Considering the Future

If you’re a regular reader, you probably have noticed a slowdown in the number of posts since the election of Barack Obama. Though I didn’t intend to slow down or stop posting, the events of November 4, 2008 have caused me to realize that the future of this website is uncertain. To be frank, I’m not sure about the direction (if any) I should take with it.

The American People have spoken, and what they said was “we choose the message of change Obama and his $600 Million in marketing has sold us.” Think about that. $600 MILLION dollars were raised and most of it spent to acquire the White House. These foolish, foolish people have elected a man no one knows that much about. It’s at times, very frightening.

But it’s done.

I’m not writing right now, because the future is getting so terribly dangerous for Americans, who are mostly asleep. But an abrupt wakeup is coming. It will probably begin not long after the first of the year, after the worst retail holiday season ever, as in the cold, harsh light of the winter of a new year, companies begin their fiscal years gutted from layoffs. In many, many companies across the country, only essential employees will remain. Layoff news stories that will begin in early January will be shocking, and mind-numbing as they roll over us like a tsunami. Chicago Mayor Richard Daly calls it “frightening.”

“We never experienced anything like this except people who came from the Depression,” Mayor Daley said. “When you have that many layoffs early – and they’re telling me this is only the beginning of their layoffs – that is very frightening.”

I believe some of the darker predictions of Kunstler, Panzer and Orlov will come to pass in 2009. I do not believe there is much we can do to stop it. For ourselves and our families, we can only prepare.

So, in that spirit, I’m spending my What Comes Next? time finishing up my special report What You Can Do to Protect Your Family and Yourself During This “Greater Depression.”

I’m also spending some time thinking about whether, as a family, we stay or we go. I’ve always rolled my eyes at those people who say “if so and so is elected, I’m leaving the country…” but this is different. It’s not so much Obama that I’m worried about (though I’m not at all comfortable with such an unknown quantity with his questionable background leading our nation), but the mentality of the people who elected him, whether its a culture of people who feel it’s time for payback of one type or another for one perceived injustice or another, or a culture of tv-fed, clueless liberal magical thinking sleepers who believe in this vague message of “change,” and may or may not soon wake up to realize they’ve brought about a change much different than the one they intended.

In short, my family may decide that it’s time to expatriate, and return to the land of my wife’s parents and my grandparents in the UK. My name will probably tip you off to exactly where that is. We’re currently evaluating the real estate situation in both Glenfinnan on the mainland and Portree on the Isle of Skye, as we consider where it would be best to continue raising our family. It’s kind of heartbreaking to be seriously researching this, rather than just fancifully discussing it as we have in the past, because we’re both proud and loyal Americans. But, day by day, I can feel the America I knew growing up changing into something very different, both structurally, politically and philosophically. It’s changing into something that increasingly, I feel I don’t understand, someplace that’s not really “home.”

President Obama

As expected, Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday. His supporters are jubilant, his opponents bitter. I understand both emotions, but both are pointless.

To those who voted against Obama:

Get over it. I’m one of you, as once again, I had to hold my nose and cast my ballot. Four years ago, it was for John Kerry, who I didn’t agree with politically, but knew we needed to change course for both geopolitical and economic reasons. I was right. It’s all the more frustrating for me and those who believe as I do, because this year, we had Ron Paul, until the Media and Republican Party marginalized Dr. Paul, the only candidate who showed he knew “his fanny from first base” as my father would say.

I understand if you want to bolt for the exits, I’m considering how best to do the same thing, but it has nothing to do with our pick for President. It’s economic, and there’s very little that President Obama will be able to do about it, except make it worse, and create for us a longer period of suffering. That, I fully expect. To those rabid opponents, you definitely need to get over it.

By all means, do what you can to get his birth certificate and make sure he hasn’t knowingly misrepresented his constitutional qualifications to be President, but I do not believe he is Muslim, a foreign agent or the Anti-Christ. At the worst, I believe he is an aggressive, ambitious politician, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. When he talks, assume what he says about “service” is more “acquistion of power.” I believe his lack of a track record (all those “present” votes) were more about his using his office not to serve his constituents, but instead his political ambitions, than it was about his being a mysterious servant of Islamic terrorists, a new Socialist/Communist/Fascist “strongman” or anything else the breathless conspiracy theorists hint at. Again, Republicans, get over it and start rebuilding the Party.

To those who voted for Obama:

Calm down.

Smoke a cigarette (even if you’re a non-smoker). He’s not the messiah. The world is not going to magically change on January 19th, and the higher and more you euphorically embellish just how awesome life will be when the Bush family moves out of the White House, the quicker and more massive the backlash will be when you realize you will still have to get up in the morning, go to work, do what your boss says, pay your bills and worry about pretty much the same things you had to worry about before. I especially pity the person, and there will be many of them, who focused their life over the past year, on getting Obama elected, but will find themself getting laid off next week, next month, or early in January. That story will be told many, many times.

George W. Bush didn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, help the economic situation we’re in. But he didn’t create it, either. No one person did. The biggest share of the blame goes to a Congress who, not understanding the economics of what was happening, did nothing to rein in those who were playing fast and loose with the rules to take incredibly dangerous long-term risks (to all of our financial futures) in the hopes of fabulous short-term profits. I have to admit a little pity for Obama, too. Why he and McCain wanted this job is beyond me.

For the President-Elect, life is going to be difficult when his supporters, no longer united by a common enemy (the Republican Party), will look at each other and realize that what they all had in common was the desire for change. But, they will soon find out that they all have very different ideas about what that change should look like. At that point, they won’t be united anymore.

