From “Born to Run” to “Born in the USA,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town” to “Human Touch,” Bruce Springsteen has brought his brand of rock from the streets of New Jersey to the farms of the heartland, speaking to the American experience as a poet with a six-string. For more than 40 years, he has carried the torch of rock-and-roll to millions of fans, and now he’s headed back on tour, this time with a new song that, believe it or not, speaks to conservative values.

Sure, it might seem to be a stretch. After all, The Boss has been known for his liberal activism. His anthem “No Surrender” was John Kerry’s campaign theme song in 2004, he headlined MoveOn PAC’s “Vote for Change” tour that same year, and he opened for President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.

But Springsteen’s “Take Care of Our Own”—which seems custom-made for a political campaign commercial—interestingly enough resonates with those on the right, whether Bruce realizes it or not:

From Chicago to New Orleans
From the muscle to the bone
From the shotgun shack to the Superdome
We yelled “help” but the cavalry stayed home
There ain’t no-one hearing the bugle blown
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag’s flown
We take care of our own

If there is one theme that cries out, it’s that in this American community of ours, we ultimately rely on each other and, as he admits, sometimes the “cavalry” cannot come to save us. Conservatives would agree. Instead of seeking a savior in government, conservatives value self-determination, free enterprise, limited government, and individual freedom—all of which suffer when an almighty state crowds out our freedoms.

Liberals, though, first look to their cavalry—the federal government—to come to the rescue when Americans are in need rather than finding solutions in civil society — among local communities, houses of worship, schools, volunteer organizations, and neighborhoods.

We saw that philosophy in President Obama’s State of the Union address this week when he advocated for a new wave of progressive policies to bring “fairness” to America. Instead of seeking to return power to states and local communities so that people can take care of their own, he called for a concentration of more power in Washington, all paid for by confiscatory tax policies that reflect the notion that the federal government knows how to spend money better than the people do.

The President looks to the state to spur innovation and move America forward. His is an effort to make the “cavalry” bigger so that Americans need not take care of their own. Ultimately, though, that is a policy that saps individual liberties—quite contrary to what the Founders intended. It’s contrary, too, to the rugged individualism that Springsteen once sang of.

In 1975′s “Thunder Road,” a much-younger Bruce cried out to his beloved, wrenched in pain over the dissatisfaction in his life, his loneliness, his despair, and his desire for something better. And he knew it was up to him to make that change. He didn’t call for the cavalry, but he looked inward, and then he looked forward:

In the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they’re gone on the wind, so Mary climb in
This town full of losers and we’re pulling outta here to win

Moving on to find a better future—and not waiting for the government to provide it—is a truly conservative value and an American one, too.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

President Obama will release his annual budget proposal late yet again. Choosing the date is not merely a convention. By law, the President must release the budget by the first Monday in February, which falls on February 6 this year. Yet yesterday the Administration announced it will release its fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget a week late, marking the third such delay in four years. Right now, when the economy is struggling, annual deficits consistently exceed $1 trillion, and Americans are demanding that Washington govern responsibly, this delay is beyond frustrating. Especially after last year’s protracted budget battle, a prompt submission would have signaled that the President is ready to get down to business. Unfortunately, the opposite now seems imminent.

The budget provides the President a formal venue in which to communicate his priorities, and it illuminates the fiscal path down which he would lead the country. If this year President Obama proposes the same failed policies of past budgets, the country will plod deeper into the present fiscal crisis—not out of it.

For example, Obama’s 2012 budget would have put debt held by the public on track to rise from its current level of about 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to more than 87 percent of GDP by 2021. As this Budget Chart Book chart by The Heritage Foundation shows, that amounts to double the post–WWII average.

That same budget failed to include the kinds of rational, market-based solutions necessary to fix the three major entitlement programs—Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—which are currently set on spending autopilot. The chart below shows that more than half of the President’s 2012 budget would have been spent on entitlement programs.

The picture only gets worse from here. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that annual spending on all entitlement programs will increase from $2 trillion in 2011 to nearly $3.3 trillion in 2021. That’s almost the size of all federal spending today.

