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Changing The Process, Obama's Failure

Posted by Joe Oliva on Saturday, February 14, 2009 7:29:41 PM
 

  In the 2008 election, our new President campaigned on his twin themes of Hope & Change.  He held out the hope that he would change the way that Washington works.  Unfortunately, he has already failed to deliver on the first and very likely most important legislation of his new administration.

  The President made what looks like bipartisan overtures to the Republicans, even putting them into various positions on his staff and in his cabinet.  However, when we look at the so-called stimulus package that has now passed in congress, it is plain to see that these were just words (a refrain that President Obama used frequently in his campaign to emphasize his hope and change message). 

  This stimulus package did not arise from earnest bipartisan cooperation and discussion.  It does not meet the President's campaign call for openness and transparency.  The legislation does not exhibit any creativity, innovation, or pragmatic common sense.  It was not designed to benefit the nation.  Rather, the bill was crafted in committees ruled by partisan Democrats to reward their special interests friends and rushed to a vote without a real opportunity for the American people to see what is actually being proposed.  Not even the esteemed members of congress had the necessary time to read and evaluate this monstrous financial endeavor!

  Where is the change from business as usual in Washington?  What happened to the idea of having the people view the legislation before it becomes law? When did the President sit down with a diverse group of "leaders" to evaluate and select ideas that appear workable?  How, in other words, has the process of governing the nation changed?

  The truth is that the President cannot and will not bring his hope and change to America as he stated he would.  It is impossible for him to do so.  Since President Obama is a Democrat, he will stick with his party and be beholden to them for their support.  The sad reality is that partisanship will never give way to leadership because elections in our nation are only about power: getting it, keeping it, and increasing it.

  If the President was truly interested in changing how business is done by the elite ruling class that owns Washington, he would have pursued a much different approach. Since this legislation is a massive intrusion into the workings of our economic system, one would think that this was the perfect chance to do something different.  But that did not happen.  What we now have is more of the same, this time with the Democrats in charge and the vanquished Republicans sitting on the sidelines. 

  Real change in how Washington works could have been done with regards to this stimulus package.  For example, what if the President actually sat down with leaders of both parties and economists who have differing points of view to establish something truly workable?  What if the President had called for all ideas to be brought forth and evaluated?  What if the President then chose three of the most likely provisions that would begin to achieve his goal of jump starting the economy while leaving future actions to be determined by the actual conditions and results from implementing those three ideas? What if the President told his fellow Democrats that legislation being proposed must have as its first principle that which would be best for the nation?  What if the President rejected the partisanship from both sides and went before the American people to inform them of what he intended to do and why it was the best possible choice?  What if hope and change were other than a political slogan created to win an election? What if, what if, what if!

President Obama has squandered his opportunity to bring about change in his very first try at governing.  Perhaps he never intended to make any real changes.  To do that would require him to challenge his own party and the group think mindset that is at the core of partisanship and failure. The hold on power by the elites is not readily surrendered, and the weakness of the two party system that controls this great nation cannot be overcome when the President is a member of either party.  In voting the lesser of two evils, we see that once again we have garnered evil. By doing the same thing and allowing the elites to retain their power, we have ensured that the results will be the same.  Doing the same thing and expecting a different result was Einstein's definition of insanity!  Is there any doubt that we have an insane and out of control government run by two elite controlled parties?

  The jockeying for position in the 2010 elections has already begun.  The current atmosphere in Washington is once again that of partisan fighting.  The President has done nothing to change the dynamics, nothing to usher in a new era of Constitutional self government.  As a Democrat, he must be loyal to his party first!  He cannot and will not go against them for the sake of the country.  His clever campaign slogan was only a facade, and in the end, the change that we were hoping for has become an illusion.

  If we wish for something different, if we really want true change, we should vote for it.  Change to something different requires a different way of thinking and acting.  The election of 2010 will be the time and the opportunity to do just that.  It will be the chance for true independents, those who recognize the scam being perpetrated upon us all by the DEM/GOP/MSM propaganda machines, to reclaim an inheritance that has been stolen from us by the elites who control the two parties.  With that in mind, everyone who is concerned should consider either running for office or gathering with other like minded persons to choose an independent candidate who will represent the nation before any party.  Let's reject the elites and their power game and stand up for our country!  It is a sure guarantee that the elites will not!

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This Isn't Funny Anymore

Posted by Joe Oliva on Monday, January 26, 2009 2:50:16 PM


              
     
  After the constant complaining about how corrupt the Republicans were during President Bush's term, the Democrats swept into power in 2006 promising to clean up the mess and give us the most transparent government ever.  Building upon the President's highly unfavorable ratings (and ignoring the even lower ratings of congress) the Democrats won big in the 2006 & 2008 elections.  Recently, a third Democrat governor took a political nose dive.

  First, New York State Governor Eliott Spitzer was caught with his harlot girlfriend and had to resign from office. Then, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was revealed to have been trying to sell the Senate seat of President-Elect Obama.  He is soon to be impeached and maybe even imprisoned. The latest crook is New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who had to withdraw himself from nomination as Secretary of Commerce due to financial shenanigans involving state contract bids and donations to some of his campaign organizations.

