State of the Union Review

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

In the aftermath of President Obama’s State of the Union address this past Tuesday, there was wide agreement across all political lines that the speech fell flat, and was a mostly tired rehash of previously stated goals that have so far proven fruitless. He generally kept his concepts and ideas to a dull finish, choosing not to inspire the nation, but rather to bore them with what they have already heard, and rejected, before.

Those opinions being proffered notwithstanding, there were several passages that should concern the American electorate, and given the absence of their acknowledgement in the mass media, the Madison Conservative would ask your indulgence while those points are addressed herein.

Please note – all quoted passages come from the officially released transcript, authorized for release by the White House.

In no particular order, let the evaluation and commentary begin.

Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better.  But average wages have barely budged.  Inequality has deepened.  Upward mobility has stalled.  The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by - let alone get ahead.  And too many still aren't working at all.

Our job is to reverse these trends.  It won't happen right away, and we won't agree on everything.  But what I offer tonight is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class.  Some require Congressional action, and I'm eager to work with all of you.  But America does not stand still - and neither will I.  So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that's what I'm going to do.

In effect, what President Obama has delineated here is that if the Congress does not do his bidding on his terms, he will deem them to be obstructionist and act on his own authority. This is in effect a coup on the United States Constitution. Of course, the reality is that any actions the President may undertake by executive order can be easily undone by any subsequent administration. It is troubling however that President Obama is making the case for dictatorial powers based upon his singular view of what is needed, and that his sole opinion is right and correct.

This concept is known as tyranny.

Tonight, I ask more of America's business leaders to follow John's lead and do what you can to raise your employees' wages.  To every mayor, governor, and state legislator in America, I say, you don't have to wait for Congress to act; Americans will support you if you take this on.  And as a chief executive, I intend to lead by example. Profitable corporations like Costco see higher wages as the smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. We should too.  In the coming weeks, I will issue an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour - because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn't have to live in poverty.

Of course, to reach millions more, Congress needs to get on board. Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about twenty percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here.  Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10.  This will help families.  It will give businesses customers with more money to spend.  It doesn't involve any new bureaucratic program.  So join the rest of the country.  Say yes.  Give America a raise.

Following up on the previous statements, what President Obama and the political left are declaring here is an abandonment of the capitalist system. On one hand he professes to believe that every American should be given an fair opportunity to succeed, based upon their own merits. In this paragraph, he is attempting to convey to private industry and business to act as the government wishes, business realities and principles notwithstanding. The concern here is what third world dictators try all the time – to nationalize industry under governmental control, based upon the argument that it is in the national good. A President willing to discard the fundamental tenets of capitalism is a dangerous ploy to democracy.

These negotiations will be difficult.  They may not succeed.  We are clear-eyed about Iran's support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, which threaten our allies; and the mistrust between our nations cannot be wished away.  But these negotiations do not rely on trust; any long-term deal we agree to must be based on verifiable action that convinces us and the international community that Iran is not building a nuclear bomb.  If John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan could negotiate with the Soviet Union, then surely a strong and confident America can negotiate with less powerful adversaries today.

The sanctions that we put in place helped make this opportunity possible.  But let me be clear: if this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it.  For the sake of our national security, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed.  If Iran's leaders do not seize this opportunity, then I will be the first to call for more sanctions, and stand ready to exercise all options to make sure Iran does not build a nuclear weapon.  But if Iran's leaders do seize the chance, then Iran could take an important step to rejoin the community of nations, and we will have resolved one of the leading security challenges of our time without the risks of war.

The naiveté demonstrated here is breathtaking and dangerous. The President is discussing the current negotiations with Iran. It is perplexing and causes one to wonder what policy he is pursuing when he chiders his government and announces his position in public so that Iran can easily digest his remarks and gauge his determination and political fortitude.

America has never come easy.  Our freedom, our democracy, has never been easy.  Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged.  But for more than two hundred years, we have put those things aside and placed our collective shoulder to the wheel of progress - to create and build and expand the possibilities of individual achievement; to free other nations from tyranny and fear; to promote justice, and fairness, and equality under the law, so that the words set to paper by our founders are made real for every citizen.  The America we want for our kids - a rising America where honest work is plentiful and communities are strong; where prosperity is widely shared and opportunity for all lets us go as far as our dreams and toil will take us - none of it is easy.  But if we work together; if we summon what is best in us, with our feet planted firmly in today but our eyes cast towards tomorrow - I know it's within our reach.

Simply put, there is absolutely no quantification within the United States Constitution that delineates exactly what ‘fair’ is. The President continually expounds on ‘fairness’ as if it is an actual attainable goal. It is not – the equal opportunity to succeed to ones own choosing is what is guaranteed to us by the founders and their construct of our governing documents. The President needs to re=evaluate his comments on ‘fairness’ – they diminish the office and the nation.

.  That's why I directed my administration to work with states, utilities, and others to set new standards on the amount of carbon pollution our power plants are allowed to dump into the air.  The shift to a cleaner energy economy won't happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way.  But the debate is settled.  Climate change is a fact.  And when our children's children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did.

The ignorance exhibited by the President and the political left on what is euphemistically called ‘climate change’ is truly alarming. The liberal media sycophants continually make their case that there ‘is a consensus of scientists that agree there is global warming’.

For them and for the President, here is a Science 101 primer:

There is NEVER any such nonsense as a ‘consensus’ in science – there is either proven theory, or theory. Majority does not rule in science – empirical data does.

The America people deserve better that what was presented to them this past Tuesday.