The Core of Oppression in America

When people hear the word "oppression," they generally think of traditional examples such as slavery or heavy handed taskmasters to define it. The connotation here, however, is much more to the core of the word as it exists in our country today. Oppression has been used most recently to describe acts associated with the financial leaders in our country and the recent Bailout Bill that passed both houses of Congress. It seems that the "Greed is Good" mantra of Gordon Gecko in the 1980's has come home to roost, while greed may be good as it represents the core of capitalism the results can certainly be less than desirable when taken to extremes.

Oppression has also been used by some on the liberal left to describe the lack of compassion shown by conservatives on issues of equality that include social, financial and racial issues. This view represents a philosophical difference between the two schools of thought, and while neither side is always right or always wrong about any individual point of contention, the trend is toward equality in all areas of society. That phrase in itself sounds proper, after all, the rights of life, liberty and happiness for all men who are created equally by our Creator (words of the Declaration of Independence, not mine) are the bedrock of our nation and the foundation of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. While it all "sounds" appropriate, the issue of equality in the sense that it is being represented by the liberal left today is far from foundational thought. The Founders considered self-determinism to be the strength of an emerging America, where each would prosper through their efforts and be picked up again by their neighbors when things didn't go quite right.

Recent comments by Barack Obama concerning the Constitution bring us to the core of the issue at hand, which conservatives including John McCain are totally missing as the focal point of the upcoming election. The issue is not whether Obama is a closet Muslim, or a Socialist, or associated with the wrong people, I believe that Obama is as committed as McCain when it comes to the direction of the country and the common good of its citizens. They both believe their direction is the right one, I can see the passion of both points of view, so this type of attack will only enflame the passions of each side and turn off those in the middle. The current attacks on Obama's character are ineffective because they do not get to the core issue. 

The real issue is much closer to the foundational tenets of our country, and miles away from the peripheral attacks on Obama's character. His questionable associations are a result of his beliefs, not the cause that should actually offend Americans. The more immediate cause of my concern rests in the core issue that Obama and liberals in America believe that the Constitution is a "flawed document" that reflects the "blind spot of our founders that continues in our nation to this day." That is a quote from a 2001 radio interview with Obama when he was commenting that the liberal court under Chief Justice Warren did not go far enough to establish equality outside of social issues evident during the Civil Rights movement. The Warren court was too conservative for Obama, and the apparent intention of the comments was to say that the Constitution had its day but is outdated and in need of reform. I can only assume that his true intent is to "correct" the document to include the basic rights we all are due, including access to health care, retirement and jobs that cannot be taken away. The courts would become a mechanism to accomplish this reform, instead of focusing on the law of the land and ruling on points of law, the court would extend the definition of equality to correct the blind spot of our Founders in all areas of our society.

I have the feeling of a Star Wars movie character, when the Senate voted all powers to the Chancellor the comment was made, "So this is how liberty dies, to thunderous applause." To continue the movie motif, the true heroes of our society (Jedi Knights) are made into villains by the oppressive Emperor who is squashing the rights of all in the name of equality while our individual rights vanish. We will see this evident in the future as we are made to report our personal habits to the Health Care police, any smoking, drinking or obesity will be against the rights of others covered by Universal Health Care and therefore you are not doing your fair share. Expect to have the plug pulled as the government makes decisions on your life based on your importance to them, not your family and friends. That is one example, consider the current financial mess as a result of political manipulation of market forces, and then consider what the effects have been. What will happen when we attempt to manipulate health care markets, and take over 401-K programs and replace them with "safe" government programs that pay 3%? The results will be disastrous.

The real oppressors in our society today are the liberal left, who would rather place government in the rightful position of the community and the church, manipulating people's care for their neighbors into government run programs. We will give people a fish instead of teaching them to fish, squash individual determinism and personal rights in favor of societal equality, giving no encouragement to job creation through business growth and innovation as we take money from those who pay taxes and give it to those who don't through financial equality, all ultimately to move us toward a society that is as far from our Founder's vision as we could possibly be. Even the media will be a part of this oppression, and those who do not participate will simply not be allowed access to the throne room. 

In the most simple illustration, the tax returns of our candidates reflect this difference, McCain and Obama both made a few million dollars last year (subject for another time), McCain and his wife gave over a million to charity and Obama and his wife gave $3000 or so. Obama believes that his taxes should be used for charity since government should take care of those issues, McCain believes it is the responsibility of other people to intervene in situations that need our attention and get personally involved in the solution. The wealthy in America have a different agenda in this election. While the wealthy will support McCain, the super-wealthy will support Obama. I often wondered why this was the case, but now I understand, the super wealthy liberal elite are interested in maintaining a class structure where they have control, by keeping the majority in a situation where they rely on government that is under the control of those super-wealthy. The mere wealthy are interested in getting ahead through ideas and innovation, creating jobs for people and opportunities for the next go-getter to become wealthy. I hope there are a few more Jedi Knights left that can recognize this, before the Emperor begins to consolidate his authority behind the oppressive ideas of his supporters and allow the Harvard Law Review to re-write the Constitution of the United States.  

