Barack Obama is determined to have us understand that he doesn't look like the ex presidents who appear on our currency. Well, this is true but not nearly the extent of the difference. Take Washington and Jefferson for instance. Both these great Founders of our nation placed high value on individual freedom and unfettered commerce. Obama considers the individual no more than a member of a larger community and commerce to be the means by which the few subjugate the many. Washington and Jefferson considered the United States a compact of individual sovereign states. Not only does this republican ideal find no place in his philosophy, Obama would have us surrender our national sovereignty to international councils and orders.
Washington and Jefferson believed each man to be responsible for himself and despised personal taxation. Obama demands that each of us be responsible for all of us and sees taxing as a means of levelling society. The final and most striking difference between Obama and Jefferson and Washington is the latter believed government to be at its best a necessary evil to be feared, restricted and restrained lest it oppress free citizens Obama on the other hand sees government as the greatest good, able to solve all problems and eliminate all inequities. Let's hope Barack never has his image on US currency or coinage, he's just too different.