Would You Rather Have Obama Golf or Govern?

By Selwyn Duke

After seeing Barack Obama’s golf swing, I’m confronted with the staggering possibility that he might actually be better at governing than golfing.  And this is despite the fact that he seems to devote more time to the latter, an impression that has won him much bad publicity.

Given that George W. Bush was hammered for spending less time on the links (proportionately), it’s not surprising that conservatives would consider turnabout fair play.  As for Main Street, since golf is a Wall Street game, time spent golfing never plays well among the folks who cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like themselves (like golfers, I suppose).  Yet I must part company with most on the right.  I want Obama (PBUH) to play as much golf as possible even if we taxpayers must pay his greens fees.

This isn’t just because Obama’s (PBUH) sporting passions confirm that he isn’t actually a clone of golf-hating Marxist Hugo Chavez.  It’s mainly because we’re better off having the president scaring earthworms everywhere than double-bogeying domestic affairs, shanking foreign policy, hitting the budget fat, landing in a bunker with Iranian nuclear ambitions and making water a hazard with oil.

All joking aside, reactions to presidents’ leisure activities are so often irrational.  For example, hacker documentarian Michael Moore used footage of Bush playing golf to paint the 43^rd president negatively, yet the reality is that if even if it had been the only time Bush played golf, it would still have been used for propaganda purposes.  But do we really think a president isn’t going to kick back like the rest of us?

Many will say there’s no equivalence, as the commander-in-chief sits at the helm of a nation that must navigate perilous waters.  Yet, not only is there always some crisis somewhere, there’s also a more important issue here: Do we really want a president so hands-on that he has his hands on everything?  That’s how you end up with statism.

My point here is not that we should lay off Obama (PBUH); it is a larger one.  When you scrape away the effort to score political points and the fact that Obama (PBUH) can’t get his priorities any straighter than his drives, what is actually being expressed through the criticism of vacationing presidents is that they aren’t governing enough.

In reality, though, our government governs too dang much.

Where we often see this misguided lamentation is when people complain, as they have in the past, of a “do-nothing” Congress.  But, when saying this, do we ever ponder what a legislature does?  It produces new laws, regulations and mandates, which are, by definition, removals of freedom.  This is because such measures state that there is something you must or must not do.  Thus, do you really want Congress to be more productive?  Remember, when a car company is more productive, you get more cars; when a gold mine is more productive, you get more gold; when American workers are more productive, you get a higher GDP.  But what do you get when the government is more productive?

Less freedom.

Oh, yeah, you do get more laws, regulations and mandates, those removals of freedom.  You like that trade-off?

Since government is a necessary evil, it should only be used when necessary.  For example, I spent a month in Maine some years ago and didn’t see even one police cruiser in all of the central and northern parts of the state.  Obviously, crime was so rare that a noticeable police presence just wasn’t necessary.  Now, should Mainers have complained about a do-nothing police force?

Remember also that a healthy civilization doesn’t rely on its central government to play puppeteer.  First, government isn’t the only entity that governs — there’s also something called society.  If society functions properly, most citizen behavior is controlled through its traditions and social codes.  Chinese sage Confucius called these “ritual” and pointed out that it was a much more effective way of governing man than laws were.

Even insofar as we need government, remember that we are supposed to be living in these United States.  Our Constitution (ya’ know, that dead-letter thing) grants only “few and defined” powers to the feds; most functions are meant to be performed by the states.  This is wise, as it accords with the Principle of Subsidiarity.  This states that the smallest unit of society that can possibly perform a given function should be the one to do so.  In other words, if the family can handle a task, it shouldn’t be the domain of a larger entity; if the family can’t but a Church or community organization can, the task shouldn’t be co-opted by the state government.  So-on and so-forth up the hierarchy of size.

In light of this principle and our Constitution, how much of a “do-something” central government should we want?  It is not a local police force, which may have to patrol 24/7; or a daddy and mommy, who are ever “on call.”  Most matters can be handled by the multitude of entities, public and private, below Uncle Scam.  This may not please the self-important Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (let’s not forget the federal government’s largest court, now), but we don’t need Washington to be as bloated as their egos.

Remember that if Obama (PBUH) and the Congress had spent enough time golfing, we wouldn’t have a government takeover of health care, bailouts and trillions more of unsustainable debt, new taxes and a move toward European-style socialism.  The problem is not that our government officials spend too much time on the course.  It’s that the nation is off course because, wherever our officials are, they just aren’t up to par.

      This article first appeared at American Thinker

       © 2010 Selwyn Duke — All Rights Reserved

Comments

[Gary]

I must respectfully disagree although the words do create certain sentiments that go to the right synapses. Perhaps if Obama actually did his own governing - was forced to do the hard work involved - he might have an epiphany. Letting those that are writing the bills and letting constitutionally illegal commissions put the words in his mouth give him way too much free time.

[Gary]

Also another thing about Subsidiarity. The power of Subsidiarity is the antithesis of presuming on grace. What are inalienable rights really? Are they really inalienable? I believe that if the grace of inalienability is lost when it is presumed outside of the construct of accountability that accounting and accountability itself vaporize. What - better than anything else destroys accounting and accountability? Political Correctness. Think about it. Political (government) Correctness (truth). When government gets to mandate what is or is not true and teaches that truth is relative - then truth and its counterpart accountability cease to exist. Subsidiarity eludes directly to the moral elephant in the room.

