Brushfire of Freedom
Ram Rants
Our buddy Barry ran on a platform of Hope and Change. While I would question whether there is much hope left in this nation, at least whilst he is in power, there is no question that we’ve had some change. Hey, give the guy some credit, he’s keeping that part of his promise. Admittedly, it is most likely not the type of “change” some people had in mind, but keep in mind that a loosely worded agreement leaves lots of wiggle room once it is enacted. So let’s take a look at some of the changes that Barry has overseen since he has taken office.
The first, and possibly most alarming change, is the skyrocketing national debt. Yes, there has been debt under other presidents. Yes, Bush had something to do with increasing the debt. First, just because someone else did it doesn’t make it the right thing to do. If it did, murder and rape would now be acceptable practices. Second, though Bush contributed to the current debt levels, anyone who takes even a brief glance at the charts will note that Obama and his Liberal friends in Congress have had a significant, immediate, and startling impact on our debt. You can not imagine how much money 12 trillion dollars really is, and that amount is increasing. With interest payments, the heath care massacre, and all of the other debt-increasing spending Democrats have in mind for 2009 and 2010, you can bet that number will set new records each month. On the current trajectory, our debt will be near 100% of our gross domestic product by 2012. After that, we are spending more than we are making, which is not good for any person, business, state, or country.
This is change, no question, but is it really the change Obama voters had in mind? Were they really voting to saddle their great-grandchildren with $500,000 in debt the first day out of the womb? I would like to think that most of them did not plan on American debt becoming a global benchmark for excessive government spending, but we are headed in that direction.
The next big change is unemployment. Please stop with the “Bush’s fault” mantra. If you look at the actual start date for the recession, you will note that the group most likely associated with the economic downturn would be the Democrat Congress. In fact, if you want a single person to blame, you need go no further than The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. After all, it is by direction of the Constitution that all legislation involving expenditure originate in the House.
But, let’s not talk blame, let’s talk change.
Since Obama has been in office, the unemployment rate has hit levels not seen in 25 years or more. We have several states well in to the double digits, and that’s just the “reported” unemployment rate. If you count all of the people actually out of work, the numbers are closer to 15 or 20% nation wide. Even if you agree with the numbers on Recovery.gov (now admittedly inaccurate) of 650,000 jobs saved or created, we are on a downward slide. Every month, over half a million people join the ranks of the unemployed. Those increases have easily outpaced even the most liberal estimates of “job savings” by Obama. This change lays strictly at Barry’s feet for one reason; he took steps to stop it and they failed. Remember TARP? Remember Stimulus? These “had to be done” to save America. If we could put these in place, we could stop the bleeding, keep unemployment under eight percent, and turn this thing around. Ok, those things were done, unemployment is over 10%, and Joe Biden is telling us they “guessed wrong” on the economy. Guessed wrong? There’s some more change. Most real leaders don’t “guess” on something as complex as the US Economy.
Is this the change that Obama voters wanted? Higher unemployment, bogus jobs numbers, and guesses on how to address issues? Was THIS what they had in mind when you pulled the lever for Barry and the Liberal left? Again, I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt and say “no”. People in general are not particularly fond of spectacular failures, no matter how impressed they are with pretty words. Still, this is the change we have, and all estimates are that unemployment will continue to rise. If you question that fact, you need only look to Congress and Barry himself, who are planning jobs “summits” and possibly a second “stimulus”.
These points lead us to item three, the Misery Index. Do you remember this little gadget? Actually created a few decades ago, it was the primary discussion point during every newscast while Jimmy Carter was President. It measures our level of misery by combining unemployment and inflation with the idea that the more people who are unemployed and the higher prices are rising, the more miserable we all will be. I’ve been tracking the misery index, and have placed some benchmarks. You want some change? The index is now at a level higher than at any point during the Bush administration, excluding the last two years under the Democrat Congress. It is now nearly half of the level reached during the Carter administration. We are rapidly becoming more miserable, thanks to rising unemployment and now increasing inflation.
I don’t know about you, but I am relatively certain that people did not vote for a change to become more miserable. That being said, the most concerning thing about this chart is the sudden spike in misery in the past few months. With unemployment expected to remain high, will we see this index rise above the 2006 Democrat Congress levels? Will it get back to the levels of the Carter days? That would be change I would rather not believe in.
The final change I would like to mention is the change in accountability. Obama ran on accountability and transparency. Recovery.gov was built to make government more accountable. There was talk of posting bills on the web prior to votes, and cleaning up the business of government. But the change in accountability has not taken place in the administration, rather it has occured in the press. Can you imagine the outrage in the media if Bush had tried to ram a health care bill through the House? If Cheney’s limo had been in two accidents in the past two weeks? If Bush had failed to make a decision on Afghanistan for four months? Who in the media is holding Obama accountable for the admittedly inaccurate numbers on Recovery.gov (AZ-15)? Why is no one in the media interested in the scandals plaguing this administration such as buying votes, ethics violations, and tax fraud? And don’t start with the “that’s how business is done”. If this were Bush’s administration, the calls for impeachment would be ringing in the caves of Tora Borra.
This change in accountability by the press is, unfortunately, not surprising to most of us, but it is none the less most damaging to all of us. The responsibility of the free press is to act as the eyes of the people in keeping our government accountable to us. That was the design of our Founders. This change is not something that any free people could want, nor would they knowingly vote for it. Even Obama has touted the advantages of a truly free press on his recent trip to China. This is a change that we should change back. This is change that destroys hope. This, like all of the other changes listed here, is not change that we can, or should, believe in.
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