Well Put.
I‘ve been on the Obama train ever since Ron Paul’s derailed. The best way I can tell you why is by posting what one of my good friends posted on his myspace blog:
Our government does not exist to serve you or me, or anyone we know. We’ve surrendered power to a group of people with the understanding they will represent us. But faced with a mound of money from special interests our elected officials choose to serve the interests of corporations and the upper class of this country.
Meanwhile those same people having their voices heard in Washington D.C. are using their power and influence to devour the American people. Banks are crashing because they lend money to people with zero credit and zero sense. The government then spends billions of dollars to bail out those same wreckless lenders. You and I get a paultry tax credit for being on time with our mortgage, nothing else. Towns and cities across the country are now having to deal with foreclosed homes and displaced families, costing local taxpayers more and more money. If you don’t think it’s affected Cleveland County, have you seen the most recent budget proposal from the Cleveland County Board of Education? I’ll go on record to say there will be increased budget requests from the Department of Health and Social Services as well.
Corporations exploit the government for millions upon millions of dollars in defense contracts in this “war.” And while I’m glad that terrorists haven’t flown any more planes into buildings over here, I’m not too happy about our boys being blown up and shot at in a foreign country. All the while the federal budget deficit has soared into the trillions of dollars. Inflation is up and gas prices are outrageous. Oil is $117 a barrel, but somehow in the face of rising costs of its most precious commodity ExxonMobile manages to make a profit of $40 billion in 2007. This mark passed the previous record for profits in a single year set by ExxonMobile in 2006.
Corporations peddle shit to our youth so that they are obsessed with buying stuff they cannot afford. Corporations and the media are determined to make knowledge and learning so “uncool” that our kids would rather be ignorant than be educated and thought of as a geek. These same people are shipping jobs overseas to people who will do the work for nothing all in the name of making a profit. Meanwhile American families are out-of-work or underemployed, but don’t worry W is sending us an economic incentive check so we can spend it on more shit. We peddle fast food and cigarettes to kids and we scream about our impending healthcare crisis.
Don’t talk to me about personal responsibility while at the same time you allow big business to destroy this country I love. Corporations are the bane of modern day existence. I’m afraid that all those chickens are coming home to roost. Global inflation is up, the dollar is down, water supplies are jeopardized, there is an ongoing debate about the well-being of our planet, and people in countries around the world are rioting because they cannot afford food to eat. This is happening NOW.
At this point in time, I cannot support anyone who I feel will continue to prop up the real evil in this world. Greed and the drive for a profit are killing us all in one way or another and the time to act is now. Given that these are my convictions I must cast my vote in a manner that supports what I believe. To date, Barack Obama has talked this language at a time when other candidates can only peddle the same old politics. He has his flaws to be sure. I do not believe he’s a Muslim and to insinuate this is absurd. I’m not concerned about his faith or his minister, quite frankly I believe he’s a man of little faith. I would say the same thing about all three candidates. This is a vote of protest and principle.
It’s time for Americans to love each other. It’s time for us to take care of our sick, old, young, and underprivileged. It’s time for those with a great deal to share with those with a raw deal. Instead of pointing fingers and shifting blame we need to believe that things can be different. We need to act to make things different, and this is my plan of action. Obama ‘08
got no problems with the thoughts on the government. However, saying corporations are killing America is hardly the case. Corporations hire millions of American workers. They may influence the government to give them favorable status- but that also helps their workers. These same corporations help cover much of the healthcare costs for millions of americas, contribute some matching funds for retirement or provide a pension. They may use means to “peddle shit” to America’s youth- but in speaking about corporations you are speaking of the free market where people do have a choice. I choose not to purchase anything in Walmart- I choose to purchase songs from itunes and coffee from Starbucks, or not. there is a choice involved. And the banks did make some predatory loans, but those people also signed the dotted line. And I will talk about personal responsibility because that is what America is. We can almost do anything we want do to, but it always comes with a price. Picking on corporations is easy to do because you can look at their profits and other empirical data. It is much harder for people to look in the mirror and realize the decline of America is due to its people who walk the easy road and speak of barriers that hold them back, while others take the path less traveled and jump the hurrdles to get what they want. Maybe a leader who can inspire will help move America forward-but at the end of the day its up to the people to do more than nod their heads and cast a vote.