Maggie's Farm

Thank you for sending me a letter written by what many people would call an "average" American. He speaks about a number of issues pertinent to the conservative base, issues like entitlement, free enterprise, and Barack Obama's track record of facilitating bad home loans while working with corrupt community-organizing organizations. I'd like to address some of these issues from what I guess is the "liberal" point of view considering that my views oppose Mr. Miller's, but as you read my replies please try to evaluate them objectively. Perhaps there is something to them, perhaps not, but please don't discount them solely because I am a young American college student living in California.


Mr. Miller's discussion is mostly based on his opinion that Americans have become increasing dependent on their government for help (He never mentions when this trend began, only that it currently plagues us). It is probably safe to say that he is concerned specifically with the country's tendency to seek FINANCIAL support from the government, be it direct or otherwise. So then, he probably isn't a proponent of Welfare, of Food Stamps, of Medicaid, and he must certainly be no fan of programs designed to ensure that all Americans have as close to equal access to bank and home loans (financial tools he admits were vital to his business' development). All the people who are able to stay afloat (and alive in some cases) because of programs like Medicaid and Welfare would be left to their own devices in Mr. Miller's world. But nonetheless, Mr. Miller holds to his philosophical stand against all forms of "BIG" government interference because he believes there is a fundamental causal relationship between increased government support and the decline of American values: i.e. the more a government interferes into its citizens' lives, the more harm that government will inflict on the necessary values of free-enterprise and self-reliance. "Grab your Gun and get into the fight," I can imagine him saying.

OK, let's talk about this philosophical dynamic Mr. Miller has presented to us. What are these values really? How do they hold up in certain situations (like the one in which we currently find ourselves), and what do they tell us about ourselves as a people? If it is true that the presence of handouts entices our society into giving up our "American values" of self-reliance and free-enterprise, then perhaps these values aren't as strong and ubiquitous as we seem to think they are. I mean, if these two values are truly "values" in the sense that we as a people, as a country, as a government, hold them faithfully through times good and bad then we should see even those Americans reeling from the current financial crisis turn a blind eye to government support. We should see banks take responsibility for their failed policies and proudly walk out of their skyscrapers knowing that opportunity awaits them around the corner so long as they stick to their "values". We should see those who have defaulted on their mortgages living proudly in tents or RVs or whatever it is that they have left because they know their "values" will get them through this tough phase.

But the bankers aren't holding their chest high, waiting to rebuild. They are in Washington asking for help from the only entity left in the world with the capacity to help them resolve their troubles. We don't see families living proudly and defiantly with relatives in other cities, in shelters or in portable housing. We see them heartbroken, with tears in their eyes and sobs in their voices when they discover that they will no longer be living in the home where many raised a family, where their lives were defined, built. I know some of you are thinking that the banks only went under because the "liberal" wing of government made them give loans to risky borrowers. I'll address that issue more fully later. Let's stick to the discussion of American spirit for now. My point is this: While we are all Americans, we are human first. Every person faces times in their lives when they need someone to turn to, and in instances when there is no one to turn to, when your credit is ruined for whatever reason and the bank won't give you any more money, when your friends and relatives have nothing to give because they too are suffering the blows of financial turmoil, when you have lost your job to cheap labor overseas, and/or when you just aren't making enough from all the work you are producing, it is the DUTY of us all as a nation to lend a hand to those among us who have fallen on hard times. If we do not feel compelled to help our fellow CITIZENS, our brethren, our blood, then we as a people are not a nation, but a collection of individuals living amongst each other, separate and not overall concerned with our neighbor's well-being. I say if anyone is entitled to anything, it is these people who are suffering. They are ENTITLED to some care from a neighbor, a friend, their government, and best of all, a total stranger (a Samaritan you might say).


But we do not feel like helping these people who are suffering by first building a strong government who can support them. We have a tendency to look out for ourselves, just as our friend Ayn Rand would have us do. Our nation was founded on such principles of individuality, where everyone can be as they care to be. But this idea of individuality carried with it implicit ideas of community, for it seems safe to say that an individual cannot prosper without the support of a community of fellow individuals working to maintain their rights and freedoms. In order for us all to be individuals, we must be closer knit than other nations, not more divided. We cannot be rabidly individualistic and maintain a fabric of unity at the same time. We must be citizens of a nation first, and individuals living amongst each other second. The idea is "Be an individual while helping others maintain their individuality" not "Be an individual and forget to care about other individuals". An easy step toward building a strong community in which individuals can thrive is making sure that all the people in that community are capable of educating their children, of living in decent, secured housing, and of having a sure job. But before we can take steps to ensure any of these ends we must first want to be a community.
So, Mr. Miller, when you speak to others about entitlement, about the failing American values you see all around you, don't forget to mention how far we have faltered from the fundamental principles any society must rely on to makes it way in the world, don't forget to mention how we lack a sense of community that is necessary for individual growth. Moreover, Mr. Miller, I find it hard to believe that a man like yourself, who knows how hard it can be to make it in the world, wouldn't want to see people in situations like the one in which you found yourself early on assisted in some capacity. I mean, wouldn't it have been nice if you could have gotten to where you are now without having to go through as much of the hardship that you went through? Or do you wish the same hardship on all those fighting to get to where you are now? You should consider yourself a blessed man to have reached your level of accomplishment, blessed and lucky. For every one of you there are another five who cannot make it.

