Vignettes

Casual observations on the American scene:

BHObama is making the biggest rookie mistake that can be made. He is pretending that the richness of his experience (community organizer and low level machine politician) is a substitute for on the job training and real experience. His trips and visits and get to know you gatherings should be simple listening visits. He needs to shut up and listen and then go home and shut up and be quiet for a while. That would not only be leadership it would be strategic. Keep quiet while you’re learning. Who does he think he is? A blogger. Proverbs: Do not speak unless you can improve the silence. America suffers from a huge absence of improved silence.

There is one simple question that the American people should pose to BHObama and anyone else who wants to support whatever his health care program is. This is the question. “Will you and your family be forced to participate in the program?” The only possible answer is either yes or no. Good luck.

Cap and Trade. Here the simple questions are two. Ask the electric companies to calculate the annual electric bill for each customer before and after the cap and trade program is instituted. Ditto for the natural gas bill and ditto for the gasoline bill. Ask them to use their computers (they can do this) and calculate the bills and present the information to each customer. Question two. There will be a difference and, guess what? The cost will rise. So, ask this question, “Will the cap and trade bill commit that those new funds paid by Americans will be used, dollar for dollar, to decrease the debt of the US?” If the answer is yes (more good luck,) then, if you are able to believe that commitment, ask your congressperson and senator to vote for it.

When a childless, perhaps barren, Irish woman with the richness of experience that compares to a fart in the New York wind uses her NYTimes megaphone to ridicule the richness of the experience of Mrs. Palin, it is time to say enough. Further, any male who attacks Mrs. Palin is a bully and should be treated as such. Real men do not attack any responsible mother of five children for any reason.

Fear and government. Since we as little kids were doing drills in the hallways of our elementary schools and hiding under our desks, the federal government has terrorized the US citizenry with threats of imminent doom. These threats have included: Nuclear attack, Soviet domination of space and technology, education gaps, drug abuse, tobacco abuse, Japanese domination of commerce and industry, biological infestations and other components of impending doom. Each time there is a new opportunity to wail about a new or improved threat the congress clicks their heels and passes new legislation that creates new bureaucracies that go on forever. FEAR is governments true ally. The next time a politician or bureaucrat tries to scare you, give him/her the finger. Even better, vote for someone else.

If and when you vote on November 2, 2010 and you vote for someone who will not commit to lowering the debt of the US in real, measurable terms – specific amount in a specific time period, then you are part of the problem; not part of the solution.