If you see the world through the eyes of the news media, chances are you really don’t see as much as you think. If you only see the world through the newspaper, you might not know that know that unemployment is lower now than in other economic slowdowns. In fact, you might forget that 7% unemployment means 93% employment. If you watched TV in Illinois the last few days, you might think that Rod Blagojevich was the only Chicago politician trying to sell something he didn’t own. You might not know that what he did really is “business as usual” in the Windy City, and his former colleagues threw him under the bus just happy they didn’t get caught, this time.
If you watch the world news on cable, you might not realize that more than half of the “atrocities” Palestinians suffer is fabricated for TV, and most of the rest is because Hamas is using children and families as human shields.
If you watch too much TV you may not know that here in Aurora, Illinois, when we were protesting before the opening of the largest Planned Parenthood clinic in the US, that the few dozen pro-choice protesters you saw on camera were the only ones there, and most were from out of town and out of state. You might not know about the thousands of local people that were, and still are, protesting and objecting to the clinic’s presence. You might not know about the multiple incidents violence and vandalism that were committed against pro life protesters, but that none were committed against the pro choice people, or against the clinic. In fact, you might not know that the during the protests, the pro life people regularly donated diapers, baby formula, blankets, and other necessities for underprivileged mothers and babies, but the pro choice crowd did nothing of the sort.
Now, if you continue to watch TV, you might be getting the impression that our new President is actually doing something. You might not catch the fact that in his speeches, he still says nothing. You might not have noticed that in December, after he received briefings on classified information, all of a sudden his position on the Iraq war softened and moved just a bit to the right. You also might not notice that all of his appointments are made to create political alliances, and “bring people on board”, not actually to get anything done. You might have missed his comment at the inauguration in support of big government. And you also might not notice that in his view “reaching across the aisle” means the other side needs to do what he says to do, when he says to do it.
Now, more than ever we need to actually think through what we see and hear. We need to stop thinking of the Federal Government as some great big baby bottle that all of us are supposed to feed on. Washington did not cause and is not going to fix all of our problems. Our country was founded respect for God, with small government, states rights, and personal responsibility. Try as he may, Barack Obama does not have the ability to fix all of our problems. No politician does.
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