Sometimes, people need to be presented with a lesson more than one time before they “get it.”

We are now experiencing the effects of liberal/progressive/socialist, big government, centrally planned, economic policy, and it is proving, once again, to be an epic failure. Trillions for stimulus (that did not stimulate), bailouts, earmarks and big government spending have all failed to end this recession. This is the same thing we experienced 30 years ago under President Jimmy Carter after 25 years of liberal economic policy coming out of Congress and the White House, created an economic disaster. It took conservative, free market economic policies to correct the liberal “malaise” those policies gave us, and deliver the strong economic growth that we have had, with a few “hiccups,” for almost 30 years.

Our current economic difficulties started when Republicans thought they could be like Democrats and buy votes by spending their way to a permanent majority with other people’s money. Things really started to go south in a big way, when liberals took over Congress in 2006 and started putting their far leftist, liberal economic policies into place.

It is clear that Democrats have no clue as to what conditions are necessary for the creation of jobs in the private sector. That is why their only answer is to extend jobless benefits to a record 99 weeks — almost two years! Is that how long they think it will take for their policies to work?

Liberal economic policies do not work, whether done by Republicans or Democrats. Furthermore, they can’t work because they start with a faulty moral premise — that individuals don’t have rights and that elites should make decisions for us.

The Democrats slogan has morphed from “hope and change” to “it could have been worse” and will eventually become “we are doomed.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough lessons, thank you very much!

George Lundstrom

Albert Lea