Barack Obama has
issued a brand new
executive order that
establishes a White
House Rural
Council. This Rural
Council has been
given the task of
developing
"public-private
partnerships" that
will seek to bring
the "economic
prosperity" of our
big cities to rural
America. In other
words, the U.S.
government and the
big corporations are
going to team up to
dominate the
economies of our
small towns and
rural communities
just like they
dominate the
economies of all of
our big cities. So
should those that
live in rural
America be excited
about this? After
all, the U.S.
government and the
big corporations
have done
such a great job
of bringing
"economic
prosperity" to
places like Detroit,
Michigan and Camden,
New Jersey. Won't
it be great to have
the federal
government come in
and tell rural
communities how they
should be doing
things?
The chair of the
White House Rural Council will be Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack. Vilsack is a former
governor of Iowa and a Democrat. Swing states
like Iowa will be key in 2012, and so perhaps
Obama is trying to show that he really cares for
middle America.
But it is really
hard to forget the remarks that Obama made about
rural Americans during the 2008 campaign.
In particular, the
following quote about the "bitterness" of those
living in rural America got a lot of attention
at the time....
"And it’s not
surprising then they get bitter, they cling
to guns or religion or antipathy to people
who aren't like them or anti-immigrant
sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way
to explain their frustrations."
Look, the vast
majority of the people who live in rural America
do not want to hear that they need to let go of
their guns or their religion.
And most of them
certainly do not want the federal government to
come in and tell them how to run their local
economies.
But according to
Obama, the U.S. government "has an important
role to play" in managing the economies of rural
communities. The following is a direct quote
from the executive order establishing the White
House Rural Council....
Though rural
communities face numerous challenges, they
also present enormous economic potential.
The Federal Government has an important role
to play in order to expand access to the
capital necessary for economic growth,
promote innovation, improve access to health
care and education, and expand outdoor
recreational activities on public lands.
To many Americans,
all of this will sound really great. The
federal government is going to come in and help
the "backwoods folk" catch up with the rest of
us. What could be wrong with that?
Well, the truth is
that whenever the federal government gets its
fingers into something it tends to really mess
it up. Many of the biggest problems our country
is facing today can be traced directly back to
Washington D.C.
Many small towns and
rural communities are doing just fine without
the interference of the federal government. In
fact, large numbers of Americans have purposely
moved out to rural areas because they don't want
the interference of the federal government in
their lives.
But
according to this new executive order, the
Obama administration plans to stick its itchy
little fingers into just about every aspect of
rural life. One of the stated goals of the
White House Rural Council is to do the
following....
coordinate and
increase the effectiveness of Federal
engagement with rural stakeholders,
including agricultural organizations, small
businesses, education and training
institutions, health-care providers,
telecommunications services providers,
research and land grant institutions, law
enforcement, State, local, and tribal
governments, and nongovernmental
organizations regarding the needs of rural
America
This is yet another
example of how we are rapidly becoming a
centrally-planned economy.
Today, there are way
too many Americans that expect the federal
government to solve all their problems and take
care of them from birth to death. But that is not what
our founding fathers intended, and our federal
government has become so corrupt and so
incompetent that it could not do those things
even if we wanted it to.
Before the federal
government "fixes" the problems of rural
America, perhaps it should focus on "fixing"
many of the other problems it has created
first....
Growing numbers of
military veterans cannot find jobs once they
leave the U.S. military. In fiscal 2008, the
Pentagon spent $450 million on unemployment
benefits for military vets. In fiscal 2010, the
Pentagon spent almost twice as much -
$882 million. According to the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for
military veterans between the ages of 18 and 24
is more than 30%.
The housing
collapse that the Federal Reserve and the U.S.
government caused is a nightmare that never
seems to end.
According to the New York Times, at the
current pace it will take 62 years for the banks
to repossess all of the homes that are in severe
default or foreclosure in the state of New York.
The recent
commodity price increases caused by
the Federal Reserve have resulted in much
higher prices at the gas pump and at the grocery
store. These higher prices are hitting the poor
and the lower middle class
much harder than they are hitting the
wealthy.
The federal
government has piled up
the biggest debt in the history of the world
and the U.S. dollar is dying. Standard & Poor’s
has altered its outlook on U.S. government debt
from "stable" to "negative" and is warning that
the U.S.
could soon lose its prized AAA rating.
Russian presidential economic adviser Arkady
Dvorkovich says that his nation
is going to keep dumping U.S. government
debt. China has been dumping U.S. government
debt. The entire U.S. financial system is on
the verge of
financial collapse and the federal
government seems to be powerless to make any
meaningful changes.
But instead of
fixing the glaring problems that are staring
them directly in the face, the control freaks
and the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. seem
obsessed with figuring out more ways to
interfere in our lives.
Over the past couple
of months,
bad economic news has been pouring in almost
constantly. Our economy appears to be in danger
of breaking apart. We are in the midst of a
horrific economic crisis and nobody is sure what
is going to happen next.
So please excuse the
good folks of rural America if they are not in
the mood to put up with federal government
interference in their communities. The federal
government has failed so dramatically so many
times before that it is really hard to have any
faith that the federal government can do much of
anything right at this point.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and
lean not on your own
understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your
paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6
