It's a position you can feel comfortable with!

Friday – July 22, 2011

It’s a position you can feel comfortable with!

Over the course of the last two weeks, I have had fun with the word position. Webster’s defines the word as: an act of placing or arranging: The laying down of a proposition or a thesis: A point of view adopted and held.

In the political arena a position is often held, regardless of the effects and regardless of the possible outcomes to decisions made, because of the position that is held.

This becomes a problem when tax payer money is involved and when the blank check is given to irresponsible people.

The taken position or the view adopted by the conservative is that big government, big spending, big tax and big entitlement government has produced enormous cost and uncertainty on the part of small and big business owners. The left is now calling anyone who takes a position like this an anarchist!

The taken position or the view adopted by the liberal is that big government, big spending, big tax and big entitlement government will produce the growth needed to provide certain outcomes. It is the certain outcome that is the result of the position of the liberal that concerns me.

Today, the new jobless numbers are out, 418,000 people filed for new unemployment benefits last week. This number of new claims has stayed in the 400,000 plus level for two months running. It took a dip in the spring, but has now risen again at a steady pace. Our growth rate is now 1.2% to 2%. When our economy is performing at 4% to 5% growth the number of new time claims should be at the 320.000 level not the level that was reported this week. China will have a 9% growth rate this year.

The unyielding position taken by the White House, early on in its tenure, has now resulted in what many economists have feared a double dip recession. This position was not mentioned by me, though I agree with the position.

Bernie Marcus, Co-Founder of Home Depot, said yesterday: “His – the presidents – output is absolutely, incredibly bad… Even brain dead economists understand that when you raise taxes, you cost jobs… he - the president - doesn’t understand the problems businesses face.” Mr. Marcus went onto say, “If Home Depot was started today he doubts if it would last in this kind of environment.” This position was not mentioned by me, though I agree with the position. The CEO’s of Coke and Pepsi also had similar positions yesterday.

It is now becoming the position of the business community that the policies of this president have caused anemic growth and have ruined the economy of the world’s richest nation. My position on this is: where have these business leaders been for the past three years? Where have the normally outspoken leaders been and why are they now just coming out of the closet with critical opinions and positions about this president.

It is my position that bigger government creates bigger waste. Bigger government employs more bureaucrats that are unelected and who are unaccountable to Congress and the citizens of the United States. These bureaucrats make decisions based on their positions. The decisions made affect every American. It has been discovered by a Senate panel that the EPA has given away 27 million dollars in grants to foreign countries to promote the climate change agenda in 2009. This was not a Bush era position. A partial list of the breakdown is: $718,000 went to China to assist with control of air emissions. $700,000 went to Thailand to collect methane from pig farms. $150,000 to Interpol for Climate change programs and $15,000 went to Indonesia’s “Breath Easy”, Jakarta campaign.

Another waste of tax payer money by the unaccountable bureaucrat has cost the SEC and the tax payer 557 million dollars. Yes, 557 million. The SEC signed a ten year lease for office space in downtown Washington D.C., only to find out it didn’t need it. The contracts and the paper work that normally makes its way through the bureaucracy were distorted. The figures and many of the details of the lease agreements were covered over by white out and, as a result, these pertinent figures were not reviewed. No reason has been given as to why the figures were hidden from the review panel. No reason has been given as to why the review panel didn’t ask the obvious questions. The tax payer is on the hook, once again, by the bureaucrats in Washington D.C., who are unaccountable. My position, once again, is bigger government causes bigger waste. But then again, that’s just me!

Another wasted program of a big government is two Navy ships that were built and never set out to sea will be scraped at a cost of 300 million dollars each. The ships were built, outfitted and sent to a dock never to see the sea. My position, once again, is bigger government causes bigger waste. But then again, that’s just me!

Yesterday, we saw the United States surrender its position in space. Our foot print that could never be overstepped in scope and accomplishment is now gone with the landing of the last Shuttle flight Atlantis. Gone are the imagination of the creators, gone are the imagination of the explorer, gone is the imagination of a generation of Americans who will not witness another launch of an American Space Ship that carries Americans into space for a generation. With all the waste that has been identified in today’s FORUM an argument should be made that all that money could have gone to fund NASA and prevent the layoffs of thousands of employees at NASA and its supplier base, which will now be reported in next weeks jobless numbers. My position, once again, is bigger government causes bigger waste. But then again, that’s just me!

I know someone who has a great wit. Lori said to me yesterday, when we were discussing some of the problems of big government, “You know they are lying, when you see their lips move.”

This comment is so true. We have seen this act out this week in the budget debate alone. We have now seen the waste that big government causes. In all of these examples, decisions were made based on positions and based on what people in government say when they move their lips.

It’s not the position of being on the right or being on the left. It’s the position of what is right and what is wrong that is missing from today’s political debate. Adults know the difference; business leaders know the difference; many children by the age of five know the difference from right and wrong. But when it comes to the politician their wrong position usually overrides the citizen’s right position. But then again, that’s just me with yet another position!

On today’s date, in 1775, George Washington took command of the U.S. troops who would fight the Revolutionary War. These troops gave us the freedoms we have today. These freedoms created the world’s most powerful economy, it has also given the world its many advancements. General Washington, as he was known then, acted and commanded in a way that men worshipped and men would follow. The positions in Washington today do not come close to what Washington held in his heart when he took command.

I always end the week with a quote. Today I want to share the words of Washington. Not the city, but the man: “There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.”

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: To insist upon the truth is a duty that each American owes to every other American. A position that is not truthful reduces the capacity of Americans to have trust in their leaders. It may also negatively affect the positions in away that might not help their fellow citizens. That’s a position every American should feel comfortable with. But then again that’s how I roll!