With the school year drawing to a close and another crop of Bowdoin students getting ready to end their four years here, it seems appropriate to wish the Class of 2010 the best of luck in their future endeavors. In fact, it seems almost necessary given the almost Herculean task of securing employment in the current economy.
Yet the challenges that await the Class of 2010 are by no means their burden exclusively. Massive government debt, the alienation of foreign allies, the vilification of the free market, increasing polarization among the electorate and an administration in Washington, who at every turn seems intent on proving its ineptitude, are all consequences that directly impact our entire generation. I say consequences because that is in fact what they are: the consequences of poor leadership in Washington that itself comes from a false understanding of what Americans need and want.
This is a point that I have routinely tried to make in all of my Orient columns this year; that the frustration and anger felt among conservatives since the election of Barack Obama is one fundamentally rooted in a difference of vision for the United States. Obviously, debates in American politics are often characterized by a clash among contrasting views regarding American domestic and foreign policy.
The present situation is unique, however. Policy debates since Obama has been elected no longer have much to do with policy and a great deal to do with values and ideals. To claim otherwise would reveal a complete lack of understanding for the implications of the health care debate, one where partisans from both sides largely argued based on principal not legislative detail. Far from being the bearer of change and bipartisanship he claimed to be during the campaign, Obama has done nothing but pursue a left-wing mutilation of American principals.
In Obama's America, government should be big. The greedy and reckless corporations on Wall Street are intent on making Americans victims. They will stop at nothing to make themselves richer while they steal from the pockets of the working class. The government must thus step in and protect the ever so lovable "little guy" and punish the big companies by way of regulations, taxation and a healthy dollop of insults. It is a narrative glaringly apparent for any who have been watching the current debate in Congress regarding new financial regulations. In pushing this so-called Wall Street reform package, Obama has gone around the country decrying Wall Street executives and their reckless behavior that, to hear Obama tell it, put America on the brink of economic ruin. All this is meant to convey a message to the American people that Wall Street, formerly the embodiment of American economic might, is essentially the source of all that is wrong with the country. The mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, however, is where Americans can turn to for recourse.
Yet in pursuing such a narrative it is the Obama administration that is victimizing the American people. What the president fails to understand is that Wall Street, for all its mistakes and errors, represents something much bigger than hedge funds and stock dividends. It represents the American commitment to free enterprise and free markets. We are a nation that adheres to freedom both political and economic. We respect a man's right to choose (within very broad parameters) his career, expect that such individuals will be productive members of society and thus believe that he is entitled to keep the rewards of his labor. Wall Street, however imperfect, is the application of this ideal. To be sure there are shortcomings and inequities, but that is the case in most any situation. Everyday in this country when an individual is arrested he is read his Miranda Rights, affording him the opportunity to avail himself of legal protections whatever the crime or likelihood of guilt.
We uphold this right because, as a nation, we believe that the rule of law is to be upheld and respected even when it is difficult to do so. With respect to Wall Street and the commitment to capitalism it represents, so too must Americans choose to take the high road. Yes there will be periods of bust, when salaries and sometimes even jobs must be cut. But we accept such risks because we value freedom and know that, as a people, we have the strength of our convictions to withstand whatever drawbacks might result from a free market. The hatred and anger that Obama seeks to elicit from the public and gear towards Wall Street threatens such a commitment and in the process also threatens our nation's ability to believe in itself.
The debates over matters like health care and financial regulations are so consequential not just because they affect large swaths of Americans. They also have the ability to redefine what this nation believes in, what it is willing to sacrifice for and even what it is willing to fight for when threatened. Beginning in the early 1950s lasting through the early '90s, the United States was engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union that at times seemed like it could only end in nuclear confrontation. Yet Americans maintained their resolve to challenge communism and everything it represented: oppression, the loss of human dignity and a gross lack of appreciation for life. The United States has remained and hopefully always will remain, a bastion for those who understand that freedom must be upheld, including in economic matters. Government cannot provide the answers, only the ingenuity of the American people can.
The current administration seeks to convince us that the days when America represented such values are over. Private enterprise is to be viewed with suspicion, Wall Street with malice and government with devotion. Yet this view clearly betrays what Americans both believe in and have gone to great lengths to protect. Barack Obama might not realize it but, for the sake of our generation and our country, I certainly hope we do.