Paradoxes in D.C.

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Paradox: Obama runs on a platform of 'change' and then nominates or appoints to office people who are and have been part of the system before his election.

Paradox: Obama demands that Congress fund and authorize him to disburse funds to programs the GOP does not support in the first place.

Paradox: Obama asks for a plan to solve the budget debacle and then doesn't present any of his own and threatens to veto any plan the GOP passes.

Paradox: Obama talks about how he will not rest but takes more vacations than any other person in the presidency.
Paradox: Obama demands that the GOP budge for the sake of compromise and insists that all his ideas remain on the table.


Paradox: Obama gets 95% of what he wants and claims the GOP 'got its way' when they haven't even addressed any of the things the GOP wants.

Paradox: During the twitter town hall, Obama requires submissions to fit the 140 character limit of twitter while he rambles on a series of asinine banalities.

Paradox: Obama surges the war in Afghanistan, starts one in Libya, and engages our soldiers elsewhere and then says we need to cut the military first because it's so massive.

Paradox: Obama talks of reigning in profilgate spending, and yet in two years has outspent all other presidents combined.

Paradox: After a landslide midterm that threw out some of the old guard, Obama insists that Americans want the same policies propagated by those same politicians we just ousted.

It's a little paradoxical that government will fight so hard to protect itself while it encourages the human race to fight against its own dominance and survival. Perhaps it's because government is a self-licking ice cream cone that loves its own taste so much that it tries to become the greatest consumer and producer of everything it can so that it can savor itself without having to move. That sounds a lot like the same hedonistic attitude that brought down other great civilizations like Rome, and I am sad that so close to me I know people who are jealous enough for their own benefits that they will not do what is right for everyone else if they have to sacrifice their own comfort, prosperity, and freedoms. We are willing to go to any lengths as a people, it seems, so long as it doesn't upset our lives, lifestyles, and habits.

The next election will be interesting. It will show if our actions back up our words. I venture a guess that more people bellyache than are willing to act, at least in such a way that actually makes a difference. See, two of the topics about which I am most passionate are the two topics that are socially taboo in polite conversation. If we cannot at least understand one another when it comes to politics, can we really be friends? If we cannot discuss politics, which is quickly becoming the dominant transformative force in society, how can we make a difference in how society moves forward? Too many people talk in platitudes, talk and fume, and foment discord. The paradox is that, just as in 1776, only a third of Americans will probably act to preserve their freedoms when it really comes down to it. We let our government tax us, push us around, and shout us down and think we are free when we are perhaps less free now than we were under George III.

The miracle of 1776 was that Americans learned they could govern their own areas better than the King of England and then won a war against him so they could prove it to the world. The paradox is that the monarchists among us now occupy the positions of power while the freemen are happy so long as they appear to remain free. Semblance is not substance.  Paradox.