Two political posts in a row...I'm not abandoning the pictures of my cute kids, the thought of Obama as president just scares the bejeebers out of me! Writing about it makes me feel a little better.
So, why am I terrified of an Obama presidency? Where to start…
I recently finished the book “The Hunt for Red October” by Tom Clancy (Good book…a bit too much submarine/naval technical detail, but good overall). In the book there are a group of Soviet officers defecting to the United States, and you really get a look at what life is like in a socialist country. The captain's motivation for defecting is to punish the Socialist system over the death of his wife, who died from appendicitis. She received inadequate treatment from the state-run health care system.
Oh…but don’t we want state run health care in the US? No! In Canada, the average patient waited more than 18 weeks in 2007 between seeing their family doctor and receiving the surgery or treatment they required. They waited 22 months for a hip replacement. The median wait for an MRI across Canada was 10.1 weeks. Aaron needed an MRI a few months ago. He had it done immediately.
The book discusses in detail the control that the government has over the lives of it’s citizens. It’s truly frightening.
Not as frightening as the fact that one of the men running for president wants more government regulation of the economy, more redistribution of wealth, more superiority of international institutions, more nationalization of medicine…more and more control over our lives.
As I read the book, I just kept thinking over and over…this is where Obama wants to lead our country. Obviously, not to the same extreme that existed in the Soviet Union…well, not in 4 years anyway.
Here’s an example. Obama wants to take the profits from oil companies and give them to “working class families”. That sounds good, doesn’t it?
If Obama is elected, and follows through with taking oil profits, do you think it will STOP with oil profits? Their profit margin is only 7-11%. There are tons companies and industries that make WAY more than that. Wal-Mart and Microsoft make a significantly higher margin. Glen Beck puts it this way “As for whether or not states and/or "working families" have the right to take the profits oil companies have made, I guess that depends on whether you adhere to the U.S. Constitution or the Communist Manifesto.”
Obama made a statement during the primaries that people in small towns that fall on hard times “cling to guns or religion …as a way to explain their frustrations.”
I remember enough from college to know how much this sounds like Karl Marx’s line about religion being the opiate of the masses.
Let’s look at a few of his wife’s ideas:
"And Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism, that you put down your division, that you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones, that you push yourselves to be better, and that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual - uninvolved, uninformed..." (Speech in February, 2008)
"Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices, that we are going to have to change our conversation, we're gonna have to change our traditions, our history, we're gonna have to move into a different place as a nation." (Campaign speech in Puerto Rico)
Let’s see…”require you”, “demand that you”, “will never allow you to”, “have to make sacrifices”. Hmmm…lots of freedom there…
You know what? I like my traditions, my history and my nation. I am proud of all three. I’m sorry Barack Obama; your change is not for me.
In her speech at the DNC she said that her husband is running “to make health care available for every American, and to make sure every child in this nation gets a world class education all the way from preschool to college”. But what if you don’t want to send your child to preschool? You don’t think you should actually get the choice, do you? What if you want to be a plumber, and have no desire to go to college? It’s a good thing the government knows what’s best for you.
I know this is insanely long, but I have to talk about taxes.
Obama has proposed creating a slew of government spending programs that are disguised as tax credits.
Here’s the deal:
The bottom 40% of income earners already pays no income taxes (data from the Congressional Budget Office). Actually, they receive a payment from the federal income tax system (meaning from the taxpayers). This amounts to them paying negative 3.8%. Seriously. Currently, this is in the form of the Earned Income Credit (EIC), but Obama wants to significantly expand these credits so that many are “refundable”. So the people that pay NO taxes will be getting huge checks.
That’s what he means when he talks about tax cuts…redistribution of wealth! Not really the kind of tax cuts that I had in mind.
He would like us to believe that the “wealthy” aren’t paying taxes, while the “middle class” foots the bill.
Actually, let’s look at the numbers…the middle 20% of income earners, the true middle class, pays 4.4% of federal all income taxes. Did you catch that? That means the wealthiest 40% of the nation is paying 99.4% of the income taxes! (Yes, I know that equals more than 100%...remember, we have to make up for the negative 3.8% that is going to the people who don’t pay ANY taxes)
Hitler and Stalin both promised hope and change. Let’s think about the kind of change we want.
I agree with Obama?
13 years ago
