To the editor:
It's been interesting to see the reaction by Democrats and the liberal media to former CEO of General Electric Co. Jack Welch's skepticism regarding the sharp reduction in the unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This despite virtually no economic growth to support such a reduction. They snickered and sneered as they often do at people whose views don't align with their own. To them Welch is obviously a paranoid conspiracy theorist.
You can say that's just politics and you'd be partly correct. But a close look tells us a lot about Democrats and liberals and also draws into focus the choice we face for the direction of the country in the coming election.
The reason Welch has received such condemnation from Democrats and the liberal media is that he has committed the mortal sin of daring to question the sincerity and omniscience of the federal government. To modern Democrats government is nearly a religion. Government agencies are practically temples and the volumes of regulation they produce are almost holy scriptures. They assume government can replace God in our schools and fathers in our homes. Government must be central in all our lives because only it can be trusted to ensure social and economic equality. With so much invested in government it's easy to see why Democrats must place skeptics like Welch on the fringes of society.
Now compare the Democrat view of government with their view of private industry. Their mistrust of the private sector virtually knows no bounds. These hard working men and women create jobs and wealth for millions of Americans. They drive innovation. They provide goods and services to make the American standard of living the envy of the world. What do they get for their trouble? Their motives are constantly derided as greedy. Leaders of companies are routinely hauled before Congress to answer for their alleged misdeeds. They pay far and away the majority of federal income taxes and are told they are selfish because they don't want to pay more.
This is the America Barack Obama and the Democratic party expects you to live in and they make no attempt to hide it.
The problem with this of course it's a complete reversal of the founding principles of the country. Our founders had a strong suspicion of large centralized government but they had tremendous faith in the individual citizen to govern his own life.
Thankfully, Mitt Romney looks to the founding documents for the role of government. He believes it should be small in size and limited in its power. He believes we are a collection of free individuals endowed by our creator for self-determination not masses subservient and beholden to government.
Next month we must decide if we will accept the challenge of self-determination and at the very least revel in its freedom or will we pass the responsibility to the government, give it more control over our lives, and bear its burden.
Howie Treaster
Milroy
