The State of the Union You Won’t Hear

In a few days President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union Address. This speech is mandated by the US Constitution as the only time the President is required to address Congress. A declaration of war is the only other requirement that the President address Congress. Also of note is that the State of the Union has not always been read by the President, a written address has frequently been delivered. Most recently President Carter submitted a written address in 1981, just days prior to Ronald Reagan taking office.

A relatively recent development not required by the Constitution has been the “response” by someone from the “other” party. This was initiated by the Democrats in the days of Richard Nixon, but now it has been established as a normal occurrence. Just another instance of how the more we continue to lump any alternatives to the Democrat / Republican paradigm into a single nondescript entity called “Third Party” the more embedded the Democrat / Republican paradigm becomes.

The following is the State of the Union that I would hope that President Obama would give. (formalities ignored).

The State of the American union, to be utterly honest, sucks. This is a nation where the term union barely applies. On one side we have politicians at all levels of government who totally ignore the will of the people and take up positions their advisers tell them will allow them to continue in office. A job most want to keep sometimes because they believe they can help the American people. Listening to advisors will only help those advisors. Instead I call upon every Democrat and Independent in Congress to stop listening to their advisers and listen only to the people.

Republicans are not innocent bystanders here. They, also are guilty of not listening to the people. Instead, they listen to anti-government ideologues such as the Tea Party. They listen to ideas that have proven themselves in our own time to have failed in nation after nation. And when looking to the past those ideas have always failed. I ask you how can a party so opposed to a government having more resources, with no bottom in sight, possibly advance the fortunes of the people served by government. A government created with its guiding creed so eloquently outlined in the Preamble to The Constitution of the United States of America.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I call upon every officeholder regardless of party finds themselves unable to support every word of that Preamble, to step away from their position. We must have a government that is united in the never-ending task of perfecting our union; providing justice equally to all persons regardless of their skin color or their wealth; secure the nation from those that would harm us through military might, economic dominance or tactics of fear; and instead promote the general welfare in order to provide a better life for all the people by protecting their health, personal property, and their liberties.

But, what about the President? Should not the person with the responsibility as chief executive of this great nation, also tasked with the honor of being the Commander-in-Chief of its military bear the same duty to uphold the ideals put forward in the Preamble and the body of our Constitution? The answer to that is a resounding ‘YES’. From this day forward I will put the principles I asked all other office holders across this country to adhere to; as an obligation and a promise for myself and my entire administration to honor. Not, sometimes, or most of the time, all the time. This pledge I give to America today and for posterity. I ask the future to measure my time in office by how well I keep this promise.

What does this mean for the next year. It means that not only have I asked Congress and my administration to put the interests of America first, it means that the citizens of America must hold us to the obligation I have just pledged the entire government to honor. If we have not performed in your interest then come next November choose candidates that will. This a request for positive campaigns. No more how bad the other candidate is going to make everyone’s life. When you run for office, talk about what you will do to help people; when you vote, choose the candidate you believe will serve the people.

For too long now elected officials of all parties have chosen to improve life for Americans by helping American business succeed. That experiment is over and the results are in. It doesn’t work. Since that methodology has begun to take hold in the early 70’s and 1980’s we have lost millions of jobs, our sphere of influence is only as influential as our military is strong, the middle class is shrinking, their prospects for retirement fading, their kids buried under mountains of debt, criminal activity by wealthy individuals have been ignored, the government acts in fear of openly addressing its faults and the list goes on and on. Not all of that is caused solely or even mainly by holding Business interests ahead of the interests of people. But much, too much, is.

Soon , I will put out a series of proposals for legislation to bring back many jobs from overseas, increase jobs inside the nation, and make America the leader in Green technology innovation. I will also be requesting that the Justice department step up any prosecutions on two potential areas woefully ignored in recent history. First for any wrongdoing by leaders of financial institutions that illegally enriched the leaders of the institution will be prosecuted. Second, any company, in any line of business, that is too big to fail, must be broken up under anti trust laws. To do all this, I will be requesting that Congress authorize spending of 3 Trillion dollars. We are at war. A war to protect our future, a war to protect the planet for all its inhabitants, a war with our own ideals so we can influence by leading, not by scaring. This is a war to retake what the founders tried to accomplish. There is no cost too high to win that war.