Millions of Americans have voted for Barack Obama to "fix" our economy and are breathlessly awaiting his inauguration so that he can implement his plans to "get America back to work." Are those voters ever in for a surprise.

  In a November 22 radio address, Obama stated that "we are facing an economic crisis of historical proportions" (true enough) and that "we must do more to put our people back to work and get our economy moving again."

 How does our new president-to-be intend to achieve this result? Obama declared that "I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011," and that "we'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms, solar panels, fuel-efficient cars, and alternative energy technologies ... "

 This, I submit, is the worst kind of economic claptrap, and is easily demonstrable as such.

As we survey the recently transformed political landscape, a few observations crop up:

(1) The Republicans, unable to or incapable of defending freedom and capitalism, have "me-tooed" themselves into political oblivion. Trounced and shellacked by the Democrats in both the presidential and congressional elections, they have been reduced to mumbling amongst themselves and wondering what happened. Well-deserved, all of it: Having abandoned their principles of limited government and individual autonomy, they stand for nothing to anyone; and who wants to vote for a watered-down "welfare" state when you can have the real thing straight?

Year after year, the health-care debate centers on universal coverage.

It's a laudable goal. But all too often, the single-minded focus on this objective is a distraction from achieving what most Americans really want: inexpensive, easy-to-use health insurance. As currently structured, the American system is ill-equipped to provide this.

The solution to this problem is not a government-run health-care bureaucracy. Rather, it's a private insurance system dedicated to more than just treating the sickest among us. Right now, we have a sick-care system. What we need is a health-care system.

"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." - Thomas Jefferson

As I detailed in part one of this article (see "America's Shadow Government: Part One," River Cities' Reader Issue 706, October 15-21, 2008), the next president will inherit more than a financial catastrophe when he assumes office. He will also inherit a shadow government - an authoritarian regime that is fully staffed by unelected officials, fully operational, and ready to take over the running of the country at a moment's notice.