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ANALYZING BUSH'S STATE OF THE UNION

By Mary Starrett
January 26, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

After watching President Bush�s State of the Union (SOTU) address and the Democrat response, all I can say is: �It is clear both �Big Box� parties still don�t get it!�

Early on the president talked about �spending discipline.�

Coming from the head of an administration that oversaw the most bloated federal budget in the history of the republic that was difficult to digest. Then Mr. Bush vowed to get tough on �earmarks� making it harder for congressional pork slipped into budget items to go unnoticed. Huh? This was a bit disingenuous since the president himself has issued more �signing statements� (notes added to pieces of legislation that are above removal by or challenge from Congress- think mini-executive orders) than all the other presidents combined!

All of that was followed by a glimmer of hope in the president�s statement to attempt to bring tax reform into the HEALTH INSURANCE debate. But his proposal doesn�t go far enough to remove government from the equation.

Our health care costs aren�t so high because we have too little government involvement but because we have too much. American taxpayers now fund half of all medical care -mostly through Medicare and Medicaid.

�All you have to do,� said Constitution Party National Chairman Jim Clymer, �is look at medical procedures typically paid for by consumers out of pocket as a case in point. Operations like laser eye surgery have fallen in price every year for a decade proving that when consumers, not corporations or the government are in charge, the market will dictate both quality and lower costs.�

It�s also instructive to see figures about how many people who can buy health insurance don�t. So, if it�s a toss-up between cable TV and health insurance premiums, some people are going to opt for all those channels instead of medical coverage. You cannot legislate good sense. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2005

The president�s call for EXPANDED FEDERAL MANDATES for alternative fuels and increased fuel efficiency standards is off base.

��Command and Control� environmentalism stymies free market solutions. It�s not cost effective for consumers and it�s unconstitutional� Clymer said, adding �Despite the scare tactics used by both parties, air pollution emissions in the U.S. are lower than they were in 1940. Instead of being beholden to big multi-national oil companies, we should allow the free market to develop new energy sources.�

We should remind Americans that during his 2003 SOTU address, the president said: �If Saddam Hussein does not � disarm�we will lead a coalition to disarm him.� He said those words relying on intelligence information we now know to be false. More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers have since died. Both parties in Congress abdicated their duty to either declare war or prevent engaging in war. The president should now be looking for ways to extricate the U.S. from the quagmire he and Congress got us into by making arrangements for Iraq to immediately assume the responsibility for stabilizing its government and getting our troops out. Let us use the past as prologue for what could very well be justification for yet another war in the Middle East, this time in IRAN. What could be the purpose of calling for an increase in the size of the military other than to engage in further excursions as world policeman? Has this president learned nothing from the Iraq debacle?

Unfortunately the Republican and Democrat parties have forgotten that our founders warned against such �foreign entanglements.�

The president suggested �Doubl(ing) the size of the Border Patrol so agents (could) chase down drug smugglers.�

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were arrested and jailed for trying to do just that! Apparently the president hasn�t listened to the overwhelming majority of Americans who want illegal IMMIGRATION halted.

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The president�s SOTU request to renew his No Child Left Behind law should be flatly denied by Congress. According to the president, NCLB, would �prepare our children for jobs of the future.� Presumably, these are the same jobs that have been shipped offshore by this administration�s misguided trade policies.

� 2007 Mary Starrett - All Rights Reserved