CONDESCENSION (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

President Obama came into office in January 2009 with an approval rating of about 70%. That number is now in the low- to mid-40s. The President’s policies and his inability to show leadership in critical areas have contributed to a feeling of discontent among a majority of voters. Democrats in Congress running for reelection are so concerned about voter frustration with their leadership’s policies that they refuse to embrace the key legislative achievements of the Obama Administration; e.g., the GM/Chrysler take-over, ObamaCare, the Stimulus Package.

This should be a wake-up call for Democrats. Instead, the President continues a pattern of behavior viewed as condescending to Americans who question his policies. This past weekend President Obama raised $900,000 at a Boston fundraiser attended by well-heeled donors. That’s okay. Presidents often raise funds from wealthy donors. But what isn’t okay is the language he used to describe the “problems” of the American people. As writer Peter Wehrner put it, President Obama “faulted the economic downturn for Americans’ inability to ‘think clearly’ and said the burden is on the Democrats ‘to break through the fear and the frustration people are feeling.’

The people I know think very clearly and have very specific reasons for voting against the policies of this Administration. Their fear is that President Obama and his minions will continue to place the boot of government on the neck of America’s entrepreneurs; that massive regulations and tax increases will choke off innovation and threaten our free market system. The elitist mindset of Pelosi and others that “we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” is an anathema to a free people. On November 2, we hope you will join the throngs of concerned voters who will “think clearly” and “vote clearly” to put America back on track. 

Jim Littlejohn

PROGRESSIVISM OR REGRESSIVISM? (Letter to the Independent Coast Observer)

Many people see the upcoming election as a contest between parties and personalities; with unemployment and a sagging economy weighing heavily upon our national psyche, we struggle to determine which candidates can best address these issues and lead us to a brighter future.

Perhaps equally worthy of contemplation is the question of whether America’s great economic and social freedoms should continue to be eroded by progressive (a.k.a. liberal) policies.

Modern day progressivism is a social and political philosophy that places absolute faith in centralized planning and has a seemingly insatiable appetite for expanding government and redistributing income.  It seeks to replace individual responsibility and choice with unprecedented government control over the lives of all Americans. 

In the past two years, we’ve seen the Obama administration essentially take over major private sector entities; e.g., health care, banking, housing, student loans and the auto industry. Remember early on when bureaucrats decided which car dealerships would be closed regardless of their profitability?

This administration’s economic stimulus package of almost $1 trillion promised shovel-ready jobs and no more than 8% unemployment. Instead, we’ve seen unemployment figures climb from 4.6% (when the Democrats took over Congress in 2007) to 9.6% today—with no improvement in sight. 

Recently Los Angeles County audited its spending of $111 million of taxpayer stimulus money and found that only 55 jobs were created.  That’s over $2 million dollars per job! This is not atypical; hundreds of similar situations have been documented across the nation. In June, the government issued an all-time record 41.3 million food stamps. As one politician aptly pointed out, “Democrats have become the party of food stamps, not paychecks.”

Today’s progressives want an army of bureaucrats making decisions for us.  That’s not the way of a free people.  Let’s choose freedom in November.

Jim Littlejohn

WHO IS THIS GUY? (Letter to the Independent Coast Observer)

Wow.  Who is this Jim Littlejohn guy?  Judging by the torrent of sarcasm and scorn generated by his recent contributions to The Fence Post, he must be some kind of racist, right-wing lunatic in hiding, or – at the very least – a sloppy, retired bureaucrat taken to writing crazy letters as a hobby.   

That’s hardly the Jim I know.  I’ve found that some of the most accomplished citizens of the coast are loathe to advertise achievements of their past and reluctant to take a public stand on current events.  So let me tell you about the person accused of “scamming us” with whatever “nutso arguments” pop into his “misguided brain.”  

Jim’s work in the federal civil rights arena cut across political administrations and spanned the liberal/conservative spectrum, from Johnson to Nixon to Carter to Reagan to Bush to Clinton.  Over his 28-year career he championed causes that included school desegregation, gender equity issues, and equal educational opportunities for Blacks, Hispanics, other national origin minorities, students with limited English proficiency and disabilities.  Among his many awards are a coveted Presidential Award (Bush I) and an Al Gore Vice Presidential Award (Clinton II).  Many innovative investigative procedures, remedies, policies and programs he developed are still currently in use.

That’s the “energized kooky conservative” whose words resonate with this voter.  

At last – someone with the guts to present facts seldom acknowledged by the “progressives” in this cloistered community who profess to represent the will of the majority.  

A September 21 Reuters/Ipsos poll reported that sixty-one percent of US voters believe our country is on the wrong track, and that these figures have held steady since February.   Now THAT sounds like a majority to me.

Concerned Coastal Voters?  Count me in, Jim.

Linda Clyne