Hope and change

President Obama was elected with a promise of ‘Hope and change’. I must admit, I never thought that the hope and change that he would deliver would be as effective as it has been proven to be.

Hope is with us always. I don’t really need my leadership to express this concept very much. My oldest son has autism. I hope that he will become independent some day. I am working very hard to help him. The reality is that it is a very good possibility that he will NOT EVER be independent. Hope only goes so far.

President Obama has promised change. He is delivering. Our economic system is changing, drastically. Our financial problems were already present on the local, city, state and federal levels. Now our financial problems are going to be the cause of civil unrest within our own country. It is only beginning. And this ‘change’ is occurring in other parts of the world as well.

Just look at the Middle East. ‘Change’ is all over the place. A major problem is that ‘Change’ is not necessarily for the better. Islamic culture and democracy are not compatible. One major aspect of Islamic culture is a sense of superiority and privilege. A major symptom of superiority and privilege is a sensitivity to insult. And we all know how the Islamic world is sensitive to insult. I suspect that most of the ‘changes’ that we ultimately get ‘over there’ are going to be more hostility toward the U.S. than ever before. And what is starting this process of ‘change’ over there? One major reason is the rapid rise in the price of food. This is at a time when the U.S. government is encouraging third world countries to convert food into fuel. Good idea, turn a product that people can eat into something that they cannot. And burn lots of energy in the process.

It looks as if we are going to NEED hope more than ever. President Obama sees himself as having ‘saved us’ from the brink of economic collapse. By spending resources so far beyond our means that we have a distinct possibility of not ever being able to pay the interest on the debt, let alone the principal. This is bankruptcy. This is on the national level and we are supposed to be the economic engine of the world? I believe that this will result in a major regional, if not a world war. Change indeed. And we will need all kinds of hope because that will be all we will have left.