Witnessing the Fundamental Transformation Pt. 5

"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
Barack Obama, 5 days before Election Day, November 2008

FOREIGN POLICY
"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."  Barack Obama, April 2009

This pretty much sums up Obama's foreign policy right here.  The notion of American exceptionalism suggests that we have a unique place in the world thanks to our constitutional ideals of individual liberty, our economic and military might, our role as defenders of freedom. We got the first hint of our President's perspective in early 2009 when Obama made the infamous 'apology tour' across three continents, telling the world how sorry he was for America's security and economic interests, and flatly embarrassing this country to the pleasure of dictators like Chavez, Castro and Ahmadinejad. We have watched while he bowed to the Saudis and the Chinese as though an American President should be deferential.  I suppose this was part of his plan to 'improve our standing' in the world. Well, it hasn't. He has made it worse.

In the past five years, he has appeased our enemies and disrespected our allies.

Obama's 'reset' policy with Russia amounted to a series of concessions on nuclear arms which turned out to be one-sided; he got nothing in return. Putin's standing on the world stage is unmistakeably stronger now, and continues to ally himself with the likes of our enemies in the Mideast. Russia has been expanding its control over energy sources in Europe, which will allow it to exert more influence on that continent and elsewhere. Russia's return to pre-Cold War status is increasingly evident. Of course, this is enabled, in part, by America's decreasing role in looking out for the best interests of this country and our allies.

During his first term, Obama cancelled the deal the U.S. had with Poland and the Czech Republic to provide protection from ballistic missiles, in deference to Russia's reaction. At the time, the Polish President accused Obama of betrayal.

Countries like Pakistan and North Korea have been building up their nuclear forces.

China has become increasingly important to us, in that they are the biggest foreign owner of U.S. treasuries. It's official news agency has called for the creation of a "de-Americanized world."

The Mideast
Iran, now with fewer sanctions to deter it, continues to snub its nose at the world regarding their nuclear program. By essentially allowing Iran to 'run free' Obama is creating a huge problem around the world. Iran is the greatest sponsor of terrorism and is training people in Mexico and South America, in addition to groups in the Mideast. They are putting the rest of the Middle East in danger and of course, Israel is at the top of their list. Even with the regime change there, the desire to rid the world of the Jewish state remains a priority.

During this administration, Obama has called on Israel to stop settlement building, including in East Jerusalem, which prior to this president, was never put on the table. This led to a freeze in negotiations between the two sides. Obama has also called on Israel to release terrorists and turn them over to the Palestinians. And let's not forget the very disrespectful ways in which he treated Netanyahu when he came to visit the White House. Obama's anti-Israel sentiment was confirmed by his appointments of Samantha Power, Susan Rice, John Brennan and Chuck Hagel to his administration.

Libyan leader Gadhafi  had come around to abandoning his WMD programs during the Bush years, probably in fear for his life after 9/11 and the fate of Saddam Hussein. Yet, Obama called for his ouster, only to assassinate him in the end. Was military involvement in Libya really necessary at the time?

Obama repeatedly called for the ouster of Hosni Mubarek, President of Egypt and American ally. While Mubarek was no nice guy, his successors were infinitely worse for Egypt as well as for America. And, Mubarek respected Egypt's peace treaty with Israel. With the tacit approval of the American administration,  the Muslim Brotherhood was ushered in as the new regime. The MB is the umbrella group for several terrorists groups whose primary objective is to create a Muslim caliphate and establish Sharia law throughout the world. Now in Egypt, the cabinet is working to correct this mistake and oust the MB from the leadership.

Fact: More than twice as many American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan during Obama's first 3 1/2 years than in Bush's 8 years. Fact: Obama more than tripled the number of troops in Afghanistan during his first two years.

Elsewhere in the region, the persecution of Christians has increased over the last few years, with nary a word from this president. Silence, too, when the Syrian rebels were calling for the dismissal of dictator Assad over his use of chemical weapons, and when the Iranian freedom fighters a few years back wanted Ahmadinejad to step down.

Obama's success in foreign policy - the capturing and killing of Osama bin Laden. Worthy to note that it was thanks to the continuance of Bush's policies that intelligence was able to find him.

Either Obama doesn't understand the nature of our enemies, or, is naive to think that apologies and concessions will curry favor with them. Either way, it serves to diminish our status in the world. Islamic jihadists are on the rise and there is no comprehensive strategy to defeat them. Our allies learned that they can't trust us. In a recent poll, the majority of Americans see the country's power across the globe as declining. The world is less safe; in fact, it is in chaos. While America used to speak out for liberty, our president continues to ignore freedom fighters where they crop up. America is not exceptional, according to Obama, so the question begs.  If America will not be the leader on the world stage, who will be?

THE MILITARY
Decorated retired Army Maj. General Patrick Brady claims Obama's agenda is to destroy the morale of the military, to the point where "members no longer feel prepared to fight or have the desire to win." Brady stated, "there is no doubt he is intent on emasculating the military and will fire anyone who disagrees with him" over issues like "homosexuals, women in foxholes, the Obama sequester."

