Yesterday marked Obama’s one year anniversary of Hope and Change. It also marked our one year anniversary of enduring it.

It turns out that change isn’t always good.  And sometimes “Change” actually means more-of-the-same. 

It also turns out there are different kinds of hope. I’m beginning to think that Obama’s kind of hope is that of Friedrich Nietzsche: “Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man.”

This kind of hope is also known as “false hope” or “lies.”  When people are especially good at selling this kind of hope, they are called charlatans.  When they do it as a tax-payer-funded career they are called politicians. When they are able to do it and give you warm fuzzies while they read from a teleprompter then they are championed as a charismatic christ and handed the keys to the kingdom. That’s just how the system works. I don’t make up the rules. But luckily there are also rules as to how to take back those keys.

Obama said he would throw out the special interest groups. Then he brokered special favors and deals for his friends at SEIU, has ignored tort reform for his trial lawyer donors, and is promoting ridiculous energy policy that will make his green, fat-cat friends rich. The list goes on.

He also said he would control spending. He has since increased spending more than any president in history.

He said he would get rid of earmarks. Then he passed a gigantic stimulus bill and a defense bill with billions of dollars of earmarks and pet projects.

He said he would not raise taxes on those making less than $250,000/yr. He has since raised cigarette taxes, plans on taxing some health insurance plans (unless you are one of his friends in a union that is, then you’re exempt), is proposing cap and trade legislation that will tax your energy and he will be forced to raise other taxes if he is to pay for even part of what he proposes to spend.

He said the legislative process (particularly with health care) would be transparent. He said it would all be on C-SPAN. LOL. Not even the Republican senators and congressmen have been allowed to sit in on the discussion - much less us.  It has all happened behind closed doors.  And then when they do finally release it to the public they rush it through a vote before anyone can read it.

He said he would crack down on corruption.  And now they are brokering all kinds of giveaways in return for health care votes. This is also known as bribery - unless you’re a politician, of course. Then it’s just called “the ugly legislative process. It’s like sausage…nobody wants to see how it’s made.”  So now we have a $300 million gift to Senator Landrieu, special funds for Senator Nelson and others to buy votes on health care reform. And these are just the ones we know about!  Who knows what other deals are going on behind the closed doors of the sausage factory.

He also promised bipartisanship.  LOL.

He also said he would surround himself with moderates. Yet we continue to find extremists like John Podesta, John Holdren and Van Jones as his close advisers.

And let’s not even start on abortion. He promised to reduce abortions. Yet over and over and over again he continues to support policy that encourages, funds and promotes abortion.

Granted, some of this stuff is not entirely Obama’s fault. He just made lots of promises he couldn’t (and wouldn’t) keep. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and others are to blame also. But enough is enough. It’s not change. It’s just more of the same.

And I don’t want to hear about how Bush, Clinton or so-and-so blah blah blah blah blah. I know. Save it. You’re making my point. It’s all got to stop. Nobody should be able to decide my health care from a thousand miles away behind some closed door while giving hundreds of millions of our dollars to other senators in bribes. Nobody. The system is undeniably corrupt. Some of us have just grown so accustomed to it that we can’t imagine it any other way. The government is too big. It’s too far away. It’s too unaccountable. It’s too immoral. Until we fix that, forget everything else.

I’m not sure who is more naive: Barack Obama for believing he could deliver on his Promise or us for believing he believed it.

I would love to say “I told you so” to all of the well-intentioned Catholics and other Americans who voted for Obama honestly believing the hype…I mean “hope.”  But I would rather focus on the real hope ahead.

Last night, Massachusetts had an early opportunity to start bringing an end to the torment. They elected Scott Brown, a Republican, to one of the most liberal senate seats in the country (Teddy Kennedy’s old seat) sending a clear signal to the Dems in charge that the People are sick and tired of the games and corruption.

This is quite literally one of the most shocking election upsets in history. Scott Brown is going to throw a timely wrench into The Machine and it will probably be one of the best things to happen to the system in a long time.

He will be the deciding vote against this ridiculous health care debacle (providing it gets back to the Senate) that would - among other things - federally fund more abortion, hurt the economy and reduce the quality of health care while increasing cost. But more than anything else, his win will hopefully shake up all of the elitist politicians in Washington who are far too busy planning your children’s future without you.

Let’s throw them out. It’s the loving thing to do.