CBO estimates that spending on just the three major entitlement programs will increase from 10.4 percent of GDP in 2011 to 12.4 percent of GDP in 2021. With baby boomers starting to retire and health care costs rising, that figure will jump to 16.4 percent of GDP by 2035 and to nearly 19 percent of GDP by 2050.

Because Obama’s past budgets put off reforming entitlements, more debt (or taxpayer dollars) will go toward them than would be needed otherwise. Delay is not the solution. What is needed are good ideas and political will from the President and Congress to reform these programs so they work better and are more affordable. Entitlement reform means the programs will actually be around for seniors who need them, and it means future generations won’t find themselves saddled with sky-high tax rates to pay for entitlements. In the President’s budget proposal this year, he should be honest about what doing nothing to tackle entitlement programs means for the country’s spending and debt crisis. Then he should offer his plan to solve that problem.

President Obama’s past budget proposals did little if anything to address Washington’s spending crisis. Ignoring entitlements—the real drivers of future deficits—only made things worse. This time around, the President should lay out a truly bold vision for America: one that will tackle the grave challenges presented by entitlement programs, fully fund the nation’s defense capabilities, and lay the groundwork for a robust, thriving economy though fundamental tax reform. If the President needs ideas, he should look to The Heritage Foundation’s Saving the American Dream plan, which would accomplish all of these goals.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has been talking up the need for greatly expanded resources to bail out ailing European economies.

European nations have offered to channel about $200 billion of their own funds to themselves through the IMF (a kind of gentleman’s money-laundering to avoid restrictions in their own treaties). Lagarde wants others to add $300 billion to that kitty.

The U.S. Treasury has said no, and rightly so. Replacing current euro-debt with IMF loans, no matter how rigorously structured, will only prolong the agony. The failing euro-zone economies need to get their fiscal and economic houses in order. That means reining in government spending now, not more debt, and aggressively pursuing economic policies such as labor market reforms that can ignite growth rather than paying lip service to growth as a throwaway line at the end of a speech.

Even talking about the possibility of big IMF bailouts may be having a negative impact, because it suggests more time and more debt before real action is taken. The governments and their lenders were reportedly close last week to a deal in which bond-holders would accept 50 cents on the dollar for their current debt. Now that deal is in trouble.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Leading up to his third State of the Union (SOTU) address tonight, President Obama appears once again less interested in facilitating real job growth than in creating the mere appearance of job creation.

In a SOTU preview video released over the weekend, Obama declared that American energy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources is an important step toward rebuilding the economy. This statement in conjunction with last week’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline suggests a continuation of the misguided focus on the government pushing so-called “green jobs,” whether they work or not, while blocking job-creating private-sector investments in energy.

Last week, President Obama rejected the permit application to build the Keystone XL pipeline, a truly shovel-ready project that would have lifted up the U.S. economy with private-sector investment, real jobs, and lower prices for a significant production input factor: energy. As Heritage policy analyst Nick Loris highlights:

Building the pipeline would bring over 700,000 barrels of oil per day and directly create 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs. The Canadian Energy Research Institute estimates that current pipeline operations and the addition of the Keystone XL pipeline would create 179,000 American jobs by 2035.

Just the week before the fateful Keystone decision, additional documentation was released showing that the White House had knowledge of impending layoffs at the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra before the 2010 midterm elections. This is in addition to an earlier revelation that the Department of Energy pushed to withhold this information until afterward.

Recipient of a $535 million taxpayer-funded loan guarantee and previously poster child for President Obama’s objective to increase renewable energy and green jobs in America, Solyndra’s troubles raised serious political concerns for officials in the White House. Once the news over Solyndra’s filing for bankruptcy broke last summer, a scandal and congressional investigation ensued, questioning the Administration’s green energy “investments.” About 1,100 people were laid off as the taxpayer-subsidized solar company went under.

This goes to show some of the problems inherent in the government sponsoring what should be private enterprises. The issue here is the President’s overall track record when it comes to blocking energy-related jobs from reliable and affordable energy sources while handing taxpayer money to producers of unreliable and costly alternative energy whose “green jobs” are a fallacy. This is no way to strengthen the economy.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

The President’s State of the Union address tonight will no doubt grab most of the day’s headlines as the president lays out his goals for the coming year. But today is an important one for another reason — it marks the 1,000 day since the United States Senate has passed a budget. While the House has put forth (and passed) its own budget, the Senate has failed to do the same for more than two years. To help illustrate how extraordinary this failure has been, our new video highlights a few of impressive feats in history that have been accomplished in less time.