According to recent reports, Obama has purged 197 officers in the past few years, primarily those who disagreed with him or were disloyal to the administration.

Retired Army Lt. General William G. Boykin, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Intelligence under President Bush recently stated, "over the past 3 years, it is unprecedented for the number of four-star generals to be relieved of duty, and not necessarily relieved for cause. I believe there is a purging of the military. The problem is worse than we have ever seen." http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/top-generals-obama-is-purging-the-military/

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, contends that Obama has been working unilaterally with Russia to reduce nuclear weapons without a treaty, which requires Senate ratification. Vallely charges that Obama's goal is to "destroy U.S. military superiority" to the "advantage of our global enemies." His plan to reduce the Pentagon budget by $1.3 trillion over the next ten years will impact on weapons, equipment and personnel.
http://www.examiner.com/article/retired-military-commanders-say-obama-puposefully-weakening-us-military

Early in his Presidency, Obama put into place new Rules of Engagement for combat, which in turn, resulted in higher casualties in Afghanistan that included the loss of 17 members of Seal Team 6 in one incident.

Additionally, under his reign, there have been numerous incidents of hostility towards religion. It is widely believed that Obama is pushing a secular, anti-religious agenda on the military.  Early in the administration, the Dept. of Defense met with the "Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an organization that is focused on silencing religious freedom in the military."  http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/13/Congress-Investigating-Obama-Admin-Hostility-to-Religious-Liberty-in-the-Military

A few months ago, when the government shutdown went into effect, decisions were made to inflict the most disruption on the public.  The National Park Service chose to close down war memorials, which, in the end, cost more to keep closed than it would have to remain open. Seven security guards were sent to the WWII memorial to keep out the vets, as compared with five security guards who were guarding our consulate in Benghazi when four Americans were killed.

In Barack Obama's eyes, America is unexceptional. He sees our role in the world as important, or unimportant, as every other country. What he fails to see, is that the free world has looked to America for its leadership and stability, but he has been intently working on leveling the playing field. Our enemies are emboldened by him, our allies are weakened by him.  He has profoundly weakened our military on many levels. Russia has re-emerged on the world stage, once again, as a power to be reckoned with.  Barack Obama is fundamentally transforming the United States of America through his foreign policy and by undermining our military.

No White House Photos Allowed

One of the hallmarks of a free society is a free press. However, that is something this administration doesn't appear to respect. A couple of weeks ago, more than three dozen news organizations and trade associations, including the major TV networks and the NY Times, sent a letter of protest to the Obama administration for barring access to photographers who cover the White House.

Citing several examples of newsworthy White House meetings which were closed off to press photographers, the letter stated that these restrictions "raise constitutional concerns".  Instead, the White House chose to release official photos, taken by the White House photographer. The letter also stated, "as surely as if they were placing a hand over a journalist's camera lens, officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the Executive Branch of government."  http://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2013/11/media-protest-white-house-limits-on-photographers.html

According to J. David Ake, the assistant bureau chief for photos at The Associated Press, in speaking about the official WH photographer, "the core issue is the White House uses his images and disseminates them to the public, and they become the only historical document of events."  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/limit-on-access-stirs-tensions-between-white-house-photographer-and-press-corps.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

This manipulation by the administration to control what the public sees, violates one of the most important measures of a free society; that of a free press. Without this, we allow the government to simply release propaganda.

Witnessing the Fundamental Transformation Pt. 4

"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." 
Barack Obama, 5 days before Election Day, November 2008
        
THE ECONOMY
President Obama recently spoke of the divide between rich and poor getting wider. He lamented the shrinking of the middle class and vowed to correct the increasing income inequality and improve upward mobility.  Yet, despite what he says, Obama has been looking to bring the top down to lessen  the income gap rather than elevate the bottom up. This President has been demonizing the wealthy, through rhetoric and legislative action since he took office. And, although he speaks of improving Americans' economic lot, this President has always opted for stagnation rather than economic growth during the past 5 years.

Obama spoke of raising the minimum wage and spending on infrastructure (remember in 2011, "shovel-ready was not as...uh...shovel-ready as we expected... hahaha"?) The middle class is worse off now than in recent history. Small businesses are not hiring workers if it takes them over the 49 employee limit which would force them to provide expensive health insurance, corporations are suffering massive restrictions thanks to the Dodd-Frank Bill which imposes thousands of  unnecessary regulations, and taxes on the 'rich' moves more capital from private economy to government.  Unemployment, although hovering around 7% now, is in reality much, much higher due to millions who have given up looking for work. During his reign, the top 1% made 95% of the gains, while more of the middle class are joining the dependency rolls. 

REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH - This is an important strategy in fundamentally transforming this country. The biggest example of this would be Obamacare itself, representing 1/6 of the nation's economy, and clearly proving to be a mechanism for redistributing the wealth. It was designed to take from those who have and give to those who don't. It is forcing Americans into unwanted health plans with higher premiums and higher deductibles, with restrictions on choice of doctors and hospitals, to provide for those who previously didn't have insurance plans. Never mind that the tens of millions of people from whom Obamacare will be tapping into to provide for those others, will be without their own insurance plans. 

