Obama’s Legacy Was a Liberal Coup of the United States

Last night, Barack Obama gave his farewell address in his hometown of Chicago. Sadly, but expectedly, it was a mix of narcissism and lies, completely whitewashing the history of the last eight years.

Toward the beginning of his speech, the outgoing president stated that “[When ordinary people come together to demand change] It’s the beating heart of our American idea—our bold experiment in self-government.” While this sounds nice, it would be nicer if Obama actually believed in this American idea he speaks of. The idea of self-government completely contradicts the progressive ideology Obama has governed with for his entire presidency—that government control needs to expand as far as it can. The idea of self-government is the opposite of Obama’s legacy.

For example, look at Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. America had a relatively private healthcare and insurance system, and while not necessarily perfect, it was the best healthcare system in the world. But then a big-government president and congress attempted to substitute our system for a top-down bureaucratic one, and passed it into law through a strictly one-party Democratic vote, in the dead of night over Christmas weekend in 2009.

The passage of this legislation showed dire consequences, such as the government taking control of 1/6th of the US economy, and many losing their doctors and previous insurance, despite Obama’s promises to the contrary. It was also obvious this legislation was strongly opposed by the public, which is why it was passed on Christmas, when no one was paying attention. Congress didn’t even read the entire bill, as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.”

It’s evident that Obamacare, which includes the individual mandate that requires one to buy health insurance, directly contradicts self-government. The idea of self-government is that we know how to take care of ourselves, as Americans and as functioning human beings. We can take care of ourselves, our families, and even our communities. We know what is best for us. Not random government bureaucrats in DC who have never heard of us and probably never will. The idea of a central leviathan of a government has shown massive failure wherever it has been tried throughout world history.

Big-government interventionism and failure is a major part the real Obama legacy. Toward the end of his speech, the outgoing president claimed that “there’s still more work to do.” I couldn’t agree more—the work of cleaning up his mess and putting the country back on the road to liberty.