American Time

Once again the debt ceiling has been raised with no effective measures taken to reduce future spending or to reduce the overall national debt. The government’s desire to spend outstrips its revenue stream by over 1.5 trillion dollars per year and our elected leaders cannot find any urgency to do anything about it of significance. Take either side of the aisle and line them up around a table laid out with all the pork programs they have devised over the years and they cannot identify one that should be either reduced or cut out of the spending arena. What a shame that we have such a bunch of spineless types occupying positions of power and decision-making in our country. What a shame that we have a President so caught up in his own agenda that he cannot find a way to lead in the proper direction in a time of crisis.

Back in the 1960’s, the Chambers Brothers were a product of the rock and roll era. They came on the scene during the Vietnam conflict and played their music for those who were tormented in one way or other by that war. One of their songs which became their trademark piece was “The Time Has Come Today”. It was a song about youthful revolution and change. It was a song about recognition of what was going on and it was a plea all to step up and make something happen. I can barely get through the day right now without that song coming into my head and reminding me that once again we are in a place where time is of the essence and change of direction is so needed.

The Chambers Brothers song began with a single beat on a muted cow-bell repeated over and over in syncopation as the ticking of a clock. This beat was threaded throughout the song and left the illusion of time ticking away. After several beats, the voices would call out “Time” and the beats would continue, and the frequency would pick up signaling the urgency of time lost with no progress. I listen to the song now and it is as new and fresh as ever and definitely applicable to our situation here in the USA in terms of politics, finance, and economics. Surely, the time has come today in America.

I hear the beat of that cowbell when I read that Obama is projected to add 9 trillion dollars to the national debt by the close of his first term in office. That amount stood at ten trillion when he took office so he will essentially have doubled our debt in four short years. I hear that cowbell tick every time Obama issues another executive order or appoints another administration czar with a six figure salary and a staff of people to create more and more regulations. I hear that cowbell sound when I hear that in July 2011 alone, Obama’s regulations have added more than 9 billion dollars to the cost of doing business in America. Normalizing that figure to one year and the cost runs close to 100 billion dollars of regulation associated costs for American business. It is no wonder the economy cannot get up off its knees and move along. It is no wonder that the job market is stifled and continues in that mode. Time is ticking away.

When I look back over the past three years and see the devastation that has taken place since January of 2008 in our country and our economy, I am appalled. We have a healthcare system which has been shoved down the throats of the majority of Americans and is estimated to cost, on a conservative basis, over 65 billion dollars annually to operate. The justification for this enormous program was the lack of affordable insurance for all Americans and the fraud taking place in the Medicare system. No attempt was made to fix the fraud within Medicare…written off as too expensive. But, our President had no problem taking 500 billion dollars out of the Medicare revenue stream to initiate this monster of a healthcare train-wreck.

I hear the clock ticking when I think of what Obama Care will do to the medical industry of America. Research and Development will die on the vine as there will be a lot less reasons to make those investments in the private sector. The government will literally be the official source of all doctrine with the industry and we all know how good the government is at dictating doctrine. The justifications for this change came on the back of affordability, efficiency, and improvement in the medical care in America. All of that has turned out to be a total lie but somehow we are still stuck with the program which Obama looks upon as the center piece of his legacy as president. Oh, he will have a legacy alright but it may not be to his liking with regard to this feat of lies and deception and all out legislative treason.

I hear the clock ticking when I remember the oil spill in the Gulf. Industries were shut down over night. People lost their jobs and their businesses and all Obama could do was let the watchdogs down at the EPA loose on hard-working Americans who needed some real help. Further to that, he placed an unnecessary moratorium of deep water drilling which has basically cost the industry the opportunity to drill here at home and further develop our own oil resources. It has also driven those capable of doing the work to other geographic locations far outside the waters of the USA and further guaranteed our dependence on foreign oil. All this not to mention the thousands of jobs which were flushed down the drain on the whim of a President more anxious to please a block vote of air-sniffing, tree-hugging environmentalist than he was to take care of Americans who needed jobs and a paycheck.

