November is very close now and the race for President of the United States of America will be screamed at all Americans across the airwaves of the nation. Perhaps it is time to reflect on the past three years of the Obama administration and the eight years of the Bush administration.
Our nation suffered a catastrophic economic recession that continues to linger, mired in great part because republicans and democrats refuse to acknowledge that this economic downturn was due in part to the ideology of both Presidents Bush and Obama and the respective national congress of the era.
It is time to reflect on America and think of history a bit. When our nation was young it found men and women who gave the people the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. At the time of our forefathers, we numbered but a few million men, women and children, begging for freedoms from unresponsive governments, freedoms from taxation without representation, freedoms of religious beliefs and the freedom to achieve a dream, to give children a hope of the future.
That was the beginning of our national pride, our battle to rid the yoke of a tyrannical government.
Today, our nation owes in excess of $15 trillion, our federal government borrows roughly $.47 for each and every dollar it spends, our state governments have failed education, law enforcement and fire protection for the citizens and our city governments suffer financial inadequacies because government at every level of our existence is a failure of blotted bureaucracy and spending debauchery.
This November I am going to place huge importance on my vote. I will, regardless of political ideology, attempt to vote for the better man or woman in whom I hope will take a message of change to each and every level of government. Simply stated, I am going to vote for the candidate or proposition that offers less taxation and more responsibility and reform.
I am going to vote the candidate who acknowledges that the government must not spend what it does not have. We are already highly taxed and each and every politician at every level of government wants more without the reforms necessary to curb the abhorrent spending habits of local, city, county, state and federal governments. I know that if the present trend of expenditures is not curbed, more and more communities will be forced into bankruptcy as was Stockton, San Bernardino and other communities across California.
I have many questions. Among them, why do we give billions of dollars to nations that do not like our country or our people? Why do we let government call social security an entitlement when not only you, the person, but also the commercial enterprise you worked for contributes into the system to augment our retirement? Why do we wage war across the Middle East and what does Afghanistan have that makes it worth a single American soldier”s life? The most important question I have for any candidate is where is the spirit of the people of this country?
When we were a young and struggling nation, we found leaders such as Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin and many others who simply wanted a less-intrusive government and more opportunity for the people.
Where has that mindset gone? Who took it from we, the people and handed it to the government of the United States? Many great orators have stated “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
Perhaps we should think of that statement when we vote this November and further, to complicate these ideas more by asking why we seemingly vote for the very same government that have placed this nation in such turmoil without resolving the underlying spending habits that have brought us this great economic recession that we are all enduring?
I guess I can ask, “Are we that stupid at the polls to believe we must sill vote the party line”?” Look at where that has gotten us today. Lots of questions.
Is there anyone out there in the political arena who will swear to curb the disastrous spending habits of all bureaucracies and attempt to restore an honest government?
Sherman D. Baker
Kelseyville
