Thanks to Kyle Drennen at Newsbusters:

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

…”Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is ‘we are above that now.’ We’re not just parochial, we’re not just chauvinistic, we’re not just provincial.”

Thomas elaborated on Obama as God, patronizingly explaining: “He’s going to bring all different sides together…Obama is trying to sort of tamper everything down. He doesn’t even use the word terror. He uses extremism. He’s all about let us reason together…He’s the teacher. He is going to say, ‘now, children, stop fighting and quarreling with each other.’ And he has a kind of a moral authority that he – he can – he
can do that.”

Now beyond the obvious issue that anyone and everyone should have with a supposed Journalist and editor of a national (purported) News magazine likening a President to God, I have a greater issue with the other things that he said.

Reagan was President of The United States, and he was our greatest advocate and standard bearer.  Whatever else may be said about Reagan, he believed in this nation, and had unending pride in our accomplishments and our potential.  America is, after all, even today, the only nation on earth where literally MILLIONS of people struggle to emigrate to, so they can live in freedom of thought and religion, and (at least for the moment) have economic freedom.

What Thomas is saying is that Obama is ABOVE being America’s advocate.  That he has a higher calling.

And if Obama were President of the United Nations, I would probably not have a huge issue with that.

But it’s not his JOB to be the worlds Messiah, or Teacher on the Playground, as Thomas asserts.  His JOB is to represent the United State, and to look out for our best interests.

If Obama doesn’t, or can’t, put aside his own ambitions or personal feelings about America, he should resign his office.

The United States of America needs a President that has our best interests at heart, first and foremost.  We do NOT need a man dedicated to tearing America down to everyones elses level.  To taking away what makes America a special place.  And yes, a BETTER place that most other nations on this earth.

As an aside, in a recent speech, Obama made the following statement:

“I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.”

I have a serious problem with this, as should anyone who lives in freedom, enjoys freedom, or yearns for freedom, philosophically.  It is also patently untrue in a historic sense.

Indeed, in the ashes of World War II, which, coincidentally, is a subject today due to the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, America (and in some cases, our Allies) “imposed” representative forms of government on several nations, which remain in power today.

Iraq’s “imposed” Republic is stabilizing by the day.

Indeed, the most immoral thing possible is to ignore our brothers and sisters who even today suffer under repression and oppression.

Obama is a “…sort of God?”  What a horrible, sad thought for free people everywhere, and all those who yearn to be free.

For some background on the concept, check this post from Michelle Malkin.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

OK, so now that you understand the basic idea (summarized for those that didn’t follow the link):

It’s a reference to the famed Ayn Rand novel, “Atlas Shrugged,” in which protagonist John Galt leads the entrepreneur class to cease productive activities in order to starve the government of revenue.

So, I have decided to “Go Galt”, and I recommend that everyone that cares about this nation do the same.

What I am going to do?  After all, I am no John Galt.

But I am a productive citizen, and consumer, and I intend to leverage that power.

As a consumer, I will no longer patronize Chrysler or GM.  Ever.  Not one more dime.  I loved my Saturn Sedan, and I am still planning to buy a largish crossover vehicle (to support my business).  While the Saturn Outlook was a possibility, it is now off the list.  I will encourage everyone that I interact with to also move away from those brands.  If you must buy American, I recommend Ford.  I need to check out the Ford Edge, and see if it will meet my needs.

As a small business man, my business plan for 2009 included building sales to support another one or two salespeople.  That plan is now shelved.  I will grow sales to a sustainable level for myself, and leave it there.

I have almost completely stopped flying for business (goodbye, Alaska Airlines MVP Gold), and renting cars.  I have downgraded from business hotels (hilton and marriott families) to budget chains.  I have seriously cut back on customer entertainment – no more dinners, less lunches and breakfasts.

I am canceling my last remaining land line (though it is VOIP).

If things continue to decline on the government tax and spend binge front, I may close the doors, and return to the workforce, filling a job that would have gone to someone less qualified.

