A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address

Click here to listen to a replay of the December 29, 2007 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall

Notes and Summary of the President's Address -- The Economy at the End of the Year

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. New Year's Day will soon be upon us, and with it will come New Year's resolutions. This weekend is a good time to give thanks for our blessings -- and to resolve to do better in the coming year.
And the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

How the President Differs from the American vision of "Liberty Under God":

1. The Federal Government is bankrupt.
2. America's Founding Fathers took up arms over British taxes that did not exceed 3-5%
   1. Americans today are victims of taxes ten times greater than those that fomented the American Revolution.
3. The Government promises to be our Savior, and Taxes are our offerings to a false god.
   1. America is, on the one hand, a nation "under God."
   2. America is, on the other hand, a nation that ignores God and commits idolatry.
   3. Idolatry is when we fail to trust God (our national motto is "In God We Trust") and trust the Government to bring us "salvation."
4. Americans must think about these issues, not just in terms of the Constitution, but in terms of the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence -- the philosophy of "Liberty Under God."

President's Radio Address	Liberty Under God
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. New Year's Day will soon be upon us, and with it will come New Year's resolutions. This weekend is a good time to give thanks for our blessings -- and to resolve to do better in the coming year.	Harry Browne: A Libertarian's New Year's resolutions
One of our greatest blessings as Americans is that we live in a country with a growing economy -- where people can pursue their dreams, turn ideas into enterprises, and provide for their families. It is a measure of our economy's resilience that even with high oil prices and softness in the housing market, we're still growing. In November, our economy added jobs for the 51st straight month, making this the longest period of uninterrupted job growth on record. Unemployment is a low 4.7 percent. Exports are up. And the fundamentals of our economy are strong.	The President says the economy is good. A business can be "productive" and sales can be "up," but it can be bankrupt, because its costs exceed its income, or because it defers costs into the future with no possibility to repay. "Our" economy (government statistics) might be good-looking on some fronts, but may harbor extravagant debt and mismanagement. Bureau of the Public Debt : The National Debt To the Penny updated daily This figure is inches away from Nine Trillion Dollars. This figure, if announced by a corporation on the New York Stock Exchange, would result in jail terms for its accountants, because this figure does not include trillions of dollars the government owes Social Security recipients, Medicare recipients, and many others. A newly published paper by a researcher for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis warns that a ballooning budget deficit and pension-welfare timebomb has created a $65.9 trillion fiscal gap that will force the United States into bankruptcy. When the Federal Reserve uses the word "bankruptcy," you know things are worse than that. Kevin Craig For Congress Blog: Update on Government Theft These deficits are funded by government-caused inflation, manipulation of the currency and credit system. This policy is unconstitutional. Abolish the Fed - Rep. Ron Paul
Economic statistics are important indicators. Yet it is more important to remember that behind all these numbers are real people. These people include the entrepreneurs who live their dreams by starting up new businesses. These people include small business owners who create most of the new jobs in our economy. And most of all, these people include the tens of millions of working moms and dads whose jobs provide for their families.	These "real people" are constantly engaging in economic forecasting and planning. When the government gets out of the way, all these people make America's economy strong. When the government gets in the way, it substitutes its own limited economic planning -- based on pressures from special interests -- for the economic planning of millions of Americans who are the best acquainted with their own businesses and economic factors. Central planning ("socialism," "fascism") never works as well as decentralized planning ("capitalism").
I know that even in this growing economy some of you have real concerns. Some of you worry about your ability to afford healthcare coverage for your families. Some of you are concerned about meeting your monthly mortgage payments. Some of you worry about the impact of rising energy costs on fueling your cars and heating your homes. You expect your elected leaders in Washington to address these pressures on our economy and give you more options to help you deal with them. And I have put forth several proposals to do so.	If you or I fail to pay our mortgage payment, the lender forecloses, taking possession of our house. If the federal government -- in debt over $80 trillion -- cannot make its payments, who is going to foreclose? China? Japan? Saudi Arabia? When the government has to pay tomorrow's social security checks with money that has already been taken out of yesterday's paycheck and spent on today's special interests, where will the government turn to get the money? Do you trust the government to "give you more options" or make the best decisions?
In the last month, Congress has responded to some of my initiatives. They passed a good energy bill, they passed a temporary patch to protect middle class families from the burden of the Alternative Minimum Tax, and they passed a law that will help protect families from higher taxes when their lenders reduce their mortgage debt. But this is only a start. Congress needs to do more to decrease America's dependence on oil. Congress needs to pass legislation that will help make health care coverage more affordable for small businesses and workers who buy their own policies. And Congress needs to act quickly on the rest of my proposals to help families struggling with rising mortgage payments keep their homes.	The energy bill makes it illegal for you to use an ordinary light bulb, and forces you to use much more expensive light bulbs with highly toxic mercury. Where in the Constitution did "We the People" delegate to congress the authority to tell us what kind of light bulbs we can use? The bill also tells us what kind of cars we can buy. We will no longer have the choice to buy safe automobiles made of solid metal that protects us in crashes; we will have to buy unsafe automobiles made of lighter substances that are not as crash resistant, in order to "conserve energy."
Most of all, we need to set a good example in Washington by being careful with your money. I'm disappointed that leaders in Congress sent me a massive spending bill that includes about 9,800 earmarks. Earmarks are special interest items that are slipped into big spending bills like this one -- often at the last hour, without discussion or debate. Among the earmarks Congress approved was one for a prison museum and another for a sailing school. In the last election, congressional leaders ran on a promise that they would reform earmarks. They made some progress, but not nearly enough. So my Administration is reviewing options to address wasteful earmark spending.	Every penny the government spends is a result of theft. Every penny spent is spent on "special interests" who have the clout to take money by force from other people. It isn't just the "ear marks" that are wrong; it's the whole principle of government taking from some and giving to others.
As we address earmarks, we also must restrain spending, keep taxes low, and continue on a path towards a balanced budget. And that is what the budget I submit in February will do. You work hard for your money and to live within your means. As you provide for your families, the last thing you need is wasteful spending that will lead to a tax hike. My resolution for the New Year is this: to work with Congress to keep our economy growing, to keep your tax burden low, and to ensure that the money you send to Washington is spent wisely -- or not at all.	The government takes over half of everything you earn and spends it the way it thinks will get the most votes in the next election. The government even spends the money that you will earn in the future.
Thank you for listening, and Happy New Year.

