"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf,
a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath."
- The Fool; King Lear
For those just waking up from that 18 year coma, or the two readers I have overseas, today our country celebrated the inauguration of Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States of America. To a lot of people this is an amazing and historic day. To others it is a sign of the apocalypse. To me, I am kind of sitting back skeptically, being skeptical, smack dab between the haters and the worshipers.
It isn't that I don't like Barack Obama. He's a great motivational speaker. But I would augment the quote from King Lear up there to include speeches from politicians on the list of things to mistrust.
Throughout history we've all seen promises made, promises broken. In this day and age, we can track day to day what someone says and count each and every "flip-flop" that a politician makes. Keeping a running tally of the changes ("I was for the war, before I was against it!") adds to my natural distrust of anything coming out of the mouth of anyone.
You may think me cold, but I refuse to drink any Kool-Aid that any poet, priest or politician is serving up. Including Obama.
There is a lot about Barack Obama to like, and then there is a lot that one has to seriously question. How he plans on getting money to fund social projects is one of those things that I seriously ponder. I am a firm believer of the Flat Tax philosophy. That if I bust my ass and make 267,000 a year, I should pay the same rate of tax as someone who makes 67,000 a year, or 7,000 a year. I think 15% is a good rate. I do not think that because you make more, you should be taxed more. What would then make one or motivate one to work harder to make more money for himself or herself, for their family, if it pushes them into another tax bracket?
The biblical philosophy in Luke where it is stated that "to whom much is given, much is required" should not apply to the government saying "Hey, you've got a lot so we're going to take it." No. That person should be giving of himself. Not one forced to do it through the government. I find that when I have more money, I'm a lot more generous. When money is tight, I have to pay for the immediate costs and needs. If I have more money, I give more away. I pay my bills, maybe go out to dinner, and I give money generously to charity and people who I know need it.
I know there are people who do not. And there are people who sit and languish because they do not have what some greedy fat cat has. But to be honest, I have never ever believed in Nanny Government. I have a feeling much more of this institutionalization of "giving" will be put into place. And I don't think it is a good thing.
But I love this and will not quit it like all of those those people who threatened to "move to France" because the candidate of their choice was not elected eight years ago (hey, Alec Baldwin, how's France working out for you, ya jackass. Pompous, bigmouthed jackass blowhard douche).
Obama is my president, and I support him and hope for an amazing four years for this country. I do. I really do.
I am skeptical about is this whole worship cult that is built up around him. The fact that most of this nation has lost belief in God, religion, faith, something ... in whatever that may be, that they've latched onto yet another smooth-talking man snake oil salesman with nice things to say about doing good and making change for people.
This concept of the Saviour of America image that the media and his staunchest supporters are building up really worries me. This wasn't an inauguration today. It was a beatification. A coronation. An ascension to the throne.
I put no faith in ANY politician to do the right thing. I take them all as liars and thieves. And while Obama's pledge for "change" and "yes we can" ring across the nation, I wonder what change this is? How will it get here? And how will people react when it doesn't come fast enough for their liking. I am wary that everyone who has so heartily and deeply inhaled the kool-aid will be so sorely disappointed. And our nation of Id obsessed "give it to me now now now" instant gratificationites will be yelling and screaming that they've been abandoned.
Obama's got a tough row to hoe, as they say. And boy, my hat is off to him and I wish him well. But I have a feeling, no matter what, everything will be blamed on the mess he inherits, not his inability to make good on his promises. Fingers will be pointed. Blame will be cast. Media stuffed shirts will be squawking. It's going to be an interesting 100 days, I think. I predict. I cringe.
The one thing is that I'm happy so many of my friends are so different. I spent the day with facebook loaded up onto my PC and I watched the status updates fly by. So many of my friends are either total moonbats or complete Unibombers. I sit right in the middle and see both of their arguments and say...
God bless the USA, and all the poor souls within it.
Good luck president Obama. We're counting on you to do good things, right things, and please... watch your back, baby. I worry about your safety and if you are lost, I hate to think of what will happen to this nation next. Get through the next four years... I don't care if you're an abysmal failure at it. Just survive it, please. Good luck and God speed.
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