Don’t Surrender Without a Fight

 

With the economy staggering on the edge of a cliff, our foreign policy collapsing, our empire crumbling, and our embassies under attack the big question is why isn’t Romney up by 25 points in the polls?

The Republican side of the Washington-based perpetually re-elected party of power has a habit of nominating candidates whose main qualification is that “It’s my turn.”  Look at Dole, McCain,  and now Romney.  These three may have slugged it out in the trenches and proven themselves to be reliable workhorses and adequate fund raisers, but they don’t inspire anyone.

The most memorable speech Dole gave was in a Viagra commercial.  McCain spends more time reaching across the aisle to his Progressive comrades then he does trying to do anything even vaguely conservative.  The best move he made was to nominate Sarah Palin, and then his team spent all their time trying to put a muzzle on a momma bear intent on going rogue.  The most memorable event in his campaign was when he theatrically suspended his campaign to fly to Washington to deal with the financial collapse.  Once there he blended into the background and whispered a meek, “Me too.”

Now along comes Romney.

By nominating him the Republicans threw away one of the most potent differences they had between themselves and Mr. Obama: Obamacare.  During the rough and tumble of the primaries and immediately thereafter Governor Romney proclaimed he would end Obamacare on Day One.  Now he says he likes parts of it and will only get rid of the parts he disagrees with.  Coming from the man who passed and not only defends, but also says he’s proud of the mandatory program known as Romneycare, how will he credibly attack Obamacare in the debates when all his opponent has to say is your plan was the template for mine?

In the primaries the former governor from Massachusetts who has been running for President since he was elected Governor in 2003 was relentless in his negative attacks against his more conservative rivals.  In the general election against the hard hitting Chicago machine bent on doing whatever it takes to retain power Mr. Romney seems to have lost his edge.  It’s like watching a boxer with oversized gloves constrained by the Marquis of Queensberry Rules fighting a gang banger from the South side in a cage match.

With the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media solidly in the Obama camp and using every opportunity to boost one side to the detriment of the other, Romney has to depend solely on paid advertising to counteract ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and MSNBC.  Everyday every network except FOX masquerades as news outlets as they work tirelessly to re-elect their Fearless Leader.  The thrill running up and down their leg energizes them enough to advance their agenda day and night turning the worst debacle in American Foreign policy since the hostage crisis into Romney’s gaff or Obama raiding Social Security for hundreds of Billions into Romney wants to throw Grandma off the cliff and starve her dog.

This is like watching a slow motion train wreck.  Wake up Mr. Romney!  If you want to win this thing you are going to have to win this thing.  They may be starting to vote in many places but in Chicago they’re already counting the pre-marked ballots.  The Republicans are starting out with the cards stacked against them, and if Romney doesn’t come out swinging in the debates he may join the ranks of also rans even if he has been running for ten years.

A little free advice.  Instead of running away from your 47% comment embrace it.  You were correct. You don’t have a chance to gain the vote of those who are dependent on government.  However, unless this express to the poorhouse is turned around soon this might be the last election before the dependent class becomes the majority.  And if that ever happens, the Democrats will never lose a presidential election again.   Mr. Romney don’t equivocate about your wealth and your personal success. Hold it up as something anyone has a chance to achieve in a free society.  Lead the way back to capitalism before we totter over the entitlement cliff into a nanny state nightmare of cradle-to-grave regulations guaranteeing a mediocre future.

Come on!  You fought like a brawler to get this opportunity don’t through it away because you’re afraid of being called a racist, a vulture capitalist, or a tool of the elite.  You’re being called those things anyway.  In that first debate you had better punch Mr. Obama’s ticket back to Chi-Town or this train is going to leave the station and you’ll miss the boat.

If Mr. Obama is re-elected on his platform of using executive orders to take everything from the producers and give it to the non-producers everyone who votes for him should remember elections have consequences and every once in a while you get what you vote for.  And as sweet as the “I told you so” might be it doesn’t have to happen.  Anyone who will stand up and offer to lead America back to America should be able to beat the worst president in living memory.  Don’t equivocate. Don’t pander. Make a straight forward case for limited government, personal freedom, and economic opportunity.

