Normal people look right past the tiny cars beloved by environmental groups, self-appointed consumer advocates, and the federal government. These are joyless machines like the three-cylinder Geo Metro XFi and Honda Civic VX, ugsome little pods designed not for comfort, utility, or performance, but rather to eke the most miles out of a gallon of gas.
The death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in a Balkans plane crash exposed the real reason President Clinton sent American troops to Bosnia: to make the world safe for corporate welfare.
An aspect of the so-called Dayton Peace Accords, which led to the deployment of U.S. troops, was an initial installment of $600 million in U.S. foreign aid, much of it for construction contracts.
Two years ago, the Clinton administration fell into near total disrepute among the public. The primary reason was its plot to socialize and nationalize the entire medical industry and conscript doctors and patients into a central plan.
Conservatives, Republicans, and free-market economists fought back in a well-financed PR blitz. These groups roundly, and rightly, denounced the administration as nearly totalitarian for assuming it could override the free market and provide equal health care to all.
A year ago January—what a moment!—the two parties were in a tax cut bidding war. Each side was attempting to gain political advantage by trumping the other guy’s proposal. Everything was on the table: capital gains tax cuts, income tax cuts, inheritance tax cuts, and every manner of tax credit.
“Forget the minimum wage,” says Nate, a dishwasher and cook’s helper at our restaurant. “It’s taxes that are killing me.” He is a college student by day, washes about 1,000 dishes during the dinner rush, and stuffs and rolls grape leaves until midnight.
The media often cite economists on why taxes should be cut. For example, the Wall Street Journal reports “widespread agreement” among economists that federal gas taxes are too low. And the Washington Post cites the “authority” of economists who says a $500-per child tax credit is “fiscal snake oil.”
The rise in oil prices provoked a frenzy of opportunistic posturing by politicians of both parties. Yet neither Clinton nor Dole will acknowledge the real reasons for sustained high prices—taxes and environmental regulations designed to keep prices high—or the reason for the newest price rise itself. Both are complicit in their genesis, and both are conspiring to keep gas prices high and prevent American consumers from getting relief.
Voter opposition to major “free trade” agreements helped propel a surge in protectionist rhetoric this year. Even constituencies when should be naturally free trade—Republican conservatives—have fallen prey to old fallacies.
But mainstream Republicans largely have themselves to blame for this phenomenon. By allowing straightforward free trade agreements to be encumbered with special interest favors, they have opened the door to political controversy.
A premise many conservatives share with liberals is that government largess harms its beneficiaries. Welfare supposedly creates dependence and “traps” its recipients in poverty. Much as the poor want to support themselves and their families, they are lured into sloth by Aid to Families with Dependent Children and other programs. Similar criticisms are brought against affirmative action, which supposedly labels its beneficiaries as inferior.
In a truly free society, it wouldn’t matter who the president was. We wouldn’t have to vote or pay attention to debates. We could ignore campaign commercials. There would be no high stakes for ourselves, our families, or the country. Liberty and property would be so secure that we could curse him, love him, or forget about him.
