February 6, 2014 Page 5 One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion By Gerry Chong made a campaign contribution to an old “Government is not reason, it is not college classmate. Would the IRS have eloquence- It is force. Like fire, it is a charged him if he were Michael Moore? dangerous servant and a fearful master.” Reuters reported that The Privacy and Civil – George Washington Liberties Oversight board, a governmental “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent agency, on January 23 found that the daily form of government. It can only exist until spying on billions of Americans’ phone calls, the voters discover they can vote themselves the 600,000 address books, the 500,000 largesse from the public treasury. From that electronic “buddy lists” and 200 million text moment on, the majority always votes for the messages collected daily by the NSA have candidates promising them the most benefits had “minimal” impact on counterterrorism from the public treasury, with the result that efforts and are illegal, but the Administration a democracy always collapses over a loose ignored the report. fiscal responsibility, always followed by a A special review panel appointed by dictatorship. – Alexander Tyler, 1770 Obama last year to investigate NSA phone “I have a pen and I have a phone, and I hacking recommended 46 actions to limit can use that pen to sign executive orders.” NSA’s spying power and recommended – Barack Obama, 2014 court approval on a case-by-case basis, So has the tyranny begun? In August, but few of the recommendations have been 2011, S&P downgraded U.S. debt from AAA implemented. to AA+. Two days later, Barack Obama’s In fact the spying has become more Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, taught pervasive and sophisticated, extending to the the Chairman of S&P’s parent, Harold spying on game apps on cell phones to build McGraw, about the Chicago way. In a profiles of the game players. Now a person sworn affidavit, McGraw stated Geithner can not only be tracked by his cell phone, told him his deed would not go unpunished. but also profiled by the games he plays on it. “You have done an enormous disservice to In 2011, there were 266 applications for yourself and your country” and that S&P’s drones to be flying over the U.S., but by conduct would be looked at very carefully.” 2013 the projection is that within 10 years Only S&P among the three credit rating there could be 30,000 drones directed by agencies downgraded U.S. debt, and only the Pentagon, viewing any and every aspect S&P was sued in 2013 for $5 billion by the of our physical life. Under Federal law, Obama Administration for fraud. Chicago anything seen by the drones can be kept comes to Washington, D.C. for 90 days, evidently without violating the Dinish D’Souza, author of the anti-Obama Constitution’s Fourth Amendment banning book Obama’s America, is now a Federal illegal search and seizure. target, being charged with laundering So Washington can roll over in his grave. $10,000 in political campaign contributions. Tyler can nod an “I told you so,” and Obama It turns out he loaned to his fiancée, who can continue until 2016. • Time for the Leaders in D.C. to Grow Up By Cristian Vasquez The State of the Union was televised last week and despite knowing that President Obama’s speech would sound like every other State of the Union address that he has delivered, I decided to watch. Was I disappointed? Not really. Was I surprised? Was I inspired? Did it restore my faith in our nation’s leaders? Sadly, none of the above occurred. It is unfortunate that the most entertaining part of the President’s speech was watching Speaker of the House John Boehner not react to most of what the President said while Vice President Joe Biden applauded everything our Commanderin Chief said. It is impossible to have everyone agree on anything at any given point in time. Figuring out where to go have lunch with my ex-girlfriend was a challenge of epic proportions at times, so I won’t be too harsh on Washington’s inability to hammer out all of the problems facing the nation on a first try. Not everything President Obama has done or said has been to my liking, but neither were the actions of President Bush or President Clinton or President Reagan. However, what is troubling and sad is the unwillingness and inability of these grownups, who were elected to do a job, to better cooperate with each other. Both sides have displayed such an unwillingness to even consider what the other side of the aisle has to say that we have become accustomed to the gridlock in D.C. We have become so used to it that we as a nation sat and simply accepted the government shutdown. There are many examples of former presidents willing and capable to negotiate under the most divisive of conditions. All it took was good will and flat out honesty. The behavior of VP Biden and Speaker Boehner demonstrate the willingness of our elected officials to first rally behind their party than their constituents. The behavior of our leaders is not only pathetic, but a failure at fulfilling the duties for which they were elected to complete. We are all members of this very diverse world where we interact with a myriad of people, all with different opinions, goals and methods to achieving said tasks. Despite those differences, we all manage to wake up every day, go to work and do our part to be productive members of society. With the exception of a few stragglers, we are all capable of getting along with each other and at least display a basic level of respect toward other people. Even in those cases where neighbors, coworkers or classmates don’t like each other, grown-ups are capable of getting past pettiness for their own mental well-being and for the sake of moving forward with life. So if we can look past our differences and manage to overcome them with the people we encounter every day, why can’t the suits on Capitol Hill do the same? The party pandering in D.C. is pathetic and displays the childlike behavior that has gridlocked our nation’s leadership. • Enjoy a good read with your morning coffee... Subscribe to one of Herald Publications weekly newspapers. 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