by Angela S. Young

Created on: August 21, 2009   Last Updated: January 06, 2010

It always amazes me that Obama makes no real attempt to keep any of his campaign promises. Of course, it's pretty easy when your promise was "change". Obama will definitely bring change to America. The question is: can America survive the kind of change Obama has in mind?

Looking back in my memory, I definitely remember Obama talking about, and putting other politicians down about, "politics as usual". Yet, what do we find in the first few months of the Obama administration? Politics as usual! Bills rushed through Congress, czars appointed with no say from the people or Congress, people called un-American if they dare to protest, and mandates from above, kept secret from the people by the complicity of the press. All of this sounds like politics as usual to me. I didn't even mention the pork, glad-handing, and back-door-deals going on.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." (Lord Acton) This statement, almost become redundant in its current over-usage, is none-the-less very true. When people attain a position of power, the temptation is to want more power at any cost, or at least to keep the power they have. When people obtain a position of power and have no accountability, corruption is even more likely. The only way to keep corruption in check among those in power is to have complete transparency.  The founding fathers created a three tier system of government in an attempt to limit political power.  They, too, knew too much power for one person or governing body would lead to corruption.

When Obama was vying for your votes, he promised trasparency and much more. However, the reality is much different. Some how, all those high ideals did not make it past the swearing in process. His stimulus bill, which had to be passed NOW to save our failing economy, contained so much pork it could have fed the entire country. His excuse was that he had to allow that in order to get it passed. Tax payers aren't buying it.

If Obama wants to win the trust of the voters of the United States of America, he will get back to seeking such things as government transparency and cutting out all the favors and other things slid through on bills Congress doesn't even have time to read. And no wonder they can't read it, with all the things added onto it, even at the last minute before a vote. The US political head should end pork-barrel projects and spending, and open the entire process up to open transparency and scrutiny by the American public, except when to do so would harm our country's defenses.

When the people know what's going on, they will become informed voters.  Politicians work for us, and we need to know exactly how they use the power bestowed upon them by our votes.  When we have this kind of knowledge, we can put a stop to outrageous behavior through our votes.  Lack of transparency and the blatant seeking of favors over the will of the people has led to a deep distrust of government in general and those in power specifically.

Instead of choosing to offer transparency and refuse to sign any bill that has not been read or has had things attached to it in order to garner enough votes, he will probably continue to push through what he wants in the name of "urgency". We the people know that doing things out of urgency, in most cases, usually harms more than helps. It's time for our leaders to stop and think, and it's time for the American citizen to demand a cleaner, more transparent government.

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