This may be the last chance we have to turn this thing around before we hit the dustbin of History.  The 47% are going to vote for “Give me more!” no matter what you say, so you might as well say what might motivate the undecided to finally decide and vote for freedom.

Mr. Romney could say that after spending trillions of dollars to revive the economy, recession is the new normal.  He could point out that after years of apologizing and bowing to others, Mr. Obama has succeeded in changing us from the world’s sole superpower to the world’s punching bag.  His campaign spots could remind everyone the workforce is shrinking, the lines for food stamps, welfare and disability are growing, and all the opposition offers is more of the same.

Since anyone who has lived in the Obama nation knows all these things, what should be the most effective campaign slogan Mr. Romney could use is “I’m not Obama.”  He’s already using that; however, to win he needs to appeal to the hearts and the minds of those whose votes haven’t been put on layaway by the federal benefits machine.  This election will be won or lost in the debates.  If Mitt Romney will stand up and say what he means and mean what he says, and if he will make a case for returning to Constitutional government he will win. If he soft pedals for fear of making a mistake or offending someone he will deliver the Republic to the fate of all past republics: financial collapse and ruin.

Mr. Romney you need to show the people of this country that you are in it to win it.  Show some passion and fight the good fight for truth, justice and the American way.  And whatever you do, don’t surrender without a fight!

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com  Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens

 

 

No One Wins

Sometimes the unknown can be turned to good. 

In Athens Paul of Tarsus the Apostle to the Gentiles encountered the altar to an unknown god.  In a city of 10,000 with approximately 30,000 alters, temples, and statues to gods this only made sense.  As people obsessed with making sure they didn’t insult their temperamental and vengeful gods they had to cover all their bases just in case they’d left one out.  To a man dedicated to spreading the Good News that the one true God of all creation had come to Earth as a man and paid the price for our sins, this flock of gods and their multitude of altars culminating in an altar to an unknown god could have been the cause of anxiety. 

Instead Paul saw it for what it was: the emblem of a people who did not know God. And he used it as a launching pad for a teaching moment.  He stood in the market place of ideas and expounded upon the salvation message, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.”  Thus an unknown was turned to good.

In Arlington National Cemetery stands the Tomb of the Unknowns.  This monument to heroes holds the remains of American soldiers who gave their lives and the last full measure of those lives, their identity, to protect our nation from foreign enemies.  These unknown sons, brothers, and husbands stand forever as the anonymous symbol of American bravery and self-sacrifice.  In their loss we have gained much: freedom, independence and inspiration.  The unknown heroes still guard and protect the last best hope of man.  Thus the unknown is turned to good.

On December 7, 1941 airplanes from the navy of the Japanese Empire struck without warning against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The next day an enraged America cheered as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked and received a declaration of war against Japan.  Please note that he did not ask for a declaration of war against sneak attacks.

On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Towers in New York City were hit by two hijacked jets in what has been and will hopefully remain the largest and most deadly attack against the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave by a foreign enemy on American soil.  The next day was there a declaration of war sought by our president?  Was the enemy ever determined?  Has a declaration of war ever been sought by our leaders or passed by our Congress?

President G. W. Bush did not ask for a declaration of war.  Of the 19 hijackers fifteen were citizens of Saudi Arabia while the rest were one Egyptian, one Lebanese, and two from the Union of Arab Emirates.  All of them were followers of Osama bin Laden the founder of al-Qaeda. All of them were radical fundamentalist Muslims.  No declaration of war was ever sought against al-Qaeda. Instead we were told that America was no in a War on Terror. 

 Yes, President Bush did seek and obtain the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) from Congress which was passed on September 14, 2001.  While this gave the president the authority “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons” it was not a declaration of war.

According to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war.  It also has the power to pass laws and the AUMF is a law and thus it is valid and binding yet after eleven years perhaps we should ask ourselves why hasn’t a war ever been declared?  And if it was who should we declare war upon?

America has not declared war since December 8, 1941, and yet we have fought the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the First Gulf War, and now the War on Terror.  We are also fighting a War on Poverty, a War on Drugs, a War on Illiteracy, and even a War on Obesity.   Ask yourself, are we winning any of these wars?

