The United States of Obama

by John Romano

An unknown source left the following under the door of my hotel room recently:

It was in a plain manila envelope and was addressed to “The Head Scratching Big Hollywood Dude.” Besides the historical context of such a document, it got me thinking further about the great symbol of hope. No longer can we think of the Rolling Stones tongue/sun/flag symbol as the image of the upstart candidate from Hope, Hawaii singing “Yes we can” to adoring crowds of neo-socialists. Let’s think about what “Sunny-O” is becoming. The symbol is, slowly but surely, that of a monolithic, intrusive central government.
Many think Sunny-O will be coming for your guns and independent thoughts. They are wrong, for now. Sunny-O first has a big obstacle to overcome: states’ rights. Americans still have the right to leave California’s high taxes for the lower tax pastures of Texas and Nevada (and many do!).
What is a statist to do?
That is, in my opinion, where the Value Added Tax (VAT) or national sales tax could come in. A VAT, for health care or any other power grab, would virtually end state independence. It’s a perfect way for the left to take states like Texas, and basically all the “cowboy” states, down a peg or two. Don’t forget Michael Moore’s recent statement: “I don’t trust anyone from Texas.” Now you know why. Meanwhile Kay Bailey Hutchinson made leftists in Congress roll over when they talked about taking away highway funds and she said “fine, Texas has the money to do it ourselves, and that’s what we’ll do.” They blinked. Damn straight.
Federal power grows on a daily basis. Unchecked it could all lead to this:

When a government is more interested in controlling its own citizens behavior than it is in protecting its national borders from invasion, something is amiss. Just look at the size of the Federal Government (include social security) in relation to our yearly spending on defense. We are reaching a tipping point where the Feds will literally be involved on some level in every decision we make.
Sound far-fetched? Perhaps. Although, who would’ve thought five years ago that we’d seriously be discussing nationalized health care and “death panels” or hearing sympathy for an American President come from Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez? Exactly.
And yes, I drew the picture above, but I doubt it’s far off from Team Obama’s original thinking.