Everything Down Should Be Up….and Everything Up Should Be Down….

Simple questions / easy quiz for both Liberals and Conservatives.   If you care to be honest with yourself, you can answer these questions.

UPDATED:  2/20/2013

My Liberal friends hold the opinion (of course) that “the economy has improved” and specifically “how much better off we are” since Barack Obama who is now into the 5th year of his Presidency has been President. In the interest of keeping this concise and to the point, I would suggest to both Liberals and Conservatives that they look at the list of questions below and give no-excuse, honest answers to them.  They are very straightforward questions. These are not “trick” questions, each can be answered with a simple one word “yes, no, better, worse, up, down”, etc.  This game used to be called "20 Questions", but I cheated and made it 21.  Blue links can be clicked for details.

Since Barack Obama has become President of the United States:

1. Has he fixed Medicare? (which has been revealed to be going broke in 2016 by the actual  Trustees of Medicare ?  Yes? Or No?    Has he put out one......just ONE......single...proposal of his own to fix Medicare while telling everyone that any such proposal for a fix from Republicans will take it away from seniors?
2. Has he fixed Medicaide? (See the same timetable as Medicare for going broke) Yes? Or No?
3. Has he fixed Social Security? (add 5 years to the above timetable) Yes? Or No?  (See "one single proposal of his own in question 1)
4. Is the cost of filling your gas tank up? Or down?
5. Is the cost of food across the board up? Or down?
6. Are electricity rates and other energy costs rising? Or falling?
7. Has the cost of healthcare and insurance premiums, (which he definitively said would drop by $2500 a year as soon as the "tax" called "Obamacare" was passed) gone  Up? Or down?  Has he kept his promise that you can "keep your own policy if you want to" to millions of Americans?
8. Has the unemployment rate, which he confidently swore would never go above 8% (yet it spiked at 10.2%) under his watch and would be at 5.5% by the 3rd year of his Presidency ever gone BELOW 7.8% on his watch?    Yes? Or No?
9. Are race relations under President Obama’s watch better? Or worse?
10. Are we as Americans more defined by our race, our gender and who "has" and who "has not", or less so defined?
11. Since he nationalized student loans and the government subsidies to colleges have ballooned, allowing them to build more buildings , attract more students, staff more bloated Administration positions, then try to recoup those expenditures by raising tuition, (thereby increasing student debt and dependence on government loans) has the cost of education gone up?? Or down?
12. Since recent figures show that 50% of new college grads will be forced into low paying jobs, thereby making their student loans even MORE difficult to repay does the current job market and economic growth rate give them more hope for a brighter future for themselves and their families?   Or less hope?
13. Is the threat of nuclear war from rogue whack job states around the world that will not hesitate to use a bomb if they are able to acquire one, up? Or down?
14. Is the confidence of our closest friend and ally, Israel, (the only democracy in the Middle East), in American support up? Or down?
15. Has Obama’s policy of support for the so-called “Arab Spring” movement across the Middle East resulted in more security in that region? Or less?
16. After saying that all we needed to do was “negotiate with them”, are U.S. relations with Iran better? Or worse?
17. Are our borders more secured against illegal immigration, drug cartel violence, and terrorists strolling across almost at will? Or less? During those first four years of complete Democratic control of Congress did Obama put ANY immigration reform bill on the table at all?   Any????     Yes? Or No?
18.  Has the value of and the equity in your home and property:  Gone up?  Or Gone Down?
19.  As to regulations that govern how you will live your life, what kind of products you can buy, what ingredients your food may have in it, what sort of car you should own, what your children can eat at school, where you can build a home of your dreams, how much of the fruits of your labor (i.e.  your personal Liberty) belongs to YOU...and how much belongs to the Government, etc...etc....are there:  More regulations and taxes?   Or Less Regulations and taxes?
20.  The American dream is to be able to become anything you wish to become, as long as you are willing to work for it.  Under President Obama, do we reward that success and strive for it ourselves, or do we punish that success with excessive taxation, redistribution and prohibitive regulations?

And last.......but most certainly not least:

21.  Can you name one single thing that President Obama has done to advance the cause of Liberty either abroad (and no.....killing bin Laden doesn't count) , or here at home in America?  One thing that enlarges the circle of Liberty around us rather than shrinks it?

In October of 1980, a month before the election, Ronald Reagan said the following at the close of his debate with Jimmy Carter:  “Next Tuesday, most of you will go to the polls, and will stand there in the polling place and make a decision.  I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?   Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the store than it was four years ago?  Is there more, or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago?  Is America as respected throughout the world as it was four years ago? “    Obama loves to say that he inherited the "worst economy since the Great Depression", which of course is a lie, but then again he lies about everything because no one will call him on it.  By the 3rd year of his first term, Reagan had taken a MUCH worse economy than Obama "inherited" and had begun a massive turnaround.  Although we'd be very well served to remember Mr. Reagan's words today, 51% of the bedazzled voters unfortunately did not remember them in November of 2012.

There are of course, many more questions than these.  Ronald Reagan’s question then remains the fundamental question now.  And that question is “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”  The difference is that the American people need to substitute "five" for the word "four".

As the Obama "recovery" roars right along, it would also serve us well to be honest not only about not only what he "inherited", but what results his policies (yes...HIS policies, not George Bush's) have shown in taking it on for the past 5 years.  It would serve us well to be honest that feeble gains of 2% or less in growth are just that:  feeble and unsustainable when sustained growth of  5% to 7% (see the Reagan years)  is what would be required in order to enable growth out of a recession.   Finally, to also remember that these feeble gains are in spite of his polices, not as a result of them, because in the end we Americans by our nature just don’t want to be kept down, regardless of the boot of government on our necks.

What President Obama "inherited" was not the worst economy since the Great Depression.  What he "inherited" was the greatest nation on earth and the responsibility and HONOR of being the President of that nation.  The problem is, President Obama has taken ownership of neither.