Symbols:

Monday – June 20, 2011

Symbols:

On this date, in 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of United States; the Eagle becomes our symbol!

We sometimes look at symbols as a way to communicate or as a way to represent our wealth or a way to associate ourselves with something else.

In politics, the Donkey is the symbol of the Democratic Party, the Republicans use the Elephant. However, the Eagle is the symbol that binds and is the symbol that represents our strength as a nation.

In Fridays FORUM I wrote: In 1775, the words were simple and clearly under stood. In 1856, the words were a bit more convoluted. In 2012, the words will be scientifically engineered to make you think you are hearing what you want to hear. When I say not just another party, not just another date, we must be aware of everything that happened in between that led up to today.

We are quickly approaching the next Presidential election. The fight for the Oval Office started for the President when he was inaugurated three years ago. The person who will run against the President will be decided upon by this time next year.

Look at the symbols that have been projected, not only by the president, but by all those who are in the primary stage. We have banners of red, white and blue worked into logos. Each candidate has a tag line and each candidate will study the words that will gain the largest share of the voting public. When the candidates line up, so that we can make our selection, charisma often times carries the day.

President Obama is now saying that if the debt ceiling is not raised by July 1st, the nation will slip into another recession. The president’s charisma is enough to carry the day, but should it be enough to cover the lie? We were told if TARP wasn’t passed, that we would slip into depression, companies would fold and the United States economy would go into free fall. I believe the free fall is what will happen if we continue the spending. It’s not because of the debate over raising the debt ceiling, it is because of the debt that has occurred over the last few years. It is because we are bailing out other countries with the money we borrow. We will go into the free fall, if entitlements keep going unchecked and if the liberals keep giving the bank away to secure votes.

When we view all the symbols and we listen to all the debates, news shows and everything else, the only symbol that should matter are the statistical symbols. The President should not be allowed to continue with the lies. The symbols the president uses as backdrops should be the topic of discussion instead of the rhetoric he is now using since the report of economic indicators were trending downward.

A new round of layoffs has been announced by some of the country’s largest companies. Johnson and Johnson announced it will eliminate 1ooo jobs, Boeing 225 jobs, Lockheed Martin 1,200 jobs and Disney 200 jobs. In the meantime, the president is meeting with other big company CEOs and asking how to create jobs. These CEOs, in many cases, have never started a company, but rather have inherited the top post of very successful companies. As an example, Jeffery Immelt inherited GE from Jack Welch. Immelt is now a symbol of the cronyism that has become the hallmark or symbol of this president’s administration. The president shouldn’t have to ask how to do it, he should know how to do it, because that is why the people gave him the presidency.

Many of the president’s critics are now saying that the president must get out of the crony bubble and listen to small entrepreneurs, the ones who have to deal with the regulation, taxes, healthcare and the red tape that has become the symbol of why job creation has not occurred. Small business has created two out of every three jobs in the last fifteen years. Small business is what Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were actively trying to promote. This is why there was a 20 year growth period.

The current policy of dealing with big business to create jobs is not the right approach, because they don’t create the majority of jobs. The health of the economy is measured by the start ups of new companies. Start ups are down by 20% in this new economic cycle. Simple tax credits don’t work if profits aren’t being made. More small businesses have now said they will cut jobs in the next quarter. This is a symbol that the new economic cycle has not worked. This administration has sold positions of power for donations over real job creation expertise. This is also a symbol of the cronyism that has stifled the growth that was promised.

Small business has to do everything right to survive. When a small business needs to grow and cannot get the financing to grow their bottom line is adversely affected. Real life solutions have now been taken out of the picture by big business and the government policies that come from the symbols of Central Planning perspectives.

What we are seeing now is that the creation of jobs is occurring by some big corporations, profits are occurring by the companies that Obama is listening too. What is being created is all being done overseas and not here. The big corporate profits overseas cannot be brought back here for investment, because of the corporate taxes that would be placed upon them if the profits were reinvested here at home. Jeffery Immelt of GE is seen as one of the top CEOs in the country, his company is doing very well, however it is all occurring overseas.

The problem with the symbols we see today is that no matter what is being proposed it is just another band aid.

There is no long term plan for the development of expanded production capability in any economic sector here at home. There is no long term plan to develop new manufacturing bases here at home. The administration talks about green jobs. How does this impact American manufacturing and production here when just about all of the green technology products are manufactured overseas? Until a plan can be devised to encourage manufacturing and the investment that accompanies it, there will be no significant levels of jobs created here at home.

The President must create over 210,000 jobs a month until the elections in November of 2012 just to break even with the jobs he has lost in his time in office. A healthy economy should have 350,000 jobs created in one month, instead of having 425,000 new unemployment claims filed. This is a symbol of a lack luster economic plan because the reality is lack luster. This is not that symbol of the soaring Eagle that we all think of when the words United States of America are mentioned.

As we approach our 235th July Fourth celebration, our symbol of greatness has had its wings clipped. It is not your fault or mine; it is the fault of those who believed that you can spend your way out of recession. The problem is you and I have never had the money to do that.

The symbol of the Eagle projects greatness. The symbol of the Eagle was one that said Americans can own property and Americans can assemble wealth through the ownership of property. The decision we have in front of us is do we support where our forefathers wanted us to be or where the new elite thinks we should be.

The new elite don’t look at the symbol of the Eagle and see greatness through a continuing history. They look at it and see how to redistribute all that the Eagle has come to symbolize.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: The Symbol and the history of the Eagle is what we should embrace not what others want to take from it.