Americans Might Want To Heed the Admonitions of The Past
We are quickly approaching the day when the direction of America will be decided. Will America follow a course steeped in ideology tempered by history or will she follow a course steeped mainly in ideology? Will the electorate be aware that these are America’s choices? Probably not, looking at the current polls, it appears that this election will be based mostly on faith and hope for change. If informed reason were being applied, the poll results would most likely be different.
One can easily draw the distinction between Senators McCain and Obama based on ideology tempered by history verses ideology alone by looking closely at their lives.
A person I admire, Oprah Winfrey, once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” I think this is sound advice that proves true 99 percent of the time. America has seen Sen. McCain through many years and he has remained a consistent and dedicated public servant. Early in his career in the military he probably held strongly to some sort of ideology that grew out of the cold war. Maybe it involved the concepts of good forces prevailing over unjust forces. Just as the Vietnam War grew out of the cold war and threw light on the realities of conflict; the Vietnam War experience threw light on Sen. McCain’s own view of life.
When I look at Sen. McCain, I see a man who understands that core principles are what you are and they must not change simply because a situation changes. A severely battered John McCain had had an opportunity to leave his prison in Vietnam before other prisoners who were more senior, but he refused. Sen. McCain looked the immigration issue in America with compassion and tried to find a practical solution, an action that brought him condemnation by many. Sen. McCain warned of the financial nightmare that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac abuses were causing; but the Democrats in charge chose to ignore his advice. Many times Sen. McCain has reached across the aisle, pragmatically, to try to find solutions to America’s problems.
Sen. John McCain is a man of core principles and the one he holds most dear is “Country First”. I believe him because as Oprah said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Whatever ideology Sen. McCain may have held as a younger man has been tempered by his own history and America’s history into a commitment to put the interests of America above his own. This is the America voter’s choice of ideology tempered by history.
When I look at Sen. Obama, I see a man who has burst on the scene and captured the imaginations of millions. Surprisingly, supporters seem to have developed an incredibly strong attachment to the idea of Obama and what they perceive that means; so strong, in fact, that it boarders on religious faith. Many issues that would have sunk any other politician have disappeared in the mist. The Senator’s backers appear more preoccupied with his rhetoric of the future than anything about the past, any past, including Sen. Obama’s. The past is cliché, boring, out of date, damaged goods with no place in today’s world. However, Albert Einstein might have a little different view of the past. He has said, “The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion”. I think Albert Einstein would consider Sen. Obama’s past just as important as the man being presented today.
Given the relative lack of leadership experience of Sen. Obama, reason would seem to dictate that his past should be even more important as a predictor of his future actions. However, in the politics of the day, the Media has assumed the role of advocate and obscurer for Sen. Obama’s campaign. Americans, who are trying to make a reasoned decision, are therefore having a very difficult time discerning what information is truthful and accurate; and what is not. What are the facts? This is a very real question in the minds of many voters. Quills drawn, the Media’s theory is that Obama is the one who must lead America. To support their vision, the Media does as Einstein, in a different context, counseled; “If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.”
Sen. Obama has been relentlessly pounding the theme that McCain equal four more years of George Bush, a narrative that has been sold in lockstep with the Press and Democratic Party leadership. One would think that common sense could see through the sales pitch, but it hasn’t. The Press has been constantly bashing President Bush for going on eight years. (I suspect mostly because they think he’s stupid, inarticulate and beneath them.)
Many of the America’s newly registered voters are younger; and therefore, they may be more susceptible to the myths of the Media. Apparently, their minimal life experience hasn’t given most of them much of an accurate barometer or enough common sense to judge fact from fiction. “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen” another truism from Einstein’s repertoire that is at play here. The anti-Bush prejudice is raging, gathering steam, and Sen. McCain has been unjustly caught up in it web.
One other fact that the Media has attempted to distort is that somehow the current financial crisis was the result of the mean old Republican attempts to deregulate everything in sight. This is just another collection of prejudice reinforced by the Media that it is untrue, especially for Sen. McCain. He was one of the leaders in the efforts to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac; unfortunately, his efforts were blocked by the Chris Dodds and Barney Franks of the Democratic Party.
Where does Sen. Obama stand on the economy? He has stated and restated a desire to redistribute the wealth in America. This is exactly the wrong approach. Even a basic level of understanding about economics would act as a bar against trying to tax our way out of the current financial crisis. You don’t damage (over tax) those who are creating jobs and wealth for America and Americans. Regrettably, somehow too many Americans today have become accepting of the notion that the world (well the Federal Government) owes them a living and that wealth should be redistributed more ‘fairly’ to them.
