On top of that particular idea, or even as a replacement, I believe we should throw in a requirement that takes precedence over age alone. This requirement to vote involves citizens earning the right to vote. Many people may have an issue with that because they believe all American citizens are entitled to certain privileges… voting in my mind is a privilege to be earned. You have to earn your driver’s license… You have to earn your way into college with good grades… You have to earn your way for most anything that means anything in our world. However, the right to vote is given as a simple return for becoming age 18.

Voting to me is one of the most important tools of a democracy and therefore it should not just be handed out to those who do not earn their right to vote. You may say that isn’t exactly a democracy… Well, according to various definitions of democracy, it is. Our citizens are still free, have a right to the power to become an elected official to govern at any level, and they have certain unalienable rights and freedoms from being an American citizen. Earning the right to vote does not deprive any citizen, but it creates a specific delineation amongst the citizens. The delineation revolves around a citizen filing taxes.

You read that right. You get the right to vote if you file taxes. I don’t care how old you are, if you file taxes, you get the right to vote. Why? Too long have our political races been determined by the non-working leeches of our society who only vote those people who promise to provide them government welfare, wealth sharing, and other tax subsidies. Citizens who have paid into the tax booty should have the ultimate say in how their money is distributed. Non-filers are nothing more than people with their hands out asking those who work for a living to provide for their way.

This is of course the straight and narrow point of view. There would be several distinctions which would allow those who cannot work be given exemptions. Disabled people, married homemakers, etc would all be given their right to vote. My problem is with those who have the ability to work and do not. My problem is with those who should pay taxes, but do not. My problem is with those people who drain the wealth from our society and provide nothing in return. Everyone can do something valuable, not doing so and asking for something in return is as greedy as the Wall Street financial wizards who raped our economy of trillions in wealth over the last few years.

Simple and easy, earn your right to vote by working for a living. Working for a living provides a much different perspective on life and responsibility than living a life of entitlement. People who have a third, or more, of their check whacked off with a rusty IRS tax blade have a much better idea of how this country should be run than those who have their life funded by the government. Paying taxes earns the right to vote.

The natural side effect of this policy is that voter fraud would be drastically reduced. Before you would be allowed to vote, you would have to file taxes, which would mean you have a valid Social Security Number and that you are also an American citizen by place of residency, etc. There would be a centralized database of all tax payers with the right to vote and as they enter their vote, they are tracked and marked. Protect the computerized environment from tampering and you have the ultimate no-recount necessary voting application.

We need to understand that our lives and freedoms are not simply bestowed upon us because we can perform such necessary tasks as breathing oxygen or blinking our eyes. We need to have a system where those who provide for the country are rewarded and not reprimanded. I believe we should be required to earn the rights we have, not simply given them because we turn a certain age. Think how much of an impact this simple ideology would change our world… Rather than a society of lazy people with a self serving sense of entitlement, we would have a group of people working for the betterment of our nation… as our forefathers did.

Now, being a full grown adult, I haven’t bought a pack of cards in about 25 years. But, that almost changed the other day as my wife and I went down the aisle I didn’t even know existed at our local Wal-Mart… the ultimate kid’s dream, an aisle filled with cards of all shapes, sizes, and type. I stared at the various boxes and thought to myself how much money I had wasted through the years on these simple little pieces of cardboard. Even knowing that, I almost bought a pack of cards. Not baseball cards mind you, but Barack Obama cards. Yes, our new President has his own special edition inauguration card set.

I picked up the pack intent on buying them… not because I’m a fan, more of a joke kind of thing. However, my rationale soon kicked in and I placed the pack back in its box and laughed at myself for even coming so close to spending money on such a trivial item. The package of cards was priced at $1.98 and came with 6 cards and a special sticker. Of course, there is a set to collect and the entire collection consists of 90 cards and 18 stickers. Sounds fabulous for the card buying public doesn’t it?

Looking online, I can find many places selling these small “moments of history.” I am simply amazed by the fact that there are trading cards available of Barack Obama. I know he’s become one of the most widely recognized political figures of all times, but are “baseball” cards really necessary? To me, these cards are nothing more than political propaganda created to spread the ideology of the Liberal Democratic movement. The more these types of things are constantly placed in our daily lives, the more we as a society come to accept it.

