The Hinterland Speaks!

Jack DeVine has done it again. He should be on the national circuit.The following appears in the Aiken Standard today.


Was fundamental change in our nation part of the plan?
3/18/2009 3:52 PM
By JACK DeVINE

Guest columnist

Last year's election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency was enthralling, magical, historical - it will be regaled for years to come.

But it was hardly a slam dunk. Obama won by 53 percent to 46 percent, a solid victory margin - but even so, nearly half of the electorate voted for the other guy. And the race was neck and neck until the economy imploded last fall - only then was it a lock for Obama.

My point is not to diminish Obama's victory, just to restore a bit of perspective. Because I don't see anything in the election of 2008 that gives Mr. Obama license to fundamentally transform our country into a socially, economically and philosophically different place than the land of our heritage - let alone to do so unilaterally and overnight.

The United States of America has been on the steady course set by our founders 230 years ago - not flawless, but a profoundly successful course. Is there a greater nation on earth?

Yes, Barack Obama ran under the campaign slogan "change," and we can credit him now for his supercharged efforts to deliver on his promise. But that campaign change theme was vague and undefined, an intentionally blank sheet. And it seems obvious that many, perhaps most, of those who voted for Obama did so because he is an immensely attractive candidate, bright, energetic, inspiring, and they trust him to lead us in fixing the things that need fixing, whatever they are. But did they intend to give him a green light to redesign our nation? I don't think so.

Since his inauguration, Obama has signed the $700-plus billion stimulus plan and a $400-plus billion omnibus spending bill. He has unveiled proposals to greatly expand nationalized health care and education, a plan for a carbon cap-and-trade scheme and other dicey changes in energy supply policy, a massive and unprecedented homeowners mortgage relief plan. He's issued orders revising our policy and practice in dealing with suspected terrorists. His budget proposal would pay for staggering costs by steady reduction in the years ahead in defense spending - a scary idea in this dangerous world, by adding further tax burden on those who already shoulder most of the load, and of course by borrowing or printing money.

Individually these have enormous implications and each deserves careful consideration. In composite, they are in fact transformative, in ways that we can't even comprehend and I suspect will not like very much. Certainly, they will saddle future generations with enormous debt. They will diminish our defensive capability and national security. They will make the federal government proportionally larger and more powerful than ever in our history. They will increase substantially the dependency of many Americans on government entitlements. They will "redistribute wealth" (much more than it is currently redistributed by our properly progressive tax structure), arguably rewarding failure and punishing success.

Each of these has its proponents. But interestingly, we've tried some similar tacks in the past (reduced defense spending and expanding welfare, as examples), found them ineffective and worked hard to get back on track. And other nations have gone down this road - the jury may still be out on the long term fate of Western Europe but many signs are bleak. When and why did we decide to be a France?

I am not shocked or surprised to find out that Barack Obama is very liberal, that he has vastly more faith than I (and most Americans) in government as the solution to every problem, and that he wants to make a clean break with the last administration. Yes, he promised change. But he also promised transparency and bipartisanship. We gave him a ticket to lead. We did not give him a ticket to ignore the views of half the electorate and to abandon much of our heritage.

This is way beyond "yes we can." We're dealing with the future of the nation we love and we'd better do it carefully, collectively and openly.

The writer is a businessman who makes his home in Aiken.