Politics


When Barak Obama was elected President of the United States, I had very mixed feelings. I hadn’t voted for the man and didn’t agree with his politics, but I had to admit to liking him on a more personal level. Charismatic is the only word to describe him. His smile is disarming. He has a great sense of humor. He’s a good family man. He’s obviously brilliant. He’s a black guy who can’t dance, and who can’t like a guy like that?

Politically, he’s a nightmare to those of us who believe in a Republic Democracy. His ideals are good ones, but we don’t live in a http://johnnyholland.org/wp-content/uploads/utopia11.jpgutopian world where we can afford to try to live by utopian ideals. We have to face reality. For example, I, too, would like to befriend Islamic countries who hate Westerners and hate the U.S. even more. But I’m not so idealistic and niave to believe that they will listen to my friendly words or even pay a bit of attention to my friendly actions. It is not in them to believe that those words or actions are honest and forthright. They have been brianwashed to hate us and distrust us, and hate us and distrust us they will, no matter what we do. So, with that in mind, I think Obama weakens our country by reaching out to them with an open hand and depreciating our country through his rhetoric.

I do not agreehttp://www.getliberty.org/content_images/Cartoon%20-%20Obama%20Wrecking%20Ball%20(600).jpg with his socialization of our economy nor do I agree with his desire to have a public option health care system. I distrust his administration, because they have pushed both these efforts (the economic bail out and health care) through (health care should be decided within weeks) without giving the American people or our representatives ample time to educate ourselves, so we can provide an honest response.

I don’t like the lies. Let’s face it, the Obama administration has been http://www.freespeechstickers.com/images/you_lie.pngcaught in several lies. For example, Obama says prior to his election that he is avidly for the public option, and then two months ago says he never said he was for the public option. I’ve heard the contradicting recordings myself. It’s almost as if this administration tries to revise history, simply by stating a lie that whatever subject they want to suppress is the opposite of what really happened. It’s ludicrous!

Now, the Obama administration is attacking Fox News, threatening to remove http://www.americasheadlines.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/foxnews.jpgWhite House credentials for everyone affiliated with them. What happened to free speech? Why is it okay for CNN and NBC (including all its iterations) to be so incredibly partisan but not the Fox News channel? At least Fox News itself (the news not the commentary) is non-partisan. You can’t say the same for the CNN news team. This kind of thing is frightening to me, and if the other news organizations don’t start standing up and saying they won’t put up with this type of behavior, it’s even more frightening, because it means the end of truth in the news. All that will be left is partisanship and opinion will reign.

The result of all of this is that our country has been cleaved in two. http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/bct/wp-content/blogs.dir/3/files/2008/08/wk_of_0817/0820_democrat_republican.gifPeople are taking hard sides against one another politically, and some of the rhetoric I’m now hearing on the various radio political talk shows is really scary. The attacks against the other side are becoming more viscious, people are even talking about ceeding from the union and conversation is seeded with hatered. This civil war of words is anything but civil, and it makes me fear for the future of our country.

T.S. Eliot wrote, “This is the way the world ends…this is the way the world ends…this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.” And I’m beginning to fear the truth behind that. I always thought the opposite was true — that our biggest danger was from outside our borders — but now I feel we are being eaten alive from the inside. That instead of succumbing some day to a huge bomb, our country will simply eat at itself until there is nothing left, and we are so weak that we become easy pickin’s for whatever world power wants to take us over.

Heck, as much of our commodities as we have sold to China, it might already http://trendsupdates.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/china-us1.jpgbe happening. We have stupidly allowed our economy to become so tied into theirs, that they could destroy us economically.

My point is, no matter how partisan we’ve become as a populace, we have to stick together. We cannot allow ourselves to be slowly eaten away; we cannot allow ourselves to let politics erode our union; we cannot allow our society to be weakened by the dumbing down of education or by extreme partisan rhetoric. We must remain strong and uphold the ideals upon which this grhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rqH4fUbko2U/Sh1KGtC2pnI/AAAAAAAANjs/Dq52Ievg5m4/s320/We_The_People.jpgeat country was based. We must put this civil war of words aside and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Only then can we sustain and grow as we have for over 200 years. If we fail to do this, I fear we will fall just as the Romans fell. Surely we’re smart enough to learn from their mistakes and stop repeating them.

You are under a misguided impression that, as a patriotic American citizen, I would like to help correct.

