Tag: Freedom

We are a caring state. We proved it by passing legislation making it illegal for smokers to light up in bars and restaurants. (That is, unless the bar or restaurant happens to be in a casino where smoke miraculously has no poisoning effects.) We proved it too with the passing of our helmet laws and seat belt laws.

We prove it with mandated warning labels on everything from window screens to canned food. We see it proudly displayed in the purchase and installation of MDOT's expensive electronic signs that remind us that it is dangerous to smash into a deer while speeding, in the fog and on sheer ice, while sending a text message and eating a burger.

Conspiracy theorists imagine wide, well-coordinated, concerted efforts to pursue particularized agendas. To some extent, these efforts exist, though I would not necessarily call them conspiracies, since that implies something sinister. For example, when the White House changes its message or adopts new terminology (think about the change from "health care reform" to "health insurance reform" to make insurance companies the target), memoranda go out, talking points are distributed, and the organization -- the MSM included -- delivers a coordinated message.

Beyond that sort of rudimentary message distribution, widespread conspiracies are hard to implement, and one should take such accusations very skeptically. It is far more likely that persons pursue similar agendas, not because they are engaged in a conspiracy, but because they share a particular ideology or worldview.

This is the alarming condition -- the number and variety of initiatives spawned, not by conspiracy, but by a common disregard for constitutional liberties and an infatuation with government power.

Cue Gretchen Whitmer.

The First Amendment prohibits any law abridging freedom of speech or prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Religious freedom is further enshrined in Article I, Section 4 of Michigan's constitution, and Article I, Section 5 states:

Every person may freely speak, write, express and publish his views on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of such right; and no law shall be enacted to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press.

Unfortunately, Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing) and certain of her colleagues do not share this perspective on freedom. They are attempting not only to tell certain non-profit organizations what they can and cannot say, but they want to force these organizations to share information promulgated by certain, selected professional associations. In so doing, they are circumventing the will of the people of the State of Michigan and infringing on our constitutional rights.

I attended the Northville and Livonia TEA Parties, though I spent the bulk of my time in Norhville.

What an amazing crowd, and when I say AMAZING i mean..... 1,000+ (according to Northville PD I talked to).

Lots of good speakers, music, and good people.

I just can't explain how excited I am when I see how many American's are fed up with the Fed's!

Mike Cox gave a great speech, I got to meet him afterwords and I have to say I am impressed.  I also met Thad McCotter and all I have to say is GOD BLESS that man and the work his does in Congress.

How were the other TEA Parties?

I am looking forward to this Saturday, June 13. The Tea Party Convention will not only be fun, but it will continue the momentum of the Lansing Tea Party. The five proposals that will be presented, voted upon and prioritized will give us goals to work towards. The speakers have a wealth of information between them and the break out sessions will give us a chance to share ideas.

I am asking you to get out of your fetal position and register. It is being held in Holt, Michigan. It"s not that far. You can get to the registration page from the homepage of the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. The cost is only $10 per person and that includes lunch. For those of you that have children, there is even childcare. What more could you want.

Put some effort behind your words and join us. All talk and no action doesn't change a thing. People call me all the time and want me to do there work. This is your opportunity to commit to do your share. Hope to see you there.

One interesting phenomenon that characterizes today's modern Democrats is the way they use free market economics to accomplish certain goals that will inevitably deprive us of more of our freedoms and the way, when it benefits their own pet projects, they successfully use the supply side economics they deride in all other cases.

A couple examples:

Our governor, Tinkerbell, refuses to cut taxes (or spending, for that
matter) to make Michigan a more business-friendly state generally. But, when it comes to liberals' most cherished industry -- entertainment -- she had no problem pushing through tax cuts and trumpeting their success in turning Michigan into a Midwest Hollywood. These tax cuts produced an entirely rational and self-serving response from the movie industry -- they moved to where their costs were lower! This must have shocked our governor into paralysis, because she hasn't tried this since, and she shows no inclination to do the same thing for the rest of Michigan's economy.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the One is pushing his cap-and-trade plan for carbon dioxide emissions that he even says will "necessarily cause electricity prices to skyrocket." Gee, thanks a lot. That's just what we need right now. Why is he doing this? Apart from the darkest possible explanations (he wants to cripple our manufacturing base), he obviously wants to drive prices of coal-power generated electricity up so that we will look to other sources of electricity, such as those wonderful windmills and the sun. This is another example of market interference that relies for its success on rational behavior by consumers -- searching for lower cost and hence lower priced power.

While decrying the market, both Tinkerbell and the One use market economics and classical supply and demand theory to manipulate events for their own purposes. Film production tax credits and cap-and-trade depend for their success on the very thing that both of them deplore -- people acting in their own self-interest. When they don't like it, they call it greed.

In the same year our nation was founded, Adam Smith published his magnificent The Wealth of Nations, in which he described the phenomenon of the "Invisible Hand," which holds that if consumers are allowed to choose freely what to buy and producers are allowed to choose freely what to sell and how to produce it, such a free market will result in prices and a distribution of goods and services that benefit all members of a community, and hence the community as a whole.

People are driven by self-interest and the desire to increase their own income and utility (a word economists use instead of satisfaction or happiness, to be measured in utils. Not kidding.). Since the income and happiness of society is the sum of individual incomes and happiness, all benefit from the individual pursuits motivated by the Invisible Hand.

When it pleases them, the Democrats employ the mechanisms of the free market in a twisted and horrific way, but they absolutely refuse to allow the market to work generally, believing instead that they, individually, can make better decisions than the collective result of millions of decisions made by consumers and producers every day. This is arrogance, pure and simple.

Beyond arrogant, though, the behavior is dangerous. Raising the cost of electricity astronomically is the only way to make "alternative" energy sources competitive, but all energy sources will be at much higher prices than they are now, which means consumers and businesses will use less energy, which means less economic activity, which means fewer and fewer jobs and lower incomes for those who are fortunate enough to work. This will, of course, translate into demand for government assistance, intervention, and, like we are seeing now, ownership of what we used to call private enterprise.

Freedom? In the future, it will be a luxury the government won't let us afford.

By picking winners (movies and windmills), the Democrats impose higher costs on everyone else who must pay the added burden. Thus, those who are not winners are, instead, losers. What has our governor done to pick up the auto industry? All we hear is that we are too dependent on the auto industry and we need to diversify. That's fine, but in the meantime, they could use a little help. They're not getting it from Lansing, so they're gradually disappearing, first in Michigan, then it will be the rest of the country, until we don't have a domestic auto industry any more. About that time, Tinkerbell will probably want tax cuts for drive-in movie theaters. Driven by windmills, of course.