America After Obama

February 2, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, President | No Comments

-By Jeff Lukens

Barack Obama has gone from the “one we’ve been waiting for” to the one we can’t wait to kick out. No one ever thought one man could bring the nation to its knees, but here he is living in the White House. And on our knees we have been praying for the day that he leaves.

The audacity of a president hell-bent on destroying our great nation has truly been a stunning spectacle to observe. No lie is too ridiculous to tell about anyone who opposes him. With a compliant media behind him, the smears this Demagogue-in-Chief promises to unleash on his opponent this fall could divide the county so badly that it becomes ungovernable.

The societal tensions Obama promised to ease have worsened by his politics of envy. The racial healing he promised has been made worse. Despite overwhelming opposition, he forced a health plan on the people that few want. He has trampled on the Constitution, and infringed on powers granted to Congress. He has bailed out auto companies, investment bankers and insurance companies. He has given Constitutional rights to terrorists.
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Did Hedge Funds Throw the 2008 Election?

August 29, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Jeff Lukens, Liberals | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Hedge fund traders had a great year in 2008. That year, hedge fund short sellers were instrumental in the spike in fuel prices, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the banking crisis, and the stock market collapse. While extremely wealthy hedge fund traders engineered each of these calamities, and made billions of more dollars short selling each one, the American people collectively lost trillions of dollars in the value of their homes and savings.

And, as amazing as it is, no one went to jail. Why? Well, perhaps it is because in 2007 the perpetrators had some laws changed to their liking. And perhaps it is because these people are politically connected to the Obama Administration and Congressional liberals. Our government is protecting them, and there needs to be a public investigation into this matter.

The hedge fund short sellers who were at the root of the mayhem are found primarily at the Managed Funds Association (MFA), the so-called “voice of global alternative investment community.” MFA members include George Soros, John Paulson, Jim Chanos, James Harris Simons, and others.

The Strategic Debate We Need To Have

June 23, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Patriot Act, President, Republicans, Security/Safety, Senate, State Department, Taxes | 1 Comment

- By Jeff Lukens

The U.S. federal debt is our nation’s greatest strategic weakness. As the debt continues to grow, our military posture around the globe is threatened. Defense cuts are coming, and with that reduction must come a reduced mission. In this environment, what our nation’s strategic mission should be, and what the corresponding defense funding should be to meet that need, are open questions. They are questions that need to be openly explored by politicians and the American people alike.

In a recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, “A smaller military, no matter how superb, will be able to go fewer places and do fewer things.” Ever the public servant, Gates seeks to kindle a debate the country seems reluctant, but needs, to have. It would be an invitation to disaster if we kept the same mission with reduced funding, or a reduced force. By bringing the issue to the public forum, Gates apparently seeks to avoid that calamity.

The core Pentagon budget is now about $530 billion, and accounts for roughly 20 percent of federal spending, and roughly half of discretionary spending. Defense cuts are coming, that much we know for sure, and the easiest of them have already been made. Gates acknowledged that over the past two years, “more than 30 programs (weapon systems, etc.) were canceled, capped, or ended that, if pursued to completion, would have cost more than $300 billion.”
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A Battle We Cannot Afford to Lose

March 10, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, President, Republicans, Senate, Stimulus, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Patriots since the founding have always risen to the challenges of their time. Today, we must do the same. As the debt crisis deepens, the time is growing short. We must demand our lawmakers speak truthfully about the budget, and offer real solutions.

We know that the biggest threat to our way of life today is our growing debt. Yet progressives in government and in the media disrespect us. They label us extremists and racists when all we are calling for is a responsible government that controls its spending.

Federal spending is up 108 percent from what it was 10 years ago. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the deficit this fiscal year will be nearly $1.6 trillion, the largest in peacetime history. The government borrows 40 cents of every dollar they spend. As the deficit reaches 10 percent of our annual GDP, the debt is now equal to it.
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Could China’s Instability Threaten America?

December 12, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, China, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Jobs, Liberals, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

China’s double-digit economic growth over the past thirty years has been breathtaking. Growth has limits, however, and China may soon be reaching them. With worldwide recession, and inflation coming to the yuan, a slowdown in China’s growth is increasing probable. If China experiences any let up in growth, the nation’s internal stability becomes a concern. The modern western trait of rising expectations has set in with the populace. By their sheer numbers, any setback in the standard of living could ominously jeopardize the nation’s political and economic structure — and affect us as well.

Beijing has established, over the years, an integrated economy with surrounding Asian nations equal in size to that of the United States. They have the technological and financial advantages of a modern economy, and with their huge population, the cost advantages of a developing one.

