Lets Not be Doomed to Repeat History (Part 1)
The saying goes, “Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. In the 1970’s, a young man set out to seek the presidency of the United States. There was no question that he was not the most experienced of his rivals, but he was affable, witty, and his quiet charm and common sense resonated with the heartland of America. He was extremely intelligent, and yet very few at the time knew the depth of his experience in nuclear science. Nor did he wear his honorable military career on his sleeve. To most, he was a peanut farmer that had risen, through perseverance and uncommon compassion for his fellow man to become governor of the state of Georgia. And Jimmy Carter would go on to become, arguably, the worst president of the 20th Century.
As president, Carter inherited a troubled economy. He was poised to be the hero that would right the ship and get the country steaming ahead in financial bliss. Instead, by the end of his term, the country had seen soaring interest rates, extremely high inflation, ridiculous unemployment rates, home foreclosures, fuel shortages and unbearable lines at the gas pumps. Of course, we did not see those awful times because we were not yet born.
Barack Obama has that same folksy way about him. People embrace him in the same way that they reached out to Carter. But the most frightening fact to consider is that Obama has only a minimal fraction of the political experience that Carter possessed when he was elected. Let’s learn from the mistakes of our forebears, not repeat them. The future belongs to us.Part 2 tomorrow, a comment on foreign policy.
You are so "right on". I'm sure my fears will be true on 11/04/08 when Obama takes office. McCain is not the sharpest tool in the shed but he is at the very least "honorable" and loves The United States of America" first and before himself. Obama loves Obama and this country is heading for disaster......again. Where are all the conservative Christians? That "far right" would rather see our country destroyed, rather than endorsing John McCain..why? Because of Mrs.Palin. A woman in power??!!! How dare he pick a woman, who could potentially become President! Conservative Christians came out in droves for Geo.W. Bush, but as a Conservative Christian told me when I asked "Why are Christians not backing McCain like they did Bush"? Reply..we are, we're just being quite about it. Yeah, right. I too am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I do know that all of us are influenced by other people thru life. Obama's influences scares me to death! Now with all the voting fraud, it probably will not do any good....but VOTE I WILL.....A VOTE FOR MCCAIN IS A VOTE AGAINST OBAMA..The only power I have.
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I am a Christian and fully intend to vote for McCain-Palin. The fact the she is a woman doesn't bother me. There are some churches that don't think women should have leadership positions but not all. I know the scripture they use to justify that but if you look throughout the Bible you will see where God used many women to get things done. Debrah comes to mind. I, too, am considerably above 30 and it worries me that so many don't seem to understand what socialism is. We need to stop using the term "liberal" and replace it with what it is, "socialism". If you really want to know what socialism is just read the preface to Karl Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party by Friedrich Engles. I know some will say, "oh, you're just old and see commies behind every tree". I don't think so. As the first sentence of the article says, study history you might learn something.
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Very sound thinking. Maybe there is still hope for your generation. If they will only listen to reason and not only rhetoric. I am now 80 years old and I have seen this country from the depression through all the ups and downs. I hope enough of you will wake up to reality and vote to get this country back on the right track. I realize that President Bush has made some mistakes , but all these problems cannot be laid at his doorstep. If you listen and read other than what the media tells you maybe you can help get the country back on track.
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I recently watched a special on Jimmy Carter and how out of touch with reality he was on Foreign Policy. He thought that if we were only nice to everyone, they would treat us well. Then the Iranians took Americans hostage for 444 days. Now Barack Obama thinks that we should talk nice to our enemies and they won't attack us any more. And Joe Biden says the world will "test" Obama. We don't need another hostage crisis like the one that happened under Carter.
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That's an astute observation. I remeber some of the speeches, and people took to Carter because he was well-spoken and promised change. The resemblence is uncanny, especially when you examine Obama's economic plan. It has many of the same failed ideas. They didn't work in the 70's - I don't know why Obama thinks they will now. This is what scares me. The economy was a mess back then - I can remember sitting with my dad in a gas line. I remember sitting there week after week as they gave news reports about the people taken in Iran, and all Jimmy did was talk. Obama is going to make history alright, but not the way he's looking for. He will be the 1st and last black president for a long, long time because he screws up so badly. That's the biggest tragedy of all this.
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How true this is. I have so many friends that think abortion is the biggest thing riding on this election. If I could pick anyone for president it probably wouldn't be John McCain, but I can GUARANTEE it wouldn't be Obama. We have spent the last 30 years switching out systems that worked for ideas that didn't. When is America going to realize the election is about more than skin color, charisma and speech writers?
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I have used this analogy many times myself and have heard others use it too. It is quite accurate. The main reason why McCain will be unable to defeat Obama is because of his weakness when it comes to the economy. The biggest mistake that the Republican Party ever made was that we did not focus on and sell our ideas on the economy, education, health care, tax reform and other "bread-and-butter" issues that affect average Americans everyday. Reagan would have been able to accomplish this task, but McCain simply cannot do it. Obama is winning simply because the public believes that he can solve those issues for them while McCain cannot. Never mind the fact that Obama is totally incompetent, he is an excellent salesman while McCain has barely tried and is not very effective in this area. For example, McCain's health care plan has plenty of good ideas, but he has never effectively explained the faults of the employer-based insurance system. Then, Obama comes back and states that McCain is trying to destroy the employer-based health care system like that is a bad thing that people need to fear. McCain's more individual-based health care system would be far better and more open to free market principles. McCain also needed to promote a major simplification of the income tax to make the lives of tax payers far easier while creating more stable revenue. A partial if not entire privatization of Social Security would help save the government from the enormous looming debt. By the way, Obama and the Dems will make the financial situation of the government (a.k.a. DEBT) impossible to overcome quickly. The Republican Party must promote these superior ideas and win over the public in these domestic areas or we will continue to lose.
