Why Is This Election Important To You?
I loved runnybun's post "How Do We Create Happy Warriors?" He sought advice for how to deal with relatives who get a bit too worked up over the current political climate, at the expense of rational thought or balance.
This Byron York climate on why conservatives are worried about the upcoming election, it made me sympathize much more with people who think the stakes are ominously high. It's a sobering read. He explains that conservatives are worried about trillion-plus federal deficits, ballooning national debt, Obamacare leading to single-payer federal health care, a Justice Department that will crush state initiatives, wasted spending on fraudulent green energy programs and the thwarting of entitlement reform efforts.
But, he says, they have an even bigger concern. They worry that two terms of Obama (following two terms of Bush) will lead to more Americans dependent on the government than ever before.
He gives three examples.
- On July 12, Obama moved to remove the work requirement in the 1996 welfare reform law -- the heart of that reform, actually.
- Obama has moved to increase the number of Americans on food stamps. When Bush took office, there were 17 million Americans on them. There are 46 million today. Some two-thirds of the Agriculture Department budget goes to welfare and food stamp programs. And they just moved to encourage legal and illegal immigrants to enroll for food stamps.
- A key purpose of Obamacare is to increase how many Americans are on Medicaid, the federal program for the poor.
York writes:
More people on welfare, food stamps, Medicaid; that has been the trend under the first Obama administration and most certainly would be the trend, perhaps an accelerated trend, under a second Obama term. The economic downturn undoubtedly meant that more people would receive temporary government assistance, but the effect of Obama’s policies has been to expand dependence far beyond that.
We're reminded of Julia, the Obama campaign messenger of how awesome government involvement in your life is. Conservatives scoffed but it was a great way of understanding the goal of liberal governance, York says:
And if the president is re-elected, Obama’s expanded nanny state will be here to stay. As the administration well knows, once the government confers benefits on citizens, withdrawing those benefits can be enormously unpopular, a move few politicians will wish to risk.
So in four more years, Barack Obama could make great strides toward the goal of making more and more Americans dependent on government. Yes, issues like debt and deficits are important. But dependency could be the biggest issue of all on the ballot this November.
This is all a long way of saying that those people I know who seem really freaked out by the possibility that Obama wins a second term are people who are worried about exactly the thing York explains. Increased dependency looks to some like a marginal change. To others, it's a fundamental change about the nature of our country and what makes her great.
This is their reason for caring so much about the election.
Which, of course, leads to another question. What is so important to you about the election? How would you describe it? And how does it affect your voting and other political activity at the local, state and national election?
- Comment (22)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Sep '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
My patients.
Jun '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
They left out the part where "Julia" slowly dies, while still on a waiting list for cancer surgery.
Mar '11
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Liberty.
Edited on July 27, 2012 at 3:56pmJun '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Our nation is rapidly approaching the last exit on the road to perdition. We need a hard right turn at 90 mph to save ourselves, but even then the tires are gonna blow. The best hope is that we'll land right side up with the engine still running.
The more pervasive problem is reversing the leftist agenda of the last 50 years. Nearly half the US population is dependent on one government program or another. We can go broke like Greece, or we can start making some hard choices. Either way the result will be civil unrest. In fact, it's already begun.
Then there's the problem of undoing the politically correct humbug and flapdoodle that passes for education. It's all a lie designed to tear down our culture, but how do we restore the traditions that made us great? I won't be around to see the outcome because this part of the battle will take generations, at least two or maybe even three, before the nation is fully restored. You young'uns are in for a long fight.
Jul '12
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
More often than not, presidential elections are about the person, more than the policies. Occasionally it's the other way around, like in 1980. Jimmy Carter was a personally likable guy in many ways, and people forgrt how close the polls were until the end of the campaign. What swung the election, from close-polling to a Reagan mandate, was more the clear sense that we needed a change in policy. I think that will be the case again this year. So the reason this election is important to me is as a reaffirmation of American principles and beliefs, regardless of what Romney might do once he's in office.
