IN OVER HIS HEAD
   
Contact Craig R. Smith
 

2009-07-20

It was a novel idea. Hire a young, energetic 47-year-old man offering a message of hope and change – a hip, cool cat with a swagger in his step and power in his oration and a man with a clear vision to change America.

It all sounded good.

But now that 1,000-page bills are being passed without being read, those that give us cap and trade and an entirely new government-based health care system, people are getting a bit nervous.

This "one party rule system" is starting to frighten me. Mr. Obama wants, Congress gives and the American people are handed the bill. Forget about asking Americans if they want what they are paying for, they are going to get it anyway. Because one man, Barack Obama, wants it and that is all it takes.

Where is the honest debate? The transparency promised during the campaign is masked by the 31 czars who now make up a bureaucracy that determine business survival or termination. Cabinet secretaries who are now mired down with as many as seven czars who assist them in making these decisions.

What happened to the assurance that opinions from both sides of the aisle would be welcomed when addressing the long-term challenges affecting us all? The promise of the best ideas being considered regardless of the source's political affiliation.

Do we really want a country where government takes care of our every need? Is that what liberty looks like to the average person? I always thought liberty allowed for people to succeed or fail depending on effort and sacrifice. In the United States of Obama, everyone wins. Everyone's needs are met. Filet mignon, not chicken, is now in every pot.

Is that really freedom – or is it a form of slavery?

I have learned in my 55 years of life on planet Earth that life is not always fair. Pain, challenge and struggle are a very important part of the human experience. Struggle produces strength and without it, people become weak. Pain creates patience and character. Challenge allows the human spirit to achieve far beyond what we thought was possible. Yet our current leadership wants nobody to suffer. Personal lack is unacceptable to Mr. Obama and Ms. Pelosi.

So whether it is your health, shelter, food, job or environment, the Democrats are going to make sure that you get everything you not only need, but want. But who is going to pay for it? In the end, we all pay for it with a loss of liberty and freedom.

Am I the only person in America who thinks our leaders are losing their minds?

This week we heard a future Supreme Court justice refuse to affirm that the Second Amendment is the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. And when challenged on the application of the 14th Amendment affirming that right, she danced around the question. So something as black and white as the Second amendment is not fundamental; however, the Fourth Amendment, that makes no mention of abortion, provides a woman the right to terminate the heart beat of a living being.

This woman – who claims she can make a better decision being a Hispanic female – is going to be confirmed regardless of her inconstancies and bigotries. Why? Because Mr. Obama wants her. How many times this week were you reminded, "elections have consequences"?

Consequences usher a country in a new direction – a direction similar to the one America was headed after the election of young man with great charisma and charm in 1992. Mr. Clinton sat in the White House with an aggressive agenda for the country. By the mid-term election of 1994, Americans were concerned. They went to the polls with those concerns and voted for a majority of Republicans, along with Newt Gingrich, and a "Contract for America."

Within a few short years, a Republican-led Congress passed welfare reform and a balanced budget, dragging the president kicking and screaming to sign both into law. While the media would love to give Mr. Clinton all the credit for the Clinton years, much of that success belongs to the Congress.

With a Democrat in the White House and Republicans in Congress we achieved valuable changes that produced results for the country.

I am not suggesting it is time to give the Republicans another chance. Far from it.

What we need is a new group of politicians, preferably young people, who will agree through contract to provide what the American people demand. Less government, lower taxes and more personal responsibility for each citizen. Including the enforcement of the laws that send crooks, criminals and cheats to jail.

That Congress can be made up of members from any party. But it has to be those who will lead us, not bleed us, those who will listen, not lecture. We need leaders committed to greatness, not greed and power.

So, we started with a novel idea, but a bad idea. Mr. Obama seems like a very good and decent man who loves his country and family, but he is in over his head and all of us know it. His lack of experience is starting to cost us all. His own vice president makes statements in direct contradiction to his boss. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. We all know it. We all see it.

So before you lose heart about all you see occurring in America, have some faith in the American people. Hard-working, honest people far outnumber the deadbeats who want all the freebies. And the majority will vote in 2010 and bring back the two-party system and the reasoned thinking that come with all sides being engaged.

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