A President, an Agenda, and a Rendezvous With Destiny

The original concept of social programs in the United States was to ensure that the welfare and basic needs are available to the people. These can be in the form of cash assistance, health care, assistance with acquiring food, and other subsidies such as energy, education, housing, and child care. Some of these programs do have eligibility requirements within certain parameters that must be met, along with restrictions.

Support for social programs, in general, has been cause for much disagreement, especially among the political class. Republicans believe that too much government in the lives of the people can create stagnation, a loss of self-reliance, esteem, and personal responsibility. It can threaten individual freedom, and can impede an independent spirit manifesting in less enthusiasm and the drive to free oneself from the clutches of “Big Brother.” Democrats think differently, and seek to impose a cradle-to-grave mentality ushered in by a big-government-supported social structure.

In post-modern America, social programs have expanded and become resilient to fundamental change, requiring larger monetary expenditures by the taxpayer. I believe we can all agree that there are people and children in need, and the government has an obligation through the taxpayer to assist the less fortunate. But what has now manifested under a new administration can be our worst nightmare.

While campaigning for the presidency, candidate Biden on several occasions expressed how he will govern from "the center." But as we have come to realize to our great dismay, now President Biden has taken the reins of government and has revealed his true colors, and that is as a far-left progressive seeking to impose on the American people a radical and extreme agenda, which Republicans refer to as a Democrat “Wish List” that expands social programs to stratospheric heights, to the tune of $6 trillion divided among three main plans.

The American Rescue Plan - $1.9 trillion, paid out a one-time $1400.00 to a broad section of the American people, and $300.00 additional to unemployment payments, $350 billion emergency funds to various localities; included are states, local governments, tribal governments, and territories, and in addition, $21.6 billion for federally subsidized housing.

The American Families Plan - $1.8 trillion consists of $225 billion for child care, $400 billion for the support for aging parents and grandparents, $225 billion toward a national paid family leave program, $200 billion to universal pre-kindergarten, $100 billion for free community college. And of course, most of this extravaganza will be paid for, in part, with tax increases for the wealthiest Americans. And what makes this even more of an assault on democratic principles, and the people, is the IRS has been given a mandate to strictly enforce tax collections. The Biden administration’s exorbitant spending frenzy is not an investment as some have said, but is more a redistribution of wealth.

The American Jobs Plan - $2.3 trillion includes $621 billion for infrastructure: bridges, roads, mass transit, airports, ports, electric vehicle development; $111 billion for improvements in drinking water, expanding broadband and upgrading electric grids. There is also $20 billion in tax credits for the construction and renovation of 500,000 affordable housing units; $40 billion for public housing capital improvements; $100 billion for building and upgrading public schools; $300 billion in assistance for small businesses and manufacturers; $100 billion for work force development.

Opposition to what is considered the most polarizing element of The American Jobs Plan is the allocation of $400 billion for home- or community-based care for aging relatives and people with disabilities. This is an attempt by the Biden administration to redefine the concept of what is infrastructure, to include those workers who will care for the aging population.

Bruce Thompson, a former Treasury Department official, accuses Biden of using an accounting gimmick to make all this spending “look smaller and tax revenue larger.” Mr. Thompson has reviewed the three plans, and has determined the projected actual cost over 10 years, even with tax increases, will be $7.2 trillion, with only half of the spending paid for.

President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “This generation has a rendezvous with destiny.” These words have a profound meaning today, for we are confronted with a power that has the capacity to alter our destiny in a way that I believe was never intended since the founding of this nation. And if we and our so-called leaders fail to deal with it head-on, America will pay a dear price, and her future generations will suffer serious consequences.