Breaking Point and Limits

So....we've all been there. Even the nicest, calmest most easy going individual has done it. What am I referring to? Being pushed to your limit. Some people are non-confrontational, some have a knack of letting things just slide off their back.....and some....like myself, get to an age where they/me....simply learn to pick which battles are worth busting a kidney over and which ones are not. However.....it doesn't matter who you are or how generous of spirit, kind or even tempered you are.....we all have our breaking point and when pushed far enough....we are left with no choice but to stand up and fight.

I have talked in the recent past about what I have seen on facebook (fb) lately. A lot of people who have spent literally years on fb talking about their day to day lives, showing pictures of their families and sharing recipes.....have suddenly become hyper political. Daily their wall is filled with pictures, quotes and news stories of what is going on in the political arena and none of it is good. In fact it is down right depressing to the point of bringing others down so low that they are deleting long time friends and family. It isn't even about disagreeing with these posts for many. Some totally agree....they just simply feel they can do nothing about it and therefore they can't deal with every time they look at fb all they see is more of the same negativity. So why are these once mild mannered fbers suddenly spending literally hours of their days watching news reports and combing the web for political information and then filling their fb page with it? Because they have been pushed to their limit!

What has happened in this country since 9/11 is astonishing. If you sit back and really look at the big picture...you can't help but be amazed (and not necessarily in a good way) at how we as a country and a people have changed. Before that day in 2001...we were a country that wasn't particularly political as a whole. Yes we had our two main parties...democrats and republicans...most politically affiliated because that's just the way our parents had always voted....and we had the occasional independent or other rogue party, but that was it. No one much thought about politics unless it was an election year and even then we were living in such an apathetic world that even the presidential elections were pretty lack luster at the polls. We had lived in a world where our freedoms were in tact, war was far removed from us and we were the greatest nation in the world in all areas where it counted. Other countries either feared us or wanted to be us and our enemies were held at bay with the knowledge that we could crush them without even breaking a sweat. We were smug in our belief that this was forever how the world would be....and we let our guard down.

On September 11, 2001...our apathy was blown apart and fell to ashes with the Twin Towers. The bubble of safety, security and superiority was burst with the crashing of the first plane. We as a country and a people were changed forever. Instead of deflating though and tucking our tails and running....we did what Americans do. We regained our footing, stood tall and fought! We had been pushed to our limit as we watched workers remove rubble and the body count climbed higher each and every day. We weren't defined as any one political party...we were all Americans and as Americans....we were going to handle this together. The enlistment lines were blocks long, flags were flying and people teared up and filled with emotion each time we heard our National Anthem. We were a people united and no terrorist or group of terrorist was going to destroy what our forefathers had fought so hard to create.

In hindsight....the war was not what anyone (including the president) thought it would be. We had the image of ourselves striking fast, striking deadly and returning home victorious and that all those lives lost that day would be avenged. The reality though is that all these years later we still have soldiers deploying and although two very dangerous enemies to our country are gone....we still know that many more are out there just biding their time to once again strike and try to destroy us. At the time of 9/11....the president...George W. Bush was reading a story to a group of school children. When he got word about the first plane hitting the Twin Towers...rather than jump up and run out in a frenzy....he opted to finish the story he was reading and then head out, thus not alarming a roomful of school children. Should he have done that? Many jumped on him for that and said it showed he didn't care. For years that was brought up in the media and he was taken to task over and over again for this one act. Did those few extra minutes really matter that much? Could he have really stopped anything or made it any better? Would any fewer lives have been lost? It was Bush's Benghazi...and the beginning of the end for Bush in the media's eye and from that point on....he was the butt of every late night talk show host's joke and the villain of CNN and MSNBC. However...even with the negative press he was getting....when fighting fire with fire was on the table, the majority of American's regardless of political affiliation along with most of Congress voted for and supported us going to war. We had been pushed beyond our limits and we were not going to just stand idly by while we were attacked. We were going to fight!

The first few years of the war this country stayed strong and united. We believed in what we were doing and if ever there was doubt all we needed to do was look at the crater left by the Twin Towers or think about all the families who had lost someone that day. By 2007 though, the war was still going strong. Every day more troops were being deployed and every day the American body count was rising. Our quick in and out war was turning into something much bigger and much uglier than anything we had ever dreamed and American's were losing hope. We were tired of watching our soldiers coming home in body bags and seeing families being torn apart by this unwinable war. It felt as if we were just sending our young men and women to a country where the people were incapable of taking care of themselves and in an effort to protect and defend these people...our people were dropping like flies. Once again....we were being pushed to our limits, so when "hope" and "change" became the battle cry of a man from ChiTown.....people listened.

