The Path to National Redemption | Eastern North Carolina Now

    This week marks the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will be named the GOP ticket for November's election. We already know that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be the Democratic ticket.

    So now we know who the candidates and personalities will be. The big question is what the election itself will be about. We know the bottom line. The election of 2012 will determine the type of country we wish to be going forward. It's a moral question, and one that must be decided by a country that is steadily and quickly losing its morality. The moral question is whether we should have more spending and bigger government with less liberty or less spending with a smaller government and more liberty. Do we continue with a mindset towards individual liberty or with a mindset that government's role includes taking care of people cradle to grave and stimulating and controlling the economy. Entitlements entitle the government to bargain away human liberty and stimulus money only stimulates one thing - the size, scope, and power of government.

    In the movie "The Pride of the Yankees," Lou Gehrig's mother is disappointed when she finds out her son has given up plans to finish college and become an engineer. She tells him: "In America, you can be anything. We didn't come here from Italy for you to play ball." (She didn't understand that professional baseball players make a lot of money). Her point was that the decision of foreigners back in the early-mid 20th century to leave their homes, their countries, and their families was one that was balanced by the enormous opportunity to become personally successful in America. The ambition of our forefathers and our immigrant ancestors has been dulled by the entitlement mentality and the eagerness of our government to put everyone on some kind of government program, making them dependent on the government and on the Democratic party as well.

    Mark Levin, author of Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America," puts the election in these terms: "The truth is, ladies and gentlemen -- the truth is, if you're a parent or a grandparent, this election is not about us. It's not about parents and grandparents. This election is about our children and our grandchildren. Now, we've lost perspective. We're losing our focus. The president of the United States, as I have said before, is the greatest political child abuser in modern American history." The reason he is so harsh on the president, he explains, is because "government spending and debt, at 100% percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), will put the country in a vulnerable position when my children and grandchildren are older."

    On his radio program, he said: "We talk about the debt, which is almost $16 trillion, that's 100% of the GDP. That's over 100% of all goods and services produced by our economy in any given year. We talk about the unfunded liabilities, which I estimate to be over $70 trillion now, some estimate it to be over $100 trillion. It's mind-numbing. Now the fact of the matter is, those of us who are in our 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s..... we're going to be dead and gone when our children and their children are going to have to deal with this. All of these politicians you see on TV today, they're going to be distant memories, if they're memories at all. They're going to be gone. And all of this doublespeak, all this political gamesmanship." He pleaded with his listeners to remove Obama from office. "We have to save our society - our culture, our economy, and our rule of law. We have to save it for our children and our grandchildren, or they're going to live in some kind of a tyranny."

    In a sense, we are talking about national redemption. Political redemption. We need to talk about spiritual redemption as well, but that's a topic for another day.

    Redemption us defined as "deliverance or rescue." (Free Dictionary) It is "the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil." (Dictionary.com) For example, we can talk about "God's plans for the redemption of his world." Another definition is "the recovery of something mortgaged." (Free Dictionary)

    This November, we need the GOP to put forth a plan for the redemption of our country. We need the Romney and Ryan to outline a plan that will recover the country from a mortgaged future that will bind and saddle our children and grandchildren. The government is financing its programs by deficit spending - that is, borrowing now and taxing later. In other words, Congress and the President are forcing future generations to pay for our problems, for problems we generated. We are shifting the costs of this massive spending scheme to our children. We are mortgaging their future. Every dollar the government spends, even if borrowed, has to come out of someone' pocket and therefore preempts the use of that dollar somewhere else in the economy, both now and in the future.

