Obama to College Students: ‘Reject These Voices’ That Warn of Big Government & Tyranny

[Ban Hammer 13,340]

A year to the day after kicking off his re-election campaign at Ohio State University, President Barack Obama returned to the college campus and told graduates that only through vigorous participation in their “democracy” can they right an ill-functioning government and break through relentless cynicism about the nation’s future.

“I dare you, Class of 2013, to do better. I dare you to do better,” Obama said.

In a sunbaked stadium filled with more than 57,000 students, friends and relatives, Obama lamented an American political system that gets consumed by “small things” and works for the benefit of society’s elite. He called graduates to duty to “accomplish great things,” like rebuilding a still-feeble economy and fighting poverty and climate change.

“Only you can ultimately break that cycle. Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be,” the president told more than 10,000 cap-and-gown-clad graduates. “But it requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship.”

Obama also urged the students to “reject these voices” that warn of the evils of government, saying:

Still, you’ll hear

voices that incessantly warn of government

as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s the root of all our problems, even as they do their best to gum up the works; or

that tyranny always lurks just around the corner

. You should

reject these voices

. Because what they suggest is that our brave, creative,

unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham

with which we can’t be trusted.

We have never been a people who place all our faith in government to solve our problems, nor do we want it to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because

we understand that this democracy is ours.

As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

[...]

The cynics may be the loudest voices—but they accomplish the least.

It’s the silent disruptors

—those who do the long, hard, committed work of change—

that gradually push this country in the right direction

, and make the most lasting difference. [Emphasis added]

Invoking the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the economic recession, Obama said this generation has already been tested beyond what their parents could have imagined. But he said young Americans have responded with a deep commitment to service and a conviction that they can improve their surroundings. He urged graduates to run for office, start a business or join a cause, contending that the health of their democracy “requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship.”

Ohio State also bestowed an honorary doctorate on Obama, applauding his “unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose.”

Obama’s other two commencement speeches this season will be later in May at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and at Morehouse College, an all-male school in Atlanta.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/05/obama-to-college-students-reject-these-voices-that-warn-of-big-government-tyranny/

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

He's right. Those voices should be rejected. These voices belong to the perpetually paranoid. Why should one not reject them?

I can see why the blaze is scared of such talk. After all, they're part of what feeds this dangerous paranoia.

[JohnR! 5,495]

He's right.

Of course he is right. Note the op-ed only mentions the speech and offers no critique. That quite often means they have nothing bad to say...

[Penny Lane 8,159]

It is best to ignore the voices of the truly paranoid, yes.

[GandD 5,966]

I get what they're going for here. Contrary to what they and others seem to think, America is not going to become a police state with pockets of right wing gun owners fighting to return our country to the freedom loving democracy it once was. This is not going to happen people. Stop thinking every stop light added at an intersection is big brother coming to get you.

[decocker 7,198]

I get what they're going for here. Contrary to what they and others seem to think, America is not going to become a police state with pockets of right wing gun owners fighting to return our country to the freedom loving democracy it once was. This is not going to happen people. Stop thinking every stop light added at an intersection is big brother coming to get you.

dude. yer so brainwashed. they've got you.

[GandD 5,966]

dude. yer so brainwashed. they've got you.

No doubt. Everything ever is a slippery slope. Brush your teeth in the morning? That's a slippery slope to becoming addicted to brushing your teeth.

[decocker 7,198]

No doubt. Everything ever is a slippery slope. Brush your teeth in the morning? That's a slippery slope to becoming addicted to brushing your teeth.

depends if you use colgate or tom's flouride free.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

depends if you use colgate or tom's flouride free.

Always flouride free. They even got some of those nuts in a neighboring county commission to end water flouridation. That patriotic effort didn't last very long as the brain washed and flouride dependent county electorate ousted these fine murcans from the county commission last year to have their water poisoned again. You see how fcuked up this all is? You see what a hard job true, freedom loving murcans have against the brainwashed masses?