When you fight against a general opposed to a specific enemy it is like trying to herd snakes or nail jello to the wall. You might expend quite a bit of effort and you might feel like your accomplishing something; however, in the end the snakes go where they want and the jello ends up on the floor.

Everyone in America knows who attacked us on 9-11, and everyone knows who we are at war with: radical fundamentalist Islam.  Not the religion of Islam but one virulent branch of it that has declared war on us and is straining every resource to bring about our destruction.  Some may say this is a broad-brush statement; however, it can be easily made more specific.  Our perennial negotiation partners, the Islamic Republic of Iran, declared war on America in 1979 and has been at war with us ever since even if we haven’t bothered to notice. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda declared war on America twice, once in 1996 and again in 1998.  And our new friends and allies the Muslim Brotherhood declared war on America in 2010. 

If everyone knows who we are at war with why can’t our leaders say so?  Why doesn’t our government declare war and marshal the vast power of the United States and its people to win?

The Bible tells us “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender.”  America under the rule of the Progressives and their Environmental Religion have decreed that we cannot use our own energy and so we are eternally destined to stand in line for the oil of the Mideast.  Saudi Arabia is one of our largest suppliers of oil so we couldn’t blame the Saudis just because the founder of al-Qaeda, the majority of the hijackers, and most of their funding are Saudi in origin.  We can’t blame the Afghans even though they harbored bin Laden and provided him with a base to launch his attacks.

President Bush couldn’t bring himself to name our attackers or declare war on our enemies.  Instead he followed in the footsteps of Truman who called the Korean War a police action and Johnson who said we could have guns and butter as he sent hundreds of thousands of America’s finest to fight a war based on a resolution not a declaration. 

Then along came Barack Obama.  He began the foreign policy of his administration with a ritual prostration before Islam in his Cairo speech which began the process of our surrender in a war against no one.  He followed up by going to Turkey, an Islamic nation, and declaring America is not a Christian nation.  Then he went to Saudi Arabia where he bowed to their king.   Although this is just one in a series of bows he regularly makes to world leaders it is significant because we are supposedly at war with the very people the Saudis support.

After Navy seals killed Osama bib Laden the Obama Administration did make a declaration.  They declared that the War on Terror is over.  Of course they hadn’t been able to see acts of Islamic Terrorism since arriving in Washington.  His Secretary of Homeland Security wasn’t even able to say the word terrorism instead she replaced the word with man-caused disaster.  And although he calls the murders in Aurora, Colorado terrorism when Army Maj. Nidal Hasan climbs on a table and shouts “Allah Akbar!” as he methodically killed thirteen people and wounded forty three, Mr. Obama instead says Hasan  cracked under stress.  He explained, “everybody understands how outstanding the young men and women in uniform are under the most severe stress. There are going to be instances in which an individual cracks.”  At the memorial speech at Fort Hood he refused to call this obvious terrorist attack what it was saying, instead, “hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy.”

Now the attacks on our embassies and consulates throughout the Islamic world are not terrorism they are instead a vocal movie review.  The preplanned and coordinated attack that killed our Ambassador and three others in Libya is spontaneous.   Iraq has been liberated and it now funnels Iranian men and material to support the Syrian regime.  Afghanistan has also been liberated and hundreds chant anti-American slogans in the street, as their U. S. trained military use our soldiers for target practice and everyone in the world knows they will kick out the corruptocracy of Kahrzai and welcome back the Taliban the day we leave.

Unless and until you admit you have a problem there is no hope for a solution.  You can’t wrestle the fog.  If we fight a war against no one we expend our most precious treasure: the lives of our heroes chasing rumors and killing time.  And if we aren’t careful, if we don’t call our so-called leaders to account, this might end up as a war no one wins.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com  Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens

 

Reap the Whirlwind

 

In 1219 the Shah of the Islamic Khwarezmid Empire (present day Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan), Ala ad-Din Muhammad had the ambassadors of Genghis Khan killed.  This affront to diplomatic convention led to a devastating invasion and the total destruction of the Khwarezmid Empire. 

No-one would advocate the slash and burn/take no prisoner response of the Mongols in the thirteenth century.  However, to allow the first murder of an American ambassador since the Carter debacle to go unanswered is beyond the pale of poor leadership straying towards the realm of either complete ineptitude or dereliction of duty.  

President Obama reminds us at every turn that Islam is the religion of peace.  He also goes out of his way to teach us about the many contributions Muslims have made to world civilization.  He even told NASA Administrator Charles Bolden that his most important mission as the head of America's space agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.  There is a pattern here.  Mr. Obama is using the Bully Pulpit and every avenue available to him as the most powerful man in the world to sow the wind with the seeds of Islam’s rise and America’s decline.

Being a Christian I obviously have an opinion concerning the theological truth of Muhammad’s answer to the need all people feel for God.  I confess Jesus as my Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead.  That is enough to say I believe the fundamental tenets of Islam do not match reality as I perceive it.

Being a Historian I have an opinion on the peaceful History of Islam.  It is fiction.  Islam has been a religion of war since its invention.  Over and over Islamic powers and movements have attacked those who choose not to follow their prophet.  They also forbid the free exercise of religion in any land unfortunate enough to fall under their power. They deny human rights, political rights, and economic rights.  They oppress women making them possessions of their fathers, husbands, or brothers in a legal code based upon the very foundation of the religion: the Koran. 

Have Christians done things wrong?  Yes.  Every Christian Historian, Theologian, and Preacher has branded the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Encomienda System of forced labor and conversion in Spanish America as aberrations and a blight upon the faith.  Were these horrendous crimes as terrible as those of Islam?  Yes.  The difference is that they were all clearly contrary to the Bible which forms the basis for Christian faith while the depredations of Islam are the logical expressions of the Koran.

According to his school records in Indonesia Mr. Obama was listed as a Muslim.  He attended Islamic education during the six years he lived there which was mandatory in all schools in Indonesia at that time.  He tells us that the morning call to prayer is the most beautiful sound on earth.  A Pew Research study finds that 17% of registered voters believe Barak Hussein Obama (the name he used when he was sworn in to be our president) is a Muslim.  Thirty one percent said they weren’t sure.  What evidence has not been sealed by presidential order is conflicting and confusing.  He says he isn’t.  He says he is a Christian, and I cannot know his heart.  We can judge his actions.  For over twenties years he was a member of the church of Reverend Jeremiah Wright whose brand of racist Black Liberation Theology is a branch of the worldwide Liberation Theology movement which has been branded as a heresy by the Catholic Church where it was born as well as by leaders of most other denominations.  It is widely regarded as the Christianized version of Marxism.

In the past three + years Barak Obama has done everything imaginable to advance the cause of radical Islam by giving major speeches in Egypt and Turkey where he assured the world America is not a Christian nation,  Supporting a Mosque at Ground Zero, approving and supporting the so-called Arab Spring that toppled regimes supportive of America and installed Islamist ones.  Now paraphrasing his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright who was quoting Malcolm X, Barack’s chickens are coming home to roost.  Only it is our brave Foreign Service workers and representatives who are paying the price.

As Americans are shocked by the violence in the Mideast because of a movie, does anyone in the media reflect on the fact that American Christians don’t behave this way when their religion is insulted and denigrated even when it is done at taxpayers’ expense?  No, the Corporations Once Called the Mainstream Media drank too much Kool-Aide and are too far in the tank for the Progressives to mention anything like that.  Instead they defend an administration whose well-worn socialist slogan, “Forward” should be, “Obama – Biden Hey! It Could Be Worse” and whose answer for everything is “It’s somebody else’s fault.” 

One day after radical Islamists in a country Mr. Obama sent America to war to free kill an American ambassador all the Media can talk about is that Mitt Romney reacted poorly. 