Winning the hearts and minds of a society has long been an avenue to win a war. While our country is not exactly at war with each other, we are definitely separated by a clear division between ideologies… Liberal versus Conservative. Over the last generation, both sides have had their chance at power and they’ve each done their best to destroy the “losing” side. However, as all things do, their power ebbs and flows as society eventually becomes disenchanted with the policies of each after tasting them for too long.

Conservatism was in power for quite a long run earlier this decade, but over the last few years, Liberalism has retaken the political landscape. This time, unlike any in the past, they are using their vast coffers of cash in an effort to control the media and publicity for their cause. They are focusing on winning the hearts and minds of everyone who doesn’t investigate and decide on their own what they believe in. The general public is being force-fed the liberal agenda and many of them are willingly falling in line as the promises of government handouts entice their votes.

Obama baseball cards may appear to be innocuous, but political propaganda is never harmless. As Hitler arose to power in pre WWII Germany, political propaganda was utilized to sway the hearts and minds of its citizens so that his political policies would be readily accepted. I’m not saying Obama is the second coming of Hitler by any means, but the tactics he and his party are utilizing are straight out of the textbooks utilized by the tyrants of our past.

While writing this article, I was given the pleasure of watching a commercial for The Tonight Show telling me that our President will be a guest on Thursday night. Maybe it’s me, but I don’t see the point of our sitting President being a guest on a late night talk show. There are more important things to utilize his time for. The only thing this type of appearance can be used for is the furthering of his agenda and giving us more political propaganda. He is always in our face, always in our news, always in our ear… the more he is around us, the more we accept him… at least that’s the hope of his Party and his Liberal friends pushing their agendas. Be aware, don’t succumb to complacency and miss what the true story is… always question authority when power and money are to be gained.

During the Obama campaign to become President, he consistently spoke about how he wanted serious earmark reform and how he was going to limit the total earmark spending to that of 1994 levels. His opponent, John McCain, vowed to cut earmarks off completely. They are frivolous wastes of money. If they cannot pass on their own, they should not be force-fed to the American public through the blatant misuse of political power and agenda pushing. In 1994, about $7.8 billion was spent on earmarks… I guess that promise is out the window.

The $400 billion bill contains nearly 9,000 earmark line items that account for almost $8 billion of American taxpayer funds. These are the line items that have been identified by various groups and are public knowledge. Obama himself has acknowledged the existence of these non-essential additions of expenses… his excuse is that he did not have time to examine and prioritize the current bill. The timing of the bill was of the utmost importance to keep the doors of the government open… Do you care if the government’s doors are open? Aren’t they closed for the majority of the year anyway while the politicians are off vacationing on taxpayer dollars or off throwing parties sponsored by the ultra-rich lobbyist parties?

How did this bill come about? How come the President, who is the figurehead of the Democratic Party, can’t convince his own Party to do away with unworthy earmarks throwing tax dollars away? The Democrats are the ones in power in both the House and Senate… and they have been since 2006. I suppose the Republicans are at fault or the Bush administration had something to do with the Democrats flaunting their newfound power and pushing their precious agenda forward at the expense of an already suffering nation. $8 billion more down the drain… in a time when unemployment is on the rise and the stock market is at 12 year lows.

I cannot understand how people can turn a blind eye to what is going on now that the Democratic Party has ultimate control. Obama has turned his back on his campaign promises in an effort to satisfy his true liberal political roots. He is cashing in the American dream to satisfy the debts he owes… the debts he created in becoming President. Oh, you may be one of the naïve people who believe Obama won on his own merits and political rhetoric… hardly. He is a figurehead pushed upon us by a vast legion of liberal elitists. He’s a transparent blowhard politician through and through and they always answer to someone. I’m not a tin foil hat wearer, but where money and power exist, there are people conspiring to gather more of each at all costs.

Obama, our political savior has become nothing more than a rubber stamp for his liberal friends and their policies… well, his policies. At just more than 50 days, Obama’s approval rating has already begun to slip. His own Party is becoming antsy in how he is handling the economic crisis. The $800 billion stimulus bill passed, but not in the manner that made Obama look “Presidential.”