But China has problems too. Part of their insecurity stems from a dependence on foreign sources for raw materials. China imports about half its oil, for example, and the vast majority of that comes from tankers that pass through the strategic chokepoint at Strait of Malacca near Singapore. And to reach Africa or the Persian Gulf, they must cross a vast Indian Ocean heavily patrolled by the U.S. and Indian warships.
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Restoring Honor: A New American Awakening?

August 23, 2010 | Filed Under Congress, Constitution, Elections, Founders, Fox News, Government, Government, Corruption, History, Jeff Lukens, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Patriotism, President, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

If anything good can be said about the progressive left controlling our government, it’s that their astonishingly brazen and heavy-handed tactics may have aroused the American people into a new spiritual awakening. With basic liberties under assault, we are seeing a revival of values that have been dormant for a long time.

Every great moment in this country, when real progress is made, there was a spiritual awakening. The Restoring Honor Rally in Washington D.C. on August 28 may be the one of those moments. The rally’s organizer is radio and television personality Glenn Beck. Beck says that our country’s troubles cannot be solved by the same methods that got us into this mess. Like an old time revivalist, he says “We must call upon God, and He will see us through.”
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Uncovering the Obama Conspiracies

July 13, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, President | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Our worst suspicions about Barack Obama are coming true. He is not a centrist as he claimed to be. He is a leftist, and he is destroying our way of life. Obama could be perpetrating the greatest fraud in American history. He could be an illegitimate president, and one who intentionally seeks to undermine our country. By the time the truth comes out, the damage to may be irreparable.

Barack Obama’s meteoric rise to power has been truly remarkable. He served a mere 143 days in the U.S. Senate prior to forming an exploratory committee for his presidential candidacy in 2007. He has risen from obscurity to celebrity status in a very short time.

With the multitude of mysteries that surround him, it is a wonder why there has not been the interest in investigating his personal history and nefarious connections at, say, a fraction of the interest of what followed John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
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Just Finish the Dang Fence

June 14, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Immigration/Immigrants, Jeff Lukens, Labor Law, Law, Liberals, Mexico, President, Security/Safety, Senate, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Why did building the fence along our southern border stop? Instead of building the fence, Barack Obama would rather build a political party of illegal aliens and their supporters. Unless we want to be dealing with immigration problems in perpetuity, the fence must be completed.

In a recent commentary, Sen. Jim DeMint reported:

“Four years ago, legislation to build 700-miles of double-layer border fence along the Southern border was supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama and signed into law by President Bush. Yet, only a fraction of that fencing is in place today.”

“According to staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), only 34.3 miles double-layer fencing has been completed along the Southern border.”
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Summoning Our Inner Hero

May 13, 2010 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Government, Corruption, Health, House of Representatives, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, President, Socialism, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Rarely does the concern of the middle-class reach a point where they start protesting the government en masse. The passage of ObamaCare and the impending financial ruin of our country is now one of those times.

Despite immense opposition, Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress forced through a health care bill, not to improve people’s health care but to expand the power of the state over them. It is the height of arrogance. As ObamaCare moves closer to reality, we know the resulting intrusion of government in our lives will not allow us to continue to live as we have before.

We know the government can’t keep running huge deficits and think there will be no consequences. We know the federal and many state budgets are already broke, and that hard times are coming. We know that Obama is deliberately trying to drive the country off a cliff with debt our grandchildren can never repay. And we know that when we speak out against this madness, they will malign us and likely smear us as racists.
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2008 Market Crash Should be Investigated

April 12, 2010 | Filed Under Banks, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Almost two years after the mortgage crisis and stock market crash, no one seems to wonder about the “September surprise” that shifted the 2008 presidential election to an unknown leftist politician who had been elected to the Senate only two years before. A pulp-fiction writer could hardly have created a more contrived and bizarre story. But this was not make-believe. No, it is now our own gritty reality show that we only wish we could turn off.

The week of Sept. 15, 2008, was a debacle of huge proportions. On Monday, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while other lending institutions lined up like dominoes teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But the week was hardly over. On Thursday, an electronic run on the banks occurred. In an unprecedented move, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve had to act together to stop what had become a full-fledged panic. On Saturday, Sept. 20, The Wall Street Journal recounted events of that previous Thursday:

“Instead of lining up at bank windows, investors were unloading financial assets on their PCs. Credit markets had seized up, to the point that even routine daily settlements had stopped until banks had the actual securities or cash in hand.”
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Change Our Military Can’t Believe In

February 24, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Military | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Many gays and lesbians serve honorably in today’s military. That is no secret. It is also no secret that open homosexuality within the ranks could hinder unit cohesion, reduce war-fighting capability, and place our troops at greater risk. No wishful thinking, edict, or State of the Union speech can alter this reality. Closeted gays do not cause a disruption in the military precisely because they are closeted.

There is no constitutional right to serve in the Armed Forces. For readiness reasons, the military is selective about who serves based on age, weight, education, family status, physical fitness, and drug usage. Extensive training, good order, and discipline are required. War us a risky business. Compromise any of these elements and our casualties on the battlefield will be higher, and our chances for success will be reduced.

‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) works, and overturning it is not a change the public is desperately seeking. It is not a change servicemen and women are clamoring for either. A recent survey by the Army Times found that 51% of solders oppose gays serving openly, with only 30% in favor.
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The Choice Between Prosperity and Decline

December 29, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Elections, Founders, Freedom, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Republicans, Rights, Senate, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law, Western Civilization | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

This land of a free people and a free-market economy has generated a great wave of innovation that has benefited all of humanity. The essence of freedom and prosperity that moved around the world in past 200 and some years has been driven primarily by the United States. With our economy now stagnating, it has become more important than ever to return to the basic Constitutional freedoms that have made prosperity possible.

My son came home from college to visit recently. After some time of catching up on things, the conversation turned to topics that interest him — and that means all things electronic. He explained to me why I needed the latest operating system update for the computer and how properly to configure the surround sound system for the HDTV. I could barely keep up with it. Somewhere in the conversation, it occurred to me that in the long view of human history, we have come a long way in a very short time.

Think about it. In the 1600s, the ships that brought the first settlers to our shores, and tools for tilling the soil they brought with them, were not much more advanced than those used by people thousands of years before. In the relatively short time since their arrival in the New World, there has been an explosion in technology and the standard of living for ordinary people.

Giving Thanks

November 28, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Christianity, Education, Founders, Freedom, History, Jeff Lukens, Religion, Society/Culture | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Thanksgiving is a chance to gather with loved ones and share in a time-honored American tradition. For some, it is an excuse to stuff themselves with turkey and football. For others, it is a special time of “giving thanks” for blessings in their lives.

One may ask, “thanks to whom?” Well, thanks to God, of course. Never before has the question been difficult to answer. Perhaps we should consider that America’s blessings of prosperity, freedom, justice, peace and opportunity. They are gifts from a mighty and gracious God. These days, however, the preeminence of God may look more like a matter of opinion.

Clearly, this was not the Pilgrims’ view. They had come to this land in 1620, not to escape God, but to find Him in His fullness. They bowed their heads in acknowledgment of His power and grace. To them, He was the one and only truth.

In front of them was a desolate wilderness in a harsh Massachusetts winter. Behind them was a vast ocean that separated them from the rest of civilization.
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Obama and the End of White Guilt

October 13, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Family, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, President, Race, Society/Culture, Taxes, Tea Party | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Barack Obama portrayed himself as America’s first “post-racial” president, yet he and his supporters continue to play the race card against ordinary Americans who oppose him. Despite a big election victory, Obama is unable to understand that ordinary Americans do not like being bullied. Nor does he understand that they do not like being called racists for political disagreements.

The Obama agenda is desperate and out of ideas. In their desperation, they deal from the bottom of the deck. The race card has never failed them before, and when the logic of their position fails, evoking racism always ends the discussion. Unfortunately for them, this time the discussion will not end. The more they smear everyday Americans with the charge of racism, the more meaningless the accusation becomes.

In the wake of town halls, tea parties and 9/12 protests against Obama’s policies, many media pundits — Jimmy Carter, Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, and Newsweek Magazine, to name a few — have branded these patriotic Americans as racists. It is appalling to think that the Left has played this game for decades. Americans of all backgrounds have fought for Civil Rights for too long to have accusations of racism used in such an offhand manner.

Slouching Toward Orwell’s 1984

July 27, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Book Reviews, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Free Speech, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Security/Safety, Society/Culture | 1 Comment

- By Jeff Lukens

George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” tells of an advanced world where there are no individual freedoms, and the state uses fear to manipulate and control people to conform to a prescribed belief. In the book, the Party maintains absolute power, and power has become an end to itself. His book is as relevant today as ever. In the age of Obama, the freedoms that define American life are slipping away and being replaced with ever more state control.

In Orwell’s book, the Party constantly rewrites history and rewrites the language to restrict the true meaning of words and the ideas behind them. They eliminate words to reduce vocabulary and thereby reduce uncontrolled thoughts. Doublespeak makes people believe what they would otherwise know to be false, and is encapsulated by the phrase: “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.” Orwell defined doublethink as, “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”

In the book, the Party rewrites historical documents to match an evolving propaganda line, which changes daily. They amend newspaper articles, destroy evidence, and delete the existence of people identified as “unpersons.”
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When the Obama Backlash Comes

May 4, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Public opinion can be very fickle. Barack Obama has ridden a positive wave of opinion all the way to the White House. The public has welcomed him into office in that same spirit of hope in which he ran. Since the inauguration, however, the president is showing he has different plans than the ones he spoke about during the campaign. It should come as no surprise when the public turns on him just as easily as he has turned on them.

The contradictions between Obama’s words and actions are many. He opposes big government, and then he vastly expands it. He says he favors bipartisanship, but doesn’t practice it. He says he is against earmarks, and then signs the largest pork package in history. And that is just to name a few.
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A Crisis Too Great to Waste

January 25, 2009 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, History, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Media Bias, News, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Welfare | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

So Barack Obama proposes massive government spending like we have never seen before as our way back to economic prosperity. Yet wasn’t it a mountain of unpayable debt that got us into this financial crisis in the first place? The rivers of red ink he proposes would make FDR and LBJ blush. This approach may have worked politically for FDR and LBJ, but neither time did it work economically for the country. It may work politically for Obama too, but deficit spending will not work economically today either.

Banana republics are known for this kind of governance. It is a recipe for a treasury default or hyperinflation that no industrialized county has seen since Germany’s Weimar Republic in the 1920s. And that debacle sewed the seeds for the despotism of the Third Reich.

Obama is a smart guy. He can’t possibly be naive enough to think more debt piled on the existing $10.6 trillion national debt is the solution to the economic mess we are in. Recessions are a natural part of the economic cycle and only market forces can correct them. One can only wonder about his true motives.
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The Price of Political Correctness

October 18, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Jeff Lukens, Media Bias, News, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | Comments Off

-By By Jeff Lukens

“Silence is the virtue of fools,” Sir Francis Bacon once said. Instead of silence, today Bacon would be referring to a mindless politeness on what can and cannot be spoken in the public arena. We call it political correctness. Yet silence and political correctness may be luxury we cannot afford if we wish to maintain the way of life this country has known since the founding.

It is no secret Congress has been pushing subprime mortgages to disadvantaged people who could not pay for them. In the name of affordable housing, Congress has resisted all attempts at reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and effectively encouraged those organizations to become ever more reckless in their lending policies.

The government does not guarantee Fannie or Freddie, but the widespread assumption has been that they would step in to cover losses. In effect, Democrats were buying votes by giving their constituents a home. The result has been a world wide financial meltdown.
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NATO’s Uncertain Future

September 25, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Foreign Policy, Jeff Lukens, Media Bias, Military, News, Patriotism, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | Comments Off

- By Jeff Lukens

Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August marked a return to their historic pattern of imperial conquest. Without confronting NATO directly, Vladimir Putin signaled he intends to keep Georgia and Ukraine in Russia’s sphere of influence, and keep them from joining NATO. Putin can now bully other Eastern European countries as well to sway their policies away from the West and toward Russia. If any of these countries fail to comply, the implied message is they can expect a fate similar to Georgia.

The European Union gets more that a quarter of its oil from Russia, and the pipeline through Georgia is the only oil from the Caspian oil fields not controlled by Russia or Iran. Putin now is able to shut it down anytime he wants to.

The attack on Georgia also exposed a dangerous overextension of NATO forces in Eastern Europe, and United States forces around the world. Power abhors a vacuum, and when there is any uncertainty about it in the Kremlin, instability follows. Putin has proven Russia will brutally fill any power void around them. NATO needs to reexamine its long-term strategic purpose, and determine what it should do about a newly aggressive and revitalized Russia.
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No More Vietnams

August 14, 2008 | Filed Under 00Publius Contributor, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Europe, Foreign Policy, Jeff Lukens, Media Bias, Military, News, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | Comments Off

-By Jeff Lukens

The war in Iraq may be ending in much the same way the war in Vietnam appeared to be ending in 1973 with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. We had finally won in Vietnam, but then lost the peace two years later. The outcome of the 2008 presidential election could determine whether Iraq becomes “another Vietnam” should there be a significant renewal of insurgent activity.

The Left would have us believe we were stuck in Iraq in an endless and unwinnable quagmire like they said we had in Vietnam. That comparison, however, has not held up. While much about the two wars is similar, a key difference was Lyndon Johnson’s muddled strategy in Vietnam compared with George W. Bush’s winning strategy in Iraq.
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