Fingering the other

I cannot help but get drawn into politics. Largely because none of it really makes sense. It is not the lies or positions of politicians; it's the public opinion and acceptance of such lies and positions.

One thing that I do understand is how emotionally driven people are; to the point of being self destructive in many cases. From a political perspective this becomes very evident, but it still confuses me. (I think because emotion often lacks logic and reason.)

Going into the elections I repeatedly asked people that I knew were voting for Obama; why they were voting for him. I simply would not get a response. Pages (here) adorned with support for Obama of people who would not (or perhaps could not) say why they supported him. For someone like me, something could not be more confusing. A person with a rainbow bumper sticker is more than willing to not only announce that they are gay, but they will freely tell you why they are. A person with a pro-life bumper sticker will talk your ear off about why they stand against abortion. What would make so openly supporting a presidential candidate any different? The lack of ability to respond to such an easy question had lead me to believe they simply had no reason other than his popularity itself.

This concerned me because so much was at risk because people wanted to support the man cited by the media as being a winner vice actually standing behind his positions and policies. People were so entranced by the Obama fever that it seemed to me as if they lost all ability of independent thought.


His policies pointed to one direction and one direction only. Socialism; and with socialism comes big government. I would ask a person that intended to vote for Obama how they felt about these issues. In most cases they either felt it would not happen or did not think things through to that degree. Having to make things logical, I concluded that it was not Obama himself as much as it was what he represented; Change.
The problem with wanting change is having to know what you want changed. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence; usually that is due to the added horse manure in that greener pasture. Some saw this coming and worked feverishly against it. Some bought the two year song and dance of a campaign and are now confused about which direction we are going.

Every once and while a person pops up whom I have asked about why they were voting for the way they were. Since he won the election, I figured it would be safe to again ask. No response. My Candidate; Myself spoke not only to the emotion behind such selections but the feeling of being wrong - and of course having to admit to being wrong. Through all of these months some people have come forward and said that they now feel like they have been fooled.

One person I talked to a few weeks ago literally had to hide under her desk to speak her true feelings about Obama because her office was still caught up in Obama fever. That trend seems to be gaining more and more momentum. In an online survey (which is still open) on msn.com a more accurate picture is being painted. Not one of popularity but one of performance.

If you were grading Barack Obama on his performance as president, what would he get? * 1986850 responses

He gets an A 29%

He gets a B 6.2%

He gets a C 5.5%

He gets a D 15%

He gets an F 44%
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29493093/

Remember, this is from a currently open survey. The first time I looked at it just over 1.2 million had responded at which time he was at 32% for an A and 42% for a F. As it approaches the 2 million mark the gap is spreading. Few are willing to openly admit that have had the wool pulled over their eyes, but in terms of anonymity they are coming forth in not so insignificant numbers.

This same trend is also found in the blogs. As the election drew near pro-Obama blogs were always among the top blogs. After the inauguration his weekly address blogs were among the top blogs. They are now nowhere close to the top blogs, his support has already begun to wane. Pride prevents people from admitting this, but the signs are everywhere you look.

In the blogs also lies a huge problem! Anti-Obama blogs are very negative, derogatory and demeaning to not only those that support(ed) Obama, but liberals in general. These blogs are written by very smart people who have very good ideas, their points are not heard because of the tone in which their points are being made. (You cannot call someone stupid or a moron and then expect them to be receptive to what you have to say - especially after they have come to realize that things are not going to turn out as they hoped.)

In Politics Are Like Football, I mentioned the fact that those with the least vested would be the first off the band wagon. What I failed to realize was just how quietly people would jump ship. Conservatives who saw all of this coming are not throwing them life preservers; they are instead rubbing in their faces in "I told you so's" in a very Rush-like manner.

Above and beyond the rhetoric lies some truths no one wants to deal with. We; as Americans are in very deep water. In fact, we are drowning; we have elected an administration that is shoving our heads under water while we try to gasp for air. All economic issues start where the dollar stopped being a dollar. Today less than two percent of Americans own the cars they drive and less than one percent owns the homes they live in. We as a culture have borrowed our way into oblivion and lack to the equity to light our course back to reality. There was a time when a dollar was a dollar and that dollar was backed by not a signature and credit score but by tangible bullion.

It is us, not the president, not a political party or another country buying our debt; it ia us that has to stop borrowing and start owning our way out of this. Your life and my life are not about keeping up with the Jones'; our lives are collectively about becoming and remaining solvent in our own individual right - responisbly.

We blame a lot of these problems on the government, on banks and on the greed of others. The fact of the matter is simple. It is our own individual greed and desires to have more than we could afford than it is any individual or organization that lent us the enabling credit to self destruct. A smaller home and a smaller car do little for self image but do wonders for self development and betterment.

Look at it this way. A family (hell, everybody) should have a minimum of six months of living expenses in savings. We do not because our living expenses too often inhibit our ability to save. (We are living beyond our means). When something goes wrong we find ourselves immediately stuck because living paycheck to paycheck only works when you have a paycheck.

Like it or not, we are in this together; liberal and conservative alike. The trend is indicating that we are rapidly approaching an all out revolt against the administration. States in large numbers are claiming sovereignty, once supports of the administration are now protesting against it and everyone is pointing a finger at all things other than their own ways of life and the excessive nature thereof. If you cannot afford a Porsche, drive a VW (they are now owned by Porsche so you still actually get one.) If you can't afford Fruit Loops buy some Kroger Sugar Frosted O's (kids say they taste the same anyway.) Until we go back to living within our own individual means; we are doomed. Imagine how effected we would all be today if we all did. There would be no recession and we could afford as a country to do the things countries need to do in order to survive in the world. Our country could support us as we do it; we first must be able to support ourselves. Sitting back and waiting for the government to find better ways to absolve ourselves of our personal responsibilities is no longer going to work.

As a culture we live in the red. Spending for most households has curtailed to such a degree that we have killed off our own businesses. Increasing spending and furthering the debt of the country will have the same economic results. The country will spend itself into a freeze. It will become so entwined in debt and foreign countries will have so much interest in our treasuries the entire nation will be in the same "foreclosure" situation because it has so egregiously spent outside of its means.

We can understand with relative ease how this is bad for a household but quickly fall into denial when it comes to a country. The same economic principles apply. No equity, in time means no return! When the dollar had value, so did our nation. Moving away from lifestyles which we could actually afford has left us in dire straits. The same thing will happen to the nation for the same reasons. (If you don't have it; don't spend it.)

In the end, a bad situation has turned worse and every passing day it worsens. The time to stop this is now and stopping it starts with individual solvency. Once we (unitedly) begin to regain equity, the country and its programs will follow. It is simply too late for the country to do it for us. If you think you can sit back and wait for the government to provide for your wants you should probably start going to the gym and work out your triceps because your hand is going to extending for a very long time.