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By Maj. Gen. Jerry R. Curry (ret'd)
CurryforAmerica.com
“‘Trust me’ government asks that we concentrate our hopes and dreams on one man, that we trust him to do what’s best for us. But my view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs – in the people. The responsibility to live up to that trust is where it belongs, in their elected leaders.” This is a quote from a speech given by Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention July 17, 1980.
He could just as well have been speaking of President Obama and his Administration rather than President Carter. Obama’s presidential campaign was built on “trust me,” you all need “change,” and I will bring change to you, the nation and the world. No one at the national level in either political party really questioned him hard by asking such things as, “Change from what to what?”
Instead the voters and political leaders, especially among the Democrats, drooled all over themselves, bowed and chanted, “We trust you. You are our Messiah and we know deep down inside that you will bring us the change we need.” The American public, who should have known better, was either inordinately gullible, masterfully deceived or just plain stupid. And today we are all paying for that naiveté.
Similarly, Obama has continued to charm and dupe the news media, most recently with his verbose speech in Washington on the economy and his siren call Nobel laureate speech in Oslo. Even some of the politically moderate -- including a few Republicans -- have become his lap dogs shivering all over themselves while he rubs their bellies. They sidle up to him, lick his hands and declare what a great speech he has just given. It doesn’t seem to bother them that Obama’s speeches are merely empty rhetoric and that the world’s leaders view him, at best, as unsophisticated and inexperienced and, at worst, as dangerously naïve.
Superficially grafted into his Nobel speech were many of the words and phrases both his critics and opponents have been panting to hear tumble from his lips: he said that war is bad but sometimes necessary; that America has been good for the world and hinted half heartedly that he might even be proud to be an American; he spoke of the Afghanistan military engagement as being a “just war;” and concluded that violence never brings peace. (Perhaps he’s forgotten that the west’s winning WWII brought peace through the creation of a kinder and gentler Japan and Germany). One thing he inarguably got right, though: he acknowledged that evil does exist and that sometimes it must be confronted – hooray!
His speeches -- and these two were no exception – are filled with empty oratory. Perhaps it is because they come from the belly of a teleprompter rather than bubbling up from a clear moral center. His words, though eloquent, are at the same time abysmally empty in content. Though slick on the surface they lack depth and the ring of truth. There seems to be a broadening gap between his words and deeds, appearance and reality, public goals and private intentions.
To paraphrase President Reagan, can anyone look at the record of the Obama Administration this first year and say, “Well done”? Can anyone compare the state of our economy when Obama took office with where we are today and say, “Keep up the good work”? Can anyone look at our reduced standing in the world today and say, “Let’s have three more years of this”?
Using Reagan’s words as a guide, the American people are starting to answer these questions for themselves. That’s why we have seen so many spontaneous events like the “Tea Parties.” America’s citizens are clearly saying, “We’ve had enough. It is time the federal government went on a diet, a diet consisting of lower taxes and less, not more government and government control. It is time for the government to start living within its means, not continually spending over its debt limit and then printing more money and increasing the debt limit authorization to cover its binge spending.”
It is time for the White House and Capital Hill to stop dictating to America’s citizens and instead turn loose our people’s creative powers and ideas. It is time for the government to place its confidence in the dedicated and hard working private sector which can create and solve the nation’s economic problems today just as it did in the early 1980s. To create jobs, the private sector must have money to invest and faith that their money will be successfully invested and grown.
In
short, it is time for the government to replace and restore its trust and
confidence in the American people and the private sector. The White House and
Capital Hill need to stop trying to sell the American people a bill of goods
that they obviously are no longer willing to buy.