Reflections on the Inauguration...

Those who know me well know I cannot pass up the opportunity to share my three-cents on newly-inaugurated President Obama's address today to a rabble-roused crowd of two million.

As Odysseus, I chose instead to listen to the president's address on the radio and spare myself the affects of the siren's mainstream media song on television. To give credit where it's due, this speech was lofty and replete will noble language. Inaugural addresses are rarely policy points and more often a collection of cliche and platitudes. This speech was no different. And in his characteristic style and grace, Obama did not disappoint. However, even in this, the two thousand and ninth year of our Lord, words still mean things. So, I'll endeavor here to lift the thin veil over those words to pose important questions for the new administration.

But, first a few attaboys. There were a handful of passages in the speech to which I found myself nodding my head, however reservedly so.

President Obama demonstrated humility and gratitude to outgoing President Bush:

"I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition."

And here, I enjoyed the president's affirmation of entrepreneurism and risk and hard-work and discipline.

"In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom."

Though I have profound differences of opinion and deep moral convictions about the man, I am equally proud that President Obama can proclaim this:

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

Now, that's the extent of my applause for Obama's speech. As I found myself perusing the transcript, the greatest challenge was not reprinting the speech in its entirety...nearly all of it gives pause for deep suspicion. Stay with me here...

President Obama declared:

"At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents."

I find this platitude a weak shout out to those of us who still care (not to mention who bother to reread from time to time) about what the Founders said. The dubiousness of this statement is that nearly every policy and proposal brought forth by Obama and Company on the campaign trail and after the election flies in the face of the very principles and statements left to us by the Founders. I'll address specifics on the "founding documents" in a moment...

"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age...Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous."

The obvious target of this statement is clear: the free market. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et. al. persist in blaming our economic situation on the excesses of the free market. Did some financial firms make stupid decisions? Yes. Should they pay for their misdeeds? Yes. But, after all, just as in 1929, the condition of the economy is a direct result of the market's response to misguided federal incentive and coercion. The market is not an individual that makes rational and moral decisions. It is merely an atmosphere, a set of conditions in which free enterprise is more or less encouraged. The market is amoral and therefore will seek the shortest path to profit and growth. When government pours gasoline on a fire that was meant to flame on its own, someone always gets burned. But, Obama and his pals refuse to learn from history; instead, they intend to rewrite it.

"Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

I needn't say much about this; the paradox is clear enough. Health care and education are broken precisely because of the government-control policies that Obama has advocated.

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

Is the insinuation here that those of us who voted for McCain chose fear over hope and conflict/discord over unity? So we indeed have "Two Americas": one of the Hopeys and the other of the Hateys.

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

The insinuation here is that a conservative agenda is one of "worn out dogmas" that strangles our politics. Right...

"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

I was under the impression we had set aside childish things in 1776, but maybe I missed something. Choose our better history? Which history is that? Obama has visions of 1932. Now, the real gem in this little quip is that Obama (or rather his speech-writer) conveniently omitted the word "created." Wouldn't want anyone thinking that babes in the womb should partake of this grand hopeyness, now would we?

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

Remake America again? When did we remake it the first time? Last I checked, we got this ship of state shoved off in 1776...was there a second revolution somewhere while I was sleeping?

"...we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."

One question: "Who is 'we'?" Okay, two questions: "How is 'we' gonna pay for all this growth, building, restoration, and transformation?" I have a guess...

"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage."

This platitude has my head all messed up. I'm confident "big plans" is loosely translated "government programs." And in point of fact, we haven't forgotten what this country has already done...that's the whole point. We've tried the New Deal before. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply."

Well now, this statement may actually be true, for, as Alexander Tyler explained, "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." Perhaps indeed the ground has shifted, and, by electing Barry Obama, We the People have finally discovered the pot at the end of the rainbow.

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."

On its face, this statement is very true. Size of government is indeed relative to the task laid upon it. But, as an astute pal of mine pointed out today, the real question is what we mean by whether government "works." What is our objective standard of measure and are the goals placed upon the government legitimate and constitutional. After all, Roe v. Wade has worked...in the sense that it has liberated millions of women from the confines of a traditional female role and left tens of millions of innocent dead babies in its wake. Before we concern ourselves with a government that works, we ought to be about the task of ensuring we have a government that is just and right.

"We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations."

This is coming from the same guy who agreed to sit at the table with terrorists to discuss things over tea. Barack Obama has visions of grandeur about detente which are not borne out by history. Coddling rabid, fundamentalist terror-mongers by inviting them to the diplomatic table will ensure that one gets blown up at the table.

"...and roll back the specter of a warming planet."

This needs no comment...kook science aside, my heating bill is through the roof already. Oh wait, we're now returning to an ice age, right? I forget.

"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies."

Brett Farley: "Ask not what your country can do for you...ask first what your country should do for you."

"This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."

Um, wait a second...didn't George Washington remind us after defeating the British (emphasis mine): "The singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the unparalleled perseverance of the Armies of the U. States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle..." The miracle of the American republic is just that. And a continuance of such a blessing of freedom won't be a result of our "shaping of destiny", rather from a submission to the hand of Providence. It is in His will, not our own, that will preserve our future.

"At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: 'Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].'"

One might think the president is quoting George Washington here, but in fact those words were extracted from Thomas Paine's The Crisis, which begins with the memorable lines: "These are the times that try men's souls..." But, Paine continued in The Crisis, words quite apropos to the ascendancy of Barack Hussein Obama:

"IN THE progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but frequently neglect to gather up experience as we go. We expend, if I may so say, the knowledge of every day on the circumstances that produce it, and journey on in search of new matter and new refinements: but as it is pleasant and sometimes useful to look back, even to the first periods of infancy, and trace the turns and windings through which we have passed, so we may likewise derive many advantages by halting a while in our political career, and taking a review of the wondrous complicated labyrinth of little more than yesterday."