DEMOCRATS WANT TO "REDUCE INEQUALITY"

Here we go folks, the 110th Congress - Democrat controlled - convenes today at noon. The Democrats have one primary goal, to increase American's dependency on government. It's all about power. The Democrats had it --- for four decades. For forty years they controlled the congressional agenda. Then they lost it. From the very moment the election results for the 1994 midterm elections were posted Democrats vowed to themselves that they would one day return to power .. and when they did they would immediately move to make sure they never lost that power again.

Just watch. It's transparent. Observe the first 100 days. So much of what the Democrats will do will be designed to increase the dependency of one class of Americans or another on the government. Legislation not designed to increase dependency will be designed to empower groups friendly to Democrat politicians --- unions, for example.

You've heard how the Democrats want to reward their union friends, haven't you? Right now workers get to vote on whether or not they are going to unionize. First there is a petition circulated around the workplace. If a majority of workers sign the petition, then they get to vote on whether or not to unionize. There is a big difference between the petition and the vote. The petition is public. The vote is private.

A worker in a particular business may not want to unionize, but he will sign the petition anyway so as not to anger his coworkers who are organizing for the union. When the secret ballot comes along he will vote his true feelings. This worker is subject to coercion and pressure when the petition is passed around. There is no pressure or coercion when voting the secret ballot.

The Democrats are going to opt for the pressure tactics. They will try to eliminate the need for a vote of the workers. Democrats will argue that once a majority have signed the petition that should be enough. "Who needs a vote?" they'll say. "We already see that a majority of the workers have signed a petition for a union! That should be enough!" Pressure? Coercion? Democrats will deny it exists.

Representative Barney Frank is pushing the idea of "equality" on this first day of the 110th Congress. He doesn't like income disparity, and he wants to see what the government can do about it. Will he come up with ideas that will allow middle and lower income workers to use their talents and work ethic to earn yet more money? It's more likely he's going to come up with ideas on how to restrict the amount of money the high-achievers can earn. For many Democrats the way to correct income disparity is to punish those who do well in order to gain the affections of those who are satisfied with mediocrity.

Democrats, you see, think that income is "distributed." The idea that income is earned is foreign to them. Remember though, this is the party that believes America is great because of government.

My hope is that over the next few years we'll see more and more people suddenly develop an interest in politics. It would be wonderful if we could spend our days concentrating on our families and our careers. How nice it would be if we didn't have to worry so much about what was going on in Washington. That, after all, is the way our founding fathers wanted it to be. The federal government simply wasn't supposed to play this big a role in our daily lives! Our founding fathers made it clear that in times of peace about 95% of all governance should happen at the local level. Now virtually every aspect of our lives is controlled in one way or another by the politicians and regulators enjoying their positions of power and privilege in Washington.

I have this sense - and I've expressed it on the air - that I have lived through the best that this country will ever be. Freedom is on the wane. People pay only basic lip service to the idea of freedom. Freedom to chose where you're going to go on vacation, where you will work, what you will eat, where you'll worship and live --- that's all fine. Freedom to negotiate your own wages with your employer, to govern your own health care, to manage your own retirement plans and to decide where your children will go to school ... well, that's just too much. The consequences of bad choices there are just to grave to leave to chance. This must be handled by the government.

Can our love of freedom be rekindled? Frankly, I doubt it. We're too lazy. Too used to the good life. We love living as adult children with our mommy and daddy, in the form of government, taking care of our basic needs while we sit around worrying who the next Falcon's head coach will be and who is going to be the next American Idol.

I guess in a few years from now some young people will look at me and think to themselves "He's old! Yeeechhhhh." Yeah, maybe so. But I knew America when freedom was precious. I knew America before the war on the individual. I knew America before political correctness. I knew America when individual accomplishment was celebrated, not derided; when grades meant something and when the mother of a functionally illiterate child didn't drive around with a "My child is an honor student" bumper sticker on her car.

I knew America when they kept score in games and when winning was something to be proud of; when mothers allowed their kids to play games where people hit them and threw things at them, instead of running around kicking balls.

I was raised by a generation that recognized the necessity of fighting .. fighting long and hard, if necessary .. to preserve freedom.

Old? Maybe in the eyes of some know-it-all 20-something. But I'm not going to grow old in a country with a government-controlled economy where initiative is punished. I'm not going to know the misery of socialized medicine. I'll never have to wait months for a simple MRI or elective surgery.

Can America be saved? Can we be rescued from politicians who are more interested in their positions of power and the perks that come with membership in the congress? Perhaps ... but I don't see it happening. I don't see it happening as long as CNN can travel to the sidewalks and find some young bimbo who will proclaim that she doesn't want to manage any part of her own retirement plans --- that she would rather have the government do it all for her. I don't see it happening as long as people look to the government to set their wage rates. And I certainly don't see it happening as long as the American people remain blissfully unaware of the threat of Islamic fascism.

But anyway ...... let's move on to some more notes.