There is nothing that can be done now, Obama will sign his name onto this new bill and we will see another $8 billion burn while many of us continue to lose our jobs, our retirements, and our house that is/was our family’s home. How many politicians do you know who have lost their house… their car… their retirement… anything for that matter? Not one. The Washington political families are safe forever, they have padded their wallets from raping the American citizens for decades… they have only the blackmailing lobbyists to worry about along with their own indecency.

It’s another sad day for the American citizen whether you’re an Obama supporter or not. You are losing your rights, your future, and your Constitution just as I am. If the first 50 days are a representation of what we’ll get for the next 1,400 while Obama is President, there may not be 50 states in our Union. Some states do have sense and we all have a Constitutional right to defend what this country stands for. People forget that states voted to become a part of the Union, the smart ones may remember that we can vote ourselves out of it.

Now, we have passed the initial 50 days of Obama’s term and the DJIA stands at 6,595.16 as we prepare to enter an even more tumultuous economic period. As of right now, the DJIA has had nearly 32% of its value sheared off. Since November, over 2.5 million workers have lost their job… since the beginning of the recession (officially started December 2007) 4.4 million jobs have been lost. It’s fairly obvious that electing our “saving grace” did nothing to cure the confidence in our markets.

These declines have occurred even with Obama pushing massive spending bills through Congress in an effort to stimulate our economy. Bush injected over $750 billion into the economy before he left office along with untold billions of dollars in ancillary stimulus money. Obama has trumped that bill by handing out nearly $800 billion and writing into the federal budget, another $750 billion for 2009. On top of that, Obama has agreed to spend over $400 billion in “health care reform.” Obama’s stimulus plan was pushed upon society as the great job saving machine that would generate 3.5 million jobs… over the next 2 years.

Looking at the analyst’s forecast for the next 2 years, they predict that unemployment will reach 9% this year… it’s at 8.1% as of this article. Next year, they are predicting well over 10% unemployment. These are estimates that were made AFTER Obama’s stimulus plans… wrap your mind around that, or better yet, your wallet… People are unrealistically focused on the unemployment rate when they should be watching the under-employment rate. The under-employment rate takes into account people who have completely given up looking for work and also includes people who are working part time jobs who need full time jobs but cannot find one. This number represents the true state of our job market.

So where does that number stand at today? Try 14.8% on for size. 8.1% unemployment supposedly equals 12.5 million people according to the government stats. 14.8% equals nearly 23 million people either out of work, given up on finding work, or involuntarily working part time jobs. These numbers are based on the idea that 155 million or so Americans work for a living.

Right now, let’s just round off the spending that we know of to $3 trillion. That means that our government has spent almost $20,000 per working American in an effort to stop the bleeding. Have you seen this 20k in your bank account? Have you seen your taxes reduced by 20k this year? Have you seen your house value go up 20k or lose multiple times that in value? Has your stock portfolio increased by 20k or dropped even more? Where is this money going? If the money was going to those who “create” jobs, then why is the economy shedding our jobs at a much faster pace since the money was injected than before?

Common sense would make you think that the injection of these massive amounts of money should have at least given us a plateau in job losses. I understand that the Democrats in the house say that the current economic hardships are the results of the Bush administration’s legacy. Let’s put some rationale to that ideology. The Democrats were in charge of both the House and Senate and also controlled almost 75% of state governorships since 2006. The recession started in December 2007. The Bush administration’s legacy from 2000-2006 was far from a recession. In those years, the Republican Party controlled the majority of political power seats. Sure, the effects of everything takes time to truly pan out, but the turning point was the date the Democrats took control of our country and their inability to curtail their partisanship and hatred of Bush. They allowed their political feelings affect how they governed our country and now we are all paying the price for their failings.

Where did our Presidential placebo go? The bounce we were so focused upon receiving did not happen. Rather than an uptick in our financial markets, a curtailing of our job losses, and a wealthier nation, we are now at a point where we are just entering the deepest valleys of this recession. I am convinced that we are going to see even worse times as we search for the rock bottom of our economic downturn. Millions more Americans will lose their jobs, billions more American taxpayer dollars will be spent without our agreement, and our stocks will continue to fall while we watch the foreclosure signs weather in our yards and our bank accounts shrink into penny savings. The placebo didn’t work and neither is spending money we don’t have. Placebo… we need the real deal.

