Will Any Freedoms Remain After Obama's Tenure?

He's taken over healthcare, the Internet and granted amnesty to 5 million illegals and now gun control via banning ammo. What's next?...Fred Zeppelin Tweet

• In earlier years, we heard the refrain that Americans will never allow the government to take over healthcare. After all, Hillary Clinton's attempt in the early 1990's was a complete and total failure. Two decades later, ObamaCare became a reality. The freedom Americans had to choose their own provider, their own physician and to make decisions regarding their own healthcare fell by the wayside and was replaced by a government bureaucracy. 
• In late 2014, the Legatum Institute published their annual report on "personal freedom" throughout the world. The U.S. ranked 21st, lower than Portugal, France, Germany, Ireland, Costa Rica and Malta.
• Just this week, Pres. Obama vetoed the Keystone Pipeline stabbing yet another fork into energy freedom. After all, the administration's failures in other energy initiatives has been well established as Solyndra became the poster child for those repeated fiasco's.
• The IRS targeting of conservative groups was one of the most egregious uses of government overreach. 
• Failed economic policies resulting in record high poverty rates and the shrinking of the middle class and incomes have resulted in the theft of many freedoms especially the pursuit of happiness. Millions of young Americans have been unable to purchase new homes, new cars and have put off many life decisions such as marriage and raising a family. In other words, many of Obama administration's policies have resulted in the loss of important independent decision making.
• The repeated failures and appeasement in foreign policy have left America weak. One obvious outcome is more threats to our freedoms and liberties.
• We've watched how government over-regulation has had a negative impact on many Americans making personal and business decisions. Again, ObamaCare comes immediately to mind as well as overbearing fees and taxes. Of course, this insanity has been going on for decades.
• And today, the government (FCC) approved sweeping regulations governing the Internet. Regulations I might add that have yet to be posted. We do know the regulations would be the Internet on the same footing as any utility. Ajit Pai, a republican commissioner on the panel, said this decision will put the government in control of the Internet. As I wrote yesterday, it will be inevitable that rates will rise and taxes will be imposed. 
• So say good-bye to yet another freedom---the freedom of speech, the freedom to communicate openly, the freedom guaranteed to every American under the Constitution.

Note: Today, The Washington Examiner is reporting the Obama administration is planning on banning bullets for AR-15 style semi-autos. Developing.

Net Neutrality: A Trojan Horse Penetrating Internet Freedom?

The president would now like to regulate the entire Internet. That's got to be easier than running a website with a billion dollar budget...WH Press Secretary Tweet (Satire)

• Let me be frank. I'm not a "techie." I don't have the knowledge base of the inter-working guts of the Internet (although I've read more about it recently). As a result, I'm going to tack politically in this debate. I certainly know this is a highly complex issue.
• My understanding is this: In its most elementary form the government intends to regulate the Internet. Their intention is to reclassify the Internet as a "utility." In short, this will give the government (FCC, FEC) more control over Internet Service Providers or ISP's, the companies that provide us access to the Internet, usually for a fee. Make no mistake, I'm also no big fan of the large providers. Most Americans know all too well how expensive cable has become in recent years.
• But this is where the rub comes in for many critics of net neutrality like myself. The issue here should not be net neutrality. Nothing is neutral in the competitive marketplace. The issue should be the government imposing more regulations upon our freedoms, especially our freedom of speech and our freedom to communicate openly. When the government gets involved with more regulations in anything, red flags should not popping up all over the place. For example, ObamaCare comes immediately to mind. After all, the bureaucrats decided to name it the Affordable Care Act. We now know it's far from affordable for millions of Americans. 
• We also know government involvement leads to several outcomes: 1-More government control in almost anything is generally not a good thing. Not only have we've seen that with ObamaCare, but we've seen the results of government control and overreach in the VA and the IRS to name just a few. 2-It will inevitably lead to more taxes.  3-You can be sure costs will rise. Costs always rise anytime the government gets involved in almost anything. And finally, it will lead to abuse and corruption. 
• Once again, don't be diverted by a nice-sounding, non-threatening designation as net neutrality. Be more concerned about the further erosion of our liberties. That's where the threat lies.

Mr.Obama, If You Do Love America---You Have A Strange Way Of Expressing It

Even though it's under threat by this administration, I will always believe in American exceptionalism. It's just how I roll...My Tweet 

Rudy Giuliani has come under some fire for questioning whether Pres. Obama loves America. My regular readers know well I have no great admiration for this president or his administration. However, I have to be honest. I admit I don't know what's in his heart regarding whether or not he loves America. I do know this. He has a very strange and aberrant way of expressing it. Let's review just a few examples:

• During the 2008 presidential campaign, Michelle Obama stated: "For the first time in my adult life, I'm really proud of my country..." And while those words did not flow from Mr. Obama's mouth, they were certainly filled with some disturbing implications.
• Not long after Mr. Obama took office, he went on an apology tour not in defense of American exceptionalism but in spite of it. His attempts at moral equivalence has certainly been disturbing.
• Mr. Obama is a progressive who---like most progressives---regularly uses identity politics, lies and intolerance to shape political thought and actions when it comes to race, gender, sexual orientation, and class. In fact, one of the criticism of his governance is that he appears to bully Americans (e.g. Republicans, conservatives, Fox News, etc.) rather than our enemies. 
• "There have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." He made that statement in France as pointed out by Kyle Smith, an essayist and contributor to the NY Times, WSJ and NY Post. Smith also reminded us of Obama's trip to Prague where he said "America has a moral responsibility" to act on arms control---after all, it was the U.S. who "used a nuclear weapon." According to Smith, it was as though "winning a war that Japan started was shameful."
• It was the Obama administration who considered returning veterans as potential domestic terrorists. It was this administration that targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups by sicking the IRS on those groups. It was this administration that targeted people of faith.
• While addressing the 2014 graduating class at West Point, Mr. Obama appeared to speak more about what our country should not be rather than what it is. Many of the cadets in the audience had WTF expressions on their faces. Even audience applause was conspicuous by its absence. 
• And last year, his own Secretary of State, J.F.Kerry, actually said to the graduating class at Yale: "I get a little uptight when I hear politicians say how exceptional we are."
• And it was Mr. Obama himself who said George W. Bush was unpatriotic (referring to the rise in the national debt at the time). 
• Obama has also had many opportunities to "inspire" the nation especially when it comes to fighting and defeating our enemies. Instead, he's been AWOL on too many occasions as was evidenced by his absence in Paris last month. In addition, why would any president appease our enemies?

It was Mr. Obama who promised the nation "hope and change."  Perhaps he does love America---the America he wants to "transform" into an America most Americans no longer recognize. So if many Americans remain suspicious about his love for this great nation--can we blame them?