As citizens, we owe Barack Obama a huge debt of gratitude, for he has done what no president before him has been able to do.

By throwing patience to the wind, by making haste and — I might add — by being as honest as he has been in promoting his leftward-moving agenda, he has clarified his Marxist intentions to thousands of thinking citizens across this land who are just now beginning to study his rhetoric and who are realizing that his “change” is not the change they were expecting or wanting.

The march toward Marxism in Washington is not new, but that so many people now see it is new. My fellow citizens, if you do not yet fear what is coming, I implore you to take a closer look, to listen closely and to become actively engaged.

We live in the most free and most prosperous country on earth, and yet we still have a segment of our people who are poor and in need. It is within the prolonged plight of our poor and it is within their sense of hopelessness that we find the seeds of Marxism.

Marxism isn’t about helping the poor. I ask you to show me where on earth and where in history that Marxism has moved the poor to prosperity. You can’t because it never has and never will.

It’s a flawed system that is borne simply out of desperation and the only people who benefit from it are those that run it, that small group of powerfully elite.

Jesse Jackson and his lieutenants have been so called champions of the poor for decades, yet his subjects remain poor, hopeless and in need. I ask you, is there a benefit to maintaining a poor “class” in this country and if so to whose benefit is it?

Welfare isn’t a benefit. Rather, it is a government-sponsored industry that must continue to feed itself in order to survive, prosper and grow. It is chains and shackles around the necks and feet of the poorest amongst us. It robs the poor of their pride, dignity and self-worth. It siphons their self-confidence and makes them cast down their glance.

Where then lie the answers to the despair of our poor? The answers lie within all of us individually in our hearts and minds. The answers lie in our churches and synagogues and through Big Brother and Big Sister type organizations that sponsor and nurture those in need. The answers lie in education, encouragement and motivation.

It is time for each of us to step up individually and collectively and yank the reins from an impersonal, uncaring and inefficient government welfare system.

While opening our wallets to Washington and staying at arms length may keep us in our comfort zones, it does little and in fact is counterproductive to helping the poor realize their dreams and aspirations. We are a nation under God. Perhaps it is time we as a nation begin acting like it.

Marc Lugash

Peachtree City, Ga.