At some point in time, there are those who actually aspire to become politicians. Yes, even young people desire to become politicians because they are the people in power. Politicians can create immediate impact and change in the lives of our citizens very quickly. However, the young people looking to hold these offices are often looking at it with an innocent point of view that allows them to see the inherent power as something they can use for the good of everyone. They know they can protect and help those in need and help foster a better land.

Somewhere along the line, between the young innocent eyes and the jaded adult eyes, things change. No longer are the political offices used to protect and serve the people, they are there to promote self indulgence, greed, power, money, and ego among many other selfish wants. On the way to achieving these political offices, our young politicians will have their innocence downright ripped from their heart and soul as they play the politics game.

There is no “honest” way to win a race these days. The vast amounts of money and lobbyists behind the major political parties cannot allow a level playing field. Even at the local level, the people with the greatest chance to attain office are those who have lived with the local in crowd of those in local power. The people with strong ties to the banks in town, the business leaders who run the chamber of commerce, the business owners who play the silent partners in the major dealings of the town… Even at the very basic local level, there is still a great amount of power mongering and ego driving.

Political aspirations usually start out as innocent as wanting to become a fireman, but in our current lifetime, nobody can make it through the process without become jaded, changed, and run by those who put them into power. In my mind, our politicians are all run by someone. There is always a man behind the curtain. That man may be a political party, groups with money beyond belief, and even people using blackmail. There is always someone to answer to once political office is achieved.

This is why we do not see any average citizen take any important office. All we are treated to are lifelong lawyers, political leeches, and political office families that pass the torch down from generation to generation as if it’s a rite of passage. The problem with this process is that these people have long forgotten what common sense is. They continually over think everything. They pour over statistics and polls of their supporting demographics in an effort to maintain votes for the next election. They fail to realize what is best for the country may not be the best for their own individual political aspirations.

Making the right decision is hard enough without trying to make everything politically correct or ok by your party’s so called standards. The simple test should be is it fair, and does it promote the growth of the United States while staying true to the Constitution. Our politicians have created such horrendous examples of laws that nobody can figure them out… just check out our tax laws.

We need that nature of the young to return to our lives. We need innocence to return. We need lifelong politicians out of our lives and we need real Americans in our offices to lead us. Who better to lead than the average citizen? The elite classes who run our country have been out of touch with America for too long. They need the boot and normalcy deserves a return to our lives.

My simple idea was to divide the $750 billion up evenly between the 150 million people. Give them the stimulus money since it was tax payer funded and the results would be an effective tax rebate to those who paid in. I only support giving money back to people who legitimately file their taxes year in and year out… if you don’t file, you don’t qualify for federal assistance in my opinion. Anyway, that’s an article for another day…

Dividing $750 billion (10 zeroes) by 150 million (7 zeroes) comes out to a nice round $5000 per HOH. How nice would that be for your family? Well, let’s do this a different way. I just went and checked the government’s census website and in 2007, the labor force itself consisted of 151 million people age 16 and over (my HOH number appears to be fairly overestimated as I assumed). Based on that, I’m going to remove my HOH evaluation and focus upon workers. Now, everyone who works AND files a tax return gets $5,000. For my household that means my family would get $20,000 because both of our sons work and my wife and I both work. We all file and we all pay our taxes.

Sounds great doesn’t it… putting the stimulus money into the hands of individuals who will spend the money at the local restaurant or grocery store or have enough to pay a credit card off or two and be able to buy a new gas saving vehicle for the future. But, that’s not where the money went, it went to wealthy corporations who were allowed to survive rather than face their punishment for taking insane risks with everyone’s money. As we have seen, the initial $750 billion did nothing to quell the recession’s decline. Throwing money at a problem is not the solution.

Now, Obama has just signed into law another $800 billion stimulus package… along with putting an additional $750 billion in the budget for failing banks and other institutions to help end the recession. Throw in a few other hundred billion spent on the side by our government and we are looking at a minimum total of at least $2.5 trillion (that’s 11 zeroes). Keeping with the worker division… that equates to roughly $16,500 per worker in the United States.

Rather than $20,000 for my household, we would be looking at $66,000 hitting our bank accounts. According to the census information, the average household is 2.6 people and the average family is 3.2 people. So, at minimum, you would likely see $33,000 in each working family’s account. Do you think that would spark the economy? I think it would create a raging inferno. The economy would likely begin growing at such a pace that inflation would be a serious issue as a potential side effect (inflation can be dealt with… millions of people without jobs is even worse).

