Walter Patterson Herald ColumnistLast week, President Obama gave his third  State of the Union speech to Congress and to the American people.  Since the pundits, both liberal and conservative, have analyzed this speech ten ways to Sunday, I will refrain from doing so.  
However, I will give a short opinion beginning with the fact that the speech was too long.  Boring is the next word that comes to mind followed closely by unrealistic, recycled, and pitiful. If I were president and my speech writers had concocted something this bad and ill-suited for the occasion, I would not only fire them, but I would run them out of Washington  Obama proclaimed boldly and often that “America is back.”
Who believes this?  We are not back, and there are no signs on the horizon that we will be back anytime soon. To mislead the American people is an act that will come back to haunt this President. The American people are not stupid.
If I had been President Obama’s speechwriter, I would have written the following:
My Fellow Americans:
I stand before you tonight to tell you that freedom as you and I know it is balanced precariously on a razor’s edge, and we can tip either way.  Our people are without jobs and the unemployment numbers continue to rise.  We cannot remain a great people if our citizens cannot find work to support themselves and their families. Our national debt is unsustainable.
Our Constitution is under attack.  Some lawyers have labeled this time in our history “the post-constitutional age.” The Constitution of the United States is the greatest document for self-government ever written, yet we are treating it as an obstacle to be overcome rather than following its mandates.  The Constitution was written specifically to protect the rights of the individual citizen and to protect him or her from the government.  History has proven over and over again that governments become oppressive very quickly when they grow too big.  
Unfortunately, our federal government has grown too big.  Already, our lives are being affected by oppressive laws and regulations that extend to the type of light bulbs we purchase to our health insurance.  Never before in the history of this country have citizens been compelled by law to purchase anything by the government – not until Obamacare, that is.  
This legislation will require every citizen to purchase health insurance.  How long will it be before the federal government requires its citizens to purchase Chevrolet Volts?
We live in a dangerous world, yet our military is literally being gutted.  If we plan to remain a Superpower, we must maintain a strong national defense.  Without it, Hugo Chavez and his sponsors in Iran can cause so many disruptions in our economy and our way of live that we will crumble like a wooden shack in the midst of a tornado.  Freedom is expensive.  We must maintain our military so that no one, not Russia, China, or anyone else dares to attempt an attack on this country or its assets located across the globe.
We have heard attacks on capitalism from every Democrat in Congress.  Without capitalism, there is no American dream.  When people tell you that want to be “fair,” they are telling you that they want to redistribute wealth and ensure equal outcomes for every citizen.  
This thinking is not American thinking.  This is the type of thinking they do in Eastern Europe, Russia, and China.  The federal government is not an instrument to redistribute other people’s wealth.  The government’s main function is to guarantee individual freedom and allow every citizen to follow his own interests.  
Some people will succeed.  Others will fail.  Some will obtain great wealth, but this is no concern of the government unless the wealth is gained in an unlawful manner.  In a capitalistic system, more people will succeed than fail, and the economy will be such that all but a few individuals will have opportunities for meaningful, productive work. No system yet invented can distribute goods and services as well as capitalism.
American produced energy is important to our national wellbeing. The Keystone Pipeline will be allowed to begin construction immediately.  The Gulf will be opened for the drilling of oil immediately, federal lands will be open for drilling, and the money used to invest in “green energy” will be suspended.  “Green energy is a utopian dream hatched by some liberal to return this country to the 19th century.  This country runs on oil.  Until there is a technological breakthrough where alternative energy is available at unlimited quantities, we must drill for oil, refine it, and use it.  Gasoline should return to a stable price of around $1.85 per gallon.
Ladies and gentlemen, the State of our Union is weak.  We cannot continue down the road we have chosen.  If we do not change, our economy, which is burdened by nearly 17 trillion dollars in debt, will guarantee that your children, their children, and their children will live in poverty the likes of which we have never seen.  With God’s help, I believe that we can correct these problems, reduce our national debt, care for our elderly and disabled, and set an example for the rest of the world to follow.  After all, we are Americans.  Thank you, and may God bless America.