    On June 5, Congressman Paul Ryan posted the most recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - "The Long-Term Budget Outlook" - on his US House website. The report outlined a very bleak fiscal and economic future, and underscored the painful consequences for American families should policymakers fail to advance fiscally responsible reforms. Some of the key points from the CBO's "Budget Outlook" include:
Vice-president candidate Paul Ryan in High Point, NC, August 12, 2012: Falling in love with America - one granny at a time. Courtesy of AP: Above.
    • The Federal government's unsustainable government spending will increase the likelihood of a devastating crisis: The CBO report states that "Growing debt also will increase the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis, during which investors would lose confidence in the government's ability to manage its budget and the government will thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates."
    • The CBO report affirms that the massive health-care overhaul fails to address the explosion in health care costs. Mandatory federal spending on health care will increase by 93% from 5.4% of GDP today to 10.4% of GDP over the next 25 years.
    • The CBO projects that government spending as a share of the economy will increase by nearly 53% between now and 2037, up from its historical average of roughly 20%. Taxes are projected to rise to the historical average in the years ahead, yet the unprecedented growth in government spending is projected to rise much faster, driving an unsustainable explosion in debt.
    • The long-term budget outlook continues to worsen with each passing year Congress fails to act. While total debt has already eclipsed the size of the entire US economy, debt held by the public is on pace to eclipse the economy shortly after 2022.
    • The crushing burden of debt is driven primarily by the nation's largest entitlement programs - Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid - along with the compounding growth in interest payments on the debt. Government spending on health care entitlements, Social Security, and interest on the national debt will consume 100% of total revenues by 2025.
    • According to the CBO report, the federal government's interest payments alone are projected to consume 9.5% of our entire economy by 2037, up from about 1.4% today.
    • The CBO reports warns of the economic consequences of the President and his administration's insistence on increasing tax rates and raising barriers to job creation and economic growth. With the respect to counterproductive efforts to reduce the deficit by increasing tax rates, CBO states that "the extent that additional tax revenues were generated by boosting marginal tax rates, those higher rates will discourage people from working and saving, further reducing output and income."

    So today, August 27, the Republican National Convention opened in Tampa, Florida. Americans will soon get a sense of what the dynamics will be for the election season. And of course, we will find out who the major players will be. Conservatives want to know if they have a ticket that can beat Obama. They want to know if the message will resonate with conservatives and especially independents. They want to know if their ideas will offer a suitable alternative to those disillusioned with the failed policies of the Democrats. Tea Partiers want to know what the dialogue will be on Constitutional governance, reducing the size of government, restoring fiscal conservatism, cutting back on regulations and promoting free markets, and emphasizing personal responsibility.

    But there is a slight problem. Tropical storm Isaac has made an unwelcomed visit to the coast of Florida and it's likely to rain on the RNC's parade (or convention).

    So where do we stand at this time? We are headed for a cliff. Since January 2009, Obama's policies have increased our national debt by over 45%. We are headed for a recession if things don't change. That recession could hit as early as beginning of next year. We are heading towards bankruptcy. Social programs make up most of our debt and Obama is increasing dependence on government. Obamacare is looming and in fact, provisions are already being implemented. It will present the largest middle class tax hike in history, they say. 70% of businesses say they cannot hire new employees or expand because of this healthcare bill. Obama is turning the full force of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the State Department, and the Department of Defense inwards on American citizens.

    We know of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which permits the targeting, indefinite detention, torture, and even death of American citizens, and we know the President has used unmanned drones to kill Americans abroad, but most of us don't know that in May of this year, the US House passed a law that would allow American citizens to be targeted with the same government propaganda campaigns that it communicates to our global enemies and friends. Not only did Obama assume power under the Afghanistan Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) as a justification for being able to enter American homes to grab people, detain them indefinitely, and disregard their rights of habeas corpus and other Bill of Rights, but now his can use "U.S. propaganda intended to influence foreign audiences to be used on the domestic population." In other words, Obama is using war powers against American citizens by unilaterally accusing them of being enemies of the United States and wants to engage in propaganda campaigns to influence and control them. Does this sound like Nazi Germany and other totalitarian regimes? As one commentator wrote: "Nothing speaks more urgently to the creeping fascism of American politics than the assertion by our representatives, who apparently have never read a book on Germany in the 1930s-1940s or on the Soviet Union in the Stalin period, that forbidding the Department of Defense and the State Department from subjecting us to government propaganda "ties the hands of America's diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way." And mind you, they want to use our own money to wash our brains!"