Please share our video with friends and family. And if you have a blog, consider posting our “Senate Budget Widget” on your site. Click here to learn how.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Medicare patient Ann Lorenz has relied on the advice and recommendations of her neurologist, Dr. Jeffrey English, since she was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 13 years ago. So the dramatic changes coming to Medicare via the Affordable Care Act—and its potential to limit seniors’ access to care as doctors foresee dropping Medicare patients—already worry Lorenz.

“One of the first things you ask a new doctor is if they accept Medicare,” Lorenz, who lives in Atlanta, says in a new Impact of Obamacare video. “And we have always seemed to have doctors that accepted it, which has worked out very nicely because I have had to go over the last few years…to many doctors…because of age and the various things that happen to you when you get older.”

But that reliable acceptance of Medicare patients is in danger. In fact, Dr. English—who dropped his roster of Medicaid patients just six years ago—fears he’ll have to take the same action with his Medicare patients if reimbursement rates are too low.

“The reimbursement was such that it was actually costing us more to see the [Medicaid] patients than if…we just saw them for free if we saw them in the hospital,” English says in the new Heritage video.

It’s not just reimbursement rates that will impact seniors’ access to care. English says the heavy regulations and required protocols in Obamacare will impact his practice of medicine. “My reputation now is built on taking good care of patients. In the future, my reputation is going to be whether I stick to protocols.”

Then there are Obamacare’s sharp cuts in Medicare Advantage, which nearly one-quarter of U.S. seniors rely on for their health benefits. Obamacare will result in the average senior facing a drop of $3,700 in services in Medicare Advantage by 2017.

Finally, Obamacare is an innovation killer, piling on new taxes on drug companies ($20 billion) and medical device makers ($27 billion) that will make health care services more costly. “I’m all for reform that puts the patient in charge, gives patient access to all the doctors and reduces cost,” English notes. But “we got the opposite in Obamacare.”

See the full video here along with Heritage’s full lineup of Impact of Obamacare videos—which also features the impact the health reform will have on doctors, states, families, and businesses.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Earlier this month, Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the former Yugoslavia, was arrested near Tampa, Florida, after federal officials uncovered his plan to unleash terrorism upon the United States. After receiving an anonymous tip, undercover FBI agents met with Osmakac and learned the details of his terror plot.

Osmakac described his intentions of setting off car bombs in crowded areas throughout Tampa, following such explosions with high-powered assault weapons attacks against the public. “I want to do something terrifying, like one day, one night, something’s going to happen, then six hours later something else,” Osmakac told FBI agents.

Osmakac apparently relished the thought of utilizing a suicide vest to add the finishing touches to his day of terror. Expecting to die rather than be taken alive, he stated, “We all have to die. So why not die the Islamic way?”

The arrest of Sami Osmakac is but the latest in an increasing string of Islamist-inspired terrorism plots against the American homeland. Whether the origins of such an attack are at home or abroad, the potential for such an event culminating in a devastating loss of life remains.

Uncovering the seedlings of such a plot requires the vigilance of the American public. It also requires a robust and empowered state and local law enforcement apparatus capable of uncovering and exploiting nascent terrorist operations prior to their becoming operational.

While the intelligence-gathering mandate nominally resides within the purview of the federal government, state and local law enforcement must take a greater role in this endeavor throughout the nation. An over-reliance on intelligence-gathering capacities at the federal level will only tax those resources and under-utilize the tremendous capabilities of our nation’s 18,000 domestic law enforcement agencies.

In a recent report released by The Heritage Foundation, the need for state and local law enforcement to expedite their adoption of a comprehensive and integrated suspicious activity reporting (SAR) system is addressed. Having such processes in place will act as a force multiplier in the nation’s collective responsibility to inhibit and mitigate the terrorist threat.

