Summer is a time of strong memories.
Memories of sunshine, lemonade and bicycles flood our minds. Summertime is the season when our youth is so close we can almost reach out and touch it. This summer we have been extra reflective, the marriage of our first child and the contemplation of our parents mortality have only heightened our introspection. Because it is so integral to our lives, much of our analysis has focused on America and her changes.
Change is not always negative, but as we review the changes of the last decade, we are simply aghast at what has happened.
It’s like comparing before and after snapshots of a person addicted to methamphetamines, and the picture isn’t pretty. Hence, today we often feel like strangers in our homeland.
The social upheaval of the past decade has been beyond monumental, and it has resulted in a broken America, with a high number of dysfunctional and lost people. Like a colony of termites stealthily destroying the wooden beams of a house, Liberalism has devastated the social fabric and consensus that made America the preeminent country in the world.
First, the rule of law is a fading memory.
Obama and the radicals he has surrounded himself with in the White House think less about following the law than they do achieving political objectives.
A liberal outcome is first and foremost on their minds above America’s laws.
Three examples are the treatment of GM bondholders, the ongoing war in Libya and the Obama stealth amnesty for illegal aliens.
In the case of GM, the bond holders who had primary liens on the physical assets of General Motors were illegally striped of their legal rights in the Obama takeover of the company. Obama’s primary objective was to protect the United Auto Workers, a major contributor to his campaign.
The UAW was essentially transferred the monies that should have been paid to bondholders in the reorganization.
The stock the bondholders should have had went to the Union in the form of shares for healthcare.
Next is the ongoing Obama war in Libya.
The Obama administration has ignored the legal requirements of the War Powers Act. We never liked the War Powers Act or Gadhafi, but the act is still law and Obama’s failure to follow either the US Constitution or statue in this crisis is a flagrant disregard for the rule of law.
Finally, Obama’s latest act, to use his power to overrule both immigration statues and court orders to suspend the deportation of illegal immigrants, amounts to the outrageous violation of the law.
If George W. Bush had been involved in any of these illegal acts, impeachment hearings would be in full swing with live C-Span coverage available for you to watch in your home.
Because of the weakness of Republican leadership in the US Congress, Obama flaunts the law with impunity.
The debt ceiling legislation is a perversion of the US Constitution with the Republicans in Congress actually transferring the power of the purse from themselves to the executive against both tradition and the Constitutional framework developed by the founders to divide power. Now Obama will be able to unilaterally increase the debt by over $2 trillion without as much as a whimper of opposition.
If you are a sucker who actually believes the so-called “super committee” will reduce spending, we imagine you still believe Obama has the best interests of the country at heart.
As youngsters, we lived in an America that protected children from abortion. In those halcyon days we would never have contemplated the act of sodomy as somehow proper, even if characterized as a monogamous same sex marriage.
In our youth, which now seem like a distant memory, Christian virtue was actually lauded.
You were taught to look up to people who believed in the difference between right and wrong.
Instead, today the social disorder has degenerated to the point where Rap stars, leading flash mobs are considered community heroes.
We are strangers in this homeland, yet we never give up hope.
Before the America that we love becomes even more foreign, the breaks must be applied to the runaway liberalism that is destroying America from the inside out.
(Floyd and Mary Beth Brown are best selling authors and speakers. To comment on this column, e-mail browns@caglecartoons.com.)
Our summer memories are not good