in the middle of the night

“[Saul] Alinsky’s 1971 book, ‘Rules for Radicals,’ is a favorite of the Obamas. Michele Obama quoted it at the Democratic Convention.”

- The President is ‘Keeping Score’, WSJ

By now, most people who read the papers or watch the news have realized that President Obama is fully intent on re-making the American economy and the government’s role in it as he promised during the campaign.

The velvet glove of the President’s hopeful rhetoric apparently covers an iron fist as Congressman Peter DeFazio is quickly learning after he voted against the stimulus bill.

Reasonable people will always differ on the manner and nature of government and economic policy. Democracy is a messy system and the full and open debate of important matters is essential if the country as a whole is to accept significant changes over the longer term.

The great risk to American capitalism in all of this is the growing sense of individual entitlement – everyone wants something to be paid for by someone else!

Where is the sense of personal responsibility?

Who will invest to create the needed jobs if incentive is rewarded with higher taxes and greater regulation?

Maybe the rest of us should be reading ‘Rules for Radicals’ to figure out what we are up against. I’ve ordered my copy.