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Can Democrats save the nation from themselves?

Democrats simply cannot help themselves. The high hopes I had in West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have diminished, though my high respect for the senator remains.

The pressure he felt from being one of the only dissenting voices in the room (Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema being the other) to stop the Democrats from their basic DNA tendencies – tax and spend – was just too much.

Democrats play hardball.

Let us remember how they harassed Sinema in the ladies’ room because of a similar bill. Remember the illegal home protests against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh? Regrettably, President Joe Biden did not condemn either.

The GOP candidate for governor of New York, Rep. Lee Zeldin, was physically attacked by a deranged man who, like Kavanaugh’s assailant, wanted to kill him. All these instances happened recently.

Yet some Democrats call Republicans a threat to our democracy?

For six years I had to cope with an unconscionable amount of pressure as the first Republican voting member of another caucus – the Congressional Black Caucus.

This included being physically attacked by the father of a congresswoman because I argued that white people would vote for a Black candidate in testimony before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Savannah, Georgia.

What was I thinking? I opposed racially gerrymandered congressional districts. Needless to say, I was proven right.

Let us remember that those who cannot win with logic and truth often resort to violence. They attempt to cause their adversaries physical discomfort or pain.

Democrats call the “new bill,” which is nothing more than the “old” bill slimmed down, an Inflation Reduction Bill. The problem here is that when they originally introduced it, there was very little inflation in America. So, they are proposing a bill that would have gotten rid of a problem we did not have at the time. Interesting.

Hey Democrats: Inflation was not transitory. And a recession has always been declared after two quarters of negative GDP growth. See former President Bill Clinton’s remarks in December 2000 at the White House in a meeting with President-elect George W. Bush.

Mr. Manchin, if you feel that we can “tax and spend” our way out of a recession and that it will help eradicate high inflation, then proudly embrace that approach.

You will not be alone, as others in the Democrat Senate Caucus also seem to believe that. Or maybe the aging Democrat leadership merely feels that this is their last chance to spend like “drunken sailors” … or I mean “invest” like drunken sailors.

With most economists claiming that excessive government spending was the prime cause of high inflation, the Democrats’ solution is now more government spending. I struggle to understand their logic.

Even former President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned Biden against the March 2021 $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief legislation, which passed with only Democrat votes.

With an increase in corporate taxes, the higher costs will most certainly be passed onto the consumer. The result? A potential reduction in the workforce to offset these costs or higher prices for goods and services.

It’s a sneaky linguistic trick. The word “investment” is now the Democrat word for “spend.” The Democrats want you to believe that taking federal funds to give to favored industries or elites is an “investment” provision. I guess when you buy lunch, you are not spending money. Instead, you are investing in your ability to live. Ok?

The problem with “investment” is that it can fail. It’s ultimately a gamble, a practice synonymous with Wall Street.

During the Obama-Biden administration, taxpayers lost $570 million on an “investment” in Solyndra, a debunked solar energy company. Other companies experienced significant investment losses, including Fisker Automotive, a battery maker, as well as Abound Solar, Beacon Power, Eneri, and the A123 company…I could go on.

Spending more money in this manner and expecting different results is troubling.

Corporate welfare for the climate change crowd is not what I call a solution to record high inflation and the onslaught of a recession. We can and should be able to slowly transition and enhance our energy capabilities through normal means, while utilizing every form of energy, including nuclear which leaves a near-zero carbon footprint.

Also, everyone knows that without the commensurate participation of China and India toward reducing carbon emissions, (together they account for 2.8 billion of the 7.9 billion people in the world – 35%) the improvements we make will be negligible. It is like trying to heat your house in winter with the windows open.

So, Senators Manchin and Sinema, America needs you! It is worth standing up to your caucus when it is taking America in the wrong direction.

Stick with the 84% of Americans who share that view. The tax-and-spend policy was a bad policy before inflation and a recession, and it is definitely a horrible policy when we actually “have” inflation and a recession.

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