It didn't hurt that this man was black and that he spoke with a charm and ease that could sell ice to Eskimo's. The war suddenly was the fault of one person and one person alone.....George W. Bush (forget all the Congressmen and American's behind him when it started) and this was the beginning of the what I like to call Operation Scapegoat. Suddenly everything from Bird flu to Global Warming was Bush's fault and the media ran with it. The American people heard absolutely nothing good about Bush during the entire campaign and election process of 2008, BUT suddenly this little known ChiTown ice salesman was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Barrack Obama was not a name I knew. I cared nothing about his color....but his charisma was something that could not be denied. Every time he spoke...the words "hope" and "change" flowed from his tongue like honey. He was making promises of an end to the war, more jobs and an end to the recession. We also heard murmurings of "free" healthcare for one and all. The picture was bright and suddenly everyone put on their rose colored glasses and rushed to the polls. People were sick of war, sick of funerals and sick of thinking about 9/11 and terrorism. People wanted hope and change and they rushed to the polls to make it happen. Once again Americans had been pushed and they took a stand. Was it the right one?

During this time....there were those who didn't quite buy into the charm exuding from Obama's lips. It had nothing to do with race and everything to do with research. There were questions about his birth origin (which he himself and his wife helped put into question in past interviews....when she called him Kenyan born and he called himself a foreign exchange student when he was going to school in this country). When these discrepancies were pointed out.....the media began an immediate and steady character assassination of any person or group who should even question this new president. Rather than immediately show a birth certificate that would have undoubtedly relieved many minds and gone miles towards uniting Americans after a political split during an election year.....Obama chose to remain indignant and refused to relieve anyone's mind. Many of us who had just left the Bush years where he was bashed for days on end by the media if he smiled wrong, were amazed that there was not more outrage at even the possibility that we might have a nonAmerican born president. We all knew that if it was Bush people would have been yelling for impeachment on speculation alone. Instead...Obama supporters ignored it and conservatives suddenly became the new American terrorists in the media.

Then came the Healthcare Act or Obamacare as it is casually known. Many were against this act...Americans and Congressmen alike. There were too many unknowns and we as a country were asked to support something that we really knew little about. The word "free" (much like hope and change) were bandied about daily and people who had not been able to afford healthcare or those that had never had healthcare were sold. It was at this point that many Americans really started to question not only this administration....but also the mindset of some of their fellow Americans. Common sense was being thrown out the door. We seemed to have forgotten that you don't sign an agreement before you read it through and you know exactly what it is in it. AND you get what you pay for. Free is never free! We were told that we would know what was in the bill when it was passed. REALLY???? There was a whole group of highly intelligent Americans who didn't even flinch when this comment was made by Nancy Pelosi. They apparently only heard the word "free" and were sold. Forget that we had no idea what we were getting....and that it was a big bunch of unsubstantiated promises that we were not allow to know details on. All anyone seemed to care about was it's supposed price tag.....free. Suddenly....at the eleventh hour of signing this bill....Obama told the American people that it would be signed regardless and miraculously....those Congressmen that had either been on the fence or against the bill....were suddenly on board with it. And how about the fact that the president, his family and no one in Congress or their families will have to participate in Obamacare? Yes...people will say that their insurance was grandfathered in therefore they are exempt. My thinking...if the Healthcare Act is good enough for the American citizenship then why not as a show of support for this act as well as a good faith gesture.....did Obama and Congress not include themselves? Again...this could have done a lot of damage control and done some uniting of the division. Instead the divide grew deeper. Was all of this not a red flag? Apparently not for many. It was simply becoming business as usual.

As his first term continued on...."it's Bush's fault," became Obama's battle cry. When unemployment rose, gas prices became astronomical and our soldiers were still being deployed, his excuse was always Bush. Forget that he had promised that he would see unemployment decrease, prices go down and he would bring all our soldiers home within the year. Perhaps he was seeing that as president your best intentions are not always possible or maybe......this was actually the "change" he had intended all along.

