DEMOCRATS WANT TO "REDUCE INEQUALITY"

Here we go folks, the 110th Congress - Democrat controlled - convenes today at noon. The Democrats have one primary goal, to increase American's dependency on government. It's all about power. The Democrats had it --- for four decades. For forty years they controlled the congressional agenda. Then they lost it. From the very moment the election results for the 1994 midterm elections were posted Democrats vowed to themselves that they would one day return to power .. and when they did they would immediately move to make sure they never lost that power again.

Just watch. It's transparent. Observe the first 100 days. So much of what the Democrats will do will be designed to increase the dependency of one class of Americans or another on the government. Legislation not designed to increase dependency will be designed to empower groups friendly to Democrat politicians --- unions, for example.

You've heard how the Democrats want to reward their union friends, haven't you? Right now workers get to vote on whether or not they are going to unionize. First there is a petition circulated around the workplace. If a majority of workers sign the petition, then they get to vote on whether or not to unionize. There is a big difference between the petition and the vote. The petition is public. The vote is private.

A worker in a particular business may not want to unionize, but he will sign the petition anyway so as not to anger his coworkers who are organizing for the union. When the secret ballot comes along he will vote his true feelings. This worker is subject to coercion and pressure when the petition is passed around. There is no pressure or coercion when voting the secret ballot.

The Democrats are going to opt for the pressure tactics. They will try to eliminate the need for a vote of the workers. Democrats will argue that once a majority have signed the petition that should be enough. "Who needs a vote?" they'll say. "We already see that a majority of the workers have signed a petition for a union! That should be enough!" Pressure? Coercion? Democrats will deny it exists.

Representative Barney Frank is pushing the idea of "equality" on this first day of the 110th Congress. He doesn't like income disparity, and he wants to see what the government can do about it. Will he come up with ideas that will allow middle and lower income workers to use their talents and work ethic to earn yet more money? It's more likely he's going to come up with ideas on how to restrict the amount of money the high-achievers can earn. For many Democrats the way to correct income disparity is to punish those who do well in order to gain the affections of those who are satisfied with mediocrity.

Democrats, you see, think that income is "distributed." The idea that income is earned is foreign to them. Remember though, this is the party that believes America is great because of government.

My hope is that over the next few years we'll see more and more people suddenly develop an interest in politics. It would be wonderful if we could spend our days concentrating on our families and our careers. How nice it would be if we didn't have to worry so much about what was going on in Washington. That, after all, is the way our founding fathers wanted it to be. The federal government simply wasn't supposed to play this big a role in our daily lives! Our founding fathers made it clear that in times of peace about 95% of all governance should happen at the local level. Now virtually every aspect of our lives is controlled in one way or another by the politicians and regulators enjoying their positions of power and privilege in Washington.

I have this sense - and I've expressed it on the air - that I have lived through the best that this country will ever be. Freedom is on the wane. People pay only basic lip service to the idea of freedom. Freedom to chose where you're going to go on vacation, where you will work, what you will eat, where you'll worship and live --- that's all fine. Freedom to negotiate your own wages with your employer, to govern your own health care, to manage your own retirement plans and to decide where your children will go to school ... well, that's just too much. The consequences of bad choices there are just to grave to leave to chance. This must be handled by the government.

Can our love of freedom be rekindled? Frankly, I doubt it. We're too lazy. Too used to the good life. We love living as adult children with our mommy and daddy, in the form of government, taking care of our basic needs while we sit around worrying who the next Falcon's head coach will be and who is going to be the next American Idol.

I guess in a few years from now some young people will look at me and think to themselves "He's old! Yeeechhhhh." Yeah, maybe so. But I knew America when freedom was precious. I knew America before the war on the individual. I knew America before political correctness. I knew America when individual accomplishment was celebrated, not derided; when grades meant something and when the mother of a functionally illiterate child didn't drive around with a "My child is an honor student" bumper sticker on her car.

I knew America when they kept score in games and when winning was something to be proud of; when mothers allowed their kids to play games where people hit them and threw things at them, instead of running around kicking balls.

I was raised by a generation that recognized the necessity of fighting .. fighting long and hard, if necessary .. to preserve freedom.

Old? Maybe in the eyes of some know-it-all 20-something. But I'm not going to grow old in a country with a government-controlled economy where initiative is punished. I'm not going to know the misery of socialized medicine. I'll never have to wait months for a simple MRI or elective surgery.

Can America be saved? Can we be rescued from politicians who are more interested in their positions of power and the perks that come with membership in the congress? Perhaps ... but I don't see it happening. I don't see it happening as long as CNN can travel to the sidewalks and find some young bimbo who will proclaim that she doesn't want to manage any part of her own retirement plans --- that she would rather have the government do it all for her. I don't see it happening as long as people look to the government to set their wage rates. And I certainly don't see it happening as long as the American people remain blissfully unaware of the threat of Islamic fascism.

But anyway ...... let's move on to some more notes.

THE CRAWFORD CRACKPOT IS BACK

There was a priceless scene in the House of Representatives yesterday. The Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, Rahm Emanuel, was trying to have a press conference about the Democrats' first 100 hours in office...and he was shouted down by Cindy Sheehan and her band of anti-war protesters. Even the Left isn't being spared Sheehan's wrath.