Edited May 6, 2013 by Mr. Big Dog

[decocker 7,198]

Always flouride free. They even got some of those nuts in a neighboring county commission to end water flouridation. That patriotic effort didn't last very long as the brain washed and flouride dependent county electorate ousted these fine murcans from the county commission last year to have their water poisoned again. You see how fcuked up this all is? You see what a hard job true, freedom loving murcans have against the brainwashed masses?

its rough thinking for yourself. i'm flouride free. but not because i believe the government is attempting to poison our minds with the means to control. i'm flouride free because i'm extremely flouride sensitive. took me 27 years and well over ten grand in dental procedures (most of which my parents paid for when i was young) before i made the correlation. like most conspiracies, there is a little bit of truth twisted up within the crazy.

obama should have been telling the kids to think for themselves, period.

[Teddy B 17,252]

I get what they're going for here. Contrary to what they and others seem to think, America is not going to become a police state with pockets of right wing gun owners fighting to return our country to the freedom loving democracy it once was. This is not going to happen people. Stop thinking every stop light added at an intersection is big brother coming to get you.

Why do you hate the "real Murikans"?

[duraaraa 203]

I do think that it is turning into a surveillance state -- which is totally backwards. We look at it as, 'let's give up our rights so that we can be free,' as opposed to 'yeah, we'll have terrorist attacks every so often, but we won't sacrifice our freedom whatever happens.'

The more the terrorists attack, the fewer the rights we will have. Eventually, we won't have much in the way of freedom/privacy/etc.

Why do I feel bad giving up my privacy? Well, although I'm too lazy to link to it, there was a blog from someone who worked at the TSA. It was mentioned that when someone with a fat, ugly, strange body, or a man with very small genitals was seen through the body scanners, they would be laughed at by whoever was looking at it. People are immature, and people can be embarrassed when they lose their privacy.

Edited May 6, 2013 by duraaraa

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

A year to the day after kicking off his re-election campaign at Ohio State University, President Barack Obama returned to the college campus and told graduates that only through vigorous participation in their “democracy” can they right an ill-functioning government and break through relentless cynicism about the nation’s future.

“I dare you, Class of 2013, to do better. I dare you to do better,” Obama said.

In a sunbaked stadium filled with more than 57,000 students, friends and relatives, Obama lamented an American political system that gets consumed by “small things” and works for the benefit of society’s elite. He called graduates to duty to “accomplish great things,” like rebuilding a still-feeble economy and fighting poverty and climate change.

“Only you can ultimately break that cycle. Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be,” the president told more than 10,000 cap-and-gown-clad graduates. “But it requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship.”

Obama also urged the students to “reject these voices” that warn of the evils of government, saying:

Still, you’ll hear

voices that incessantly warn of government

as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s the root of all our problems, even as they do their best to gum up the works; or

that tyranny always lurks just around the corner

. You should

reject these voices

. Because what they suggest is that our brave, creative,

unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham

with which we can’t be trusted.

We have never been a people who place all our faith in government to solve our problems, nor do we want it to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because

we understand that this democracy is ours.

As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

[...]

The cynics may be the loudest voices—but they accomplish the least.

It’s the silent disruptors

—those who do the long, hard, committed work of change—

that gradually push this country in the right direction

, and make the most lasting difference. [Emphasis added]

T

Invoking the end of the Cold War, 9/11 and the economic recession, Obama said this generation has already been tested beyond what their parents could have imagined. But he said young Americans have responded with a deep commitment to service and a conviction that they can improve their surroundings. He urged graduates to run for office, start a business or join a cause, contending that the health of their democracy “requires your dedicated, informed and engaged citizenship.”

Ohio State also bestowed an honorary doctorate on Obama, applauding his “unwavering belief in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose.”

Obama’s other two commencement speeches this season will be later in May at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and at Morehouse College, an all-male school in Atlanta.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/05/obama-to-college-students-reject-these-voices-that-warn-of-big-government-tyranny/

that is scary. He is getting more bold everyday. The vigilance with which we guard our freedom should never slack take a second off.

[decocker 7,198]

that is scary. He is getting more bold everyday. The vigilance with which we guard our freedom should never slack take a second off.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I do think that it is turning into a surveillance state --

As an exhibitionist, I am all for it.