I Am the Enemy

Well...we are coming down to the wire of another presidential election year and things seem to be getting quite heated. On facebook peoples political passions are starting to boil over and friends of differing view points are getting unfriended. You have to wade through tons of political pictures, sayings and insults just to get to regular postings and on both sides the claws are coming out. I am not a fan of any of it. I realized after watching the vice presidential debates (which I knew was a bad idea to start with) that my own political passions were pretty heated, so out of respect for my tv and my childrens ears.....I decided THAT was it! No more debates. With fb and the ever present media though....I feel as if I watched it all anyway. Sigh!

I have tried very hard to keep my political opinions to myself of late...for several reasons. One reason is that the last couple of times I have voiced a political opinion in my blogs...I have had people from both sides (liberal and conservative) try to hand me my tail. The other reason is...that THIS election seems to have taken on a much stronger role in peoples lives than in past elections. People seem to be more angr err...passionate about this election than in past elections. A friend posted on fb the other day that people don't get so wound up about subjects like this, unless they care. It made sense. Apparently there is a whole lot of caring going on right now. In the past couple of weeks I have seen long time friends coming to blows over this election, people unfriending anyone on their fb page who is of another political belief and families becoming divided. But this isn't just happening in fb land, this is happening all over our country. Why?

The last time I remember our country being on the same page was after 9/11. Not just liberals were attacked and not just conservatives were attacked. We as a country....we as Americans were attacked. That destruction was aimed at Americans and we became united against an enemy. Many who now make outcries against the war seem to forget that at the time....America wanted to fight. We wanted to feel safe again and yes....we wanted justice.

As the years and the war continued on....many who had originally been for the war started turning away from it. We saw more and more soldiers being deployed or redeployed and fewer and fewer coming home alive. We saw too many funerals and in our lay opinions not enough progress to justify our losses. It was a big political point during the 2008 campaign and election and many felt Bush had had his chance and we needed something new. When Obama promised change....that's all it took. It also didn't hurt that his election would make him the first African American president. It was a heady mix of promises of change and the possibility of making history that made the election exciting....even for those who voted against him. People like myself....who didn't vote for him were willing to sit back and let him prove himself. He promised to fix health care, to bring our troops home and to bring in jobs and lower the deficit. I will admit....I was interested and I was willing to give him a chance. So I watched.

I have to say that after four years in office....I feel lied to. Do I think Obama went into office intentionally lying? No. I don't think it is very often that anyone goes into a new job deliberately lying. However....he has done little of what he promised. Now I know if you are an Obama supporter that your blood pressure is starting to rise and you are getting angry as you read, but in my opinion he has lied or misrepresented all that he promised he would do. Yes, he passed a healthcare bill. It was a bill that not even congress knew fully what was in it. Nancy Pelosi wanted it passed and said....then we would all find out what was in it. Who signs or passes something without knowing just what you are signing and passing? This healthcare bill is starting to take affect and my family is first hand living proof why it is not a good bill and does not have the best interest of America at heart. If you are only someone who needs check ups and preventative care, or a woman wanting reproductive care (abortions, birth control, etc)....it is fine. However....if you are a woman with a chronic illness, a woman with special needs or a woman over 65.......Obamacare is not quite so accommodating. Of course that goes for men too....I was just trying to make a point. What has already started with our new healthcare system is that doctors office visits are becoming twice as long as they were before. Your wait time in the waiting room has gone up, your doctor in your room time has gone up, but your actual doctor/patient time has gone way down because the whole time they are with you....they are filling out computer page after computer page. If you go in through the emergency room....your primary care doctor is no longer the final word in whether you are admitted or not...it is the hospitalist who decides. Forget your history....it is what they see without knowing history that counts. If the hospitalists does not sign off on the admission....insurance will not cover it. What was once covered for those with special needs, chronic illnesses and life threatening illnesses are becoming less and less covered with the assurance that soon (2014) much above and beyond preventative care will be covered less and less.

Obamacare will also likely do a number on the economy and jobs. Soon all employers will be required to cover their employees. Many small businesses who currently help to boost the economy will end up going under because they can't afford mandatory healthcare coverage. It will throw the unemployment numbers way up once again. It will ultimately take healthcare choice out of our hands and put it into the hands of the government....a place that ultimately could have tragic results for many. While not a lie....he did pass Obamacare.....its passing didn't help the country in my opinion.

What about our troops? I find it strange that troops still deploy constantly and soldiers are still coming back in body bags. His promise was to bring them home. What he actually did was just relocate them from Iraq to Afghanistan. What makes this particular promise worse is that not only are these soldiers still standing strong and fighting for their country....but every time there is a congressional issue on the Federal debt....the military salary is threatened. Obama has threatened to cut military salary in order to get congress to agree but never has he threatened to cut congressional salaries...or his own. No....he goes straight to the military and that I find pretty unforgivable. So there we have it...a lie. Our soldiers still fight and die and continue to deploy. Did he intend to bring them home? Likely he did. Did he succeed? No.

What about jobs? Since Obama took office....unemployment has stayed high. Not until just recently have the numbers gone down and the current administration is calling this a win. The reality is....people are falling off unemployment. They are not working....they are simply no longer eligible to be counted. In his four years in office...many corporations throughout this country who provide thousands of jobs have either gone under or relocated to other countries. Layoffs have run rampant and small business has all but become extinct. Again...another lie. Deliberate? No....but a pattern is developing.

And the national debt. I believe he promised to decrease our debt and get us on our feet again. Instead...he raised the debt almost 5 trillion dollars during his term. This was more than Bush raised it during his two terms. Because of this our country lost its triple A credit rating. Currently this is the legacy we have to leave to the next generations. Another lie. Was it intentional? I certainly hope not but many feel it was/is. The best way to topple a country is from within.

Yes...I feel lied to. I also feel that this administration has caused many divides in the American people. It is an "us against them" mentality. I feel that Obama's speeches often perpetuate the divide. Seldom have I ever heard him try to bring together all sides and often I have heard him make snide political remarks about the "tea partiers" or others who he seems to feel are...."thems." As a president it is your job to unite a country and yet Obama cannot even unite congress on the things that count. It is this division that has been allowed to grow and fester that I believe is the reason people have become so angry with one another of late. We no longer see each other as fellow Americans.....we simply see ourselves as "those for Obama" and "those not for Obama." What is worse is....my worry about what happens after the election?

What if Obama wins another term? Many feel that we have raised our debt as far as we can. We are running out of money, our troops are still in Afghanistan and many are heading into another year jobless. Will the dam eventually break and people start taking a stand against the president? Will states try to sucede from the country? Will we find ourselves in a civil war?

On the other hand...if Romney wins...what then? Will there be an outcry for a revote? Will there be rioting? Will people refuse to give Romney the chance in 2012 that Obama was given in 2008?

It all makes me sad. I believe that these last few months have changed people. I have seen it personally and through social media. I am very afraid that we may not go back to being united as family, friends or country.....regardless of the outcome. No longer am I me...I am now a Republican, conservative....and in some eyes (including family and friends)....that makes me the enemy.