We Are Our Own Worst Enemy!

Here we are in the year 2012, and we have people running this country who want to “transform” the country, the USA, that has been the richest and most powerful country in the world over the past 100 years. Why? My mother used to tell me that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Tweak it, amend it, and redefine it’s principles, but why should we “transform” it? Besides, what should the form of the “transformation” be? Should we pattern ourselves after Europe, Asia, or Africa? What do those countries have to offer that could possibly make the USA a better country?

Presently, we have a President who ran on a platform of “transformation” and it looks as if those plans haven’t worked out too well. When Ronald Reagan took over from an incompetent Jimmy Carter, we had double digit unemployment and interest rates, plus a hostage crisis in Iran. The policies that Carter followed seem to be a re-run for what Obama has tried - Carter failed and, so far, so has Obama.

Many people in our country have no clue about the operations of our government or the leaders who head it. In fact, over 85% of all incumbents are re-elected and some have served for up to 40 years. The framers of our Constitution never envisioned that some would assume the mantel of “professional legislator”. They thought that there should be citizen legislators who would serve for a number of years and then turn over the reins to another citizen. Many of these “career politicians” have become very wealthy even though they have earned a modest salary (approximately $176,000 per year). Some of their decisions (in the form of “earmarks”) have resulted in them directly or indirectly benefiting from their legislative activities. I’m not talking about them inheriting family wealth, I’m talking about some “shady deals” when in office and when they retire (or voted out of office) by being hired by lobbying companies. Some of these “retired” legislators now earn upwards of six figures and some even seven figures. This is not relegated to either Republicans or Democrats, as members of both parties have cashed in.

By being aloof of the workings of our government, we then could be referred to as our own worst enemy, because we could “transform” our country for the better instead of for the worse. Let’s rid ourselves of the cancer that now resides in the White House.

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann