Posted by
Jan@Oasis on Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:22:57 PM
I didn't listen to the speech, but I did read parts of it here on TownHall. It does seem that Obama sees himself as a world leader (that's rich!) rather than an American president. But I think he is woefully lacking in any concept of what America actually is, and therefore he has decided that HE should be ONE to dictate how it WILL be. Not so fast, Slick.
Does he think that "equality" is what America is all about? Let me tell you, Mr. Obama, that that is not the case. Our Founders did not profess their willingness to die for "equality." They came here and dedicated themselves, risked everything they had--even their lives and those of their families--for one ideal: FREEDOM. That statue in New York Harbor is not "Lady Equality." It is Lady Liberty. Freedom is the core value of America, because we believe that our CREATOR (not you) has bestowed on us certain rights, and that we must be free to exercise those rights. Striving for equality means curtailing the freedom of the population so that the government can artifcially manipulate the economic situation of the country. You know, that "redistribution" thing. No, no, and NO.
Does he think that immigrants--my husband, for one--came here to pursue "equality?" They came here to have the freedom to work hard, use their brains and skills, and to pursue HAPPINESS. That's PURSUE, not have the government try to give it to them. Governments can't give people happiness, they can only allow the people the freedom to strive for it on their own--or not. In the real world that has been America, of course not everyone has the same things as everyone else. People are all different, with different gifts, talents, ambitions, needs, wants and levels of intelligence and education. That's real life! The best, the very best part of being an American is that if you live in less than ideal circumstances, you have the freedom to do something to change that, within only the bounds of your own limitations. And here's the thing: people do have limitations. The government cannot alleviate differences in abilites and intelligence, and certainly not in motivation. In fact, government might be the single best way to kill motivation. If it keeps telling the citizens (and the illegals!) that it will take care of them, people just might lose the desire to make it on their own. Can any of you college students think of any countries where that's happened? Hmm? Do you know what type of government those countries might have had?
What do you want for us, you who would be king? Do you want us to all be the same? Dress the same, drive the same car, eat the same food, make the same amount of money and spend it the same way, THINK the same? That's not us, that's China. Well, without the car. In MY country, there are rich people, poor people, people in between in all sorts of circumstances. That is freedom. Try your best, use your talents and brains, take care of yourself and your family, treasure the freedom that men fought and died for, read the ACTUAL history of the founding of this, the greatest country ever to exist on this planet (yes I know, it isn't perfect), and stop thinking of the government as the nanny, the daddy, the money tree, the be-all and end-all. It isn't. Reagan was right, it IS the problem. If you want to live in a socialist world, go live where my in-laws do--in Europe. See how "equal" you'll be there. We don't really want to have nothing, equally, because the government took it all so it could be "redistributed." The only fix for America is AMERICA--the people. If they lose their will to BE Americans and do what Americans have always done, then we are truly lost.
The majority of Americans don't care about the "world," what it thinks of us, what it wants from us. We'd like LESS to do with the rest of the world, not more. We have no apologies to make for anything. I personally would like to stop all foreign aid to everyone but Israel. And that 50 billion President Bush earmarked for AIDS in Africa--I'd like it back, every dime. It should be up to individuals to be charitable, not the government. Americans can decide for themselves what to donate their hard-earned money for. Government needs to stay out of it and let us keep what we earn. Get rid of the dead weight--the Department if Education comes to mind-- and go back to fiscal conservatism and individual responsibility and pride.
None of which sounds like Obama's intentions, does it? Mr. World needs to be hauled back to reality and told in no uncertain terms that FREEDOM is America, not equality. Let us do what we do best: work, earn, and decide for ourselves with whom we will share. Any redistributing that needs doing, we'll do it ourselves, thank you. Think he'll ever get it? He and his worshippers? Bets?
P.S. The only thing we need to be all the same on: our common language. That would be English.