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John Adams once wrote that the American Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis began legal challenges to the Writs of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American independence," Adams wrote, "was then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15 years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence (1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20 years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."

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Additional Resources:

Kevin Craig's platform:

• taxation
• government spending
• energy

Communicating with Government and Media

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The Democrat Party Radio Address:

New York Congresswoman Gillibrand delivered the Democratic Radio Address

Democrats' Radio Address	Liberty Under God
"This new Congress has a vision for change that we have begun, step by step, to realize. We see a nation free from dependence on foreign oil, which will strengthen our economy by growing our agricultural and manufacturing base through an investment in renewable fuels and new energy efficient products. This makes America safer, grows American jobs, and begins to address global warming.	Ethanol is wasteful. It is also untehical. It is promoted by big agricultural corporations who benefit from "government subsidies" (that is, money taken out of your paycheck and given to them). Government-subsidized Ethanol is bad for America.
Our fundamental duty as leaders is to ensure that every American child has the opportunity to achieve his or her God-given potential.	This line was preceded by a long Christmas wish-list of "something for nothing." The "fundamental duty" of government is not to be Santa Claus. "Opportunity" is guaranteed when the government does not steal from Jones to give to Smith. Government is the biggest threat to equality of opportunity.
We still need health care reform to reduce the financial burden on our communities and to make America more competitive. We need to address the high cost of fuel, protect our family farms, address the mortgage crisis, and invest in infrastructure, including broadband for rural America. And we must insist on fiscal discipline and balanced budgets - with a $9 trillion debt, we spend hundreds of billions each year in interest payments to foreign governments. We cannot continue to deliver to our children and grandchildren a legacy of endless debt.	More of the Democrats' wish-list. Where does the Constitution give the government the authority to provide high-speed internet for people who choose to isolate themselves from urban areas? And then she speaks about "fiscal discipline." Unbelievable.
"I truly believe that all good things are possible when the American people are heard. I learned this lesson at a very young age from my grandmother's example. She had a vision - as a secretary in our State Legislature who never attended college, she believed that by organizing all of the women in her community to become active in politics and government, they could make a difference - and they did. Polly's Girls, as they were known back then, were heard by their local leaders because of their advocacy and commitment. We can all make this difference in this coming year.	"Making a difference" means lobbying government to grant everything on your wish-list. The dedication of these women is admirable. But we need to follow the example of America's Founding Fathers, who risked their lives, the fortunes and their sacred honor to reduce the size of government, not to enlarge it.

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