It became more and more evident that rather than giving American's hope...Obama was causing more despair. Our national debt was rising at an unfathomable rate. More people than ever before were out of work and turning to welfare. Welfare was being run dry because of all the generational recipients receiving benefits and then add to that all the new out of work recipients and we had a mess. We were also dealing with weekly and even daily price jumps at the gas pump, food and necessities going up and small businesses going under at an alarming rate and we were in the midst of a recipe for disaster. When we got to the point where Congress couldn't even pass a budget....we started to see something new going on with Obama. I call it the presidential tantrum. This is threats he makes when things or Congress don't go his way. He will threaten soldiers pay, medicare and social security OR he will threaten to circumvent both the Constitution and Congress if he doesn't get what he wants. He has openly done this on numerous occasions something that I must point out once again.....Bush would have been crucified for....and yet his supporters don't flinch. What is going on????

When the 2012 election came around....those of us who had lost hope for any good change.....once again saw a glimmer. The common sense thought that if something is broke you must fix it, seemed to be more prevalent. Obama's leadership was not working and the numbers don't lie. Between prices going up, the job market failing and the inability for the president to reign in spending and unite Congress long enough to accomplish even a budget said.....it was time for real change. Not just the kind of change promised long enough to sway the voting masses...but then never delivered on....but REAL change. 

Prior to this election....Americans were killed in Benghazi and neither the president nor Hillary Clinton, both privy to what happened lifted a finger to help. They watched as Americans died and the media swept it under the rug. Try as people might....Obama and his supporters refused to discuss Benghazi. For any other president at any other time.....Americans would have demanded that he be held accountable. It would have been an outrage to every American in this country, but instead there was silence. It was as if those lives lost meant nothing. At this time there were also many rumors some substantiated and some not about the presidents past, his ties to Muslim extremists and his real agenda where the United States was concerned. It all fell on deaf ears as he was re-elected once again.

Since November, we have heard Hillary Clinton say "What difference does it make" in regards to Benghazi (a total disregard for American lives lost). We have seen a huge increase in censorship and major line crossing in our 1st Amendment rights. What was a right to free speech during Bush's presidency (disrespectful cartoons, outbursts from the other side during speaking engagements and social media posts that disagree with the president) are suddenly being censored and those speaking out are being viewed as American terrorists. One of the worst things though has been this presidency using tragedies such as the Sandy Hill school shootings as a way to manipulate the public and try to enforce gun control which is blatantly illegal according to the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. Once again common sense has been thrown to the wolves and mass hysteria is being used to convince the public that ANYONE with a gun is dangerous. People seem to overlook the fact that if you disarm law abiding citizens....then the only ones with guns will be the ones getting them illegally. And how about the fact that the president and his family are protected by guns...but he doesn't feel that the American people should have the same right? We have now gone past the red flag warning stage....we are now in the sinking ship stage. We sent a loud message when Obama was re-elected. It said that we don't care about our country, our Constitution, our rights, what our forefathers fought for, or most of all.....what our children will have to live with and clean up after. By re-electing him he knew he had won and that he had free reign with this country and we as Americans didn't have the moxy nor the patriotism to stop him. And this....pushed many of us to our limit.

Maybe when you see all of those posts of negativity you ought to read a few. Maybe if it raises a red flag....you should head the warning and do some research. Maybe you should quit letting the mainstream media lead you. Maybe you should ask yourself if you are really any better right now than you were before he took office the first time. Will you be when more comes out of your check to fund his healthcare act? How about when you realize that free isn't free and you have to pay for your healthcare or get fined for not having insurance? What about when your employer cuts your hours in order to not have to insure you and you are making less money and STILL have to pay for insurance? What happens when you can't voice your opinion on this because you are either deemed racist or a terrorist? The list of things to question goes on and on and some of us have been questioning it for a very long time. Those posts aren't made by people who want to drag you down, hate the president or even want to see him fail (for if he fails....the country fails). Those posts are made by people who care passionately about this country and about the future of our kids. They are made so that information besides what the mainstream media wants you to hear is put out there. They are made so that you can ask yourself.....if this was Bush or any other president....would I disregard it, accept it or fight it? 

Yes...we all have our breaking point....our limit if you will and I hope Americans....ALL Americans come to theirs soon. I hope that we are able to take the blinders off and stop listening to what we want to hear and start hearing what is really being said. We are given common sense for a reason and red flags should never be ignored. Obama is not the greatest president ever. He is not even a great man. He is a man in a job that he is not capable of carrying out. He works for us....and in any other setting....if a man was hired on promises and after five years had nearly bankrupted the company...took lavish vacations on the company dime.....carried out almost none of his promises....constantly worked on dividing the company.....and whenever was asked for accountability..... blamed his predecessor, he would have been out the door long before now. So have you come to your limit yet? Ready to stand up and fight? If not, you will be soon enough I'm afraid. I just hope by the time you are...it's not too late for us all.