by Sanford Aranoff

Created on: July 17, 2009   Last Updated: July 19, 2009

For many centuries, bloodletting was an acceptable medical practice. World leaders and medical doctors endorsed this practice as a means of helping sick people recover from their illnesses and to resume normal lives. When it did not work, they often recommended a second bloodletting procedure. If the patient died, they said that the ways of the Lord are mysterious; we must pray and have faith.

Why did doctors practice this evil nonsense for so very long? Well, not knowing how to treat illnesses, they wanted to demonstrate active acts of compassion. This satisfied patients, helping the doctors keep their businesses running with steady income streams.

I was once a software developer for Grumman with Secret clearance, working on the JSTARS project, critical for the Iraq war. When I started, I looked at the computer code written by my predecessor. It contained errors in high school trig. I asked my manager how this passed the government inspection. He replied that the inspectors were government employees who wished to keep their jobs. By ignoring faults, they insured their steady employment. This is the real reason for our failures in Iraq, not, as many say, Bush's fault.

Obama's stimulus program is exactly bloodletting. It is total nonsense, in spite of the many great people supporting it. Now that months have passed with the economy getting worse, we hear talk about a second stimulus. There is no rational basis for it. It runs contrary to the basic principles of our country, USA.

Why not try what we know works - individual actions without the government? Car companies in trouble? Suspend environmental standards for a year. Hiring in trouble? Suspend payroll taxes for a year. Health insurance not working as we wish? Make all insurance tax deductible, not only employer insurance, for a year, eliminate mandates and state differences. Too much carbon dioxide? Have study groups to persuade people and nations, without using government force.

Stimulus money never worked anywhere, at any time. Individual actions do work. They worked building our country from the beginning. When we discuss stimulus money, we do not care what human experience has actually verified. What matters is our beliefs. If Professor Krugman of Princeton University says we need more stimulus money, then we need more stimulus money, in a fashion similar to the great medieval doctors saying people need more bloodletting. If Professor Dershowitz of Harvard University says Obama is acting properly, then Obama is acting properly. We must all have faith in our great leaders, without thinking for ourselves.

Learn more about this author, Sanford Aranoff.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.