Is Sarah Palin ready to be president, part two?

by Arnie Webre, Jr., republished from this blog, as a response to a comment from "Montana" about the original article, "Is Sarah Palin ready to be president?"

Montana, you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

My opinion is that there are technical, detailed people who tell the general the information so he, or she, can make the decision.

Former President Ronald Reagan was a fine administrator and a likable guy, just like President Obama is. They both had, and one now has, the overview, but neither of them were, or are, necessarily the details guy.

Both of them were, and one currently is, the administrator, the overview guy, and I see Governor Palin in that light.

One day, she will be president.

Nevertheless, I am suspicious of the reports of Sarah Palin's vindictiveness, just as I am suspicious of the vindictiveness of the administration of President Obama's Chicago crowd.

By the way, I remember a number of gaffs by President Reagan, who was a very effective and likable administrator, as President of the United States, as was JFK, who was assassinated for his beliefs, which have turned out, historically, to be correct.

One more question, though LBJ was a likable man, using your philosophy, was LBJ brilliant because he graduated from Texas State Teachers' Normal College and former-President George W. Bush was, and is, an idiot because he obtain an MBA from Harvard University?

Is Dan Quayle stupid because he is an attorney, or did he just momentarily look stupid because he misspelled the word "potato," when the plural of "potato" is "potatoes?"

You make the call, Montana, as long as you think the call is a fair one.

One can easily, legitimately argue that Republicans, Democrats and Independents have all greatly contributed to the current deficits and the devastating national debt load, in their efforts to give the voters whatever they wanted, so they, the politicians, would be re-elected.

That is not leadership!  That is weakness, cowardliness, and selfishness.



I do agree that President Bush should not have fought two-wars at one time, just as President Obama should not have radioed to our enemies the time-frame of when we are leaving Iraq or Afghanistan.

On the other hand, I was proud of President Obama's arousing speech to the U.S. troops a couple of days ago, and his closing comment, "God Bless America!"

President Obama has come of age as a leader, and he is trying to facilitate compromise between the posturing [for re-election] Republicans, Democrats and Independents, to get the legislative business of America done.

I am proud of our president at this moment in time. I think he is doing the right thing, under trying circumstances.

I just wish more politicians would put aside their selfish vested interests long enough to save America from its crippling national debts and deficits, and they should start by not adding to our national debt.

Every Congress and every presidential administration for the last 46-years, since the last true, un-manipulated United States surplus under JFK, has added to our huge national debt.

God Bless and Save the United States of America!

 

President Obama set an example for Congress yesterday

by Arnie Webre, Jr.

On November 29, 2010, President Obama set an example for Congress and our entire nation by ordering no raises for United States civilian government workers for the next two-years.  That is what true leadership is:  taking unpopular but necessary steps for the good of our commonwealth.

It has put all of us on notice of the hundreds of hard choices that must be made, and if this democracy and the freedom that comes with it is to survive, we must all be willing to share in the sacrifices to come.

Our elected representatives in both houses of Congress must be up to the task of following President Obama's example of making hard choices without regard to re-election.  The hundreds of changes in the pipeline that are waiting to be made are long overdue.

If this democracy is to survive, the time for a sea-change of responsible fiscal actions is now, as they have been put off by elected Republicans, Democrats and Independents for decades.

If all Americans are willing to share this pain, like President Obama and the USCS employees of the United States, we just might continue as a nation in its current form, contrary to expert international historians and economists.

I do not always agree with my President, but he is my President, and on this matter, he is dead-on correct!

Giving just a little more thought to the sacrifices that all us must make to save this democracy:  my great-Aunt Kitty Neyland of Austin, Texas, before her death, told me, "I was there for WWII, working in an assembly line for the cause, while the soldiers and sailors were fighting in Europe.  After all of our arguments and disagreements, Arnie, honey, you should see how America comes together, when we have too.  We all came together as a nation to defeat the Nazis.  It is something of tremendous beauty to experience."

Although Aunt Kitty is long gone, that tremendous beauty of us all coming together to defeat an enemy [the financial bankruptcy of America] is now something that I want to see, in order to insure the future for my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  The alternative is too horrible and upsetting to allow it to happen.

God Bless America!





   

Americans should focus on our national debt before it's too late

by Arnie Webre, Jr.

