A year ago, President Obama jetted off to Solyndra’s California headquarters to sing its praises and tout other green energy companies his stimulus bill was funding. “The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra,” he said. This was part of the justification for giving the solar panel company a whopping $535 million in loans. Vice President Joe Biden also promoted the loans, saying, “These jobs are gonna be permanent jobs. These are the jobs of the future. These are the green jobs. These are the jobs that won’t be exported.”

A year later, Solyndra has gone bankrupt, 1,100 workers have lost their jobs, and the FBI is investigating the half-billion dollar bust.

Solyndra proves President Obama’s investment strategy doesn’t work. Venture socialism never will. Making investments based on political goals, not competitive merit is an outdated European notion—not a successful American one.

The Obama Administration’s decisions to favor companies like Solyndra, while targeting thriving job-creators like The Boeing Company and Gibson Guitar is not only unfair, it demonstrates sheer ignorance of economic principles that have made America the most prosperous country in the history of the world.

As USA Today editorialized, “Even if Solyndra’s collapse is nothing more than good intentions gone awry — a big if — it is a cautionary tale about why government should be extremely wary about betting tax dollars on specific companies. If there’s one thing the marketplace virtually always does better than government, it’s picking individual successes in an uncertain and highly competitive business. In fact, government involvement can unfairly tilt the playing field toward one company and away from competitors.”

“Extremely wary” the president is not. The White House is defending the Solyndra loan by calling it a “high-risk, high-reward” venture and asking for even more money to hand out to favored companies and causes. Obama is now demanding that Congress pass a $450 billion bill that, if made law would create a permanent National Infrastructure Bank to fund future Solyndras of the world.

The Obama Administration shouldn’t be given another chance to attempt to pick winners and losers in the market. The government should not be permitted to micromanage the economy and decide what industries will thrive or perish. The only economic system that works is one based on free people making free decisions. Venture socialism will never produce the success that free-market capitalism has. Solyndra is proof.

fyi: our pharmacists are armed too!

It’s a little awkward to participate in religious programs as an elected official because I haven’t quite figured out how to be bold in my faith without giving people the impression that I’m a pandering politician. I guess in politics you can’t ever avoid that, but I make every attempt to be genuinely sincere. I was asked to pray in Sunday’s 9/11 remembrance “Cry Out”. Many thanks to Leslie White for the honor of getting an invitation to participate. Here’s what I was lead to say:

Heavenly Father, We thank you for your outpouring of blessings to the great state of South Carolina. We ask for wisdom, humility, and guidance for those of us in the legislature, those in the courts, and for those that serve in the executive branches of government. We thank you for our sons and daughters in uniform in the military, law enforcement, fire protection and other areas of public safety. They have chosen to put themselves in harms way to protect our freedom. Many have paid the ultimate sacrifice for us and we are grateful.

We ask that you bless the families that have lost loved ones on this day 10 years ago as our nation was under hostile attack. Please help us to show them your love and comfort whenever possible.

Father we thank you for the ultimate first responder, your son Jesus Christ. Who, being the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and image of all creation, he chose to leave his glorious throne and place himself as a sacrifice for our sins. We ask that you assist us in reflecting Jesus Christ in all we say and do with sincerity and humility. In His name we pray, Amen.

With each vote cast in Congress, freedom either advances or recedes. Heritage Action’s new legislative scorecard allows Americans to see whether their Members of Congress are fighting for freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society. The scorecard is comprehensive, covering the full spectrum of conservatism, and includes legislative action on issues both large and small.
Heritage Action’s legislative scorecard isn’t graded on a curve – it is tough and we don’t apologize. After all, we are conservatives, not tenured university professors.

click here to see the scorecard

In a post Obama speech recap, the Hill made an excellent point.

Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) stood to applaud heartily after Obama said:

“Some of you sincerely believe that the only solution to our economic challenges is to simply cut most government spending and eliminate government regulations.”

Mr. President if you would practice this simple concept, we may crawl out of this hole.

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