“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
So perhaps we can now claim Obama is in fact insane. Take these comments from Obama’s now infamous speech at Carnegie Mellon. (or at least I am trying to make it that way as much as I am using it)
“So what was true then is true today. As November approaches, leaders in the other party will campaign furiously on the same economic arguments they’ve been making for decades. Fortunately, we don’t have to look back too many years to see how their agenda turns out. For much of the last 10 years we’ve tried it their way…. So we know where those ideas lead us. And now we have a choice as a nation. We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future. We can go backward, or we can keep moving forward. And I don’t know about you, but I want to move forward. I think America wants to move forward.”
The irony is so painfully obvious if you understand history. I have already briefly covered Obama’s argument of the last 10 years. It is funny when you bash your own philosophy and do not realize it. It seems he does not understand the difference between liberal and conservative economic philosophy and is stuck with the labels of Republican and Democrat that blinds many. Outside of this ’10 year’ period, liberals such as Obama have put up some type of mystical wall that prevents them from seeing any history prior to the Great Depression. It prevents them from acknowledging our Christian founding and it prevents them from seeing how the New Deal policies turned a depression into the Great Depression (as well as the other long term damage they have done to our economy…Social Security to name one).
Contrary to popular liberal belief, there were depressions before the Great Depression except that they did not turn great. There was the one after the Civil War 1873-1879 (long, but still not nearly as long as the Great One) and if that goes too far back for you, there was one in 1920-1921. In both instances the government cut spending and did not interfere, letting the free market system correct itself, and guess what; it did. And in less time and with less pain than the one that started in 1929 and lasted into the 40′s. Despite all the prior history of how to properly handle economic downturns, Hoover inexplicably chose to do the opposite. He chose to freeze wages (despite falling prices…effectively killing industry), spread out hours (re-distribution by the government), cripple trade with tariffs, go on a spending spree (then raised taxes to try to pay for it), and create public work projects and programs. Maybe even more inexplicably, FDR then chose to double down on these policies after they had already failed. It was indeed these decisions that caused the depression to last over a decade, and these are the policies that liberals still promote today. Perhaps Obama should follow his own advice and disregard failed ideas of the past.
(I also have to mention that Harding appointed Hoover to Secretary of Commerce during the 1920 depression. As Commerce Secretary, Hoover tried to implement the big government policies that he did eventually use as President, but before he could get them through Congress the economy had recovered on its own…interesting tidbit of information to use)
Maybe the underlying point in all of this is education. Our founders created a country with a limited central government because they were well educated and well versed in history. They knew of the dangers. Over time our country has been hijacked by those who do not have this knowledge nor care to acquire it. That must change in order for us to survive as a free society.
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