So the passage of President Obama’s stimulus package–the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009–has passed, to the tune of $789 billion, and fiscal conservatives around the country are howling mad. “Tea Party” protests are sweeping the nation. One blog post I happened across this week featured a graphic of a tombstone for the United States, giving the “death” date as November 4, 2008, the day of Obama’s election. (You’re late, by the way–I had the same idea months ago.)
But is that really the day that history will remember as the tipping point towards financial ruin for our republic? Did Obama suddenly come in and drastically change course for the government, or is he just continuing business as usual?
Or better yet…where were all those tea party protests before now?
Where were the protests on October 3, 2008, when the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ($700 billion) was signed into law? Shouldn’t that be the date on the tombstone?
Where were the protests on September 30, 2008, when the “Big Three” automakers got a $25 billion loan?
Where was the coordinated network of national protests on September 16, 2008, when the Federal Reserve gave insurance giant AIG a $75 billion bailout?
Where were the fiscal conservatives rising up and demanding results on July 30, 2008, when the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 ($300 billion) became law?
So if we’re going to become especially indignant about Obama’s “porkulus” package, we’re very much a conservative pot calling a liberal kettle black.
Today marks one year since William F. Buckley passed away. As a conservative and, especially, as a proponent of elegant English, Buckley was an idol of mine. I remember getting his little book, The Lexicon, when I was in college. I found joy on every page. 
I got to see Saturday night’s sold out game at the Thomas and Mack, courtesy of my father-in-law. The Rebels have had only a so-so season, often playing, as R-J columnist Ed Graney said, like “
For years, my wife and I have had regular Book of Mormon study with our older children, but as our younger children have grown, we’ve tried different ways to do scripture study just with them. Last year, we finally struck upon a method that works very well. Though they’re each a year older now, they were two and three when we started.
