Posted by
Sean Engmann on Thursday, July 23, 2009 1:31:31 AM
The American people have had it, we're fed up. Our government is failing us, burying our wants, our needs and our lives under an endless pile of bureaucracy. Congress passes sweeping reform bills without bothering to read them. Our president claims that the health care system is broken and can't explain why, let alone explain how he's gonna fix it. He hasn't read any of the bills, but speaks in generalities and throws around figures. He doesn't connect on a personal level with the American people, but he is trying to ram through a landmark piece of legislation and dismissing opposition under the auspices of a sense of urgency. This is after he forced through a massive stimulus package before giving anyone a chance to review and pushing a budget with record deficits weeks later.
We Americans want our leadership to represent us, and we want Congress to pass the best possible legislation that makes sense to America. Americans are willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt if he lays out exactly what the problem is, and how he proposes to resolve it. Our elected leaders are expected to see common problems, then hash out the best possible solution while explaining to the American people exactly what is going to happen.
Barack Obama's press conference today should've laid out exactly what the health care problem is right now, and then simply illustrated exactly what the solution he proposes would be, with a defense of his proposed solutions. Instead he lays out a dizzying array of figures without addressing any of the issues or the solutions. Like Ross Perot did in 1992, Obama needed to explain the issue in everyday terms to the people. The problem is that the theory behind Obama's health care proposal is so faulty and so ideological that the American people would never buy it. So he chose to use smoke and mirrors.
There are far too many similarities littering the government. Ask an average person what a "refundable tax credit" is, most wouldn't know. If you strip away the euphemism and simply call it a straight tax cut that becomes a handout if you pay no taxes, you'd get a much stronger opinion. Our tax code, and virtually every law in this country is filled with this convoluted, euphemistic double speak, and it's taking the power from the people and putting it in the hands of lobbyists, lawyers, accountants and special interests.
We need new leaders who will address problems and give answers in straight terms and cut out all the legal speak and euphemisms. We need to cut out the ideology and do right by the American people. We need simplicity, simple solutions for problems, and we need people who understand those problems to lead us, not someone who wants to game the system. People love Obama, but they hate his policies. They love Obama because he gives a good speech, but when his policies see the light of day, they make absolutely no sense. We need simple, well explained solutions to our problems, because euphemism and double speak are creating the waste that's destroying our country right now.