Sen. Olympia Snowe was recently observed on a local television news program bemoaning the cancellation of a second scallop season for Maine fishermen. According to Sen. Snowe, this was a purely arbitrary decision that would be very hurtful to Maine fishermen. No kidding!

There are whole villages in Nova Scotia who now subsist on welfare because of over-regulation of the fishing industry by the Canadian government. It now appears that our Maine fishermen are facing the same fate as more and more of them are unable to make payments on their vessels, let alone feed their families because of ever-increasing limitations on the number of days that they can spend at sea.

I wonder where Sen. Snowe has been for the last decade as our government has slowly, but surely been ursuping the freedom to earn a living here in the United States? She appears happy to engage in bi-partisanship with her Democratic pals in government as they and the unions and the bureaucrats continue to mount an assault on free enterprise in America with a barrage of legal and regulatory activity that has affected and will continue to contribute to the decline of our economy.

The government is now heavily engaged in overseeing the banking and automotive industries, overlooking the fact that it has been many of their meddling policies that have caused deterioration in those businesses. The so-called "stimulus bills" will provide the government with more opportunity to cause chaos in the construction and materials industries while moving to "help" cash-strapped state governments by providing pork-laden projects that supposedly will put the unemployed back to work.

America's economy is getting a much better boost from the precipitous drop in oil prices, which also is providing the added benefit of curtailing the activities of some of our more hostile adversaries such as Hugo Chavez, Valadimir Putin and the President of Iran

Can anyone seriously accept the premise that providing funding for infrastructure projects to be completed by a few favored government contractors somewhere far in the future (there really is no such thing as "shovel-ready projects") and benefiting mainly politicians and their cronies rather than improving the economic picture for the average citizen?

Or, how about House Speaker Pelosi insisting upon millions of dollars for "increased access to contraceptives" being included in the latest "stimulus" fiasco?

These boondoggles typify the concept of "central planning" (the ruinous belief that only the government can guide and manage economic activity). This philosophy, that the state must own the central role in controlling the economy, has proven a failure time and again if one evaluates the economic standing of the nations who have chosen this path.

Such policies require the transfer of funds from and denial of freedom to productive members of society, insisting that responsible individuals sacrifice so that the needs of the less responsible will be met.

"An economic recovery plan should help the private sector grow and create jobs, rather than expanding government at the expense of working families and small businesses" (from a recent letter sent by House Republican leaders to President Obama)

The explosion of trillions of dollars in deficit spending is only one of the byproducts of the uncontrolled expansion of government power.

Life under socialism also breeds poverty and oppression.

And it certainly won't do much for the livelihood and independence of Maine fishermen and their families. Just ask our northern neighbors in Nova Scotia.

E-mail this entry to a friend