factory open in an age of fast cars
Cynicism appears to be the order of the day. I see increasing evidence of it in areas never before considered. It is a blight, a mold, a cancer which has as its only food the debris left from its own attacks.
Anyone who watched our President in a speech given at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and came away with cynicism must be intentionally jaded, perhaps irredeemably so. It is simply impossible to listen to the words of this man, observe his actions and believe anything sinister about him. I have yet to see one single proof of any charge leveled against him. Instead, murky, misleading and false charges are common.
I don't believe anyone who actually investigates him or listens to a press conference, or to the State of the Union Address or any interview, or observes his actual actions, can possibly, with any sense of honorable intent, claim or agree with the outrageous cynical and cowardly accusations being so smugly passed back and forth.
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If there are real disputes, why are they only stated in outlandish, grossly exaggerated and often false or greatly misleading claims, the vast majority of which can be easily disproved? Why are charts which show fresh blood being brought into government being championed as proof of incompetence? Aren't the chanters the same ones who claim we need a clean sweep in Washington?
This is not loyal opposition. The claims being made against Obama are illegitimate for the most part. They are easily disproved with a reasonable effort at seeking the truth. What does it say about their dissent when such repulsive tactics are employed? If they have honest differences, why are they not stated with facts to back them up? Instead, they hide in the shadows, throw rocks and run.
What I see is a confused and hurt bunch of folks trying desperately to keep the buggy whip factory open in an age of fast cars. The past is over. We have to deal with the mess left to us, like it or not. President Obama is doing a superb job with that.
I do not worship at his shrine, nor do I believe he is infallible. I DO believe he is the best hope the United States has had in a long time to resume its rightful place as the world's greatest nation. He has brought back reason and intellect to the White House. His words and actions are forceful, and leave no doubt as to his understanding or intent. He is praised by our allies as a man who they can trust and work with. He has an obvious mandate from the majority of the American people to bring about change from eight years of bungling and neglect.
Many are attempting to place an anchor around his neck and then claim,"See! he can’t swim!“ It is a coward’s tactic.
It will take years to climb back out of a deep hole left to us by the previous administration. It can only be accomplished by a nation willing to support a dedicated, forward thinking leader. A majority of good Americans voted to give Barack Obama a chance. I firmly believe that given that chance and a level playing field, he has the best chance of anyone of leading the U.S. in the best direction possible. A large group of cynics and obstructionists don't want to grant that opportunity. They lose power and control if it happens. America be damned.
History reveals that creating a great, free country does not always bring with it a greatly enlightened, educated civilization. Not yet, at least. We still must deal with Barbarians at the gates whose only goals are negative and destructive, who dare not give up pagan beliefs in demons and human sacrifice for fear of angering unseen gods.
Mine is but a lonely voice, perhaps, echoing back to me. I firmly believe, however, that there is a decent, intelligent majority of Americans who feel mostly the same way.
Why more people won’t stand up against ignorance and seditious Jabberwocky is a mystery to me. There should be a demand for honest debate of real issues and a rejection of cowardly sniping. Good minds can disagree. Poisoned minds desperately hide from discussion.
Noble Collins
9 comments:
The previous administration only passed on a deep hole. The problem was created by the Clinton administration's directives to Sallie Mae and Fannie Mae to make questionable home loans. The fundamental issue is our thinking that government can solve our problems. I haven't seen any evidence that it can.
While I mostly agree that government can't solve all our problems, I shudder to think where civilization would be without government. Actually, I don't know of any civilization which was ever completely without it. At times, under certain circumstances, various forms of government have greatly benefited their citizens. The opposite is equally true, however.
The Clinton Administration did, indeed open the gates for large increases in lower grade loans to take place. What caused the burst bubble, however was esoteric trading in more and more exotic products, each more and more dependent on the other's success. It was a Ponzi Scheme, and it took place during the eight long years that Geo. Bush was in the White House - not before.
EIGHT YEARS is a long time to pretend you don't know what is taking place. OR to actually NOT know, for that matter. When the inevitable crash finally happened, Bush bailed out the big banking houses - Not Obama.
Obama continued the bail outs, yes, and he created a giant Stimulus Package along with it. So far, the banks have mostly paid the money back, and General Motors is still employing hundreds of thousands of workers. Without intervention, we would have suffered a worse Depression than in the 1920's and 30's. There would have been no banking system to fall back on, and major industry would be shut down.
