Imagine

In the President's State of the Union address, he started with the troops that returned home from Iraq. Turning to the "obstructionist" Republicans, he said, "Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example."

Now, to be fair, he indicated what he meant. He referred to their "courage, selflessness, and teamwork". He spoke of how "they exceed all expectations." He indicated that "They don’t obsess over their differences." He said, "They focus on the mission at hand. They work together." And, of course, he meant that those dirty, rotten Republicans were selfish cowards who fell short of expectations, obsessed over differences, lost focus, and failed to play nice with other children. We got it. Truth or not, we got it.

I wonder, however, what else could be gleaned from this imagination exercise. "Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example." Well, let's see, what else can we get from the example of the military in Iraq? Perhaps we could conclude that some civilian casualties are inevitable? Maybe we could suggest that Americans should just follow orders from their superiors, shut up, and do what they're told? Or maybe we could see it as a call to go in, destroy what the President deems worthy of destruction, and then pull out to leave the mess to collapse on itself?

Now, I know that President Obama didn't mean any of that. I'm just saying that I can certainly see all of that in his words, his actions, and his intents for our future. He is anxious that "everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules", by which he means "the rich lose more of what they earn while we give more to whomever we deem worthy, 'everyone does their fair share' means the middle class workers bear the ultimate load, paying their own way without help while the upper class pays their unfair share and the lower income categories pay less than nothing, and that this is 'the same set of rules'."

I'm not looking for a government handout, but I can also be quite certain that there won't be one for me, as an example. I work hard, pay my bills, don't borrow more than I can afford to repay, don't live above my means. For that my reward from the government is ... nothing. The upper income category (I am already beginning to hate the use of the term "class" in these discussions) works hard, gets a larger income, invests that income wisely, and pays the majority of the taxes gathered by the government (85%). For that, the President wishes to penalize them because it is "unfair". And, of course, for those at the lower income side, the goal is to give them more income because, you see, more income is the answer. Take from the rich, give to the poor, and the poor will be better off.

This is the president's vision. It is the vision of most of the Democrats. It is certainly the vision of the disenfranchised. Take from those who have and give it to ... me! No, not all who are in financial trouble fall in that category. I don't mean to suggest that. But it is naive to suggest that all of America's "poor" (you know, those who have much, much more than the world's poor) are an innocent huddle of humanity struck down by those rich (typically white) folk just in need of a simple handout so they can stand on their own two feet again. So maybe that's what the president had in mind when he imagined what we could do by following the example of the military. Go in and take out the infrastructure, those higher-ups with money. Tear them down and let's see how it works. What could we learn from Iraq? Well, when you take out their structure, they start in-fighting. When you remove the military, they start killing each other. But, no, that won't happen if you create a class difference between those with more money than those with less. No, we're safe. This isn't Iraq. We're much more civilized than that. I mean, look at the Occupy Wall Street folks. Oh, wait, never mind.