I read reports that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger might be crawling, hat in hand, to Washington D.C., begging Obama to cover the expected $21 billion budget shortfall expected in 2010. Not an unexpected picture to see a California State politician prostrate themselves before the alter of the Feds. Congratulations California; you are now a Third World welfare state. What an excellent job we, and the politicians, have done.

Our children will be proud.

We have taken an education system that was number one in the nation and with the cooperation of teachers unions, ineffectual administration, politicized education theories, and unregulated illegal alien participation, beat it down to just above Haiti in results. Progressive warehousing at its best. Now let’s take one of the best transportation systems in the nation and drive it to new levels of disrepair. Chase the real producers of wealth to adjoining states. Mix in a suicidal tax , spend, and environmental political philosophy and voila, you get California 2010. A shining example of what the nation can expect to see from progressives.

But let’s look at recent history to see where California is going and where this once great nation is heading.

Imagine a wealthy nation. With vast agriculture production, and seemingly endless farmland. A massive river system and ports that beat anything in the world. Natural resources that are massive. A level of industrialization exceeding most nations. An educated and literate population. A single national language.

Then a new President is elected under a banner of fundamental change with an appeal to the middle and entitlement class. Changes include mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. And similar to most fascist countries, corporations are bought and run by the government in a private/government partnership. The electorate allows the state to assume economic control of a vast percentage of the country’s wealth. The national constitution is ignored. The newly elected leaders then began assessing new taxes to fund their efforts.

With an ever increasing flow of funds into entitlement programs, the government’s payouts soon surpass the value of the taxpayers contributions. It quickly goes beyond an under-funded Ponzi scheme to something criminal.

The death knell for this nations economy, however, comes when this President aims his populist rhetoric at the nation’s rich. This targeted group is then expanded to cover most of the middle class. They become an enemy to be defeated and humiliated. The size of government bureaucracies explodes through massive programs of social spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions.

High taxes and economic mismanagement take their inevitable toll even after this President is driven from office. But the damage is done. His populist rhetoric and contempt for economic realities lives on. The government continues to spend far beyond its means. Hyperinflation explodes, the final stage of a process of trade protectionism, redistribution of wealth, income based on wages rather than assets, and ever increasing federal intervention in the economy.

This nation rapidly begins the practice of printing money to pay off its public debts…crushing the economy. Inflation hits 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic. Food riots are rampant; stores are looted; the country descends into chaos.

A government-controlled privatization effort to rescue pensions is attempted. But, those funds are also raided by the government, the monies replaced by the nation’s defaulted government paper. This fiscal irresponsibility induces a national economic crisis as severe as any great depression. Revolution soon follows.

America in 2013? No. Argentina a century ago.

If what I described above sounds like the America of today, then you are not alone. History has shown us, time and again, that progressive populist plans never work. Reality is never part of a progressive’s lexicon. It teaches us that Obama Care, Cap and Trade, the TARP slush fund, and unfunded entitlement programs will be utter, complete disasters. Today’s progressives are guilty of more than stupidity; they are attempting to enslave future generations to poverty and misery. The only bright side of this picture is that they will still be around when it does. And the posters will no longer be the image of Obama fashioned as a Che Guevara look alike, but wanted posters.

So go ahead Arnold. Beg.—Dan Petry

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