The Taker Nation
From time to time, I am a guest on WJJC radio in Commerce, Georgia -- a town in the Greater Atlanta area. Actually, I'm their "economic expert", and I typically appear on the show when they are discussing economic issues, but since I have written about religious and political issues as well, sometimes I appear when they are discussing those issues. The show is called "America in Crisis". It's co-hosted by John Gaissert and Craig Fischer. John is a retired Navy officer who now serves as police chief in Commerce. Craig is a longtime radio man.
Yesterday, I appeared on the show to talk about the global economic outlook in general and the U.S. economy specifically. Toward the end of the show, John played a clip from a Michael Savage radio broadcast and asked for my comments. The clip was of an exchange between Savage and a female call-in guest who tried to convince him that the problem with the U.S. is that "rich people" don't pay their fair share of taxes. It was clear from the outset that the woman was hopelessly clueless.
At the end of the clip, an exasperated Savage asked her what she did for a living, and she replied, "I'm on welfare."
Savage asked her where she thought welfare dollars came from, and she said, "From President Obama."
You could tell that Savage was getting angry, and he said, "Do you think Barack Obama makes your welfare payments out of his pocket?"
The woman was confused, but one thing was certain in her mind: she was absolutely positive that Barack Obama was her benefactor. In her world, the hardworking taxpayers who actually foot the bill for her indolence didn't even enter the picture. Her solution to the ills that we face as a nation was simple: reelect President Obama, take money from people who work for a living, and give it those who sit on their derrieres.
When the clip ended, John asked for my reaction. I told him that I had two comments: 1) the woman was obviously an Obama supporter and 2) there are a lot of people like her who will probably vote in the 2012 presidential election.
The dialogue between the woman and Savage reminded me of a YouTube video that I saw a few days after the 2008 presidential election. An ecstatic woman was explaining to Ken Rogulski of WJR in Detroit, Michigan that she was looking forward to receiving her "Obama money" now that he was president. In a euphoric state, she exclaimed, "And we voted for him!" In a nation where more than 50% of the people pay no federal income tax and a large and growing percent of our fellow citizens are net takers, you can bet that Obama has nearly half of the voters in his pocket because they think that he is responsible for enabling them to live on the dole.
It also reminded me of another YouTube video by Ray Stevens titled "Ray Stevens -- Obama Budget Plan". Stevens is a singer/songwriter with deep Southern roots who has made a living by entertaining the masses with music that highlights absurdities of the day. Obama money clearly falls into that category.
Each day in my blog, SnyderTalk, I include a segment listing the top 5 political news items from the previous day according to diggtm. Diggtm is a social network that allows readers to share with the world what they think are the most important news items of the day. Reading the articles' titles alone reveals a sad truth. The most active and vociferous readers today, or at least the ones who frequent diggtm, are what I refer to as Obamanistas. I coined that term to identify people who see themselves as liberal to the core, think that working people owe sluggards a living without regard for circumstances, believe that an abortion (partial birth or otherwise) is just a harmless procedure that women can use if they accidentally get pregnant, have no problem with same-sex marriage or transgender "equality" under our laws, are convinced that Israel is the problem in the Middle East, blame the U.S. for most of the world's problems, and know deep down in their hearts that Barack Hussein Obama is the savior of mankind.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of Obamanistas in the U.S.-maybe enough of them to win the president a second term in office. If all of them vote in November or if they have a good turnout, the GOP nominee will have a difficult time unless GOP voters get behind their nominee enthusiastically. And it doesn't matter who the nominee is. If GOP voters sit on their hands and let the Obamanistas rule the day, we can look forward to four more years of "Obama money" flowing to friends of Obama and people who are satisfied living off the real working class. We can't afford to let that happen.
Neil Snyder is a chaired professor emeritus at the University of Virginia. His blog, SnyderTalk.com, is posted daily.