“A MORE PERFECT UNION/ENSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY”?
On January 20, 2009, we inaugurated a new President and broke the ground for change with the swearing of the 111th Congress. The confirmation that our Constitutional Republic has once again been renewed and a peaceful transition of power has transpired. On January 20, 2009, we began our day with the hope that when the pageantry was over and the balloons were released into the sky we now had a new President who could provide the solutions to a desperate world on the brink of total collapse. Hope for a better tomorrow has been guaranteed by the content of the character of President Obama. Anticipation of what could be has been generated by the vitality and exuberance of this new administration. This renaissance of patriotism was felt here in the United States and the promise of change has encouraged the entire world.
When the applause ended and the crowds began to disperse, the work started and I wondered; can a more perfect union be achieved? My conscious mind believes it can, but my subconscious questions whether it will? It is not because I do not believe that President Obama desires to change this nation. I doubt it because I do not know if, the American public is ready to change themselves as well. That loaded question gives rise to another. What is the meaning of “perfect” in these harsh economic-war torn times? I have discovered that perfect is not perfect. The meaning has changed perfect for all intents and purposes means achievable, sustainable and fair.
Our founding fathers wrote a Constitution that would allow the government to be sustainable, changeable and adaptable for times such as these. However, do we have the mentality to allow this change to occur on the terms that are determined by the times to which we are in? Or will we be impatient and demand an immediate resolution to the insurmountable decay that has eroded global finance and produced such massive job loss?
The United States has elected a new kind of President who has promised to change the way we do America’s business. Unfortunately, the simple fact is that President Barack Obama is attempting to fix what may be unfixable; he has definitive plans to fix the economy, foreign policy and promote domestic tranquility in a sea of pain and antipathy.
The question remains will the Press, Congress and American public really listen to him? Will they really understand his programs? Will they be patient and allow the process to proceed with the expedience that is necessary without the political calculations of a Congress facing midterm elections?
Long before President Obama was elected a change had already occurred in the world and not for the better. The Inaugural Address was not full of platitudes, parodies, wistful sound bites of rhyme and poetry. In his Inaugural address to the nation President Obama warned us that not only do we have to face the grim prospect of a “Greater Depression” but also we must collectively together to rise above it in order to turn the world economy around.
President Obama discovered something about America long before the transition of administrations began and commenced. President Obama acknowledged the truth about change even if we did not hear him. Some of us already knew that our nation as we know it had changed! For those of us who thought we knew what was happening and read the handwriting on the wall, have now become afraid of being right!
Maybe times have changed so much that they can never go back to what and where we once were!
As I look around me I ask, are Americans prepared for being second or third best? Are we so conditioned to being number one that we cannot contemplate anything less than that? Can Americans reach into their souls and pull out from their ancestry the courage and moral fortitude to overcome what their great-grandparents did during the “Great Depression”? I do not know that answer! Do You?
Can American industry reinvent itself, can we reindustrialize this nation, are we collectively willing to do whatever it takes to make our nation and economy strong again?
Fortunately, for the world, President Barack Obama is a pragmatic man. He does not deal with flights of fancy and he is not afraid to say YES WE CAN or in the alternative, NO WE CANNOT!
President Obama gave us the cold hard facts on January 20, 2009. He said that we have some very difficult days ahead of us and we must be willing to sacrifice.
Sacrifice is the dirtiest word in the English vocabulary. Dirty as a four-letter word because it requires that Americans change their actions and activities. Sacrifice means going without the bling of luxury and expenditure of pay for it later.
The dilemma facing Americans is that Americans voted for change, but did they know how much change they must endure. Americans look at change in the abstract, not in the reality of the present.
Americans falsely believed that the problem with our economy and foreign policy would immediately begin to dissipate as soon as George W. Bush left town. Wrong! George W. Bush was not the only change our nation needed. The process of how Congress does the business of this nation needs to change. The nature and manner of obtaining and living the American dream has to change as well. Our economy and the world economy did not plummet in eight (8) years by the action or inaction of a single individual; the world economy plummeted because of greed and selfishness by everyone over decades.
Antipathy and the law of self-preservation eroded our thoughts and actions and the world followed suit. Now, we are faced with the repercussions of our choices. It may be that we may not survive the aftermath of our own self-destructive choices.
People around the world wanted everything yesterday and wanted to pay for it next week. Well, my fellow Americans next week is here.
Julie Harris McCrey
Chairman
25,000 Knights
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