I will reduce consumption overall, to reduce the sales tax load I pay to the state of Washington.  I will put off purchasing any “big ticket” items until absolutely necessary, and then only to replace an existing (defunct) device.

I have already increased my planting of vegetables over last year, and have planted some nut trees to supplement my fruit trees.

I know that these things do not apply to everyone, but there is something everyone can do. 

Your government, and the American Aristocracy (that is, the Political Class) not only have no respect for you, but they have no fear of you.  We need to remind them that this is a Reprentative Republic, and they are answerable to the people.

Going Galt is a first step, to get their attention, and take away one of their favorite tools to remain in power:  Money.  Your money.  From YOUR effort.

The next step is to let your elected representatives know that you will refuse to vote for (and will actively vote against) anyone who does NOT pledge to reduce government expenditures, and work to return the government to its proper Constitutional role – which does NOT include owning part of a car company, or bailing out banks and insurance companies for making bad business decisions.

Thnik about it.

Technorati Tags: Going Galt

Courtesy of Pravda:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our “democracy”. Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different “branches and denominations” were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

USA Today has a wonderful (and interactive graphic) piece today, which presents some truly horrifying numbers about the Average Liabilities Per Household in the USA Today!

Taxpayers are on the hook for an extra $55,000 a household to cover
rising federal commitments made just in the past year for retirement
benefits, the national debt and other government promises, a USA TODAY
analysis shows.

The latest increase raises federal obligations to a record $546,668 per
household in 2008, according to the USA TODAY analysis. That’s
quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car
loans, credit cards and other debt combined.

Bottom line: The government took on $6.8 trillion in new obligations in
2008, pushing the total owed to a record $63.8 trillion.

So, again, using the numbers USA Today has, the average US household owes $121,953 in personal debt (mortgages, cars, credit cards, etc), and their share of the federal debt is $546,668.

That gives each US Household, on average, a debt load of $668,621.  Right now, today. 

And what makes up that huge Federal Government Debt component?

$284.288 (52%) is Medicare.  $160.126 (29.3%) is Social Security.  $54,537 (10%) is the General Budget Debt.  Military Retirement is $29, 694 (5.4%).  Civil Service retirement adds $15,851 (2.9%), leaving another $2,172 (.4%) of miscellaneous “other” debts.

And this assumes that the money was set aside TODAY, earning interest, to meet these future commitments.  Which, of course, it’s not.

Now, here is some Fun With Numbers.  You would have to collect Social Security for over 13 years (at the average $12,098 annual benefits) to get back your share of just the SS debt load.  This does not count any of the money you have paid into the Ponzi Scheme.

The Median Household Income in the US in 2007 was pegged at $50,740.  So, the average household would have to work over 13 years to payoff the their total debt load, today, if they contributed 100% of their income to their combined debt.  Over 27 years, if they gave 50% of their income to debt reduction.  Or more than 54 years, if surrendering 25% of their income.

The average household owes almost twice as much to Social Security debt than on their home mortgage.  More than their total annual income to the Federal Debt.  More than 5 times their annual income to the Medicare Debt.

And the budget deficits, even after cosuming the trust funds, is still looking at over $1,000,000,000 per year.

But look on the bright side.  As of next week, we all own 72% of General Motors.

Back in October, I made the observation that:

Do I really think that Obama is trying to form a new Hitler Youth type movement?  Probably not.

But if I had to pick between Obama and McCain, as to which one was more likely to do exactly that – there is no question that it would be Obama.

Fast forward to the present, and we find out about this (courtesy of the LA Times):

The organization, known internally as “Barack Obama 2.0,” is being designed to sustain a grass-roots network of millions that was mobilized last year to elect Obama and now is widely considered the country’s most potent political machine.

Organizers and even Republicans say the scope of this permanent campaign structure is unprecedented for a president. People familiar with the plan say Obama’s team would use the network in part to pressure lawmakers — particularly wavering Democrats — to help him pass complex legislation on the economy, healthcare and energy.

