I'm feeling generous today, so I am going to write about one thing that I admire about Barack Obama. Most politicians come into office with thoughts of transforming government. They believe they can be the one who takes control, persuade others to his side, and fundamentally changes how things are done . . for the good. Okay, that last part is a bit of a stumbling block because not everyone is in agreement about what is good. I would like to see a president who abolishes the Department of Education, cuts back on subsidies, denounces bailouts, and makes sensible, cost saving changes to the big items like Social Security and Medicare. Instead we get Barack Obama who seems intent on doing anything and everything to increase the size and power of the federal government. Before I forget, let me say what it is I admire about Obama: he has taken advantage of a weak and sympathetic Congress, as well as a weak and sympathetic press, to push along very aggressively his ambitious vision of a transformed federal government. Every day there is something new placed on the front burner. If I was a believer in what he was attempting to do, I would be in heaven; but I am not, and therefore I believe we are all looking at a form of hell on earth, or at least in the United States.
While I admire Obama's energy and ambition, I am not convinced that this seize the moment, let's change everything all at once approach is such a good idea. Let me offer this analogy: let's say that I want to transform my house. Instead of its three bedrooms I want seven. Instead of a one car garage I want a three car garage, with an apartment above it. I also want a small movie theater built into the house, probably toward the back. And I want to change the exterior by making it all stone. The price of all of this really doesn't matter because I plan on maxing out all of my credit cards and using anything else I have in savings, and I'll probably have to borrow the remainder from friends and family. So off I go, developing plans, hiring subcontractors, obtaining permits, and commencing to build my new transformed house.
Several months and several hundred thousand dollars later, my house is close to completion. People tell me that they like the design and tell me how different it looks than before. But in my neighborhood the house now looks out of place . . it would never appraise for how much I have invested into it. I am now getting bills for my credit cards and there is no way I can pay them back. My friends and family, who hesitated loaning me money, now wonder if they will ever get their money back. But I did get my transformed new house! I got what I set out to do. No one really stood in my way, and those who did I just ignored.
The problem now is holding onto my house. I have payments I cannot make, which means over time those payments just get bigger. I forgot to account for the extra costs for heating the place . . oops. Oh well, what is really important is that I got my new transformed house. Does it really matter that other people will eventually have to pay for it?
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