Please do not mistake what I say as a blatant endorsement of Socialism or anything of the sort. There is a place for competition and self-improvement in every society. We know that when these drives are removed people tend to work less. But I don't think we must make it as hard as we make it on people who want to succeed. We don't have to be in a state of total competition in order to maintain our drive of self-improvement and free enterprise. Nations like Britain and Scandinavia (as a whole) see to it that every citizen in their nations is endowed with certain rights so that they may make an easier way of it in the world They are given health care, public transportation, and other public utilities so that they will have less to worry about. We too deserve these things.
So now when we talk about entitlement, let's talk about our being entitled to reasonable health care prices, to lawmakers and government officials who are accountable for their decisions in office, to help when we are at our worst.

Finally, the Act Mr. Miller claims has been a detriment to our nation's values and which he cites as evidence of Senator Obama's poor judgment because the Senator voted to uphold it deserves to be fully disclosed. It is called the Community Reinvestment Act and it was first enacted during the Carter years as a measure to prevent banks from charging black and Hispanic borrowers higher interest rates than whites of similar socioeconomic standing. It has survived through Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Even Reagan, the godfather of modern conservatism, didn't think it fit to take it off the books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act#Legislative_changes_1989
And, Senator Obama's ties with ACORN came mostly when he defended them in a trial in the early 90's. That is ALL! He is not working for them incognito, he is not trying to take over the world, and he is not the messiah, but he IS damn smart. He did graduate from Harvard Law School and teach Law at the University of Chicago (not a shabby institution by any stretch of the imagination).


I am so serious when I say that this election is about much more than who will be president for the next four years. We are currently on the brink of some serious issues, both financial and philosophical. Many experts, including the former Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office (essentially the nation's accountant) David Walker predict that we cannot keep in our current trend of spending. Some of you will say 'But wait, Obama wants to spend an additional 700 Billion a year' or whatever the figure is. 'Where will we get this money?' you ask. We will get it back from Iraq where we have been fighting for over four years without any sign of returning home. You will say, 'But we can't leave now, the place is a wreck'. It was already a wreck when we got there, not because of Saddam Hussein's harsh tactics, but because it is an a nation built on arbitrary beginnings (Side note: Iraq's present boundaries were the result of haphazard districting of the Middle East by European nations after the First World War. They never took the ethnic and religious demographics of the region into consideration when they created Iraq, and thus it is no wonder that a man like Saddam Hussein was welcomed to power; only a man as harsh as him could have brought relative peace to a nation divided by 3 distinct groups, two of which have been embattled in serious religious debate and war for at least 500 years). Now that they have an army of over a hundred thousand men, a legislature, and relative peace, don't you think we ought to come home? They do not want us there anymore. There was a rally held in the streets of Baghdad a couple of weeks ago protesting our presence there. We are no longer wanted there. I ask you to consider whether you are a citizen of the American nation or of the American empire, because by definition peaceful nations do not impose their military power on other nations who have not provoked war.
The evidence is in, and we as a nation have made some tremendous blunders. I'm not saying President Bush is totally to blame. He has been asked to make some of the toughest decisions of any president ever. But we are not in a good way, and we need someone like Barack Obama, a man with a solid vision, the knowledge, the demeanor, with NEW ideas, and with the will power to help us rise through this mess. We cannot be individuals right now, just like we couldn't be individuals during the last Depression that rocked this country. When you are casting your ballots tomorrow, remember that John McCain will not help the majority of Americans through this, He will impose Trickle-down economics just like Bush has, he will deregulate our economic infrastructure just like Bush has, and all these policies will fail us again, just as they fail us now. Its not that Senator McCain's ideas don't make sense: They do in fact make sense, in theory. In reality however they have failed to achieve their goals. We need something new, we need something fresh, we need Barack Obama.

Nothing personal Mr. Miller. I have great respect for your accomplishments, but not for your political philosophy. What we take to the polls in our hearts and minds reflects our morality, and I believe it is time we give those morals a thorough going over.

Make it out tomorrow if you haven't already,
-A Texan in California