know what those principles are, other than a few platitudes, and worse, don't care.
I am ashamed that after once being the most prosperous, productive and innovative country on the face of the planet, we have become a debtor nation, owing more in debt than the entire GDP of our economy. That we have fallen behind in education and manufacturing. And that those on the government dole nearly exceeds those who make their own way. I am ashamed that we seem to have become a country of spoiled, irresponsible children with an entitlement mentality who would rather pass their debt to posterity than give up their government freebies.
I am ashamed that after so much progress has been made since the struggles of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, so many have abandoned Dr. King's dream that people would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Too many people follow the purveyors of multiculturalism and class warfare who seek to divide and weaken us...benefiting only the purveyors themselves. I am ashamed that so many voted for a presidential candidate with no qualifications for the job, an unknown and questionable background with very anti-American associations only because of the color of his skin, or because they believed he would deliver the goodies...like free cell phones.
I'm ashamed that our First Amendment rights are under assault from political correctness....that our Second Amendment rights are being attacked so viciously by the Progressive statists...and most people just shrug and say, "What are you gonna do?" I'm ashamed that no one can seem to recognize any more that if the government can take rights from those you don't like...they can take them from you.
Yes, I am ashamed of many aspects of the current state of affairs in this great country. I am ashamed and afraid that my generation and my parent's generation may have allowed the erosion of our liberties to come to a point where they cannot be reclaimed. That we may be witness to the final demise of the great American experiment in freedom.
I'm ashamed that our First Amendment rights are under assault from political correctness....that our Second Amendment rights are being attacked so viciously by the Progressive statists...and most people just shrug and say, "What are you gonna do?" I'm ashamed that no one can seem to recognize any more that if the government can take rights from those you don't like...they can take them from you.
Yes, I am ashamed of many aspects of the current state of affairs in this great country. I am ashamed and afraid that my generation and my parent's generation may have allowed the erosion of our liberties to come to a point where they cannot be reclaimed. That we may be witness to the final demise of the great American experiment in freedom.
What about you?
