Quote of the Day:
I decided to run for office, and was elected to a Wisconsin U.S. Senate seat in 2010, because I was panicked for our country. Six years later, I am more panicked.
–Senator Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin
When Senator Ron Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin, who owned a plastics manufacturing company, was asked to give a speech on the effect on business of government regulations, he told the story of his daughter, Carey, born with a serious heart defect. She was saved by excellent medical care.
He told the story in his must-read piece in the Wall Street Journal today to highlight the people who make American great and to praise rather than demonize success. President Obama has been demonizing success and business for the last seven plus years. The result is what one might have imagined:
The public is justifiably frustrated and angry over the present state of the union. But elected officials and candidates running for office cynically use demagoguery to misdirect the public’s attention away from the real culprit: big government.
Our Founders, who fought to free themselves from dictatorial monarchies and aristocracies, understood that as government grows, freedom necessarily recedes. Because our schools have de-emphasized history, too many of our fellow citizens have never been taught this undeniable truth.
Instead, they have been led to believe that government is benevolent and capable of solving their problems. When government predictably fails, scapegoats are found and targeted to shoulder the blame. Even worse—like asking the arsonist to extinguish the fire—more government is then proposed to fix the very problems it most likely has only made worse.
We will never solve the enormous challenges facing America by sticking our heads in the sand, falling prey to demagoguery or relying on big government. As we are witnessing—before and during the current campaigns—the political process doesn’t lend itself to prioritizing problems, much less solving them.
Johnson points out that neither presidential candidate from either of the two major parties is addressing the problem of our national debt, which is unsustainable. The U.S. military is, to use Johnson's words, hollowed out, and we are beset by social ills (children in fatherless families, perhaps being the progenitor of many of these ills). Islamic radicals want to destroy us and are doing a pretty good job of piecemeal terror.
But do you hear any of these things discussed on the campaign trail? One candidate is talking about "free" college, which means more government, (she conveniently forgets to say that it will cost $35 billion a year) and the other is waging a war with a Muslim family, who, whatever their shortcomings, are parents of a fallen U.S. soldier.
PS. In calling your attention to Senator Johnson's column, I overlooked something important, which the Examiner highlighted: When asked by the senator why he didn't talk more about the national debt, President Obama replied that he did not talk about it because doing so "scared" people.