Dear Mr. President, here’s the deal as I see it: Most of the country – and I know I – voted for you to *change* the course from an America that was too fueled by anger and intolerance and too little support for the disadvantaged.
We knew you’d bring a great deal of intelligence and leadership within the context of the country we all think is a great and powerful experiment in economics, freedom, and well-being for those of us fortunate enough to live here.
However most of us really did NOT want to bring in even more big government and “overly sensitive” left wing sensibilities. We hoped you’d stem the tide of polarization and bureaucratic nonsense that has plagued the congress for some time. For the most part we did not support the agendas of the new congress which was too reckless with our tax dollars and too quick to bring changes that would have unintended consequences.
That’s why folks are now voting in the Republicans – not so much because they think they have better answers, but to say “stop” to the current set of reckless congressional pork barrel politics.
The moral of the story? One of the parties needs to get smarter, which means to adopt the basic founding principles (SMALL Military, SMALL Government, BIG Freedoms) that fueled the economic and intellectual and cultural powerhouse we call the USA.
Founding principles does NOT mean the agenda of the Tea Party, plagued by silly cultural conservatism, too many irrational thinkers, and an aversion to “true” conservative values like cutting military spending and common sense control of guns. True conservatism (which we’ll all need very soon or we’ll break the bank) will mean major cuts in both entitlements and defense. And by “major cuts” I don’t mean the pussy footing drops in the bucket both Democrats and Republicans are proposing – I mean 20-30% across the board. Ironically if the government cut spending people would NOT expect their taxes to be cut immediately. Most of us understand the economic mess will take years to unwind, but we want government to be a lot smarter and a lot leaner … now.
A high percentage of social service spending isn’t needed at all, and smarter defense policies that substitute infrastructure aid, cultural sophistication, and clever international marketing could save hundreds of billions annually.
Do that, and you’ll see support flow back to you faster than any of us can say “CHANGE”.
Joe Duck 
You raise a good point on reducing the Defense budget, one overlooked by the usual Tea Party zombies AND the do-gooder liberals as well, who generally are not troubled by the fact that Obama ear-marked more for the DoD than even Bushco did (not to say the bipartisan TARP/bailout, or Afghan mess). But TPers never diss the Military, and liberal narcissocrats forgot that the old slogan “Question Authority” applied to both Republican and Democratic leaders–(Hillary’s differences from say McCain could be measured in micro-meters)
However I don’t think many, except rightist-TPsters, would agree with you in regard to say, cutting back health care. The BO Admin and Pelosicrats more or less designed H-C reform with the insurance companies and pharma in mind—it probably could have been done much cheaper via a EU plan (and there are slushbucket aspects, as with most Demopublican projects), but …it’s something, and probably will help out the middle class– and poor– in the long run.
(whatever happened to Glennster, JD, and the rest? )
Not sure why folks stopped commenting as much as in the old days.
I hope you are right about health care, but my feeling is that most people remain very skeptical of the current plans. I think they’ll bring huge costs to the Government without much benefit to the working poor this plan is supposed to help. For those with good insurance this is unlikely to do much, and for those of us with high deductible / part self insurance it’ll just get us more benefits at higher cost – something I don’t think is part of the big solution – probably a slight extra cost but not significant change.
My solution is politically unsustainable, but it’s to LOWER the quality of care and LOWER the ridiculous expectations most have about choosing doctors and living health-damaging lifestyles using medication to make up for the recklessness.
I think Govt should provide a high deductible health plan to all for nothing and then let the market shake out all the rest of this – I want pressure on providers to compete for lower costs and better services.
Well, we’ve had Jon Stewart’s Rally for Sanity, and just maybe the economic and social problems of the USA will be repaired soon, JD. Or maybe not.
Anyway, as with most political issues, H-C-R may or may not be in your best interest, depending on your economic standing. It will cost the wealthy and business owners more in taxes, but the middle class (and below), BO’s H-C bill will most likely save money via lower premiums, medicare buy-ins, etc
Dear president Obama,
I am one that has been able to hear the inner voice of the atman or higher self, I wish I could make you see that what goes out must return because that is the way karma works. we are electric magnetic beings so what goes out must return. Love is the strongest force in the universe so it is the only one we are allowed to use. It is only when we truly love are enemies can we stop the karmic effect. sincerely, Lorraine oleary
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silence…hypocrisy is astounding…