The year 2012 is almost behind us. After what may be the most divisive election year in American history not much has changed politically. President Obama retains his post, the Senate is still firmly controlled by the Democratic Party, and the House of Representatives is still firmly controlled by the Republican Party. It really is quite ironic now that I think about it. I would not have seen it immediately following the election itself. Admittedly I am no fan of President Obama's politics, personal views, or goals. Personally I see him as the absolute wrong direction for America.
That being said I recognize that folks on "both sides of the aisle" were very unhappy with the current state of affairs. The difficult situation before us this time around was the fact that so many divisive topics were at the forefront during this election cycle. Religious liberty, Constitutional protections, health care, the economy, women's rights, immigration, and so many more. Many folks cared so much about a single issue that all of their opinions and votes likely followed in support of that alone. Meanwhile others sought to cast their votes in favor of as many issues as they could. Yet I know of those who simply didn't vote this time around simply because they were either confused (undecided on their own personal views perhaps), put off by all the politics, or simply felt like their vote wasn't really meaningful.
Perhaps it is time for us to do away with the Electoral College and utilize a popular vote system. They say that no President has ever been elected who didn't win both the Electoral College and the popular vote. I still wonder how many millions of Americans simply don't vote because they simply cannot see the point in doing so. To them there seems to be a reality that the government won't truly listen anyhow. And among millions of others what does their singular vote mean? The reality it seems is that a very select handful of states get to decide who the President is every four years. Only recently has Florida officially declared that President Obama won their electoral votes. This being days after the election was called and the President officially accepted the win. Essentially due to Florida taking so long to count their votes they essentially rendered their votes pointless. The election was over long before Florida even finished voting (some folks were said to cast their votes up until midnight!).
Post election I've seen news articles in the UK about US gun sales soaring as people fear a Democratic push to outlaw so called "assault weapons". The United Nations wants to regulate civilian ownership of firearms around the world. The Republican Party seems to be yielding to Obama and the Democratic Party's desires to raise taxes in order to balance the national budget. Let us hope they actually can balance the budget and begin paying off this $16 trillion debt we're currently being smothered by.
Let alone we're now suddenly hearing about the affair of General Petraeus, Iran shooting down a US drone, Attorney General Eric Holder wishing to resign, and who knows what else hasn't come to light yet. Let alone we're stuck with "ObamaCare" now. Here's an interesting tidbit about Obama's "signature" health care law. In an effort to make health care available to all Americans, somehow more affordable, the law now forces employers to limit Medical Flex Savings Accounts to $2,500 or less. For those who may not be familiar with FSA accounts these allow you to take money out of your paycheck (pre-tax money) and set it aside for paying medical bills. Inherently, since you're not paying taxes on that money you essentially save about 30% (which is an estimate of what taxes would remove). For those having a hard time with a high deductible insurance policy these can help considerably with saving for and paying for medical bills. So why on earth would Uncle Sam force us to limit this? I'd like to know what benefit this is to people who can't afford health insurance in the first place?
The reality is there is one benefit (that I'm aware of) to this limitation. It means the government can prevent you from withholding too much money that they can't tax. Depending on whether you normally set aside more than $2,500 a year this could actually be a tax hike. Let alone the new Constitutionally supported (so says the Supreme Court) tax fines against those who don't buy health insurance. Now the IRS has the power to assess a "tax" on anyone who either refuses to or cannot purchase a private health insurance plan. By the way, that health insurance is also required to pay for contraceptives whether you wish to use them or not, are male or female, atheist or religious, rich or poor.
The most amazing part of this whole debate is the fact that three self professed Catholics (Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi & Kathleen Sebelius) are devoutly in support of these requirements. I most certainly find offense to the requirement solely for religious liberty purposes. Yet I also believe that these requirements are unconstitutional (though the Supreme Court disagrees). Most sickening in my mind is the fact that the Supreme Court specifically states these requirements are Constitutional because of the ability of Congress to pass taxes. But let's go back a couple hundred years for a moment. The founding fathers of this great nation stood against the King of England and opposed him for what they saw as tyrannical taxation and attacks on religious liberties.
What bothers me the most is how obvious so many of Obama's tendencies and desires are. Yet so many people seem to be lulled by his promises of "rights". Rights to choose, rights to health care, rights to immigrate, you name it. They all sound nice on the outside but there's so much we need to consider. Choice for example is a great thing. Having the freedom to choose our own form of liberty is perhaps part of what the founding fathers intended. However, I'd imagine few of them would support the so called "choice" to terminate a pregnancy. Inherently what is happening is a shielded attempt to deteriorate the religious foundation of this nation. President Obama declares himself to be a Christian yet just about everything he supports is in direct conflict with Biblical teachings. He's been said to have belonged to communist clubs during his college years for example. The Catholic Church itself has long ago declared that communism itself is intrinsically evil. In fact Pope Pius XI in 1846 stated, "that infamous doctrine of so-called Communism which is absolutely contrary to the natural law itself, and if once adopted would utterly destroy the rights, property and possessions of all men, and even society itself."* I find it a bit amusing that no more than fifty or sixty years ago during the Cold War era Americans were scared to death of Communism. Yet here we are with a re-elected president who received public supported from dictators and communist leaders around the world.
My, how our country has changed in such a short period of time. Apparently this last generation has failed quite drastically in passing along it's moral values, views of ethics, ideals, opinions, and experiences. For example, the idea of "Separation of Church & State" used to mean that government could not tell you who to worship, how to worship them, or when and where you could do so. Today anyone younger than retirement age seems to think that concept of separation means that an individual cannot be religious, speak about their religion, practice their religion, or anything else if they are in, on, near, or around those who are near any governmental group or organization. For example, it's now taboo for a student to pray by themselves. Or a politician to allow their own personal religious beliefs to influence or inform how they do their job as an elected official. In fact this separation concept was essentially to protect that individual so that they could indeed retain their religious freedom.
How all this plays out over the next four years of course is up to us. The electorate.
