 Yes, the Walton family is wealthy. But how many families in America
have homes, cars, financial resources and some security because they
have a job the Walton family provides? Say what you will about the
salaries people at Wal-Mart take home, but if Wal-Mart was not there,
they would not take home anything. Many of them would perhaps not
even have a home. Before we castigate the Walton family, we need to
realize they are providing meaningful, honest and self-respectful
work for hundreds of thousands of people in our workforce.
Likely the president will be highlighting his mantra of disparaging
the rich with implications they don't deserve it, while those who did
nothing to receive it should have it instead. That "redistribution"
mentality is getting very tired and old. He really should think of
something else to blame for his poor performance on the economy. The
socialistic methods tried in other parts of the world that collected
the wealth from the rightful owners to transfer to the government
for their distribution as they saw fit simply has not worked very
well.
It works for some of course: those who are in power and can take
advantage of taking what they want and dispensing to whom they want.
They seem to be the ones living in the mansions, going around
in chauffeur-driven limos, vacationing in the world's glamorous
hot spots around the world and having the greatest parties for the
rich and famous. Come to think of it, we see our own salaried
politicians living lives of the pampered and adored. They are carted
around in armored vehicles, driven by underlings, cutting through
the lines, having streets cleared for them, protected by small
armies of security, flying across the country at whim in taxpayer
jets with fully stocked liquor cabinets and gathering overflowing war chests
of contribution cash that affords them the lifestyle of the rich
and famous.
Meanwhile, they want to place more attachments on the wealth of
those who really don't have it to bolster the entitlements for those
who consistently vote for them to retain their plush positions. Remember the quote from the
president that there would be no extra
expense through taxes for anyone making less than $250 thousand
a year. Guess what? That had the same level of truth as the
statement that you could keep your health insurance policy if you liked
it; you could keep your doctor if you wanted; and your premiums would
not be increased through "affordable" care.
The president's State of the Union speech will be filled with
examples of outlandishly wealthy people who are flying around in jets,
living in mansions, going on lavish vacations, gathering other rich
and famous people for lavish parties, while the "middle"-class people
and the poor people languish in much less desirable conditions,
working in the sweatshops owned by the ultra-rich, who don't deserve
it. At the same time he is saying those words, the television cameras
will be zooming in on the multi-millionaires who have been
politicians all their lives, sitting in that room and pretending to
identify with those who work at Wal-Mart.
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 The president will only voice lip-service with his concerns for
"job creation" and will blame the Republicans for not being on board
with his stimulus and redistribution plans. He will give us
statistics that only a few own the wealth in the land, while the many
are going without a livelihood to provide the basic necessities. He
will amass his army of those seeking economic relief to direct their
wrath toward the captains of industry, the Wall Street bankers, the
corporate CEOs and the risk-takers of business who are failing to
support a minimum wage of at least $10 per hour.
What you will not hear will be any specific recommendations to
lower taxes so that each citizen working will have more money in his
paycheck to feed his family. You will not hear of extending the free
market economy to expand the economy and grow jobs so that the
millions on food stamps and millions more who have run out of
unemployment compensation could get a job through a growing economy
so they don't have to depend on the government to help. You will
not hear anything said about bringing Canadian oil to the United
States by building the Keystone pipeline so that thousands of jobs
could be introduced into our sluggish economy.
Finally, you will not hear the president calling for a special prosecutor to
be named to investigate the president's
alleged abuse of power. There will be no suggested appointment of a
special prosecutor who would operate outside of the branches of
government, not being controlled by the executive, congressional or
judicial branches of government, to impartially investigate the
attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya. There will be nothing
said about the need for an investigation with autonomous powers to
enable them to act as an independent, self-regulating body to get to
the bottom of why a video was blamed for the deaths of the American
ambassador and three other American citizens, and why the secretary
of state stood with the family in front of the caskets and told them
about the video being the cause of their loved ones' death. No, those
requests will not be made, even though the questions without answers
swirl around the administration like a heavy weight.
The president in recent days has blamed his descent in the approval
polls on the American people because, in his opinion, they don't
like having a black president. He has cast his blame toward
conservative media networks and conservative radio talk-show hosts,
but he has failed to notice the real reasons for his fall from grace
with the American people.
As he looks around that packed House
chamber on Tuesday night during his State of the Union speech, he
will rehearse all of his failed policies that have not worked in the
past but will completely ignore the giant elephant in the room. And
that elephant in the room is not the number of Republicans sitting
on the other side of the aisle.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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