Perfect Storm

The following post is a release from Delegate Scott Lingamfelter:

"You probably recall the 1991 "Perfect Storm", also known as the Halloween Nor'easter of 1991. This freak weather phenomenon absorbed Hurricane Grace and ultimately turned into a small unnamed hurricane. The initial area of low pressure developed off Atlantic Canada on October 28. Forced southward by a ridge to its north, it reached its peak intensity as a large and powerful cyclone. No one saw it coming. But it was a whopper of a storm.

Liberals in America are now experiencing their own "perfect storm" as the country awakens to the reality that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got.

Take a moment to see how this storm came together. It began with the election of President Obama, who ushered in a new era of big government. He also was given a major boost when the nation put Democrats in charge of the Congress who did his bidding without hesitation. They quickly put in place the single largest takeover of the economy in the history of the nation, the now not-so-affordable "Affordable Care Act", a name that drips with irony.

The storm strengthened. Coming into office with a horrible economy, the President's policies made it worse by dumping huge amounts of "stimulus money" into an economy already sagging under huge debt and waste. More storm clouds gathered as the President funneled more and more money toward food stamps, cell phones for the asking, failed solar companies, auto manufacturer takeovers, and extending unemployment benefits to levels never witnessed in the history of the country. In the meantime, small businesses struggled to make ends meet under increased taxes with the repeal of the Bush-era tax cuts.

And now politics and policy have come together in a way that could be the death knell of big government liberalism as no single event in the political history of this nation. This ObamaCare behemoth is "big government" without peer and it is failing as we watch. Indeed, we are witnessing the literal destruction of the world's finest healthcare system as big government wizards mix potions that will poison the very thing that can help us reform healthcare: free market principles.

So now even people who voted for Obama and his "Hope and Change" message are now very much against the change he heralds. Many are reassessing their support of an ever-growing government bestowing upon us benefits that we can't afford and will surely regret as the stage is set for more economic trouble under burgeoning debt and government spending. This big government policy "low pressure system" has now "absorbed" the economic storm that is our debt ridden society. Together they form a perfect storm that could destroy liberal big government dreams.

Where do we go from here? Some say that the Republican Party should "offer an alternative". You can be sure that Democrats are on their knees hoping they will. Liberals are desperate to shift attention away from the ObamaCare disaster so they can demonize any Republican alternative as "taking your healthcare away". So any specific policy alternative Republicans offer at this point in time will not be seriously considered by the liberals in Washington. When the liberals in Congress are willing to actually consider and vote on a serious alternative, the GOP should offer it. But right now Democrats have no interest in a serious "alternative policy". What they want is an "alternative topic" to shift the criticism away from their failing policy. Painful as it may be, it's time for the voting public to see and experience what happens when we elect people who want to give you everything you want at a price-financially and otherwise-you can't pay.

That said, Republicans must take the offensive to shape the debate going forward and the best way to do that is through a full-throated defense of the free market, individual liberty, and a "frequent occurrence to Founding Principles". In doing so, they will set the stage for that serious alternative that is needed if we are to save both healthcare and our pocket books from the political and policy whirlwind that we are now experiencing.

Meanwhile, strap in for a perfect storm."