Opinion

Midterm elections: a red wave

Ron Hart Contributor
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Facing historic losses in the midterm elections, President Obama took to urban radio to reassure his base and whine his case. He said he does not get enough credit for all he has done. He took a situation that was in trouble and terrible disrepair two years ago and brought it back from the brink of destruction — referring, of course, to the Republican Party.

On Tuesday Obama set another “historic first.”  He beat out limousine accidents as the number one cause of death for old Democrats.

The country took a step in the right direction when we voted to take the car keys away from Nancy Pelosi with her out-of-sync, leftist agenda. I just hope the newly elected Republicans do not act like the RINOs who spent and stuck their noses where they should not have, opening the door for these Democrat clowns to parade right in.

It would be better if we had elected more libertarians like Rand Paul, but winning control of the House of Representatives and the sway the Tea Party might have over future elections are steps in the right direction. Maybe we should view these elections like a country song I once heard in which a man twanged about his wife, “She ain’t the best, but she is the best I can do.” At this time, I am afraid this is the best we can do, but I am also optimistic we can turn our politicians in Washington into more of the minimal-government public servants our Founders wanted.

We must remind these new representatives to stay on task. Somehow, all politicians start out in Washington as Jimmy Stewart did in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” but then after about a year they turn into something more like Kim Jong Il.

No one can nuance the nebulous like a Democrat. Obama’s response to the losses was as arrogant as his policies. He blamed the massive losses on the opposition misunderstanding ObamaCare. Not to worry — he and fellow Democrats should be OK, since his health care plan covers catastrophic losses.

Obama emerged from the mist with a meaningless message of “hope and change” that was never questioned by a doting media distracted by “chills running down their legs.” The media lauded him, saying he was “smart” and “our most deliberative president.” Yet he seemed to make decisions using the rock/paper/scissors method.

He told us he was going to lower taxes for 95% of America.  Never mind that 45% of Americans already pay no federal taxes; Obama never let simple math get in the way of “the audacity of change”!

His monumental ego led him to believe Muslim radicals would do as he said because he was so cool. UPS delivered the message last week that Obama was wrong on that too. And, like those two Chicago-bound packages, the one Obama delivered to us was impotent.

He scared and vilified the most precious resource in America, our entrepreneurs.  In response to his regulations, anticipated health care costs and higher taxes, they have laid off workers, raised prices and hoarded cash out of fear.  Atlas has shrugged.

Obama has been one of the most divisive presidents in history, always willing to pit one group of citizens against another for political gain. On Latino radio the other day he identified “enemies” and implied that his listeners should go after the GOP — in “West Side Story”-style, I presume.

In America today, you have the makers: those who work, produce and pay taxes. And you have the takers: the moochers or “hitchhikers of society,” as Ayn Rand so aptly dubbed them. Started by Bush but accelerated by Obama, the growth in the number of federal workers and the expansion of the welfare state have resulted in the takers of society outnumbering the makers. The French playwright and philosopher Voltaire warned of this.

Somehow the narrative has become that we, the makers, are greedy if we want to keep the money we earn, and politicians are somehow noble for confiscating more of other people’s money to distribute it to their “taker” constituents. Most Americans have enough self-esteem to reject that concept. But to somehow make the takers in society seem nobler than the makers just sends us further down the wrong road: The Road to Serfdom.

Maybe the Dems knew they were going to lose this election, which is why they wrote into ObamaCare the provision that you cannot lose your health insurance coverage if you lose your job.

Ron Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist, author and TV/radio commentator. Email Ron@RonaldHart.com or at visit RonaldHart.com.