Waiting at the stoplight, the pickup truck in front of me had a decal in the back window that said:
I’ll keep my MONEY, my GUNS
and my FREEDOM.
You can keep the “Change”.
It’s pretty obvious that this is the truck owner’s thoughts about the change promised by Barack Obama during his first presidential campaign. It’s also obvious that there are huge numbers of Americans that agree with the sentiment expressed on that decal, and who feel threatened by Obama’s leadership.
But let’s look at the facts.
People like the truck owner are adamantly opposed to paying taxes, but the tax cuts, de-regulation and lack of oversight during eight years of Republican rule resulted in a worldwide financial meltdown. The pickup owner more than likely saw his retirement plan suddenly lost more than half of its value, the equity in his house dropped tremendously, and there’s a good chance that if he had a company pension plan, the benefits were cut.
How many of those who don’t want to pay taxes scrambled to get their share of the Cash for Clunkers program? How many had their money invested in financial institutions and automakers that had to be bailed out? How many are now reaping the benefits of economic stimulus programs? How many have jobs that rely on government contracts? How many went to public schools? Quite a few. Wake up folks, it’s tax dollars that fund these programs.
Gun owners in the U.S. seem to be under the impression that Obama is avidly anti-gun. Why is this? Since his election, Obama has not only done nothing to curb the rights of gun owners, he signed a law allowing firearms in National Parks, much to the chagrin of millions of parks users and against the wishes of the National Park Service personnel.
A while back I was in the sporting goods section of a department store and overheard one of the employees tell a customer that they didn’t have the ammunition he wanted for his gun because of Obama’s regulations. I bit my tongue, but have regretted it ever since. The Obama administration has passed no laws limiting the manufacture or sale of guns or ammunition, but the NRA-led faction of gun owners is so convinced that Obama is anti-gun that they have been buying ammunition and firearms faster than the manufacturers can produce them. Shortages on store shelves are due to gun owner stockpiling, not new laws prohibiting their sale or use.
And what about the decal-bearing truck owner’s fear of losing his freedom? Where was his outrage during the years of the Bush-Cheney administration that saw some of our most basic personal freedoms taken away?
Yes, I’ll keep the Change, thank you.