It is over. The candy has all been given out, and the costumes are stored carefully away. Another Halloween has come and gone.

The horror is still very much present.

While enjoying what I can only hope will become an annual Halloween screening of one of my favorite films featuring the talents of the living dead, I was struck by the similar circumstances faced by the film's protagonist, and the would be activist against liberalism in America.

Think about it. One must face down rabid hordes of mindless bodies, propelled by the dark forces to tear from him their pounds of flesh. The other has to fight zombies. It is six of one, and a half dozen of the other as to which one is more treacherous. But there are a few simple rules that can increase the odds of success for either.

#1 - Act Quickly

There is a point early on in every crypto-socialist movement or undead infestation where decisive action by a knowledgeable few can prevent a full blown outbreak. As soon as the threat is confirmed an all out effort must be made to contain the spread, and end the epidemic before it starts.

#2 - Never Fight Alone

The greatest danger is finding yourself outnumbered. It is critical that you find like minded people to band together with, and share in each others' battles, to increase individual odds of success.

#3 - Do Not Over Extend Yourself

It is vital that you understand your available resources and skill set in relation to that of the enemy. You do not want to be forced into a battle which you cannot win by being caught out in the open. When possible, pick the time and the place of the battle to favor your strengths.

#4 - Do Not Humanize Them

Do not wonder who they are, or how it all happened to them. They may once have been your friend, co-worker or even your family. That is all over now, they cannot be reasoned with. Show no mercy.

#5 - Aim For The Head

Damaging other portions will slow it down at best. In order to stop them cold, you have to get to the brains and take them out of the equation. Do not stop until you are sure they are finished.

Sticking to these few principles, fighting with your head instead of your heart, you still may not win against Obama-zombies or regular ones. But you'll have a chance.

The world’s wealthiest man, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, has a simple message for bureaucrats and philanthropists about poverty.

Charity does not solve anything.

“The only way to fight poverty is with employment,” he said “Trillions of dollars have been given to charity in the last 50 years, and they don’t solve anything.”

This is one truth about poverty that the left is willfully blind to. They celebrate the working poor, bemoan their plight, and heap entitlements upon them with every election cycle. But they do not actually work to reduce poverty in America.

Instead they encourage poverty by subsidizing it. They placate the underclass by giving them just enough to keep them from becoming so uncomfortable in poverty that they seek to better their situation. They are kept firmly dependent on the state, and voting for the Democrat's from whose hands they are fed.

Do you think I am exaggerating? Welfare spending has grown more rapidly than any other expenditure in the federal budget. Faster than education, defense, Medicare or Social Security. Even after adjusting for inflation, welfare spending is 13 times higher today than in 1965. Yet despite 45 years of ever increasing entitlement spending, the poverty rate has remained virtually unchanged. In 1969 it was 12.1 percent, and in 2007 it was 12.5 percent.

Nothing is more important to raising standards of living and alleviating poverty, than private sector job creation. That is something the Obama regime is blatantly hostile toward. It has done everything it can to demonize wealthy entrepreneurs and thwart them with high taxes and excessive regulation. You just cannot create jobs when the federal government is out to get you.

We must encourage capital investment and the activities that create jobs, by creating an environment friendly to risk and wealth creation. That means lower taxes, less regulation, and fewer entitlements to get people off of the dole and back into the labor force.

Washington bureaucrats make a habit of winning elections by taking the productivity of hardworking Americans, and awarding it to unproductive special interest groups.

In this case, seniors.

Friday's announcement by the Social Security Administration that recipients would not receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2011 sparked immediate outcry from the White House, and speaker Nancy Pelosi. Now the top Democrats are asking for another "one time" $250 payment to seniors. Besides the obvious contradiction in language, there is just one problem with that.

The cost of living has not increased.

The COLA on Social Security benefits is legally tied to inflation. This rule was created specifically to ensure elected officials could not engender electoral support by arbitrarily raising benefits in an election year. The rate of inflation year to date is 1.1 percent, well below the level accounted for in the 2009 COLA. What Democrats are proposing is a clear violation of the spirit of the COLA restriction, at a cost of $14 billion dollars that seniors' children and grandchildren will be forced to pay back with interest.

Entitlements like Medicare and Social Security are growing to consume an ever larger portion of the federal budget, adding to the deficit, and creating a debt crisis in America. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cost of Obamacare, and these entitlements will drive the public debt to $123 trillion over the next 40 years. As young workers are increasingly forced to subsidize older workers and retirees, their own ability to plan and save for their retirement is being destroyed.

Is this the legacy that seniors want to leave behind them?

The Obama regime's midterm election strategy is in full swing, and pandering to wealth envy by attacking the United States Chamber of Commerce.

“Just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations,”

Obama made those remarks last Thursday at a rally in Maryland, the implication being that the Chamber acts as a funnel to pour foreign money into the American electoral process. This from a man who achieved our nation's highest office on the strength of international billionaire George Soros' fortune.

The regime is trying to goad the Chamber into revealing its donors, and open them up to harassment and intimidation by leftist hit groups like ACORN and SEIU. Obama crony David Axelrod hit the Sunday talk circuit last weekend to drive the point home, making an argument to ignorance that if the Chamber refuses to open its records it is admitting guilt. They must not offer instruction in common logical fallacies in the University of Chicago's political science program.

The irony of it is, the Chamber of Commerce is not exactly a small government advocacy group. They are more than happy to have government interfere in the economy when it comes in the form of protectionist regulations and trade policies. They even campaigned for TARP, and the stimulus program. How could the Obama regime not like them?

Because they are standing up for the people the left intends to soak.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce represents more than 3 million business of all sizes, and 96 percent of its members are small businesses, with less than 100 employees. The group that would be hurt the most if the Obama tax hikes are implemented. About 39 percent of a proposed $630 billion 2011 tax increase on top earners, would come from business owner's income.

Our economy needs to create 20 million jobs over the next decade, just to get back on track. Adding an additional $246 billion in taxes on business at the same time is not going to help that. Follow the Chamber's example, and petition Congress to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent.