Mike Hubbard: Time for Washington to wake up and smell reality

Nearly 233 years ago, the founders of this nation had enough of an oppressive government that was out of touch with the people of our new country. They were represented by a government that continually passed repressive measures – strangling the foothold of freedom.

In his famous speech on liberty, Patrick Henry stated: “Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts.” We have witnessed that there are those in Washington who are lulled by the siren of federal government intervention and salvation as a masque to the economic crisis in this country.

In the last several months, the federal government has taken over the reins of the auto business, banking, mortgages and insurance – including firing a CEO of a private corporation, and there’s talk of another. They have thrown dollars at state governments in the name of stimulus, forcing government officials to expand and create new entitlement programs that could not have been done in normal legislative deliberations. Thankfully, Gov. Riley, along with some other Republican governors, are rejecting parts of the stimulus funds that require a change in state law that would be a huge burden on businesses once the federal money — which we all sent to Washington in the first place — runs out.

When state government leaders have resisted shackling their budgets and the future of their economies, they are framed as insensitive and cruel. When hundreds of thousands of Americans protested the bailouts and federal government intervention with higher taxes in “tea parties” across the country, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi dismissed these hard-working taxpayers as Astroturf and “not a grassroots protest.”

We now have several banks that have had enough of the government strings and want to give their TARP money back. But federal regulators keep turning toward the sirens song as they get to decide, rather than the banks, whether or not that money can really be returned. The feds are also going to determine, rather than the banks, whether or not they need to push for TARP II and who will require additional funds.

If that is not enough for the American people to stomach, there are rumblings in Washington of a possible additional round of economic stimulus. The spending is reeling out of control. It’s like eating potato chips – “you can’t have just one.” How in their right (or left) minds do the Democratic majority in Washington think we are going to pay for all of this?

The people of this great country, and especially here in Alabama, know that the greatest success is when you accomplish it on your own – not with a handout.

Thankfully, our Republican Congressmen along with Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions have fought against the Obama bailouts and his socialist mindset. It is time for those in Washington to wake up and stop the encroachment. We all want economic recovery – but we want to do it without sacrificing our freedoms.

Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, is Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party. He also serves as the House Minority Leader in the Alabama House of Representatives.