Fear and Envy

I watched the last part of CNN's Republican debate from Florida Thursday night, and to my surprise I came away with a much better understanding of the stark choice that American voters will face this November when they go to the polls to vote for President. Regardless of who the GOP nominee is (assuming it won't be Ron Paul), Americans will have to decide between fear and envy.

Fear is what the Republicans have to offer. Based on last night's debate, it may be all they have. This point was driven home when Rick Santorum answered a question relating to the Cuban embargo. Naturally, Mr. Santorum is all for it. As I'm sure readers are aware, the US government maintains strict sanctions against the tiny third-world island nation (technically the US government punishes American citizens who wish to interact with Cubans, but I suspect that distinction is lost on most of the candidates). The embargo, which was allegedly designed to drive Castro from power, has been in place longer than I've been alive. And yet the Castro boys are still running the show in Havana. To Rick Santorum, this is exactly the kind of wildly successful government program that should be maintained.

The former Senator from Pennsylvania did not rest his support for the embargo on its efficacy in achieving its stated objective, though. Instead, he claimed that now was not the time to reward Castro by lifting the embargo*, because Castro associates with other anti-American tin-pot dictators like Noriega.

That's right, he said "Noriega." (I had to rewind just to make sure).

For those of you who (like Rick Santorum) don't know, Manuel Noriega was imprisoned in France until just last year. He was recently extradited to Panama, where he's now serving a 20-year sentence. Though there may be many threats to American security out there, we can rest assured that Noriega is not one of them.

But clearly the GOP no longer limits itself to actual threats to national security. They're worried about imaginary ones, too (you can never be too careful). In addition to the terrifying specter of Manuel Noriega, Santorum is also keeping a watchful eye on jihadists who are (wait for it)…going to set up missile sites in Latin America. That's right. They're not planning suicide attacks with small explosives, they're not building IEDs, and they're not attacking soft targets with machine guns. They're building missile sites.

And Ron Paul is considered the "nutty" one? The unelectable one?

Aside from the existential threat posed to the United States by Cuba (Latin America's poorest country) Rick Santorum is also deeply worried about Iran, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and presumably (though it didn't come up during last night's debate) Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as well. Which leads me to wonder if there are any underdeveloped countries the GOP is not afraid of?

Fear. That's what the Republicans are offering. That's the driving force behind all their saber-rattling.

This is not to say that Obama has put forward anything more inspiring for the voters in November. From what I gather from his recent State of the Union address and other speeches, the only thing President Obama has to offer is envy.

"Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary."

Naturally, Obama wants to raise Buffett's tax rate to rectify this injustice. It never occurs to him to lower the tax rate of the secretary, of course. (Personally, I'd rather have 15% of Warren Buffett's capital gains than 28% of his secretary's salary, but that's just me). But with a national debt of over $15 trillion, multi-trillion dollar deficits projected as far as the eye can see, and anywhere from $50 to $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, it should be clear to anyone paying attention that no tax rate, no matter how high, no matter how rich-soaking it may be, will ever be enough to satiate the Federal government's appetite for spending. But that is not the point, of course. The point is to throw red meat to blue voters, and in today's highly emotional and economically illiterate climate, that means serving up envy – and lots of it.

In a recent speech in Michigan, President Obama channeled the odious Elizabeth Warren, saying, "We do not begrudge wealth in this country. I want everybody here to do well. We aspire to financial success, but we also understand that we're not successful just by ourselves. We're successful because somebody started the University of Michigan. We're successful because somebody made an investment in all the federal research labs that created the internet. We're successful because we have an outstanding military that costs money. We're successful because somebody built roads and bridges. And laid broadband lines and these things didn't just happen on their own. And if we all understand that we've got to pay for this stuff, it makes sense for those of us who've done best to do our fair share and to try to pass off that bill on to somebody else, that's not right. That's not who we are."

In Obama's worldview, government expenditures in infrastructure and defense provide a justification for limitless predation on the productive sector. In an America motivated by envy, the more successful a person is, the less secure his property becomes. And despite Obama's frequent entreaties not to call it class warfare or envy, that's exactly what it is.

Envy. That's what the Democrats are offering. That's the driving force behind all their "eat the rich" sloganeering.

So which will it be this November? Fear or envy? Remember – if you don't vote, you can't complain.

* Note to Rick Santorum: Lifting the embargo is not a reward for Castro, it's his greatest fear. Once the embargo is lifted, Castro will no longer have a convenient scapegoat for all the misery his evil and idiotic policies have inflicted on the Cuban people lo these many years.