[Robert Berger]

Where did you find any evidence that Obama has been spending too much time playing golf and neglecting his job? I'm extremely skeptical about what you're saying.
And you're biased as hell,anyway, so this story has to be taken with more than a grain of salt.
And you're just setting up the same old straw men about Obama. If you can't stand the way his administration has been running the country you certainly have the right to say so,but I wish you'd get your facts right for a change.
And I'm sick and tired of the way right-wingers like you endlessly rehash the same old myths about Obama trying to turn America into another communist dictatorship like the former Soviet Union, China or Cuba. That notion is a crock.
All this hysterical whining is nothing but blather and scare tactics.
There's about as much chance of this happening under Obama as Osama Bin Laden converting to Judaism and settling in Israel. And how can I or other sensible Americans trust any one with ties to the John Birch Society,that long discredited group of old farts ?
The real threat to freedom and prosperity in America comes from the far right. They foam endlessly at the mouth about "restoring freedom" to America, "respecting" the constitution(that is,using the constitution as an excuse to foment their right-wing agenda), making government"smaller", restoring "limited" government(actually government with unlimited power to pry into the bedrooms of Americans and arbitrarily censor and ban any book,magazine,film or TV show they find"obscene" and "indecent" whether it is or not), standing up to the alleged "gay agenda"(really meaning taking rights away from gay people and even persecuting them),"protecting" the unborn(until they're born,then conservatives don't give a you-know -what about the unborn after they come out of the womb),
getting rid of the "welfare state"(really meaning leaving m,illions of poor people helpless), "protecting religious freedom"(as if it were actually in danger in America), and all that garbage.
And the way conservatives are terrified about the Obama administration "redistributing wealth" makes me die with laughter.
Conservative Presidents and other right-wing politicos in Washington have been redistributing wealth in America for many,many years already.
But they do it the opposite way, by taking from the poor and middle class and giving to the wealthy.
They're reverse Robin Hoods.Some nerve they have !

[shaun]

^^^^^Someone partied too hard in their youth ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

no hints!!!

[Philip France]

I would like to put it to a Selwynduke.com vote:

Is Robert Berger an insane lunatic that should post his thoughts on DailyKos? Do we Selwyn fans not agree that his infantile rantings besmirch the otherwise intellectual thrust-and-parry between the other intelligent and articulate visitors and posters at this site?

I fully support Robert’s freedom to express his twisted and demented viewpoints. If he chooses to do so here is his prerogative and inalienable human right. But why bother? Does he merely wish to agitate? If so, it is not working. He is simply an annoyance and a classic example of the sadness that a human being demonstrates no more logic than that of an insect or a reptile in assessing current issues and events.

I would like to see your votes.

Gary, your posts are prescient. Please visit more often.

Love,

Philip France

[Walt]

I'm sure if BHO would step down we could round up enough donors to get him greens fees for life. I would rather him play golf then be at his desk.

[Dan]

Id rather have obama golf. Where the only thing he can ruin is the green with his overenthusiastic slices.

[jbailey]

Robert, what has gotten in to you? You have a guy who was raised by communist friendly, or down right communist...and whose every move has been to escalate the national debt into astronomical amounts that places an albatrose on our children and grandchildren to repay it. You know, he knows, and we all know that this massive spending pushes us closer and closer to a socialist/communist form of government. Where does he belong? Cuba, Spain, or one of the socialist nations...where the government mandates what you shall become and do with the God given talents bestowed upon you. One day you may wake up to the sound from a loud speaker calling you to prayer five times a day. You may hear of some great looking kid developing a crush on another kid, and expressing an interest in what God that kid worships...only to have the kid knock on your door for refuge out of fear in going home with the possibility of being hurt in an "honor" way. A law may be passed saying you cannot travel in certain segments of Manhattan or NY without being subject to sharia law. Sharia law is not compatible with any laws in any state in this great nation of ours. And, neither is communism or socialism. Thank God for the ballot box...and if it can be kept sacred, this nation will have a chance to reverse all the literal crap we have been pushed to experience. Robin Hood...oh yeah...taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Sounds wonderful, and in some few cases, it is absolutely OK. There are many in our country who really need help and deserve it. But giving too much rewards lazyness...and if too often it becomes a way of life and living, completely contrary to what this nation was founded on...in order to eat you must work...not at what I mandate you to do, but whatever "you" choose to do. It should be "mandatory" on our part as a government to set the table for the "opportunity" to do work...certainly not guaranteeing the outcomes of any of it. Outcomes depend on many and varied factors..ie I know several folks who have never entered college but are multi-millionaires and having "achieved" through honest work and ingenuity on their part. Obama is a kind of "stranger in a strange land". He spends my money, demeans my countries flag, apologizes to other countries for what he thinks we have done wrong, bows down to potentates and dictators, attempts to demean and marginalize the benefits of soldiers who lay down their lives for our country, does the "scrotch salute" when pledging Allegiance to the Flag, etc. These are only minor complaints as compared to major ones. His responses to representing the nations interest and support are colored by his tardiness, lack of knowledge and acuteness in awareness of the crucial matter at hand, defiance and arrogance toward the will of the people in protecting themselves from the abuses of foreign, illegal intrusions over our borders, and quite a bit of just inappropiateness for the nobleness of his job....plus the ineptness he exhibits in failure to really define and tag what an extreme Islamic terrorist really is. So...what makes him a stranger in a strange land. Is it his lack of bonding and really true love for the guts of this country that our founding fathers have laid down for us? What is it? Is he a "sleeper" Muslim, communist bread, indoctrinated, and raised. Family, friends, close associates,and education has kind of "hinted" in that direction. We are well along the way of experiencing the "outcome" of his endeavors "to change". Will you be "off" or "from", or any of your readers traveling through the dusty sands of time. God forbid that we should ever repeat what has happened to us with this last election.