The New Year has started with a rush of activity. The presidential caucuses in Iowa this week signaled the beginning of what will be a long primary season leading up to the General Election in November. Following the caucuses in Iowa, there will be a pile of primaries in the next several weeks leading up to what is known as Super Tuesday, March 6. Even following the primaries there will be the various political party conventions where the final nominee for both of the national parties will be known. Many pundits, bloggers, and political observers are already calling this election the most important in their lifetime. Polls indicate there is a general unrest with and dislike for the direction our leaders are taking this nation. The dislike for Congress is at an all time high. The interesting interpretation by some political observers, however, indicate while there is a general dislike for the institution known as Congress, some people are not unsatisfied with the person who represents them in Congress. It seems those dots do not connect. It seems that with a dislike of Congress there would be overall dissatisfaction with individual members of Congress. We are being told the opposite is true. The strategy planned by some members of Congress who run for election is to run against the institution of Congress with a promise that they will make a difference and turn the tide of public thinking about the institution. There is also a rising sentiment to vote against any person who is currently in office. The “throw the incumbents out,” syndrome is resonating with some voters across the country.
The questions demanding answers are; “What happened?” “How have we gotten to this place in our nation?” As an observer of the political world, I offer the following attempt to answer those questions. What happened is a change in the trajectory of our country. The direction we have known and become comfortable with has been to grow, prosper, and better ourselves with each passing year and with each new administration in Washington. We have been told we are exceptional and have lived up to the expectations as a great nation. As people have come along to tell us that we are lazy, slothful, self-centered, greedy, and think only of self; that negative mantra has caused many to turn to the government to bail them out of that national funk. As depending on bigger government has grown from a bailout to a necessity just to make it through the day, we have shown signs of deepening the funk rather than being bailed out of it. We have gotten to this place in our nation by government entitlements. The attitude that the government is the answer to our every wish or want has caused an entire generation to grow up totally depending on the government for everything. We must come to the understanding that the entitlement generation and the attitude that government is the answer is bringing this nation to ruin. We are at a place in many votes in Congress where entitlements cannot be stopped, as they have automatic self-adjusting increases not allowing for a vote and they just continue higher each budget year. As entitlement costs go up, our nation goes down. There must be an honest debate and solution to the entitlement issue sooner rather than later. There are other issues also.
Political writer, Ann Coulter, said two things must be dealt with immediately by the next president. The first issue is immigration. We must seal our borders on all sides of our country. The second, and to Coulter the most important, is stopping the national healthcare debacle created by the current president. There is no tolerance for the change in this move into socialism of all aspects of the health care system from those who trumpet the glories of big government. The system of government-run health care is seated in an ever growing and larger government being involved in every area of our life.
The next election will determine the direction our nation will take over the next half century. Should we continue with bigger government and more personal loss of individual freedom? Will we stand up and stop this slide into socialism? What we need in our nation is a new start with new leaders that must be elected in November.
Ray Newman Copyright
January 4, 2012
As a “Conservative Democrat,” who puts Principle Before Party, I think Ann Coulter is a Party Before Principle hack, BUT I have to agree with her on closing down the boarder and repealing Obama-Care!
ReplyDeleteThe only difference is, I would put the repeal of Obama-Care FIRST. Cut, Cap, and balance second, Term Limits third, and then you will have the kind of Congress that will finally deal with the Boarder, and Immigration Reform.
As Americans, we now have Two Deficits! Our financial deficit, and a New “Deficit of Decency.” New leadership can eventually solve the financial deficit, BUT overcoming the Deficit of Decency will be more Problematic. Anglo Americans are using contraception and abortion to put themselves out of business. Four Industries, and their political allies, have made it acceptable for “UNHEALTHY' Life Styles to flourish in America. Pornography, Contraception, Abortion, and the Mental Health Industry (who depend upon them), have turned us into a depraved society that is Considering the election of two men. One is an out-of-control Big Government Socialist, who supported the repeal of “Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the other is the father of Homosexual Marriage, and a $50 Co-Pay for an Abortion (at Taxpayer expense). I refer, of course to Barack Obama, and “Unfit-Mitt” Romney!
If you really want to take that first important step back from the abbess, then consider electing a man, who has managed the ONLY entitlement reform in American history (Newt Gingrich). He may have been out of office for 14 years, but he knows where the bodies are buried, and how to get things done in Washington D.C. AND while your at it, make Allen West the V.P. (a retired Lt. Col. who cut $200 million in wasteful Pentagon spending). You want to shake up the “Establishment?” There's your 2012 team that will kick @#% and Take numbers!
Michael W. Calsetta
“Reagan Democrat”