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ENLARGE
THEN AND NOW
Edna Van Leuven
Recently I read a book by Carline Kent. Some of what she said is as follows:
“Courage is admitting that you’re afraid and facing that fear directly. It’s being strong enough to ask for help and humble enough to accept it. Courage is standing up for what you believe in without worrying about the opinions of others. It’s following your own heart, living your own life, and settling for nothing less than the best for yourself. Courage is daring to take a first step, a big leap, or a different path. It’s attempting to do something that no one has done before, and all others thought impossible. Courage is keeping heart in the face of disappointment, and looking defeat not as an end but as a new beginning. It’s believing that things will ultimately get better even as they get worst.”
I haven’t a racist bone in my body. My best friend in grammar school was Harriet Wright, who was black as were the many boys who came to our home in Ambler as I raised my five boys. I came from a place and during a time when people sometimes used the “N” word for blacks, and words for Italians, Irish, Jews and other ethnic groups. I remember how my sister and I hated those degrading words, but that was how it was “back then.” I remember the horror I felt - while living in Montgomery, Ala., for six months in 1944 — at those “White Only” signs, and “Colored Not Allowed.” It was ugly, and it was awful.
My dislike for Obama is not based on the color of his skin but on his policies, lack of executive experience,and his personal, questionable associations. Regardless of what anybody says, one of the reasons he was elected was because of his race. I thought America was beyond this issue? In talking to a great number of people, I found that all too many voted for Obama just because they didn’t like Bush.
Not many did.
I’m a Republican, and I’m furious with Bush; but McCain wasn’t Bush. Then there are the millions who voted for a “Change.” We all wanted a “Change.” I asked these people what they knew about Obama’s plans. They couldn’t answer me; they had no idea what he stood for, and — unfortunately — what he plans on doing to our country.
If you want to read something that explains exactly why this presidency may be a disaster, read Paul Weyrich’s article in the Nov. 12 LVN. This a part of what he says, and I paraphrase ... “Expect an aggressive push to nationalize health care and erode private health care coverage.
In order to pay for this new spending, the Obama administration is likely to seek to raise taxes significantly. This may include massive increases in the Death Tax, the Capital Gains Tax, Income Taxes and Corporate Taxes, among others. Such increase would cripple our economy, diminish growth, make goods and services more expensive, and lower the standard of living for all Americans.
Economically, we will also suffer if the majority tries to re-impose bans on drilling for oil and natural gas off our coasts. We are sitting on a wealth of energy resources, which could help make us more energy independent, and allow us to stop sending American dollars to tyrants who hate us and oppress their own people. If Congress and the new president re-impose this ban, it would set us back decades in the realm of energy. This election also decreases any prospect for building nuclear power plants.
In the area of defense and foreign relations, it is difficult to predict how the new Congress and president will handle the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The consequences of an unsuccessful retreat would be staggering for our national security interests at home and abroad.
Regimes in Russia, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and elsewhere hate us.
Any sign of weakness would give the upper hand to them and allow them to dictate the dialogue.”
For those of you who voted for Obama and real “Change,” we already see many of the former Clinton aids returning to office. We have a president-elect that, were he an ordinary citizen, could not get a secret security clearance based on his past dubious associations like Bill Ayers. I sincerely hope that many of you don’t one day look back thinking, “What in the world did we do?”
Thankfully, I won’t lose any sleep knowing one of those votes wasn’t mine.
Edna Val Leuven is a Churchill County resident. Her column appears in Sunday’s LVN.
“Courage is admitting that you’re afraid and facing that fear directly. It’s being strong enough to ask for help and humble enough to accept it. Courage is standing up for what you believe in without worrying about the opinions of others. It’s following your own heart, living your own life, and settling for nothing less than the best for yourself. Courage is daring to take a first step, a big leap, or a different path. It’s attempting to do something that no one has done before, and all others thought impossible. Courage is keeping heart in the face of disappointment, and looking defeat not as an end but as a new beginning. It’s believing that things will ultimately get better even as they get worst.”
I haven’t a racist bone in my body. My best friend in grammar school was Harriet Wright, who was black as were the many boys who came to our home in Ambler as I raised my five boys. I came from a place and during a time when people sometimes used the “N” word for blacks, and words for Italians, Irish, Jews and other ethnic groups. I remember how my sister and I hated those degrading words, but that was how it was “back then.” I remember the horror I felt - while living in Montgomery, Ala., for six months in 1944 — at those “White Only” signs, and “Colored Not Allowed.” It was ugly, and it was awful.
My dislike for Obama is not based on the color of his skin but on his policies, lack of executive experience,and his personal, questionable associations. Regardless of what anybody says, one of the reasons he was elected was because of his race. I thought America was beyond this issue? In talking to a great number of people, I found that all too many voted for Obama just because they didn’t like Bush.
Not many did.
I’m a Republican, and I’m furious with Bush; but McCain wasn’t Bush. Then there are the millions who voted for a “Change.” We all wanted a “Change.” I asked these people what they knew about Obama’s plans. They couldn’t answer me; they had no idea what he stood for, and — unfortunately — what he plans on doing to our country.
If you want to read something that explains exactly why this presidency may be a disaster, read Paul Weyrich’s article in the Nov. 12 LVN. This a part of what he says, and I paraphrase ... “Expect an aggressive push to nationalize health care and erode private health care coverage.
In order to pay for this new spending, the Obama administration is likely to seek to raise taxes significantly. This may include massive increases in the Death Tax, the Capital Gains Tax, Income Taxes and Corporate Taxes, among others. Such increase would cripple our economy, diminish growth, make goods and services more expensive, and lower the standard of living for all Americans.
Economically, we will also suffer if the majority tries to re-impose bans on drilling for oil and natural gas off our coasts. We are sitting on a wealth of energy resources, which could help make us more energy independent, and allow us to stop sending American dollars to tyrants who hate us and oppress their own people. If Congress and the new president re-impose this ban, it would set us back decades in the realm of energy. This election also decreases any prospect for building nuclear power plants.
In the area of defense and foreign relations, it is difficult to predict how the new Congress and president will handle the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The consequences of an unsuccessful retreat would be staggering for our national security interests at home and abroad.
Regimes in Russia, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and elsewhere hate us.
Any sign of weakness would give the upper hand to them and allow them to dictate the dialogue.”
For those of you who voted for Obama and real “Change,” we already see many of the former Clinton aids returning to office. We have a president-elect that, were he an ordinary citizen, could not get a secret security clearance based on his past dubious associations like Bill Ayers. I sincerely hope that many of you don’t one day look back thinking, “What in the world did we do?”
Thankfully, I won’t lose any sleep knowing one of those votes wasn’t mine.
Edna Val Leuven is a Churchill County resident. Her column appears in Sunday’s LVN.
