Others Centered

My Thoughts on the Inaugural Address

This is a blog that I plan on starting and here is my first post.  It is not my intent to turn this into a political blog but I want to respond to the speech from yesterday.

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

In my opinion, there is nothing humble about this man. In every speech he gives, he tells us that this moment in time, marked by his nomination and election, will be the starting point where America will begin to care for the sick and needy, create a new Declaration of Independence free of small thinking, bigotry, and prejudice, when the Earth will heal and the oceans will stop rising.

His party has attacked and corroded those ideals from our forbearers. They have created “rights” out of the Bill of Rights where no rights existed. They have created a society suffocated by government and stripped the Creator from whom our rights are endowed out of our public square.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

Homes were lost because of false Liberal idealism that everyone has the right to own a home regardless of income of credit history, especially if you belong to a “protected” class that the government believes has been unjustly kept down. Schools are failing largely due to the breakdown of the family which is also a result of the Liberal rejection of traditional values and and nuclear family consisting of a father, mother, and their children. Single parent households and irresponsible fathers has created an education system used for daycare rather than preparation for a further education or a career path.

President Obama and the Democrats are the largest opponents to seeking energy independence from those who want to harm us. We are not allowed to drill for our own oil, we are not allowed to build nuclear power plants, seek cleaner options for coal, and so on.

Health Care is costly for various reasons and the solutions are arguable but the worst solution is the option is a system controlled by the Government.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

There is a sapping of confidence across our land because the media has portrayed America as a third world country for the past 8 years because of their hatred of President Bush. They portrayed a nation that was falling apart, one that had become an evil empire, one that was letting people starve to death on its streets.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

This statement gets me. Once again, there is little humility in this statement. We had a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain. This statement implies that John McCain was running a campaign of fear but we rejected that message for Barack Obama, the object of our hope. We gather on this day because a man was going through a ceremony that 43 (yes, only 43 men have ever been President, not 44) men had gone through before. America was not gathering because of unity of purpose. Half of America rejected his purpose for our future and chose the other candidate. Once again, he is implying that a vote for McCain was a vote for conflict and discord but it was his party that was the largest perpetrator of conflict and discord over the 8 years under President Bush.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

This also gives me chills. On the day marked by his inauguration, he is again telling us that all fighting will stop. He is telling us that our differences in opinion are petty and that the people we have supported in the past were liars by giving false promises. He told us earlier that we hold strong to the ideals of our forbearers but is now telling us that our dogmas are worn out. This also gives me chills because the only way to truly end “petty” grievances and worn out dogmas is to silence or dispose of those who disagree.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

Again, this doesn’t sit well with me. He is saying that we can now become an adult nation because he has been elected as our leader and his inauguration signals the shift from childhood to adulthood.

He never misses a chance to take shots at those who are wealthy. The huge majority of those with riches are often the hardest working Americans. Those with riches and fame who prefer leisure over hard work are typically celebrities who have inherited their money or gained it through entertaining and they are often supporters of Barack Obama’s party and agree with him on most issues.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

Yes they did, and they left to escape religious oppression. Once they got here, they fought for freedom to get out of enormous tax burdens and out from under that religious oppression. They created a society to limit government and maximize individual freedoms. Over time, government has grown and now limits individual freedom by making laws to force ideals.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

If we are still the most powerful and prosperous nation on Earth, how is it that we have been standing pat? From what do we need to pick ourselves up and why are we dusty? Why must we “remake” America? What needs remaking other than the enormously overgrown Government that now suffocates our freedoms? America does not need to be “remade”, it needs to be reset to is foundation. It is Government that is broken, not America. It is those who represent us that need to dust themselves off, not those that are being represented. If anyone is standing still and needs to begin the work, it is only because they have been led to believe that the Government will take care of them. Their sense of personal responsibility has been replaced by a sense of entitlement and a need of support.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

None of this is the responsibility of Government. The economy does not need “action”, it needs unleashing. The Government does not create new jobs nor does it lay the foundation for growth, unless that foundation is less Governmental interference and less burden on tax payers. I am not sure what is meant here by restoring science to its rightful place other than a veiled reference to embryonic stem cell research.

