Preservation of principle!

Thursday – October 7, 2010

Preservation of principle!

When we speak of the differences between liberals and conservatives, many things come to mind: social programs, fiscal responsibility, responsibility to self and of course there are principles.

Most liberals have principles that they live by. Most conservatives have principles that they live by. But when it comes to politics, principles are often times thrown out the window. We vote because we want our guy to win. We vote because we think the other candidate is either ignorant, stupid or can’t speak well.

I had a conversation with a dear cousin of mine yesterday. My cousin is my favorite among the many. Our conversation drifted to politics and she asked who I would support for president. I gave her my thoughts, but I also said we don’t know who the candidate will be. We then drifted to the question of Sarah Palin. Her remarks were typical: I don’t like the way she talks or her opinions are to extreme. Then I asked what has Sarah Palin ever done to you? Of course, the question could not be answered. But the question drifted to not what she could do to me, but what she would do to the country.

Well, my comment was I would rather have her than the one we have now at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I also said she is the only one that is speaking about liberty and freedom. She is the only one who uses those words. Sarah Palin, in most probability, will not become president. This is either a good thing or a bad thing. It all depends on where you are on the political evolution chart. I will have more on this next week, but the bigger part of the question is: why can’t we vote for someone who is principled and who uses the words of liberty and freedom in a principled way? Say what you will about Sarah Palin, but this is what she does.

The current inhabitant of the White House is not principled, in the way that most of his nation is. He has been led to believe that you must tax the rich, because the rich are what makes the country unjust. The rich are not principled, because they take the wealth out of the society so that they can keep it for themselves. The liberal believes the rich would like to go back to the days of the sweat shops.

When I speak of principles, I also have to include the meaning of principle, in the way of economics. When we speak about liberty and freedom, our forefathers wanted us to have the liberty to invest and the freedom to keep what our investments yield.

My conversation with my cousin also included what a government program is versus a social program. Today there is little difference. However, principles do dictate what politicians do with these programs. For instance, Social Security was never intended to become a retirement benefit. It is now and that is fine. We work and we contribute to a fund that we will get back in structured payments at the time of our retirement. The dollars we invest also go to pay for retirees that retire before we do. This is fine too. This is the good part of the system. We freely give to a program that helps others that might need the help when they retire.

What the unprincipled politician has done is to rob that fund by borrowing against it to fund other programs that they want to spend money on. Most of the time, when this happens, it is because they don’t have the money to pay for a new government/social program or they need money for a pet project that their district needs. It is not a principled thing to borrow from Peter to pay Paul; especially when Paul cannot pay you back. The only way to get the pay back from Paul is to raise the tax on Peter. This is a simple way to illustrate the principles in use in our government today.

Getting back to the Presidents principles; this is not to say he has none, but his are different from his nation, because of his experience and ideology. His ideology is to borrow from Peter to pay Paul, and then persuade Peter to give more through the power of persuasion and if that doesn’t work then he would use the persuasion of power to achieve the ends. This is what government does and this is why it must change.

The Healthcare bill is a great example of this. There is no question that something needs to be done with our present Healthcare system. The Conservative wants to reduce fraud, introduce Tort reform and apply competition with free market principles to the equation. The Liberal wants to create a government bureaucracy to administer healthcare. Their aim is to put insurance companies out of business so that we have no other choice but to join the government program. The program which will determine the health of the nation was passed behind closed doors and was admittedly not read by the politicians who passed it at the midnight hour. Are these the principles we voted for? Other hidden items have come to light. One way the government intends on paying for the plan is through taxes. While the principled one, the president, says there will be no tax increase, he doesn’t tell us that there will be a tax on home sales.

The provision reads: Tax on home sales – “imposes a 3.8% tax on home sales and other real-estate transactions.” Some principled politician or principled aid put this into the legislation. Someone had to because someone voted for it. On a typical $100,000.00 home the tax would be $3,800.00. On a $400,000.00 home the tax would be $15,200.00. This bill is aimed directly at the retiree who will downsize their home at retirement. This tax is aimed at those who will invest in the buying and selling of real estate. The rest of us will just have to pay it!

When we speak of principles, we should use the word in conjunction with confidence. If we don’t have confidence in the principles of our leaders we will preserve the principle of our wealth by not investing. If we lose confidence because of new taxation and hidden costs of new government programs then the rich will not risk there principle wealth to invest which in turn will create jobs. Any economist will say with confidence that job creation is a product of investment and expanding markets. The only jobs that will exist are the jobs that will be available in sweat shops. Wasn’t it the principled values of the liberal that wanted to end the days of the sweat shops?

This is why the leaders in Washington today have no principles. This is why the principled have lost confidence and will not invest there principle in terms of wealth, because the risk is too great. Today the benefits come from holding onto your wealth, instead of creating more wealth and having to pay more tax on that new wealth.

Confidence and principles are very important elements that our leaders just don’t understand. They have been insulated from the real world where wealth is created. Their wealth comes from the programs they create. Their wealth comes from the hard work of American workers. Their wealth comes every two weeks, in the form of a government check that is guaranteed regardless of their principles.

It is up to us to preserve our principles through the ballot box and through holding onto our wealth, instead of making new wealth at this point in our history! This is unfortunate, because those in need are the ones that will suffer.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: In 26 days it will be the principles of the voter that will change the confidence in those with the principle to invest!