Obama's Declaration of Collectivism !

Over the weekend I got to fully read President Barack Obama's inaugural speech.  It was not only troubling for what he did say but what he didn't say. In a recent posting I mentioned that he didn't say anything about working together with the other Partys and the need for cooperation and compromise on some of the big issues facing the government and American people in the months ahead. One of the least remarked upon aspects of his speech was his attempt to co-opt the Founding Father's Declaration of Independence to bolster his far-left agenda.

Sure, the president quoted one of the most important sentences in world history: ''We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.''  So far so good. But he later connected the Declaration with his own leftist/liberal agenda: ''...that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedom ultimately requires collective action.'' 

He fleshed this out with his trademark class-warfare, income-leveling rationalizations. Such as: The shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.'' He also talked about ''Our wives, mothers and daughters that earn a living equal to their effort.''  He followed that up with, ''The wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship,''  Here's what I take away from all this rhetoric: Mr Obama is arguing counter to the Founding Fathers that the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of equality of results, not the equality of opportunity, and that he will do what he can to use government to make everybody more equal in terms of their income and life work. THAT IS WRONG! He should be rewarding success. He should be promoting entrepreneurship and encouraging individual effort and opportunity. But his Marxist DNA won't allow these things.

This was no opportunity speech. This was a redistributionist, income-leveling speech. And it completely missed the point of the Founding Fathers some 237 years ago. They were talking about the equality of opportunity, not results. Theirs was a declaration of freedom, not government power or authority. They had a gutful of government authority with taxes, regulations and oppression without any representation of their rights of liberty. So while Obama was on the one hand preaching ''fidelity to our founding principles,'' on the other he was saying that preserving our individual freedom ultimately requires collective action.

Collective Action? The Founders were talking about individual liberty and rights. Not the power of a collectivist government. (Note: you ignorant people who voted for Obama, look in your dictionary [if you actually own one] what collective means)  The ''collective'' is a socialist idea, not a free-market capitalist thought. And the story of the last quarter of the 20th Century was of the absolute breakdown and end of the collectivist model. Collectivism was thrown into the dustbin of history by the weight of its own failure. Now this deadshit president wants to revive this concept again! You have to wonder if he really understands the America ''idea'' and the American historical experience.

During this second-term inaugural speech, Obama amazingly said, ''We do not believe in this country that freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few.''  Were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates lucky? Was Henry Ford or Thomas Edison just lucky? How about they used their God-given talents of creativity, imagination and ingenuity, coupled with hard work, to create commercial ventures that financially empowered millions upon millions of people who then able to live better and more comfortable lives. It was the freedom to chose your path without government meddling that made great things happen.

The Way I See It....there was something crucial missing from the speech. The President's highest moments of passion were reserved for the struggle for civil rights, through Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall,'' a phrase that resonated with minorities. Yet...he had nothing to say about civic responsibilities. There was not even the vaguest approximation of Kennedy's clarion call, ''Ask not what you can do for your country....ask what you can do for your country.'' There was no acknowledgement that rights come with responsibilities in a democracy, especially for those -- rich and poor -- who are getting special benefits from the government. There was no call to a greater sense of community at a time when Americans have lost the habits of citizenship,

It was bad enough that the President had nothing to say about economic growth or excess federal spending, deficits and debt. Nor did he show any interest in reforming the huge entitlement programs that may bankrupt America. He did discuss the energy market. But rather than let market forces determine the most efficient and clean energy sources to power the economy, he insisted on more doomed green-energy projects subsidized by the taxpayer (like Solyndra debacle). In conclusion, I must say it's Obama's misunderstanding of the Founders' intent that is the most troubling. Equality of opportunity is the American ideal. Equality of results and income-leveling is foreign to the American ideal. The era of small government is over and socialism is back....beware America!