There is no Government Santa Claus

 

By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – December, 2011

There is a school of thought among psychiatrists that liberals suffer from a severe case of arrested development. The theory is that their parents routinely rewarded their temper tantrums by giving them whatever they demanded. Anything to make them shut up.

I can certainly sympathize with their parents’ goal.

Unfortunately, as most rational adults are aware, capitulating to spoiled children merely teaches them that their irrational rants will be rewarded. If screaming doesn’t get these brats what they want, they learn to just scream louder. If that doesn’t work, pounding on the floor and holding their breath until their faces turns purple may bring the result they seek.

This problem, which we have all seen play out in miniature at our local grocery store, is now a massive societal problem that is threatening to bring the world to the brink of collapse.

How else can one explain the swan dive into insolvency by the PIIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain? Their history of deficit spending for the benefit of public employees, welfare recipients and union workers can only be described as irrational and suicidal.

This problem is not confined to Europe. California is leading the way here in the U.S. and the federal government is following California over the cliff and dragging us with it.

California is our poster child for arrested development. Its tax burden, compounded by an onerous regulatory burden, is rapidly driving businesses out of the state, which in turn causes higher unemployment rates, lower wages and, as a consequence, reduced tax revenues.

California’s financial situation is bleak. Its current debt, not counting future obligations, is over $370 billion and just servicing this debt costs taxpayers over $7 billion annually (8% of the state budget). Estimates of state revenues this year have recently dropped $3.7 billion compared to projections made just a few months ago and those estimates were already nearly $20 billion below the peak revenues in 2007-08.

California is only a step’s throw from bankruptcy. Achieving junk bond status, just like the PIIGS, is probably the next step.

As Europe tilts towards economic collapse and California wallows in debt, our Congress has failed to meet a ridiculously easy target for deficit reduction. Cutting $1.2 trillion in the projected deficit over ten years represents less than a 10% cut in deficit spending. Most sensible people could meet that target over lunch.

Obama blames the Republicans for being obstructionists, even though ALL of the plans for significantly reducing spending have been proposed by (and in some cases passed by) the Republicans. It is the Democrats who have routinely blocked these measures so they can continue to funnel tax money to their constituencies: public employees, the poverty lobby, unions, and the radical environmentalists.

The present is bleak but the future is even bleaker if government spending is not radically curbed.

So, what is the reaction of those who feed at the government trough when told that the government is bankrupt and their bloated paychecks, pensions, and benefits might need to be moderated?

They throw tantrums: Pathetic demonstrations, occupations, sit-ins, and riots. The only thing that they haven’t tried is crying, holding their breath and turning purple.

These parasites are no better than ignorant children who have no clue why their mother won’t buy them a new toy car or the latest doll that will pee on command.

They have no idea how to be productive because they never have been. They don’t appreciate that goods and services will only be produced if someone has a motivation to do so … a motivation that is eliminated if their paychecks or those goods and services are routinely expropriated.

All the “gimme lobby” knows is that these goodies exist, and they want them. How did the wealth that they want to steal come into existence? These low-lifes not only have no idea, this question doesn’t even occur to them.

They see it. They want it. To them, nothing else could possibly matter.

How does this state of mind differ from the red-faced three year old hanging by one arm from his mother and screaming bloody murder?

It doesn’t.

You probably know the child who has learned that Santa Claus is fictitious but who continues to pretend he is real just so the Christmas presents keep on coming.

The same willful blindness is rampant among the leftist parasites. It doesn’t matter what facts are spelled out to them regarding our debt, our deficits or the economic consequences of increased taxes and regulations.

The facts don’t matter to parasites; they just want us to keep giving them what they want, or else. Or else they will riot, stop traffic, block shoppers at stores, or pollute our city parks.

What the demonstrators deserve is our contempt. What they need is a big dose of tough love.

Let’s get this straight. Parasites rarely benefit their hosts. If we had to choose between the current situation and not having them around at all, we would be better off without them. But those are not the only choices available to us.

A third choice is to convert them to productive citizens. This means eliminating the government Ponzi scheme that steals the property produced by our productive citizens and uses that property to purchase the votes of the parasites.

Think of it as putting pieces of coal in the Christmas stockings of lazy, insubordinate kids. It may lead to an uncomfortable moment, but ultimately it is good for them and for the rational adults that have to deal with them.

Everyone must eventually grow up and learn to be responsible and productive … and finally realize that there is no Santa Claus.

Boo Hoo!