Where we go from here.

I agree with Obama when he says we need to come together to fix the problems our nation faces. But, I must admit, when he talks about us always being the “United States of America,” I had to wonder, really?. The developing economic problems we’re facing here will do more separating than bringing together. I hope our Republic can survive it.

Obama Problem #3

Problem number 1 will be the economy. He will be in charge of the world’s only remaining Superpower in decline, and possible economic collapse.

Problem number 2 is Iraq. He claims to know what to do, and it’s entirely possible he will get the chance to prove whether he does, or will just screw things up worse.

Problem number 3 will be impeachment. There is no way a candidate for President of the United States can raise $150 million in a month without his organization making some big mistakes. I predict that in the coming months, should Obama be elected, we will hear about a massive donation from somewhere horrifying. I guarantee that Senator Obama’s opponents have already begun investigating where the almost quarter of a billion dollars in donations in August and September came from.

He shouldn’t have taken the money. First, in doing so he broke an agreement with Senator McCain to take public funds, which would limit his outside fundraising. Secondly, studies show once you get to a certain level of money, incremental dollars don’t help that much, if at all. He didn’t need the money.

The problems associated with massive fundraising in my opinion (which I should tell the reader ISN’T backed up by any first-hand experience with political fundraising – just common sense) just aren’t worth the benefit derived from them. The more money rushing in, the more likely it is that some of it will be difficult and/or embarrassing to explain. I think the possibility exists that a President Obama will spend a great deal of attention during his first term explaining not a spot on a dress, but a million dollar contribution by someone he shouldn’t have taken a dime from.

Again, I believe an Obama Presidency, should it occur, will be an ugly time. And that’s unfortunate, because I don’t fear Barack Obama as a person at all. I think, if he were at the head of a complete overhaul of our political landscape in Washington, DC, we could do far worse in a President. But, it’s not a complete overhaul, and a lot of the same players are in charge in Washington. I don’t fear the results of a President Barack Obama, but I am concerned about what can happen with Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and Harry Reid in charge with a rubber stamp-providing President in the White House.

They are incompetent and corrupt and will play Obama like a fiddle.

2 Things About the Obama Campaign

2 Questions:

1. How important can the endorsement of Barack Obama by Colin Powell be, considering:

Colin Powell is the one, as Secretary of State, who delivered testimony about Iraq having the Weapons of Mass Destruction. If he’s so good, why didn’t he know that wasn’t true? If he DID know it wasn’t true, why didn’t he resign, rather than lie to us?

2. Why isn’t the media holding Obama to his promise to take federal campaign funds, thus limiting his ability to raise money himself. The answer is this: The media is profiting from a staggering $150 Million he raised last month. They get a huge windfall in tough economic times for television and radio and in return, they support Obama.

I’m no fan of John McCain, but what a mess we’re in for. The problem with an Obama Presidency is that the real issues will be overshadowed by the ones that don’t matter: Race, experience, the charge that will be leveled that Obama bought the office. It’s all going to take away from the real problem – that we’ve entered the most dangerous recession of our time, and will probably suffer a Greater Depression.

I predict the race issue will be a big problem. A big portion of the U.S. is simply not interested in a black President. Militant and vocal Black America will soon become disillusioned when things don’t change overnight to put them on top. Liberal White America, who (if it happens) will have elected Obama, will bear the brunt of the Militant Black community’s anger. After all, the Democrats are still basically white. With the “super-majority” in Congress they expect to get, the Democrats will be seen as blocking Black America’s triumph. The backlash could be devastating, and won’t help anyone.

I don’t envy Barack Obama if he becomes President. Black America will expect to see a White House and Administration filled with African-Americans. Liberals call fears of that “racist,” but only because they don’t believe it will happen. If it doesn’t happen, Obama has problems with Black America, who will believe they’ve elected him. If it does happen, it will scare a lot of non-black people who will have voted for Obama, and they will start to reconsider their previous assertion that “race doesn’t matter.”

Sadly, it does.

A Cynic’s Paradise

As we get within three weeks of the Presidential election, it’s easy to be cynical, easy to just shake your head and wonder how America got to this place. It’s a travesty.

While we follow the tale of “Joe the Plumber,” a voter the McCain campaign decided to shove into the spotlight and use as a device, the absurdity of it all just boggles the rational mind. Forget for a moment that the Republican’s new icon should probably be worried less about his taxes going up, and more worried about paying the back taxes he’s got a lien on his house for.

I know campaigning for President is hard, trying to reach all the different flavors of voters, but the Republicans have forgotten the lesson they learned from Bill Clinton. Remember “It’s the economy, stupid?”

I do.

Apparently, they don’t. Who cares about taxes right now? McCain had the perfect opportunity to present himself as the experienced statesman who can guide us through this potentially world-changing crash, but missed.

At this point, I’m sadly starting to prepare myself mentally for the disaster an Obama Presidency will be. If the Republicans win, it will only be through the sad racism that still exists in too great measure. I don’t think Obama is the right choice, and I disappointed that I have to vote against the first black Presidential candidate because of his politics and lack of experience. A couple years ago, I was hoping to have the opportunity to cast a vote for Colin Powell, but that didn’t play out. That being said, I wouldn’t vote FOR a candidate because he’s black anymore than I’d vote AGAINST one for the same reason. Unfortunately, in this election, a vote against Obama is going to be seen by a lot of people as a vote agains THE black man, rather than a vote against A black man.

We’ve got a long way to go.