Why I Got Interested in Politics

Day after day, I am spewing out my thoughts about politics on facebook and other groups that are open to my thoughts. I had an old friend contact me and ask when I started to get interested in politics. That is a good question. The truth is this is new to me. I never cared before.

Usually when a presidential election came around,
I was given two choices - grits and beans. How does one decide between grits and beans if you don't like either at all? I often did not vote. I did not like anyone enough to endorse them.

It was different this time. It was not that I liked John McCain so much, but I felt we needed someone with military experience at such a precarious time in our country. I felt it was no time to take chances. There were the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to consider. The economy was (and still is) falling apart. Unemployment was rising and I was among the unemployed.

This is the defining moment when I genuinely started to get interested in politics.

Maybe if the economy was better. Maybe if unemployment was not so high and the deficit was not so out of control. Maybe if we were not at war. Perhaps then we could have possibly taken a chance on Obama. It was not the time to gamble on someone with so little experience in governing. That is the reason I did not vote for Barack Obama. True, like many others, I did not want more of what we just had. However, I could not see how the inexperienced could change things for the better.

I was given those two choices: rice and beans again.
Enter Sarah Palin. Her name on the ticket made my decision a lot easier and I was not alone in my thinking. Sarah Palin had experience fighting a corrupt system. She actually lived among us and represented "every man". The republican ticket got my vote. With Sarah Palin, I was able to choose "grits" had have ice cream for dessert. True, she did not have military experience, but Sarah did have extensive experience governing.

Sadly, my vote did not count anyway; Obama won the election. His plan to "fundamentally change the country" went into effect. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I really did. I supported our new president and wished the change he promised would really happen.
Be careful what you wish for.

His first action was that questionable, stimulus bill. He broke a promise right out of the starting gate. Obama's campaign pledge of "no ear marks" was unabashedly shattered. I did not even know what an earmark was until 2008, but I quickly learned that they are funds given to legislators for their constituents.

I bet there are many Americans out there who still do not know what an earmark is and are too embarrassed to ask. Often earmarks or "pork barrels" are given in return for support. It is not uncommon to have lobbyists push for these earmarks to help big corporations. During a severe economic crisis, they should be given very cautiously, if at all.

Obama approved nearly 9000 earmarks. When asked of his broken promise he answered, "Just this once". There were flash bulbs going off and the president signed the bill with ten separate pens because this was a history in the making. For me, it was when Obama lost the benefit of the doubt. He was corrupt and it was official. It was downhill all the way after that.

To my Obama supporter friends I ask, are you really happy with what he has done thus far?
It is important to look at the bills he is pushing to get through and ask why. Why is the health care bill 2000 pages? What senator is really going to read such a large bill? How is Cap and Trade going to help the economy? It's not and that is the problem. It will no doubt make things worse for unemployment rates and the fragile economy.

In Cap and Trade, Obama himself was quoted saying energy costs will skyrocket. There is a huge tax proposed for any business that uses electricity (and that is EVERY business). Power companies will be penalized most and that penalty will passed along to us - in our energy bills. I hope Americans all understood the meaning of "skyrocket". Energy bills are said to increase as much as 90%. How is that for skyrocketing? I do not understand why we are getting sucked into this bill. A Rasmusson Poll shows that a mere 34% of Americans believe humans are responsible for global warming. If you are a believer, I suggest you call up one of your friends in the Midwest and ask them how their summer was.

In the nine-state region we call the Midwest, temperatures in July 2009 were the coldest on record. That trend continued for most of August. Most people I know felt they never had a summer in 2009. For many states in the Midwest, January 2009 was the coldest month on record. Hundreds of temperature records were set across the region during this period, many dating back to 1977. Skeptical about global warming yet?

In an Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore reported that the polar bear population was shrinking due to melting ice. It has recently been reported that the number of polar bears has actually been rising, not diminishing as Al Gore claimed. In my opinion, Al Gore's film was based on convenient science, convenient for him (and his deep pockets).

Cap and Trade is not about the environment. It is a well-calculated tax trap.
It will reduce jobs thus adding to our extreme, unemployment numbers. It will hurt our already fragile economy. This is only one of a handful of very, controversial bills.
Each bill has one goal - to increase government and strip us of our freedoms.

The health care bill is more about social control than it is about health care. Socialized medicine has never worked: not in Massachusetts, not in Canada and not in Europe.
They all have run out of money. Where will the government get the money to pay for such a bill? Our taxes will be raised. Last I heard, we all can expect a $1017.00 increase on our income tax. That is only one bad part.

$500 Billion will be cut from Medicare. I fear our seniors will be subject to rationed care.
I know Obama promised that would not happen, but his promises are about as good as our dollar is. Actually, the dollar is better. Our seniors - our parents and grandparents have worked all their lives and vigilantly paid their taxes. This is the time they need health care most. Cuts mean rationing. I know Obama said those cuts were going to come from fraud and waste. If that is true and they can do that, why aren't they doing that NOW?

We need reform, but there are better ways of doing that. Do away with the ambulance-chasing, lawyers and promote Tort reform. Doctors spend as much as 75% of their income on malpractice insurance. Often the victims of malpractice see very little of their settlements. The fat-cat lawyers get most of it. Why doesn't the current bill contain Tort reform?
Um, Obama is a lawyer. He has many lawyer friends. Many of the people who contributed to his campaign are lawyers. He does not want to step on THEIR toes. However, he will throw our seniors under the bus to pass this bill. And there is more.

Many people think a government option means FREE health care. Not true. Premiums will be based on rate of income. The more you make, the more you pay. If you make nothing, the government will pay. (why work?) In this bill, all Americans are required to have health insurance. If you refuse to purchase health insurance, there is a penalty of 2.5% of your annual income. Refusal to pay this will result in jail time. Jail time! Is this freedom?
By the way, the administration is counting on those penalties. They have already figured in a percentage to use it to pay for the bill. By the way, the Wall Street Journal called the bill the worst piece of legislation...ever.

We cannot let this bill pass. It is not about saving the people dying in the street.
As it is, the benefits will not happen until 2013, but tax increases will be immediate.

As time goes on, it has become more and more clear that Obama's agenda is all about social justice; he wants to "spread the wealth". While doing this, he is only making the poor more dependent on government. Why work when you can get everything for free?
The trouble with that is eventually the workers start to wonder why they are working.
They can never get ahead. People who do not work get the same privileges they do.
Eventually, in Socialism, the workers stop working. Looking at unemployment rates, that may not be a problem.

The Obama machine has done nothing to actually help the American people.
There has been many lies told. They do their dirty work at night, on Saturdays and when we are distracted.

All of these new bills? They are designed to make the American people more dependent on government. They are tax traps with hidden agendas.

I love my country and I do not want this kind of change. There are plenty of socialist countries out there so if you want socialism, you can always go there.

Our country stands out as the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Be brave. Stand up for our freedoms. I got interested in politics when their actions started to affect the country I live in, the place I call home.

God Bless America.


Susan Fentz 11/24/09