Health Care will not become cheaper and better through a Governmental takeover. It will improve when more freedom and choices are given to people: when the threat of lawsuits and unrealistic insurance premiums are removed and when the hoops that hospitals have to jump through are diminished.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

The key here is that free men and women achieved this, not the Government. When imagination is left to the people and the Government steps aside, possibilities are endless. People invented flight, harnessed electricity, the automobile, etc…

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

This is another chilling statement. What part of our lives will be free of Government assistance? It is not the role of the Government to find us jobs, provide us care, and pay our retirement. He is the head of a party that has seen no public program it does not want to create or fund. He is one of the most secretive and unknown politicians to ever come through D.C. Why are we to trust that he will shine the light to expose bad habits and poor accounting? This man will not show us his own birth certificate, will not release his college transcripts, will not make client lists available when representing ACORN, and will not provide any material that he had published during his time as a law review, yet we are supposed to trust that he will reform public spending.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

The markets did not spin out of control because they were too free. The major institutions that set off this current economic crisis were regulated by the Government, FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC. It was Democratic politicians who forced banks to issue loans to unqualified borrowers, especially minorities, to create fairness and promised to back up the worthless paper by having FANNIE and FREDDIE purchase them.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

We are not, and should not, be a friend to each nation. Again, he accuses America of not leading and will return to the lead now that he is in control. Whether you agree with President Bush or not, America took the lead in what he thought was the right course of action after that terrible day in 2001 where we were attacked by radical followers of Islam. We are not a friend to nations that want to destroy us and root for our collapse. Iraq was one of them. There is a difference between the nation and its citizens. We freed the citizens of Iraq while attacking the nation controlled by an evil man who was brought to justice.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

The justness of the cause has nothing to do with the security that exists. The people who fought against Nazi Germany had a just cause but were defeated by a superior foe. Those who were slaughtered by the Roman Empire had a just cause but had no security. Security comes through strength and peace comes when those who want to destroy you are defeated. Enduring convictions are needed to keep a nation on the right path, but a superior military brings security. Ultimately, security comes from a devotion to our Creator who builds nations up and tears nations down.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

This section frightens me as we lose our heritage. Yes, America is made up of people from all over and is a unique nation in world history. Our commonality comes from our beliefs, not our characteristics. While we are a nation made up of Christian, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and non-believers, we are a Christian nation build upon the foundational principals of the Bible. While people speak different languages, English is our common language. As we lose this and move further from our foundational principals we will lose our identity as one nation under God.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

Those Muslims with whom we fight have no mutual interest nor mutual respect. They want to destroy America and believe in an ideology that will not stop until they succeed or die. Like the Nazis, we face an enemy that must be defeated, not understood. That does not mean all Muslims are evil, but those who cut heads off on video are and need to be removed from this Earth.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Mr. President, your views of our enemies are naive and show a complete ignorance of history. Those who gain power through corruption and deceit have no interest in extending a hand of friendship. They desire power and that desire for power corrupts. The Liberal mindset says that these people can be reformed but there is no reform for those who seek to rule people and use whatever evil necessary to do so. Evil exists in this world and must be removed when the opportunity presents itself.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Again, he resorts to degrading America by calling us overconsumers. While there is some truth to that, America also produces more than any other nation and uses that for good more than any other nation. We give more and do more than any nation on Earth whether we are giving money, supplies, or manpower. While agree that we are to help the poorer nations, I believe the Government should let its citizens keep more and be responsible for their own charity. Americans, specifically religious conservatives, are the most generous people on earth.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

I cannot disagree here. I only pray that he will not pull our troops out before the job is finished.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

This is true only when that faith is in the right place. Our faith must be in Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. He is the example by which we can learn to love and serve others. It is Him that inspires the name of my blog, Others First, because He put others first in the most loving example we could have. Though perfect, He endured suffering for the sins of the entire world because He loves us so much that He wanted us to be able to enter Heaven. He taught us how to serve by being our perfect example of servanthood. It is when America returns to that others-centered servanthoold that we can return to true greatness.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

We need to return to the truths of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. We also need to return to the Truth of Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God by whom all things were made. We may disagree on how to organize our government but He will show us how to organize our personal lives.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

Our destiny is not uncertain if we trust and follow Him. Our destination is not to make peace on Earth because peace is not possible on Earth. Our destination is Heaven and eternity where peace will be found at the feet of our loving Savior.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

This is not why people of every faith and every race joined in celebration on that day. They joined in celebration for you. They made the journey to see you. Mr. President, you are a historical figure because you are the first President of the United States of America with dark skin. While there are boundaries that have been broken, you are not special (yet). I believe in the “Dream” that Martin Luther King Jr. had, that we should judge people not by the color of their skin but on the content of their character. History will determine whether you are a great President but I have serious concerns about the content of your character at this point. If people put their hope in you, they will be greatly disappointed because our hope will only be met by The One who was, who is, and who is to come.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.