Response to President's "National Day of Renewal and Reconcil

[Old Toad]

NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/a_national_...reconciliation/

I personally reject this calling.

I SWEAR BY MY LIFE AND MY LOVE OF IT THAT I WILL NEVER LIVE FOR THE SAKE OF ANOTHER MAN, NOR ASK ANOTHER MAN TO LIVE FOR MINE.

-- OT

[Zip]

I grow more afraid for America every time this person speaks and every time someone speaks on his behalf.

[aequalsa]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/a_national_...reconciliation/

I personally reject this calling.

I SWEAR BY MY LIFE AND MY LOVE OF IT THAT I WILL NEVER LIVE FOR THE SAKE OF ANOTHER MAN, NOR ASK ANOTHER MAN TO LIVE FOR MINE.

-- OT

Do I understand correctly? Did he just declare the day he became president a national holiday? Seriously?

[Maximus]

We are doomed...

[bluey]

We are doomed...

So ... at what point do you stop paying taxes or something? "Doomed" is pretty strong language, are you just going to watch it all go down?

(not aimed specifically at Maximus, just a general question to those who seem really bummed about Obama and the future)

[softwareNerd]

"Doomed" is pretty strong language,...

I assume by "doomed" Maximus might mean: "we're going to become more like Canada and Europe.... or, like the U.S. under Hoover and Roosevelt!"

[Zip]

I assume by "doomed" Maximus might mean: "we're going to become more like Canada and Europe.... or, like the U.S. under Hoover and Roosevelt!"

Steady now, Canada is becoming more like America... was...slowly....very slowly.

[Jake_Ellison]

So ... at what point do you stop paying taxes or something?

Only when I'll know that there's no other way for me to lead a happy, productive life. And even then, I won't refuse to pay taxes, it's only that I'll direct my ambition toward something that won't cause me to have to pay too many taxes: I'll most likely pack a backpack, and start traveling the Globe, taking the odd job which allows me to survive, moving on when I'm bored.

It's not such a bad way to live, if my first dream: to be the best I can be in my chosen profession, in a job which satisfies my ambition, to start a happy family and have a beautiful child I can raise to be the best man he or she can be, is taken away from me, and replaced by a ticket into slavery for me and the person I'd bring into the world.

But we are a long, long way from there: for now, at least the family and child part will wait to see which way the tide turns (I'm not ready for a family yet anyway), but life is still most definitely beautiful and worth living fully. The fact that taxes must be payed is just a hurdle, not a wall.

[Maximus]

I assume by "doomed" Maximus might mean: "we're going to become more like Canada and Europe.... or, like the U.S. under Hoover and Roosevelt!"

Pretty much. Keep in mind the majority of sheeple take thier clue from celebrity activists, not having the mental capacity for independant thinking. Eventually, we will slide into a fascist dictatorship if current trends are not reversed. I do not hold out much faith in the rationality of my fellow man, I suppose.

I'm cynical.

[~Sophia~]

I assume by "doomed" Maximus might mean: "we're going to become more like Canada and Europe.... or, like the U.S. under Hoover and Roosevelt!"

In some ways (policy) yes but Canada does not have your religious fanaticalness nor your recent politician/messiah worshipping. Many people here, even though they like your new president, are quiet shocked by your nation's response to a politican.

[Maximus]

In some ways (policy) yes but Canada does not have your religious fanaticalness nor your recent politician/messiah worshipping. Many people here, even though they like your new president, are quiet shocked by your nation's response to a politican.

No more so than am I. This hero-worship is absolutely ridiculous. It's easy to see now how a certain failed painter came to power in a supposedly educated, modern nation.

[aequalsa]

No more so than am I. This hero-worship is absolutely ridiculous. It's easy to see now how a certain failed painter came to power in a supposedly educated, modern nation.

I know. I am amazed at the speed at which this "change" is happening. I feel like I am in some twilight zone special that warped me into San Francisco circa 1970, only it's nation wide. Somethings not right about the speed at which it's happening. I was concerned to begin with, but every day and person I meet scares me more. My conversations leave me doubting my sanity because I am so far removed, politically, from nearly everyone I come across. A frenzy of self-sacrifice. I am extremely pessimistic at how this will play out.

[ers]

I know. I am amazed at the speed at which this "change" is happening. I feel like I am in some twilight zone special that warped me into San Francisco circa 1970, only it's nation wide. Somethings not right about the speed at which it's happening. I was concerned to begin with, but every day and person I meet scares me more. My conversations leave me doubting my sanity because I am so far removed, politically, from nearly everyone I come across. A frenzy of self-sacrifice. I am extremely pessimistic at how this will play out.

Something big and nasty is definitely coming. Obama is just the catalyst, however. This frenzy has been building for almost a hundred years.

[softwareNerd]

... religious fanaticalness nor your recent politician/messiah worshipping. Many people here, even though they like your new president, are quiet shocked by your nation's response to a politican.

