Utopia Crashes to Earth

Sadly, this is not the newest science fiction title to grace bookstore shelves. This is about how liberal idealism and Utopian politics have had swords stabbed through their heart.

The tenets of liberal Democratic Party politics (that would be 2/3 to the left of center) have pretty much all suffered from a good dose of underlying truth and fact airing, especially last week’s multiple revelations on key issues:

• Health care
It’s been shown and revealed that illegal aliens and new immigrants use much less healthcare than previously thought or reported. (scroll down to the last story)

Also, a new revelation about socialized medicine and “Hillary-care”: A woman from London, England called the Glenn Beck radio show last Wednesday to tell how the system works over there, and stated that older patients who are sick with non-cost-effective illnesses get shoved aside in favor of younger people who can recover and work to continue supporting the system. She also added that babies born with non-cost-effective birth defects are allowed to die or are put to death. Money (meaning the state’s) is the determining factor in who gets care and what kind—parents and families are NOT the last legal say in treatment options. That right has been handed over to the state (in this case Britain). Guess what Hillary tried to do once here in America, and what the Dems are going to try again? This would solve two intertwined problems—Medicare costs and Social Security, because you can’t receive a check while you’re waiting to die in the Old Folks wing. Grandma’s Social Security check would go straight to Medicare, meaning Uncle Sam’s money just changes pockets.

The Dems also want to re-write the Medicare Drug plan to include the allowance for federally-negotiated prices, and this is too little too late. The states individually, as well as Wal-Mart, have already beaten them to this punch. How much cheaper can they ever hope to get below $4.00 prescriptions?

• Minimum wage
The minimum wage hue and cry has also been revealed to be much ado about nothing, because only 2% of the working population actually receives it, and doesn’t stay on it very long.

Large retailers have already come out publicly and said they could care less about raising it, because they already pay much more than the federally stated $5.15/hour anyway. Raising it to the proposed $7.50/hour would actually be a step BACKWARD for these workers!

• Alternative energy
As I’ve been railing for months now (but not much recently), this huge farce has finally come to a resounding crash with the recent release of the oil deposit numbers—increased from the previous 1.78 trillion barrels to 3 trillion barrels—making alternative energies a waste of time and a bad investment. Crude oil itself is now an out-of-favor investment to all but crack spread traders (crack spread is the difference between crude and refined prices).That hybrid that started out as a bad deal is now even worse—there is no real reason to own one in light of oil supplies, and the market value has now fallen through the floor. The sky is not falling, the air is not getting any cleaner, and oil is not getting more expensive from here on out.

• Gender issues
Just when the last of the old-line feminists tried to rear their ugly heads and beat their battered drums about women’s advancement in the workplace, out come revelations about women who once thought they could have it all, tried to have it all, and are miserable with what they DO have and DID accomplish. Many are secretly still waiting for Price Charming to come rescue them from the working world so they can go home, do dishes, cook, clean, and have babies.

The news and web keep running stories of how the Republicans need to fall back and regroup for ’08. I think it’s the other way around—the Dems need to fall back and assess their ongoing existence as a political party. As we get closer to ’08, it looks like our choices will be Republicans and Anti-Republicans. Once more and more people get a better handle on the issues, the underlying facts, how it all affects their wallets, and what this “something for nothing” free benefit-seeking crowd will mean in terms of dollars and cents to each of us, there will be a sweeping political sea change in voting. For once, emotion won’t be playing a role in who gets (or keeps) their jobs. Instead of voting with heart and mind, people will begin voting with dollars in mind. War will no longer be a referendum issue.

Money makes the world go ‘round, and those who have it (or know how to get it) will always vote to protect it from unreasonable taxes, while those with poor personal economies will always vote for something-for-nothing. Peter will always vote not to be robbed to pay Paul, even if Paul resorts to emotional blackmail and shady pseudo-science in his quest for power.