    Despite the politics of oppression, Obama is still leading in national polls for the presidential election. An average of all the national polls shows Obama leading by 1.2% (as of August 27). Rasmussen, the most consistently reliable national poll, shows Obama ahead by 3%. A breakdown of blue states vs. red states gives an electoral college standing of 221 electoral votes for Obama and 181 electoral votes for Romney.

    The battle for the White House, according to Real Clear Politics (which takes an average of all polls) stands as follows, and I've listed the number of electoral votes for each state:

    Solid for Obama (142 electoral votes) - CA (55), DC (3), IL (20), MA (21), RI (4), DE (3), HW (4), MD (10), NY (29), VT (3)

    Likely for Obama - ME (4), NJ (14), WA (12)

    Leaning towards Obama - CT (7), MN (10), NM (5), OR (7), PA (20)
   
    Either Way - CO (9), FL (29), IA (6), MI (16), MO (10), NV (6), NH (4), NC (15), OH (18), VA (13), WI (10).

    Leaning towards Romney - AZ (11), GA (16), IN (11), SC (9)

    Likely for Romney - MT (3), ND (3), SD (3), TN (11), TX (38)

    Solid for Romney (76) - AL (9), AR (6), KS (6), LA (8), NE (5), WV (5), MS (6), OK (7), UT (6), WY (3), AK (3), ID (4), KY (8)

    There are 11 states - swing states or battleground states - that will determine this election and determine the course of our country for the next 4 years. Those states are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Last week, Real Clear Politics announced that Obama has lost his lead in all of those swing states, except NH. The greatest movement was in Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Last week Obama was leading in Florida by only 1% and only slightly higher in Ohio. Today's Real Clear Politics shows Romney and Obama in a tie now in both those battleground states. In Missouri, Romney is leading now by 4.3% and in North Carolina, he is leading by 1%. The question is whether Paul Ryan's home state of Wisconsin will vote for the GOP ticket. Currently Obama is still leading by 1.4%.

    It is worth noting that in these swing states, the two most important issues are the economy and Obamacare. According to polling data, in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida, voters who strongly disapprove of the healthcare bill greatly outnumber those who approve of the bill. So healthcare is a big issue. In Florida, this is countered by the concern for Medicare. Remember the liberal superPAC ad that shows Ryan throwing grandma off the cliff. Romney and Ryan still have to clear the record on the Medicare issue. Once the facts are made known, Florida should go to Romney. What are the facts?

    -- Who is the candidate putting Medicare at risk? Obama took $760 billion out of Medicare to help fund Obamacare.

    -- Ryan seeks to secure and save Medicare, not destroy it. For those seniors 55 and older, there is no change in the program with his plan. Nothing changes for them. They have nothing to worry about. Those who are 54 and younger, starting in 2023, they will receive a fixed amount of money from the government to pick either private health insurance or a federal plan modeled on Medicare. Ryan says that will keep the program solvent.

    As you probably already know, Ryan's plan first and foremost calls for the repeal of Obamacare. Second, it puts more emphasis on managing disease and treating health issues rather than wellness, unlike what Obamacare does.

    And that is the status of the race - red vs. blue - going into the Republican National Convention.

    The question on everyone's mind is whether Romney and Ryan unveil a winning strategy in Tampa?

    We already know that Romney is committed to getting our finances in order. He intends to turn this country around, just as he did for the Olympics in 2002 when he served as president and CEO of the Olympics Organizing Committee. To show that commitment, he selected as his running mate a member of the US House who has served for 14 years, was elected by a traditionally democratic state, serves on the House Budget Committee, has a firm grasp of economics and numbers, and is the only member of Congress to come up with a budget plan to meaningfully address the national debt and put our country back on the path of prosperity. The budget plan he proposed in 2011 was passed by the House but rejected by the Senate. The budget plan he proposed this year - The 2013 Path to Prosperity - was overwhelmingly passed by the House.