In a similar vein, earlier this week a group of homeland security specialists issued a thought-provoking report calling for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to refine its intelligence-gathering and analysis mandate.

Bipartisan members of the Aspen Homeland Security Group, a coalition of experts in the nation’s homeland security and counterterrorism community, called on DHS to rethink its intelligence-gathering mechanisms to include stronger, more collaborative relationships with state and local counterparts.

“The DHS enterprise is more complex than other agencies responsible for America’s security, and its intelligence mission is correspondingly multifaceted,” noted the report. Members of the Aspen group acknowledged the unique legislative mandate that allows DHS to effectively perform core functions of the national security enterprise at the federal level, such as securing borders and analyzing travel, preventing cyber intrusions, and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The effectiveness of DHS to perform these core functions, however, can actually be enhanced if its approach to state and local intelligence gathering focused more on collaboration and reducing redundancies.

State and local law enforcement agencies routinely acquire intelligence at their respective levels, much of which proves to be instrumental in the development of broader investigations linked to larger plots against the homeland. Reinforcing and strengthening the working relationships between these agencies and DHS can enhance the quality of information gathered and analyzed at all levels of government, producing higher-quality intelligence.

“This new approach to intelligence—serving local partners’ requirements, providing intelligence in areas (such as infrastructure) not previously served by intelligence agencies, and disseminating information by new means—reflects a transition in how Americans perceive national security,” the report assessed.

The terrorist threats facing the nation continue to evolve. So should the manner in which DHS and its counterparts at the state and local level view their respective roles in the process of mitigating those threats.

The Aspen group summarized: “As threats grow more localized, the prospect that a state/local partner will generate the first lead to help understand a new threat, or even an emerging cell, will grow. And the federal government’s need to train, and even staff, local agencies, such as major city police departments, will grow.”

A true recognition of the need to incorporate and support information gathering and analysis at the state and local level is long overdue. The Aspen report articulates the need for such a shift in thinking—one that ensures that any plot to attack the homeland can be effectively investigated and addressed at any and all levels of government.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

The 2012 Index of Economic Freedom was released last week by The Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. This year’s Index highlighted some worrisome trends as economic freedom declined worldwide and the United States dropped to #10 in the rankings.

Reason.tv sat down with Heritage’s James Roberts to talk about this year’s Index and the importance of the free market around the world.

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Yesterday in Walt Disney World, the land “where dreams come true,” President Barack Obama appeared before Cinderella’s Castle to announce his latest plan to boost jobs in America–an effort to increase tourism to the United States. His announcement came one day after he flat out said “NO” to another plan that would have directly created at least 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs–and 179,000 American jobs by 2035–while bringing more than 700,000 barrels of oil to the United States each day. That plan was the Keystone XL pipeline.

Had the President approved Keystone, a 1,700-mile pipeline would have been extended from Alberta, Canada, to Texas refineries — lifting up the U.S. economy with private-sector investment, putting people to work, and helping increase the supply of energy to lower prices when fuel costs are through the roof. Despite a finding by the State Department that the pipeline would pose minimal environmental risk, environmentalists were still up in arms and lobbied the President to say no to the plan.

The President’s decision is so out of line with fact and reason that The Washington Post strongly condemned it in an op-ed yesterday, saying the “pipeline rejection is hard to accept” and “We almost hope this was a political call because, on the substance, there should be no question.” As the Post explained, even without the pipeline, Canada will still export its oil–but across the ocean to China, instead. Meanwhile, the United States will continue importing crude oil from the Middle East. In other words, the environmental lobby might have stanched the flow of oil from Canada, but it’s being diverted onto the seas, and fossil fuel consumption will necessarily continue.

The environmental left’s “victory” is ultimately another loss for the American people — especially the 13.1 million unemployed workers. It’s a loss for small businesses, such as restaurants and hotels, in the towns along the proposed route. It’s a loss for state budgets that would have seen billions in tax revenue as a result. And it’s also a loss for those who are struggling with high energy costs.

Gas prices are at a record high for January and are 28.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. And that’s expected to go even higher–some analysts predict that the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded could hit $4 to $4.25 per gallon by the spring.