You were elected to your offices by a ballot of the people – American citizens one and all who have grown up loving this country and believing in a representative government of the people and by the people.  We elected you based on your reported platforms and, in doing so, gave you the heady responsibility of representing our wants and needs.

Somehow you have gotten the idea that your constituents are stupid people who don’t know enough to decide important issues for ourselves, so you have the idea that what we think we want doesn’t matter when it comes to the decisions you make, because…well…you’re smarter than us. The truth is, the greater majority of us are as smart and as savvy as you are. We pay attention to the news, the issues and the things that affect us and our families. We care about our communities, our rights and our country. Admittedly, there are some who are ignorant and uninformed, but don’t fool yourselves into believing they are in the majority. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.

As a result of your misguided thinking, you have decided to push through some legislation that you know doesn’t represent our wishes.

You’ve pushed through two stimulus bills that have destroyed our economy, when the better solution would have been to let the chips fall where they may. Stimulus packages never revitalize a sagging economy. The only thing that can do that is the confidence of the American people. Do you really think the American people can have confidence in an economy being propped up by huge infusions of government money? Be logical! Of course they can’t; if anything, that frightens us more!  The only thing that will return our economy to a steady state and make it healthy (and grow) again is when the country’s citizenry has trust and faith that things are improving.  Only then could we see real improvement, and your stimulus packages have made that impossible.

You’ve pushed through an energy/climate bill that was based on inaccurate calculations, telling us that it will only increase our home fuel bills by around $150 a year by 2020. And then, in a huge “oops moment,” you quietly informed us that you’d made a small math mistake, and the real cost to each American household will be more to the tune of $300 to $400 A MONTH. Do you really think that this is something the average American household can sustain?  If so, you’re living in the dream world of the privileged few.  Most of us will not be able to afford such an increase in our fuel bills. Such increases will bankrupt us and put us on the streets.  Do you care? It seems not, since all you seem to be about is making the changes you want while you have an overwhelming majority that can’t be overridden. So much for checks and balances.

Now, you are trying to put through a Health bill that virtually no one wants.  You are holding so many press conferences and town meetings that many of us are wondering who is actually governing our country.  You claim that the opposition you have met during these meetings is false opposition – that those who vehemently voice their concerns are paid to do so, and the American people actually want this bill. Well, I’m here to tell you that we do NOT want this bill. On top of that, we are sick to death of being lied to by our President and the senators and congressmen and women who we elected to represent us.  You are aware, aren’t you, that we can READ?  When you tell us that we can keep our own work-provided or private insurance, we can easily find the section of the bill that states we won’t be able to do that.  When you tell us that we can keep our family physicians – some of whom have been our doctors for decades – we can see in the bill that this is not the case. When you tell us this bill will improve our health care, even though it’s based on the socialized medicine we see in other countries like Canada, we know that it will actually degrade our healthcare.  We know that what health care we are allowed to receive will be based on our age, our weight, or our “worthiness” to be treated. 

In addition, you are trying to take away our freedom of speech with the “fairness doctrine,” which will kill conservative talk radio. The liberal lawyers you’ve put in the Justice Department have even stooped to threatening the state of Oklahoma for trying to present a bill that would make English the official language of the state!  And (as a side note) Nancy Polosi herself has lied to the American people, claiming she never knew of “water boarding” when it’s part of the public record that she did.

You have pretended to be so concerned about our economy, vilifying the executives of the big three car companies for flying in separate private jets to meet with you, and yet now, you have voted for two new luxury jets to fly YOU around, when you have a perfectly good fleet of planes already.  How about flying coach or driving? Heck, even flying first class would save millions of dollars over what you have chosen to do.

I could go on, but I believe I have gotten my message across to you. If not, let me make it even simpler.

You are NOT fooling us.

And while we’re at it, shame on us for wanting change so badly that we voted you in. We wrongly believed that you had integrity and honor and trusted that you would stand by your sworn pledge to represent us as provided for in the U.S. Constitution.  We did not expect that, given an overwhelming majority, you would turn into wolves whose only desire was to rip and shred at the very platform on which our great country was built. We did not understand that, without the proper checks and balances, you would push through partisan legislation that we, the people you are supposed to represent, do not want. We didn’t get that you would fundamentally change the face of our government, our economy and our lives.