    The Path to Prosperity is a blueprint for American renewal. It will cut more than $5 trillion in spending from the President's budget over the next 10 years, will put the nation on a path to pay off our national debt, offers pro-growth reforms to our broken and burdensome tax code, saves and strengthens the social safety net, and will balance the budget in 20 years.

    Ryan's budget plan sets forth a model of government guided by the timeless principles of our great American experiment: free enterprise and economic liberty; limited government and spending restraint; traditional family and community values; and a strong national defense. While it's true that our government has strayed from these timeless principles, Ryan's plan budget offers a set of fundamental reforms that will restore those principles and put the nation back on the right track.

    Specifically, The Path to Prosperity will do the following:

    (1) Repeal of Obamacare. Ryan's plan calls for the repeal of Obamacare.

    (2) Change Washington's Culture of Spending. Ryan's budget plan offers responsible spending cuts now and structural reforms of government spending programs going forward, to ensure that government spending remains on a sustainable path. Under this budget, government spending will fall from its current elevated level of 24% of the economy to below 20% by 2015. Relative to the President's budget, this budget cuts spending by more than $5 trillion over the next ten years, producing $3 trillion in lower deficits. By restoring discipline to Congressional spending, this budget also tackles the drivers of our debt and averts the fiscal crisis ahead - by cutting debt as a share of the economy by roughly 15% over the next decade.

    (3) Strengthening Health and Retirement Security. Ryan's budget puts an end to empty promises from Washington, offering instead real security through reasonable reforms. Medicare is facing an unprecedented fiscal challenge. Its failed reliance on bureaucratic price controls, combined with rising health care costs, is jeopardizing seniors' access to critical care and threatening to bankrupt the system - and ultimately the nation. According to the Medicare trustees, without substantial changes, the Medicare program will collapse in 2024. This budget saves Medicare by fixing flaws in its structure so it will be there for future generations. By putting these solutions in place now, this budget ensures that changes will not affect those in and near retirement in any way. No changes will be made to Medicare for anyone 55 and older.

    When younger workers become eligible for Medicare a decade or more from today, they will be able to choose from a list of guaranteed coverage options, including traditional Medicare. This flexibility will allow seniors to enjoy the same kinds of choices in their plans that members of Congress and federal employees enjoy. Starting in 2023, Medicare will provide a payment to subsidize the cost of the plan, which seniors can then use to pick either private health insurance or a federal plan modeled after Medicare. By forcing plans to compete against each other to serve the patient, the government will help ensure the best medical program for the dollar. It will therefore guarantee affordability. In addition, Medicare will provide increased assistance to lower-income beneficiaries and to those with greater health risks. Plans will not be able to "cherry pick" beneficiaries or deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. And there will be a strengthened safety net for the poor and sick. This essential reform offers one of the benefits of Obamacare (no denial because of pre-existing conditions) yet empowers individuals to make healthcare decisions based on their own situation. It will guarantee that Medicare can fulfill the promise of health and security for America's seniors.

    In contrast, President Obama's health care law takes $500 billion from the Medicare Trust Fund to pay for the costs of his new health care entitlement. With no serious plan to save and preserve Medicare for current and future seniors, the President would allow parts of Medicare to go bankrupt in 2024. The President's law also empowers a board of unelected bureaucrats, known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, to cut Medicare through formulaic rationing and determine what services your doctor and hospital can and cannot give you, hurting both Medicare recipients and health care providers. Conversely, Ryan's budget plan ends the raid on the Medicare Trust Fund by repealing the President's health care law, including IPAB, and ensures that any potential savings in current law would go to help Medicare, not to pay for new entitlements. In addition to repealing the health care law's new rationing board and its unfunded long-term care entitlement, the budget stabilizes plan choices for current seniors.