Posted by
Randolph Shelton on Monday, January 26, 2009 4:44:57 PM
Today, President Obama announced his first four policies. Not only did he announce them, but he thinks they are such a great idea that he signed them in to law. A government by the people? Nah, he likes how he thinks so he's just signing executive orders, bypassing the citizens of America and their representation in the house and senate.
His first policy was regarding energy, and making 75% of government buildings more efficient which will reportedly save the citizens over 2 billion a year in tax dollars. For that sir, I applaud you, anything that will save tax dollars is good. However, he did not stop there, he went on to say that they will lay another 3000 miles of electrical transmission lines to get power to every corner of the country. Could someone please tell me why this is the business of the federal government? It shouldnt be. Electricity is not provided to the people by the federal government, nor should it be. This is the electric company's job. They are the ones that will profit from the sale of the electricity that flows through thoes transmission lines, therefore they are the ones who need to bear the cost of that investment. Furthermore, he stated that our energy dependence on foregin countries will be reduced by weatherizing two million homes. Mr. President, homes are privately owned, and the ones that arent, should be. I don't want my hard earned tax dollars going to weatherize someother persons home, lets save thoes tax dollars, refund it back to the people who paid it, and let them spend it as they see fit. If they choose to weatherize their home with it, good for them, if they have other needs for that money, more power to them. Let people spend their money as they choose, don't take it from them and spend it on other people.
His second policy/executive order was quite vague. He stated that there will be new standards for efficency on model year 2011 vehicles, and that the minimum MPG for vehicles will be 35 by 2020. Why are you regulating private business? Lets look to recent history, the past few years and gas prices. Gas prices were extremely high, and we saw a drastic drop in sales of vehicles with low MPG, and a drastic increase in the sales of vehicles with high MPG. Thats the free market working they way it is supposed to. We saw automakers cut back or stop production on models that had low MPG becuase they weren't selling. Lets let the automakers make the vehicles they want to make, and let the people purchase the vehicles they want to. Automakers that don't respond to the wants of the population won't survive, ones that do, will thrive. Free markets Mr. President, not regulation.
His thrid policy is regarding protecting the climate stateside. He said that the federal government "will not pass the buck" or "put the burdern on the states". I'm reading my constitution, and any regulations not expressly granted to the federal government (like the regulations he spoke of today) are reserved for the states. He flat out said that he is going to do it on the federal level, a blatant disregard for the constitution. The US is large and diverse, regulations made by the federal government will not work for the whole country. This is the purpose of state and local government, to regulate smaller geographical areas with polices that thier constituents agree with, and work for them. Any increase in the size or power of the federal government is a bad idea, it is too large as it is.
Finally, his fourth policy is also about protecting the climate, and how he plans to coerice other countries, namely China and India to follow his climate plan or else... Obama needs to come out with what he plans to do. It sounded like he will be putting sanctions on countries that pollute more than he likes. Once again sir, lets let the free markets handle anything that affects the economy. It is not the job of the US or any group to tell a country how much they can pollute other than that country.
Lets hope that todays actions aren't a preview of whats to come with this administration. Policies need to be run through the representation in the house an senate. That's what they are there for, it's not your job to come up with an idea and just sign it in to law, let the people decide, and let the markets behave as they do. The past several years have proven that free markets work.