But know this…

If we are still a representative democracy when your terms are up, you will be voted out of office. We will take back our country just as our forefathers did before us, and our newly elected representatives will return our rights and freedoms to us and restore our great nation to its former glory.

Count on it.   

Copyright August 6, 2009 by Margaret Floeter

This year’s presidential election is going to be interesting.

We’ve had eight years of Bush, and Americans are generally fed up with the record federal deficit, our lost of esteem among our allies and enemies alike, the war in Afghanastan and Iraq, our floundering economy and the loss of personal liberties for our citizens. As a result, we’ve created a situation where our only choices for our next president are three people whose political leanings range from middle-of-the-road left to way, way left. Our only opportunity to vote for someone with more conservative leanings can only come from independant candidates who have yet to declare their candidacies and probably won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to get elected.

So, here we are.

Our choices are:

  • Barack Obama, a man with highly advanced rhetorical skills and a tongue of gold, who has somehow made the sheep among us forget that he is the most liberal senator in the US Senate today with a spiritual leader of over 20 years who spouts anti-American, racist rhetoric from the pulpit and makes no apologies for it. Obama’s record in the senate puts him in the 92 percentile for liberal voting, and he believes he can hold hands with terrorists and sing Kumbaya, and all our problems will be solved.
  • Hillary Clinton, who is the 16th most liberal senator in the US Senate, has been caught fabricating stories to boost her claims of experience and has been personally involved in some serious criminal scandals that run back many years.(Do Whitewater resort scam and cattle futures ring a bell?) She is the only First Lady to have ever been criminally investigated and, in the course of being investigated, told Congress she didn’t remember or didn’t know the answer to their questions 250 times. Now, there’s an honest woman.
  • John McCain, while a Republican, is far from conservative. He has labeled Christian leaders as “agents of intolerance,” he supports gay marriage, and is pro-choice when it comes to abortion. In addition, the McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act is one of the most left-wing acts of Congress in the past 20 years. Finally, McCain’s stance concerning immigration issues is farther left than many liberals.

What does this all mean for the voting public? It means that there will, without a doubt, be political change in the White House. For left-wingers, it means that, no matter which candidate gets their vote, they will have a liberal for a President — a good thing for them. For right-wingers, it means voting for the lesser of two evils. For middle-of-the-roaders, it provides an opportuntity to study up and vote for the man or woman whose political leanings are most like our own. (This is, of course, the same opportunity that the left-wingers and right-wingers have. In most cases, though, these voters will vote the party line no matter what, so it’s the middle-of-the-roaders who will be left with the hard decision.)

No matter what happens, this will be a historic election. Obama would be our first black president, Clinton would be our first female president and McCain would be the oldest person ever elected president.

Truth be told, I’m not sure who I’ll vote for. When faced with an ultra-liberal who might or might not have a racist agenda, a strong liberal who has been caught up in several political scandals and who has told a number of lies and a liberal in conservative clothing with an anger management problem and diminishing brain power, I don’t see a very good choice.

At this point, my only hope is a strong independant candidate. I’d vote for Frank Keating or Colon Powell if they were to run. (Sadly, neither will.) Keating was a great governor who handled the Murrah Building bombing and the crisis situation that followed with diplomacy and made Oklahoma look good in the process. Colon Powell is an equally brilliant man with a track record of success throughout all facets of his life. Both are men of great character.

That said, if all we have to choose from is Obama or Clinton and McCain, I think McCain will win. He’ll get the conservative vote by default as the only Republican; he’ll most certainly get the military vote, and he’ll probably get most of the middle-of-the-road vote.

Whoever we get, the face of this country is bound to change. I hope that when the dust settles, we’re in a better spot than we are today, both on the domestic and the international front. It certainly can’t get worse.

Or can it?

One of the biggest hot buttons in the Unites States today is our country’s immigration policy. Everyone has an opinion about it, and I would venture to guess that most people believe as I do that legal immigration is what our country was built upon, while illegal immigration is tearing it apart.

I’ve always been a great believer in “give me your tired and your poor, your humbled From: http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/picturing-the-century-photos/images/immigrant-children-ellis-island.jpgmasses yearning to be free.”  Ellis Island saw nearly 12 million people pass into our country in the years between 1892 and 1954 in search of economic opportunity and the chance to live in a society where freedom of speech and religion is as valuable as the air we breathe.

