Obamaville November 12 - If the eyes of the world are upon us - what must they think?

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In the past, I have mentioned how nearly 50% of the readers of the Coltons Point Times are from outside the United States.  The past week the top ten countries in terms of readers are 1. United States, 2. Ukraine, 3. Canada, 4. Ireland, 5. China, 6. Germany, 7. France, 8. Russia, 9. United Kingdom, and 10. Portugal.

Note that four of the top ten are English-speaking countries.  All the countries have been around for thousands of years except the USA and Canada, which are less than 500 years old.

All those ancient nations must be shaking their heads in dismay at the antics of the colonies here in America.  Oh we clearly are the crown jewel in the world when it comes to democracy but how our brand of democracy gets anything done, let alone is a world superpower, must stump the masses outside of here.

Take our political leadership, the dismal record of non-foreign policy over the two terms of the Obama presidency, and now our elections to replace Obama.  Here in the land of the free and home of the brave we have a timid president whose party has nearly crowned Hillary Clinton, their candidate to replace Obama.

Hillary is the same person who was First Lady when her husband, Bill Clinton got elected president thanks to Ross Perot, an Independent, nearly 24 years ago.  So a quarter of a century later, after Hillary served as Senator and Secretary of State for Obama, a time when we have one of the worst foreign policy messes in our history, she is the front runner for Democratic nominee.

Her husband might have been the first pot smoking baby boomer elected president, but Hillary is no spring chicken to politics.  If she is elected the 45th president of the United States, she would be 69 years old when she took office, and would be 77 years old at the end of two terms.

That would make her the second oldest person out of 45 people in our history, to ever become president, as Ronald Reagan was just eight months older than Hillary, he was also 69 when taking office and 77 when leaving.  Imagine that, Hillary the same age as Ronald Reagan when they were president.

Under Obama, the Democrats represented a new generation of hope for a new century.  I guess under Hillary the Democrats represent an old generation of fixing the mess of the younger generation.  Challenging Hillary is an avowed Socialist and Independent Bernie Sanders and if elected, Bernie will be the oldest person to serve as president.

In less than eight years the Democrats went from the party of the young generation and their hope for the future, to a party represented by a couple of old wheezers hoping to clean up after the Obama debacle.

And then, there is the Republican party, the Grand Old Party with a smorgasbord of extremely varied choices for whatever the palate might desire.  So many choices, in fact, it leaves most foreigners astounded and even our enemies wondering what in the world will happen next in America.

We have crazy populist outsiders, un-populist outsiders, even smart populist outsiders running for president and there are still more than a dozen others vying for attention.  The favorites are buried deep in single digits in the polls, while the radicals (anyone not part of the political establishment), seem to control over 50% of the voters.

In other words, the colonies are being the colonies, thinking they are anointed by God to save the world while often acting more like impertinent and spoiled children than saviors of the Earth.  It seems many people around the world still think America is the real wild west, full of gunslingers and bad guys.

Somehow, in spite of the problems and politics and personalities, America survives not because of the leaders but because of the Founding Fathers some 239 years ago.  They called for a revolution and adopted the tools to make it work, far into the future.

Armed with a couple of written documents called a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution, the latter of which took years to perfect before submitting it to the people, they put in place a living will of sorts for a nation.  Tools were incorporated into the documents to assure the principles of the New World could never be compromised nor hijacked by and political party or people.

Ours was the first Constitution in the world to be written in the first person present tense, to demonstrate the vitality of the concept of freedom and equality.  Methods to continually update the laws of the land and even amend the constitution were incorporated.

The power of the president and federal government were limited, states retained a major share of the power of the nation, and political leaders faced election and re-election in order to keep serving the nation.  If people grew tired of the progress, a mechanism was built in to allow them to vote out those they did not want.

Nothing like it ever existed before and somehow, through the insight of a group of men opposed to the lack of rights being granted by the King of England, declared independence and went to war against the most powerful force on Earth, the English Kingdom.

Against all odds and with a lot of help from Divine Providence, over the years the colonists succeeded.  After fighting off another invasion from the English and other wars, and then a painful civil war, the world finally needed the United States to rescue it in World War I and World War II.  Those wars and the phenomenal growth and innovation of the Americans resulted in America becoming a superpower.

Fast forward to today and we outlasted the only other superpower in the world, the Soviet Union, and now stand alone.  It was a pretty good set of documents put in place all those years ago and not only did the Declaration of Independence and Constitution persevere but the ensuing amendments, beginning with the Bill of Rights, strengthened the nation over time.

Paul Ryan new Speaker of the House

So my advice to the rest of the world is do not be overly concerned that Bush and Obama failed to solve the problems of the world.  Here in America when someone fails, a new group of leaders will be selected through our electoral process.  That is what we are experiencing with our current election.

Our system of governing incorporates a balance of power between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, civilian control of the military, and a distribution of power between the states and federal government.  It has flaws, but it also has the mechanisms to fix those flaws and that will happen as it always has throughout our history.

Whatever policy failures Obama had during his terms, they will be addressed by the next president and congress - that is what individual freedom and equality is all about.  So my advice it to sit back and enjoy the American electoral process, it is the silly season, and before it is through the people will speak.

For 239 years in the end the People have done the right thing for America and for America's role in the world.  As our most beloved 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, has reminded us:

 

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."

"Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.  Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors."

"I am a firm believer in the people.  If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis.  The great point is to bring them the real facts."

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