How anyone can possibly blame President Obama for this instead of giving him credit for helping to find a way through it, is baffling.
At least you have brought up some concrete issues to discuss and debate. I appreciate it and welcome it.
This is far different than what I disparaged in my article. There is a broad movement which seeks to undermine the Obama Administration with False and sleezy inuendo. It exists by sending highly suspicious emails accusing Obama of everything from forging a birth certificate to refusing to celebrate Christmas. These are easily disproved if a person takes the time or has an interest in exposing them. Sadly, most get passed along "just in case" they are true, or by people believing they Must be true.
This is the cowardly underground I refered to. They never stand for very long on one accusation for fear of exposure. They are constantly on the offensive hoping the "Big Lie" will ultimately wear down the truth. They are marked by their refusal (or inability) to debate real issues and furnish solid information instead of easily disproved hearsay or rumor.
Know them by their tactics, and know that they are hell-bent to create cynicism as broadly as possible. They are desperate to cling to some form of imagined power or to destroy the possible threat of actual power ordained by a majority of good people.
That's my concern and my argument.
I am a Libertarian so I have no love for either the Republicans or the Democrats. The cynicism started after the Kennedy assignation and has steadily grown since then.
I believe it is a symptom of the times. We are in a depression not a recession despite what the spin doctors say. Yes, it is not as bad as 1929 but it was forecast by Harry Dent in the "Roaring 2000s Investor" and by Ralph Acampora in "The Fourth Mega-Market" although for different reasons. They both predicted it would occur around 2012. Events caused it to happen a tad earlier.
It seems like a few people believe our government is broken. It has strayed too far from its initial concepts. Even I sent a tea bag to my congressmen. They have abused their power. I do not believe they should have a better pension plan than everyone else in America, a better health plan than everyone else, and the ability to vote themselves raises.
The president really has limited power and that is usually directed by his aides. It appears that the last good president may have been Truman. He had integrity.
Ayn Rand said that the only proper functions of a national government are the protection of individual rights and the defense of the country. We have strayed quite a ways from there.
Dissidents have always been around. They really tried to stop Wilson and America from entering World War I. Personally, I still have a big resentment toward Jane Fonda and the peace movement since I was forced into slavery to fight the Vietnam War. No one said anything nice to us when we returned from serving our country.
This is not as simple an issue as you portray. The "cowardly underground" does have facts and reasonable questions. I could recommend you chat with my son whom I have believed to be paranoid but what he relays to me has been independently verified over time. I still tell him he is making mountains out of mole hills.
My premise is that it is not about Obama. He is just a figurehead. Something is wrong in America.
We sing different parts, perhaps, but I think we are in the same choir.
Something is definitely wrong in America.
Much of what is wrong could be greatly modified (at least) if more good people like yourself would actually vocalize their specific worries and claims instead of hiding in the shadows and creating dark slurs.
Specific, concrete issues can be debated and discussed. Actual facts may be seen in different lights, but at least they have some substance to discuss.
America is, or should be, about resolving our differences on a level, honest playing field out in the open - not sniping from the woods.
Thanks for writing.
Collins, on Obama: QUOTE:"I DO believe he is the best hope the United States has had in a long time to resume its rightful place as the world's greatest nation."
Greatest debtor nation? We're Number ONE!
Greatest incarceration rate of it's population? We're number ONE!
I could go on, but Noble, I think you'll agree with me on this... To solve a problem, one must first identify the problem.
If you're even slightly optimistic about America's future, you're far from informed and and you're probably not even paying attention.
"Pass the chips and beer, honey, the big games almost on!"
Dan,
You chose to not address the topic of the article, but to bring up a pet peeve of yours. This actually goes to the point of the article, however. One side in this great debate doesn't want to stand and discuss - it only wants to keep dancing with negative music.
As to the enormous debt the U.S. has accrued we can certainly agree that it IS enormous and potentially deadly. How we got here is far more complex, however.
Do you, for instance, happen to know the figure representing our federal debt in the year 2000? Do you know what that figure was at the end of 2008?
Perhaps you might explain to your audience that a great deal of the increase went to support two emotional but very destructive wars. You might also, assuming you are an honest man, explain to your audience that the Bush Admin. was responsible for the biggest bailout of financial institutions in American history. Perhaps you could give them the numbers that were added to our debt due to that.
