February 28-March 1 - We Must Stop Obamanomics! Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I begin this week’s show by asking some simple questions.  What kind of society do we want?  Do we want personal liberty and responsibility?  Or, do we want to settle for government provided entitlements with strict limits on our economic freedom?  These two social approaches could not be more different from each other regardless of the language and terminology used to promote those ideas.

In his speech delivered before Congress this past week, President Obama presented the most “progressive,” even socialist, agenda of any President since at least Franklin Roosevelt.  While President Obama’s delivery was impressive as always, his speech was riddled with political doublespeak and contradictions.  For example, Mr. Obama claimed that he doesn’t believe in bigger government, yet he proposes unprecedented new government spending and control over our lives including $634 billion to subsidize new national healthcare programs, costly government regulation of CO2 emissions, a new national service program, and a nationalized (at least in part) banking industry.  Mr. Obama says he believes in fiscal discipline, yet he sponsored and pushed the $787 billion “stimulus bill”, is asking for an additional $410 billion budget “adder” for the remainder of 2009, and is proposing a whopping $3.6 trillion budget for 2010.  But, probably the most “Orwellian” contradiction of all was Obama’s stated opposition to earmarks.  The plain fact is that President Obama’s “stimulus” bill includes tens of billions of pork barrel spending and his 2009 budget contains over 8,000 individual “earmark” projects.  At the point in Mr. Obama’s speech when he claimed that there were no “earmarks” in his spending legislation, the joint session of Congress became quiet and the only thing that could be heard above the stunned silence were scattered laughs from the assembled Senators and Congress people.  In only his first five weeks in the White House, President Obama has redefined the boundaries of “Clintonesque” speech.

Unfortunately for those of us who live in Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell has utilized a similar “big government” model for the past 7 years.  As Pennsylvanians, we know first hand that “tax and spend” policies do not create wealth, but instead create unnecessary hardships and financial burdens for businesses and individuals alike.  It is now time to state plainly and clearly that under Governor Ed Rendell’s tax, spend, and gamble policies, Pennsylvania has suffered a lost decade.  Mr. Rendell is a failed Governor.

I also interview Mark McKinnon, a former Media Advisor to President George W. Bush and appointed by President Bush to serve as a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.  Mark and I discuss the added damage that the “Orwellian” named Employee Free Choice Act, also known as “card check,” would inflict on the U.S. economy and on American workers.  This proposed legislation, backed by President Obama and the liberal “progressive” Democrats, would take away an employee’s right to a fair and private election in any union organizing effort.  “Card check” legislation—along with the higher taxes and increased government spending that President Obama and his Democratic Party are imposing—will severely damage American manufacturing and other industries.  If imposed upon us “union card check” would destroy millions of jobs and make America less free.

I then interview Brad Tupi an environmental lawyer at Tucker Arensburg, a downtown Pittsburgh law firm.  Brad recently presented a paper titled “Global Warming: Environmentalists are Wrong Again?” to the Chemical Association of Pittsburgh.  Brad and I discuss the lack of scientific evidence to support the man-made global warming theory.  We also describe how any government legislation that restricts the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses would raise taxes by more than $1 trillion over the next 7 years; cost the economy 3 to 4 million jobs, reduce the average family’s annual purchasing power by $4,000, and raise gasoline prices to levels that could approach $10 per gallon.

(Click here for a transcript of “A Letter from ‘The Boss’”)

The fact is that since November’s election, a number of conservatives including me, have given President Obama every benefit of the doubt.  President Obama stated that he wanted to govern from the political center, and we hoped and prayed that he would.  But it has become very clear over the past month of sweeping legislation and proposals, that our new President intends to impose a hard Left agenda of destructive regulations and social policies, higher taxes, and higher government spending that will limit economic growth and perhaps accelerate economic contraction, while threatening the future economic viability of our country.  President Obama and the liberal “progressives” of the Democratic Party must be stopped and the only way to do that is by sending economic conservatives to Washington, D.C. and state capitals in the 2010 elections.  Until then, we must “stand fast” and educate as many people as possible about the merits of free-market capitalism.  We must educate younger people in particular.  Our ideas are not dead.  Our political and economic ideas put into practice are what created the success of the United States of America, including the largest, most affluent middle class in global history.  Starting right now, we all need to do a better job of communicating and articulating those ideas to our fellow Americans – to our neighbors, co-workers, and especially our children.  It is up to us.  Please do not lose faith in our wonderful country.  The American people as well as our constitutional form of government are strong and resilient.  I have absolute confidence that we will right the current wrongs and return our country to prosperity.