There are things that I believe that I shall never say, but I shall never say things that I do not believe.Issue VII
Barack Hussein Obama 44th President of the USA: At 10:39pm I turned my radio up hoping to hear what was happening with the Presidential race, and I heard that Obama had been elected the President of the United States. I sat in my bed for a while wondering what could be coming our way. Many things were promised to us by Obama and by Biden things that I hope never come to pass. I tossed and turned trying to fall asleep when all I could think of was that my country-the United States of America-was about to be gutted from the inside out and turned into a socialist state that would be unable to give to her people the freedom’s that they had so long valued. That time is gone, unless…. The presidential race may have been won, but there is still the House and Senate races that need to be watched. If Barack Obama has a filibuster proof senate then there is no stopping him in what he wishes to do, but if there are less than sixty democratic and left leaning seats filled then a filibuster can be called and the chance to stop bad legislation in it’s tracks-for at least a while-is still in existence. Luckily it came to my attention that the Democrats did not get all the seats that they needed in the Senate therefore we might have at least a small fighting chance in the end.
Then I listened to the radio the next morning, I listened to Glenn prepared to be depressed-as seemed to have become the norm over the past couple weeks-by his gloom-and-doom warnings that I already was too well aware of. I was ready to hear Rush tell everyone that “Okay we screwed up, I already knew that we weren’t going to win.” Then for Sean Hannity to turn on the Pity Party all day. To my surprise it wasn’t like that at all, and I came out having learned something that I would like to share with you.
We lost, well…since I have a feeling that we weren’t happily behind McCain (and were sort of hoping that maybe he’d sort of disappear and let Palin take over…that’s right I read your minds!) I’ll say that MCCAIN lost. Obama won, he is the President-elect of the United States and come January will be taking the Oath of Office and step into the Presidency. The people have spoken. Trying to imagine a more amazing statement is impossible for me. I might not agree with who the People have decided on, but they decided. It wasn’t the government, it wasn’t some magic wizard standing behind a curtain pulling strings, it was us. Which means that Barack Obama is the elected President of the United States, and what he is able to do will be the fault of those who voted for him, just as what Bush did was-in part-the responsibility of those who voted for him. No, we didn’t always agree with him, no we definitely didn’t enjoy everything he did, but he is our President. Obama will be the same, he will be OUR president. The President of the United States, and the President of the people therein. These simple facts might make you cringe, but there isn’t a thing to be done about it right now.
Now in light of his election we have to realize that Barack Hussein Obama is everyone’s president, or if you want to be more specific if you live in the United States legally he is YOUR president. He might not be the man you wanted, but he is the one who is to take over the job. Because of this we must show him the respect and support due his office no matter what you think of him. We cannot allow ourselves to act as immaturely as many did when President Bush was elected, we cannot use the “Selected not Elected” line that seems to have become the theme for the 2004 elections because we do live in a nation that allows for people to elect those who we wish to lead us. Let’s not hope that Obama fails at this job, because when Obama fails then so do we. Instead let us hope that he does the best he can, that he somehow does this country right even when we believe that he will not, and when he does something that we can agree with let us hold him up and congratulate him for it. I won’t be like one of those people who hated Bush, who would not support him, who were being un-American. I will believe that Obama may do something that I agree with and I will be ready to tell everyone that I am happy with what he is doing, but I am also going to fight against him if he tries to pass things that I do not believe in, things that are against my values. I hope that everyone can accept that Obama is going to be our 44th President of the United States and will do everything in their power to support him, if not always agree with him.
The next four years are going to be long, but I believe that we can make it through, we just have to stick together and never forget what this country really stands for.
Do Our Voices Matter?: On the fourth of November another big fight was going on in a couple states, but specifically in California. This is a story I’m sure you’ve heard about, Proposition 8, the law that said that marriage is between a man and a woman and no one else. To truly understand what happened in California, and what exactly the vote that made Proposition 8 pass really meant I have to back up.
In 2004 the big debate was if Gay Marriage should be legal, and with the Presidential election there would also be a law passed in California that would decide the argument of that question. On election day the people of California went to the ballot box, and when the votes were tallied it was decided. Marriage should be between a Man and a Woman. Of course there were a lot of offended individuals-you know the ones who believed that their very freedom was being taken away because they were the ones who were being affected by the law. With extreme haughtiness these people ran to the government in California and cried foul. “This isn’t fair, our freedom is being taken away!” Apparently someone cared because the issue went to court, and then to the California Supreme Court where it was decided that it was unconstitutional for marriage to be declared solely between a man and a woman. (I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t recall seeing in the Bill of Rights that we have the right to be Gay, but maybe I’m just not looking hard enough).
This obviously didn’t sit well with those who voted for the ban of gay marriage, because…you know…suddenly it seemed as though they’re voices were being completely ignored. Not to be shut-up on the matter they came back in 2008 with Proposition 8, essentially the same law that was passed then ruled out in 2004. This time the people voted-or should I say Again?-and to everyone’s shock and surprise the law again passed. That’s right, if you don’t like it four years earlier apparently your view doesn’t change after four years of being called a hated bigot…who’da thunk it? This isn’t where this story ends, however, and this is probably a good place for you to begin looking for some tape for your head…. The California Supreme Court along with all of those people who are to be effected by this vote are again rallying to shoot down the votes of many Californians. But wait, there’s more….
Earlier this very year in New York the current mayor (Bloomberg) decided that instead of being reelected and going through voting process he decided that it was better if he just stayed where he was. Bloomberg took his idea to the court system in New York and basically made the argument that “so much is going on right now, we can’t possibly deal with training a new mayor…so I should just stay mayor.” I don’t know about you but this is the shakiest argument that could possibly exist, it wouldn’t make sense to agree with this man in any way…right? Wrong. The courts didn’t give the people-who called in a resounding “NO!”-the chance to make this decision and instead gave the mayor the “all clear” and now there will be no mayor elections in New York…at least not for a while.
My question to all of you is this. How long can this go on before someone begins to get disenfranchised by believing that their vote doesn’t count. Once people begin to believe that their voices don’t matter they begin to try to figure out how to get their points across, and that can get dangerous. Pay attention, these aren’t going to be the only examples of stealing the voice of the people from them by taking it through the courts.
I Apologize: Sorry everyone for the uncharacteristically tiny issue, but that’s because I’m trying to gather my thoughts. What we will be discussing in the next issue will be quite the task to tackle. First and foremost we are going to be going through the oil prices, and why they might end up causing problems rather then being a saving grace-though let’s not get me wrong…the lower oil prices are nice. After that I shall discuss what is going on with OPEC (this will kill you!) Then we are going to learn about something called the Weimar Republic, a group in Germany that came about around the same time that the Nazi Party was rising through power. Finally I will make sure that we talk about what could be a World Currency. In light of this prepare yourselves for a potential information overload, and maybe even a good time-I don’t know…it could be a bumpy ride.
In closing I’d like to remind everyone that I would love to hear some more things that you would like me to talk about. Oh, and special thanks to Mary Furse who has been sending me all sorts of information. I promise Mary I will get into some of those things soon, I just have to get these off my mind first! Thanks again to everyone for reading!
Chene’
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