May '12
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Just took the Enniogram Self-Test for fun. Reformed, I am an Owl. Unreformed, a Fox. :-{(
I do enough on my own to hinder my own progress towards prosperity. I don't need a Self-Centered Fool and and his Pack of Greedy Idiots in the White House to compound my own efforts.
I believe Romney is the sort of person who knows how to try and help fools but in the end lets the fools fall down and the wise get back on their feet. Which category will I fall into? It depends, am I sufficiently self-aware? Am I ready, willing and able to reform myself? That is on me, and no one else. I am comfortable living in those circumstances. And if I am not, why should anyone else care?
That is why 2012 is important to me.
I will add this. I want to punch John McCain in the nose for running such a wretchedly awful campaign in 2008, which encouraged me, in my laziness, to vote this Feckless Egocentric Jackass into office.
Sorry for the strong language. Hopefully it was artful enough to rise above being foul.
Edited on July 27, 2012 at 4:24pmJul '11
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
I actually typed up a response to runnybun's post but didn't hit the post button...
The gist of the response is that this sh*t has happened before (how Indian of me) and will continue to happen. The point (of your life) is not the place, time, environment, and others. The point is what you do with it.
This election is important, as every one before it, and every one after it, because the the struggle for liberty is not an event but a journey. There is no daily liberty without daily citizenship (-Ben F).
We have the possibility to reverse Obamacare, improve taxation, reverse some regulations, etc., etc. in the short run. However, read the comments in "how you became a conservative" - in the long run, we are working to change the hearts and minds and lives of future generations. Not of our children, but our great grand children and heir children.
This election is important because life is important. We must live it the best we can. And we must vote the best we can. The choices may be dismal but we must make one. We must not "let things happen"; we must make things happen.
May '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Four children, three of which I had in the Clinton Administration. Back then, even with a Democrat in the White House, I felt optimistic.
When the dominoes in Europe start to fall and the real financial crisis hits,* I despair for my children.
*I think the QE has only put a band-aid on the economy. It's going to get worse... a lot worse.
Jun '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Every election is important. We hear that so often is almost seems cliche, yet it remains true, because the choices we make (indeed the act itself of making the choice) has critical bearing on the survival of our social compact.
Our social compact, indeed the very core nature of our American system, is never "safe." Each generation mocks the wisdom of the one before it. And in a multigenerational enterprise, this can be fatal.
The American spirit won't die, regardless of the results of this one election. It may be oppressed or subjugated, or it may be revived and renewed, depending on the course and destination we choose.
But it is possible that it can die, and that realization should therefore motivate us to actions that preserve it.
Edited on July 27, 2012 at 4:32pmDec '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
For me it looks like this election is a clear choice between the American ideal of liberty and the European ideal of dependence on, and subservience to, the welfare state. It would be impossible to claim ignorance about Obama this time. He's not fooling anyone about the fundamental transformation he wants to accomplish in the nation. He wants to undo the revolution. He wants us to vote nay on the Declaration of Independence and Yea to government's boot on our neck. His form of government has become destructive to the rights of life (abortifacient mandate), liberty (individual mandate), and the pursuit of happiness (taxation and regulation of business and job creators), and it is up to the voters to abolish that government and institute another through the election process. We're being asked again to choose between liberty and death. I know not what course others may take; but as for me, I choose liberty.
Oct '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Two words:
Supreme. Court.
Mar '12
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Every election since 1932 has been important. Since then, this country has seen a steady growth of government at the expense of individual liberty. The overall decline of this country began in the '90's as social morality was debased with Clinton being symbolic of the decline amongst society in general. The decline of the country has continued as the debasement of morality has continued. Bush 43 slowed but did not stop the decline. With the Abomination, the decline has accelerated.
This one may be more important than any since 1932. But, with Romney and GOP establishment candidates, victory will only slow, not reverse, the decline. Does it matter if one drives off a cliff at 60 mph or 30 mph?
