Oi! Show me the freak!

How do you pay for welfare for the lower class, tax cuts for the middle class, and multiple big corporate (and abortion industry) bailouts? With a $1.4 trillion tax increase, which, aside from being astronomically greater than a "big" increase, still won't be enough to balance the budget, leaving Americans with a possible $9.3 trillion in deficits.

How much is just one trillion? Well, if you lived out 80 full years, spending $100 for every second of your life, including your infancy, you would still have spent less than a third of your money. You need to spend $396 per second for 80 years.

Let's say though, you inherited your funds on your 18 birthday. You would have to spend $511 for every second of your life.

In the average time you'd spend watching a single movie, you would have to spend over $3.6 million dollars.

Still need perspective? This might help.

Don't worry though, despite heavy domestic criticism, communist China will continue to lend to (pay installments on?) America.

Doesn't it seem sort of weird though, that our government can't get enough Americans to fund their expenditures, either through voluntary things like bonds or through mandatory things like taxes, so they get another national government to do so by selling them pieces of America itself?

The Republican party is no better. Think about it: Republican-controlled America borrowed from rival power communist China to militarily enforce "democracy" in Iraq.

7 Reasons Why It's Ok That Obama Won

Why did Obama win?

You could look at it this way:

Candidate John McCain seemed to have it all.

Few in America did not know about his decades of service, his breath-taking heroism as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, his foreign policy expertise and his ability to reach across the Congressional aisle.

Mr McCain's opponent was largely untested, inexperienced and, initially at least, unknown; his race only added to his challenge.

If there is such a thing as a perfect political storm though, John McCain found himself caught in the middle of it. In a leaky boat. With limited fuel...

From the start, his biggest problem was finding the money to compete with Barack Obama's $650m (£403m) campaign juggernaut. By accepting federal funding (which Mr Obama declined) he capped his general election campaign spending at $85m (£53m)...

In the end, he projected an image as a man from America's past, who had been through much and served his country well.

But in a disgruntled nation, deeply disenchanted with Republicanism, he couldn't match the appeal of his younger opponent and his message of change.

Richard Lister - BBC News, Washington

Or you could look at it this way:

the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14

Should we be so surprised that there are more free-loaders in America than hard-workers?

In all seriousness though, I am not upset that Obama won.

First of all, he won fairly and democratically. The people have spoken. Awesome.

Second of all, I never found any good reasons to adopt any of the more extreme arguments against Obama, so I am not bracing myself for the apocalypse or anything (at least not any more so than I would be anyway).

Third of all, while I am disinclined to opt for rendering unto the government monies generally, and much less so with respect to things at which I believe the government will do an extremely poor job... it's only money. Honestly, it is only money. Plus, Obama's primary motivation for taking my money is to do things like balance the budget, and help the hungry, poor, orphaned, widowed, and the little children of our society. There could be worse things to take my money for. Personally I think I could do a better finding ways to disperse those funds, and I think other organizations than the government, that are forced to compete to earn my charitable donations, could do a better job of utilizing those funds. But still, Obama is not Hitler (despite the smears). It will be ok. It will be alright.

And honestly, maybe it won't be. Maybe Obama will turn out to be the freakin' Antichrist. But there is no reason to think so as of yet, so why worry? Bush could have turned out to be the AC, too. Besides, I won't be here. Not that we shouldn't oppose those who come in the spirit of the AC; it's just that I might as well not harbor paranoia towards everyone I have a few political disagreements with if there is no other reason to suspect him of being The Antichrist, ya know?

Fourth, while some may think of taxation categorically as theft, I just don't find myself convinced. I have thought about it, and while I understand the arguments, I just don't see it. So I am not super upset that Obama plans to tax the hell out of me. Like I said, it is only money.

Fifth, the President doesn't actually have that much power (though the power of Executive branch has regrettably swollen, and pretty significantly, thanks to the second Bush administration and its corresponding Congress).

Sixth, though the Democatic party has control of Congress, it won't for long. People like to blame the President, and soon enough Obama will field his fair share of blame. Then Congress will turn over and we'll be able to strong-arm anything too terribly extreme Obama might just try to pull (or repeal anything he might have gotten through already).

Seventh, the rest of the world likes us again. So that's cool.

...I could easily go on.

I know FOCA is a big issue, and I don't want to undermine that. But all is not lost. There is a lot we can still do. We can work to change the hearts and minds of individuals at the grass-roots level. We can work toward state legislation that strong-arms any federal law that makes it through (like Idaho is doing with our wolf issue). We can write to the President elect and his party and try to change their minds about abortion. We can applaud maverick pro-life Democrats like my wife. We can support policies or organizations that will work to mitigate the number of abortions by one means or another. We can stand up for whole-life ideals. Et cetera.

Barack Obama is our President (elect) now, and we should pray for him.

PS
I liked McCain's concession speech, and I think it is not enough to react to it with thoughts like "what a good sport", but we should actually heed his words.

I also liked Amy's post.

And I will probably like the post my wife is writing right now.

God bless America.

See you in 4, baby.

Peace out.

I'm Convinced

Has the US military presence in Iraq brought a net benefit to the world?

Iraq says the worst is over in Baghdad, thanks to America's help, according to this LA Times article (viewing it requires a free registration to the website).

I have shifted toward agnosticism regarding so many of the issues related to our military presence in Iraq (I opt for neutral terms like "military presence" over emotionally charged terms like "invasion" or its rival, "liberation"). Moreover, I admit to ignorance and therefore agnosticism about way more political issues than philosophical issues (and wisdom encourages a precautionary neutrality regarding most philosophical quandaries).

I do admit to a few key opinions, however. Such include a tentative commitment to the specific proposition: if we completely and abruptly withdrawal our military presence from Iraq, then more harm will be done than prevented.

I am interested in hearing from my readers about matters related to the military action against terrorists primarily and geographically taking place in Iraq.

Comment on whether sending forces into the country was a good idea, and whether the matter has been handled properly since the decision. What would you have done differently?

I promise not to strip your comment out of its context and cite in an inflammatory post meant to undermine the greater political position of which each comment represents a part. But I reserve the right to make my own reaction known, with earnestly attempted humility and rhetorical clarity.