Back to the Basics

I once again found myself having to tune out all the news coming from of our nation’s capital before Christmas.  In order for me to enjoy the season with my family, I had to completely shut off the news and my political mind because it was making me very angry.  I took a peek now and then, got mad and shut it all off.  I didn’t have to watch the news to know what was going to happen.  At the last hour of the year, a deal would be struck that would do absolutely nothing about the “fiscal cliff” and that is exactly what happened.  No spending cuts at all.  More taxes and now Obama is already talking about more revenues that need to come from the “wealthy”.  It really annoys me that the leaders in Washington, D.C. and the media have labeled this a “fiscal cliff” too.  As far as I am concerned, when the U.S. Government borrows 47 cents of every dollar it spends and when now in the U.S. upon birth, each child owes the U.S. Government tens of thousands of dollars, we are already free-falling off any “fiscal cliff”.

It is embarrassing as a conservative and as a citizen of this country to watch our Congress and President behave the way they do.  Not one of them is a leader.  Let’s start with Harry Reid, the Majority Leader in the Senate.  How this man was elected to a leadership position baffles my mind.  He could not lead his way out of a wet paper bag and the way he speaks! Is it just me or does it seem like he is trying out to be the next Mr. Rogers on PBS?  As the Majority Leader of the Senate, he has failed to produce a budget for over 3 years now.  Isn’t it the responsibility of the Senate to come up with a budget?  I guess given the state of our economy, we don’t need one. It is much better to push through a bill at the last hour of the year that no one had time to read.

That worked really well for Obamacare.  Remember Nancy Pelosi telling us that they needed to pass the bill in order to find out what was in the bill?  Well, now that a trillion dollars of Obamacare taxes are taking the country by storm, some democrats in Congress are now realizing what they voted for and are not happy.  Specifically, the tax on medical equipment.  There are many who now want to put a hold on that tax because they realize how badly it is going to affect some of the businesses in their areas.  How truly pathetic is it that our leaders are able to operate this way?

Watching John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, try to negotiate with Obama and the democrats has been painful.  What he needs to understand and I am not sure why he doesn’t, is that they are not interested in negotiating!!!  They are interested in one thing and one thing only and that is the pursuit of their statist ideology.  They will degrade and insult anyone as well as lie to get what they want.  I think John Boehner may be a nice guy to play golf with, but I really think the job of Speaker of the House is beyond him.  He is not leading his party into a position to achieve anything, except for how to be Obama’s lap dogs.

Now, the President of our country, is only capable of leading in three areas. We must give credit where credit is due.  Obama is very good at leading a staged photo-op. He has it down to a science.  Always a crowd of people around him to pose and support him and the people are always reflective of whatever wool he is trying to pull over the eyes of the American people at the time.  We had doctors in white coats during the Obamacare debate.  Whenever he wants to seem like a good Commander-in-Chief, he surrounds himself with the military and most recently were the middle class families he had surrounding him during the “fiscal cliff” crisis. He is also very, very good at leading people into fundraisers and let’s not forget that he is very good at leading his family to fantastic vacations.

As all the craziness over the looming “fiscal cliff” was going on, I was trying desperately to enjoy Christmas with my family and we did have relatives from outside the country come to celebrate with us.  We took them site-seeing to many different places, but what really struck me was our trip to Mount Vernon, home of George and Martha Washington and to Ford’s Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was shot.  I have been to both before, but this time was different.  This time as I walked through these remarkable places, I was reminded of all the tough decisions these great men faced and of their accomplishments.

One not only encouraged, but fought for  the birth our nation and then helped build the foundation for it to be something great.  The other was faced with the incredible task of keeping the nation united.  These were selfless men who put God and country first.  These men gave their lives to the people of this country in order for them to live united and free.  They thought not of themselves and what fame they would receive, but only of what was right for the citizens of this nation.  They both were leaders of this nation during very tumultuous times, but, they led us to greatness.

How did we stray so far from this?  When did we decide that our leaders really don’t need to lead at all?  We now have a President and a Congress who are much more concerned about their own ambition and titles than what is right for the country.  They assume that you do not know anything and if you disagree with them, well, your are just an obstacle that needs to be quieted.  We have a President that is not concerned about preserving the Constitution and the rights of people, but how he can power grab and take away your rights.  Now, he does have a willing media and a large lot of the country that is helping him.  Propaganda works well at misleading the masses who are too willing to overlook facts and not pay attention to the details.

I get very angry when I look at this closely as I am sure many of you do, but I realize quickly, after yelling at the television, that anger does nothing.  I have reread the Declaration of Independence and I am rereading and studying very willfully the Constitution.  I want to be ready at any moment to state clearly what our country is founded on and what I am fighting for.  Our Constitution is our last line of defense against those who are seeking to change our country.  The so-called leaders of this country have strayed too far from what their job is and in my eyes, from what the founding document of our nation entrusted them to do.  We need to get back to the basics.  It is pretty simple…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We need leaders who understand this and who are willing to lead not because of recognition and ambition, but because of a selfless desire to see the people of this country grow to greatness and live peacefully.

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”