On January 1, Pat Robertson offered his annual New Year’s predictions.
He said that Obama would bring socialism to America in 2009. But he also forecasted an economic rebound for the country.
I thought, at first, that this was just another set of wacky predictions from Virginia’s chief soothsayer. It is a tenet of free market economics that socialism and economic propserity cannot be reconciled. But I’m beginning to have second thoughts.
Talk show hosts and a number of Republicans in Congress are already criticizing what they think will be included in Obama’s stimulus package. They are worried that the package will be too socialistic and will include too much government spending, driving up the budget deficit that mushroomed over the last eight years to astronomical levels.
But politicians in the states all seem to be singing a different song. Almost everyone, regardless of party, seems to want some of Obama’s “socialist” stimulus package money in their state. They all seem to think that Obama’s plans can assist an economic recovery where they live.
In Virginia, for example, Hampton Roads legislators have labeled the region a “target rich” area for Obama’s stimulus plans.
Maybe Robertson is on to something. I haven’t heard a single state say “thanks but no thanks. We can’t support this kind of socialism at the federal level.”
That’s why they call it politics.
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