But I thought Cindy Sheehan liked the Democrats? How dare she interrupt the leadership's press conference? The mob began chanting "De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!" But really, they were at the wrong press conference....Emanuel was talking about lobbying reform. So what exactly was Sheehan and her crowd doing? She was quoted afterward saying "We wanted the Democrats to know they're back in power because of the grass roots." In other words, Cindy Sheehan is putting the Democrats on notice. She wants them to know that they got where they are because of Iraq, and she expects to be repaid in the coming 2 years.

So just in case the Democrats thought they were going to sweep the anti-war Left under the rug that brought them to power, they'll want to think again on that. Cindy Sheehan isn't going to go quietly. And whenever a barking moonbat like the Crawford Crackpot starts haunting Democrats, it's a priceless scene. Perhaps there will be more protests. We can only hope!

THE MOST ETHICAL HOUSE IN HISTORY

As we've already noted ... today the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will take the gavel from Dennis Hastert and begin the new era of Democratic control in Washington. This will be the first time in 12 years that a Democrat has been in that role...since Tom Foley (remember him?) in 1994. As part of their campaign, Democrats railed against the Republican "culture of corruption" and pledged to run the most ethical House in history.

The only problem is there are just a few cracks in the foundation of that proclamation. William Jefferson, the disgraced Louisiana Congressman who was busted by the FBI with almost $100,000 in his freezer...will take his seat today. But at least he's not on the House Ways and Means Committee, right? Turns out Pelosi turned down an offer to support another Democrat against Jefferson. She evidently liked the incumbent. How ethical. Perhaps Jefferson was keeping some of her money in his freezer for her.

The beauty of all this is even thought Democrats are in the minority, they get to hold Democrats to account with the responsibility of having to be in charge. Perhaps they won't blow it this time.

SANDY PANTS' PERMISSION SLIP

Some interesting news today about Sandy "Pants" Berger and his pilfering of documents from the National Archives. It turns out he had a permission slip from Bill Clinton...his former boss. Just what exactly was going on here? We may never know. What we do know is that the former National Security Adviser was up to something...with the former president's blessing.

Bill Clinton had given Berger access to the papers that later went missing. They were a 1999 review of the Clinton Administration's handling of the Al-Qaeda terror threat. Well, we all know how well the Clinton crowd handled Al-Qaeda. Perhaps they wanted rid of this embarrassing document?

So this may have been what Berger was lifting when a National Archives employee noticed him heading off to the bathroom with a document beneath his pants leg. With Berger's plea bargain, we may never know what he took. One thing's for sure...he was up to something...and it would seem with Clinton's blessing.

You want a guess? OK .. here's a guess. If we could find those documents Berger removed from the National archives would show that Clinton had been fully briefed on the threat that Al Qaeda posed to America, but chose to ignore it.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

If Norman Rockwell had been a redneck, he might've produced something like this. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

So what does Dick Morris think of the rise of Barack Obama's candidacy for President of the United States? He thinks Obama may have a shot, just because his record is so short and because of that, he can position himself as whomever he wants. Interesting analysis.

With Democrats talking about raising the minimum wage and George W. Bush prepared to go along with it, George F. Will has his own ideas of what the minimum wage ought to be. He says it's time to dump the New Deal-era program and return the minimum wage to zero.

New Orleans continues to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, with much of the rebuilding being paid for by you and me. But guess what? As it turns out, quite a bit of the construction is is not up to par...with many houses being built without raised foundations. I suppose history really does repeat itself.

Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser for the first President Bush and critic of the latest president, writes in an op-ed today what it will take to get the Middle East back on track. Is it possible to win in Iraq? Read on to find out.

Victor Davis Hanson takes note of the current score in the War On Terror. Just how are we doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? It depends on who you ask, and Hanson points that that's because the two sides fight their wars very differently. Be sure to catch this one today.

Keith Ellison, a newly elected Democrat in Minnesota, has been facing criticism for using a Koran to be sworn into office. But Ellison, the first Muslim to be elected to Congress, has decided to turn the tables. He's going to be using Thomas Jefferson's Koran to be sworn in. That's right...Thomas Jefferson had a Koran. Guess there's not much his critics can say now.

Ann Coulter says we shouldn't be distracted by Gerald Ford's passing or Saddam Hussein's execution....Democrats still want to cut and run from Iraq as soon as possible. She says the Left wants to reward our enemies just as they did under President Ford.

Now that President Ford's funeral is officially over, Jack Kemp offers one more eulogy for the former Vice President and President. They served together in the House of Representatives and became long-time friends afterward.

Democrats are about to take up the passage of a bill for more federal funding for stem cell research. But here's what Robert Novak wants to know: how will the pro-life Democrats vote? Evidently there were more than a few elected in the most recent election.

Debra Saunders takes note of the media coverage of the war in Iraq, and it is dripping with as much bias as ever. Saddam's hanging was botched, the trial was unfair, we're still losing in Iraq.....the doom and gloom continues on the 24-hour cable news channels.

I'm guessing this is a real live "environmentalist" driving this Chevy Blazer and not someone being ironic. Pity.

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