7 Things to Expect If Obama Is Elected to a Second Term

“This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” — Barack Obama

So far, the message of the Obama campaign essentially seems to be, “I’m unable to effectively govern because Republicans won’t do everything I want. Re-elect me so I can deliver more of the same. Oh, also Paul Ryan wants to push old people off a cliff while Mitt Romney will give you cancer.”That doesn’t tell you much about what Obama would try to do in his second term, but given that he appears to be largely indifferent to the law and the wishes of the American people, there’s no reason to be hopeful. Furthermore, given how deferential the Supreme Court has been to Obama and the fact that the GOP would undoubtedly be more willing to go along to get along if it’s defeated this year, the damage Obama could do in a second term would be incalculable.

1) America’s credit rating slides further: Under Barack Obama’s leadership, America lost its AAA credit rating for the first time since 1917.That means our country is now more of a gamble to loan money to than Microsoft. Given that Barack Obama has shown zero inclination to get spending under control or seriously tackle entitlement reform, our rating would be practically guaranteed to drop at least another notch. In other words, this country would soon have the same S&P rating as Qatar and the Czech Republic.

2) The middle class will see massive tax increases: Congress has been at an impasse because Republicans want to cut spending and Democrats want to raise taxes. Despite all the talk you hear about the “Buffet Rule,” it would produce a comparatively small amount of actual revenue because the rich are close to tapped out. The real money is in the middle class. If we’re not going to cut our escalating spending, then taxes on the middle class will have to soar like an eagle fired out of a cannon.

3) Gas and energy prices will be dramatically higher: Obama once said, “Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” His Energy Secretary Steven Chu added, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”Is it any wonder that Obama won’t drill ANWR, has blocked the Keystone Pipeline, and has slow-walked offshore drilling? Obama views sky high energy prices as a feature, not a bug and if he doesn’t have to face the voters again, expect to see energy prices lift off like the manned space shuttles Obama permanently grounded.

4) Obamacare goes into effect:If the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the White House, it should be able to gut Obamacare and keep it from ever going into effect. On the other hand if Obama is reelected, there’s a better chance of the NAACP endorsing Mitt Romney than there is that health care reform will ever be repealed.

5) The Supreme Court moves to the left:Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 79, Antonin Scalia is 76, Anthony Kennedy is 75, and Stephen Breyer is 73. Replacing Ginsburg or Breyer with 50 year old liberals would be bad enough, but imagine Obama selecting a replacement for Scalia or Kennedy. If that happens, Obama would have five guaranteed votes on the Supreme Court for anything he wants to do. Once we get to that point, the Constitution might as well not even exist.

6) Get ready for open borders: Barack Obama has already bypassed Congress to implement the DREAM ACT by fiat, he’s planning to break the law to hand out work permits to illegal aliens, he’s openly proclaimed that ICE won’t pick up many of the illegals detained by Arizona, and illegals are now being released by the border patrolsans proof if they claim they went to high school here. We’re very close to having an open border policy right now for any illegal alien who hasn’t committed a felony here and in an Obama second term, it’s fair to assume that the primary qualification for citizenship would be the ability to sneak into the country.

7) Gun control will be a priority: Barack Obama filled out a “questionnaire in which he called for banning ‘the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns‘” and he let everyone know what he thought about gun owners even before he was elected with his notorious “bitter clingers” quip. His campaign website doesn’t even have a section addressing 2nd Amendment issues, perhaps because Obama would have to admit that he’s already calling for a reinstatement of the Assault Weapons Ban. Without an election to keep him in check, expect Barack Obama to “evolve” on gun control the same way he did on gay marriage.

John Hawkins

John Hawkins is a professional blogger who runs Right Wing News, Linkiest, and Viral Footage. He’s also the co-owner of the The Looking Spoon. You can read more from John Hawkins on Facebook, Twitter, G+, You Tube, & Pajamas Media.

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/08/14/7_things_to_expect_if_obama_is_elected_to_a_second_term/page/full/

Here Come the Polygamists

In case you haven’t heard, some of the stars of the popular TV show “Sister Wives” are suing the state of Utah, arguing that its laws against bigamy are unconstitutional. And just last week, a reporter asked White House press secretary Jay Carney, “How does the president stand on polygamy?”

