Chicago Style Politics Live On

Boss Obama is back to strongarming states to get what he wants. In a letter written to Gov. Jan Brewer of AZ (in response to a tv appearance by Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona), Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood threatened to withhold stimulus funds from the state of Arizona. The reason, you ask? Sen. Kyl stated on "On This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that the stimulus was not working and that all contracts not already started should never be. Bottom line is that the Obama administration didn't like what Kyl had to say so now they are threatening to withold funds from the state as a penalty. I'm sad to say that, myself being a product of Chicago, I am surprised we haven't heard about more of these kinds of events (its how 'work' gets done in Chi-town.... just look at the Daley Empire)

Link to article ---> http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/15/nice-state-you-got-there-kyl/

How is this kind of behavior acceptable? A voice of dissent and disagreement results in threats? I thought the whole idea behind our democratic government was that of open dissent in order to have an enlightened conversation that would produce the best result for all parties involved. Apparently I have the whole concept ass-backwards.

This Bush-esque tactic is coming from the administration that marketed themselves as being everything that Bush wasn't (can I sue for false advertising?). This is a classic bait-and-switch tactic (Dr. Myers taught me that one, thanks T$). I believe this is a sign of things to come. States will be threatened and cajoled into giving the national government what they want until one day we will wake up and realize states don't exist anymore (we're already close to this already with a national drinking age, federal road funding, and national speed limits).

Let's not get too sidetracked though. The issue is that Arizona is being threatened for having a different opinion than the President. A healthy skepticism is exactly what we need when it comes to the federal government, it was us NOT being skeptical that got our national debt to the unholy level that its at now and got us into Iraq too (don't give me that 'Support the Troops' lecture, that's not even remotely the issue). Imagine everyone having the exact same opinion as the O! administration (Picture a scene from A Brave New World), we would be a socialist nation full of drones turning bolts 8 hours a day (why do you think Russians drink so much?).

Naturally, this story has taken a back seat to the Sotomayor confirmation hearing going on now as well as the "MJ was murdered" stories (and don't forget the media loves O! and refuses to report objectively about anything he does. They have given more air time to the Obama dog than this issue). So don't expect anything to come of this issue but let's see what happens next. Will this kind of thing continue to happen? (My guess: absolutely) Will AZ actually get their stimulus money? Will it come out that Kyl is having an affair with a former staffer? (Woops, wrong Republican)

And I leave you with 2 parting quotes:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty"

"People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people"

These are from Thomas Jefferson, smart guy, huh?

I hope this isn't the beginning of the end......