A singular message has arisen from the families wringing their hands and weeping around kitchen tables across America. The message is this: The government owes its citizens a problem-free life, and Bush prevented it from doing that. I watched the parade of complaints, and I watched Barack Obama intently. Barack Obama’s acceptance speech is truly terrifying.

At the turn of the century, a lot of people in the Russian Empire believed Marx and Lenin when they said that if the working people of the world revolted against capitalism, the dictatorship of the proletariat (the working people) would be heaven on earth. They rose up en masse, toppled the empire, assassinated the royal family, and became dictators. Not long ago, the attempt by Russian Communists to promise every family a trouble-free life collapsed. It was not possible for everyone to receive healthcare, education, and good jobs when there was no engine of prosperity. Government produces nothing, and must tax those who are productive and profitable in order to have any money at all. Remove productivity and profit, and the whole system falls apart.

Barack Obama promised that under his administration, healthcare would be guaranteed for all. In the former Soviet Union, there were hospitals, built and financed by the government, and healthcare professionals who were dependent on the government for their wages. When the government had no money to pay for either infrastructure or wages, healthcare became a hit and miss proposition. The government could not afford to provide dialysis for all, so the most politically powerful got healthcare and everyone else took what was left.

Barack Obama promised that the government would assure a good education for every child. In the former Soviet Union, everyone was guaranteed an education, but the government used standardized tests at various points to determine the right education track for each citizen. The government did not operate by enabling citizens to achieve the careers they dreamed of. Rather, the government determined what it needed and who would provide that. A little girl might dream of being a ballerina, but if the government thought she would be more useful as a hotel maid, that was her destiny.

Barack Obama promised to create jobs and hang on to them. In the former Soviet Union, everyone was guaranteed a job. What a deal. No unemployment. Why, even old women could have jobs sweeping streets and picking up trash. What everyone was not guaranteed was a wage. Furthermore, nobody guaranteed that the money received as wages was worth anything. When the government had money, the wage was paid. When it had no money, the wage was not paid. Everyone was employed, but many had no income.

Is this what we want in the USA? Do we really want the government to guarantee healthcare, education and jobs? If the government takes over all those roles, how will the government get enough money to provide the promised education, pay the people in those guaranteed jobs, to build the guaranteed hospitals? Do we really want to start standing in line for toilet paper from the government-authorized shipment?

I listened to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, and as I heard each promise, this is the image that came to mind. Barack Obama scares me, because I don’t think that even he realizes what he is leading us to. He really believes that he is called to save our country by making these impressive promises. He actually thinks he can craft programs that will deliver on the promises. I guarantee you that he cannot do it. Just look at the Soviet Union. That country was a complete laboratory for socialism. If you want to understand how a country works when government guarantees the citizens healthcare, education, and jobs then just look at the former Soviet Union.

The real lesson there is that the Soviet Union collapsed in seventy years. I would hate for the USA to spend seventy years experimenting with a concept that has already been proved to be doomed to fail. Be warned. Barack Obama cannot and will not deliver on his promises. All he can possibly do is bankrupt the country in a vain attempt to deliver. We dare not let Barack Obama win this election if we want a free and prosperous nation.

Do not ignore what the Democrat presidential candidate says. Pay close attention to Barack Obama --  the way you would pay close attention to a rattlesnake in the middle of your kitchen table.

 The US is currently at the mercy of a totally stupid policy regarding petroleum drilling. The right solution is DRILL HERE! DRILL NOW!

John McCain has announced his support for offshore drilling to tap petroleum sources which have been known for years. In 1981 the federal government prohibited states from allowing petroleum extraction offshore due to environmental concerns. In light of today’s technology which can reassure us that the environment is safe, even with oil wells in the sea, this moratorium looks silly. In light of the need for the US to be free of dependence on foreign sources of oil, this moratorium looks completely ridiculous.

Predictably, Obama has made fun of the whole idea. He continues to chant the mantra that development of additional resources only enriches evil oil companies. Obama would like to see all free enterprise ended, so any enterprise, be it oil or sliced bread, is anathema to him. He has no idea that additional oil in the marketplace would benefit all Americans for three big reasons: 1) developing the offshore oil resources available to the US would reduce our need to buy oil from other countries, always recognized as a good thing; 2) additional oil in the marketplace will work within the economic law of supply and demand to reduce the price of crude oil and ultimately the price of a gallon of gasoline, a beneficial outcome for every US citizen; and 3) any new profit for oil companies will enrich the retirement funds of millions of US citizens who are stockholders in oil companies, a very beneficial outcome. Obama also doesn’t care if this action would work with the law of supply and demand, or if stockholders would make money to support themselves in retirement. Obama is a socialist, so he has no regard for free enterprise or the freedom of citizens.

Support for offshore drilling is only halfway to a fully sane energy policy. McCain still needs to support drilling in ANWR as well. And while he is at it, he needs to support exploration and development in the Arctic, because if we don’t take action in that area soon, we will find ourselves forever shut out of mineral rights there. Many other countries, such as Russia, have already started looking for any minerals which might be found in that remote, frozen seafloor. It is completely short-sighted and stupid for the US to miss out on the benefits of exploration there.

And, oh, by the way. If we don’t drill offshore, that does not mean that there will not be offshore drilling. In collaboration with Cuba, the Chinese are preparing to drill off Florida’s coast right now. If the US wants the petroleum in the reserves under the sea off our coasts, the US needs to drill and recover it. It will not be allowed to sit there until we are good and ready. While we are dithering about the possibility of some environmental disaster if US companies drill, countries who could not care less about an environmental disaster off the coast of the US are going to drill and extract that oil. We can either get busy and get in on the action, or we can let other people do it, which means that we will need to buy that oil from other countries instead of buying it from our own domestic companies. Does this make sense? No. Absolutely not. It is a complete boondoggle.

Enabling US companies to drill for oil off the coast of the US is only half of the right solution to our oil problems. But hurray for half way. I am happy to see even a hint of progress in the right direction. I intend to let John McCain know how happy I am to see him take this position, and I hope you will do the same.

We citizens need to speak up, speak out, and shout in the ears of everybody in the federal government: Drill here. Drill now. Achieve energy independence for the USA.

Drill Here! Drill Now!