One might think that given the high cost of energy, the President would be seeking to increase domestic production, especially given Iran’s threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, thereby cutting off a quarter of the world’s energy supply. Think again. Under President Obama, oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent compared to 10 years ago, 2010 had the lowest number of leases issued for oil and gas production on federal lands since 1984, and the Administration held only one offshore lease sale in 2011.

There is one bright spot in the nation for energy production: North Dakota. Overall energy production has increased thanks to the state’s pro-energy policies, and North Dakota has reaped the benefits, as have other like-minded states, as Heritage’s Rob Bluey reports:

North Dakota’s unemployment rate is 3.4 percent, the lowest in the country. According to a recent report from IHS Global Insight, North Dakota already returned to pre-recession employment along with energy-rich Alaska. Texas is expected to do so in the first quarter of 2012, followed by Nebraska and South Dakota next year.

There’s much more that could be done, though, to move America further toward safely developing energy resources here at home–and the Keystone XL pipeline would be one such step. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing to review legislation that would restart the project, focusing on a bill introduced by Representative Lee Terry (R-NE), which would allow construction on the pipeline to begin a month after passage. Heritage’s Nicolas Loris explains that “a simple, effective approach would be for Congress to authorize the pipeline application as submitted by TransCanada pursuant to its authority to regulate commerce with other nations.”

Sadly, this action wouldn’t have been necessary if President Obama put the interests of the American people before his own political interests. He could have green-lighted the Keystone XL pipeline this week and helped create real jobs and increase the supply of affordable, reliable energy, without spending public dollars or advocating tax hikes. But instead he headed for the Magic Kingdom and continued to spin the fantasy that he has the answers for job creation in America. In the meantime, Americans can only dream of a stronger economy and a brighter future.

Quick Hits:

• The U.S. Justice Department is bringing racketeering, money laundering and Internet piracy charges against seven individuals allegedly operating a huge criminal enterprise as part of Megaupload, a popular online file sharing website.
  
• Voters in South Carolina head to the polls tomorrow in the next Republican primary election.
• France is suspending training operations in Afghanistan after four French soldiers were killed and more than a dozen were wounded when an Afghan soldier opened fire on his trainers.
• Syria’s opposition movement is calling for a day of protests against the country’s government. Meanwhile, the Arab League is deciding whether to continue its month-long mission to monitor Syria’s government and its pledge to end the violent crackdown on protesters.
• LUNCHTIME WEB CHAT: Join us today from 12 PM to 1 PM as we discuss President Obama’s decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline. Click here to participate!

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.

Stories are powerful. They help us relate to other individuals and communicate complex issues. They are an essential ingredient to making policy change in Washington. That’s why we’re asking for your help.

The Heritage Foundation is seeking examples of individuals, entrepreneurs and business owners who have been negatively affected by the federal government’s regulatory overreach. We want to spotlight Americans’ experiences with Washington’s red tape. You can help us by filling out the form below.

Our goal at Heritage is to reduce government interference and eliminate unwarranted government intrusion into the economy.

We can fight back against the federal Leviathan with your help. If you know of an actual example of the negative consequences of regulation, tell us. Or if you have heard a story we should investigate, please share it as well.

Here are some examples of regulatory horror stories we’ve already featured:

• Mike and Chantell Sackett took their case against the Environmental Protection Agency all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. We interviewed attorney Damien Schiff about what it means for U.S. land owners who encounter EPA bureaucrats.
• Armed federal agents raided Gibson Guitar last August on suspicion that it violated the Lacey Act The company’s chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, fought back and defended Gibson against the federal government’s persecution.
• Obamacare is already having a crippling impact on businesses across America as they brace for changes to health insurance. Scott Womack, an IHOP owner from Terre Haute, Ind., told us he’s rethinking his expansion plans as a consequence of the law.
• Louisiana businesses are still recovering from the Obama administration’s offshore drilling moratorium following the 2010 oil spill. Washington bureaucrats are approving permits at a glacial pace, forcing Seahawk Drilling into bankruptcy. Others, like Leslie Bertucci of R and D Enterprises, are struggling to survive.

Please fill out the form below to share your story. You can also contact us at scribe@heritage.org.

Loading…

Article brought to you by The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation.