During President B. Hussein Obama's State of the Economy speech last week, I listened in wonder at the audacity of his words.  Words, to our President, don't have any value, weight or meaning.

He uses the words of his opponents to paint a pretty picture of American virtue that he does not believe in.  Obama ignites the optimism that is part of the American psyche, while directing it toward un-American goals.

It's akin to using honey to catch flies.

To have the audacity to say things such as "Not because I believe in bigger government -- I don't." And yet in the very same speech, announce trillions of dollars in new government spending.  Only a socialist would consider selling the virtue of small government through a monumental increase in big government.

So what would happen if we took some of the visionary lines from Obama's speech and replace euphemisms like "America", "USA", "nation" and "private sector" with the word "government"?  And what if we replaced the word "government" with "America"?

We would force the truth out into the light of day, proving that the honey he uses as bait is filled with a kind of poison, meant to destroy American capitalism and the freedom of men.

Would Americans support Obama if he had said this:  (Replacement words appear in [brackets].)

With the word "government" used, instead of "America", these statements become true and factual.  The bloated government budget Obama recently announced proves that it is government power, government jobs and an increase in the role of government within our economy that is his vision for our future.

Isn't it a shame that America's own President doesn't have the vision to see the real culprits in the crisis he is manipulating.  Government bureaucrats and government policies, used to coerce and control the private sector, have led us to the brink of an economic Depression.

Instead, Obama attacked the faceless "banker" -- those architects of evil that socialists and communists love to demonize.  It would be refreshing, during a speech that was marketed to the masses as "Reaganesque", to have placed blame at the foot of the government.

So let's replace the word "banks" with the word "government" during the blame-capitalism portion of Obama's speech, to find out what Reagan would have said, had he been speaking to the American people last week:

         "So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping [government] right now,
         especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions.
         I promise you –- I get it."

Reagan would have spoken to us about the true causes of this economic crisis.  He would not have promised to grow the government and place private industry under it's control.  Reagan would have declared that the federal government is the problem.  He would have pledged to roll back the government, which always strengthens the individual, the economy and the country.

But a socialist believes in spreading government, not opportunity.  In empowering government, not individuals.  Therefore, it would have been fitting for Obama to end his speech with this:

          "Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the [government]."

Barack Obama's address to the nation this evening was, in a word, dissolute.  Full of enticement and charm, but short on American virtue.

And it most certainly wasn't a State of the Union, it was a campaign speech.  In all fairness, he could not have given a State of the Union tonight.  Because though we are tied together through the bonds of government, spiritually Americans are not in union with each other.  We are a country divided.

Those of us who did not vote for Barack Obama, but will bear the cost of his policies and the strangle-hold of his government, are not in union with the beggars in the Democrat Party who cannot find hope within themselves.  By his own hand, Barack Obama has used the power of his office to concentrate the country into two camps:  the "doers" who must continue to work and pay our own mortgages; and those who are "beggars",  who will take from us what we work for, to pay for their mortgages. 

And so, this evening's speech was meant to lull middle-class Americans like you and I into a drowsy nostalgia.  We'd been told before the speech that it would be "Reagan-esque", so that we would accept without question the flowery prose that Obama read from his teleprompter.

But make no mistake, using some imagery and words that Reagan used does not make Obama a man with a vision of freedom and opportunity. 

It makes him a liar, a cheat and a charlatan.

Obama began his speech by asking us to take responsibility for our future.  Who among you, reading now, has begged the government for a car, a kitchen, a bathroom and a job because you are not able to take care of yourself? 

It is with immense nerve and hypocrisy that Obama lectures us about our individual financial responsibility just days after signing his own newly-minted $1 Trillion deficit.   He is the Thief of Washington, using his office to take money out of your pocket in order to throw it at his voters...ensuring that the only economic future we will all share is one of beggary at the hand of his all-powerful government bureaucracy.

He revealed our collective future of misery during his speech, when he accused the Bush tax cuts of "transfer[ing] wealth to the wealthy".  Mr. President, where do you think wealth originates?  It is not possible for a government to create wealth, only to take it.  And the "poor" don't have wealth...that's why they are called poor.

Swallow your daily dose of socialism by understanding that Obama does not view your money as your own.  He believes that the money in your pocket, no matter how rich or poor you are, is not a result of your hard work.  It rests with you only temporarily, through his grace and mercy.  Because he believes that he is the steward of the common good, while you are but a steward of money that belongs to the common good.  And after demanding trillions of dollars in new government spending, how long do you think it will be before the "common good" comes knocking on your door?

Yet, since the days of the Boston Tea Party, Americans have never believed that their money belonged to any government or tyrant, foreign or domestic.  No American (unless you are Barack Obama, Son of Saul Alinsky and Karl Marx) believes that what you work for today, belongs to the government tomorrow.

As for those of us who recognize in Obama the ambition and desire to change our Founding Principles and bastardize the meaning of fairness, hope and opportunity - we reject the notion that government lays the "foundation for common prosperity".  We reject the notion that we must pay for the folly of others, punish Americans who have succeeded or "force necessary adjustments" in our economy through the heavy hand of government.

Tonight, those of us who make America work, were given a kiss on the cheek and a stab in the back.  Americans usually call that betrayal.  Obama calls that "upholding our values".

And finally, the last rhetorical flourishes of Obama's speech were aimed at Congressional Republicans.  Using words of a unifier, he tried to play on the decency of gentlemen, hoping that this bunch of Republicans acts more like the country club blue-bloods of the 1980s than the Principled Conservatives of the 1990s.  He is counting on the Country Clubbers to compromise with him, thus marginalizing Principled Republicans.

Instead, let Governor Bobby Jindal's idea that, "we look for hope in different places" be the mantra of the Republican Principled Opposition from this day forward.  Jindal's message of self-reliance, especially in troubling times, will not be embraced by all, overnight.  And Republicans have proven in the past to be skittish when faced with powerful Democrat Leadership.

So it is up to Conservatives to continue to be leaders in the Party and in their Communities.  Show your friends and family where to find hope.  Not in Barack Obama.  Not in the government.  Not from a bureaucrat.  Find hope within your own talents and abilities, within your own family and within your own faith.  It is not an easy message to sell, but it's a message that must be heard.  Because it is the only, last, best hope for America and her people.

Socialists are always full of contradictions, and no more so than when they are full of pomp and circumstance...eagerly sculpting their own "history" out of the country's foundation.

Barack Hussein Obama's Inauguration was the rule today, and not the exception.  His crown of thorns sitting firmly on his head, the political messiah tried hard to wrap himself in premature martyrdom, inflated crisis and a new-found war on terrorism.  And at the same time, Obama used all the floral and fauna in the English language to deliver the message that he, himself, is the Light and the way to salvation and hope.

According to Obama, principles cannot save us.  The Constitution cannot save us.  Free markets and capitalism cannot save us.  Only one man, with a plan to change our system of government, can save us from the, "nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights."

And what is the "price of citizenship"?  What must we sacrifice on the alter of socialism to be saved?  Well for one, Obama asks us to give up our ideals, saying that we suffer from, "worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics".  Dogma is another word for principles, ideals, the things you believe in.  Give them up, because those are things that will stop Obama's success.

And what do we do when we have left behind the things we cherish and believe in?  According to Obama, the goal is, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."  With nationalization of industry and "spreading the wealth", Obama will remake America in the image of Karl Marx's socialism.

To those of us who do question his plans, and who refuse to give up our ideals and set aside our conscience, Obama acknowledges our worst fears: "Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans."  He is correct in the articulation of our fears.  We know that our economic system cannot tolerate Obama's plans.  But it is not the size of the plans, but the scope. 

From his own lips, Obama declares that scope to be vast and far-reaching, "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."  A government so large, that it can take care of your every need.  Juxtaposed with Thomas Jefferson, it is a stark reminder that Obama is asking us to forget our nation's founding principles.  For as Jefferson so rightly said, "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."

As for the free markets, Obama is quick to relegate it to the ash heap of rewritten history, by arguing for government interference...that it is only through Obama's own control of the markets that we will find prosperity and opportunity.  Obama concludes that he will use the markets to take us down the road to a "common good", a term used frequently by socialists, communists, fascists and liberals to twist the engine of a nation's economy to their own purpose.  

As for our military, Obama cherry-picked the events that led to our nation's birth, to satisfy his own quest for "peace" at any cost.  "As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations."  But Obama has ignored the very thing that gave us a nation, that gave us a home and that gave us the opportunity to preserve peace and prosperity. 

And that was war. 

The Founding Fathers did indeed draft charters.  But that alone did not give birth to our great nation.  They waged bloody battle to give rise to our Independence, our safety and our eventual peace. 

As for Obama's foreign policy, it is safe to assume that what we have happily and willingly given to the world is not enough.  We will surely be forced to give more: "And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

To accuse indifference, and lecture apathy, where there is none, is heartless.  America is the most charitable, most giving nation that the world has ever seen.  From our early beginnings, we have struggled to share opportunity, freedom and peace with the world.    We have given billions of dollars to the world, so that their hospitals and schools and libraries could be built.  We have given food and medicine to impoverished countries, so that people would not starve.  We have sacrificed the lives of our young men, so that the world would be free. 

And yet, among those nations that Obama would have us help, Iraq appears not to be on that list.  He promised today that we will leave Iraq, no matter the outcome that abandonment will induce.  Because Obama's sympathy for the world is not truly about charity to other nations, but about your "responsibility" to give up the pursuit of your happiness, for the betterment of the world around you.  It's about the demand he makes on you, to give up your comfort, give up your dreams...and replace them with his.

For, as he so boldly stated, "This is the price and the promise of citizenship".  It is true that freedom is not free.  And neither is Obama's plans for America.  Are you willing to pay the price?