Debunking "Contract for the American Dream"

As I was looking through the fabulous articles on HotAir, I came across a video that was very troubling to me. The video was of little school children tell me how we need to fix America through their "Contract for the American Dream." It obviously can't be that harmless! I mean anythings these little kids have to say to me can't screw up America too much can it?

Of course it can! Once we look past the veil of the little children we can look at why these policies would ruin America as opposed to fix it. If you go to their web site, you will find that 131,203 Americans came together to make this contract that they call the "Contract for the American Dream." However, if those Americans are anything like the organizations that funded this project, they would be very left leaning people. Among the sponsors for the project are, MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, ProgressiveCongress.org, and Living Liberally. Just the names themselves sound so bipartisan!

The mind of Van Jones and his ilk is stuck in the mid-20th century and going back in time. The main point is that his emphasis on MORE jobs in specific areas brings about more inefficiency in said areas. The future is FEWER jobs in said areas but the number of different industries increases.

01. Invest in America’s Infustructure.
In good times, infrastructure is badly managed. Which sane person thinks that throwing money in bad times at infrastructure will make roads and bridges better managed? High speed rail is a boondoggle for most of the USA. Medium-range air travel will do fine and have a smaller ecological footprint than 1000’s of miles of interstate.

02. Create 21st Century Energy Jobs.
Van Jones thinks that solar and wind is 21st century. Nope. But let us stick with solar/wind for now: most of the long-term jobs in solar is in MAINTENANCE. Do you see the likes of Van Jones exposing themselves to the Sun and risking insect and snake bites in the Mojave desert? This is domain of the illegal immigrant workers. The mid-term future of energy is Gas and Oil (still oil my friend). Next - for a few centuries - is Nuclear (keep in mind that the waste of today becomes the resource of tomorrow). Automated and robotic mining and construction need to be developed.

03. Invest in Public Education.
The era of public education is fading away. The future is auto-education, home schooling, and private instruction. Not only the number of different economic activities will increase, the spectrum of such activities will be quite variable with respect to the area in the US. No unified public system can accommodate such diversity of educational needs.

04. Offer Medicare For All.
Unfortunately Medicare as it is now is more a political program than an insurance program. It is also a destroyer of choice. Countries with a National Health program for a long time prohibit private health system (but the elite keep going to private system for their own needs); currently in Great Britain, if one goes to a private system, you cannot go back to the NHS (National Health Service). Since no one wants to die, one hopes that the other person will pay for any life-extending procedure but then the system will ultimately go bankrupt. Besides, the Amish do not subscribe to Medicare and I do not hear about any health crisis among the Amish.

05. Make Work Pay.
A somewhat stupid statement. Milton Friedman told a story about a friend of his in Eastern Europe (before the fall of the Berlin Wall) who stated that Socialism is achieved when everyone owns a cottage and have a servant. Milton asked “and the servants also?”. The friend answered:”the servants also.” Enough said. The point is: increase the wages and the price of goods and services go up also. Inflation is not a good thing.

06. Secure Social Security.
Like Medicare, more a political program than a pension program. Countries like Chile are going the private route and doing better. Again, the Amish do not subscribe to Social Security and I do not hear about any crisis of poverty of the aged among the Amish.

07. Return To Fairer Tax Rates.
Ah! What is the definition of “fair”? If one is referring to a flat tax rate, then I am for that. But that is not what Van Jones has in mind.

08. End The Wars And Invest At Home.
This is just a platitude. Does Van Jones think that GWB instigated the WTC attack so he can start wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Oh, wait! He does! Eliminate the capital gains tax and corporate case from abroad will come to the US.

09. Tax Wall Street Speculation.
This is like playing Wiley Coyote to the Wall Street Roadrunner. Just do not bail out anyone and Wall Street will be more cautious.

10. Strengthen Democracy.
And strengthen mobocracy and violating minority rights. One of the keystone of the Federal form Government is minority rights. There is a reason why Lincoln (republican) emancipated the slaves, why Republicans signed on more than the Democrats on Civil Rights in the 60’s. Also one can understand that Republicans - not Democrats - want educational choice for minorities: Van Jones push for Public Education is thus understandable.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.