Obama - Awakening a Sleeping Giant

Sir Francis Bacon, the great English philosopher, scientist, lawyer, and statesmen once said “if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts.” This may ring true for the Obama Administration and many of Obama’s staunchest supporters, as Obama’s presidency has quickly hit turbulent waters after having cruised easily through the election with well-trimmed sails and a nicely set rudder.

On the other side of the political spectrum, people have accused Obama of enormous hubris and sarcastically referenced his status as a messiah of sorts: The One. After all, Obama had a plan to “remake America” and “spread the wealth around” – much to the disdain of the many Joe the Plumbers across the nation, yet to the delight of the academic elite parading within Obama’s circles. What with Democratic control in the House and the Senate – and not just Democrats, but very liberal Democrats in the best political position – this administration would prove to be a sure thing, with a certain outcome. Right?

Historically, Democrats have cornered the market on grass-roots activism to support their principal causes and have garnered attention for their most fringe ones as well, and their activism is something that Democratic political leaders could always rely upon. (Working in Manhattan I have on many occasions throughout the years had to step through throngs of people hailing for Bush’s arrest and for stopping the war in Iraq, and of PETA activists informing me that meat is murder.) For the most part, save for the occasional anti-abortion protests, conservatives are not activists. At least until now.

Earlier this year, in the wake of frustration with bailout funds, stimulus plans, and talk of tax increases on “wealthy” Americans, we saw numerous tax protests across the country. While tax protests are normally reserved for Libertarians, we witnessed many mainstream conservatives participate in these “tea parties,” each an obvious tip-of-the-hat to the Boston Tea Party, a precursor to “the shot heard ‘round the world.” The rage now is for conservatives to confront legislators at town hall meetings to protest Obamacare, rejecting any form of socialized medicine, capturing news headlines across the country. Recently a thirty-five year old stay-at-home mom, Katy Abram, confronted Senator Arlen Specter, challenging him in a voice quivering with her nervousness to tell her what he was going to do to restore America to an America consistent with the vision of its founding fathers. Mrs. Abrams claimed no involvement in politics, but warned Specter that he had “awakened a sleeping giant!” There must be millions more like her, rising up (or on the verge of) in protest, who like America the way it is… or perhaps was.

Politicians are ill-prepared for conservative activism; after all, it is so new. They have tried denial, claiming it is “fake” activism, organized by lobbyists – i.e. “Astroturf,” according to Nancy Pelosi, as opposed to truly grass-roots. They have lashed out at these town hall protestors, referring to them as “un-American,” “brown shirts,” “nazi-like” in their tactics. But however one chooses to view these tactics, they are tried and true, and straight from the playbooks liberals have used for decades. This is a medicine, formerly their own, and I wonder how it tastes to them now.

Conservatives appear to be enjoying their new voice. But by nature, with their general disdain for government, conservatives are less vocal, and we all know that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Well, conservatives are squeaking like never before. I believe that most conservatives generally want to just go about their business, left alone, and want little from their government. Likewise, they want the government to stay out of their lives so they can enjoy the freedom and opportunity afforded by our country. They believe that America is special, and it should stay that way – that it should reject transnational overtures by groups such as the United Nations, who might suggest that the United States should do things “like everybody else.”

Perhaps conservatives have been pushed too far, to the detriment of those doing the pushing. There is an economic theory about taxation – the Laffer Curve – which suggests that there is a tax rate that when exceeded actually lowers tax revenue, perhaps as incentives to earn marginal income get taxed away, or increasing tax rates cause marginal income to more likely be deferred or sheltered. Maybe there is a similar curve, more social in orientation, whereby the conservatives’ tolerance to liberal ideology is surpassed, such that the liberal cause is diminished as a whole - conservatives having been pushed to the limit such that they not only reject but push back as well. I believe we may very well be at that point now.

Taking the healthcare issue, for instance, I have always accepted the status quo, and recognized healthcare insurance as an important part of my well being. Until recently, when I purchased my own health plan directly, I had always received and paid for health insurance through my employer. When confronted with taking my own position on Obamacare, which contemplates mandating employers either provide healthcare insurance or face penalties, I began to question why employers provide healthcare insurance in the first place –something I had never even thought about or questioned before.

Imagine the first company that provided access to health insurance as a benefit for its employees. What a novelty that must have been! And now, presumably decades later, what once was a novelty is now being codified into law? I would wager that more households have electricity, cable TV, and cell phones than an individual with a job. Why isn’t healthcare offered through these providers instead of employers? Where did this link between medical care and employment that we take for granted - as sure as gravity - come from? So now I am to the point of questioning the regulation of any employer benefit, and we have Obamacare to thank for that.

I tell you this to highlight the fact that new conservatives are born everyday – people that don’t even realize they are conservative because they’ve never had to think much about the issues. Sure, most people have taken a position on abortion, but that is no longer the conservative/liberal, Republican/Democrat litmus test.

