Economic warfare

May 7, 2011

What a week America had!  President Obama released his full birth certificate on Wednesday, then Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Forces on Monday.

We can’t assume we no longer face the threat of terrorism because Osama bin Laden is dead.  It was a no-win situation.  Bin Laden alive inspired terrorists with his evil leadership.  Bin Laden dead inspires terrorists with his evil martyrdom.  We must stay vigilant.

I do not believe that politicos will stop trying to distract us from what really matters by obsessing over President Obama’s birthplace and religious affiliation.  When our President must concern himself with movements endorsed by ‘reality’ television stars, you know we are in trouble.

Regardless of political affiliation, I want to see the president succeed.  I want to see Congress succeed.  I want the country to be whole again.  I want back the America I grew up loving, that was ruthlessly stolen from us on September 11, 2001.

Killing our citizens en masse was only a small part of bin Laden’s plan.  His goal was total financial collapse – to engage us in a financially crippling war that would drag on for years and disable our economy. 

Bin Laden’s plan worked on the Soviet Union in the 80s, and as the millions of unemployed Americans can attest, it’s been working pretty well on us, too. 

And while we’ve been bickering about our President’s ethnicity, bin Laden was laughing all the way to the bank.  

It’s tempting to imagine he spent ten years creeping through the hills subsisting on bugs.  But he wasn’t discovered in a mountain cave in Afghanistan.  He was lounging in a luxury compound in Pakistan. 

Despite the pious, holier than thou image Osama bin Laden portrayed, he was not a religious cleric.  He was a politician.  He knew that our heritage of religious freedom is our greatest strength. 

He knew that if he could get Americans to hate our own diversity, we would be so distracted that we wouldn’t notice our economy falling apart. 

The World Trade Center wasn’t chosen as a target only because it was our grandest symbol of American commerce.  It also happens to be a short distance from Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Bin Laden wanted to rub our open minds in our faces; to make us doubt everything we hold dear as Americans.

When President Obama released his full birth certificate, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, “… the more important question is what’s going on in this country in regards to jobs, to debt, and the deficit and spending.  Those are the things that people are worried about.  People aren’t worried about these other issues.”

I hope he’s right, but I don’t think so.  If this is what Americans are truly worried about, how did our finances ever get this bad?  We should have demanded that our elected officials deal with the economy years ago. 

Perhaps, with the release of President Obama’s full birth certificate and the demise of Osama bin Laden, Americans will set to work holding our government accountable for how our finances are managed.  Osama bin Laden will not truly be defeated until we can win the war he declared against our economy.

This article first appeared in the Lewistown News-Argus and the Sidney (Mont.) Herald on May 7, 2011.