Yes, it really is quite disgusting.

OTOH, high expectations can backfire on Obama. We'll have to see how things are about 3 months from now, when the initial euphoria has died out.

[4reason]

Something big and nasty is definitely coming. Obama is just the catalyst, however. This frenzy has been building for almost a hundred years.

Something big and nasty, indeed, but let me play the "glass half full" position for a moment:

Over two hundred years ago a colony of people came under the big and nasty cloud of a distant power exerting intolerable influence over its population's finances and liberties. This dark cloud was acknowledged by all, tolerated by most, despised by many, and yet only only a few were willing to go so far as label this cloud insufferable and begin to take action against it. Yet these few, - these ingenious and brilliant few- were somehow able to rise above their fellow countrymen's reluctance to take action and they were able to defeat the tyrannical force of their own government to establish a new country: the United States

Thus I hold on to the belief that our circumstances may not be too different today. Our own government is, once again, desecrating our rights and liberties. The only difference is that government is no longer an ocean away. I concur that many people embrace these desecrations and mislabel them as progress, but I also believe that there is a new small class rising once again: a class of producers, of men and women of genius, who are capable of motivating that other group that I also believe is out there : the begrudged. For every ten people who embrace Obama, and proclaim their service for him and "their country", there is, I hope at least one individual who questions what those ten are doing. And for every ten individuals who question him I hope there is one person capable of inciting action against him and his philosophy. The ratio is ascew, yes, but it only takes a few individuals of genius and ability to rally the sentiments of the average popluation to rise above a dark and nasty cloud of oppression. The very existence of this country can testify to the truth of that.

These few individuals who led our country's rise the first time all expressed the following sentiment in one way or another: the tree of liberty must be watered with blood from time to time. In other words, each generation has the potential to erase the gains of the revolution that anteceded them... but with that each generation ALSO has the right, perhaps the obligation, to fight to restore, maintain and make progress beyond those gains.

Those leaders are out there; I see hints of potential sentiment that could lead a force against Obamaism. There may be dark times to come, but these dark times, will, I hope, be the last straw for those few. Horrible things can harm us, they may kill us, but they can also inspire us to overcome. I am confident in this hope because I feel this disgust and desire to act brewing in my own soul. Every day I feel more disgusted, but I take that disgust and I let it inspire me to think of ways to defeat this onerous enemy. I don't know if a full revolution will be necessary again, but there will always be that voice among the few out there that carries with it the power to alter man's circumstances. Let the few be wary of the voice of the many, but let the many be twice as wary of the voice of the few for the few can change the world. They have before and we will again. Be patient. Wrongs can always be faught against and they can always be corrected. Do not resign yourself to their attempted power over you; gather the wrongs against you in your mind and let them brew there. Let the essence of disgust fill your senses until you have no course of action left but to lash out with your voice and your actions. Act by denying them the right to determine your actions. Scream to deny them the right to silence your objection. Produce to deny them the right to steal your production. Defeat them; defeat them in every sense of the word. Be the success that they can never be.

Let us not forget our FOunders committed treason against their government to give us ours. I don't think treason is what is necessary at this point; thankfully it hasn't gone that far yet. At this point, all we need is enough begrudged people to stand up and reject their president and their neighbor's claims upon their own life.

The glass may not be half empty; it may instead be half full. For if we are approaching that dark day that incites the voice of the capable few against the voice of the mooching many, then let us savor every drop of liquid that is in that glass. Vally Forge was a dark time, but it was the beginning of a great one as well.

Edited January 24, 2009 by 4reason

[~Sophia~]

I certainly do believe in the power of true ideas in the long run. In the short term, however, it looks to me that things are going to get worse before they get better.

Ethically, altruism is a difficult thing to uproot.

It is natural for us to feel compassion. It is a humane quality to feel sympathy for another’s suffering and wanting to do something about it and it is the right response in a specific context. The default, however, is a perceptual level mentality which leads to an intinsic approach to compassion which further leads to altruism feeling to most as "natural". Feelings happen faster than rational evaluation and it is the role of philosophy to teach which one is the proper tool of cognition. Otherwise emotion driven decisions become the default - the norm. We certainly have seen, in the past few days, just how widespread this phenomena is.

Ideas based on feelings/reactions which people are prone to having, ideas which demand less effort, gain acceptance much more easily and are difficult to challenge.

There is also another equally challenging aspect - personal corruption. When men have become dependent on government handouts they are unlikely to argue for and support independence and rational self interest.

I think it is only wise (and necessary) to fully acknowledge the scope of the challenge we are facing. Knowing what I know does not make me feel fatalistic - there is no reason for that and it only leads to inaction. I know (not only as an intellectual truth but based on experience) that relatively good life is possible even under much worse circumstances and in the meantime there is work to be done.