The light finally clicked

I've been wrestling for DAYS now about the single undefined event that happened that made this country turn in the direction that it did.

Yes, I know Nov. 4th, a day that may someday live in infamy, is the standard benchmark.

But that's just a figurehead. Something had to happen BEFORE then that allowed us to elect as President a man with as scant a record as Barack Obama.

And it took a quick refresher from An American President to wake me up.

So here it is: this country opened itself to its current state the day that the majority of the country decided it would be easier to quit being free--and all the responsibility that freedom entails--and would rather trust in others to provide.

The line that sparked it? "America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship", taken from President Andy Sheppard's press conference at the end of the flick.

And the line rings true: America ISN'T easy. . when it's done right. But when people stop wanting to work hard, and when they sacrifice their freedom to inform themselves in the name of the desire to "be part of something". . .well, that isn't the America our forefathers envisioned. That country MAY be easy--where the citizenship doesn't require intellectual investment but rather accepts the belief in platitudes spoken with a rich tenor as an act of patriotism--but it isn't the land of the free.

Now to be sure, Obama made a very strong pitch to traditional blocks of liberal voters.

But HORDES of first-time Dem voters were part of the wave that brought Hope and Change to our Capitol.

How do you feel about your candidate now, Douglas Kmiec? Christopher Buckley? Heck, even Colin Powell?

And I mention Powell because he rose from hardship in Harlem to the highest ranks of service in the government and to--what I imagine--is a good deal of personal wealth, all though hard work and dedication. But Obama has done as much in the last 6 weeks to DESTROY any such chance for a kid walking the streets of Harlem right now to follow in Powell's footprints as could have possibly been done. This, from a candidate that Powell supported because of, among other things, "his ability to inspire". What inspiration has the President given to today's youth, General Powell? "Work hard and you can spend the rest of your life supporting others living off the government's teet?" Suddenly the American dream looks entirely less enticing, no?

But that's kind of what happened, too. The American dream was always uniquely individual--it meant different things to different people.

But all those individual dreams were pushed aside in the name of one man's vision.

And while I'm not going to go anywhere NEAR calling Obama un-American--nor do I believe him to be un-American--I will say that the idea of sacrificing HAVING an individual dream in favor of devotion to the President is pretty contrary to a freedom-loving citizenry.

It's not the same as devotion to a document or an ideal, the direction of which are relatively constant.

Humans are fallible. Or even worse, they can be just downright deceitful.

I don't want to call every person who voted for Obama a "sheep". As I said before, Obama made a very strong appeal to traditional blocs of voters.

But to the "crossover" voters that enabled this change: if you are not proud of the direction this President has taken this country, you were played. All of these moves were easily predictable, had you been interested in doing some research. You sacrificed your individual right to information. . .

. . .and now you are watching your hopes for an individualized American dream evaporate.

America IS hard. But it's worth it.

Here's to hoping a lot of people figure that out over the next 3 years.