Human Events News received this piece Friday, courtesy of Charlie Kirk, in which he discusses the 19 senators who voted to pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Per CharlieKirk.com:
Roll Call!
Roy Blunt, MO
Richard Burr, NC
Shelley Moore Capito, WV
Bill Cassidy, LA
Susan Collins, ME
Kevin Cramer, ND
Mike Crapo, ID
Deb Fischer, NE
Lindsey Graham, SC
Chuck Grassley, IA
John Hoeven, ND
Mitch McConnell, KY
Lisa Murkowski, AK
Rob Portman, OH
James Risch, ID
Mitt Romney, UT
Dan Sullivan, AK
Thom Tillis, NC
Roger Wicker, MS
This past week, those nineteen Republican Senators ignored the vote of their constituents, your vote, and helped to push through a $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill that combines central planning with social engineering and is even infused with America’s latest buzzword: equity (read critical race theory).
Despite the staggering dollar magnitude of spending involved, this bill is nothing more than a gateway to the $3.5 trillion continuing resolution that is coming right behind it.
In terms of American political infrastructure, the highway heading toward totalitarianism just had the speed limit lifted.
There are a number of angles from which to criticize this bill. First, it is 2,700 pages, making it longer than the original Obama stimulus plan that Republicans claimed was too lengthy at the time. Second, it was given to Senate members only two days before voting making it impossible to read, let alone thoroughly study. Third, it contains provisions that have absolutely nothing to do with infrastructure. Finally, it has the effect of making Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg the equivalent of a Russian Oligarch. He will oversee most of the spending and will assume the position of dispensing money and granting favors to members of the proletariat he deems worthy.
For anyone who doubts the non-infrastructure nature of this bill, allow me to cite five definitive examples to prove just how far this goes beyond building and repairing roads and bridges:
- There is a mandate to equip all vehicles with drunk driving detection systems (sound good to you? Just wait until the technology is installed and failures take place harming law abiding citizens)
- A $119 billion dollar bailout for the Highway Trust Fund is in the bill. This is a simple reward for mismanagement and fiscal irresponsibility being fixed by more fiscal irresponsibility
- A “pilot program” is being established to create a taxing system for vehicles based upon miles driven. This is the beginning of an effort to force people into urban areas and public transportation
- Cryptocurrencies, the free market alternative to government issued currency, are going to come under tighter scrutiny as part of a program that ostensibly is about roads and bridges. Why, you ask? Well to increase the power of the IRS and Treasury, of course.
- The bill addresses “transportation equity,” something that I would assume will get translated into white people paying more for cars and being able to afford to drive them less.
As bad as all of this is, and it is about as bad as any piece of legislation we have ever had pushed through in modern times, the attitude of the 19 country club Republicans who voted for it is even worse. While our government was formally created with our Constitution, it is truly built upon an implied trust between the governed and the governing. We the people are supposed to be able to count upon our elected officials to take office and act in support of our expressed interests.
If we are to view the Constitution as a sort of social contract, very few would enter into any contract if they had absolutely no trust or belief in the other side holding to its terms. Trust lies at the heart of all meaningful agreements. Senate Republicans have now clearly demonstrated that they have no regard for the interests of their voters, and voters have been shown they have no reason to trust their politicians. This is not sustainable if we wish to preserve our republic.
We were warned by our founding fathers about the risk we faced in launching this great American experiment not just from outsiders, but from ourselves. One such warning was delivered by Benjamin Rush in an address he gave in January of 1787. When speaking on the difference between the American War, which he said was over, and the American Revolution, which he essentially said was still in progress, he offered the following:
In our opposition to monarchy, we forgot that the temple of tyranny has two doors. We bolted one of them by proper restraints; but we left the other open, by neglecting to guard against the effects of our own ignorance and licentiousness.
“Licentiousness” is a wonderful word. Today it is often associated with sexual excess, but its primary definition still reads: Lacking legal or moral restraints. This is what we have witnessed in the case of the 19 Republicans who voted against fiscal responsibility, who voted against individual liberty, who voted for massive inflation, and who voted for collectivism. They have absolutely no legal or moral restraints.
One of the reasons that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is experiencing such a surge in popularity across the country is because he tells the citizens what he is going to do; and then he does it. That is so basic, it is exactly what every parent teaches their child they need to do in life. It is also what those nineteen Republican Senators just failed to do. It is as if they feel they rule through the divine right of kings instead of at the behest of the American voter.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) pointed out that since December of 2020, $9.5 trillion of special spending has been approved. This is in a country that already has a $30 trillion debt load larger than the annual output of the economy. The money required for this infrastructure bill has to be borrowed by the Treasury and that means adding to the national debt.
That also means the Federal Reserve will be using its Open Market activities to buy government bonds and further inflate the money supply. And finally, inflation of the money supply will increase consumer prices, the cruelest of all regressive taxes.
None of this information is secret. Your elected leaders are fully aware of what they have just done. They are simply licentious. They are lacking legal (they write the laws so they can do as they please) and moral (ends-justify-means relativists to the one) restraints. Nineteen Republicans have just ignored the will of the people and voted for a purely socialist piece of legislation that tramples on individual liberty. The preamble to our Constitution states that it was written, in part, to “secure the blessings of liberty.”
Instead, nineteen Republicans have just decided to secure the blessings of lobbyists and special interest groups. We already knew we can’t trust Joe Biden. We knew we couldn't trust Pete Buttigieg. We knew we couldn't trust Democrats. Now we know who else we can’t trust.
The social contract is broken. It is time for freedom loving Americans to file suit.
