For anyone saying “this is not what I voted for”, you obviously were not paying attention during the campaign.
And all of the right wing talkers lamenting about Obama’s naïveté and his “doomed to fail” policies, well, I suppose you all have to say something.
The fact of the matter is that Obama is a left wing liberal. It’s his ideology, and he has not swayed from it. He has no reason to. He’s holding the cards, he has the power, and he’s using it to transform the United States into what he believes it should be.
The expansion of government, “soft power” foreign policy, intrusion into private business, the “we’re not so great” and “it’s our fault, but hey, it’s not me” stance towards the rest of the world, and soon government run health care, all come directly from the left wing playbook.
They believe that they are right. They hold the power. There is nothing at all naïve about it.
And to top it all off, the former administration paved the way with their giant growth of government and run away spending.
ON THE “TEA PARTIES”
I constantly find myself surrounded by left wing liberal ideologues. Just like any ideologue, no amount of argument, information, or facts can ever change their minds. It only strengthens their resolve.
I have found over years of this exposure that the best policy is simply to grin and nod.
So last week, when I was enduring the condescending looks , dismissive attitude, and the CNN like questions such as “I don’t understand what they are mad about” (ie-they must all be racists or lunatics) a thought did occur to me.
Most people in this country are not ideologues, and will listen to a good argument. The problem with the “Tea Parties” is that right now, the message is rather amorphous. Also, most people have in fact not seen their taxes go up, and politicians have become adept at using terminology and tactics that hide what amounts to tax increases.
Taxes are not the main issue; they are a symptom, a canary in the coal mine, of what the problem really is.
We should be holding “Constitutional Conventions”. What is really at stake, and what should be the main topic of discussion, is the limits that the constitution places on government, and how all the branches of our government have circumvented, knowingly misinterpreted, and just plain violated these limits.
They are all guilty, republican and democrat alike. In the name of public safety, rescuing a failing economy, fixing education, fixing health care, they have spent years accumulating power over “the people”. It becomes institutional, a goal, a way of doing business.
Some people welcome this “active” and “robust” government, seeing no other alternative. Some see this as an unacceptable intrusion into peoples lives and private enterprise.
Either way, that is the argument reasonable people should be having.
For now the people have indeed spoken with election of Barack Obama and the ousting of the republicans from the house and senate. Whether this is a reaction to 8 years of Bush and the neo-cons, or a true move to the left, remains to be seen.
Jefferson was absolutely correct in his belief that “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” We are living it right now, and have been for quite some time.
We must decide if this is an acceptable course or not.
But first, maybe everyone should take a look at what Jefferson had to say about limits on government power.