The rising discontent
We are releasing murderers from Guantanamo Bay and they are being welcomed back as heroes in their terrorist strongholds. The new Attorney General is proceeding with plans drawn up in 2007 to prosecute patriots who saved countless American lives whilst allowing the voter-intimidating thugs of 2008 to go free.
Our lead foreign policy, at the president's direction, has been reduced to a humbling rendition of guilt and self-reproach played to the world stage.
And let us not forget the combined $1.6 trillion in TARP and stimulus, money unwisely disbursed as political payback and non-stimulus agenda items that Americans were fear-mongered into believing would cure our economic ailments. Let us bear in mind the 4.2 million Americans and counting, cast out of work with nowhere to go. Or the 9.4 percent unemployment rate that Obama now says with certainty will soon reach double digits.
And don't leave out the auto and finance industries that have been dismantled, emasculated, and are now controlled by the Democrat Congress and unions. Or the raging deficit that Obama now says will surpass $9 trillion. And don't forget that Communist China and a few other nations now control that debt -- a debt we cannot pay should they so demand.
And we must include the recent money- and power-grabbing energy (Cap-and-Tax) and health care (Government-run Health Care Rationing) takeover schemes. Please do remember Cash for Clunkers, where consumers bought Toyotas and shunned Government Motors -- a trifling, trivial (by comparison) program of a few billion dollars that was bumbled and bungled by the statists. They couldn't even properly manage that minor outlay.
And last but hardly least, the 36 enigmatic, White House-appointed czars who push the agenda buttons for the administration and are accountable solely to Obama.
Growing disillusionment
Are you feeling confident about the course upon which our nation is being steered? Many of your fellow citizens are not, and all polling data indicate"Reagan inherently knew that free markets, championing individualism and fiscal and moral culpability were the true engines of American greatness and prosperity." their numbers are growing daily. Those blue-collar and independent voters who, in the moment of media-induced national panic, assured Obama the presidency are realizing they made a costly mistake -- with emphasis on costly. We are being forced down an unsustainable road to ruin.
America has been suffering through all of the wrong-headed and potentially unconstitutional programs listed above. Obama and the Democrat Congress promised instantaneous miracles, right along with the other fantasies of governmental ethics and transparency. But what has improved? Can you honestly say that you and your family are better off than you were just one year ago?
Of course not, and nobody I know can do so, either. Meanwhile, tens of millions of law-abiding, hard-working Americans are really hurting, millions more unemployed. And the Obama course of raising taxes, printing more money, and prodigiously spending us deeper in debt is no way to stimulate anything other than partisan supporters and community organizers.
Leadership is more than posturing
There is a growing national surge of dissatisfaction with Obama and the Democrat Congress, very similar to that which arose during the woeful and bleak Jimmy Carter years, but with two major differences:
1) The nation does not have a shining star like Ronald Reagan to lead us out of our malaise; and 2) The Democrat Congress of 1980 was despised far less and trusted far more than is the Democrat Congress of 2009.
Reagan inherently knew that free markets, championing"In stark contrast, Obama is a dour, sullen man who talks down to his opponents rather than at them." individualism, and fiscal and moral culpability were the true engines of American greatness and prosperity. At his core, he was an optimist and conveyed that optimism to the nation. Ronald Reagan believed in the miracle of America because he lived it -- a living example of what a poor, small-town Depression kid can achieve in the greatest nation ever known to civilization. The people believed in him; as a result the nation's self-esteem was restored and a new confidence imbued.
And never once in his long, illustrious life -- never -- did he belittle or insult his political opponents or the American people for their beliefs. That can not and will never be said about anyone in today's Washington, D.C.
In stark contrast, and perhaps brought on by upbringing, formal education, or his chosen life mentors, Obama is a dour, sullen man who talks down to his opponents rather than at them. Gone is the carefully-applied campaign persona, and in its place we now see a man enamored with his own intellect and political station. The charismatic facade has washed away like cheap makeup in the rain.
What has emerged is the real Obama -- a biting, shallow, stuttering caricature of the glitzy teleprompted actor that was Obama the campaigner. He is no leader.
Lawless ruling class
Across America, you can almost sense the angst-tinged melancholy in the air.
Of course, the 1980 Congress -- on both sides of the aisles -- understood and more often than not adhered to the legislative limitations"Why would the Democrat Congress care to self-limit their own carte blanche? Who is there to stop them?" prescribed by the Constitution, whereas the 2009 Congress obviously does not. But with overwhelming majorities in both chambers, why would the Democrat Congress care to self-limit their own carte blanche? Who is there to stop them? Certainly not the White House. The federal judiciary? They are Obama's creatures.
How in the world can an administration that professes a commitment to economic recovery -- fully vetted and championed by Congress -- implement plan after plan that guarantees destroying the private sector economy and transferring its wealth to statist government control?
Perhaps the question should be: Is that the end-game, their ultimate goal? Because without doubt, Obama is destroying the economy and bankrupting the country.
For a time, our country lost its way and in the process opened the door to things unwanted and un-American. Congress and the new administration are doing their best to take advantage, but a good thing is happening. The American people are waking up and finally beginning to act like Americans -- exceptionally.
Hype and Chains.