Social Engineering Doesn't Equal Stimulus

Let's call a spade a spade. The stimulus is not supposed to stimulate. It is no spending bill. Rather, this stimulus, along with much of the President's early domestic agenda, is social engineering.

concept in political science that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behavior on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups. In the political arena the counterpart of social engineering is political engineering.

The President wants to transform our society. He wants to provide health care to all, turn our country into one that moves away from our dependence to oil, and provide quality education to all American children. He wants to do this through spending, regulation and tax policy. That is standard social engineering.

President Obama has nearly doubled the budget of the Department of Energy and he is about to impose cap and trade. All of this is supposed to force our country away from oil and other eco unfriendly energy sources and move us toward eco friendly sources.

President Obama also nearly doubled the budget of the Department of Education. He firmly believes that our lack of education comes from a lack of funding. As such, he will increase funding dramatically for education. With this increase in funding, he will also create a centralization of control in the hands of the federal government.

On health care, he has already put down a $634 billion down payment on universal health care. The size of the HHS has also increased dramatically. This is all done so that our system of health care changes dramatically in his term.

Of course, all of this is done by dramatically increasing taxes on the wealthiest. Not only will their income tax rate go up, but so will certain deductions go down. Furthermore, the capital gains tax will go up. Furthermore, certain taxes will go up on corporations. At the same time, things like food stamps, welfare, unemployment insurance will be increased. This is of course all part of a concept of income redistribution.

These are all laudable goals. Everyone wants all our children to get quality education. All of us want access to quality health care for as many people as possible. All of us want to reduce our dependence to oil. Laudable goals are not enough. All Presidents are in office with the best of intentions. It is certainly a matter of serious debate whether or not the federal government is the best place to solve all of these issues. What cannot be debated is that achieving social goals has nothing to do with economic stimulus.

The problem is that social engineering along with income redistribution have nothing to do with stimulus. Moving money from one group and giving it to another doesn't stimulate. Moving money from one priority and moving to another is not stimulating to the economy. President Obama is heading the biggest social experiment in our nation's history. Unfortunately, this experiment has absolutely nothing to do with stimulating the economy.