By now everyone who wants to know knows the House approved President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.
In a swift victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House approved a historically huge $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration’s plan to revive a badly ailing economy. The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama’s frequent pleas for bipartisan support.
“This recovery plan will save or create more than three million new jobs over the next few years,” the president said in a written statement released moments after the House voted. Still later, he welcomed congressional leaders of both parties to the White House for drinks as he continued to lobby for the legislation. (from here)
Is this a good thing? What is in this $819 billion dollar bill? What have Obama’s excuse-makers in the corporate news media not told us? What have they let slip? This morning I read another article in the New York Times — no less.
The economic stimulus plan that Congress has scheduled for a vote on Wednesday would shower the nation’s school districts, child care centers and university campuses with $150 billion in new federal spending, a vast two-year investment that would more than double the Department of Education’s current budget.
The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.
Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government’s role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government. (from here)
In addition to taking us further down the road towards socialism (and serfdom), Obama seeks to erode the power of state and local government. Because the hand that pays the bill welds real power, if the Federal Government pays for the education of our children, the Federal Government will control the education of our children.
How will this power be used? Could it be used for tyranny? Don’t tyrants seek control and to maintain control by any means necessary? Consider this legend from ancient Greece where one tyrant asks another tyrant a question.
The Anecdote on Thrasybulus
Periander sent a messenger to Thrasybulus to ask for advice on ruling Corinth. Thrasybulus did not answer, but took the messenger out for a walk in the corn field. As they strolled along, Thrasybulus idly swatted the corn with his stick, so cutting back the stems that stuck out above the rest. The messenger returned and told Periander what had happened. Periander deduced that Thrasybulus’s advice was to kill the most outstanding citizens. Any student of modern tyranny knows that Thrasybulus’s advice is followed to this day. The most outstanding citizens are likely to be the prime challengers of the tyrant’s power. (from here)
There many ways by which the most outstanding citizens can be cut down. One is to never allow potential challengers to be educated to their full potential. Is it an accident that the rich elite send their children private schools?
What is worst, however, than any individual tyrant is the tyranny of the majority. Imagine the society we are creating, one ruled by a powerful central government that makes the rules and sets the standards of morality. Imagine a government that educates every child and adult from cradle to grave. If at the instruction of our leaders we insist everyone think the same and do the same, what will our children become?
Imagine what a devil from hell might think of such a place as we are creating. See here.