Maybe we can be a little safe here and just split the $2.5 trillion up in half… half to the workers and half to the corporations. Even then, we are looking at $8,300 per worker. My simple point is that these stimulus billed are misnamed. They are not stimulating anything but corporate wealth. Worker wealth has continued to decrease and jobs are still being lost as if they were water pouring through a funnel. Stimulate the local economies where the local business owners are… stimulating the workers by giving them resources to pull our families through this mess. Instead of trickle down stimulus effects, maybe we should focus on trickle up. Who better to stimulate the economy than those who actually put forth the effort to make it work?

Anyway, now that I’m done venting about how my news time is wasted by the incessant coverage of the second coming of MLK or Abraham Lincoln, I’ll get on with my topic… Who is going to pay for the “stimulus” bill and the associated tag along spending programs designated to end our recession? During the end of the Bush term, the first stimulus bill came to pass and we allocated over $700 billion tax payer dollars to solve the financial crisis. There were several other “smaller” bills throughout the last few months that brought the actual number to well over a trillion. Now, we have another $800 billion set to be spent to further solve the crisis. Oh but wait, there’s more. In the current Obama government budget, there’s another $750 billion being set aside for more failing banks and institutions. Add that up… Yes, it does come up to nearly $3 trillion American tax payer dollars.

This is not to mention the emergency funds released by the Federal Reserve and International Monetary Fund to help ease the lending markets in our country and worldwide. Billions here, near trillions there, and yet we are still falling deeper into recession. Last I checked the yearly GDP of the United States stood at nearly $14 trillion for 2007. I would imagine 2008 will be similar if not less given the state of our economy during the second half of last year. In the last 3 or so months, we have mortgaged nearly a quarter of an entire year’s worth of American GDP. It doesn’t sound so bad, but it’s not like we were working on a budget in the first place.

One of the major campaign points during the last election cycle focused on how the Democrats were going to balance the budget and reign in our growing deficit. Yes, even though America created nearly $14 trillion in GDP, we spent more! Now that things are getting even worse, you would think we would tighten the belt across the board… especially at the governmental level. It’s only common sense right? Nope… according to the Obama budget, we will be running a deficit of $1.75 trillion in 2009… and if you’re like me, you know that’s used car salesman speak for over $2 trillion.

Bush never even came close to such numbers, and yet the Democrats are going to shatter the numbers they complained about for 8 years. Oh sure, I’ve heard it all… Obama inherited the problems and now he has to spend the money to bring us out of the terrible economy Bush saddled him with. Last I checked, Bush didn’t force the banks to run their risks to the ceiling and he didn’t force home owners to take loans with no down payment on houses that were priced 3 or 4 times what they could afford. Oh, and don’t forget to throw in that $4 per gallon gasoline we experienced.

So, where exactly does all this money come from? It has to come from somewhere… that somewhere is our pockets. Democrats plan to make the “wealthy” pay the majority of the difference since everyone who makes under $250k are supposedly going to see tax breaks and more federal assistance in the form of health care and other subsidized worker laziness. Do you really think the wealthy individuals are going to simply turn over their bank accounts to pay for all of this? I highly doubt it. In the end, EVERYONE is going to be paying for these horrendous spending decisions. Maybe not on your paycheck under the federal tax line, but you’ll be paying higher state taxes, higher local taxes, and you’ll be paying to support a myriad of programs you have no willingness to do. Your money will be confiscated in many ways, but not by the word tax… yeah right.

Obama runs his mouth like he’s the savior of our world and his photogenic face and vocal skills can actually make you feel like he means what he continually says to you (while reading the teleprompter). But, when the pen hits the paper, his policy support relays a much different reality. Obama speaks the right way, but acts as all hard line Liberal Democrats do. Pelosi and Obama have much in common, but I would guarantee you, even if you’re a hardcore Democrat, you wouldn’t vote for her to be our President… check the voting records, Pelosi and Obama are hand in hand.

In the future, when your check and earning power has decreased because of these insane amounts of money being spent, remember where the initial money went. The initial money did not go to you and I, it went to corporate executives and failing businesses that played the risk game and lost. We will be paying for this, our children will be paying for this, and their grandchildren will be paying… assuming the United States is even a viable country at that point in time.