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting a class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves"-Abraham Lincoln

Election Observations....

Interesting observations from the election so far:

-Barack Obama sure seems gifted when offering messages of  "hope" and "change," but falls a little flat when on the attack or trying to be sarcastic. If he is going to get back on track, it will have to be behind inspirational and charismatic messages that rely on people's feelings and emotions instead of policies. I think if he focuses on that he will be the next President regardless of his experience, VP pick, pastor or anything else.

-John Edwards wasn't allowed to speak at the DNC Convention, presumably because he confessed to an affair that he lied about previously. Bill Clinton took his spot at the convention, does anyone else see the irony in this?

-Former Presidential candidate and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee was asked if he could vote for a Republican ticket that included Mitt Romney (a Mormon). He answered that he would vote for the ticket based on their public service, and their religion was not a factor for him. I didn't care for Romney personally at the start of the primaries because I distrusted his Mormon background, but I suppose as far as public service records go the Mormons have as good a track record as anyone. It comes down to not expecting Mitt Romney to declare Mormonism as our national religion any more that I would expect Huckabee to declare Southern Baptists as our national denomination. For me, that's the proper usage of the doctrine of church and state.

-The main hotels at the DNC convention are using room key access "cards" made of recyclable wood instead of plastic, just one example of many "green" items on display at the convention. I am not sure who declared the Democratic party as having a corner on the environment and science, but regardless it seems they don't have the corner on technology since the cards don't work and there are lines to get them re-coded...why is it OK to ride on a carbon-spewing airplane to Denver, go to lavish parties as long as you eat with a spoon and think it is OK to promote abortions that even doctors don't want to perform as long as we use hotel key cards made of recyclable wood?

-I actually enjoyed the fuss over Jeremiah Wright, it put the focus for just a moment on faith and community. I think Americans recognize that any "faith" tradition rooted in extremism really exploits the true nature of most of those traditions, whether Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. I worry that extremism and terrorism are terms that in the future will define those that do not conform to a stated norm, in order to identify enemies of the state. In my view, Christian leaders (can't speak for other faith traditions) should be taking the mantle off the government and replacing government welfare with community welfare, as long as they are allowed to speak openly about their faith in the process. Turning churches into nondescript social replacements for welfare is hollow unless accompanied with Christ's message of love.

-This may be the first election where the "haves" and "have-nots" are pitted against each other instead of two opposing candidates. I am not so sure that a vote for either Obama or McCain is more of a vote for those who believe the government is their salvation or those who believe that the government gets in the way of their prosperity. Reconciling those two points of view is the real division, not the people that hold those points of view.

-This election will definitely be very divisive, whether Obama or McCain wins. If Obama wins, then the stage is set for more open displays of power from minorities, especially the African-American community, as a sort of new sub-nationalism is created within the US borders. If McCain wins, that same community will be very disappointed and withdraw from the American community that has somehow managed to "cheat" them out of victory. There is great passion on the Obama side reflecting the possibilities that he represents, some of it well founded, but unfortunately there is no Bill Cosby around to inject an air of responsibility into this movement that first calls us Americans.  Obama should have asked Cosby to help his campaign instead of Oprah. 

-Are they really going to let Obama give his speech in a Greek temple? There really isn't a place in American politics for such a display, and if this naked self confidence is allowed to continue people are going to rebel against it. The Obama campaign knows this will be a big deal, but they still think its a good move...are they possibly that arrogant about this campaign?

-Is McCain playing golf or saving up his push for later in the fall? I see some ads here and there, but it seems he is content to let Obama win or lose the election on his own, which may be the smartest move of all. 

-Boy, Obama sure made some interesting choices of "friends"that are coming back to haunt him. I am not sure if that tells us he is an extremist, or just willing to let anyone with resources help him get where he needs to be, or just naive about the whole thing since that is really the "norm" in the South Chicago environment?

-I wish they would show election maps based on population instead of states, I think we would be surprised at the concentration of people that will vote for Obama as being in high density areas that rely on government programs as there source of well being and prosperity, and for McCain where the population density is very light representing people that don't want government intervention in their lives other than the original Constitutional mandates. I mean, out in the middle of of nowhere you have to depend on faith, yourself, your family and your community to prosper, in the cities you rely on the government. Since we are not adding land to the US these days, the long term forecast is for the Dems to take over just based on demographics and perpetuate the program mentality, until the Russians get crazy and nuke the cities, the terrorists get them with a virus or the entire economy collapses under the weight of less than 10% of the population paying for the programs that keep the other 90% under roof.