A girl was going around passing out copies of Obama's speech in
Philadelphia back in March of this year. I have a little more insight
as to the way his mind works after reading it, but it's not much
different than the opinion I had formed just from listening to and
reading the media. I have a stronger appreciation for his perspective
as a mixed race American, since I am one myself, just not mixed black
and white. The average person would say I was white, but it's not that
simple.
I
knew a guy that lived in a "cult" somewhere in Oklahoma, or Arkansas,
or some place like that. He said he had four wives and children
between them. How many I don't know. He had left that lifestyle and
moved into the mainstream, having left it before, if I remeber
correctly.
He gave me a book called Vigilantes of God, which I
read about five pages into when it made it very clear that I was not
WHITE if I had any other blood than white blood within ten generations,
or something like that. At that point, I put the book down and stopped
reading. I was relieved to know that I wasn't "perfect", and finally
became content with it. Not satisfied, but content, you know?
But,
reading this speech reminded me of my own racial make-up that goes by
pretty much unnoticed, except in my convictions and behaviors. I'll
put it to you like this. Having spent a lot of time in the South, most
of my formative years, in fact; I have been influenced, but not
designed by the South. We agree on pretty much all of the broader
issues that identify one as a conservative, except I don't think there
is anything wrong with marijuana.
I am not a hedonist by any
means, and know full well that your life's decisions have
consequences. Some consequences lead to other consequences, to a point
where your decisions mean very little except in terms of how you're
going to survive for the day as you aim for freedom and prosperity from
the streets of your nearest small city.
Obama said, in
speaking of his former pastor, "Ironically, this quintessentially
American - and yes, conservative notion of self-help found frequent
expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too
often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help
also requires a belief that society can change."
Self-help, as
individuals. Community help, as a group. This is the missing link
between Obama's great vision for society... as it changes. As we all
want "better health care, and better schools, and better jobs". The
"self-help" aspect is what Democrats continually overlook, and have
somehow have managed to define the "government" as the "community" in
their minds, and in the minds of their constituents.
I asked
Katie what would happen if she needed to go to the hospital. Would she
go to Washington? Healthcare, education, and jobs occur in your
neighborhood, not in Washington, unless of course, that's where you
work. If all you have to do is go down the road a short ways to get to
the hospital for your healthcare, even if you don't have any insurance,
then why in the world would you want to send money to Washington, DC to
pay for it? It just doesn't make sense!
The Community... with a
capital C, is the solution... even to campaign finance reform... I live
for the day when we never have to hear another politician run a
campaign promising things that they shouldn't be providing in the first
place. As far as I''m concerned the Federal government should only
exist for Foreign Relations and the Military... everything else should
be left to the states and local municipalities.
Call me what you
will, even if it is a former rodeo clown, with a BS degree in Comedic
Justice from the University of South Hawaii Institute of Technology...
but one thing I am not is SOLD on Barack Obama, no matter how mixed he
is! Sure it gives me another level to relate to him on, but it doesn't
pull the wool over my eyes.
I'm as adamant as Yahoo is not to
sell out to Icahn in their hostile takeover attempt, where once again,
the big dog is trying to pick on the little dog... as far as I can tell
without knowing all the financial details, but it does sound like
another David and Goliath story to me.
People are always slow to
change. Life is so fragile, and resilient, we keep trying to make
things better while trying to keep things the same as why "fix" what
isn't broken?
Advances in technology have occurred faster than
our minds can even conceive, to the point where we can truly get an
objective point of view on things. Now that we have this rapid ability
to access information on the fly it's easy to see how stupid we are,
and how unreliable a community can be just as has been made evident
with the latest war over Wiffle Ball in Greenwich, Connecticutt and
Sudbury, Massachusetts where kids have been accused of being in a cult
for playing this game in a clearing in the woods. Some locals have
accused them not only of being in a cult, but of bringing down property
values!
Don't you just love this crap? Are they serious, or
just a bunch of jokers? Well, at least, they're covering both issues.
Not only are they demonizing the kids, but they're just being perfectly
honest too. It's about the money!
Yeah, the community isn't
perfect either, but at least it's local. What's the bigger issue is
healthcare, and at least these kids are playing OUTSIDE! Can you
imagine that? They're not inside playing video games! They're
OUTSIDE!! They're not being sedentary and lying around eating potato
chips, and whatever other box of processed food they can get their
hands on! They're OUTSIDE!
Don't you think, that's where the
solution really lies... on the wiffle ball field, so to speak? Do we
really need to raise taxes higher just because that's the way they do
it in Europe, or Canada? Don't you think we just need to PLAY a little
more? I think a little playing is just what the doctor ordered! Not a
national healthcare plan!
It doesn't matter if it's Athens, GA,
or Chebanse, IL... that's where the community is! On the other hand...
there is no community, if there aren't any jobs, and this is the most
important issue we have in this age of global capitalism, where
casualties are simply written off to the numbers game, and flags don't
matter. All that matters is your investments, and your accounts.
Global capitalism ignores individuals, and communities unless the
numbers make it worth caring about.
This attitude is what's
wrong with the future of our nation more than anything else in the
tangible realm! It's not going to matter whether you have insurance or
not, if there aren't any hospitals to go to... unless that's what
they're trying to do and make everyone go to Washington for their
healthcare! I mean, if that's what they're trying to do, then it makes
perfect sense! Vote for Obama!
Otherwise, just stop and
really think about this for a few minutes. We're bright people. Can't
we figure this out right here at home, instead of believing Washington
has the answers? I mean, I guess they'll be bussing the kids to
Washington for school every morning too. That's gonna make for quite a
commute, and what about the additional fuel costs! See, it just
doesn't make any sense, right?
I got nothing else to say, except let's keep our "communities" at home. The Community of Obama is a long way away!
-Gabe
What is RSS?
