Opinion: The Wisdom of Hope
“It is better to beg than steal, it is better to work than beg.”
—Confucius
Chess players learn there is no benefit to a bad idea succeeding. Even for the most charismatic leaders, bad ideas inevitably bring catastrophe — sudden failure. Electing the most inexperienced, liberal senator in America to lead our nation at a time parallel to the Great Depression was a bad idea. However, he told us the truth. He promised he would fundamentally transform America, and even though America is a values system, and that’s like promising to fundamentally transform the endowment of our Creator of certain inalienable rights, chief among them the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he began immediately to do it.
This November, America has a critical opportunity to elect a new president and a new Congress, and we must. Why? Three sublime reasons: First and foremost, regardless of individual fortune, race, creed or national origin, we are a free people set at liberty by real American struggle and sacrifice, for freedom’s sake, to live as a free people indebted only to liberty and justice for all. Second, the legacy of liberty is the American Dream, a dream of opportunity, equality, and a just due promised to every generation and entrusted to the care and propagation of every American. And third, none of us living today, stewards of America’s precious, perpetual legacy, shall escape the retribution of our children and their children for exchanging their American dreams to finance our fiscal impropriety, which is driving our national debt to critical mass — and the economic collapse of America.
On July 4th, Americans celebrated our independence from the tyranny of 18th century Great Britain, won by the struggles and sacrifices of our patriots in the Revolutionary War. The American Revolution was a good idea — a grand idea — that freed a people and birthed a nation; which, through courage and Divine Providence, has become the greatest nation on Earth, with liberty and justice for all. That is, until recently.
History demonstrates that, irrespective of faith or secular sentiments, individuals and nations alike ultimately face three contentious tests: The test of poverty, the test of power and the test of prosperity. Today, in 2012 America — the generations before us having passed the tests of poverty and power — it is readily observable that individually and as a nation we are failing the test of prosperity. Reasoning from fallacy that debt is just another person’s confidence in our ability to earn future income, we fail to realize that in debt our dreams die first, our freedoms fall to foreign financiers, liberty is lost, and uncertainty reigns.
There is only tyranny in disproportionate debt, and this time we may not be able to win a new American Revolution fought against the forces of fiscal truth. In the four fiscal years of the Obama administration we have added more accrued debt to the national debt of America than all of the previous 43 presidential administrations combined — from George Washington to George W. Bush. It is $6.03 trillion under Obama versus $5.851 trillion under all the others. Our national debt — touted as the greatest threat to our national security — now stands at $15 trillion, equal to the total market value of all final goods and services produced in America, our total gross domestic product.
America has a definite date with destiny, and it will not be met with the gaiety of prosperity, rather it will be met with the regrets of debt and the reins of tyranny. When our outgo exceeds our income then our upkeep will be our downfall.
Today, there is still hope, and there is wisdom in hope.
Where true faith lives there is always hope. And there is but one answer to the plea, “Faith in what?” Faith in what is real, right and true.
I beg to differ with Sir Francis Bacon, who said, “Knowledge is power.” I find knowledge alone is not power. Knowledge is the potential for power. Knowledge rightly applied is wisdom, and wisdom is power. It’s the same with hope. Hope is faith rightly applied. In this sense, hope is power. It may seem counter-intuitive, but we’ve been struck with the notion of the “audacity of hope.” But, audacity is a willingness to take risks — bold risks, in the spirit of unrestrained impudence. Where do we find wisdom in impudence? We don’t.
Let’s hope against the audacity of hope for fervent, effectual change. Let’s hope for the real, right, and true to manifest at last and render true opportunity, liberty, and justice for all. We cannot allow our upkeep to be our downfall. We simply cannot afford another four years of the current administration. Those of us who work and pay taxes must rally around this critical opportunity for change: In November 2012, a vote for Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan is a vote for real, right and true change. The United States of America is a center-right nation of free people. Stand up, speak up and vote.
As a patriotic, working, American middle-class taxpayer, I do not consent to be fundamentally transformed. The values and beliefs my parents, my family, and America instilled in me are trustworthy and tried. I believe in the Constitution of the United States and the inalienable rights endowed to us by our Creator. I believe in America. We must elect a new president, a president who will fundamentally reform the fundamental transformation of the past few years.
Today, America still has options — and America herself is at stake.
President Obama must be relieved. America must be recovered. Hope against the audacity of hope; there is wisdom in hope.
Recently, Gov. Romney sent me a campaign correspondence. His question to me was, “Where do you stand, Mr. Rusaw?” The question was prefaced by this remark:
“I thank you for believing in America as much as I do. America does not just exist for the people … it has been made exceptional by the people: a free people pursuing their own dreams and achieving success in their own ways. This is a moment that demands we return to our basic values and core principles.”
I say, “Gov. Romney, I believe in America; I stand with you, there is wisdom in hope, and my hope is in you.”
Please join me.
In big league baseball it only takes one run to stop a shut out—a walk, two wild pitches, and a balk is one run.
—Delivery Boy
About The Author
M.J. Rusaw is the author of The Tides of Eternity. In 1978, M.J. Rusaw enlisted in the United States Air Force, served nine years and achieved the rank of E-6 Technical Sergeant. He received the Air Force Achievement Medal for heroism in 1985 for his efforts at the scene in helping to save the life of a fellow Sergeant who had become a work center shooting victim, and went on to be selected as the 1986 Aircraft Maintenance Professional of the year for the First Tactical Fighter Wing, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Over the more than 20 years since leaving the service, he has worked for DynCorp International as a contractor on Patuxent River Naval Air Station, first as an Aircraft Electrician at the United States Naval Test Pilot School, and currently as an Electronics Technician III at the Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic Site.
