The natives are restless, the rhetoric is heated, the divisions between political partisans are pronounced and battle plans are being drawn. This isn’t a description of a war-torn third world nation or lawless factions ruled by ruthless warlords, it is picture of the “United States of America.” 

To be fair, the deep divisions of ideology have been apparent since January of 2001, when George Bush assumed the presidency. Since that time, it has been contentious but not on the brink of anarchy. In just three months however, our new president, his cabinet members, advisors and the Democratic Party have civil society near the point of civil war. They have fired their volley at the Fort Sumter of our constitution as they push the hot buttons of partisanship to promote the next Bull Run.   

This concept was evident recently when the public was whipped into a frenzy over the handsome bonuses being paid to executives of insurance giant AIG. The appropriateness of these bonuses is not the topic of discussion however, government culpability and public outrage is. It was by specific direction of the government that language protecting those bonuses was inserted in the “stimulus” bill and signed into law by the president.

It was the same government that feigned outrage when knowledge of these bonuses became public knowledge. It was beyond hypocrisy to watch the very people who inserted that language, lead the lynch mobs calling for the heads of the beneficiaries of the law that “they” wrote. In the words of Hillary Clinton, to ignore this treachery “requires a willing suspension of disbelief.” 

The question unasked is who “leaked” the names of the AIG execs to the public? Who provided their names and addresses to the “community organizer” sponsored protests in front of their private residences? What was their motive for doing so? These are questions demanding answers.  

Adding fuel to an already explosive situation is the fact that with every passing day, we learn that our president speaks in riddles and lies. His message in his most recent press conference was that “his budget moves America from an era of borrow and spend to “save and invest.” His spending to date is already estimated to equal the combined spending of every president to date, to include George Bush. Additionally, his budget pushes the deficit to 9.3 trillion dollars. “Save and invest?” This isn’t just a faux pas, it is a big fat whopper and our president says it with the sincerity. The road to anarchy begins with a complete lack of trust.      

This escalation of class warfare directly promoted by the Obama administration, excoriating big business, large corporations and of course the evil rich, is achieving its objective.  We are accelerating our dependence on the government and losing our independent spirit of achievement and entrepreneurism. As we move towards a “people by the government,” racial lines are being redrawn, the poor decry the rich and the middle is caught between the bottom falling out and the confines of a ceiling they can no longer rise above.  

Our government is essentially out of control. It is no longer a governing body of the people consisting of elected representatives; it has digressed into an egocentric cult with a dictatorial mindset using chaos and crisis as the basis for its power. 

As a direct result of the “factionalization” of society, we are no longer “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all;” we are separate units, each with their own demographic identity and agenda. It is through this division of unity and purpose that the government can conquer the independent nature of America and replace it with centralized government and control. 

It is clear that America has its dander up; the question is how will that anger manifest itself? Will it be used as a tool to defend against attempts to overturn the foundation that lead to becoming the world’s most powerful and prosperous nation or turn on itself in chaotic anarchy and become just another socialistic third world country courtesy of its sponsors in Washington?

As of this writing, Barack Obama has been the President of the United States for 47 days. Perhaps it is a bit premature to issue a report card on his performance but given the potential consequences of the actions he has taken in this brief time, it would be inappropriate not to. As with all performance evaluations, the purpose is to determine the ability to adequately carry out the duties and responsibilities of the position.

There are basic criteria for this evaluation that supersede partisan politics, personal agendas, the lust for power and even the mainstream media. They are the covenants laid down in the oath the president elect swears to uphold and the very essence of the meaning of this nation as set forth in the preamble to our constitution. 

When the president elect takes the oath of office, his hand on the bible, he solemnly swears that he will “to the best of his ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” There is nothing ambiguous in these words and yet our new president has turned the principles of our constitution on their head. He has done so on everything from inserting government in a position of control of private enterprise to the near nationalization of our entire economic structure. The president it seems was swearing at something in that oath and it would appear to be the constitution.

Most important in this evaluation are the five principles in the preamble. They are:  (1) Establish justice; (2) Ensure domestic tranquility; (3) Provide for the common defense; (4) Promote the general welfare; (5) Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Evaluating these categories objectively, it can be stated without ambiguity that the president meets only one out of five. 

Merely assessing both the legal and ethics violations of several members of Obama’s cabinet appointees rips the term “justice” to mangled shreds. How for instance, can a man who deliberately chose not to pay his taxes for a period of four years, bring justice to the Department of Treasury and especially the Internal Revenue Service? What justice is served when terrorists are suddenly given the full legal rights of U.S. Citizens and the charges against the person responsible for the horrible deaths of 17 U.S. Sailors aboard the USS Cole are dropped? Our dead, their families and the justice they deserved has been quite forsaken.

Clearly, President Obama inherited a fiscal calamity when he took office. One of the greatest contributing factors to his having been elected however, was his promise to “stimulate” the economy, create new jobs and stabilize our faltering economic infrastructure. To say that the 20% drop in the leading economic indicator since he took office has given the people a “warm-fuzzy” in his ability to make good on that promise, would truly be inaccurate. The current domestic tranquility quotient is measurable on the Richter Scale.    

In terms of defense, our new president has declared a 10% cut in defense spending, made diplomatic overtures to a soon to be nuclear Iran, appeased the Russians and left our East European allies in limbo. Moreover, he has thumbed his nose at our missile defense system, engaged Syria, promised nearly a billion dollars in aid to Hamas controlled Palestine and given the enemies of Iraq a “date certain” as to when they can resume hostilities. Simmering on the back burner is North Korea, China, a deteriorating Mexico and a hostile Venezuela and Cuba re-embracing the Russian military. To address the enormity of these issues, the president has chosen to nationalize health care. 

In the category of promoting the general “welfare” however, the president receives the highest of marks. Given his current agenda, we could all be on welfare before another four weeks of his administration passes. 

Lastly, we arrive at securing the blessings of our liberty. Should we allow this president to be successful in the nationalization of both our economic infrastructure and private enterprise, we are the “land of the free” no longer; we become subjects of the state.     

Barack Obama is not qualified to be the President of the United States. He has clearly demonstrated that his personal ambitions trump the people’s business, that he is naïve in the extreme with respect to foreign policy and that he believes in the power of government over the power of the people.  Additionally, he will forsake his oath to the people of this nation and the principles he swore to defend to achieve his own ends.