Is President Obama taking away our freedoms?
By Roger Caldwell
The Conservatives, Republicans, and Tea Party have decided that liberty and freedoms in America are being usurped by the government and President Obamaās policies. With the passage of the Patriot Act and individual mandates in the Affordable Care Act, everyone feels that āBig Brotherā is looking over our shoulder.
There are three branches of government; the Executive, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial. Without laws and regulations our country would turn into a state of chaos and anarchy and the system would become dysfunctional. America is a great country because the system works, and you can be born into poverty, work hard and build a global empire.
President Obama is an example of the personal freedoms that we enjoy in America. President Obama was not born into a wealthy family and he was forced to take out loans to complete his education, but he had a dream. Even though he was biracial, he was determined to make a difference in the world, and eventually he became the first African American president. He is concerned with all Americans having more access to voting, a good job, and entering the middle class.
The secret to the American system is there are checks and balances, and the president is not able to operate without a constitution, rules, and regulations. There are times when the president will use an executive order to circumvent a rule, but it is basically a procedural order, and nothing fundamental to the system.
In the last five years President Obama has been in office, the conservatives have not made a credible case that their freedoms have been taken away by president. There will always be presidential policies that American citizens will not agree with, but a fundamental change to the system goes through the judicial and legislative process.
President Obama was voted into office for two terms, because the majority of Americans decided that he is doing a good job. The conservative media and the Republicans can call the president a liar, but truth can be interpreted in many different ways.
As the president, President Obama makes mistakes, and things donāt work out the way he always plans. President Obama has acknowledged many times that he was wrong, but this should not stop the president from following his plan. There is absolutely no way the president should repeal the Affordable Care Act, because there are computer and administrative glitches.
There is a massive bureaucracy, two legislative houses, and a judiciary system, that the president must manage, and there will be problems. The president has tried to be transparent with his administration, but at times, it is impossible to know everything. Nevertheless, the president has tried to be a man of his word.
He has created a new healthcare system that will give millions of Americans an opportunity to healthcare. He has improved an economy that was on the edge of bankruptcy, and he brought soldiers home from Iraq and in the process of bringing soldiers home from Afghanistan. The unemployment rate has been lowered and the housing industry is improving.
I will be the first to say that there are portions of the Patriot Act that could abuse certain freedoms, but it was started by President Bush. In the digital world, politics, economics and security has changed on a national and global scale.
There is no one voice making all the decisions and negotiations will be decided by inclusion and diversity. Conservatives, Republican, and folks in the Tea Party must remember to leave their racism at home, because there are more freedoms in America than any other country on the planet.