Even with an overwhelming majority in both the House and Senate, Obama has faced some difficult experiences in his first month when trying to push through his ideology and policy decisions. Yes, the majority of what he wants has come to pass, but not without spending a considerable amount of his theoretical and generally worthless, political capital. There have been disastrous cabinet appointee failures and there have been unfavorable responses to some of his proposed stimulus bill policies among many other minor disturbances.

I distinctly remember the night Obama invoked his awe inspiring acceptance speech on the night of our general election. I also distinctly remember him telling the millions of Americans who did not vote for him how he was going to be their President too. He told us that he was going to walk down the aisle of bi-partisanship. He told us he was going to bring change to Washington. He told us he was going to work for the people to make our nation what it once was. Little more than 30 days into his Presidency, is he keeping his promises he made that night? Is he keeping the promises he made on the campaign trail?

Well, number one, Obama brought no change to Washington as he did nothing more than appoint Washington insiders to every post he has been given a chance to fill. He has mined the standby Democratic powers that be to the fullest. Where is the new blood? Where is the “Yes we can” ideology? Why do we have to sit back and watch the same politicians who have been running our government for generations continue their abuse of power over the American citizen? Why… when the single most important aspect of Obama’s campaign was change?

If I had voted for Obama, I would be sitting pretty uncomfortable right now because the man I would have voted for is not the man sitting in the Oval Office at this point in time. Sure, he has another 47 months to change how we perceive him, but hey, there is something to first impressions… I’ve got some numbers from the latest polls that show all is not well with the savior of the free world’s first month.

In only 30 days, Obama’s approval rating has dropped by nearly 10 percentage points. Two out of three Americans currently approve of how Obama is doing. That is still an extremely high number, but a nine percent drop in one month should be extremely worrisome for Obama supporters. Where did the drop come from? There are three segments polled, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. Of course the Republican vote dropped the most from 50 percent to a drastically reduced 31 percent. Hey, even half of the Republican crowd gave Obama the benefit of the doubt… only to be shown his true colors in less than one month how the liberal Obama would govern our country.

The other two segments dropped as follows: Independents (the ones who actually voted Obama into office) dropped to 61 from 67 percent. Democrats basically held steadfast to their banker, err, I mean President with 92 percent, slightly down from 96 percent. If I were a Democrat, I would be pretty happy with what has transpired during the first month because by selling my vote, I now have more federal money coming my way that I haven’t worked for at the expense of those who do. I’ve also got more tax rebates coming my way that I don’t deserve because I didn’t pay anything in taxes during the year. It’s a great system at this juncture for a Democrat and the Democratic voting bloc.

First month jitters or the real Obama? Which one is it? My vote is that it’s the real Obama. The one with puppet strings tied to massive bank accounts of unknown campaign contributors. He is the one with ultra liberal policies who lied to the American public about his stance regarding bi-partisanship. As my bank account, 401k, home value, and confidence shrinks, there are others in the country receiving the benefits of selling their vote by sharing the shrinking wealth of those who work and earn their living. The first month jitters are costing millions of Americans jobs, money, and their future.

If you have read more than a paragraph of any of my nearly 200 articles to this date, you know full well that Obama is not my favorite politician (He ranks in the same category as Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, and let’s throw someone of the same character in here, the ever brilliant political mind, Lindsay Lohan.) So if Obama is not my political savior and governmental messiah, why am I so excited about the day he takes the oath of office?

Number one, I will NEVER have to hear another report by the so-called respectable news outlets about what dress Michelle Obama is going to wear to the inauguration. My ears have nearly bled from such innate conversation about nothing. As these reports wore on, I felt as if I were the one sitting in Guantanamo Bay being subjected to water boarding. Seriously, do we care? Is her dress going to hire two million people and replace the nearly 10 trillion dollars the stock market lost last year? Get over it, it’s just a dress.

Number two, I will NEVER have to hear another report about how there has never been a black President in our country (although Obama is only half black…). I could care less about the color of this man’s skin. Racism is alive and well in this country and for those who think this is the nail in racism’s coffin, continue living in your dream world and send me a check on behalf of your consummate stupidity. We all would like racism to be a dead and gone civil issue, but we must face the fact that it still exists. Sweeping an issue under the rug does not mean it’s cured.

