THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 139, July 31, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE PEOPLE VERSUS THE GOVERNMENT
By Alan Caruba
THE EXTRAORDINARY DISTRUST & DISDAIN THAT AMERICANS OF ALL POLITICAL PERSUASIONS FEEL TOWARD
PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA & THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MAJORITIES IN THE TWO HOUSES OF THE U.S.
CONGRESS: THE DIRE NEED FOR THE AMERICAN VOTERS TO POLITICALLY NEUTRALIZE THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY
THROUGH A DECISIVE REPUBLICAN VICTORY IN THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS OF 2010, GIVING CONSERVATIVE
REPUBLICANS CONTROL OF BOTH CHAMBERS OF CONGRESS
FULL STORY:
These are truly extraordinary times. With every passing day, we are witnessing what can only be called "the People
versus the Government." The distrust and disdain Americans of all political persuasions feel toward the White House
and Congress is extraordinary.
A June, 2010, Gallup Poll revealed that just 12% of Americans expressed confidence in Congress, “the lowest of the
16 institutions tested this year, and the worst Gallup has measured for any institution in the 35-year history of the
question.” A recent Rasmussen Reports survey found that 68% believe the nation’s Political Class doesn’t “care
what most Americans think.”
The socalled Stimulus Act was widely seen as a “porkulous” act -- over two thousand pages filled with
congressional pork projects passed off as “shovel ready.” It promised to reduce the number of unemployed, which
since has risen — officially — from 8.5% to just under 10%.
There was widespread opposition to the government takeover of General Motors and Chrysler, as opposed to an
orderly process of bankruptcy that would have permitted changes to restore both companies. The arbitrary White
House intervention left bond holders and investors in the cold. It was clearly a bailout for the United Auto Union.
This was then followed by the astonishingly stupid “Cash for Clunkers” legislation and the closing of selected auto
agencies, some of which were sales leaders.
The overwhelming majority of Americans did not want the Healthcare Reform Act to be passed and now want it
repealed. Much has already been written about how it will raise costs and decrease services, while driving many
physicians to abandon Medicare because of its low payment schedule.
Then came the Financial Reform Act, another huge bill whose contents are still being analyzed, but which
significantly avoided any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government “entities” that were
responsible for the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Both agencies have been seized by the government, but both still own
over fifty percent of all U.S. mortgages.
Healthcare, financial services, auto manufacturers; at what point will there any “private” enterprise left in America that
is not totally controlled by the government?
What surprises me most is the lack of protest marches in Washington, D.C. The September, 2009, rally drew close to a
million utterly peaceful people who were opposed to Obamacare. The Tea Party movement has been staging events
that have drawn large crowds.
I suspect it has much to do with a patient electorate counting down the days until the November 2, 2010, elections.
They are more critical to the future of the nation than any since the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln as President just
prior to the Civil War, when southern States were calling for secession from the Union.
We are witnessing an increasing friction between the States and the central government, and there is no telling how
that will manifest itself in the years to come. The decision by a federal judge regarding Arizona’s effort to force the U.S.
government to do more regarding the wholesale invasion of America by illegal aliens promises to be a major issue in
both the midterm and 2012 elections.
For me, the most interesting aspect of the dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama is that occurring within the
Democratic Party.
Former President Bill Clinton’s campaign advisor, James Carville, recently blasted Obama for his handling of the BP oil
spill. On July 28, 2010, in a joint commentary in The Wall Street Journal, Patrick H. Caddell, a pollster for Jimmy
Carter, and Douglas E. Schoen, a pollster for President Clinton, labeled Obama “Our Divisive President.”
“Rather than being a unifier,” wrote Caddell and Schoen, “Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class,
and partisanship.” The number of leading Democratic officeholders, past and present, that are outspoken in their
criticism is becoming a daily event. “President Obama’s divisive approach to governance has weakened us as a people
and paralyzed our political culture,” said the pollsters.
None of this bodes well for Obama, despite his ability to raise money for the Democratic Party’s congressional
candidates in November, 2010, and for himself in 2012. It is widely reported that Wall Street, normally a reliable
contributor to Democratic coffers, is conspicuously absent at fundraisers.
All this comes back to the fact that Obama is a Marxist Socialist ideologue. He is also a liar, a trait no one likes, and a
narcissist who gives continued evidence of regarding the U.S. Presidency as a daily opportunity for self-indulgence
and bottomless ego satisfaction.
A recent Investor’s Business Daily editorial said:
“As Americans suffer economically, President Obama golfs,
vacations, campaigns, appears on a frivolous talk show —
and vacations some more. Gee, don’t we have a war and
other problems to attend to?”
Obama may not be easily removed, but he can be politically neutralized, if Republicans can gain control of Congress in
November. There are barely 900 days left in Obama's first and hopefully last term, but still time for him and his cadre of
czars to do more damage.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
American Government & the U.S. Congress:
Congressional Legislative Politics & National Public Policy
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science writer,
he is the Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about "scare campaigns" designed to influence
public opinion and public policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity