The Day After or...The Age of Aquarius

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution of The United States.

Well, it is finally here, the dawning of a new age. We have sworn in the 44th President of these United States. Many on the left and the right can breathe easy now. The left has finally put one of their own back in power and the right can wash their hands of the past 8 years. Not since the 1960's have the Democrats had complete control over the Executive and Legislative branches of our government. We know how that era turned out. Many forget the escalation of the Vietnam Conflict and the loss of 55,000 military personnel in South East Asia, the failures of The Great Society; the energy crisis, high unemployment and double digit inflation of the 70's and early 80's.

I was struck by the lack of civility of those on the left and particularly during the transfer of power. Ideologues, especially those of the left, seem to have a knack of making themselves look like the intellectually deprived morons (one step above an imbecile) they are. I have developed an utter disdain of those on the left over the last 8 years and much of the behavior exhibited during the inauguration ceremony has reinforced my contempt of many of these people. They have no idea what it is to be polite and show respect. They expect those of us on the right to show "tolerance", which they fail to heed on a daily basis, and give their politicians the benefit of a doubt showing support for a coming together. They failed miserably in their own expectations. Since day one of the Bush administration, they made President Bush the butt of their jokes and skewed the facts to meet their agenda. President Bush leaves office with an approval rating of 30%, much higher than the approval rating of the members of congress. He is in good company when it comes to being disliked, among the presidents that history now describes as effective are Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman and Reagan to name a few.

President Bush had many accomplishments during his 8 years. Some of these I have supported, others I have not. The following is excerpted from an article in The Anchoress and is directed more to those right of center who turned against the President when things got tough, then those on the left that had their feeble minds made up on day one.

Did he protect us from the reach & province of the International Criminal Court? Yes.
Did he keep us from the Kyoto mess that is currently tying up Europe? Yes.
Did he create a workable alternative to Kyoto that other countries have embraced? Yes. Bet you didn’t know that!
Have US Carbon Emissions decreased on his watch, without Kyoto? Yes.
Did he submit a comprehensive energy plan that got killed by a weak congress? Yes.
Has he lowered the deficit ahead of schedule in time of war? Yes. Even the NYTimes admits it!
Did he cut taxes? Twice? Yes. And yes.
Did he try to get the cuts made permanent? Yes. Congress dropped that ball.
Did he stop government funding of EMBRYONIC stem cell research? Yes.
Has he kept the promises he made as he held a dead cop’s shield before the Joint Houses? Yes.
Did he go after the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan barely a month after 9/11? Yes.
Has he been unflagging in his efforts to subdue terrorism, worldwide? Yes.
Has he been the consistent voice for human liberty around the globe? Yes.
After some serious missteps, is the surge working? Yes.
Has he been a staunch friend to Israel, the only stable democracy in a frantic region? Yes.
Did he end the farce of world-wide Arafat admiration? Yes
Did he remove Saddam Hussein, whose state supported terrorists, from power? Yes.
Did he invade Iraq at a time when the whole world believed Saddam had and “would use” WMD? Yes.
Did he bring a much-maligned coalition with him? Yes. Some are still there.
Did he liberate 50,000,000 people in keeping with the ideals of the 1998 Iraqi Liberation Act? Yes.
Has he inspired the Iraqi people to finally believe enough in freedom to fight Al-Qaeda with us? YES!
Has he figured out that a free and engaged Middle East makes America safer? Yes.
Has he kept you safe since 9/11? So safe that you’ve almost forgotten to fear? Yes.
Did he remove “the wall” between the CIA and the FBI? Yes.
Did he go to the UN before invading Iraq? Yes.
Did he tell the UN that the US would never ask permission to defend herself? Yes.
Did he inspire Libya to surrender it’s WMD without firing a shot? Yes.
Did he appoint excellent SCOTUS and Federal Judges to the bench? Yes.
Did he implement the NSA terrorist eavesdropping program? Yes.
Did he immediately move to freeze assets and make terror funding more difficult? Yes.
Did he reform Medicare? Yes.
Did he reform Social Security to give you more power over your money? He tried. See Congress.
Did he manage an economy thru recession, terror attack & war w/ consistent gains for over ten quarters? Yes.
Has he kept unemployment between 5.5% and 4.4% for an impressive period? Yes.
Does he say what he means and mean what he says? Yes.
Did he try to address immigration last year, when the houses in his party? Yes.
Does he support the second amendment? Yes.
Does he support school vouchers and school choice? Yes.
Did he sign the ban on Partial Birth Abortion? Yes. It went to court, but he signed it.
Did he reverse Clinton’s intent to kill Reagan’s pro-life Mexico policy? Yes.
Did he support the Defense of Marriage Act? Yes. That used to be vitally important to you.
Did he expand the roles of faith-based organizations in social programs? Yes.
Did he prosecute the white-collar criminals like Ken Lay who ran riot through the ‘90’s? Yes.
Has he handled himself with enormous courage, dignity and grace in the face of world/media/hate?
Is he a man with a creed before he’s anything else? Yes.
Did he establish Health Savings accounts? Yes.
Did he have the Border Patrol installing monitoring devices along the borders? Yes.
Has he made mistakes? Yes. Some undeniable beauts.
Has he been an imperfect president? Yes.
Has he spent too much? Probably.
Has he given you most of what you’ve wanted? Actually, looking at the list…yes!
Has he dared to disagree with anyone to keep his principles, even you? Yes.

Has he really been your Judas? Has he really betrayed you?

Did he ever question your patriotism, or tell you you were a bad person? No, actually, he didn’t. Go read his remarks in context, instead of looking at one sentence blared at you by the very media you distrust. Be intellectually honest enough to admit that in this immigration controversy there are (sadly) some who are using fear to move their agenda, and there are some (only some, but they hurt us all) who reveal bigotry in their rants. You needn’t be offended if you can remember that there are those “somes” in every group; conservatives have no corner of perfection. You actually do have a choice as to how you receive what you hear, see and read, just as you have a choice as to how you receive a good, that is, with “open” or “closed” heart.

And ask yourself : is it reasonable to worry about the soul of a nation while contemplating big questions of life/liberty/enforcement issues for human beings, including children, and when you’re discussing ideas like “raids” and “surveillance” (that will affect not just “illegals” and their employers, but average people who are just passing by) and when deciding just how broad or harsh measures should or can be when dealing with a problem of huge scope and size?

The above mentioned pretty well sums up my thoughts, though it did leave out a few items that I would have included. He authorized and took responsibility for captured terrorists to be interred at Guantanamo instead of being put into the civilian population of our prison system, as some on the left have wanted. He pushed for more money to be appropriated to combat AIDS and other catastrophic diseases in Africa, more than any other administration. President Bush inherited from the Clinton administration the beginnings of an economic downturn, made worse by the events of 9/11. Expanding on the afore mentioned reach of the International Criminal Courts, this was the result of a push to bring President Clinton and members of the military before these courts for actions taken during the USA's involvement in the war in the Balkans.

Though I did not agree with everything that President Bush did or did not do, I still consider him to be in the right place at the right time.

Economic Collapse Could Be In The Near Future

U.S. reliance on credit will have a devastating effect on the economic stability of the U.S. Dollar, resulting in critical damage to the U.S. economy. A return to the days of high inflation and recessions not seen since the mid 1970's is impending. Loss of faith in the Dollar by the economies of the world will hasten the devastation.

China holds a vast amount of investment in the U.S. Dollar. There are signs that the Chinese are quietly dumping the Dollar in favor of the Euro and other world currencies that offer more stability. Unfortunately this can hasten the decline of the Dollar, resulting in high inflation and a catastrophic recession.

The "out of control spending" by both government and consumers, utilizing credit, is what is bringing us to this economic collapse.

Is there anything that can help stave off this impending crisis? That is doubtful, but we can start to lessen the length of this severe economic crunch.

The way to do this is by:

1. Tightening consumer credit (Which will surely hasten a recession, but could be a short lived one).

2. Cut government services, reducing the deficit spending (the government's version of using the credit card). Decrease the tax burden to offset the cut in services and help stimulate the economy (the trickiest part of the equation).

3. Paying back the money borrowed for generations of deficit spending.

4. Push forth a comprehensive energy package and implementing the policies immediately (akin to a national war footing, reminiscent of World War ll). This will include Nuclear and alternative fuel development and implementation. This should also include a Presidential Executive Order opening up petroleum exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, offshore drilling and increased use of the vast amount of coal reserves, building an abundance of coal fired electrical generating and coal gasification plants as a stop gap measure while new Nuclear Power plants come on line (many will argue that the funds will not be available for these endeavors. I say they must be available to remain a dominant economic force for the future).

The above mentioned items are highly possible. The only thing that is lacking is the American "Can Do" spirit that made our country great and the willingness to sacrifice for our children's future and their children's future.

UPDATE: In recent days, the news services have been reporting a divide within OPEC. Some members are pushing for an agreement to get away from the U.S. Dollar. The U.S. dollar has been the main currency for purchasing petroleum. Shifting away from dollars to other currencies will further weaken the U.S. economy.