I am still pondering all the implications of an Obama presidency, coupled with a Democrat majority in Congress. I try to be optimistic and think that things won't be so bad and we'll get through this and be a stronger country for it. It is, however, very difficult to hold on to that viewpoint for very long.
Although Obama, assisted by the mainstream media, tried to keep the American people in the dark as to his real plans for America, enough information slipped out to cause serious concerns for those who care about our country and its Constitution. One issue is Obama's association with radical leftists. Whether we are talking about William Ayers or Rev. Jeremiah Wright or the others whose names you've seen here and there, we are talking about people who hate America and all she stands for. And we're going to let these people run the country?! Where are Obama's more moderate friends? Did he not have any? Let's face it--friends and associates and allies shape one's outlook a great deal.
Another issue is economics. Obama is definitely a taxer and a spender. He has plans for spending a trillion dollars of our (the taxpayers) money on various programs that have as their ultimate objective redistributing wealth. What Obama doesn't understand is that when there are wealthy people, those people invest, start businesses, and otherwise use their money to strengthen the economy and create jobs for others. The left doesn't seem to understand the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. The former is good and right and lets everyone have a chance. The latter is bad and wrong and punishes success while rewarding failure (often brought about by laziness). This applies in all issues, not just economic ones.
There are also issues of life. Obama is one of the most radical supporters of abortion in existence. He not only supports early-term abortion, but also late-term abortion, partial-birth abortion, and allowing babies who survive abortion to die alone without any care at all.
President Ronald Reagan said that government isn't the solution, but rather the problem. Yet Obama supports big government to an extent not before seen. He thinks government should rule every aspect of our lives--what we eat, the media available to us, how our children will be educated and at what age, our religious lives (or lack thereof), what transportation we can use, what products we can purchase (are they "green" enough?), etc.
Another issue is energy. Obama has sent signals that he wants to reinstitute bans on drilling, building coal plants and nuclear plants, and other necessary items that will allow America to become energy independent (at least as much as possible) and keep energy available while the various other energy sources (wind, solar, etc.) are developed and experimented with to see if they can become viable (they are not viable now) replacements for fossil fuels.
There are national security issues. Obama thinks he can talk our enemies into being our friends. He seems very concerned with dismantling our military as much as possible. Common sense says that a strong military is the best advocate for peace, but Obama would take that away from us. He wants to prevent our military personnel from being able to do their jobs fully and freely--something that is necessary for success. There has also been talk of his wanting to create some sort of civilian force, ostensibly to do community service, but how long before they would become enforcers of politically correct behavior in ordinary citizens? Obama wants them to be as well-funded as the military is now. What will that mean?
Obama seems to have some dreamy idea of utopia. This is not grounded in reality. If he studied history and economics, he would soon see the massive failures that ideas like his have inflicted on people in the past. Obama also seems to have the idea that once he is inaugurated, he will be the absolute ruler, that everyone will do whatever he wants them to do. If they don't, he thinks he will be justified in suppressing them and silencing their voices. He has already tried this during the campaign.
At his inauguration, Obama will take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. He has already taken this oath when he has been sworn in to the public offices he has held to this point. He has done nothing to show me that he has any intention of taking this oath seriously. He has, in fact, stated that he wants to break free of the restraints put on us by the Founders in the Constitution. This is not the type of person who should be President (or a Senator, for that matter).
This all sounds extreme, but it is not my opinions that are extreme. It is Obama who is extreme.
So how did this man get elected? I suppose his charisma had something to do with it, although as the campaign progressed and he had to do interviews and not just give teleprompted speeches, it became clear that he was not a particularly good speaker without a prepared text and no interruptions for questions or comments. Frankly, I think a good part of the problem has come from education--from the public schools to colleges and universities. These sources of education have steadily drifted to the left, embracing baseless self-esteem and teaching tolerance of all things leftist--socialism, Marxism, communism, secularism, multiculturalism, and any other -ism you can think of (as long as it is a leftist -ism). Now we have a population who doesn't know much accurate history or civics and has had it drummed into their minds that there is nothing wrong with those leftist -isms. So when anyone tried to warn of Obama's socialist tendencies, they were greeted with a collective yawn and a "So what?"
The left has also been waging a battle for a long time now to eliminate religion from the public square. When religion goes, so do morals and common sense and the realization that there is right and wrong, good and evil. Everything is relative, according to these secular leftists. They have also been fighting free speech, defined by them as anything said that doesn't agree with their views. They are all for free speech and tolerance as long as it supports leftist views. If it disagrees, it has to go. For one example, take Prop 8 in California. It passed and its opponents are acting in very ugly ways. They are also being quite dramatic in discussing their pain at the defeat of Prop 8, but let one person try to inject a little reason into the conversation and the left shouts them down and accuses them of bigotry and hate. If Prop 8 had been defeated, you'd better believe the left would be gloating and would be quite hateful toward anyone who expressed even a little sorrow at its defeat. Yet said leftists don't even seem to be aware of their hypocrisy--they are too busy denouncing those who disagree with them to stop and consider their own viewpoints and those of others and think about whether they might be wrong. Nor can they seem to understand that some things are just plain wrong, no matter how sugar-coated they might be. Those on the left do not seem capable of debating the actual issues. They seem only capable of shouting down the opposition with name-calling.
For too long now, America has been dumbed down. Even those whose values and beliefs are conservative are gullible to the leftist propaganda. Many do not have the discipline or even the interest in educating themselves to correct what they learned in school or see in the mainstream media. Many have just bought into whatever they have been told. To be fair, I believe a lot of ordinary citizens who buy into leftist propaganda are well-meaning people who want to be fair and compassionate toward others. I just think that they aren't thinking the issues through and seeing the problems that will arise down the road.
The whole situation we are in makes me sad and a little frightened. Yes, we have survived many hard times before, but it hasn't been easy, and we were a stronger people then. Are we strong enough now to understand what is right and what is wrong and to fight for the right? Certainly, there are individuals who are strong enough, but are we, collectively, strong enough? I hope so, but I'm not sure. It just seems that there are many people who either don't think at all or at least don't think for themselves--they just buy into whatever the intellectual elite says they must think. This is so ironic because one thing leftists accuse conservatives of is marching in lockstep with their leaders. Yet it is leftists who are the real conformists. It is leftists who would squelch freedom and liberty.
Conservatives are not perfect. Still, conservatives recognize that there is such a thing as good and evil, right and wrong. They recognize that equality of opportunity is not the same thing as equality of outcome. The former can and should be supported, the latter should not be. Conservatives tend to be interested in thinking through the issues. Conservatives tend to be more mature in their outlook on life, recognizing that good needs to be fought for, defended, even sacrificed for. They recognize that life is not easy and it is not about getting whatever we want to satisfy our selfish desires. It is about caring for and about others and being of service and allowing others to be free, as well as themselves. Conservatives are not afraid of change. They just believe in considering the changes carefully and don't get caught up in thinking that change for its own sake is a good thing.
I have not linked to articles supporting my opinions in this post. I have been doing that repeatedly in previous posts. This post is just to express my concerns and the concerns of many other Americans as we face some potentially disasterous changes in our way of life, and to give my readers some things to consider.
Labels: Constitution, economics, education, energy, freedom, government, media, national security, personal reflection, politics, values
