Wake Up America!

WARNING! POLITICAL CONTENT! CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK! (and perhaps at mine)

Those of you who know me well, realize that the title of today’s blog comes from one of my favorite radio personalities, Earl Pitts (American). Earl was one of the alter egos of Radio personality Gary Burbank who recently retired from broadcasting after many years of entertaining programming on Cincinnati’s radio station 700 WLW. Earl was, well how should I put this… a red neck, and he certainly had a unique way of looking at the world, and even though he was very much over the top, he was a source of laughter for many years.

Ok, Now to the political content.

I read an article recently in the Wall Street Journal by Jeffery Scott Shapiro who is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004. Shapiro’s article is entitled, “The Treatment of Bush has been a Disgrace: What Must Our Enemies Be Thinking?” He begins his article by saying; “Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html

My purpose today is not to defend President Bush, history will make its own judgments just as it has on every President who has ever served this country, but rather to say that if we don’t change the way that we treat each other, and talk to each other, if we don’t begin to put our world view’s aside and understand that we are all on the same team, then we as a nation shall indeed perish. “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)

I have never in my life, seen such a constant tearing down of a President or leader of our nation as I have seen done to President Bush. Admittedly, perhaps the same thing was done to President Clinton, but I don’t believe that it reached the same level, however, if it did, it only goes to prove my point.

I talk to teachers who say that children no longer have respect for teachers or authority, I have ridden along with police officers and watched as young kids, with only a learners permit have been pulled over because of questionable behavior, given a warning, and told to go home (it was 1:00 AM), who an hour later were still out cruising around. How times have changed, had I been pulled over at 16, I would have thanked God for not having to explain a ticket to my Dad, said to my friends “that’s enough ‘fun’ for one night” and simply GONE HOME. We wonder what has happened, and why children don’t have respect, perhaps it is because there is little or no respect for anyone, at any level in this country.

Shapiro continues in his article by saying, “It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.” Shapiro is right, Bush is called a liar and a war criminal, just to name a few which can be posted on a family blog, he has been blamed for bad weather, the economy, the failure of the automotive industry, and a thousand other things that he had absolutely no control over.

I watch, with disgust, News broadcasts such as MSNBC which don’t even attempt to be fair or journalistic in nature with commentators such as Keith Olbermann and Rachael Madow, who gleefully condemn every action ever taken by our president, calling him the "Worst Person in the World" night after night, and then only interviewing guests with the same political perspective, without even the slightest attempt to be balanced. I then listen to these same people condemn Fox News for being “in the tank” for Bush and McCain. Once again, I am certainly not making an attempt to defend Fox News. I am quite willing to admit that their coverage does tend to be much more conservative in nature. However, as someone who tends to be more conservative myself, it is the only network that makes any attempt, In my humble opinion, to even try to be fair to President Bush. I don’t hear anyone from the liberal side admitting that MSNBC is as far left as Fox is right.

It is this inability to step back and view the world from a neutral world view that most alarms me. If we did, we could see the good that George Bush has done, as well as the mistakes that he and his administration have made, and we would also be willing to see the media for what it is, rather than trying to say that Fox is biased because you disagree with them while trying to maintain that the other News programs (MSNBC in particular, but many others aren’t much better) are unbiased simply because you tend to agree with what they are saying.

We will be inaugurating a new President, Barrack Obama, in just a few short months. The weight of the world will fall to this mans shoulders. Challenges are approaching that we can not even imagine, and we have a choice to make. Do we continue the partisan politics of the past? (Let’s watch and see what happens with Joe Lieberman) Will those who are in power now, (Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reed) continue to blame George Bush for every problem we face as a nation for months and years after he is gone, not willing to take ANY responsibility themselves for our challenges, even though they have been in power in the House and Senate for 2 years. Are the House and Senate going to spend countless hours and millions of our tax dollars conducting investigation after investigation of President Bush’s administration, when they should be spending their time working to solve the challenges we are facing? (my prediction is yes) Will, President Obama be as vilified as President Bush was? (I pray not)

Only time will tell, I pray for President Bush and President elect Obama every day. These men have an awesome, overwhelming responsibility that we can not even begin to imagine. I call on everyone, regardless of your party affiliations to support our new president where you can, and when you don’t agree, do so in a civil and respectful manner. A house divided can not stand, and we as a nation can not continue divided much longer.

Wake Up America!

Blessings