The ultimate consequence of Nanny State governance appears all too obvious — its negative impact on individual economic prosperity.
But upon reading today’s commentary by British writer Michael Tomasky for The Guardian one is reminded of the deeply rooted psychological damage Socialism can do.
Name a topic. Health care. Employment. Education. Try it out on almost any middle-aged or older Brit, Canadian or European. They will arrive at the same conclusion about the role of government in their lives. They have for so long, since their earliest memories, held a view that the government will provide, will intervene, will resolve, that they are literally unable to grasp the American pillar of self reliance.
Thus, Tomasky in his online column for the The Guardian, “Obama’s Untold Story”, expresses unrestrained frustration with the American people for our failure to recognize what greatness the Obama White House hath wrought on our inconsequential little lives.
He laments “the conviction, shared by up to three-quarters of the public, according to polls, that the steps the administration has taken haven’t helped (the U.S. economy) and have maybe even hurt. This is maddening … “
Tomasky can’t understand how “a president (Obama) of accomplishment” is under siege in the polls. Perhaps because the American people, especially independents still shaking off their Kool-Aid hangovers, are capable of understanding what Forbes magazine called the dark side of stimulus.
We understand that $20 million frittered away on road signs heralding stimulus spending on roads is government inefficiency gone wild. We understand that when the federal government takes control of auto makers that it will make decisions that are short sighted, even detrimental. This week we learned that the special inspector general assigned to assess TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) concluded that the government’s swift closure of GM and Chrysler auto dealerships killed too many jobs in the name of stability.
What a stunner. Yet, a lifelong Nanny Stater such as Tomasky is flogging Americans for missing the fact that stimulus (debt building) “helped avert a depression.”
He can’t help himself. It’s in the British DNA, apparently. He can’t wrap his brain around the reality put on the table in June by New York University’s Thomas Cooley, writing for Forbes. We are seeing a repeat of FDR’s “cure” for the 1930s depression. The more artificial stimulus, the more debt. And the more debt, the more barriers to recovery.
“(Americans) are realizing that there is a dark side to this spending orgy,” Cooley wrote. “It has to end, and then we have to pay the bill. If we need any reminders that the day of reckoning is coming we have only to look to Europe.”