GOVERNMENT DEPENDENCY - Never before in history has there been a higher level of government dependency.

• Statistics show that 1 in 5 Americans depend on the government for help.

• Nearly half (49.5%) of the population don't pay federal income tax.

• In 2011 the federal government spent more taxpayer dollars than ever before to subsidize Americans.

• 70% of the federal budget goes to individual assistance programs, which represents a dramatic increase in the past few years.

• Nearly 48 million people collect food stamps - this represents a sharp increase over the last few years - the Congressional Budget Office agrees that this has more to do with policy decisions than it has to do with the economy.

•  Under Obama's reign, unemployment benefits were extended to 99 weeks.

•  Obama gutted welfare reform and reversed the 1994 provisions of welfare-to-work and returned to the days of providing bonuses to states for increasing the welfare caseloads instead of decreasing them.

 If this trend continues, dependency will eventually become the norm, especially as the baby boom generation enters into retirement and the number of taxpaying Americans decrease.
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/09/morning-bell-dependence-on-government-highest-in-history/

As more and more Americans look to the government to assist them with housing, food, healthcare, etc., upward mobility is hindered.  Incentives to look for work are hampered. Nor do people want to leave their subsidized housing. If then they start to make money, they lose their benefits; they lose their subsidies, they lose their food stamps. Essentially, big government, which encourages dependency, sucks all desire to improve one's life, to be self-reliant, to be personally responsible. This is the road that leads to more government control of everything. This is the road that leads to socialism...or worse.

UNEMPLOYMENT - Although the unemployment rate, at 7.0%  is lower than the 8-9% levels  they were in the first few years of the recession, the actual unmployment numbers are higher, more like 13%. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm 
The proportion of Americans with jobs has not increased. Only 58% of U.S. adults are working. Employment rates have been flat and it has been referred to as a jobless recovery. What accounts for this is that millions of prime age Americans have simply given up looking for work. Some have gone back to school. Some went on disability insurance, and some took early retirement packages. http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/13/the-jobless-recovery-continues-with-high-unemployment/

SHRINKING MIDDLE CLASS -  Although Obama talked a blue streak about helping out the middle class, it is the segment of the population which has suffered the most since he took office. His policies have done much damage to the middle class; median household income is lower than it was 5 years ago, interest rates on consumer purchases are higher, savings interest is lower, cost of gasoline has doubled since 2008, small employers are paying higher taxes and now pay more than half their incomes towards federal, state and local taxes; as a result they are hiring fewer people and investing less money into capital, college tuition is at a strangling level, and Obamacare is showing itself to be a loser for the middle class who now have to struggle with new and higher premiums. http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/13/the-jobless-recovery-continues-with-high-unemployment/  
Even Teamster boss James Hoffa, strong supporter of this President said, Obamacare will "destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week which is the backbone of the American middle class."

NATIONAL DEBT - $17 trillion in debt - the highest it's been in history. Heritage Foundation delineates the many reasons why it's such a big deal:

• Every American will be on the hook for this massive debt burden - at this point, that figure stands at $53, 769.
  

• Government debt crowds out private investment, slowing the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and wages. This could cause families to lose up to $11,000 on their income every year.

• High government spending with no accountability eliminates opportunities for career advancement, paralyzes job creation, and lowers wages and salaries.

• Some families and businesses won't be able to borrow money because of high interest rates on mortgages, car loans, and more.

• High-debt economics similar to America's current state grew by one-third less than their low-debt counterparts.

• Millions of people depend on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, but these programs are also the main drivers of the growing debt.

• Big government corruption and special interests only get bigger.

• Astronomical debt lowers incomes and well-being permanently, not just temporarily. A one-time major increase in government debt is typically a permanent addition, and the dragging effects on the economy are long-lasting.

• It is the biggest threat to U.S. security.

• Makes us more vulnerable to the next economic crisis. High debt makes America weaker.

 http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/17/morning-bell-17-reasons-the-17-trillion-debt-is-still-a-big-deal/?ac=

MINIMUM WAGE - Obama's strong desire for a level playing field flies in the face of free market capitalism.  What he consistently fails to see or acknowledge, is that equal opportunity is at the heart of our system, not income equality. 'Raise the minimum wage' is his latest mantra to close the income gap. Does he not know that when you raise the cost of labor, employers who may not afford the new wages, must resort to laying off workers, and that hurts the working poor?  That it cuts into business profits? That you take away a young person's chance at gaining experience in the working world when an employer who has to pay out $15/hour for unskilled labor will be much more selective in their hiring?  That raising minimum wage increases the price of a product, so that when a corporation like McDonald's must pay its workers double what they pay now, it can no longer offer its customers low cost meals, and this hurts the poor and middle class?

How does an economy grow like that? It doesn't. Maybe that's the point. And reducing income inequality should not be the defining challenge of our time, as the President claims...unless, of course, you're looking to fundamentally transform the United States of America.