I listened to Barack Obama as he delivered the 2013 State of the Union Speech, listening hard to characterize the comments on our present malaise and future well being. But, I couldn’t get over the feeling that what I was watching was little more than political theatre for the masses.
Here were a bunch of corrupt self-serving politicians, well-dressed and well-spoken, politely sitting there listening to the President of the United States lie to the American people. Not blatant lies like those he told about the fatal attack on Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11, but a more subtle, and more dangerous lie. A lie driven by an ignorance of history and the fairy tale of a political ideology that purports to make things better for “We the People.” A lie, if followed, will result in the further decline of the United States with respect to our enemies, both foreign and domestic as well as the reduction in our standard of living; as if “We the People” needed to be punished for our achievements.
There is no doubt in my mind that bigger government, more taxation and the funneling of funds into programs which have proven to be inefficient, inequitable and ignominious. Consider for a moment why “We the People” would knowingly embrace a program that rewards seniority over merit, the status quo over innovation, increased costs and reduced productivity as well as insuring that jobs were subdivided, not to promote efficiency, but to promote additional unproductive employment? Why “We the People” can continue to reward failed educational programs that produce functional illiterates who display the arrogance of knowledge without having that knowledge? Why “We the People” would endorse obedience and obeisance to a cadre of pseudo-intellectuals who pretend that only they have the real solutions to our complex problems?
The truth is that our problems are not all that complex. In terms of good and evil, right and wrong, we can determine a course of action that will serve us well. We do not need to pretend that the “emperor has new clothes” when we can plainly see that the emperor is both morally bankrupt and delusional.
I cannot help but recall the words of Isaac Asimov, the prolific science fiction writer and futurist who said …
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
And, no better example can be found than the election of Barack Hussein Obama, a man with a questionable past, questionable associations and questionable achievements. And yet, he stands before us telling us how we should live our lives and what government is going to do to improve our lot. Never mentioning the type of political achievement that moved the United States forward from an intellectual exercise by patriots dissatisfied with their government to the creation of a nation that surpassed every known political system and nation in achievements benefiting all of mankind. Voted into office by those ignorant of history and goaded on by those who have been convinced that they are victims and deserving of special treatment – whether it be reparations, affirmative action or simply subsidies that guarantee outcomes rather than opportunities. It may not only be anti-intellectualism, but more likely the malignant intersection of greed and the lack of common-sense.
Consider what Obama said (and my comments in blue italics) …
It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle class. (Applause.) [The middle class is a function of a free economic systems which provides for opportunity, not managed outcomes. It is not the engine of economic growth, the the result of economic growth]
It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country -- the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, or who you love. [except when we the government must demand unconstitutional affirmative action that conveys advantage those those we have determined are disadvantaged.]
It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation. (Applause.) [Collectivism over individualism is the basic tenet of socialism and communism.]
The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. (Applause.) They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together, and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all. [No! The people expect you to uphold your oath of office, to govern well and to preserve our Constitutional rights, national safety and security and to maintain our economic engine. And, in the case of the democrat party, compromise only means that they achieve their toxic ideological objectives a little slower.]
For more of this high-sounding rhetorical nonsense, you may wish to visit the White House web site and read the entire address in context.
For what is government? A collection of leaders pandering to the self-interest in return for campaign contributions, media attention, and voter support? A collection of bureaucrats, sometimes performing useful work, but more often, generating work that is both nonsensical and nonproductive. A parasitic entity feeding on a host hoping to nourish its own growing body before sucking enough nutrients from the host to result in the death of both the parasite and the host. In this case, if the analogy is too difficult to understand, let me rephrase it. A government sucking an increasing amount of taxes from its citizens until those citizens can no longer afford the food, water, energy, shelter and healthcare required to sustain life. All the while the government is spewing slogans like “social justice” and “economic justice” to justify their plan to confiscate value from the productive and hand it to the non-productive – keeping, of course, a goodly amount for themselves as the administrators of this so-called “justice.”
“Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion -- mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.” [This is a blatant lie – reducing the rate of spending is not equivalent to reducing the total dollars spent. In additional to rhetorical flourishes, we find accounting tricks worthy of the best “smoke and mirrors” magicians. Or the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.]
Bottom line …
I look at those ladies and gentlemen (and those of indeterminate gender) in their finery and come to the conclusion that they are a well-dressed, well-spoken bunch of thieves and charlatans. Promising what they cannot deliver and relying on the ignorance and memory loss of the American people to forget or forgive their sins when they come to light.
President Obama’s State of the Union Address was not an exposition of hope in the future, as we have seen what Obama’s “hope and change” has wrought. It was not a blueprint for a new beginning because it was a simple rehash of what has been said and done before. In fact, the media’s mention of the “speechwriter” reminds me that this is a pre-written speech by others, spin-tested with focus groups for maximum effect, and delivers by a polished actor whose oratorical skills come from a TelePrompTer.
Consider another blatant lie: “Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs. (Applause.) And the reforms I’m proposing go even further.” Any person who has looked at his insurance bill knows that this is a lie. So what are “We the People” going to do when they discover that President Obama and his fellow travelers have allowed 12 million new patients into the system without increasing the number of facilities, physicians, nurses, diagnostic machines and other critical care items? What will happen when the government mandates that the gatekeepers (insurance companies) be incentivized to delay or deny certain classes of Americans care by manipulating the care reimbursable by the government? The rich will take care of themselves as they always have. The politicians will take care of themselves as they always have. But, when it comes to taking care of “We the People,” you may be given that life-shortening red pill instead of the expensive treatment you really need. Living out your days in a drug-induced pleasure world of the junkie.
I can see with my own eyes that technology, robots and the cost of labor means that some jobs have left the United States and will never come back. The idea that things are made elsewhere and assembled in America does not make them “Made in America.” And artificially raising prices and taxes to pay for the increasing wages, benefits and pensions of those who are increasingly unproductive is not the answer to our economic and social ills. Neither is welcoming a hoard of illegal aliens who refuse to assimilate into our culture and turn our nation into the Crapistan they just left. I can already see that the former illegal aliens (according to some democrats “out of status” Americans) will be putting pressure on legal, law-abiding citizens for jobs, medical care and for manipulated resources that have become artificially and suddenly scarce for political reasons.
I would further criticize and characterize Obama’s State of the Union Speech, line-by-line, if it would help. But, it won’t. There are too many ignorant or lazy people out there who simply buy the political lie – as if their political party was a sports team, to be defended even when they are losing and looking forward with anticipation to the next winning game which might make them feel like a part of a winning team. But, what if both teams were corrupt, the game rigged and there is no winning game?
I would like to remind you that Obama and his government minions cannot detect nor deter all of the crazies and criminals who might harm you, your family or your fellow Americans. But they still want to disarm you – afraid that some might realize that the Second Amendment not only guarantees the rest of the Constitution, but was designed to prevent governmental tyranny of the type that is beginning to emerge.
I leave it to you to decide if you want to read the President’s State of the Union Speech and cry “bullshit” as loudly as I did at my television. The only saving grace is that I have this blog to express my feelings and make me feel better.
-- steve
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