I hear people say: “Obama believes in Islam, Obama will destroy health care, Obama wants us to pay for illegal immigrants’ health care, Obama lies and Grandma dies, Obama wants to teach atheism to children, Obama was a terrorist.”
Is it just me, or is criticism and hatred of our current president more prevalent than criticism of any previous president?
Sure, people hated Clinton when the Monica Lewinsky affair hit the fan, and there were vocal critics of Bush’s Iraqi war campaign, but there seems to be a genuine hatred and mistrust for Obama like I’ve never seen or heard about before.
Perhaps it’s because of the Internet and other forms of social media that these ardent, fringe members of society are given a louder voice than usual.
I’m not speaking of his critics (of which I sometimes am). I’m talking about the fearful, unreasonable, ignorant few who are not mindful of the truth, but would rather listen to the gossip, hearsay and paranoid delusions of each other and pass it off as truth.
There have been multiple relations drawn between Obama and such tyrants as Hitler and Stalin. These people deserve to be politely asked to shut the hell up as long as they reside in America.
But oh yeah, free speech. Let’s take health care for instance. I know countless people who say they can’t afford a government-controlled health care system and would like to take care of their families themselves, thank you very much.
I would ask those people to consider the position of the less blessed in this country who are suffering from a fatal illness and have no means of living beyond their diagnoses.
What would you do if you were in this position? I understand the argument that a big government-controlled health care plan would help illegal immigrants, and that may very well end up being the case (although this has been repeatedly denied), but that’s just a price you’ll have to willing pay, I’m sorry.
I’m all for a small government, but our Republic has a responsibility to its less fortunate citizens. And if people can’t take care of themselves, then it is our responsibility as fortunate members of society to help those less fortunate.
This is, of course, only one area of unjust and unfounded criticism that the president is receiving. I won’t go into the others simply because that is not the subject of this article.
The subject is the fearful dismissal of everything Obama says simply because it is him saying it. Those on the right will say that the liberals did the same thing to Bush. True, but not as zealously and blindly.
I have heard numerous admissions of hatred towards the president before he even opens his mouth to speak. These are unwarranted, unbridled, paranoid delusions of deceit and hateful, uneducated, bandwagon criticisms.
There is no sense of wanting to know the truth (not all good, I’ll admit), but the same slurs against the president are the same ones I’ve been hearing since before he took office.
It’s watered-down, it’s passed-down, it’s out-dated, it’s ill-informed, it looks bad on you, and it’s getting to be a bit much. So be vocal!
Be different! Disagree with Obama all you like! But be encouraging and positive about it. Because where will hate get you? What good will it do? Where will it lead you?
We are all different, have different ideas about what should be done, and how it is being done. But we are one nation under God, and I would prefer us to act in manner that exudes that unity.
A house divided cannot stand.
And, as a wise revolutionary once said, “But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.”
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