The 2012 Election -- Some Thoughts

The 2012 election promises to be the most divisive election seen in America since the Civil War. Some people have even gone so far as to suggest that a Civil War could erupt if President Obama is reelected (Tom Head, county judge, Lubbock, TX August 23, 2012). The passion that is being fueled by irresponsible rabble rousers is threatening to undermine our principles of civil discourse. When we begin to govern on the basis of emotion instead of logic then we will truly be doomed.

I believe that Obama sees himself as a “World Citizen” more than an American. I suspect that a great amount of his anti-military stance comes from his deep seated hatred of American “imperialism”. His black and white (no pun intended) view of the world separates the haves and have-nots into oppressors and oppressed. Obama believes that if you don’t have wealth it must be because somebody took it away from you. He discounts initiative and hard work as avenues to achievement.

The only work he ever did was as a community activist – fighting to get what he felt the underprivileged in Chicago deserved. Having worked in Chicago he soon realized that “government benefits” could be exchanged for votes. Those votes resulted in power and in turn voters were rewarded with token improvements. The “Chicago style” party leaders realize it is advantageous to suppress the underprivileged so that their vote will elect the party and, in turn, be rewarded with token advancement.

The flames are also being fueled by the resurgence of “Objectivism”, made popular by the novel, Atlas Shrugged. The problem that was foreseen by Ayn Rand is that the token pot is drying up. Without opportunity for those with initiative to create wealth for themselves then they surely are not going to labor to create wealth for others. That was the downfall of Communism and the fallacy of Socialism. Those systems worked when the needs were considered minor and the achievers were willing to give up a small portion of their earnings to benefit those not achieving. The Marxist philosophy of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” does not work. Even the bible recognizes this aspect of human nature and puts a tithe at 10%. God surely realized the human condition and knew that we could give a tenth of our surplus without resenting it. Obama would ask for the inversion of that since his reasoning is that those who have achieved did so at the expense of others.

Obama’s claim that the successful businessman got there with the government’s help is consistent with his thinking. We agree that the government which we have developed for the common good and the infrastructure maintained for the common good is worthy of our tax support. However, the idea that the non-supporting portion of society, whose votes are rewarded with tokens, is deserving of a free ride on the backs of those productive elements of society is frankly, un-American.