As we continue our inexorable national slide into socialism, as our freedoms begin to slowly, but surely, be taken away, I have made the following observations (while I still can).
President Obama promised the following during the 2008 Presidential campaign:
- Fiscal responsibility/no new earmarks. Apparently someone has forgotten to tell him about the 8,500 earmarks in the current omnibus spending bill and the projected $1.9 trillion (that’s trillion with a “t”) budget deficit.
- Bi-partisanship. I’m not sure what that looks like, but I’m sure the Republicans don’t feel like anyone is listening to them and addressing their concerns right now (other than Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins).
- Economic growth. After less than two months in office, my retirement plan can’t take much more of President Obama’s “economic growth”.
The markets are nervous, and it reflects in current stock market indices. As I write this, the Dow is up some 300 points today, but since October, when it was fairly clear that Obama would be the new President, the markets have lost approximately 40% of their values. You can’t talk about nationalizing health care, banks and whatever else happens to pop into your head without having consequences on Wall Street.
I used to think that President Obama was just naive, but after watching day after day of market losses, especially after some Presidential announcement, I’m convinced that this is no longer naivete, but a deliberate attempt to destroy people’s nest eggs and drive them toward the outstretched arms of the federal government. And then only Obama can save them from “greedy Wall Street types”.
I’ve been accused on this web site of being negative. In fact, I’m just the opposite. I’m positive that this country can outlast four years of Presidential and two years of Congressional foolishness. I’m positive that our economic engine is the greatest in the world, that Americans do more for the rest of the world through their voluntary generosity than the rest of the world combined, and it’s only through the strength of capitalism that this can happen. It’s only the people with means that can contribute to charities and create jobs. Raising their taxes will only choke the engine, thereby ensuring a downward spiral, but then again, only our newly-elected Messiah will be able to lead us out of it. It’s very ingenious. First create the problem, then solve it, and in the process become the Savior of America.
I’ve been accused of disliking Obama because he’s a Democrat. In truth, I dislike him because of his liberal policies. Liberalism is a failed agenda. It has never worked. Extreme liberalism is socialism, and there is not one socialist country that ever became a beacon of light to anyone but Sean Penn. I don’t favor liberal Republicans either, and I do support conservative Democrats. You see, in my youth I was a liberal Democrat. But then I began to study and apply history and economics, threw in a little theology and as my interests grew, I realized my flawed thinking and gradually became a Conservative.
This website is called The Conservative Reader for a reason. It’s not that the term “Liberal Reader” is an oxymoron. It’s just that if liberals read widely and variedly enough, employed critical thinking skills and began to connect the dots, that they would no longer be liberals, but deep-thinking conservatives. Liberalism is the politics of emotions, while Conservatism is the politics of logic. It’s not that Conservatives don’t care and are not compassionate–they care deeply about their fellow man–they just don’t allow their emotions to override their intellect, and they realize that everything has a consequence.
Which brings me back to Obama, Pelosi and Reid (and by default, Frank and Dodd). Our country is never well-served when one party, either Democrat or Republican, holds power in Washington. The triumvirate is making all the classic mistakes and their arrogance is beginning to drain the American populace. Outrage is starting to break out. We get another shot at the House in less than two years, and one-third of the Senate. It will be interesting to see just how amenable the President is when he actually has to work with those he disagrees with politically. It might actually be fun, for a change.