Eight years ago, Barrack Hussein Obama (BHO) and his cronies were swept into office by a naive electorate that fell for their vague promises of “Hope and Change”. But today many of us have lost hope, and we have all suffered from the change. It was as if a locomotive had a change of engineers, and the drunken replacement accelerated the train with a wide open throttle. Obama’s statist-collectivist policies have been instituted at a breakneck pace.
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Let’s take a few minutes to ponder Obama’s legacy and just what all of BHO’s “change” has wrought:
- Massive government debt. With the help of a Republican-controlled congress, our 44th president, has amassed more Federal debt than his 43 predecessors, combined. Our children and grandchildren will bear the burden of those debts.
- Emasculated military forces. Not only have our soldiers, sailors, and airmen been subjected to the disgrace of having to serve with open homosexuals, but now the size of our military is shrinking. The intentional draw-down of the U.S. Army now has its manpower smaller than in 1939.
- Socialized medicine. Once just a scheme of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, America’s formerly first-rate private healthcare system has been socialized. Failure to enroll in this “not a tax” tax program subjects Americans to a graduated system of fines. Thankfully, Christian cost-sharing programs like Samaritan Ministries [2], Christian Healthcare Ministries [3], and Medi-Share [4] are still available as legal alternatives to Obamacare, but that window of opportunity may close in the near future.
- Leftist courts. BHO’s appointments to the Federal courts and to the Supreme Court have been almost universally been hardline socialist democrats. Typified by Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, BHO has consistently nominated judges who are both statist-collectivists and “activists” who ignore both precedent and the intent of our Constitution’s framers. The effects of Obama’s many court appointments will still be felt for decades after Obama leaves office.
- Inverted foreign policy. Rather than standing up to the onslaught of radical Islamic extremism, the BHO administration has quite unevenly both turned its back on our long-time allies, like Israel, and cozied up to dictators. By embracing the Arab Spring movement, the BHO Administration has thoroughly fouled up our foreign policy, alienating our allies and making our nation a mockery in most nations.
- A shrinking middle class. Obamanomics, so-called “free trade”, oppressive taxation, and crony tax credits have all worked together to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, gradually destroying our nation’s once vibrant middle class.
- Federal officials used as bully boys. The FBI, BATFE, EPA, and IRS have been used as apparatchiks against perceived enemies of the state. The notorious Lerner “Special Projects” scandal selectively delaying or denying the tax exemption of nonprofit conservative groups was just one example. Most recently, FBI HRT teams were deployed to Oregon, in response to the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge headquarters. The FBI’s message in Oregon was clear: Step out of line, and you end up lying face down in red snow.
- Federal gun-running. With the intent of discrediting American gun-owners, Operation Fast and Furious was put in operation, intentionally allowing American guns to be illegally exported to Mexican drug lords. The end result of the gun-running scandal was that Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress, but no official ever answered for this state-sanctioned perfidy.
- Institutionalized corruption: Obama presidential campaign contributor Bruce Heyman was named the U.S. ambassador to Canada. (It is amazing what rounding up $1 million in campaign contributions can do for a man.) During BHO’s first term, the creditors of General Motors were left twisting in the wind, while the socialist UAW benefited. Following campaign contributions, Solyndra received $535 million is taxpayer funds, but the company went bankrupt. The promised “4,000 new jobs” never materialized. Current campaign finance laws allow tremendous influence to be exerted by corporate donors. In the past few years, Hillary Clinton has amassed an astounding $200 million dollars in “speaker’s fees”, in presenting speeches at one million dollars per speech. And we are told that there was no quid pro quo for these enormous fees. Meanwhile, the Clinton Foundation has taken in millions in donations from foreign governments and corporations, and again we are told that “it is perfectly legal” and again that there was no quid pro quo. But let me be frank: I know corruption when I see it, and I see it plainly, both in BHO’s White House and with the Clintons.
- Homosexual “marriage” and gender-bending. Spurred on by the mass media’s relentless brainwashing, the institution of marriage has effectively been destroyed. The latest affront is the legalization of cross-gender use of restrooms and locker rooms. The BHO Administration recently announced that it would withhold Federal funding from any school that does not allow cross-gender uses of restrooms.
- Common Core curriculum. With the full backing of Obama, the Department of Education has instituted collectivist Common Core [5] standards for America’s schools. This pervasive system is undermining the independence of both the states and local school districts.
- Open borders and un-vetted immigrants. The way that the BHO Administration has handled our borders and immigration policy has been horrendous. These policies have left us much more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Only time will tell the full implications of BHO’s blunders.
- The rise of the surveillance state. Continuing a trend that started with the second Bush Administration, Obama has condoned the pervasive surveillance of the American people. There are now countless cameras and license plate scanners in operation, permanent archiving of all Internet activity, and monitoring of nearly all telephone calls, with deep, persistent archives. It is like a Stasi agent’s dream come true. Our Fourth Amendment rights are under attack, and the courts are doing little to stop it.
But Not All Bad News…
All of the preceding is just a sampling, and it might seem quite depressing and disturbing. However, there has been some good news in the past eight years. One notable failure of the BHO Administration has been their intended disarmament of the civilian populace. Aside for some executive orders that still stand, nearly all of their attempts at “gun control” have been blocked by Congress and the courts. Meanwhile, nondiscretionary concealed carry permits are now available in nearly every state, and permitless (Vermont style) concealed carry laws are expanding to many states. I expect this trend to continue. Having a well-armed citizenry provides a crucial check on the Federal government. In effect, the Second Amendment is the insurance policy for the rest of the Bill of Rights.
A More Sober Engineer?
The upcoming quadrennial presidential election presents both an opportunity and a substantial danger. Please be prayerful that America gets better leadership. We cannot afford to have another four or eight years of leftist lunacy. Pray for God’s mercy on our nation. And always be ready and willing to stand up and fight if full-blown tyranny descends on America. – JWR
Note: Permission is granted for re-posting of this entire article, but only if done so in full, with proper attribution to James Wesley, Rawles and SurvivalBlog, and only if the included links are preserved.)