I even have empathy for the illegal immigrants who come to this country to escape the dangers of drug trade, dictatorship and/or poverty.  I wish there were a way that we could take all of them in, but the sad fact is that we cannot.  More importantly, we should not.

Why?

The simple answer is that they take jobs away from legal Americans who pay taxes, and they put a huge strain on our country’s infrastructure.  One could argue that away, though, saying that they do the jobs no “real” American would want to take, and our infrastructure could use some shoring up anyway. 

Frankly, I don’t believe the first part — those jobs are the very ones our young people have traditionally taken. They are the jobs that taught the youth of the past the value ofFrom: http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060407/060407_migrantWorkers_hLarge_2p.hlarge.jpg hard work, loyalty and a job well done.  Today’s youth have not been given the same opportunity to learn those lessons, and the fact that they’ve never learned them is taking its toll on our society.

As for our infrastructure, it could use some shoring up, but the added strain all these extra people cause is speeding up the process. The sad fact is that our government can ill afford anything that hastens the need for road repairs, new schools, bigger jails, etc., yet it is being forced to fund these things with increasingly large chunks of change.

Still, some people would argue that, by allowing illegal immigrants to live here,  we are performing a greater social good.  We are allowing millions to improve their lives and the lives of their families. On a micro-economic scale, that statement would be true, but when you look at the big picture of macro-economics, the statement couldn’t be more false.

If you don’t believe me, take six minutes to watch the following video, which spelled out the problem better than anything I’ve seen, read or heard. For me, watching the video was a huge “aha!” moment that points out the issues behind the issues. No matter what your beliefs are concerning immigration, this video (given the unlikely name, “Immigration Gumballs” will have a profound effect on you.

Immigration Gumballs

To see the full, unedited 13 minute video, select the link below:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5871651411393887069

2008 is a presidential election year, and I have been doing my part, keeping busy trying to educate myself on the issues. These range from the usual — death penalty and abortion - to the less common — waterboarding and the Kyoto protocol. 

As a writing instructor at the University of Oklahoma, I wouldn’t even let my students from: http://events.stanford.edu/events/43/4387/gibbs_death_penalty.jpgwrite papers on the first two issues. They had been done so many times that not only was I jaded, but there was no way that anyone could write anything fresh on the subject. In addition, both issues are such hot topics for everyone, and the arguments for and against are so wide, that it’s hard for many of us to make up our minds one way or the other. So, as I’ve worked through this year’s issues, those are the two that were the most difficult for me to rate. Am I for or against?  In truth, there are times when I’m for both and an equal number of times that I’m against.

Because this is an election year, and because I’d finally like to make an educated choice — basing my vote not on who I like better but on who agrees with me on the greatest number of the issues at hand — I’ve had to go with my gut and just decide.

There’s a great website for those of you who are interested in the same thing. The address is http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html. There, you can see this year’s hot issues, read the reasoning behind being for or against each issue, and finally, vote how you feel about each one.  When you are finished, the site will match you up with the candidate who agrees with you most.

Imagine my surprise when I was matched up with Hillary Clinton!  At 65.8%, she came closer to anyone else to agreeing with me on the issues. 

Now, I have nothing against Hillary. As a matter of fact, I have great respect for her. She’s intelligent, committed and caring. She’s able to put up with a lot of crap while from: http://a.abcnews.com/images/Nightline/politics_brain_071015_ms.jpgbeing in the public eye, and she’s done so with dignity and humor.  But in all honesty, I never considered voting for her. As a middle of the roader, I expected to vote for someone who fit that category. Now, I have to rethink that strongly.

The question I’m asking myself now is why I balk at the thought of voting for her. Is it because she’s a woman?  No; I don’t base my vote on someone’s genetalia.  Is it the fact that she’s Bill Clinton’s wife? No; that might actually be a plus for me for reasons I don’t have room to go into right now. Is it because she’s a democrat?  Could be.  I don’t like ultra liberal polititians, and I’ve spent the past few years putting her on the fringes of that camp.

In truth, I don’t know why the idea bothers me so much other than to say it messes with my identity — the way I identify myself to myself…who I am.

All I know is that it bothers me enough that I’m going to have to think long and hard before I can cast my ballot.  Darn that website for opening my eyes to the fact that I agree with her almost 66% of the time!