Though the plan still is emerging, one source with knowledge of the internal discussion said the organization could have an annual budget of $75 million in privately raised funds. Another said it would deploy hundreds of paid staff members — possibly one for every congressional district in certain politically important states and even more in larger battlegrounds such as Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.

The full-time staff is likely to consist primarily of the presidential campaign workers, many in their 20s, who served as the local points of contact for the campaign’s vast network of neighborhood volunteers. As part of the new organization, these workers probably would focus on similar campaign-style tasks, such as arranging phone banks, distributing signs, recruiting more helpers, buying coffee and doughnuts for house meetings and reporting voter contact data to senior officials.

“The only way to keep this thing going is to have boots on the ground,” said a strategist familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity because campaign officials have not granted permission to talk about it.

In what would be another unprecedented step, Obama’s political staff is deciding whether to create a service organization that would use the vast corps of its grass-roots campaign supporters. As described by one source knowledgeable with the discussions, this nonprofit arm would be used to help victims of natural disasters, but would do so under the Obama umbrella while continuing to build the overall network’s massive e-mail database.

The prospect of a president being able to guide a service or relief agency outside the framework of his government is a unique development.

So we now see that the Obama is not only planning to run a perpetual campaign, but to build his own organization separate from the Democrat Party.  Think ACORN, but dedicated to Obama and his administration. 

If John McCain had won the election, and made the same move, there would have been wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Media.  The Left would have been screaming about Brownshirts and Nazis.

So, let me do the media a favor, and point out that there is a modern equivelant to what Obama wants to build:

It is called Hamas.

From Wikipedia:

Since its formation in 1987, Hamas has conducted numerous social,
political, and military actions. Its popularity stems in part from its welfare and social services to Palestinians in the occupied territories,
including school and hospital construction. The group devotes much of
its estimated $70 million annual budget to an extensive social services
network, running many relief and education programs, and funds schools,
orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports
leagues. According to the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz “approximately 90 percent of the organization’s work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities”

The only difference I can see is that Hamas has a fully fledged Military wing.

Of course, that may just be a matter of time.

Rachel Lucas talked about this quiz.

I’ll wait here, while you link over and take the quiz.

(on hold music playing:  Girl From Ipenema)

How’d you score?  I got an 88% (ok, ok, 87.88%). missing 4.  One was a lack of attention to the question, but I will fess up to ignorance on the other three.

Now, the really interesting data is in the breakdown of how our fellow citizens fared:

Of the 2,508 Americans taking ISI’s civic literacy test, 71% fail. Nationwide, the average score on the test is only 49%.

The results reveal that Americans are alarmingly uninformed about our Constitution, the basic functions of our government, the key texts of our national history, and economic principles.

• Less than half can name all three branches of the government.
• Only 21% know that the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people” comes from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
• Although Congress has voted twice in the last eight years to approve foreign wars, only 53% know that the power to declare war belongs to Congress. Almost 40% incorrectly believe it belongs to the president.
• Only 55% know that Congress shares authority over U.S. foreign policy with the president. Almost a quarter incorrectly believe Congress shares this power with the United Nations.
• Only 27% know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.
• Less than one in five know that the phrase “a wall of separation” between church and state comes from a letter by Thomas Jefferson. Almost half incorrectly believe it can be found in the Constitution.

Kind of scary, isn’t it…

Some more points:

The Couch Potato Phenomenon:

This Table shows the change in a respondent’s test score associated with six selected behaviors in his or her life.

Behavior Change in Civic Knowledge Positive Influence of Active Learning:

• Frequently discussing current events and public affairs (Daily or weekly as opposed to monthly, rarely, or never) +5.5%
• Participating in more involved or advanced politics (Nine items ranging from signing a petition to contacting a public official) +1.7 per action
• Reading history or current events in books, newspapers, or magazines +0.1 per hour per week

Negative Influence of Passive Electronic Medium  

• Watching movies you own or rent -0.14 per hour per week
• Visiting on the telephone -0.10 per hour per week
• Watching television news or documentaries -0.08 per hour per week

So, reading Political blogs is good for your civic knowledge, watching TV News is bad.  I think we all knew that already, but it’s nice to have some hard data for the supposition.

Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. Officeholders are less likely than other respondents to correctly answer 29 of the 33 test questions.

Particularly disturbing is the lack of knowledge of elected officials on some key items:

Question and Knowedge Gap % between Elected Officials and Citizens:

• Declaration of Independence

  -13.31

• Definition of Free Enterprise

  -9.37

• Electoral College

  -8.57

• Power to Declare War

  -7.78

• Business Profit

  -7.73

• International Trade

  30.45

  -7.02

• Federal Branches and Foreign Policy

  -6.32

• First Amendment Freedoms

  -6.26

• Taxes and Government Spending

  -5.58

• Free Markets vs. Centralized Planning

  -5.54

• Action Prohibited by the Bill of Rights

  -5.17

Which only reconfirms my stand that today’s politicians are just D-list actors, and bureaucratic hacks, not statesmen.

The conclusions of the report on the survey are that Colleges and Universities need to do a better job in teachings Civics.  This ignores the rest of the US citizenry.  My own take is that Civics in general, and American History in specific needs to be remphasized in 7-12 education (mid/high school), as well.

How can we expect Citizens to make informed choices, when 71% score less than 60% on a quiz like this?

Does explain the results of the last election, though.

The first failure of Socialism in the America’s occurred at Plymouth Plantation, in the 1620s…

From a piece by Rick Williams Jr.:

On December 16, 1620, the tiny ship loaded with “tools and weapons, a stock of dried and salted foods, a few goats, pigs, and chickens” landed at Plymouth Rock. Their hardy Christian faith and work ethic enabled them to hang on with tenacity, despite battles with the elements and Indians. The Pilgrims also experienced the devastating “Starving Time” when half of them perished from malnutrition, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. This time of want was due primarily to their unbiblical economic system.

For the first two years of the settlement, the colonists labored under an economic system that they called, “The Common Course and Condition.” This was a primitive and simple form of socialism. The family households commonly shared whatever products they could produce. If one family worked diligently, rising early, working hard until sundown, and produced a bumper crop, while his neighbor lay in bed until noon and produced little, they shared equally the sum of both. There was no incentive to work hard and apply one’s God-given talents and abilities. This system produced consistent shortages. There was never enough food for everyone. It also produced squabbles among the colonists. There was resentment and envy—predictable results in socialist economies. Fortunately, the colonists had elected a young, but wise and godly governor for the colony—William Bradford. In 1623, Bradford recognized the failure the “Common Course.” Bradford would later write that this failed economic system “was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment.”

Bradford had a better plan. Each family would be given a piece of land based on the size of their family. Larger families received larger tracts. Each household was allowed to grow corn for their own families and to do with it what they wished. The results were phenomenal.

“This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use.”

While under the original system, the women of the colony had complained that they were “oppressed.” The Pilgrims experience proved that a biblically based economic system could provide liberty and a “family-friendly” means of production: “The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn.” Bradford had recognized that “the primary agency of economic planning is the family, as the primary owner of property.” Bradford realized that the family and ownership of the means of production were an unbeatable economic formula. This recognition caused the economy of the fledgling settlement to flourish and when 60 more settlers arrived in 1623, there was more than enough food for them as well. And despite continued challenges from Indians, pirates, and sometimes harsh weather conditions, the little colony prospered as God blessed their steadfast faithfulness.

The best (and unkindest) teacher is cold, hard, reality.

Bradford and the Pilgrims learned the value of Capitalism over the inherent failure of Socialism (that some people simply will not contribute if the can rely on others to do their part) and the end of a veritable blunt instrument.

Given how many people in this nation voted for a man with an undeniable Socialist stand on most economic issues, it is obviously a lesson America will be learning again soon…

Too bad they don’t require Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged in high school…