Thursday, November 29, 2012

Well it's been a long break, but the urge to put pen to paper (figuratively anyway) has made itself known once again. Since I last added anything to this blog, a lot of things have happened, too many of them NOT good. But even setbacks can be a learning experience.

Earlier this month, Mr Obama was re-elected president. When I heard this I admit I was shocked and upset. Now having thought about it for the weeks since then, I am no longer shocked, but truly disappointed. I'm not disappointed in him; I expected exactly what I have seen happening since his first election, so can't say I was disappointed.

But I am disappointed by the apparent choice of a majority of the citizens of this country to support a man and a party which has made no effort to conceal their plan and goal of "fundamentally changing" this country. I'm sorry, but the way that this country was and has been was pretty good. It made this country the beacon of hope for millions; it led the world in producing a standard of living that was the envy of the world; it gave its citizens more and greater freedom than any country in history. And we are walking away from that. We are following the very path that has led Europe, Greece, Spain and other countries into financial and social disaster. And we are doing it willingly, even as we watch these countries founder after following the very course that we have decided to follow. THAT is disappointing.

There are several ways to cope with this. One can pretend that nothing has changed, and continue to pretend that this country is the same as it was. One can get angry and cynical, and make everyone around them unhappy as well. Or, one can hunker down, admit that one's views are now the minority view, and try to hold to the core beliefs that got the country this far in hopes that eventually others will see that the current path is a path to failure. In the meantime, I have to admit that I take a certain perverse pleasure watching as all of the supporters of the "fundamental change" begin to realize that there is a bill, a VERY big bill, for those changes, and that the only one who pays, when all is said and done, is the consumer and the taxpayer, and that we are both of them.