Talking Points - September 2010
Talking Points, September 2010
by John F. McManus, President
1. The leaks about the Afghanistan War ought to supply more than enough reason to cancel this nearly nine-year-old conflict. But there are behind-the-scenes purposes for it that few will discuss. These include simply being at war with the result that the people support the administration because troops are in jeopardy. The Obama administration’s poll numbers might be even lower if there were no war. But conflicts like the Afghan struggle also lead to increasing government power, supplying more legitimacy to on-going disregard for the U.S. Constitution, inviting future attacks on the U.S. by jihadists, and more. Regarding the possibility of additional terrorist attacks on our nation, no one should forget Rahm Emanuel’s assertion that no crisis should ever be wasted.
The war began in 2001 as an effort to capture Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders. In fairly rapid succession, it became a war against terrorism in general, a campaign to eradicate opium production, a mission to impose democracy on a people who haven’t the faintest idea of what that means, and an effort to create a central government (known to be corrupt) in a nation where tribal leaders have maintained domination over private fiefdoms for centuries. Had the war been properly declared by Congress, there would have been an identifiable and unchanging goal.
It’s long past the time to bring our troops home. Evidence supplied by the revealing leaks could stimulate an end to this ill-begotten adventure. If so, thanks should be expressed to those who published them.
2. Debate continues about cutting or not cutting taxes. But slicing the enormous size and cost of government would be a far better choice. To give an inkling of how poorly our nation is being led, consider that while the federal deficit for the current fiscal year will reach $1.5 trillion, there is still a foreign aid program. Also, there are huge expenditures for failing federal programs in education, energy, and housing. The cost to taxpayers for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — both of which should never have been created and which should be abolished — will be $1 trillion.
3. President Obama has made a completely wrong decision to ban drilling for oil in both deepwater areas and closer offshore areas. Our nation needs the energy resources available in our own territory. It is highly significant that Senators Murkowski of Alaska and Landrieu of Louisiana, representatives of the two states most heavily impacted by oil spills, oppose Mr. Obama’s newest interference with production of needed oil and gas.
4. As recently as 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the discovery of enormous deposits of needed energy resources within the land area of the United States. They are in North Dakota, Montana, Texas, and Louisiana. If these are tapped, along with other known resources in Alaska and along our nation’s shores, the U.S. would not have to import a drop of oil or a cubic foot of natural gas. What stands in the way? The U.S. government and its partners, an assortment of the environmental extremists.
5. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM) envisions providing citizenship for many young people here illegally who are attending educational institutions at taxpayer expense. As a once-popular humorist from Russia would point to such a situation and say, “What a country!” A sensible American would wonder, “Have we gone completely daft?” This measure deserves no support whatsoever.
