Happy Fourth of July to all Americans! Hopefully, this day will find you to be in good health, surrounded by friends and family, and employed. If you are out of a job, don't worry because, the national unemployment rate should not exceed 8%. President Obama insured us that his vaunted stimulus package would retard the spike in unemployment. So much for "change we can believe in". We are now hovering around the 10% mark nationally and it is over 16% where I live in Bend, Oregon.
We celebrate the idea of individual independence on this day so, lets take a gander at our national capitol. Just what has been accomplished in Washington D.C.? Near as I can tell, there has been a whole lot of noise and the desire to spend ourselves into bankruptcy. I would like President Obama or any of his advisers to explain the theory behind the belief that deficit spending will move our nation out of the red and into the black? If a family hits financial troubles, they sit down at their kitchen table and juxtapose their monthly cash flow with their monthly bills. All unnecessary expenditures are terminated and only requisite outflow of cash to pay financial obligations is permitted. In other words, the family unit (the bedrock of American culture) tightens its purse strings. Why should our government be any different? If deficit spending was fiscally viable for economic growth, states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and several others should be in a position to bail out the federal government in these difficult times yet; these very states are begging for federal handouts. Even more amazing to me are the pundits who have long supported President Obama's ascension to power. These very folks are now crying for patience and civic support for our President's efforts. If I'm not mistaken, these are also the same people who wanted to see President Bush tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail. I guess it doesn't bother them to see our nation rudderless and following no true bearing towards any specific goal for economic recovery.
Of course, we must also look towards Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iran. Just what is our policy on the world stage? Okay, the President went around the globe and apologized for the Bush Administration's bullishness against terrorism. Now what are we going to do? It seems to me that our current Administration's national security strategy is to simply wait and see if our problems will recede if we just play nice. In case you liberals out there haven't noticed, things are getting dicey on the world scene and our President is more concerned with issues such as health care, global warming and the like. At least I can now rest assured, President Obama is everything I thought he would be as our President. In Special Forces we have a common saying, "Actions talk and bullshit walks.". My civic support for my president will revolve around an unending desire for him to cease selling his image, take a stand in world security affairs, and to put our national wallet and credit cards away.
I do not want to live in a social democracy and if I did, I would have moved to Europe long ago. Individualism is the very nucleus of the American experiment and this idiosyncratic belief is what will cause our nation to rise above our fiscal troubles. I do not need the government to presuppose my requisites for life. If I'm not mistaken, our founders wanted the government to stay out of my way so I had an unimpeded path to reach for life, liberty, and happiness. Happy Independence Day!
De Oppresso Liber