The Obama Admin. arranged to Loan many of the surviving institutions enough money to stabilize the credit system - preventing a total crash of the American economy. Most of this money has been paid back!
Without an increasing Gross National Product in the future, we have no way of guaranteeing payment on our debt. THIS looms as the real monster under the bed. The Stimulus Package instituted by the Obama Admin. has a potential for a great increase in GNP much sooner rather than later.
Given the dire challenges and possible solutions, yes, I still say that Obama is handling our difficulties about as well as we could hope for. He isn't perfect, and he has made some tactical mistakes, but the track we are on has the best potential for leading us to a far better place.
I think you final comment tells more about you than you percieve:
"If you're even slightly optomistic about America's future, you're far from informed."
I consider myself pretty informed, Dan. The question,rather, is whether I believe we are irreconcilably doomed. I don't
There are two kinds of folks in a life boat - those who paddle and those who give up.
(Worse, there are some who try to convince everyone to give up)
Noble
QUOTE:"I consider myself pretty informed, Dan. The question,rather, is whether I believe we are irreconcilably doomed. I don't."
Please don't be offended, but considering yourself to be "informed" and actually being informed are miles apart.
Your post indicates that you're about 10-15 years behind in your knowledge base.
I'd venture to say that the majority of Americans feel that they, too, are "pretty informed."
We both know that that's not true.
I might be able to help.
You ABSOLUTELY must look at and read a wider range of information sources. The alphabet TV networks each have their own agenda and they're pretty slick with their tactics. Slick enough that most viewers don't even see their agenda. Once you wake up to their tactics, you can't go back. You're getting mostly opinion and cherry picked news stories with each and every show.
Blinders work great for horses; on people, they're not so hot.
NPR radio is just as slanted to the leftist/socialist side as FOX (Faux) NEWS is on the pseudo-right side. This is where independent, internet-based news sources become our best friends. This is where real change could come from, asuming that people take the time to READ from these sources and not just turn on the tube and fall asleep. Do people even read anymore?
You're also never going to get me to apologize for "The Bush Years." I have very little respect for either Bush 41 or Bush 43. Why? Because THEY WERE NOT CONSERVATIVES. Both Bushes draped themselves with the cloak of conservatism, but it was just another in a long line of tried-and-true political ruses.
Slick Willy Clinton was actually more conservative than Bush Jr. on many issues. Bush Jr.'s strategy was to "cut some taxes, raise others but always continue to SPEND BIG." And that's exactly what he did.
Did you know that Bush Jr. tripled the size of the Federal government during his eight year run? Amazing, eh?
But did you know that Obama has doubled the size of our Federal government in less than one year?
Do you see a problem with that trend?
We simply don't have the manufacturing base left in America to pull out from this disaster.
Here's a quote attributed to Margaret Thatcher:
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money to spend."
Before I continue, Noble, please clarify your contention that "we have hope for the future."
My take is that if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. If America was a cruise ship at sea, we'd be headed towards land, full speed ahead with very, VERY little chance to avoid running aground.
I have facts to back up this contention, but I want to hear yours.
Just show me ONE single bright spot on the horizon for America. I'll look anywhere for anything of substance that might get America out from under our ever increasing, crushing National debt (thanks, Obama!) and our bleak, BLEAK future.
Anything!
As I stated, I prefer to row, not whine.
As for my knowledge, I usually state facts, while I notice that you are what might be called a limited generalist. Making generalizations from narrow and limited information.
I've lived through a Great Depression and a world war - served in the U.S.Army Airborne, and endured The Civil Rights movement and The John Birch Society.
I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to be called informed.
One more thing. Read my article about small town Christmas' It illustrates my philosophy.
I have personally witnessed many occasions in life which defy conventional wisdom and have turned disaster into celebration. This allows me to think outside the box and assume that the long range trend in the universe is, and always has been, toward progress, no matter how difficult certain periods became. History appears to support that assumption.
The United States may not be the last great civilization, after all. It has well known flaws. So far we have managed to work around these flaws pretty well, and have the greatest country in today's world. So Far.
If I am talking with God here, I apologize, Sir.
Only You know whether we are doomed or not. Your word says something about a "thousand year reign of peace."
Some of your people aren't well informed.
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