The eagle, a venerable symbol of American democracy, is looking a bit beaten down. Our country faces debt in excess of $15 trillion, $1 trillion of which is held by China. Surely, China would like to bump the eagle from its perch. The behind-the-scenes diplomacy with China is most interesting. Recently, President Obama withheld any embargo sanctions against China over its purchases of Iranian oil. How can you gain any diplomatic cooperation from China when it is pulling some of our purse strings?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional as a tax on all citizens. Unfortunately, the law was written by Congress behind closed doors by one political party and passed by one party. Is this an example of the democratic process? The real classic was then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying Congress had to pass the legislation to know what was in it. No common-sense individual would sign on to a contract without reading and understanding it. The devil is always is in the details, which are now becoming known. The end result is another tax-and-spend program on top of massive deficits and going three and a half years without a budget. Problems with the solvency of Medicare and Social Security have yet to be resolved, and now we have the colossus of "Obamacare."
"Jobs, jobs, jobs" is the real challenge. Every able-bodied citizen participating as a taxpayer will help fill the coffers; then we can spend. Our national credit card is overextended. Forty cents of every dollar spent by the federal government is borrowed. When will buyers of our Treasury bonds see us as no better than Europe and raise borrowing costs to a point where we can't pay the interest?
Operation Fast and Furious has reared its ugly head and is now a topic the national news media can no longer ignore. It seems they have pursued a policy of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" when it comes to the Obama administration. The current contempt of Congress charge against Attorney General Eric Holder forced a more honest appraisal.
We have the highest ranking legal official in the country who refuses to comply with a congressional subpoena to provide documents regarding a gun release of 2,000 guns to straw buyers. The guns were not tracked and led to the death Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican citizens. Yet Holder sees fit to hide behind redacted documents and the president's executive-privilege claim. Any law-abiding citizen who would be so irresponsible to have weapons so cavalierly released would find himself behind bars.
I'm sure some scholar could write a book about the ills facing this country. I have hope the voters in November will look beyond the smiles of hope-and-change rhetoric with a realistic view of the state of our great country.
May God Bless America, and the symbol of our great country's strength fly high.
Daniel J. Oliveria
Wolcott
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