How does Obama’s failure to protect America, its prestige, and its interests become Romney’s gaff?  It is through the collusion of a complicit media that is nothing more than the communication arm of the DNC.  No matter how the communication commissars seek to deny that they are purveyors of a tainted product the obvious bias and advocacy of the Progressive agenda is visible for all to see as reporters unaware of an open microphone coordinate what questions to ask Romney to steer a question and answer session in the direction that fits their play book.  They fall over themselves to accuse Mr. Romney of politicizing events and undermining American foreign policy as they conveniently forget that Mr. Obama used the deaths of American servicemen to attack McCain and Bush in 2008.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Ottoman Empire which had once ruled from India to Morocco and from Arabia to Vienna was known as the Sick Man of Europe.  It was still vast in extent, rich in trade and natural resources, but its economy was in a shambles and consequently it was no longer able to maintain its military power and was now the victim of continuous attacks and invasions by neighbors who wanted a little plunder or territory.  Britain took Egypt.  Spain took Morocco.  Italy took Libya.  Serbia, Greece, and Romania first gained their independence and then started chewing off piece after piece as the Turks blustered and pretended that they were still a great power long after the national will to do what was necessary to remain a power had vanished.

Under the pro Islamist, anti-colonial leadership of Barack Obama America is careening towards a foreign policy of defeat and shame.  His domestic agenda is spending us into oblivion and the poor house.

The recent tragic events in Egypt and Libya, the on-going turmoil throughout the Islamic world and its violence against Americans all ostensibly over a movie shows the religion of peace for what it really is: a religion of intolerance, hatred, and war.  These same events and our reaction to them show the Obama administration for what it is too: the Sick Man of American History.

This November let’s take the cure and let America be America again or we will learn that if you sow the wind you reap the whirlwind.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com  Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens

 

 

 

Is There Any Hope of Change?

The two major political parties have a lock on power in the United States.  The election laws, the media and family voting patterns all collude to make the election of a third party candidate to the Presidency a near impossibility.  The closest in the lifetime of anyone reading this happened in 1992 when Ross Perot garnered 18.91% of the vote and not one electoral vote.  He has long been blamed for causing the defeat of Bush the Elder and the election of Clinton the Last.  Whether Mr. Perot did have such a dramatic effect on the presidential election is still debated.  Just as in most theological debates both sides offer well-constructed arguments supported by what they consider irrefutable scripture references or in this case, the life’s blood of political statements: statistics.

One certainty that cannot be debated is that Perot did not have an honest man’s chance in Washington to be elected.

Consequently either Barak Obama will continue as America’s president or he will be unseated and Mitt Romney will replace him.  There may be others running.  There may be better qualified people.  There may be someone who could inspire and lead us all into a second century of American ascendance; however, despite whomever else there may be it will be either the Democrat Obama or the Republican Romney.  Life may not be fair but it usually is predictable, and this is as predictable as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West.  One of the two parties of power will win.

Given this preordained outcome is there really any hope of change?  Or will we continue to watch helplessly as the perpetually re-elected parties continue to spend us into oblivion?

With Mr. Obama’s second term there is no doubt that all we can expect is more of the same, on steroids.  Mr. Obama has said, “I think that after this election, we’ll be in a position to once again reach out to Republicans and say that the American people have rendered a judgment, and the positions we’re taking are well within what used to be considered bipartisan centrist approaches.”

A divided government, if the Republicans maintain control of the House, might slow things down, however Mr. Obama has shown he is ready, willing and with the silence of Congress able to rule by decree.  If Congress won’t pass the Dream Act he imposes it.  If Congress won’t pass Cap-N-Trade he regulates it into being.  So we know that if he wins a second term it will be his way or the highway.   His agenda will continue to be the national agenda and four more years might be enough to sink the ship of state in a Cloward–Piven Strategy overwhelming the system scenario.

Four more years of the Obama led Democrat Progressives and we may be fundamentally transformed beyond recognition.  The heritage of our Founding Fathers may become the lost cause of a failed experiment in individual liberty and economic freedom as America descends into the morass of a welfare state based on re-distribution and political correctness.  In other words, the dream of Obama’s father.

That is one side of the coin.  What about the other?

If we get Tweedledee instead of Tweedledum will it be morning in America again?  Will the ghost of the Gipper lead us from the government’s shovel-never-ready Great Recession into a new era where things are made in America again and everything’s coming up roses?

