President Obama’s “Statist” Of Our Union Speech

by Mark Henry

Americans who watched the President’s State of the Union speech hoping for a new kind of “change” will most assuredly be disappointed with what they saw and heard. While Obama did acknowledge coming up short on a number of first year goals, mainly the failure to pass health reform, most of the speech charted a course that continues with the administration’s increasingly unpopular leftist vision for the future.

President Obama’s decision to avoid substantive policy changes manifests an unwillingness to come to grips with the message delivered by blue state Massachusetts voters who elected Republican Scott Brown to the U.S Senate. President Obama’s speech revealed a man who has been slightly humbled but completely undeterred from proceeding with an agenda that has become increasingly unpopular with most Americans. His decision to proceed with health reform efforts reveals an imperial like disregard for the wishes of the electorate that is difficult to fathom. Ditto for his comments that we need to proceed with cap and trade.

On a somewhat more positive side, President Obama did propose a jobs bill that purportedly would encourage investment in small business, manufacturing and the creation of green jobs. This does show that this administration is mindful that most Americans would prefer that the federal government focus on improving the dreadful unemployment problem, as opposed to reforming health care.
However, with the 2009 Economic Recovery Act resulting in worse unemployment numbers many in the private sector doubt that the Obama administrations statist centralized planning approach towards stimulating the economy and creating jobs will improve their lot.

President Obama’s new initiative to increase federal support of college programs sounds good but a look behind the curtain of this program is troubling. What Obama proposed was that students going into public service, including the government sector, would be entitled to have their student loans forgiven. The obvious purpose of this would be to drive college graduates into government work and discourage private sector employment. In essence, they would offer a “Nebraska Cornhusker Kickback” to all college students receiving federal aid. It’s all about making big government even bigger. The fingerprints of the big government central planner are all over this one.

This special deal for students who agree to work for the government is a bitter pill for most Americans in the private sector who have suffered in the economic downturn while public employees are riding high, unaffected by the recession. According to a recent USA Today study, 7.3 million people in the private sector have lost their jobs during this recession. On the other hand, between December 2007 and June 2009, federal payrolls grew by nearly 10 percent. To top it off, Office of Personnel Management data reveals that your average federal employee is making about $71,000 per year. This is a whopping 76 percent higher than the average salary earned in the private sector.

When you look at the President’s job creation and college funding programs, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that President Obama is aloof and very disconnected from the economic hardship that the majority of Americans who are not working in the public sector are experiencing.

President Obama is getting a few kudos for proposing a freeze of government spending. On the surface, it sounds fine; however, the proposed freeze may effectively lock in the huge spending increases made by the federal government in 2009. For example, the EPA’s budget increased by approximately 35% in 2009. Freezing such ridiculously high levels of spending hardly qualifies as government belt-tightening.

Additionally, the proposed freeze will limit only discretionary spending which amounts to less than 1% of the federal budget. Will the proposed freeze limit salaries of federal employees? Have to look into that one but I would not bet the farm on it.

Obama’s statist agenda for America stands in stark contrast with the competing vision articulated by Virginia governor Bob McDonnell who ably gave the GOP’s response to the State of the Union Speech. McDonnell quoted Thomas Jefferson as he appealed for a return to principles of limited government.

“It was Thomas Jefferson,” McDonnell said, “who called for ‘A wise and frugal government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry .... and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.’ He was right. Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much.”

Governor McDonnell took the Democrats to task for their failed effort to strengthen the economy via massive federal spending. He reminded us that the Democrats promised us that last years’ Economic Recovery Act would create more jobs immediately and keep unemployment below 8%. McDonnell pointed out that the economic stimulus has failed as more than 3 million Americans have lost their jobs.

Governor McDonnell then called for a new era of limited government and hearkened back to America’s Founders stating that “As our Founders clearly stated, and we Governors understand, government closest to the people governs best.”

Many Catholics will find much to like about Governor McDonnell’s vision of a more limited government. This governing philosophy coincides closely with the core Catholic principle of subsidiarity. This Catholic teaching states that when something can be done locally by a smaller simpler organization this is better than central planning type action by a larger and more complex organization. This tenet safeguards the ideals of limited government and personal freedom and stands squarely opposed to the welfare state’s goals of centralization and bureaucracy.

Pope John Paul II harshly criticized the welfare state in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus wherein he stated that the welfare state undermined this core principle of subsidiarity. According to the Pope, the welfare state discourages human initiative and results in an excessive increase of public bureaucracies. This results in an enormous increase in spending by a government whose goal is to achieve its own statist agenda rather than to serve the public.

Catholics would do well to heed Pope John Paul II’s insights on the serious problems of the welfare state. This time tested Catholic teaching helps explain why President Obama is bound and determined to pursue highly unpopular policies like health care reform and cap and trade. I guess tin ears are what it takes to herd the masses into the statist corral.