I worked for a top executive at IBM many years ago, a very talented and accomplished leader. It was an intense work environment. We had tough deadlines and worked many long days and nights.
When our boss heard complaints about the stress, he reminded us that “every one of us, as American citizens, have the right to pursue happiness. But we don’t have a right to happiness itself, we only have the right to pursue it.”
I think of my old boss when I hear political discourse about equal outcomes. To be sure, we Republicans believe in equal opportunity for every American. We want every American to have the opportunity to pursue their own happiness.
But the outcome itself depends on individual decisions, volume and quality of work, risk taking, and a sprinkling of luck. That is free market capitalism.
On the other hand, equal outcome is called socialism. We are hearing that word often, as the political left in Washington, the urban liberals on both coasts, are trying to foist big government socialism on Americans. In fact, a top presidential candidate in 2020, Bernie Sanders, has called himself a socialist for his entire career. He and his progressive liberal allies think that the answer to every problem is another expensive, big government spending program.
Of course, they don’t mention government performance on basic services like delivering the mail, defending the border, or even collecting taxes. They just want more government spending and higher taxes.
The president himself said in March, “Put trust and faith in our government to fulfill its most important function, which is protecting the American people.”
Yet, he has not travelled to our border with Mexico and never mentions the border crisis. Just exactly who is protecting us?
In the fight against COVID-19, the most important contribution has been the development of vaccines and therapies by profit-making companies. These are modern day miracles, accomplished because the government stayed out of the way. The only contributions from government have been vaccine mandates, quarantines, shutdowns and mask mandates. Trust and faith in government, indeed.
We now have the highest inflation rate in 40 years, eating away at wages and threatening the economy. What does this administration have to offer? Another multi-trillion dollar government spending gusher on top of those already passed. And with a straight face, administration officials claim that this torrent of cash will actually reduce inflation; a triumph of hope over reason. They should change the name to Build Back Broke.
Americans don’t want big government socialism. They don’t want massive new government spending. But Americans can still choose where we live, and Americans are voting with their feet.
The Census Bureau reports that from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2021, certain states had a drastic decline in population. Meanwhile, a different set of states had a drastic increase in population.
The losers? Illinois lost 151,000 residents, California lost 429,000 and New York lost 406,000. These are incredible numbers, totaling a million people in only one year.
And who were the winners? Texas added 382,000, Florida gained 263,000 and Arizona added 124,000.
This massive population shift from high tax, big government states to low tax states has been going on for many years now. But the trend picked up during the pandemic. Clearly, many Americans are moving to escape high taxes, pandemic lockdowns and school closures. They are moving to states which are heavily Republican, where low taxes and individual freedom are top priority.
There are more examples of Republican led states which have cut taxes during the pandemic: Tennessee, Idaho, and Arkansas. Sure enough, Americans have migrated to those states, too.
These migration patterns and sharp differences in policies and political values show that the majority of Americans don’t want big government socialist programs. And they don’t want government mandates for vaccines, masks and shutdowns. The talented workers and taxpayers in America are gravitating to Republican states, like Texas. They, like us in the Kendall County and Texas GOP, want to keep Texas a bright Republican red.
And in only 10 months, the November election will be here. That is where we the people can send the message to Washington. We can flip both houses of Congress into GOP hands and stop the big government socialist madness. Then we can set to work on 2024, to take back the White House, too.
Yes, we can!
–Scott S. Kramer is chairman of the Republican Party of Kendall County.
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