Politics and Government in America

On Sunday, Barack Obama appeared on Meet the Press. During the interview, Tom Brokaw asked him this question. “Let’s talk for a moment about consumer responsibility when it comes to the auto industry.  As soon as gas prices began to drop, consumers moved back to the larger cars once again, to SUVs and the big gas consumers. Why not take this opportunity to put a tax on gasoline, bump it back up to $4 a gallon where people were prepared to pay for that, and use that revenue for alternative energy and as a signal to the consumers those days are gone?”

This gives us a clear view of what some liberals think the role of the government is, and the purpose of taxes as well. To them the purpose for taxes and the government is to punish people for making decisions that they disagree with. Notice that the people who Tom Brokaw wants the government to punish are not criminals, they have not broken any laws, they simply have exercised their right as Americans to buy the type of car that they want to own. Because Tom Brokaw thinks people should not own these types of cars, we must use the power of the government to punish them by taxing them into oblivion.

Furthermore, as I write this, the national average gas price is $1.66 a gallon. That means that Tom Brokaw wants to add a tax of $2.34 a gallon to each gallon of gas. So what happens if gasoline prices return to $4.00 a gallon? Will we remove the tax then? The answer is not a chance, we will just have to pay $6.34 a gallon. After all, Europe is paying more than that and we all know that many liberals believe that we should become more like Europe.

The time has come for the people of the United States to stand up and take a stand for our values. It’s time for us to say that we have had enough of people trying to use the power of the government to punish us for exercising our constitutional rights. We have had enough of people trying to shut us up and prevent us from making our voices heard. Let’s put our country back on the right track and stop the government from using it’s power to prevent is from living our life and exercising our divine rights.

As we have all heard by now, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was indicted yesterday for trying to sell Illinois’ senate seat. What you may not have heard is that he is the fourth governor of that state, out of the last seven, to be indicted and possibly convicted on corruption charges. It seems that corruption is a way of life in Illinois politics, which could cause some embarrassing issues for President-elect Obama.

One of the first things that occurred when this story broke yesterday was that the media circled the wagons and began running spin for the president-elect. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain they said, ignore the fact that the phrase “president-elect” appears 44 times in a 75 page complaint. Move along, nothing to see here. Obama wasn’t named as a defendant so he must not have had any involvement.

It may be true that Obama was not named as a defendant, but we cannot assume that he is completely innocent of any corruption. During the election, John McCain tried to warn people about the corruption that was at the very core of Illinois politics. He tried to ring the bell that Obama was part of a “corrupt Chicago political machine.” Even former president Bill Clinton tried to warn people that Obama was “a Chicago thug,” before Obama bought him off with a cabinet position for his wife.

Now we are beginning to see the truth. Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman, and professor of political science said: “We have a culture of machine politics and it lends itself to corruption. We are the capital of corruption in the U.S.” Christopher Mooney, who teaches political science at University of Illinois-Springfield added, “Government in Illinois isn’t about political ideology or helping people. It’s about which idiot brother-in-law are you going to get a job on a road crew because he helped you get into office.”

So now that the curtain has been pulled down, and the man behind it revealed, what does it mean? It means that we should expect another administration filled with scandle and corruption. It will be the 90’s all over again, with most of the same players filling different seats. With this latest corruption scandle in Illinois, we have seen through the glass darkly and caught a glimpse of what the next four years hold for the United States.

In the first test of Obama’s coattails, Jim Martin lost in his bid for the Georgia senate seat. Instead Saxby Chambliss, the Republican incumbant, won another term. This has led many to wonder, what has happened to Obama? The Messianic cult of personality which surrounded him seems to have lost it’s charm.

The people of Georgia went overwhelmingly for Chambliss and dashed any hope of the Democrats having a filibuster proof majority. However, more importantly this race shows the holes in the fabric of the Democrat party. For one, Obama did not even campaign for Martin. Instead he stayed at the gym in Chicago making cabinat appointments and dictating terms while at the same time removing himself from the process. Obama is currently in a state of limbo since resigning from the Senate. Anything that he suggests that works, he can claim credit for. Anything he suggests that doesn’t work, well he’s just a bystander like the rest of us. That is why he didn’t campaign for Martin. Martin’s loss would be a big black eye for the president elect and so he would rather sacrifice the party then sacrifice his image of invincibility.