Ben Stein wrote a piece in the American Spectator on Monday, thanking Barack Obama for making the jobs of Republicans just a bit easier.  As Barack Obama continues his focused stride towards bigger and bigger government, Stein argues, it becomes much easier for the Grand Old Party to look that much better in comparison.

Creative indeed.  In fact, I penned my predictions for an Obama presidency before the election even took place last year, and my predictions, which coincide with Stein’s observations, seem to be quite accurate.  But, that does not mean I am happy about it.

As Barack Obama stands in front of Congress and Americans arguing for bigger and bigger government, running our deficits and national debt up to monstrous proportions and putting forth shallow, silly arguments that cutting “waste” from programs like Medicare can somehow fund Health Care, he is making the Republican’s jobs that much easier.

Obama’s spending habits have made George Bush look like the fiscal conservative like he claimed to be nine years ago before his first election.  Bush, after all, did not run up the deficits this much.  He was not as bad as Barack Obama – in comparison.

But, this argument strikes me as having the same tired, intellectually-lazy mindset as those who argue in favor of voting for the lesser of two evils.  Personally, I do not much care if Barack Obama is making George Bush and the Republican Party look any better.  This nation is in dire need of reform – true reform, that is, not these mindless “hope” and “change” platitudes that somehow won over so many Americans last year.

True reform means rejecting the two-party system and putting some of these rich, elite career politicians out of work for a while.  It means letting Libertarians, Constitution Party members and others from third parties have their time in the spotlight, who are in the game of politics to provide something that members of the Republicans and Democrats simply cannot: something different.

There are many unknowns in the game of politics, but one thing is for sure: so long as the Republicans and Democrats remain in power, nothing will ever change for the better.  It is not prudent to thank Barack Obama for making your party look better when your party is largely the reason why Barack Obama got elected in the first place.  When your party provides no meaningful solutions to important Constitutional issues, basking in the glow of Obama’s weaknesses only makes you and your party look that much more desperate, shallow and reckless.

On its face, Ben Stein is precisely accurate; Barack Obama truly is making the only alternative that most Americans are aware of look more promising – or at least slightly less incapable.  Pardon me for saying this, but I don’t want ill-equipped, bush-league politicians making decisions on my behalf, regardless of their political affiliation.  I do not want comparative genius influencing American society and what’s left of our culture.