The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Why Not the Worst?

7.14.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 5 of 7)

After running through a litany of liberal legislative efforts that would probably pass during an Obama administration, the author states the following -- "All of these developments would be bad, but none of them would do permanent, irreversible, harm in the same way that the New Deal and the Great Society did."

He follows it up a couple paragraphs later by saying "THAT IS WHY, on the domestic front, the worst possible thing that could happen for conservatives during an Obama administration, would be for him to create a government-run health-care system."

Now, how can the reader possibly reconcile those two statements? A government-run health-care system would be a direct expansion of the Great Society. Worse still, it would in fact be irreversible. Name a single government program, instituted since 1934 and affecting the entire American population that has not been closed down and thrown onto the ash heap of history.

That's what I thought. Mr. Klein needs to take his thinly-veiled moral equivalence to another publication, maybe the Nation, and stop using TAS as a paid advertisement for his version of post-modern "can't we all just get along" political thought.
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

Since Mr. Klein's tongue didn't seem to be planted deeply in his cheek, his question deserves an answer.

Economically -- trade wars, heavy tariffs and taxation lead to global depression (similar to 1929).

Judicially -- rampant judicial activism on all levels below SCOTUS; most laws are interpreted on said levels. Erosion destabilizes the base and eventually the entire structure is brought down.

Militarily -- the armed forces become underfunded and demoralized, much as they were under President Jimmy Carter. Afghanistan was under his watch; while this led to the destabilization of the USSR, this was more due to the Laws of Untended Consequences than anything the Carter Administration did.

Add to this, lax enforcement of border regulations and we may suffer the first nuclear attack on American soil.

Mr. Klein may be unable to conceive of these consequences, but that does not make them any less devastating or unlikely.

None of these worst case scenarios is a foregone conclusion with an Obama presidency, but they fall under the penumbra of possibilities.

Mr. Klein, it is wise to plan for the worst case scenario, but it is imprudent to invite it.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

Mr. Klein does well to reiterate the possible difficulties caused by an Obama presidency. I'm pretty sure that there isn't a conservative in this nation that doesn't realize just how bad things could get under the Obama administration. Especially if he has the expected majors in the Congress to help him.

Oh, ye of too much faith.

Yes, this country remains center-right. We probably will for a long time yet to come. But our politicians do not, and therein lies the true worry. Let us hope that if Obama is elected, he moves to a very Clintonian leadership style. Right now, a windsock presidency would be far better than a truly liberal one. And the reason for this is precisely because we remain a center-right country.

Letter to the Editor

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