Though it might do the same thing to you, I urge you to check out the website for yourself, if for no other reason than learning about the current issues that face our country today. If, like me, you find that your political leanings are not what you thought they were, I’m sorry for the angst that will cost you. But do it anyway.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

Gotta love this.

If you read my blog entry on 9/26/07 you saw that I was very disturbed and frustrated with Rush Limbaugh and his inability to argue any issue without constant ad hominem attacks on people who don’t agree with him. In particular, a soldier called in who had served in Iraq and who also believes we should no longer be there. Instead of listening to the man’s comments and responding with a cogent argument for his own case, Rush said, “Yeah, and I was one of the astronauts that went to the moon,” and followed up with a diatribe claiming that anyone who was a “real soldier” wouldn’t feel that way. The caller, by the way, never got to say another word. Just as he does with almost all callers who disagree with him, Limbaugh cut the call off and ranted without giving his opponent any opportunity to rebut.

Now, Fox News.com reports that Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid has announced that Democratic leaders in the senate have drafted a letter to Mark Mays, president of Clear Channel Communications (the parent network of Limbaugh’s broadcast), asking that the network “publicly repudiate these comments that call into question (antiwar soldiers’) service and sacrifice” and asking that Limbaugh himself apologize.

Good luck with that.*

Clear Channel may back-pedal a little on behalf of Rush, but Limbaugh himself will never apologize. He’s not capable of doing that. The man didn’t even apologize to his listening Originally from: http://thefairandbalancednews.com/rush-limbaugh-oxycontin.jpgaudience for his drug use while on the air. Instead, he reached a plea deal that led to his record being expunged of prescription shopping for Oxycontin. So much for taking personal responsibility.

As someone who considers herself middle-of-the-road politically, I don’t like to align myself with either party, but I have to say hooray to the Demos for this. Limbaugh is out of control, and it shows on his program. Someone has got to do something about his rampant illogic and slippery slope argumentation. Free speech is one thing, but just as you can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, you also can’t insight the public with false and defamatory statements, simply because you have an opinion and a microphone.

Now, Limbaugh claims that the Senators are purposely misrepresenting his comments in order to discredit him. (And, instead of proving his point through logical argumentation, Rush again distorted reality by attacking his opponent personally, referring to the Senate Majority Leader as “Dingy Harry.” Nice. The guy who touts always respecting the office can’t follow his own advice.) He and everyone who heard him make the original statement know he’s lying, but he’ll claim he was misunderstood forever.

Of course, those with lolling tongues who believe every word that comes out of his mouth simply because he says it forcefully and they happen to agree with his politics will vehemently nod their heads at every word Limbaugh is saying. As a person who often agrees with him politically but is always disappointed by his inability to form a valid argument, I’m left hoping against hope that someone will see the light and get the man off the airwaves. There are too many good orators who are able to discuss the facts logically and effectively to be able to justify keeping such a poor one on the air.

As a media company, doesn’t Clear Channel realize that they are contributing to the very downfall of our nation? People like Rush Limbaugh don’t contribute positively in any way. Instead, they chip away at our political foundation by spoon-feeding lies and propaganda to people too weak to know the difference. Then those people vote based on the crap Limbaugh feeds them.

He’s not even helping his Republican/Conservative cause – he’s hurting it. He’s not hurting his Democratic/Liberal opponents; he’s helping them. With that in mind, what use is he? Again, the facts point to Clear Channel’s desire to line their pocketbooks to the detriment of their audience.

Last Tuesday, a veterans group opposed to the Iraq war will launch a TV ad campaign lambasting Rush. The ad will feature a Purple Heart recipient who was injured while serving in Iraq. I wonder how Rush will attempt to denigrate him. Will he accuse these veterans of being bad Americans? Probably. The bottom line is, though, that he won’t be able to call them “phony soldiers,” this time.

And, that, my fellow Americans, makes me smile.

Rush Limbaugh, if you read this, grow a pair and argue the points. Stop taking cheap shots and puffing out your chest and say something worth hearing. Maybe if you’ll stop looking in the mirror long enough to think of something besides yourself, you can do it.

*(Narcissists don’t apologize. They find it psychologically impossible to accept responsibility for any misdeed.  Not that I’m labeling Rush is a narcissist, mind you.  I’m just saying – as I did in my other blog entry about him – that, in my opinion, he displays the symptoms of suffering from that particular mental illness.)

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