Looking for the Solution
By Phil Varnak
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Since the election was decided last November, I have been bothered that the divisive nature of our political process has not permitted our country to heal and come behind the leader chosen through the election. This article is an attempt to encourage readers to help our country heal and become unified behind our current elected leadership.
I DID NOT VOTE FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA, but he was elected to lead this country for the next four years. He is the President of the United States and therefore my president and I will support him. Prior to the election, I participated in the campaign to elect Senator McCain as President. My activities included sending political email messages, after verifying their accuracy, to others on my email group. However, when the election was concluded, I too concluded my political activities and opted to support President Obama since I believe there is strength in unification and the American political process worked as designed. We cannot afford for President Obama to be unsuccessful.
I thought we were finished with the political rhetoric in November but some individuals cannot let the debates die. I am personally tired of all the griping by some of my fellow Republicans about the President. Give it a break for the next three years and then go for it again if you are still so inclined. If President Obama fails to live up to his political promises, he probably won't be re-elected. At the very least, we must give him a chance and pray that he is successful.
I May Be Too Young: For anyone younger than 80, our only recollection of the Great Depression is what we have been told by our parents, grandparents, or learned through our educational processes. Although most of us did not actually experience that disastrous era in the history of the United States, we are currently experiencing a crisis that borders on that event. Economists and others who are supposedly experts on the national economy describe our current situation as the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. I don't believe any of us can question the current state of the stock market, unemployment, housing situation and other indicators that reflect the sad health of our national economy.
I May Be Too Old: I just can't understand why some individuals cannot let go after being defeated in the election. I was raised to believe that Americans should show their support for the elected leaders of the United States. I'm not sure if these individuals want President Obama to fail in his efforts to bring the country out of the recession, or there is another reason, but the negative messages keep coming, seemingly without end. Maybe if I was younger I could understand the negative approach they are taking.
Talking Heads: I believe the political debaters who make a living on television are contributing toward keeping this nation divided rather than being unified behind our President. I understand that these individuals make their living by being controversial and continually debating every move made by the president and the congressional representatives who make headlines by disagreeing with the direction of the current administration. The news channels, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and the myriad of others, continue to stir discontent by providing an avenue for the talking heads to criticize the opposing political party. These talking heads are drawing fat paychecks but doing nothing to help the health of this nation. The President has only been in office for a little over two months – give him a chance to make an effect on the disaster he inherited.
Reporting of the news has evolved for many reporters into a process of providing an analysis of the actual occurrences and adding the reporter's personal opinion on the meaning of that event. Americans are well-enough educated to make their own decisions on issues without having to consider an opinion from a reporter who is no wiser but only possesses the ability to present his/her views and an opportunity to convince the general public of those views. Advertising revenue for the television stations is based upon the numbers of viewers watching each station. If enough people stop watching these programs, ratings will fall and the stations will have to change the programming to regain lost viewers. There are other network reporters who report the news without personal opinion. If you like to watch news and feel you are capable of making your own interpretations of what is happening in the world, watch those shows instead.
E-mail messages: Many of my fellow Republicans continue to send me email messages that are divisive. One of the recurring types of email messages are those asking that I sign a petition and forward it to everyone on my email list. The most recent received has to do with a message regarding social security benefits that was actually started in 2006 and updated by changing the name of the President on the message from Bush to Obama. This type of email further divides this country by providing false information that agitates lots of people for no good reason. As most people now know, Snopes.com is an excellent source to check whenever these political messages are received. Snopes has a thorough and timely review on most rumors and an analysis of the truth. In this latest situation, Snopes provides some suggested actions for handling petitions on legitimate subjects, but this particular petition was determined to be false. See the following website for more information on this petition.
I have personally decided NOT to forward any email messages I receive that do not provide information that contributes positively to the health of this country. I do read all the email received and delete all that doesn't meet the above described criteria. Instead of forwarding the email, I will return a copy of this article to the sender. While this will probably offend the sender and result in my being removed from their mail group, I will not be contributing to activities that I consider to be anti-American. While the words "anti-American" may be very strong, I believe anything that continues to reflect a refusal to accept our elected president as our leader is detrimental to the health of our nation and therefore counter to the efforts currently being made to improve our economic health.
Some readers of this message may comment that the approach being advocated adversely affects their individual rights to free speech and to express a personal opinion. There will be others that applaud what I am advocating. Those differences are not only permitted in this great nation but also encouraged. I am not advocating taking away anyone's rights. I am advocating that we give the current President a chance to improve the economic health of the country and support him in that effort.
In summary, I am advocating the following:
a. That we discontinue any activities that do not support the direction being taken by the current administration to improve the economic health of the country.
b. That we not forward any email that has not been verified to be accurate.
c. That we not support (watch) the news stations that continue to perpetrate disharmony in this country.
The advice and content of this article is purely the author's and does not represent the views or recommendations of any other party.
© 2009 Phil Varnak. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced without express written consent from Phil Varnak.
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