Polygamy? Are you kidding?

Not surprisingly, Carney ignored the question, but it is a question he won’t be able to ignore for long. In an extensive, <href=”#ixzz22rj3b0du”>feature article, Time magazine described how “once secretive plural families like the Dargers of Utah [also part of “Sister Wives”] are coming out of the shadows and beginning to advocate for their way of life.” (The article was entitled, “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do: Polygamy Raises Its Profile in America.”)

But what else could we expect? First same-sex couples have come out of the closet and now “plural families” are “coming out of the shadows.” After all, if two men can get “married,” why not one man and several women? And if there is a fundamental “right” to marry the person you love, shouldn’t that “right” also extend to the persons (plural) you love? Surely “marriage equality” means equality for all, right?

On July 25^th, AP News reported that “Kody Brown and his four wives just want to live like any other family — free from the threat of being tossed in prison.” Surely, “tolerance” and “diversity” require this too, do they not? (Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but if “tolerance” and “diversity” and “equality” can be used to support same-sex “marriage,” then they can be used to support polygamy.)

The Browns are being represented by no less a prominent attorney than Jonathan Turley, professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a frequent TV commentator. Turley is claiming that the very court rulings that paved the way for same-sex “marriage” also pave the way for polygamy. And this, it turns out, is exactly what Justice Antonin Scalia predicted in 2003 in his withering dissent of Lawrence v. Texas, where 6 Supreme Court justices found a constitutional “right” to Sodomy. Scalia warned that with the court’s ruling, “State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest . . . are … called into question by today’s decision.”

Not surprisingly, Turley is now arguing that “under previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings, such as one that struck down Texas’ sodomy law, private intimate relationships between consenting adults are constitutionally protected.” But of course! And despite the fact that Scalia was ridiculed for issuing his 2003 warning, his words are proving to be strikingly prescient. In fact, already in 2003, a conservative reporter wrote that “Polygamy is the next civil-rights battle,” stating that the “Multiple-wives crowd hopes to capitalize on [the Lawrence v. Texas] sodomy decision.”

In 2005, during a question and answer session at Yale University, ACLU president Nadine Strossen stated that polygamy was among the “fundamental rights” that her organization would continue to defend, and in 2011, Joseph Farah asked rhetorically, “if marriage is a discriminatory institution because it prohibits same-sex couplings, why would it not be discriminatory to prohibit more than two people from participation?” He also noted, quite rightly, that “there is much more demand for polygamy throughout the world than there is for same-sex marriage,” not to mention much more historical precedent for it.

But this is not just an issue that is being played out in the courts. It’s also being played out in the court of public opinion, and just as the media has helped promote the acceptance and even celebration of homosexuality (along with bisexuality and transgenderism), it is doing the same for polygamy. (For the media’s recent promotion of polyamory, see here.)

After all, it was just a few months ago that Vice President Joe Biden said, “I think ‘Will & Grace’ probably did more to educate the American public than almost anybody’s ever done so far. People fear that which is different. Now they’re beginning to understand.” The same can be said for shows like HBO’s “Big Love” and TLC’s “Sister Wives,” as Americans are “beginning to understand” polygamy as well. Why should they fear it?

Polygamists now have a friendly face, and if the women are happy sharing their husband and making a life together with their children, how can we object? At least that’s what the popular argument would say.

I wrote last year that same-sex “marriage” represented a further fall down the slippery slope than did polygamy, and so it’s only logical that the continued push for same-sex “marriage” will be followed inevitably by the push for polygamy (and more).

The lesson from all this is simple: If we don’t draw an absolute line in the sand and declare on a national level that marriage is the union of one man and one woman only, this sacred and most foundational human institution will soon become so malleable as to be totally unrecognizable. And so, we either do the right thing today or we face the radical consequences tomorrow. Which will it be?

Michael Brown

Michael Brown holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He hosts the nationally syndicated, daily talk radio show, the Line of Fire, and his latest book is The Real Kosher Jesus.

http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2012/08/07/here_come_the_polygamists/page/full/