Friday, November 07, 2008

Change and Hope

The American electorate, as a whole, has chosen to have a future of safety nets, while rejecting a future of liberty. Not that Senator McCain ever advocated, or would ever advocate liberty, but the election of Senator Obama should be interpreted mostly as a vote to relieve the fear many Americans have. Fear of losing their ability to earn an income, fear of not being able to afford health care, and fear of a future run by corporations. Our choice of President-elect Obama may not be the most principled choice, but it is a pragmatic choice when considering all of the uncertainty exposed by the financial crisis, executive pay, and the loss of jobs to outsourcing.

Americans have rejected opportunity in favor of certainty. When we go to bed at night, we want to know we will be able to sleep in a bed the next night, regardless of our ability to earn a living for ourselves and our families. Most Americans, including many Republicans, are tired of being afraid.

Perhaps in 4 or 8 or 12 years, the majority of Americans will vote for the pendulum to swing back in favor of liberty, but I suspect that individual liberty, as envisioned by the signers of the American Constitution, is a fading concept of the past. The world is too complex, governments are too powerful, and corporations are too unprincipled, for individuals to ever again feel free to determine their own destiny.

President-elect Obama ran on change and hope. Washington will change from a central government that debates and determines individual rights to a government that debates and determines group rights. Future legislative fights will be group against group.

I can’t imagine ever joining a union or any other group. I don’t even feel comfortable describing myself as an evangelical because it sounds like I have joined a political group.

I may be spending the rest of my life preparing to die as a dinosaur. I hope not.

4 comments:

Count Grecula said...

As always, well said David. "In God We Trust" seems to be headed out the door for a majority of the population.

I too feel like I'm going to be like one of those weird old guys you read about that hated FDR because he took us of the gold standard. How could anyone hate FDR?

The problem is "the pitiless crowbar of events" has a way of laying to waste utopian visions. The "experts" now assembling - lawyers of one sort or the other mostly- may have some success, but it seems far more likely based on past results that they will run us into the ground.

I'm so damn tired. I don't know if I can resist or if it will matter.

David M. Smith said...

Hi Count,

I don’t agree with President-elect Obama, but at this point, I don’t have a reason to hate him. I don’t like how disrespectful he has been to President Bush, but I suspect after a few months in office, he will regret some of the accusations he made against the former President.

I fault the voters a little for not demanding more specifics, but I do understand tired, and I do understand fear, and I don’t know that either fear or weariness will ever subside.

Our fellow citizens my not depend on God, but you and I and others may need God now, more than ever. That may be a good thing in the long run.

Anonymous said...

Hey, David:

I agree with The Count, well said! I believe we have turned a historical corner, and liberty is indeed in the rearview mirror. We have opted for tyranny for the sake of security. Let's face it, the Constitution, as our Founders signed on to it, is dead.

Still, I have a hope (and, yes, my ultimate hope and security must be in Him!) that there may well be a return to at least some of what our Founders envisioned. But that hope is accompanied by fear. I feel it in my bones that something cataclysmic is coming. What we have coming out of Washington is not only stupid and often downright evil, it is untenable. Neither Paulson, Bernanke, Bush, McCain, or even Obama, et al. understand this whirlwind of a bronc called "the economy" they're attempting to ride.

They will fail.

When the "check" from Washington bounces in localities all over this nation, and when (again, I wish it were a mere "if") we are hit by our enemies again, a reprise of what we saw in the breakdown of social order ala L.A. riots, post Katrina may well ensue.

Maybe, just maybe states and localities will again assert their sovereign rights and duties to govern themselves without regard to Washington.

I know, I probably sound like (Trust me, I all too often feel like it!) the crazy, raving uncle in the attic, but I can't help it.

I just hope and pray we will behave as befits Christian citizens when these things happen.

Buz said...

Well, I am probably REALLY old fashioned, but as far as I'm concerned, if you did not pay taxes last year, you shouldn't have the right to vote ... that would take out about 70% of the democrats.