Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
My State of the Union: Summer 2008 People are tired of the politics in Washington, but are we too tired to continue this little experiment in self-governing?by R.J. Moeller
(conservative)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Here is a typical Tuesday's newscast:
John McCain pointed out that Barack Obama is wildly hypocritical about campaign finance reform. Barack Obama pointed out that John McCain has lobbyists on his staff. David Letterman and John Stewart harped on McCain's old age. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity harped on Obama's non-existent qualifications and experience for the most important job on the planet.
Rinse and repeat. (And repeat, and repeat, and repeat.)
To say that we as a nation are weary of this current presidential race is to understate the weariness one feels I imagine half-way through a live-viewing of a Jay Leno monologue on The Tonight Show. We are giving it (the race) some courtesy laughs (attention) only because we waited in line so long that we feel obliged to smile and clap at the appropriate cues.
We are lost. We have lost it. The truth is that Americans are in need of some serious soul-searching here in 2008.
We're tired of the semantics and verbal Olympics political candidates and their minions engage in to avoid tough questions, but also know we ought to care more than we do about what is going on in the country and world. Most people are not entirely happy with the status quo, but are too grateful for the blessings we have in the United States (and are equipped with enough good sense) than to be caught up in the admittedly alluring, but ultimately hollow, calls for purposely undefined "change."
Voters seem exhausted of "Right vs. Left" rhetorical battles, but are unprepared or unwilling to break out of the labels and groups they've been lumped in and have voted with for years. (Truth be told, most haven't put any intellectual elbow-grease in to figuring out why they ended up in one camp or another in the first place.)
The problems our political process has might seem to originate solely from Washington, but the truth is that you and I are the only ones to blame for the mess we are in. If it is true that a nation gets the leaders it deserves, what does the lackluster state of this current Congress alone say about John and Jane Taxpayer?
We exhibited the power last summer to shut down Amnesty for 20 million illegal immigrants by simply enough of us picking up the phone to bug our Senator or Congressmen. Collectively we are responsible for the speeches and promises we hear from politicians for the simple reason that they are doing whatever they can to reflect the sentiments they think will get them elected. Why do you think poll numbers are monitored so closely by politicians, pundits, and journalists? Everyone in state and federal government who holds elected office wants to know what you and I think about what is going on, and scared to to be on the opposite side of that.
Sadly, however, we've begun to act as if the burden that comes with self-governing is too heavy to bear when we're already laden with laptops, iPhones, and Live-Strong bracelets. It's easier to just hand the reigns over to some smiling "new breed" of politician who promises to take care of everything for you. Combine this with a pervasive misunderstanding of our nation's history, economy and Constitution and it becomes easier to understand how exactly it is we have presidential candidates and leaders in Congress who openly espouse Socialism. (See: leadership of modern Democratic Party.) The tragic part in all of this is that millions of well-intentioned, misguided Americans end up thinking it was their own idea to pursue Marx instead of Adams.
The United States is unique because more than any other civilization in human history, the average legal voting citizen has the power not just to vote, but to ally with like-minded voters and impact in real and definite ways their local, state, and national government is run. We complain about bureaucracies and their inefficiencies (see: your local DMV), we bemoan the incompetence daily exhibited by governors and judges and city clerks, and we read about the failing of our public education systems, yet then turn around and vote for people who promise that they can correct the mistakes of already over-reaching government by increasing the size and scope of government. Why?
We are a nation traditionally leery of those who would seek control over us. (Even those with big, bleeding hearts.) A certain degree of mistrust of those in power is healthy and normal. Our Founding Fathers believed this to such an extent that they intentionally designed a system that would be so complicated and utterly ineffective if any one person or group tried to run it all that the threat of dictators taking over would be virtually non-existent.
The only way this nation would become like the monarchial ones we abandoned in Europe 232 years ago (and the ones many on the Left want us to mimic today) is piece by piece, bit by bit. The American people would have to hand over their Creator-endowed, battle-procured freedom, and do so either willingly (via voting) or apathetically (via not voting against such ideas and candidates).
Welcome to 2008.
Gas prices are high because of a combination of excessive taxes, the volatile situations in oil-producing nations, a lack of a will-to-drill in backwater regions of the country, and overlying all of that are oil speculators who continue to hedge their bets on the fact that none of those things are likely to change with a Democratic Congress and President come November. Our response to these realities as American consumers and voters is to covet the profits of "Big Oil" and vote for politicians who openly support the status quo of all the reasons gas is so expensive at the pump.
The economy is slowing after 24 consecutive quarters of growth that was the result of Bush's much-maligned tax cuts for the "rich." A freshmen in college at even a state school would learn in Economics 101 that in times of near or real recession, to raise taxes, especially on the "rich" who employ all the rest of us, is the equivalent of giving a drowning victim a plastic bag to put over their head. It's economic . If a business owner is going to be taxed for working harder and making more money and hiring more people, guess who comes out on the short end of that stick? Yet as a nation we are cheering for a presidential candidate who has guaranteed that upon his ascension to power, the largest tax increase in American history (no less than $1 trillion) will become a nightmarish reality. Or as he would call it: change we can believe in.
People are rightly fed up with blunders and gaffes in government, tired of a President who lacks the rhetorical skills to effectively communicate even the policies most Americans agree with him on. I get it. We all get it. But what are we really upset about? What really needs change?
The free-market, entrepreneurial spirit of Americans is alive and well. While many may be understandably frustrated with the War in Iraq, few are willing to pull out from the Middle East in favor of putting our heads in the sand, all the while hoping that the flagrantly impotent United Nations will figure things out. Health care is a real concern for many of us, but when we learn that it is less than 8% of Americans that are without insurance, most voters will not stand for subsidization of their health care by the same people who run FEMA and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
We stand for different values than Europe and the rest of the world. We have succeeded where others have failed precisely because of those values. Don't sell the rest of us out come November just because you ended up not caring for guys from Texas or now love guys who promise you free stuff. Vote your conscience, but allow your conscience to have the necessary information and full context to make the right choice.
Read, learn, pray, and vote.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of R.J. Moeller only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. R.J. Moeller is
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employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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