Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I won't hate Obama (an essay written the night before the election by my Dad)

I hope Obama will live up to his repeated promises to usher in a new brand of governance that will turn a deaf ear to lobbyists seeking to enrich industries at the expense of the country as a whole, often times while ignoring common sense. And I hope he remembers that groups like unions, like the Teacher’s Union for example, are lobbyists too seeking to line their own pockets (even if they are his rabid self-serving supporters.)

I hope he doesn’t further destroy our economy and take our recession into a depression. If he expands government spending and increases taxes, it will happen. Our country currently spends about 9% of GDP on social programs…most of Western Europe spends 19% of GDP. Europe suffers from a list of economic woes so much longer and more severe than ours, that a quick study of the EU econometrics makes you feel almost warm and fuzzy about our financial Titanic. If we move in that direction, being big governmental entitlement expansion funded by tax hikes and/or deficits, we will find ourselves with a shrinking dollar, a growing deficit, higher unemployment, and a flight of capital. I hope I am wrong about all of these things…..and I hope the top 10% of taxpayers…..who currently pay about 70% of all the taxes…..will be giddy about paying more, and passing less on to their family, and keeping less of investment/risk rewards…….but I am afraid I am not.

I hope my unease about Obama’s political lineage is media-driven and unfounded. Maybe Wright, Ayers, Mansour, Dohrn, Rezko, Kahlidi, Marilyn Katz are just reflections of immature judgment, or necessary and unavoidable political bedfellows. I hope so. I honestly do. Because it scares me that tomorrow we will have a man elected POTUS who would NEVER get hired by the FBI, or NSA, or CIA, or receive a high security clearance. While I don’t necessarily believe in guilt by association……I think these associations are ill reflections on a man whose main selling point is his biography, not accomplishment or demonstrated character.

Let’s face it….our government is broke. Spending is out of control. Accountability is absent. The last 8 years have made things worse, not better. And less you think this is a George Bush-only problem get a grip on the reality that the public opinion of Congress (Democratically dominated since 2006) is lower than W’s. We have concentrated power and parochial ideology from a two-party system that would make our forefathers vomit. They were notably skeptical of political parties. So am I. Ideally we would elect a leader at this time who was savvy, non-partisan, pragmatic, proud of our country, passionate about protecting our historical freedoms, wary of government bloat and corruption, and brave enough to look into the pathetic plethora of media leeches and speak the truth to the American public. I don’t think Obama is any of these things, and I hope I am dead wrong.

But no matter what happens tomorrow, I won’t hate Obama. Not if he is elected President. We have had enough of that for the past 8 years, haven’t we? The small-minded and bitter liberal left, including a Hollywood crowd too long to list, constantly spewed hate about W…not his policies, not his perceived mistakes, not even about his behavior…but about the POTUS. And the hate came in unprecedented volume…even when compared to derision aimed at the international buffoonery of Carter or abject moral failure of Clinton. No…it was legitimate hate. And as far as I can see…it didn’t make any of us better, or any of W’s bad decisions less bad. So I am sure I will hate many of Obama’s policies..even if I only choose from the list he has already displayed (as opposed to the much larger list undoubtedly yet to come.) If he accelerates class warfare and/or race warfare….I will hate that. If he makes me take my money out of the country……(and one thing even a high school econ student knows is that investor’s and their capital always react to taxation policies)…..I will hate doing that. But I won’t hate Obama as long as he is President of the United States. I don’t think I can afford to….or at least initially….WE can afford to.

So I hope I am wrong about Obama. I pray I am wrong about Obama. And you know me…..I hate being wrong.

Good luck to us all.

5 comments:

Josh and Lyndi Smith said...

Amen. I woke up this morning with the same sentiment. I am optimistically skeptical.

David and Shalynna said...

Boy do we love your dad. He's great with his words- maybe that's why we had him give our wedding toast! Thanks for sharing this.

TiAnn said...

Amen to that. Unfortunately all that we can do now is press on with such unrealistic "hope".

Mary said...

Hey I just found your blog on Kristina's blog!! How are you doing? Are you still in school? I have been thinking about the Spain group lately too... it seems like a lot of us are in Utah again! Hope you're doing well!

Brynne said...

This is awesome. :)