Dec '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
I may disagree with Romney on positions, but I cannot disparage the example he will be to the nation of the character qualities required for individual liberty to work. No government or individual we elect will make us a people worthy of our liberty, but Romney at least demonstrates the moral rectitude on which individual liberty thrives.
Jun '12
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
As old Ben Franklin said after the convention when queried what had been wrought, "A Republic, ma'am, if you can keep it." We are in mortal danger of losing the last remnant of the Republic that the Founders created. I truly feel that is what is at stake.
Apr '12
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
As a Canadian, I want to see America flourish and be great again. This is a vital election for America, and the world. Will the American President exhibit the qualities that have made America great, or will he exhibit the divisive nastiness of the present charismatic incumbent? When a country, like an individual, follows the better side of human nature it flourishes, and I think Mitt Romney will demonstrate that. He has my vote, but unfortunately, as a Canadian, I can't cast it in reality. :-)
Nov '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Re: Cloward-Piven Strategy
This is a strategy to collapse capitalism. In 1971, just returned from Vietnam, I sat in the living room of a faculty member at Brown University, and listened to a dozen undergrads talking about the Cloward-Piven paper (published 1966). They talked about how they would infiltrate the welfare agencies in order to sign up as many people as possible.
I laughed (to myself) about these wild-eyed immature stoners, and rarely thought about it again. But now I believe that some of these people are now working at high levels of such agencies.
I'm afraid that the bureacracy has been taken over by anti-capitalists, and that because the government is so large, they are likely to prevail.
Buy gold.
Sep '11
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
What on earth makes you believe a silly thing like that?
Sign up for a private mailbox in the U.S., at someplace like The UPS Store. (This a common practice for Canadians who live near a border crossing--they get packages sent to a U.S. address to avoid currency conversion and border crossing issues.)
Then sign up for a cell phone contract in the United States. I recommend Metro PCS, because I believe they advertise that they do not lock you into a long-term contract.
Then wait a month--until you get a bill, sent to your U.S. address, from your cell phone carrier. Presto! You have a utility bill that "proves" your residency.
Drop by the local post office--pick up an application to register to vote. Include a copy of your utility bill as proof of residency. You'll get a voter registration card sent to your mailbox.
Then file for an absentee ballot--sent to your mailbox.
Then you can vote.
(This is why Voter ID matters.)
Edited on July 27, 2012 at 6:21pmJun '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
Freedom and self-reliance. I believe the country's greatest threat is cultural: dependency versus freedom; self-reliance versus perpetual adolescence; prudence and thrift versus "eat, drink, and be merry."
The deficits and excess spending are symptoms of cultural decay. We must attack the symptoms, and the decay (we must defend the family, life, traditional Western virtues, and marriage). Fidelity to one's spouse, children, and country: without those, we're in trouble.
A conservative victory provides a glimmer of hope for the old American culture. An Obama win assures continued decline.
I'm not certain an Obama victory is a final nail in the coffin, but I'm going to vote as though it is.
Edited on July 27, 2012 at 6:35pmJul '10
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
In many respects it comes down to this:
Do you want to be a ward of the state, or do you want to be a free individual?
Apr '11
Re: Why Is This Election Important To You?
America faces a solvency crisis; current CBO estimates are 15 years hence. The Ryan Plan would put America in a position where it would be able to fix that. If we're lucky, it could be enough by itself, but otherwise it would merely make it possible for the next administration to fix. We have a moment's grace in which to fix this while the Eurozone's turmoil protects our bond ratings. The ending of that window, combined with other factors such as the aging demographics make it very unlikely that we could do the same thing in 2017.
Obama is openly uninterested in solving a problem that is necessary to solve. If he were for enormous tax hikes that would at least cheer up the bond markets I'd still be on the "balance by cutting" side of the debate, but I wouldn't feel the cold dread that I do being on the only possibly victorious "catastrophe is bad" side.
There are many reasons that I support Romney ("many, many" probably wouldn't be excessive), but that is the only one that is certain and vital. Everything else would be nice, or might happen/ be avoided anyway.