Most of us accept that the feel-good ideology of the Democrat’s liberal base has always conflicted with the realistic pragmatism of conservative Republicans, but the centrists ultimately seemed to rule the day. This phenomenon allowed most people to find a way to live in comfort with political discourse, even to largely ignore it if they chose, and they were never too fearful of either the extreme right or their extreme left getting their way. But there is a new sheriff in town, from the left, unlike any we have ever seen, and his posse is like-minded. Talk of tax increases, fear of healthcare reform as a stepping stone to a single-payer system, gun control, legislating pay in the private sector, activist Supreme Court justices, big deficits, bigger role of government – some heavy stuff. Conservatives can no longer leave “their side” of the political discourse to Rush and the Fox network, not taking their part in it because they are too busy working, and well, taxes aren’t that bad. The Obama Administration has taken these issues to their doorsteps and knocked loudly. The sleeping giant is rubbing his eyes, waking up, and about to start stomping – who knew? - putting some doubt in the “certainty” of Obama.

Obama - It's All America's Fault

Obama recently added dates for his "American Apology Tour" and completed another visit to Mexico. It seems that, in Obama's opinion, America's freedom is to blame for Mexico's drug wars. He said that the U.S. owns the responsibility of stopping American guns from getting in the hands of Mexican mobsters. He lamented the fact that the recent ruling by our Supreme Court regarding the second amendment would make it harder to reinstate the Clinton-era Assault Weapons ban. Obama had already apologetically noted that he had no authority to overturn the Supreme Court's ruling. Duh! To even utter such a thought is disturbing to say the least. But in light of all of this, Obama has ordered more checkpoints to stop the flow of guns heading South.

NOW WAIT A MINUTE! If the U.S. is responsible for preventing the flow of guns to the South, shouldn't Mexico be held responible for another flow... a Northward flow? Yes, the flow of illegal aliens from Mexico to the United States? It seems Obama is more concerned about guns LEAVING our country than illegal aliens ENTERING our country. Perhaps the $1.4 billion we have earmarked to give to Mexico to help them stop their drug wars could be used instead to beef up border patrol to stop illegal immigration!

I will do a little rudimentary math. Suppose that $1.4 billion were invested to earn as little as 6%. That would mean the $1.4 billion could endow $84 million a year of expenditures. Now the US-Mexico border is about 2,000 miles. That means you could have patrols every 2 miles of the border and have $84,000 per year to pay each agents salary. That could provide a great wage in South Texas! And this new force would be IN ADDITION to what is already in place.

My point ultimately is that here is just another example of where Obama just gets it all wrong. He is out apologizing for our freedom, while failing to address the real problems of the American people. He is our president, NOT Mexico's.

Demand representation! Stop the insanity!

Free Speech Not So Free Under Obama

Please allow me to start with a little something found in our constitution; in fact, its first amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A lot of people are up in arms about Obama's so-called "healthcare reform," and rightfully so. Many are very concerned about the government getting increasingly involved in something as private, and as near and dear to us, as our healthcare - whether that is how we get it or how we pay for it. As such, many Americans have called and written their representatives and confronted them at town hall meetings across the country - thus they "petition the government for a redress of grievances" about this matter, a matter of no small significance both fiscally and idealogically. What a country! Right?

It appears that the Obama administration is uncomfortable with Americans exercising this freedom. (God forbid anyone suggest that Obama keeps the change!) The White House blog now offers a special email address (flash@whitehouse.gov) encouraging citizens to alert the administration to anyone providing "fishy" information about healthcare overhaul. The idea of a partisan-controlled government collecting information from certain citizens about certain other dissenting citizens and potentially investigating their exercise of free speech makes me downright nauseous. And so much for Obama being a great uniter! Maybe Obama is trying to identify the socialists versus the non-socialists in America.

Congressman Brian Bair, seemingly offended by Americans exercising free speech at his town hall meetings, has referred to these dissenters as being like Nazis and "brown shirts." You see, this is another example of how liberals in our government want to demonize Americans who support independence and freedom. They view these people as a threat to change, and the change they seek is an America to become a socialist nation, a withered has-been like so many countries in Europe. Now I have already outed Janet Napolitano in an earlier writing how Homeland Security has tried to demonize right-wing Americans as potential "extremist terrorists." And this administration has also demonized Wall St. and painted anyone pursuing material success in America as greedy. But who's really intimidating here? Hecklers protesting at a town hall meeting or a government gathering information on its citizens?

Please help fight the insanity! Don't fight change, fight this change. Don't let our government turn our nation into a bankrupt, socialist disaster!

Obama Administration - "Tax as you Go, Say it isn't So"

We have heard over and over about tax increases and surcharges for the "wealthiest Americans" to pay for our rampant government spending and for Obamacare. The term "wealthiest Americans" is ill-defined, at best, and has been tagged for those with incomes of anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 per year. But for middle-class Americans, Obama had pledged that "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime"... at least until now! The deficit is soaring, and after throwning in Obamacare, our modern messiah and his disciples have realized they don't have enough wealthy Americans to tax. So now there is talk of tax increases for the middle class too. Why am I not surprised?

This is a "play it by ear" administration that throws money at problems with little thought: for instance $1 billion for cash for clunkers didn't seem to last a week, and now maybe another $2 billion is up for grabs. For Obamacare the stakes are a little higher: a trillion a year for it, maybe two. In Obama's field of dreams, "build it and they'll be taxed" is the mantra of the day, and this will eventually doom his administration, our economy, or both.

Just say NO. Call and write your representatives. Let them know you have had enough!

Taking hard-earned income from one person and giving it to others, you know, "spreading it around." This is all just very un-American to me.