  This sorry tale of arrogant elites continues with our esteemed Senate.  Governor Blagojevich, ignoring all calls for restraint by his fellow Democrats, nominated a former Illinois State Attorney General, Roland Burris, to fill the vacant seat of departing Senator Barack Obama.  In a fit of high dudgeon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declined to allow Mr. Burris to be seated, even though the governor was well within his rights to name a replacement since he hadn't even been charged with any crime at that point. As for Mr. Burris, he has no blemish on his record of public service that would have been a  cause for denying him his seat. After much foolishness, Mr. Burris finally became a Senator from Illinois

   In New York, Senator Hillary Clinton has become Secretary of State in the new Obama administration.  As in Illinois, the New York governor, James Patterson, has the authority to name a replacement to fill Mrs. Clinton's spot.  Despite there being any number of Democrats who have served in New York, an attempt to secure this seat was made by none other than the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, Caroline Schlossberg.  Mrs. Schlossberg of course, had been making the most of her famous family name by using Kennedy in many public appearances. 

  Now, Mrs. Schlossberg has withdrawn her name from consideration citing personal reasons. Although there is no reason to doubt her, rumors keep being spread about tax malfeasance and other issues, but, the nonsense doesn’t end there. Governor Patterson has named an upstate NY Congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, as the person to fill Mrs. Clinton’s seat. Apparently, Mrs. Gillibrand doesn’t adhere to the strict Democrat party line and is pro-gun and pro-life. Downstate Democrats are furious that someone who isn’t following their ideology could possibly be selected.

 Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the senate race between incumbent Republican Ron Coleman and his Democrat opponent, comedian Al Franken, is going to court.  All sorts of allegations of miscounts and double counts have surfaced after a massive re-count of the state election results of November 4.  In one of the more bizarre charges, it appears that in some districts, more votes were counted than there were actual voters.  The circus atmosphere of our national politics doesn't end there however.

  Even the exalted position of Secretary of the Treasury is under a cloud of scandal and lies. The nominee,Timothy Geithner, was found to have not paid certain taxes for the years 2001 – 2004. When an IRS audit caught him for the years 2003 & 2004, he paid the back taxes and penalties. However, it conveniently slipped his mind that he didn’t pay these same particular taxes in 2001 & 2002, that is, until he was nominated to be Secretary of the Treasury His claim during confirmation hearings can only be listened to if we follow the sage advice of Mrs. Clinton when she basically called General Petraeus a liar. Her words at that time were, “A willing suspension of disbelief”.

  What we are seeing in all of these instances is a verification of the old adage that 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'.  The two major parties have now accumulated absolute power between themselves, and they are in effect, one huge, corrupt, political organization.  They have engineered the entire election process to assure themselves of this continual lock on power.  Without any real challenge to their position, they have relegated leadership, the will of the people, and the Constitution, to the back burner.  Instead, they engage in pure partisanship designed to discredit the other in an effort to secure the most power to one side of this two sided corrupt political system.

  We the people are at fault here even though it can be said that we have been scammed and duped into this 'lesser of evils' mentality.  It is time to acknowledge that we have failed to keep our eyes on these elite crooks, allowing them to be re-elected to office over and over again.  Ignoring the wise words of Albert Einstein that doing the same thing again and again while expecting different results is insane, we have put the same individuals back into office, expecting that this time it will be different.  The result has only been the same old same old, and an insane and corrupt government.


  We need to reject the propaganda of the DEM/GOP/MSM political machines we have been fed and we need to reconsider this idea of party loyalty.  It is simply not true that only “they”, the elites of the two major parties, have the necessary wisdom, knowledge, and experience to govern. In fact, if these items illustrate anything, it is that these elites are incompetent, untrustworthy fools!

  What we should be loyal to is Constitutional self government.  Our votes should go to people of good moral character who will put the needs of the nation first. There is no other way that we can, as the founders stated, secure the blessings of liberty to our children and grandchildren.  Without new thinking and patriotic men and women in office, the corruption will continue. The time to vote for independent and third party candidates with no ties to PACs, lobbyists, corporations, and other influence seekers has arrived!

  In 2010, we must not once again fall victim to the scams of the elites.  We can no longer afford to have partisan politicians disregard the needs of the nation because they are so concerned about power and the lifelong job security they have created for themselves.  Why would we ever re-elect any of these elite crooks who have been wasting the nation's resources, destroying our once great educational system, weakening our military by using it to police the world, subverting our national sovereignty by subscribing to United Nations mandates and leaving our borders wide open to illegal immigrants and terrorists, and mortgaging the financial future of our children by their profligate spending that now has us in debt to the rest of the world by over 12 trillion dollars with more on the way?

  The insanity must stop!  No one else can do it for us, we must do it for ourselves.  If we will not do so, we can only be assured that the future will bring on more of the same, and in the end, the future of freedom will decline and quite probably disappear as the elites continue on with their self aggrandizing ways. The choice is there for us, but we need some faith in ourselves and some guts to reclaim the inheritance that is rightfully ours. The path is clear and the decision is our own.  Either we rule ourselves through Constitutional self government, or we continue to submit to the ruling elites of the two corrupt parties that have as their goals self preservation and power.  What choice will you make?

  I would like to leave you with this quote from one of our most famous patriots and founding father, James Madison.

         “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same

         hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or

        elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

 

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