"Vigorously Marching Backwards!"

My father grew up during the great depression. He was the youngest of three sons of Italian immigrant parents, and didn’t have what one would consider an opulent life. Even though he didn’t have much, he said he enjoyed his life because of the family he grew up in. Both he and my grandmother told me stories of living with very little, yet still having a good life because of the hope they had living in America. They always believed they would do better because of America’s promise.

My Dad often told me that he wanted me to do better than he had, as his father told him the same thing. We always want more success for our children than we have experienced.

Historically, America has had successive generations that “out succeeded” the previous generation. As an agrarian nation, we produced more than anywhere else in the world; we are the “world’s breadbasket” even today. When America moved into the world’s industrial market, we skyrocketed to the top, both in quality and profit. After the Civil War, there wasn’t a nation on earth that wanted to enter into a conflict with the United States as their enemy; we were a force to be reckoned with. Invention and ambition made America the envy of the world. We made it a point to see that our populous was receiving an education so we could remain “the greatest nation in the world”. Many young minds rose to the apex of their chosen field, be it business, medicine, law or politics, America bred success. I grew up in the early 50s and 60s, which I believe were some of America’s most trying years, yet there were still men and women who reached beyond the times and achieved great success. Even the generation that spawned the “hippies” was doing better than their parents, a real tribute to the American way of life.

We are now in an economy that is said to be in recovery, although we still have an 8.7% unemployment average nationwide, and a debt larger than all previous debt combined. Currently, a study has shown that our personal income fell 6.7% since this so-called recovery. I think this is more like remission than recovery, and this economy is still pretty sick. If you add the figures from the beginning of the “recovery” to date, our collective loss is 9.9%; higher than the Jimmy Carter disaster.

Three years ago, Barack Obama touted “Hope and Change” and then proceeded to blame every economic mistake he has made on George W. Bush. Every government program that has failed have been under Barack Obama; every tax dollar that was flushed away by SOLYNDRA was because of Barack Obama; every affordable used car that was taken away from the working poor because of “Cash for Clunkers” rest on the shoulders of Barack Obama. The generation that is growing up under Barack Obama will not do as well as the previous generation because he has done his best to cut the testicles off of the American dream, while advancing a leftist agenda that is failing right before our eyes. If this generation is falling back, then what can be expected from a society that continues to follow the philosophy of Barack Obama? Are you better off than you were three years ago!