As most of now know, after more than two weeks of street demonstrations in and around Tahrir Square in Cairo, Hosni Mubarak has stepped down as the leader of Egypt and that a temporary, military-based government will step and rule in until democratic elections can be arranged. We should all offer congratulations to the people of both Egypt and Tunisia who have stood up for the cause of freedom in their respective countries despite the high potential of harm to themselves and their families. They are to be applauded for their courage and we wish them the best of luck. May they find happiness and liberty the way eastern Europe did after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and avoid the fate of the Iranian people, who never got a chance at freedom after the Shah was toppled in Iran. Interesting times.
This whole episode in freedom gets one thinking about a hypothetical situation: what if a similar uprising or outpouring of emotion in the pursuit of freedom happened in the United States and Americans gathered for days on end on the Mall in D.C., similar to what the brave souls did at Egypt's Tahrir Square? President Obama recently spoke to the issue saying that "the Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity." (note: this statement was put out before Mubarak stepped down).
But what if Americans decided they also wanted a "genuine democracy," that the form of government they were living under today was not a genuine democracy because:
1) The government and the political class controlled the major portion of each American's retirement funds via Social Security and the government and the political class controlled the major portion of each American's retirement medical care and fate via Medicare?
2) The government and the political class controlled the major portion of each American's pre-retirement medical care and fate via Obama Care?
3) The government and the political class confiscated over 40% of each American's earnings every year via taxes and fees, leaving each American far less flexibility and freedom to manage how their kids are educated, to start or expand a business, to save for retirement, to contribute to their favorite charity, or to just spend the fruits of their labor any way they wanted?
4) The government and the political class had absolutely no financial discipline when it came to managing the nation's finances, burdening each of today's Americans and future generations of Americans with tens of thousands of dollars of debt burden?
5) The government and political class has rigged nearly every election process, from gerrymandering Congressional districts to using taxpayer money on earmarks, that are only thinly disguised campaign fund raising vehicles for incumbents, to allowing unions, PACs, corporations and the such to overwhelm our election processes and the will of American citizens with billions of dollars, etc.
6) The government and the political class waged a highly expensive and highly ineffective "War on Drugs" campaign that failed to contain the flow of illegal drugs into and around the country, failed to provide an effective drug addiction treatment network, caused a violent, near narco state to develop just south of our borders , infringed on our freedom via illegal or semi-legal searches of our homes and cars, and infringed on the rights of Americans to do what they want to their own body?
7) The government and the political class spent far more money on education than any other country in the world but succeeded only in turning out mediocre students, when measured against the education quality of students from around the world, wasting generations of brain power that could have been developed in American kids.
8) The government and the political class has shown no ability to respond to natural and man made disasters despite incredible amounts of taxpayer dollars spent to run government departments and agencies, disasters that have ranged from Hurricane Katrina to the BP oil rig disaster.
9) The government and the political class have erected huge bureaucratic processes that discourage business formation and innovation and benefit no one but the bureaucrats in charge of the useless processes and red tape.
10) The government and the political class tried to control the press by either trying to control the message via the obnoxious and anti-liberty "Fairness Doctrine" principle or through the outright banning of media outlets holding contrarian views.
11) The government and the political class viewed American citizens as not free people whose contrary opinions were not to be belittled but respected and celebrated but as votes to be controlled, bargained for, and discarded once the election was over.
12) The government and the political class think that the Patriot Act, Gitmo, and holding people in custody forever without a trial are consistent with freedom.
Unfortunately, these "dirty dozen," anti-freedom behaviors are not theoretical today, they are the reality of America under the current political class. We ourselves do not live in a "genuine democracy" that President Obama desires for the Egyptians. I would make the case, as I do in the fifty steps in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," that we are not living in a genuine democracy in this country. Maybe the President should worry more about fixing our democracy than in telling others how to live freely.
However, the chances of that happening are slim relative to the dirty dozen items listed above:
1) Obama's rejection of the Social Security and Medicare recommendations from his OWN Debt Reduction Commission does nothing to prevent the coming insolvency of these two programs.
2) His health care overhaul legislation accounts for the control of Americans' pre-retirement medical care in negative ways that are just becoming apparent.
3) He fought the continuation of the Bush tax cuts and has shown no propensity to reduce taxes for ALL Americans or making government more efficient so that not as much taxes are needed to run it.
4) Government spending deficits have skyrocketed during his administration to terrifying heights, usually exceeding a TRILLION dollars a year.
5) Political campaign spending in the recent midterm elections was in the billions of dollars, with no indication from Congress or the President that they have the will and desire to return voting power to the common, individual American and to take the power away from the moneyed interests.
6) The War on Drugs - over four decades after it started, still a lost cause.
Recent testing of high school students from all over the world showed that in reading science, and math, there were at least 17 nations in each category educating their kids better than our government and political class were doing with public education in this country.
7) U.S. kids do not come close to competing on education quality in any cagtegory.
8) BP Oil Spill - has the government and political class learned nothing as it applies to contingency planning since Katrina?
9) The number of Federal employees has grown by untold thousands since President Obama was elected, worsening an already slow moving, immobile government structure.
10) Numerous members of the President's party and himself, have made accusations against Fox News and tried to isolate the news outlet in many different ways, all for having a difference of opinion with the administration, basically trying to suppress freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
11) Rather than respecting and celebrating diversity of opinion, and essential part of any genuine democracy, the President has remained silent while his henchmen have called those that oppose Obama's policies un-American (Nancy Pelosi), knuckle dragging Neanderthals (Alan Grayson), racists (Charles Rangel and Howard Dean), members of the Ku Klux Klan (Sheila Jordan Lee and Grayson), and gerbils (a Congressman whose name escapes now). Senate majority Leader Harry Reid actually stated in public that Americans visiting D.C. in the summer time physically smelled. When citizens are held in such contempt by the ruling class, you do not live in a free, genuine democracy. One of the few times the President spoke up when discussing those Americans who had an honest and rightful disagreement with his policies, he spoke of the need to "punish" his "enemies." How sad, a sitting President feeling that those citizens he is supposed to serve were his enemies and were in need of punishment. Hardly a democratic viewpoint.
12) Patriot Act and Gitmo - enough said.
It would certainly be interesting to transpose the Egyptians in Tahrir Square into Americans on the Mall in D.C.but keep the demands the same: free citizens living in an economically sound environment with a true voice in determining how they are governed. That is all the Egyptians want, that is all Americans want. Would President Obama be so supportive and forthright in his praise and desire for "genuine democracy" in America as he is for "genuine democracy" in Egypt? Unfortunately, his actions in office so far indicate he would not.
About The Author Walter "Bruno" Korschek is the author of the book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps to Restoring Our Freedom and Destroying The American Political Class," which is available at www.loathemygovernment.com and online at Amazon, borders, and Barnes 7 noble. Our daily dialog on freedom in America can be joined at www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com. |
