It’s been about 48 hours since the presidential election was decided. My first reaction was disbelief based on my knowledge of Obama’s first term. I was not the only center-right voter that was bowled over by the results. Depression rapidly followed the shock and disbelief. But eventually I conquered my dark mood and began dissecting the results. Help came from the talking heads, both left and right, that bloviated regularly. Most of those commentators live in Washington, D.C., or New York. Denizens of those megalopolises don’t have the clarity of perception that the majority of the population possess.
So I listened and thought and listened some more and by the time my mind cleared from the election results, I had come to my own conclusions.
The differences between the candidates were stark and could not have been more illuminating. So here is what I saw. Obama had almost four years of a governing record. Without getting too detailed, I saw that he had offered no budget for four years (a constitutional requirement) and with his first two years of total control of the Congress, Obama ignored the economy and job losses and forced through Obamacare with bribes and gimmes.
In addition to the 32 million new Americans in poverty, 17 million more food stamp recipients, our worsened relationship with Israel, the 24 million people looking for jobs and the doubling of the deficit, his “new” plan is a retread of his 2008 campaign slogans.
Most alarming in my overview was the deterioration of our position and our dollar in the world’s money market!
Just look at the Benghazi cover-up and the Nov. 1 attack on our drone over international waters in the Gulf of Hormuz.
By comparison, the challenger was a proven market-savvy capitalist. I know “capitalist” is a dirty word in today’s environment, but it remains a resumé enhancement for any reasonable employer, and the electorate should have been that reasonable employer! OK, Romney was a second choice for most of us conservative voters, but he did prove his credentials as the race wore on. To us he seemed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. But we were wrong! The question we now face is, with all the facts militating against Obama, why did he win the election?
My analysis will definitely anger some liberalsm but I welcome those who disagree with me to present their arguments.
OK, Obama’s record is abysmal, we are heading for the “fiscal cliff,” Social Security is tenuous at best, and we have lost any ability to secure order in the world. Yet we reelected him for another four years!
Now, that wouldn’t be earth-shaking news if we were living in normal times, but we are facing financial and systemic global meltdown.
There can be but two answers to the question. The Obama zealots are wedded to the socialist ideology, and other considerations are ignored, including the reduction of America to Third World status.
That may be true of some of the Obama extremists — perhaps a third or so — but it is also a fact that Americans have been dumbed down and seem unable to critically analyze the claims and lies of politicians. We have dropped to around 25th in the 3Rs of readin’, “riting and “rithmetic when tested against Asian countries and European states such as Slovenia and Croatia. OK, zealotry accounts for some of the vote; for the rest, read on.
OK, liberals here comes the point that will send you running to your keyboard to unleash a blizzard of letters to the editor about my boorish comments. Too bad; the truth is often a difficult issue to accept. Obama won his second term because he gives people things; Romney lost his bid because he offered the chance to work and earn those freebies now given to the voters. Yep, I believe those recipients of food stamps, disability payments, Medicare and the hundreds of giveaway programs don’t want to give up the free stuff. We’ve crossed the Rubicon and the America us old fogeys grew up in is lost.
Self-reliance and independence, once the watchword of the United States of America, has died. We were warned at our country’s birth that once the populace learns it can vote itself money, the republic is lost.
God save America.
Larry Tradlener lives down McElmo Canyon.