Father, Forgive Them

 

by Kerry Thomas

November 5, 2008

 

 

“Change, change, change!  Obama, Obama, Obama!”

 

That was the substance of one Ohio talk radio caller on Tuesday night, who called to say we should now give Barack Obama a chance.  When the talk show host asked the caller to give him some specifics on what a President Obama will do, what Bush policies will an Obama administration change, she just started chanting, then hung up.

 

And such has been the mindset of many of Barack Obama’s supporters during this election.

 

For months, all we’ve heard is a mindless mantra about “change.”  What exactly does Barack Obama want to change about America?  Nothing short of a fundamental understanding of the American Dream.

 

For example, Barack Obama says he wants to “bring the troops home.”  Note he never once said he wanted to WIN the war, to bring the troops home victorious.  But he also says he wants to increase the number of American troops in Afghanistan.  Which is it?  Does he want to bring troops home, or redeploy them to Afghanistan?

 

Barack Obama says he will give 95% (or 98%) of all Americans a tax cut.  But already 40% of all Americans don’t pay income taxes.  The bottom 50% of taxpayers pay just 3% of the taxes, while the top 10% pay more than 70% of taxes.  The top 1% pays 40% of the tax bill.  Still, Barack Obama wants to spread the wealth around.  With a federal budget in excess of $3 trillion, how much more can we spread?  And who’s going to pay for it?

 

Barack Obama says he’ll only raise taxes on “the rich,” on those earning more than $250,000 per year (now already reduced to $200,000).  But this elusive figure keeps changing.  Obama’s Vice-Presidential running mate, Joe Biden, has further reduced this figure to $150,000/year; and New Mexico’s democrat Governor Bill Richardson has reduced it still further to now just $120,000/year.  And it now applies to “working families” instead of individuals.

 

Whatever the real figure he has in mind, Barack Obama says he isn’t going to raise taxes dramatically, just raise the tax rates to the tax rates we all paid during the Clinton administration.

 

And to do this, Obama will have to do…nothing.  Because the “Bush Tax Cuts” will expire in 2010.

 

Even the lowest of the tax rate brackets is going to increase by 50%, going from 10% to 15%.

 

These tax increases are brought to you by your faithful Democrats in Congress.

 

Your investments will be taxed not at the current 15%, but at 40%, no, 35%, no, wait, 30%, no, wait, 28%, well, maybe 20%.  Barack Obama has used so many different figures, who can tell?

 

Barack Obama is going to make it more expensive to run a business, to start a business, or to work for a business.  Here’s a flash.  Businesses don’t pay taxes.  The cost of taxes is factored into the cost of the goods and services we all buy from businesses.

 

Barack Obama is going to make the cost of electricity rise.  He’s said those who want to build new coal-fired power plants will go bankrupt running their power plants, because of all the new regulations he wants to impose on them.

 

Half of all electricity produced in this country comes from coal.

 

And on and on and on.

 

In times of economic uncertainty, when the economy needs a boost, the one tried and true method for igniting a struggling economy is to cut taxes.  Cutting taxes stimulates growth, as people have an incentive to work harder, enabling them to keep more of what they earn, to spend it as they see fit, not as some bureaucrat sees fit.  And, paradoxically, cutting taxes produces more revenue to the treasury as the economy expands and everyone has more of their own money to spend.

 

Yet, when this was pointed out to Barack Obama, he acknowledged that cutting taxes increases revenue to the treasury, but insisted higher taxes was a matter of “fairness.”

 

Political correctness makes for poor public policy.

 

Voters who did not vote for Barack Obama because of his skin color are racists.  Plain and simple.  Voters who voted for Barack Obama because of his skin color are also racists. They’re ignorant racists, who could not or would not look beyond Barack Obama’s skin color.  Voting for Barack Obama just so you could vote for a black man is not historic; it’s pathetic, ignorantly pathetic.

 

In 1980, America rejected the policies of Jimmy Carter, in favor of the promised policies of Ronald Reagan.  We saw 12% inflation, 21% interest rates, and 8½% unemployment under Carter.

 

After just two years of a Barack Obama presidency combined with a liberal Democrat Congress controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, America will long for the good old days of the Jimmy Carter administration.

 

All I can say to those of you who voted for this fundamental change in the basic fabric of America is Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

 

Please pray for America’s future.