Now the inauguration is over, and an incredibly short honeymoon, I wanted to reflect on what has changed in our movement towards Constitutional Liberty and the care we must take in delivering our message. The day of the inauguration, and the day after, the web was alive with gloom and doom panic and conspiratorial fears and remnants of that despicable and evil character known as “party politics”. One forum I visit often, the Daily Paul, had post after post of “…this is the end of America” and “…hide your guns tomorrow” and the incessant hollering for the Supreme Court to declare Obama ineligible (I’m not commenting on the merit of that claim – but the Chief Justice wasn’t exactly standing up for the Constitution, as he was too busy screwing up the oath). Fox News spent the time finding flaws with everything and trying to hold on to a vestigial appearance of conservativism. The majority of the people in America were illogically hopeful, tearful, and star-struck – including the news outlets, every one of my friends, and every single person I work with.

What does it all mean? My response to many people, both verbal and in blog, was “It means nothing. Nothing has changed.” In truth, I was distressed that so many who claim to be part of the Freedom Movement still had that last step to take to be free from the chains of propaganda, to be truly “awake”. One year of patriots involved in the Ron Paul Campaign screaming from the rooftops that there was no difference between the two candidates, and we still cannot quite get past the labels and the ingrown fears. Now, to caveat my own statement, I am not saying that working within the Republican Party is a bad thing or that Ron Paul wasn’t offering the perspective of what the Republican Party “should be”. Quite the contrary for on a local level Republicans are much closer to the positions of people like me, a true conservative. On the federal level however, I see little difference. One party in Washington is open about large, overreaching federal government and the other party pretends to be the opposite – but always manages to cash in their consciences for compromise.

I recently read an article by David A. Patten on Newsmax titled “McCain Now Obama’s No. 1 Senate Ally”. The article describes, with quotes from his chief political advisor no less, of McCain continuing to be the bridge between the parties. One McCain quote in the article which he made after the confirmation of Secretary Of State Clinton: “”I remind all my colleagues: We had an election. I think the message the American people are sending us now is they want us to work together, and get to work,” he lectured.” After reading it I was reminded of Governor Jesse Ventura at the Rally for the Republic comparing the two aristocrat parties to professional wrestling. During the elections they appear adversarial, almost as though they have different philosophies. Now that the election is over it is back to compromising for the “good” of the country. At what point does compromise turn into capitulation? And, is the country the same as the Federal Government? And more importantly, who said compromise is a good thing? (Answer: In business or law when both parties get a portion of the money out of a rotten deal instead of settling for none and keeping true to their task)

Our job remains, our duty remains, to “wake” the people and to turn spiral-eyed sheep into thinking and reasonable citizens. There is much excitement over President Obama right now, and he has done some things in his first few days that appear to be positive steps. I personally think the little he has done is showmanship and nothing more. In the same week he signs an order to close Guantanamo, he bombs civilians in Pakistan (remember, our “ally”). I would say those two actions cancel each other out in relation to our foreign policy and how we are viewed in the Middle East. While he exclaims in his inauguration speech that we will be stalwart against terror and violence, he is mum on using phosphorous shells on civilians and children in Gaza, which we the American people supplied to Israel – not a word. While claiming to bring transparency to the White House, the second half of the bailout money (Obama voted for) is going to be given to the same people who are still under no requirement from Congress to fill us in on how the money is used, many of whom supplied the funds from bailout money for his inauguration parties. Nor, has Obama told his flock about the 1 trillion dollars in addition to the 700 Billion created by the Federal Reserve in monetized debt or how much inflation tax his new ‘stimulus’ package will cause or how much money will be needed for his pointless government work programs. At the same time he claims to want to draw down numbers in Iraq (16 months from now, maybe), he is increasing troop levels in Afghanistan by another 30,000.

When my friends asked me how I was feeling about the inauguration, I replied, “Pretty apathetic, just as if McCain had won – they are both neocons”. This, of course, brought inward gasps of disbelief. I do not have the answers and I do not know the best action to take. What I do know is that now the honeymoon is over and the miscreants in DC are doubling the national debt, you must do something, anything. Just writing your representatives is something. Joining us for End the Fed II is something. Writing editorials in support of state sovereignty is something. Otherwise, I will be here four years for now saying the same thing about a Republican.

In the interest of time and space, here is a list of what continues from Bush to Obama:

The President is still a neoconservative (a “fake” conservative)

The Patriot Act is still in effect

We will continue our interventions in Iraq & Afghanistan

We continue to encroach into Pakistan, with weekly bombings and civilian deaths

We still bailout banks with fake money

We still have a fiat currency in dire straights

We still have a messy and ineffective drug war

We still have black prisons in other countries and let others torture for us

We still give Israel all the bombs and weapons they need, at taxpayer expense

We still find it acceptable that Israel uses our munitions to kill children

We still tax and spend

We still struggle to retain our inalienable rights

We still have an overreaching federal government

And most importantly – We still must band together and do what we can to reawaken the ideals of the American Enlightenment.