The Road to Socialism: Bailout Passes in Congress

Posted October 3, 2008, 2:06 p.m.

The 700 billion dollar Wall St. bailout package, derided by conservatives and liberals alike, has now passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 263-171. This follows its passage in the Senate on Wednesday by a 74-25 majority. President George W. Bush (R)—the supposed conservative who has been a tireless supporter of this garbage over the last two weeks—has now signed the bill into law.

I cannot conceive of why, in the face of overwhelming public opposition, our elected representatives chose to reward the very creators of this economic mess with an unconstitutional, socialist-style government intervention into the free market.

I single out my own delegation of elected ‘representatives’—Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th), Senator John Warner (R-VA), Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), and President Bush (R)—for personal derision. Each one of them voted in favor of and/or otherwise supported this ill-advised waste of money. I also single out our two leading presidential candidates, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) as well as vice presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), for their support as well.

If this is what happens when our two parties work together in a spirit of ‘bipartisanship’, then I’d prefer a return to the days of Washington gridlock. “The mystery of government,” said P.J. O’Rourke, “is not how it works, but how to make it stop.”

The politicians who voted ‘YEA’ on this bill have sold out their constituents and subscribed instead to an unprecedented socialist intervention. I hope you will show them who’s boss on election day. See the Senate results. See the House results.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.

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