Obama Declares Liberty A ‘Bumper-Sticker Theory That Doesn’t Work’

“One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary.” -Ayn Rand, 1975

The above quote from Ayn Rand was not meant to be a prophecy, but a warning. With the recent attack on liberty, individual rights, and free markets by President Barack Obama, it makes me wonder if it is now too late to heed that warning. 

Back on September 8, 2011, I wrote “Pres. Obama: ‘Rights, What Are They Good For?’” In this post, I highlighted a chilling quote from the President’s jobs speech to a joint session of Congress that really spoke for itself in terms of the tyrannical views Obama holds regarding the relationship between government and man. Well, he’s at it again:

The first issue I take with Obama’s speech is when he says free markets/liberty “doesn’t work” and that “it has never worked.” How so? By what standard? If we are to take “works” to mean benefits, then surely, there is no system that “works” for 100% of the people. Capitalism does not “work” for thieves, murderers, and other rights-violators. Communism doesn’t “work” for the businessman, the inventive genius, the productive class. Serfdom doesn’t “work” for the peasant. Obama seems to have set up a false standard and then singles out the only true hope for mankind, the only system based on man’s rights.

The second issue I take with his speech is that he associates free markets with “the last decade.” This could not be further from the truth. George W. Bush was not the free market president many on the left paint him to be. Between all of the interventionist laws and regulations (Sarbanes-Oxley, Medicare Prescription Drug Plan D for senior citizens, the corporate bailouts, and the incandescent lightbulb ban just to name a few), it absolutely amazes me that people actually believe we had anything that even remotely resembled a free market under Bush. What is even more shocking is the actual number of new regulations added to the Federal Register during his presidency. According to an analysis done by Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, from 2001 to 2007, a net 13,652 pages were added to the Federal Register¹ (If you do the math, it averages to approximately 6 pages of added regulations EVERY DAY!). A Heritage Foundation report “Red Tape Rising: Regulatory Trends in the Bush Years,” also affirms those conclusions. So much for deregulation! 

Now, aside from ignoring history, Obama is also ignoring objective morality (although in his defense, he seemingly doesn’t know any better). What is evident is that he is embracing a rather mystical governing philosophy not grounded in reality (sort of like the absolute monarchs back in the day who claimed their power came directly from God himself). When Obama states that the free market “doesn’t work” and “has never worked,” he is saying that tyranny and oppression do. He is saying the mechanism of VOLUNTARY association must be thrown out and replaced. He is saying that governments must initiate FORCE against individuals, and hence, thwart their rights, in order to arrive at some end that he believes will be beneficial to everyone. Do you see the circular logic in that argument? The violating of an individual’s rights does not benefit him...EVER! It does, in fact, do the exact opposite. When governments are empowered to violate the rights of their citizens, it most certainly ends in absolute tyranny. History provides many examples of this, be it Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, or even modern day North Korea and Iran. 

The sad truth is that President Obama does not believe in liberty. Not yours, not mine, not anybody’s. The only thing he does believe in is the government’s power over you. It should be no surprise now that even the left is beginning to criticize Obama and call him out on his despotic policies: 

On a final note, remember all that “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig” mantra we heard from Obama during his 2008 campaign? Well I got one for him: Mr. President, you can put a suit and tie on a tyrant, but he’s still a tyrant!

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Endnotes
¹http://reason.com/archives/2008/12/10/bushs-regulatory-kiss-off