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From another octogenarian--Right on, Neal. This election is about democracy verus socalism. Why is socalism not recognized?
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What scares me is the source of Obama's power: his misinformed minions who number in the millions. How did they get that way? The same way they got most of their "knowledge" growing up. They sat in front of the television, movie screen, public school teachers and college professors absorbing all the propaganda the crafty leftists could muster. Now they're ready to vote to bring Obama's version of change to our society because that's what they've been trained, conditioned, and told to do. We will be a different America after this. God help us.
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From another old guy (72) but one who has an 11 year old son. Germany in the 1930's was royally screwed by the post WWI treaties, and was suffering economic collapse, when up jumped a charismatic speaker who gave them hope. He did build their military and economy, but all was temporary, because Adolf Hitler led the country to ruin. Millions of lives were lost, and Europe was laid to waste. All because a people did not recognize the danger behind the glib tongue. It won't make much difference to me if we adopt socialism . . . but it will to my son . . and you young folks who are reading this. Please look carefully, then vote for the candidate that will promote freedom and economic growth. Remember, if we try to divide up the pie equally, we will stiffle growth, have a smaller pie, and all suffer equally. On the other hand, if we adopt policies that will grow the economy, even those at the bottom of the ladder will have more and enjoy a better life.
The REPO (Reid, Pelosi, Obama) bunch are focused on pulling down the rich. This will hurt the little guy far more than the rich folks. Think about it.... This is not rocket science.
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hello all you young Americans, I'm a 60 yr old Vietnam disabled vet.I've witnessed some pretty terrible things in my life. I have P.T.S.D.and a slew of other mental and physical conditions as a result of my service to my country when they came a callin'. I don't regret any of it. I believed like so many other young(19)men of my generation that I was fighting for democracy and to provide a safe place for my yet to be born children. I've never been afraid of the results of our elections,until now! It would seem however nobama wants to change all that the 60,000 men died for in V.N.as well as everyone that fought and died for in wwII. Our flag stands for freedom and hope. Thats the main reason the rest of the world wants to come here. Was it all for not? If nobama and the rest of repo gets "in" thats exactly what it would have been for...nothing.In this election poeple are voting for two things, 1 the democrats are voting for the party, not the best man! 2 the African Americans are voting for Sen. Obama because they think hes for them. fact is before he decided to run he gave only 1% contributions total($4.1million)of his earnings. does that sound like he wants to help the people in their time of need? NOW is the time HE needs them. believe me if hes elected he won't support them(he doesn't give a dime to his 1/2 brother)in Kenya.Why you ask? its simple there's nothing his brother can do to help him.One last thing to ponder over Mr Obama, wheres his mother in all this? If you were to embark on the greatest achievement of your life, would your mother not be there for you? thanks for listening to a wore out old man. Make a difference in your future vote for the "right" candidate. Sen. Mc Cain David
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Obama won't do anything, but screw with our economy more and mess it up to the fullest. He wants to tax the more wealthy and give that money to the people who wont get off their butt and work like everyone else in the world. I personally do not believe that people should be able to sit back and smoke crack, have babies and get our tax dollars. We worked for our money so why should our taxes go out to the people that don’t give anything back to the United States? What we really need is our taxes cut and keep more of OUR money that WE worked for.
NOBAMA!!!
GO MCCAIN 08
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Too bad Bush didn't remember the past, i.e., Viet Nam when he invated Iraq. The resemblence between Bush and Johnson and their handling of the wars is almost unbearable! As to the handling of the economy, the way I see it, McCain will take my money and give it to wall Street; Obama will take my money and give it to welfare queens. Either way, I lose.
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Ryan,
It is so refreshing to see Gen Y taking the time to inform themselves of the issues and to draw upon the lessons of the past as a point of reference instead of relying on Hollywood and others to form their opinions. Unfortunately, Senator McCain is too much of a gentleman and for some reason reluctant to engage in the straight talk he is known for to win. This man would be a good President but took some bad advice from his campaign along the way. I am still hopeful, but it will be a huge undertaking for him to defeat the man long on style and smooth talking, but short on substance and the ability to think for himself when off script. Our nation, though not perfect, is very resilant both economically and in the strength of our citizenry and will ultimately survive an Obama Presidency if that were to happen. Two years from now when Bush is gone and Obama is backed into a corner by Reid and Pelosi to raise taxes, there will be no one left for him to blame, and thus sealing his fate for a massive defeat in 2012. Keep the faith and in the words of Thomas Jefferson "this is not a government of the majority, rather a government of the majority that participate" so get out their and vote Gen Y.
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Very good and refreshing to know that voters are reading and spreading the correct facts for all to read. Forward to all to read.
Nels D.
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