US President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a freeze on most government pay in a move to trim the country’s massive deficit. The White House said the two year freeze would save two billion dollars in the 2011 fiscal year.

Related articles

• Obama proposes freezing federal civilian pay (marketwatch.com)
• Obama floats US government pay freeze (alternet.org)
• Obama to Propose Two-Year Pay Freeze for Federal Employees (foxnews.com)
• Obama to Propose Two-Year Federal Worker Pay Freeze (businessweek.com)

In Orwell's Oceanian province, the individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity.

America’s gift to the world isn’t freedom or democracy. It isn’t the example of a free market that has created unparalleled prosperity for the nation over more than 200 years. It isn’t the generosity of the American people or their willingness to go to the defense of others threatened with tyranny. And it isn’t baseball, football or basketball… or any of the exports of Hollywood and American popular culture. No, it is none of those things. According to Barack Obama, America’s gift to the world is spending. More precisely, it is our willingness to spend beyond our means — in the happy thought that we (or if not we, they, the Obama administration) are spending someone else’s money.

Gee thanks Mr. President. Your speech essentially blamed the American people for a lack of perception and patience. Very astute.

By George Neumayr @ The American Spectator: “At his post-defeat press conference, Barack Obama worked hard to project an air of somber reflection, even as his remarks revealed that he had learned nothing from the defeat.” Amidst the practiced pauses and detached narration of the crash came a litany of excuses, evasions, and arrogant denials. He more or less cast himself as the victim of a “bad economy,” as if two years of sending anti-business signals to employers had nothing to do with the high jobless rate. He made sure to note that other presidents had gotten similarly clocked after two years. And he essentially blamed the American people for a lack of perception and patience. Or, in the words of his VP, Joe Biden … “liberalism is hard “to explain.”

But now ... not so much.

President Obama’s post-partisan America has disappeared, replaced by the politics of polarization, resentment and division. We can think of only one other recent president who would display such indifference to the majesty of his office: Richard Nixon. What a change two years can bring.

It’s really quite simple: take some time out of your day and just see what is going on in the world. Brush up on your knowledge of how the American government system works, although many find it boring, it really can be quite fascinating (and understanding how the government works will help you in your everyday life). The old saying that “ignorance is bliss,” shouldn’t ring true in this “information age.” Because, really, how can we expect to make the world better, if we cannot make ourselves a little better.