The history of the ‘Great’ Depression clearly reveals that the measures implemented by government to overcome it were the reasons that the Depression became ‘Great’. Almost everyone recognizes that a thorough knowledge of the past is critical if we are not to repeat the mistakes of yesterday. However, I don’t think Sen. Obama understands it quite that way. Higher taxes and too much Federal intervention are not what the American economy needs today. As much as he hates to hear it, Sen. Obama’s economic ideas reek of socialism. We need to get back to the ideas of American innovation and personal responsibility.
Sen. Obama has been hailed as a superior intellect and amazing orator. But, who is he? What is his past? Who were those that stimulated and helped to form his thinking and beliefs? Sal Alinsky? Is he the same person today that he has been for the past 20 years?
A man is known by the company his mind keeps.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
How much has the media allowed us to know about the depth of the relationships Sen. Obama had with William Ayers? Sen. Obama said he was just a guy in his neighborhood.
How much has the media allowed us to know about the depth of the relationship with Frank Davis? Andy Martin raises some interesting questions about this relationship.
How much has the Media allowed us to know about the depth of the relationships with Father Michael Pfleger, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and Rev. Wright? Aren’t these all company Obama’s mind kept? Are the ideologies encapsulated by many of Sen. Obama’s past associates very far from those espoused by Socialists and Marxists?
A man is known by the company his mind keeps.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
How much has the Media allowed us to know about the relationship with Tony Rezko and his associates? Are the ideologies encapsulated by Tony Rezko’s actions those of corrupt politics?
A man is known by the company his mind keeps.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
How much has the Media allowed us to know about the alleged relationship with Larry Sinclair?
To date, Sen. Obama has disavowed most of these people and/or their statements and actions. How much weight should Americans give to such a disavowal?
Should we accept the revelation of Rev. Wright?
“He's a politician. I'm a pastor. We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. Those are two different worlds. I do what I do, he does what politicians do.”
Or should we follow Oprah’s direction?
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Common sense and reason tell me to listen to both Oprah and Rev. Wright in Sen. Obama’s case. Sen. Obama, at the very least, has shown an incredible naiveté concerning his past associations and their impact on his reputation.
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.
George Washington
Common sense and reason also implies that if Sen. Obama were the man he is portrayed as, there would be a line of people from his past standing, waiting to tell his story. The story of how Sen. Obama became such a partisan divide bridge builder, such a healer, such a patriot, such a reconciler, such an economist, such a negotiator, such a defense strategist would all be stories I would like to hear.
Who from Sen. Obama’s past is standing or waiting to tell his story?
What is the Media not telling America about Sen. Obama’s relationship to ACORN?
How many other scandals and allegations are there just from our view? Are there some yet unknown scandals being hidden by the Media? What about the Berg v. Obama lawsuit that is challenging Sen. Obama’s eligibility to hold the Office of the Presidency? What about the other lawsuits is several states? What about the validity of Sen. Obama’s birth certificate? What about all the allegations set forth in Berg v. Obama? What about the allegations that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya? Why is that not news? What would happen should he win the election and then be found to be ineligible to hold office? What about the questions about the allegations about Obama’s past and/or current Indonesian citizenship? What about Sen. Obama’s alleged membership in a Socialist organization, New Party? What about Sen. Obama’s extreme views on abortion? What about the allegations that Sen. Obama violated provisions of the Logan Act during his last trip to Iraq and during the run-up to the Kenyan elections?
There is so much about Sen. Obama that Americans don’t know. Some people are choosing to ignore the reasonable inferences from Sen. Obama’s past, some people don’t care and some people are not informed or misled by Obama’s campaign and the Media. The mainstream Media has done a grave disservice to America in 2008. The full consequences of Sen. Obama becoming President, under so many clouds as are set forth above, cannot be fully predicted or prepared for.
Therefore, it is critical that Americans take this election seriously and start considering the numerous allegations facing Sen. Obama before November 4th.
Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.
Theodore Roosevelt
In conclusion, America needs to take a breath and give another American voice a few moments of consideration.
The words spoken by Benjamin Franklin:
To follow by faith alone is to follow blindly
&
Hear reason, or she'll make you feel her
The End
zachjonesishome.wordpress.com