There is no way from where we are: 16 trillion in debt, a decimated industrial base and a large proportion of our population addicted to government handouts, back to being the largest creditor in the world, the largest manufacturer, a land of self-reliant patriots without major dislocations, and dare I say it, austerity.

Mr. Romney’s fifty nine point plan to save the economy is a well-crafted and well-presented plan to revitalize America’s economy through a pro-capitalist free market approach.   It is however not as easy to explain or present as tax the rich and give everyone else free stuff.  Since it is better known and has been more widely and perhaps more eloquently presented the Republicans appear to be fronting with Paul Ryan’s plan to save America.  Both the Romney and the Ryan plan are a clear step away from the plunder policies of Mr. Obama and his Progressive shock troops. 

However, neither Republican plans adequately addresses the entitlement time bomb.  Neither projects a balanced budget in any timely fashion and neither proposes any way to ensure that future Congresses live by any restraints imposed.  Both promise to preserve our imperial defense spending needed to support two wars and more than 100 foreign bases.  Both rattle sabers in the direction of Syria and Iran.  What we have is an effort to slow the growth of the debt by reducing the yearly deficits. 

Slowing the growth is decidedly better than accelerating but the debt keeps growing and the abyss that looms ahead of us is the unsustainability of the debt.  A future rise in interest rates will sink the ship as the service on the debt wipes out the government’s ability to keep its promises or meet its obligations.  This is the very scenario the Progressives have been progressing towards.  The people who tell us never to let a crisis go to waste have long worked incrementally to lead us to the crisis at the end of the Constitution.  A final crisis when limited government will be completely unshackled and the central planners will triumph. 

If Romney wins he and his administration may put a speed bump on the expressway to the poor house, but unless they are ready to shut down the gravy train and turn off the spigot of re-distribution we will merely postpone the day of reckoning.  Slower is better than faster when it comes to assuming room temperature; however, unless we turn this ship around we’re headed for the shoals of bankruptcy and the reefs of insolvency either way.

Even though Mr. Obama makes the Carter Administration look like the good old days don’t count out the machines ability to pull an election out of their hat.  From no voter IDs and Black Panthers patrolling the polls, from polling places in cemeteries, to every obstacle imaginable in the way of people in our armed forces voting this will be a no-holds-barred Chicago-style campaign by the Democrats.  The Progressives know this is the one they need.  This is the election that will seal the deal and finally transform America into a re-distribution center with them picking all the winners and losers.  They win…America loses.

As one example of how the institutions the Progressives have built over the years will line up to re-elect Barack Obama, look at the recent moves of the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve is moving to inject massive amounts of money into the economy, while keeping interest rates near zero, before the election in a clear move to help re-elect President Obama.  How are they going to do this?  Will they just print more money?  No, they wouldn’t do anything so crude or easy to see as that.  Instead, they will announce an open ended mandate to purchase Treasury Bonds and mortgage backed securities.  This is QE (Quantitative Easing) 3 in all but name.  In QE1 the Fed bought $2.3 trillion of securities and in QE2 $600 billion of Treasuries.  How big will this round of pump priming be?  According to San Francisco Fed President John Williams, since this is an open ended authorization it  could eventually be, “at least as large as QE2 or arguably even larger again.”  The casino stock market will soar, and the Fed, through its Chairman, will continue to assure us inflation is small, negligible, and nothing we won’t be able to handle.  Then again, what’s a little inflation if it helps re-elect a president whose goal is to swamp the system. 

Expect an October surprise such as action against Iran or Syria.  Expect an encouraging jobs report right before the election that will be revised lower later.  Expect the Obama Administration to do whatever it takes to win.

Romney’s road may still lead to the poor house but Obama’s is a bullet train to nowhere.  Is there any hope for change?  Not with what we’ve heard so far.  Maybe there is a chance to switch from the certainty of near term collapse to the promise of at least a few more stations and a few more track changes before we hit the wall.  Who knows with enough time maybe enough people will get up off the couch, turn off the game, and pay attention to make a difference.  At least that would be a change we could all hope for.

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion.  He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com  Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens