Want To See Your Policies In Reality, Mr. Obama?

Come to Muskegon, Michigan, Mr. Obama, you and your advisors. Please bring your economic team so that they can see the results of all that great wisdom they’ve given you on how to run a country. We are located on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan, and should be, by all rights, a thriving industrial town. Our streets should be filled with tourists wanting to play in the waters of Lake Michigan, enjoying the amenities of history (we have our own World War 2 submarine), and the beauty of Michigan’s nature. Unfortunately, that is NOT what you will find if you come here.

You will find dozens and dozens of shuttered industrial buildings all over the area. You will find a lot of empty buildings that not long ago housed a lot of small businesses as well. Some of those businesses had been around here for decades. We still have some fine industrial shops scattered around our area that are stubbornly fighting to keep their heads above water, but uncertainty about taxes, their cost of health care, and regulation have them trapped in a holding pattern because every policy you enact has a cost to them. Contrary to what you and your minions say, or think, corporations big and small are made up of human beings, who are forced to make everyday choices based on the decisions of those in economic control.

If you come here to Muskegon, you will see neighborhoods that once flourished now overrun with drugs, apathy, and a sense of hopelessness brought on by the lack of opportunity, both economically and morally. If you go into just about any food center or party store, you will find people selling their food stamps for cash to buy their drug of choice. Some of our neighborhoods have permanent police patrols, as do thousands of other cities and towns across America, the result of economic stagnation associated with your current policies.

Higher taxes on the rich aren’t going to fix our problems. Government taking more and more control of our daily lives isn’t going to fix what’s wrong with our town in particular, or America in general. Unleashing the spirit of freedom, ideas, and the opportunity to become better than where you started is what drives Americans to achieve greatness. Your “redistribution” of wealth theory helps NO ONE and destroys the very foundation of what this country was built on. Taxes and utilities in cities and towns all across this land are too high because some segments of our society have decided that they should enjoy greater benefits and pensions way out of line with what the ordinary, average taxpayer enjoys. You want social justice? Then stop coddling your union supporters.

Your stimulus program didn’t help any of these people here in Muskegon, Michigan, or anywhere else for that matter; but that really wasn’t your intention anyway, was it? You and George W. Bush would have been further ahead just to send a $12,000 check to every legal family in America; now THAT would have stimulated the heck out of the economy! It would certainly have injected a lot of cash into the economy quickly! A good example of why redistribution of wealth won’t work is that of big lottery winners. Most of them are totally broke again after five years because they have no idea how to manage that kind of money.

We have property values that have tanked because of a law called the ” Neighborhood Reinvestment Act”. You know, the one that Jimmy Carter signed into law in the late 70′s to “level the playing field of home ownership.” What it did was nearly destroy our economy, and the wreckage is still all around us. Instilling in people a solid work ethic is far more important  than giving someone a simple handout. Rewarding achievement rather than punishing it would be a change for hope, Mr. Obama.

We have entrepreneurs here who have come up with some brilliant new technology. They don’t need more regulations telling  them how to run their business, but the freedom and private capital to sell these products and a country that will help them sell their products abroad. Trust the free market and get rid of useless red tape instead of creating more of it, and this country will thrive and heal itself economically. Stop attacking the wealth creators because it does have a “trickle down” effect. New businesses, jobs, and products make life easier. It is all a result of the system that has made this country great from its inception. Michigan has been especially hit hard because of our reliance on the auto industry and the influence of the unions. Our state has great industrial potential, but no businessperson in their right mind would put capital into anything with an administration as anti-business as yours.

If you come here, then open your eyes and take a look at one stark reality. Our industry, our transportation, and our residences all operate on FOSSIL FUELS. Stop wasting our hard-earned taxpayer money on pie-in-the-sky green energy projects that are years away from practical applications in our country. Your words are nothing but vapor, made to sound good but with no substance behind them. The faces that you will look at are REAL people, affected by every decision you make and every word out of your mouth. You had COMPLETE control of the government for two years, and you did NOTHING to solve any of the tough challenges facing this country. The people suffer today from what you failed to do yesterday, and yet you ask for 4 more years to inflict your failed policies and ideas on America? Why?

Russia’s Premier, Vladimir Putin, wants to put a Russian naval base in Cuba, and there was not one word of protest from you. What does that make the flight time for a Russian nuclear-tipped missile…about a minute and a half?  My generation lived through the cold war, and we do not want to live through that again, Mr. Obama. Come and visit us here in Muskegon, Michigan, Mr. President. We believe that you need to escape the polluted air in Washington D.C. and get a healthy dose of reality. You told Congressman Paul Ryan “that elections have consequences, and I won”; well, I guess it’s time you faced the consequences of your last election. The Winter Wonderland is waiting, Mr. Obama. See you soon… yeah right! Adieu.

Photo credit: terrellaftermath.com