Change? What change?

After 911 President Bush was accused loudly and often of using the tragedy as a means to forward his political agendas. I would like to say that President Obama (agree or disagree with the man, the office deserves respect) is living up to his promise to bring change to politics, but he and his administration are continuing the tradition started long before the Bush administration - the biggest differences between when Bush did it after 911 and Obama doing it now is, President Obama is openly admitting it, and no one is screaming foul the they did when Bush was doing it. In fact using a bad situation to further political ends appears to be not just A tactic, but THE tactic of this administration.

“Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” Mr. Emanuel said in an interview on Sunday. “They are opportunities to do big things.” This from the NY Times.

Speaking to young Europeans on March 6th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "Never waste a good crisis."

In his radio broadcast the same day, President Obama said (more wordily) with great crisis comes great opportunity.

These statements set the stage for the Obama administrations economic restructuring of the U.S. And no time is being wasted to set that restructuring in motion. In his podcast of March 7th, President Obama briefly discussed his desire for healthcare reform, and it's importance to the economic recovery of the U.S. The problem is, healthcare reform is not important to our economic recovery. Our current economic situation is directly due to bad practices in the financial sector. The healthcare industry has little or nothing to do with it. In fact, nationalizing healthcare will require increased government spending and increased taxes. Both practices put a damper on investment, research, and economic growth. In the same speech quoted earlier, Hillary Clinton sees this as a time to force industry to reduce greenhouse gases. At a time when the U.S. and world economy is reeling, the billions of dollars needed to do this will not be easy to find, if they can be found at all.

It becomes obvious that the Obama administration is not trying to devise an economic recovery, but to force social change, regardless of the effect on the economy. In fact, a large part of the plan seems to be to remove money and freedom from the taxpayer and use it to give the government as much control over both industry and individuals as can be managed while appearing to most that the idea is to return things to the way they were, but without the risk of another economic disaster.

The most frustrating thing is that the American people could put a stop to this, if they were paying attention, but they're not. Being people, the majority just want to live their lives with as little muss and fuss as possible. If they bother to vote, they vote for someone who sounds like he will keep things going, and then ignore him until the next election. Come on people, you have the power, USE IT!