They Should've Used Mapquest

With the November elections approaching, Democrats in Congress have pieced together their "platform" that they're counting on to bring them victory in many key states. They're calling it "A New Direction For America", but upon close scrutiny, this direction should clearly be marked with a large "Wrong Way" sign.

Not surprisingly, The New Direction (not to be confused with The New Deal, as this will inevitably cost American taxpayers millions of dollars more than that plan ever has) focuses on stirring the age old pot of class envy, while promising the "have-nots" that the "haves" will be punished for their successes. Here are some of the "highlights":

• Make health care more affordable
• Lower gas prices and achieve energy independence
• Help working families
• Cut college costs
• Ensure dignified retirement
• Require fiscal responsibility

On the surface, it sounds pretty good, right? I mean, who doesn't want affordable health care, lower gas prices, and a fiscally responsible government? I know that all of those things are important to me, and I'm sure they are to you, as well. What's important, and where the Democrats typically miss the boat, is the path that is taken to get to these destinations. This is where the Democrats could have used an "economic Mapquest". Let's take a closer look....

1. Democrats want to fix the prescription drug program by "putting people ahead of drug companies and HMO's", and by "investing in stem cell and other medical research". They fault the Bush Administration and the Republican Majority in Congress for driving the cost of health insurance up by "more than 70%", cutting funding for medical research, and prohibiting federal funding of a "real" stem cell research program. Here's the reality...the Republican Congress and President Bush have DOUBLED the funding for the National Institute of Health. Republicans have supported a stronger emphasis on adult stem cell and cord blood stem cell research, which has provided benefits to hundreds of patients without undermining the ethical principles (something few Democrats know about and understand) that have guided medical research in this country for decades. It would appear that the Democrats are only in favor of stem cell research if it involves the future destruction of human embryos. (They'll take an abortion any way they can get it.) There have also been proposals by President Bush and the Republicans in Congress to assist those planning for the future by creating an above-the-line tax deduction for premiums of long-term care insurance and allowing an additional personal tax exemption for taking care of an elderly parent at home. To summarize, the Republicans want to make it easier to encourage individual responsibility, while the Democrats want the government to be more involved in health care, research and planning. Where will the money come from to pay for that involvement?
2. A New Direction from the Democrats would be to "crack down on price gouging" at the gas pump and to eliminate "billions in subsidies for oil and gas prices and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop American alternatives, including biofuels". They claim that the "Republican majority has blocked efforts to ban price gouging, and has rewarded oil and gas companies ... at a time of record profits". Here's the reality...as recently as May 22, 2006 it was reported that "the Federal Trade Commission ... said it ... has not identified any widespread effort by the oil industry to illegally manipulate the marketplace." Exxon is often the target of the wrath of the Democrats and other liberals when it comes to gas prices. Last year, Exxon had a profit of $36 billion on a little over $370 billion in revenue. That's a profit margin lower than 10%! Microsoft, by comparison, had a profit margin over 30% last year! Yet you don't hear the Democrats taking Bill Gates to task for price gouging at Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, etc. Try to buy a non-Apple branded computer somewhere without being forced to take built-in Microsoft products, which of course are also built into the price of the computer. Should Exxon really be punished with "windfall profit" taxes simply because they sell a product that nearly every American and a large majority of people in foreign countries want to or need to purchase? What will happen to the price of gas if Exxon is taxed more heavily all of a sudden? They will have to raise their prices even higher to be able to continue to afford to produce/ship/refine enough oil to meet their demand. Do the Democrats really believe that higher taxes on oil companies will help consumers? Of course they don't. It's called election year pandering. And, oh by the way....the Republicans also want to explore energy alternatives. However, the reality is that we also need to loosen government regulations and restrictions on drilling to increase supply of the sources we're using now. My apologies to any spotted owls reading this in your protected forests, but people are more important than you.
3. The Democrats' idea of helping American families is to raise the minimum wage and punish corporations for rewarding their CEOs and for "sending jobs overseas." This one's almost too easy...the answer to this "problem" isn't raising the minimum wage. It's removing obstacles that are in the way of companies that are preventing them from creating and offering better positions. The answer is to fix the income tax system so that American citizens don't receive preferential tax treatment for having a lower income. The Democrats understand that minimum wage jobs are not designed for people to support a family on. They just don't want you to know that they understand that. They want you to be envious that "some fat cat with the oil companies" is making millions of dollars while you're "being forced to work at evil Walmart for pennies a day". As a nation we must discourage those that are willing to stay stagnant in their lives while receiving tax credits for their welfare children, and make it easier for companies to offer more opportunities to good employees that are willing to work hard and better themselves. Americans must understand that our economy is driven by businesses, and we must make it easy for businesses to exist and thrive within the constraints of the law. The economy is solid. Home ownership is at an all-time high, unemployment is down to around 4.7%, and this is all happening while we are waging a war on terror.
   
4. The Democrat Party's idea of cutting college costs looks strikingly similar to most other items on their platform. They believe that college costs are out of control because the government's not throwing enough money at the problem. Their solution is to expand government grants. Who's going to pay for this? Here's an idea...how about singling out some large companies that already offer scholarships and grants to employees and to the community, and encourage them to continue and expand this practice by offering additional tax breaks for these scholarships? I'm sure that a large number of corporations would jump at an opportunity such as this. The downside to the Democrats, however, is that the government, once again, is left out. They don't like that.
5. For the sake of time, I'm going to refrain from commenting on the "dignified retirement" piece for now, and skip straight to their final point of requiring fiscal responsibility. Let me start by saying that my 6-year old son shows a better understanding of fiscal responsibility than the Democrats OR the Republicans right now. One of my largest gripes with the Bush Administration has been its tendency to spend like that proverbial drunken sailor. That being said, the Democrat's New Direction platform in this area states that we need to "restore the budget discipline of the 1990's that helped eliminate deficits and spur record economic growth." Shame on any American that believes that "the budget discipline" of the 90's was responsible for that growth as opposed to the groundwork that was laid in the 80's by President Ronald Reagan. BOTH parties need to stop spending foolishly and do everything possible to keep as much income as possible in the hands of those that earn it.

The Democrats think that they have it all figured out, and I truly believe that they think that they are going to run away with the election in November. In fact, they're so confident, that they didn't even bother to include two things in their New Direction platform statement....two things that are high on the radar of just about every American....immigration, and the war on terror. There's a reason they left these out....most Americans do not agree with the Democrat Party's stand on either. Americans want tougher immigration laws and as a rule do not want amnesty (President Bush needs to pay attention to this, too). And, while key Democratic leaders like Howard Dean are calling for a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq, the majority of Americans support our troops, and want to see us stay the course and continue to defeat terrorism around the globe. The Democratic party is becoming more overconfident and arrogant each day, to the point that they've basically crowned Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House. Frightening, isn't it? What they've underestimated, as usual, is the American voter. I believe that when the polls close and the dust settles in November, once again we will have proven that America believes we are on track. The right track. We're already headed in the right direction, and we don't need or want the wrong NEW direction of the Democrats.