The clock ticks as I think back on the 800 billion dollar economic stimulus package which the President proclaimed to all of America must be done to save us from ruin. Time was running out as he so often says in his pleas for more money. 800 billion dollars all been thrown in the ocean in terms of creating anything of substance in the economy or in terms of jobs for Americans. 800 billion dollars gone like the past seconds of time we just lived. Then the President has the audacity to claim that the problem was that we just did not spend enough. One can only wonder what the definition of “enough” is in his world. If Washington taxed every individual in America at the rate of 100%, there still would be deficit spending going on in Washington. The nature of our federal government is to spend more than it takes in. America needs to understand that fact.

The clock ticks when I hear about the 10 to 15 million illegal immigrants scattered about the country and more coming in every day through a border to our south that still remains unsecured. The violence from Mexican gangs and drug wars inches ever closer to that boundary and has already taken American lives yet there is no urgency to do anything about it. For all the ways the President can conjure up to spend money on wasteful things, he considers an investment in a security fence to the south a waste of taxpayer money. He considers spending money on security of the border as a waste of money. In truth the President does not want a border there at all and if he lets it go unguarded long enough; he may be able to get his wish. The illegal immigrants represent a potential huge voting block if amnesty and citizenship can be obtained and granted under the Dream Act. The side that accomplishes that task in Washington will be the big winner; therefore, neither side can do anything but provide lip service to a situation that threatens the daily lives of Americans in that region.

I hear the clock ticking when I think about all the divisions within America that have been highlighted since this President and his administration came to office. State’s Rights have been tested and retested and the tests continue as the Attorney General continues to apply the muscle of the federal government in places where it does not belong. Key positions in government have been filled with acknowledged socialist and communists who are allowed to ply their philosophies along with the power of the organizations they operate.

The clock ticks as I watch the IRLB go after Boeing Aircraft and attempt to terminate the building of an additional aircraft manufacturing base in South Carolina. The Obama Administration is blatantly playing to the union vote with this move and at the same time further shrinking the potential market for jobs while allowing the existing union within Boeing to dictate the business plan of the company.

The clock ticks when I hear that research using the latest in NASA generated data has proven the climate warming scenario to be a hoax and that some scientist involved have consciously manipulated the data to support the global warming conclusions. All of this takes place as the EPA continues to grow both in terms of size and costs with no restrictions from the President or the Congress. If a real hoax has ever been perpetrated on America, this is surely it and I hope the Al Gores of the world get their due process when they arrive at the gates of hell.

Time ticks away and the only thing moving faster is the counter on the U.S. national debt. For the President and the majority of the old guard on both sides of the aisle in Congress, spending and debt are of no concern in terms of our economic situation. They tell us that a down rating of our credit ratings will be devastating to America economically. They tell us that raising the debt ceiling will help us to forego that possibility because there is no other way to meet our debt interest obligations without cutting some discretionary spending…the pork-barreling mention earlier that none of them can decide to reduce or eliminate. The efforts in Washington are all directed at one thing at the moment…maintenance of the status quo and American are and will continue to pay for this ineptitude and lack of accountability. Today, in Washington, our elected politicians are thumbing their noses at the American voter daring them to send them home. The clock is ticking and only time will tell.

In a process where too many people think, behave, and generally act out in the mind of a child, someone or some group must step to the forefront and lead. In America today, there is only one group left. It’s not the Tea Party, it’s not the Republicans and it is sure not the Democrats. No, it is the American majority that must take the reins and make the decisions necessary to continue on as a country in a responsible manner. Who is that majority you ask? Well, you have to look no further than the most recent poll of voters on the debt ceiling crisis to find out that 75% of the potential voters in America disagree with the outcome. I call that a majority.

As a public, we should be totally dissatisfied and angry with the results in Washington. Social Security and Medicare are in shambles for the future thanks to our politician’s ways of using money. Our national debt is out of control and growing at the fastest rate in history. The government is attempting to become the savior of man rather than sticking to those duties specifically defined for it by the Constitution. The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and The Rule of Law are in jeopardy due to a lack of respect from those we elected to office as voters. The government of the United States of America is of the people, by the people, and for the people and we as voters and as “the people” should not expect anything less. Remember, the clock is ticking and time is of the essence.

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