Obama Demands Hike in Debt Ceiling – yet – No Budget and Attack on Second Amendment - Following Lincoln’s playbook.

First, anyone who has not been living under the proverbial “turnip truck” understood, that after the last rise in the debt ceiling, and no end in sight as far as Federal Spending was concerned, that one would eventually see another request to for a rise in the debt ceiling! At each juncture over the past four years, there has been a call from the public to put a half to the prolific spending, yet, few members of the elected body are paying attention. After the “Fiscal Cliff” kicked the can down the road for a month, the tax on “millionaires and billionaires”, to those who pay zero attention to details not always present in the late night news addition, did nothing to avert a lower paycheck, with the promise of additional taxes down the road for those earning peanuts compared. That was a shock to some, who could not grasp the fact that the reduction came from a temporary cut in the Social Security Tax, and that expired. In addition, some are also shocked to find that those working, or their employers, will be paying “taxes” to supplement “Obamacare”. Those individuals are somewhat surprised as they thought the “government was going to pay for everything”. The fact that most people don’t understand that the government has no income except to “tax”, is a testament to the educational system that neglects to teach students civics, or basically how the government works in the U.S.

Now the President, who is being maligned on the right, for doing exactly what those on the right and the 10 percent knew he would do – is ”Demanding that the debt limit be raised, again. He also suggests that a rise in the debt ceiling does not make us a “deadbeat nation.” (Washington Post). One might wonder why the President had to insert that phrase “deadbeat nation”, into his press conference, if not for the fact that – in reality – we, the U.S. is headed in that direction. The problem lays in the fact that if one cannot pay their bills, and overspends, and the money runs out and they cannot pay their bills, then one is a deadbeat. (Recognized by the 10 percent.)

Further, in his demands to raise the debt ceiling, while using partisan rhetoric and threats to do so (see: President Obama demand that Congressional Republicans’ take quick action to raise debt limit or those receiving Social Security Checks and Veteran’s Benefits will go without. The Desert News.

The message from the press is that the Republican’s are obviously the problem,, we can just borrow a few hundred trillion more, spend until the cows come home, and continue to send out Social Security Checks and Veterans’ benefits, back businesses that the Government prefers, give out free phones, extend unemployment benefits, provide, provide, provide – and by the way – we’re going to bypass Congress and take away your guns! (CNN) (The President really did not say that, but he did mention (through his mouthpiece , Vice President Joe Biden, that there were nineteen executive orders ready to go to “fix” the gun problem (Politico)

To those who have been breathing the past four or five years, the message is simple: The President wants the Congress to give him another blank check, and the President wants to, by executive order, going around Congress, circumvent the Constitution specifically the 2nd Amendment clause on the rights of the people to have weapons (guns) in order to protect themselves from – the government. (The preceding from )The U.S. Constitution.)

Therefore, you have a divided nation – those that are rooting for the President to raise the debt ceiling and continue to allow the government to take care of everything, and remove those nasty guns so that no madmen can murder innocents, and those that are deeply afraid that the government and country they once loved, is gone. These are legal gun owners, and those that work for a living and balance their checkbooks.

The question on whether or not the President can run circles around the Constitution or even suspend the Constitution is found in history. Specifically the history of one President, Abraham Lincoln, who suspended the Constitution via executive order(The Presidency Project). When Lincoln did not care for what he was hearing (anti-war, etc.) – he merely placed newspaper editors in prison, and due process under the law was suspended. Lincoln was also a shrewd attorney and a habitual politician, something one might want to keep in mind.

Other things to keep in mind, under U.S. Law, the Congress (both bodies) are to present to the President a budget, each year, and that budget must be passed. As of now, the Congress has done due diligence in presenting a slew of budgets, but the Senate and the Executive Branch (the White House) have not.

If one were adhering to the U.S. Constitution, and following events taking place, one might consider that the President intends to suspend the Constitution (or portions thereof), and that the President and the Senate are breaking the law. (And therefore are subject to removal by impeachment (also in that same Document.)

Some suggest we are at a precipice, one the one hand, the President is demanding that we fund programs with no cuts to the excesses. On the other hand, there are those “fiscal conservatives” who understand that the more debt we assume, with less ability to pay, the dollar and the value thereof suffers.

The President is intent on issuing Executive Orders, which every President since inception of the office began has been prone to do – the most prolific – FDR. Some of these executive orders may override Congress (which is illegal under the Constitution), but some Presidents can get away with it in certain circumstances (See Lincoln). Those on the other side see this as a power grab in order to further divide the nation.

There you have it, as reported by the press and the “other side”.

The 10 percent

Several weeks ago, during a conversation with a friend regarding the divide and the problems that are rampant in this nation, this friends suggested the following: Only ten percent of the population “get’s it”, people don’t really pay attention and watch the news, they make uninformed decisions when it comes to voting, and it’s as if they just don’t get “it”. The “it” is the premise of the power centered in Washington by both political parties, the fact that there are possibility that the Constitution could be trampled, and or, historically, that should the Republican’s decide not to raise the debt ceiling and shut down the government, it would not be the end of the world – it has happened before, when people actually paid attention to history and what happened yesterday. In fact, what did happen were a balanced budget, and some reforms that were necessary. The 10 percent are educated before the great dummying down of America, or have educated themselves since (by reading – books, by looking at both sides, not one side, and by understanding how our Government really works and how it was intended to work.)

It was so long ago, however, so many people cannot remember those horrid Republican’s under the leadership of Speaker Newt Gingrich and the most admired Democrat to come out of the 20th century –one William Jefferson Clinton.

We experienced prosperity, and Gingrich took one for the “team” – as is often the case with said political party.

What we now have is bordering on panic, prompted by both sides of the political spectrum, and the ten percent understand that this is all for show. It is a game of political chess that is being played – rather than a precipice that the nation sits upon.

What should occur:

The Congress should tell the President, we’re shutting this down until you come up with a meaningful budget, and that’s the way it is. Previously, when a shut down occurred, unlike what the President suggests, checks were still delivered to those in need, it should be no different this time.

The Congress should, if the President moves to usurp the Constitution, issue articles of impeachment – that would keep him busy defending himself, and make the Republican’s widely unpopular (so would the shutdown), but, and here is the but, the outcome would ensure the following: The President would be more careful as to how he chose to use his powers, and the government would be living within its means.

This is what should happen.

It is most unlikely today as the powers in Washington, on both sides, are more interested in their own political fortunes, than in the fortunes, small and middling, of those whom they serve.

The ten percent get this. Those that are waking up to the fact that promises are made to be broken are also “getting it”, but they are “getting it” in a mixed message of “hysteria” prompted by political speak. They are the 25 and under and those on Social Security and those still working. Life in this nation, should not be lived in suspicion of the government, nor in fear of a loss of rights, nor in fear of a loss of “government programs”. There’s so much be done.