Wow!  Is it ever fun to have a huge party, but it can be hell to clean up afterward.  In essence, that is what is happening, right now, in the United States of America, in regards to national debt.

Although Europe has debt problems also, we need to tend our own garden, at least until our national debt gets back to normal levels.  The smaller our debt, the better, the more options we have, and the more competitive America will become.

While some people are trying to continue the party, I want to see everyone, including our elective representatives get the peoples' business done by compromise, as there is no other way to get anything done in the divided legislative bodies of the United States government.

That is what our politicians were elected for.  Contrary to popular opinion, they can do what is right for America and get themselves re-elected, without continuing to spend money that we do not have and have not had since John F. Kennedy had the last true, un-manipulated U.S. national surplus.  In the past, Republican and Democratic administrations would simply change the basket of commodities that make up the Consumer Price Index (CPI) if they needed to have a surplus, instead of a deficit, or they wanted a deficit to appear much smaller than it was.

Without compromise from all sides we cannot get anything done, politically or economically, about saving our over-indebted national government and a sputtering economy.  Americans have enjoyed a high standard of living and way of life for countless Thanksgivings, Christmases, New Years, and every day of our lives, while much of the rest of the world has lived in greatly reduced circumstances.

If we cannot get our politicians and all Americans to compromise to get the business of America done, we and our way of life is finished, like burnt toast.

Now, just after Thanksgiving of 2012, we either all start worrying about America, and stop thinking about ourselves [how we are going to get something from the government or how we will get re-elected, even if the strategy to get re-elected is not in the bests interests of the United States], or we will be the ones soon living in vastly reduced circumstances.

To all politicians, no matter what your beliefs or party, either you get the business of America done, or I and millions of other Americans will vote you out, just as soon as we can get rid of your selfishness.

You were not sent to Congress, or other high office, to grandstand and not get the business of the people of this commonwealth done, so you can get yourself re-elected  [it is the other guy's or the other political party's fault, not mine.]  You were raised to your current position by the votes of the people of the United States, and you do work for us and the interests of our country, the United States of America, not your own selfish vested interests.  

We have all known about this problem [the unsustainable debt of the United States of America] for a very long time, and politicians have, in the past, just pushed it down the road, so they could get re-elected.  We no longer have that luxury.  Currently, we are living off of the good graces of strangers and foreigners who buy our debt, U.S. Treasury notes, bills, and bonds.

On the other hand, there are clear signs that those strangers and foreigners are tired of the uneconomic ways of Congress and various presidents of the United States [Democrats and Republicans] spending their money, not ours, like it is water.  If anyone does not see this as a problem, then consider who is buying U.S. Treasury debt, right now.  The largest purchaser is Chairman Bernanke of the U.S. Federal Reserve, not China or Japan.

The party is over, and either you head for the door, or you will not be re-elected.  You must change or your days in government are numbered.  Who ever heard of U.S. Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents spending money borrowed from foreigners, like they were all drunken sailors on liberty?  Since when did our standards get so low?

A debt to GDP ration of 30-percent or less would insure the survival of the United States of America as a free democracy for generations to come, as long as it did not get any higher than that.  No debt, ever, would ensure that there would forever be a strong, free democracy in the United States.

Historically, too much debt destroys nations, and we are already overloaded with it.  Therefore, we need to tip-toe, quietly and softly, away from the edge of financial disaster, as we are hanging over an extremely deep canyon, the fall from which will certainly kills us, figuratively speaking, as a nation.


So, to all politicians of the United States of America, if you cannot rise to this occasion, then get out of the way so we can elect someone else who can.

If you want to get re-elected, you need to do like the politicians of Canada, Brazil, Chile and Singapore did, by enacting laws that decrease government expenses and  inefficiencies, that increase revenue fairly, without an undue tax burden on any one group, by getting rid of unnecessary or counterproductive exemptions and special interests, change the way that politicians are elected and do produce balanced budgets and significantly decrease our national debt, before we elect someone else who can.

Leadership is about making right decisions, not popular decisions.


I am a proud American, and I want to be proud of our government and our political leaders again.  Politicians in the United States have a horrible image problem right now.  If you want to know how to repair your image, re-read this article and give it to your staff and make it mandatory reading.

God Bless America!