President Obama has no intention of heeding the call of American voters to curb his statist agenda. That's not what extreme ideologues do, and that's not what he did after his party's shellacking in the 2010 congressional elections.
In fact, despite what conciliatory bones he may have thrown the Republicans after those elections, he doubled down on his agenda. Having done that, he still won re-election in 2012.
Even if the 2014 elections were a referendum on his policies, as he said they would be and I believe they were, he doesn't have to worry about another election for himself. So as far as he's concerned, there's no reason to put on the brakes now.
This isn't speculation, for Obama has already reaffirmed his commitment to accelerate his quest to fundamentally change America by expanding the power and scope of the federal government more than he already has.
He indicated as much with his defiant tone and in the string of policy proposals in the State of the Union address. Before the speech, he promised to go on a tour of the country, trying to sell his postelection agenda to the American people. Why not? There's nothing he'd rather do than campaign, because he is most comfortable in the spotlight propagandizing, not governing.
Last week in Philadelphia, he began to fulfill his promise to stump for socialism. He spoke to the House Democratic Caucus, and he pulled no punches in laying down the markers for the next two years. He didn't call on his colleagues to join him in working with the newly elected Republican congressional majority. He didn't acknowledge they had gone too far left and pledge to rein in his transformational ambitions.
To the contrary, he "delivered a campaign-like rallying cry," reports National Journal. He "implored his Hill allies to defend their values, reminding them of their accomplishments and jabbing Republicans in the process."
We need to pay special attention to his words when he is with like-minded people, around whom he is comfortable to say things that wouldn't resonate with the majority of Americans. We must focus on the use of the term "accomplishments." To Obama, accomplishments are executive or legislative actions that move the nation's laws and culture further toward the goal line of socialist control.
It doesn't matter if these actions damage the economy, reduce our liberties, make Americans less safe and hurt more people than they help. The goal is to transform America; the people aren't even important beyond being convenient propaganda props. In the leftist mind, the impersonal collective is paramount.
That's why, for example, Obama and his fellow travelers aren't bothered by the failure of his promises on Obamacare. He wasn't sincere when he said people could keep their plans and their doctors — period. He was deceiving people when he promised that they would save substantial money personally and that the government would also cut its health care outlays under his plan. The point was never to improve health care, reduce costs or preserve our health care choices. It was to expand nominal health insurance coverage at any cost — and many of his fellow leftists have as much as admitted this. To them, the end justifies the means — even when those means are lying through their teeth repeatedly. They know what's best for us.
It's also why Obama doesn't care about the ever-exploding national debt and why he's deceiving us here, as well. He pretends he has cut the deficit, as this year the deficit has gone down slightly, in relative terms. But it is still substantially higher than President George W. Bush's average annual deficit, and more importantly, it is projected to skyrocket during the next decade — as he well knows.
He also knows that even if our annual discretionary budget were not out of control, our entitlements will swallow our entire budget within 15 years, but he obstructs any action on them. One can only infer that he doesn't fear the virtual bankruptcy of the United States, and he could only lack that fear if he imagines it as useful in his grandiose plan to transform America.
Obama is doing his best to drive this country over a cliff — at the bottom of which most people would find an America that we barely recognize and that is contrary to everything the Founding Fathers envisioned. Obama and his ilk, on the other hand, see that bottomland as utopian — definitely contrary to the founders' vision but in line with what they believe the founders should have designed as the ideal society.
Obama was also mocking Republicans in the speech, exhorting Democrats to "stand up and go on offense and not be defensive about what" they believe in. "That's why we're Democrats!" he said. Yes, that's Obama's nature, but from a pragmatic standpoint, he believes he is likelier to achieve his goals (and more quickly) if he continues to belittle and demonize his political opponents.
I just hope people are listening to this guy and comprehend what his aims are for his final two years. He has no intention of letting little things like checks and balances and the Constitution get in his way. You had better believe it.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is "Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel." Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
