May 14, 2007

France Moves Forward, Democrats Move Backward

The newly elected president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has pledged to stimulate France’s economy by cutting taxes, reducing the size of the government bureaucracy, free businesses from rigid anti-growth restrictions and keep immigration in check. French voters signaled that they are tired of unsuccessful socialist policies that have caused France to become one of the weakest countries in Europe.

Democratic leaders in the United States, on the other hand, want to raise taxes by doing nothing to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, expand the size of the government with universal health care, impose anti-growth restrictions on successful businesses by “taking their profits” as Hillary Clinton says, and stimulate the influx of even more illegal aliens into the country by not securing our borders first, and by allowing a fast track to citizenship for millions of people who have already broken our laws.

The evidence is compelling that Mr. Sarkozy will move France forward if he is successful, and that the Democratic leadership will move this country backwards if they get their way. Their way is political power with a larger majority in Congress and the 2008 presidency. Their goal is not progress for the country or the people, or they would be making proposals to solve our biggest domestic problems, instead of proposals to massage our nation’s war weariness, economic illiteracy and lack of self-responsibility by so many people.   

It took decades for the French people to elect a free market, low-tax, smaller-government, enforced-immigration-minded president, even though the media labeled his 53 percent to 47 percent victory a landslide and a mandate. I would be careful of such an attitude, because it could lead to the sort of arrogance and misrepresentation exhibited by the Democrats in Congress after their congressional victory in November 2006.

Congressional Democrats conveniently tag all of their illogical and irrational proposals as a “mandate” from the November 2006 elections.

Such as, Americans want a “new direction” in Iraq, even though all the Democrats have proposed is surrender to the terrorists in the form of an internationally televised withdrawal date and a ridiculous piece-meal war funding bill to constrain the war fighters on the battlefield and hijack the president’s authority.

Such as, this vibrant economy and stock market is only helping rich Americans, even though we have a record low unemployment rate for people who want to work. Maybe the Democrats will be happy when we have a 9 percent unemployment rate like France, instead of a 4.5 percent rate, which is generated by businesses free of government interference.

Instead of proposals to prevent the impending financial train wreck of the Social Security system, the Majority Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, says that the system is in good shape for many years to come. Each year the so-called trustees of the Social Security system report just the opposite. Somebody is not telling the truth.

According to David Villars in a Wall Street Journal article of May 7, 2007, when Mr. Sarkozy was interior minister, he introduced stricter immigration laws that led to the deportation of tens of thousands of immigrants. Mr. Sarkozy evidently understood what Tony Blankley described in his book, The West’s Last Chance. Namely, illegal immigrants could care less about laws being enforced, dysfunctional social programs or a sustained vibrant economy as long as many of their needs are accommodated.

This tendency to accommodate rather than insist on legal and cultural assimilation has created many of the social and economic problems in France and Europe in general. Tony Blankley warns that the United States is headed in the same direction if it relaxes its laws to accommodate the bombardment of illegal aliens and if it compromises its core culture.

Mr. Sarkozy has recognized what needs to be done to move France forward, while Democrats in Congress refuse to recognize what has already been done to create a strong and vibrant nation despite our problems, issues and increased political polarization.

Mr. Sarkozy has also stated that he wants to improve relations with the United States. That’s encouraging, but it would be more encouraging if we had better relations with ourselves first, politically. Poison politics is destroying this country.

If it took decades for the French people to recognize that the socialist policies have not worked, then why do the Democratic leaders and presidential candidates want to repeat those same mistakes?

The answer must be blowing in the wind, backwards.