Number three, Obama will now be given the chance to put his so-called money where his mouth is. I can run my mouth as well as Obama can, but he has now been given the position to where he can either come through on his promises or fail like all the other politicians. Yes, all the previous politicians have failed to achieve their campaign promises simply because they cannot change everything in such a short time. There is too much money and too much power on both sides of the aisle to allow the sweeping governmental change that Obama has promised.

There are many other issues that I am sick of hearing about and I’m sure will still garner air time over the next few months and even years, but the time has come for Obama to show what he is made of. Is he a paper politician led by the vast wallets that helped get him elected? Is he deserving of the accolades he has received and the comparisons to MLK, JFK, and even Abraham Lincoln? Will his first term be his last? How will Obama deal with the enemies of our country abroad? Does he have what it truly takes to defend our Constitution or will he shred it like his policies and voting record portends?

Our mainstream media will be riding the coattails of Obama for quite a while so we won’t get a true feel for his administration for quite some time. But, I figure about two years into his Presidency, our nation will know whether we elected a true leader or just another Jimmy Carter. While I don’t agree with Obama’s policies, I do hope that he and his administration achieve what is best for our country. Policy and politics aside, I’m an American citizen and we need good to come of this. I can only hope that America is a stronger nation because of the next four years and not a weaker one. So, let’s get on with this show.

In the past, candidates utilized gimmicks to get their name out amongst the masses, but as times change and new information avenues open up, new ways to spend money appears. No longer are large campaign signs featuring the latest memorable slogan or supporters walking around with t-shirts and signs stamped with their candidate’s name enough. No longer are stump speeches enough to get the policy stances out. No longer are debates the focus of differentiating the candidates running for President. No longer are we in a world where the focus of the campaign is on the actual policy stances and historical voting records of our candidates.

We have entered an age where the campaign for President has become a popularity contest. Never in my life had I ever witnessed a campaign for the most powerful office in the world run more like a high school prom king contest. The news media, television and print, spent more time bickering over such inane topics such as lipstick, hairdos, age, dresses, and just general non-essential subjects than ever before. Sure, some of the information is pertinent to the situation because we all want to “get to know” the candidate, but when there is an economic meltdown occurring while we are engaged in two foreign wars, I think there were better ways to spend our time.

Reports about how much Sarah Palin’s wardrobe cost came out before the election. Obama’s campaign flunkies continually focused upon the wardrobe of John McCain’s wife (which was mostly irrelevant considering her family fortune). Of course before Election Day, all we heard about the Obama campaign was how diverse his fund raising ability was and how much money he collected… over $600 million in his run for President.

Finally, we have some publicly available reports about how Obama’s campaign spent their money over the last few weeks of the campaign. It turns out that Obama spent over $147 million in the final weeks and the purchases would surprise some of you. According to the New York Daily News, Obama spent $4 million on Google advertising and an additional $9.4 million on online advertising, $4.4 million on print ads, and $62 million on television advertising. Also amongst the campaign purchases were 400,000 temporary Obama tattoos and payments to people like Jimmy Buffett and the remaining Grateful Dead band members for appearances and concerts.

In an historical first, Barack Obama even purchased a 30 minute television commercial which delayed the start of a World Series game. Obama even bought advertising in video games which will be seen forever. Barack Obama embraced the popularity contest and utilized his enormous campaign financing edge to win the office of President. McCain followed through on his promise to accept public financing which limits the total amount of money available for campaign spending but Obama reneged on his promise and chose private financing. His choice allowed him to generate over $600 million in contributions while McCain was limited to maybe 20% of that for his general election campaign.

As we have seen, Obama dominated the airwaves and advertising avenues by well over a three to one margin and his publicity stunts were effective in maintaining his lead throughout the election process. Turning our election process into a popularity contest is a major disservice to the American citizen. We should not be treated to a “purchased” politician running our country. We should be treated to a man who would run our country for free, and a campaign which focuses on the policies and direction of our country. I think the campaign for President should be 100% volunteer work and if elected, every cabinet official and advisor should work free from taxpayer provided money and assistance.

If that were the case, I would think we would have a much different political landscape because people would run for office that were true patriots and not power and money vultures. Work FOR the people who voted you in and NOT for those who financed your purchased seat in office.

Citation: http://www.nydailynews.com/