The Meaning of Change
“You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16.
The Senate’s latest Saturday night massacre to move forward the federal take-over of health care in the United States is the latest indication of change coming to America.
Barack Obama ran on the theme of “Change” in his 2008 election triumph. 53% of the American public agreed with the message and voted for him as the 45th president of the United States. It’s now been one year since the Obama administration took the reins of government. Many of us were fearful of what an Obama presidency might bring. Others were optimistic about the message of “Hope” that the young Illinois senator trumpeted around the nation.
None of us knew how Barack Obama would actually govern. He ran as a center-left moderate. Would he lead as a centrist politician as Bill Clinton did from 1992-2000 or would he choose a different script for guiding the US into the 21st century?
The verdict is in after the first 365 days. The meaning of change is now clear. Since the words of Jesus above are true–that a man is known by what he does, not what he says–then there are at least twelve changes that we can expect to see during the next three years.
1. More controls – less freedom
The Obama administration is committed to controlling more of life and industry in this nation. The take-over of financial institutions, General Motors, regulating corporate salaries, and now the desire to manage one-sixth of the government economy through a new bureaucracy of health care–complete with over 100 new federal regulatory agencies–is tangible proof that Barack Obama is about power– pure and simple. FDR pushed economic federal controls in the 1930s, Lyndon Johnson championed federal social controls in the 1960s, and Obama is gobbling up both as a new century dawns. More government control means less individual freedom. The bigger government becomes, the more liberty shrinks. The concept of a centralized government is a very anti-American idea. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, said in his 1996 State of the Union address that “the age of big government is over.” It’s now “born again” in the age of Obama.
2. Less prosperity – more dependence
To be fair, a decrease in American prosperity does not appear to be a conscious goal of the present administration, but it will be a necessary consequence of their present course of action. Prosperity is the result of two very American (and biblical) ideas. Free people who have a strong moral standards in their lives are most successful at invention, industry, creativity, generosity, and the production of wealth that has characterized America over the past two hundred years. The Obama administration is removing that freedom by increased taxation, greater federal control, and the blurring and destroying of the Christian moral foundations. Barack Obama is the first American president to have the audacity to say that “America is not a Christian nation” and that he “doesn’t want it to be a Christian nation.” By turning the nation away from Christian principles, he will create less prosperity in the nation and a society of victims that are increasingly dependent on governmental help.
3. No American exceptionalism – just mediocrity
One subject no longer taught in the American public schools is the uniqueness of America in the pantheon of history. Cleon Skousen’s 1981 masterpiece “The 5000 Year Leap” (a great Christmas read) chronicles how decidedly exceptional was the American beginning. As a nation founded “under God” and his wise rules for peoples and nations, America left millenniums of societal bondage behind and pioneered a free nation based on faith, morality, human rights, and limited government. The world had never seen such a model. America is exceptional on the current world stage because our foundations are decidedly Christian–like no other nation. We believe in “Manifest destiny” and that God has “shed his grace on thee.” Barack Obama does not share that view. In the twenty nations he has visited in his first year, he has apologized for America and down-played our Christian roots. He wants to change our exceptionalism. He wants us to be like other nations.
4. Elite leadership – not people power
Barack Obama has surrounded himself with intellectual and professional elites who seem to look down on regular folks. They were irritated by the tea parties and town halls that foretold a people revolution beginning in this nation. In the various bills passed thus far by an ultra-liberal Congress, the Saturday night votes, meetings behind closed doors, and flat-out rejection of the polls shows that this administration doesn’t care what the people think–they have an agenda and they’re going to ram in through no matter what. This is not democracy–it borders on tyranny. In Obama’s world, the government elites know best.
5. Environment first – people and jobs second
Cap and trade–what some call “Crap and Tax”–is a scary law that passed the House and is pending in the Senate. It would force massive changes in energy policy in the US by use of carbon credits and raising energy taxes on virtually every family in the nation ($1500 per household). It’s based on the propaganda of global warming, and a desire to control the energy future of America. It will kill any economic revival in the name of saving the trees and air. It will ham-string small business and sky-rocket the already disastrous 10% unemployment rate. But that’s no matter. The Obama administration and Congressional leaders put dirt air & water first–not individuals and families.
6. Redistribute – not create wealth
The 787 billion stimulus package has proven to stimulate very little–just bail out other poorly run state governments and keep many unions and ACORN agencies in business. President Obama said it was necessary to keep unemployment below 8%. Unemployment now stands at 10.2% and climbing. This and other government policies are classic socialist maneuvers to appear that you’re helping. Under Obama we have forgotten that governments don’t create wealth–only the private sector does. To increase wealth you must cut taxes and place more resources back in the hands of entrepreneurs and businesses to produce goods and services. You must increase the economic pie through private investment and good stewardship–not take it away from the productive to prop up the unproductive.
7. Radical policies – not moderate bi-partisanship
Barack Obama said he would change the tone in Washington and legislate by bi-partisan consensus. That promise has turned out to be a farce. And for one reason: When you’re a radical with radical ideas for changing the American nation, it’s impossible to forge a consensus with others who may have different ideas or nuances on a subject. Sean Hannity was right to warn us about Barack Obama’s past associations. Obama is a radical who has worsened the tone and unity in DC by his unbending, hardball politics. At this point, Hillary Clinton as president looks temptingly better–even to this conservative. Barack Obama may be the most strident ideologue to ever occupy the White House.
8. Increased deficits – with a weak dollar and slow economic growth
Everyone admits that the Obama administration inherited a bad economy only worsened by a Republican-led bailout of the financial institutions. But the current government has gone much further by massive spending, multiplying deficits into the trillions, and putting in jeopardy the soundness and world-acceptance of the dollar through the unsound printing of fiat money. Gold is now at record highs, China is backing away from paying for our debt, and either increased inflation or deflation looms. The present government is doing all the wrong things. “Sound as a dollar” is now a distant memory.
9. Indecision – not bold clarity
The present administration has not increased America’s stature in the world due to indecisiveness and “dithering” on Irag, Iran, Afghanistan, and North Korea. They don’t seem to understand that peace is gained through strength, and that to repel foreign enemies you need to fight to win. Barack Obama apparently doesn’t even want to win nor admit that we are at war with radical terrorists around the world. General Stanley McChrystal, head of military operations in Afghanistan, asked for a surge of troops four months ago. He’s still waiting–and increased numbers of our troops are dying. This is not “thoughtfulness.” It’s political cowardice and paralysis.
10. Incompetence, not skilled governance
The decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of 911 and other Gitmo detainees in New York City–just blocks from where 3000 Americans perished on September 11, 2001–is the most idiotic decision I have every witnessed by a US president in my lifetime (via his Attorney General Eric Holder). 1) It’s asinine to try enemy combatants in civil courts and give them the privileges of citizenship, 2) It will cost millions of dollars and give world-wide terrorism a “Reality Show” for years right off Broadway, and 3) It’s “stick it in your ear” to every New York family that lost a loved one on that fateful day.
11. Moral confusion – not godly character
So far most social and moral policies adopted by the Obama adminstration have been anti-biblical and anti-family. Perversion has been exalted and celebrated, abortion is being encouraged and promoted (the Senate Healthcare bill), the president wants to do away with the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and kill more potential-human-beings through the increased use of embryonic stem cells. This administration seems committed to tearing down the 200-year moral order of the United States and replace it with a secular future. This assault on American traditional values will have ominous affects for years to come.
12. Faith in man (government) – not faith in God
The true crux of the change that Barack Obama is bringing to American is increased trust in government, not God. This is the battle for the America soul: Will it be “In God We Trust” or in “Government We Trust?” Barack Obama has revealed himself to be a radical secular progressive. His view of “progress” is the eroding of the Judeo-Christian past, including morality and limited government, and replacing it with secular or socialistic norms. Do you know why the secular press disdains Sarah Palin? She powerfully represents traditional American Christian values. The progressives hate her because she is the antithesis of Barack Obama. They want “progress” in secularism–not Americanism. Their faith is in men. America’s past faith was in God.
Our current national leaders want to change the idea and destiny of America. They do not want an America that is free, prosperous, exceptional, of the people, conservative-moderate, strong, decisive, morally sound, and one nation under God. They want a controlled society that is dependent, poorer, mediocre, far left, weak, cowardly, immoral, and focused on men.
If you voted for Barack Obama, this is the change you’ve ordered. Is that really what you want?
God also has a meaning for the word change. In the language of the New Testament, the word is metanoia or repentance. Repentance means to “re-think” or “change your mind and direction.”
I encourage those who voted for our 45th president to repent (re-think) your decision.
I call upon all Americans to repent before God and ask him to “hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). That includes voting for better leadership in 2010 and 2012.
