As an Independent, Trying to Make Sense of Political Parties

As a student of political science, it is quite understandable why the Democrats profess the beliefs that they do. They desire power - political, economic, social, intellectual, and military power. Healthcare and the control over how it is delivered is a means to an end, and that end is to extend the power and authority of the federal government to the fullest extent possible.

Republicans on the other hand believe in liberty and individual choice, individual responsibility and limited government, much as the original framers of the Constitution intended. The federal government had specific enumerated powers, and everything else was delegated to the States. This sounds so quaint when compared to the "progressive" and stirring rhetoric of the political left. Not to say that the Republicans don't desire political power, but the intent is to maintain national security, sovereignty and control of our borders, fair trade, balance between capital and labor, and freedom of political speech.

President Obama is a Constitutional law scholar and he knows well the nature and extent of the powers that he wields as President. He knows that he has embarked on a revision of the federal system as we know it, and the Democrats are his willing enablers, as is the Fourth Estate - the media, the main stream media, with the exception of a few muted voices. We are embarking on F.A. Hayek's road to serfdom. The lesson to be drawn from Stalinist Russia, Chavez' Venezuela, and other dictatorships of the proletariat, is that it is good (and important to one's political and economic survival) to be part of the power structure. Evidence is the $787 billion stimulus bill that was an absolute necessity as the first action of the Obama Presidency to reward the special interest groups that supported his election to the highest office in the land. There has never before been such a blatant pay-off to political friends, all in the name of resolving a crisis, one that Mr. Emanuel said was too important to waste. This is certainly the crisis which we did not waste, as evidenced by the policies that have been put in place since.

With President Obama's election, we have departed from a history of American Exceptionalism, and are proceeding down the path of impoverishment, beggaring future generations, whether it is in the name of universal healthcare, or climate change in which developed nations pay reparations to developing nations, or man-caused international disasters (previously known as terrorism) that take an increasing toll of our blood and treasure. We now make apologies for all the great things we have done as a nation around the world in our efforts to advance liberty, economic progress and the rule of law.

Instead, we have descended into an Orwellian Hell where words no longer have common meaning. We are daily harangued by propagandists, principally from state-controlled media, that tell us that the Obama policies are good for us, and that all that ails the American psyche and economic system are a result of the Bush policies. After all, only the Richest among us will be taxed to pay for all of these wonderful goodies. The implausible is presented as the plausible; all we need to do is believe in the audacity of hope.