Pat Dollard | Young Americans

I watched Barack Obama stroll out to the podium for his first post-election press conference today, and as he slithered up I studied the faces of his “Transition Team.”

Then I looked at his face, and at the face of Rahm Emanuel, his Chief of Staff.

In Hebrew Barack means Lightning and Rahm means Thunder.

And I studied their faces, their demeanors, their…spirits.

I honestly felt…strange. I had the unmistakable impression that these two people were up there, fully under the belief that they had “arrived,” that they now had it made. That they would be the cocks of the walk.

The guests in the penthouse. To be lavished with gifts and grapes and harlots and pillow chocolates.

Which is the complete opposite of all our Founding Fathers had in mind with regard to these positions, and the entire idea of Public Service.

These two were not there to serve. They were there to get what they could. To reap the benefits of their lofty positions. To exercise power like no other Americans have the ability to exercise.

To be Masters of the Universe, instead of Servants of the People, and Defenders of the Constitution.

You see the lightning first, it flashes, it blinds, it causes a reaction in the human spirit of awe and wonder.

Then you hear, and feel, the thunder. It rattles windows, sets off car alarms, and scares the living daylights out of kids and dogs. The Lightning is bright and flashy, the thunder is loud and fear-inspiring, both a result of clashing vapors.

But vapors are here for a time and then dissipate.

Lightning and Thunder bring feelings of insecurity, of fear, of uncertainty. Not knowing when or where they will occur. Where they will strike.

The Office of President, and his entire Administration, were created with the intent of serving the American people, of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution of the United States, and with the idea that those entrusted with such a position were true servants at heart.

Not Masters.

When you find that he who is intended to be your servant is your master, when you find that those who have been given the tremendous honor and responsibility of providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty, seek to instead dismantle the public defense, assume that they know better than the general public how they would fare well, and seek to limit the blessings of liberty, then you can only come to the conclusion that these leaders are not public servants, but public masters.

But I have faith in God, and in 48% of the citizens of this country.

And I find myself grinning with a resolve and determination such as I have never experienced before.

~Bash