At every campaign event Mr. Obama smugly stands behind a banner displaying his 2012 motto: Forward.  But, he didn’t build that slogan, nor is he the first to use it in conjunction with class-warfare and the other “f” word – Fairness – to advance the social acceptance of government dependency and the social justice of wealth redistribution.

Like sirens luring weary sailors to their rocky demise, the progressives have long used the hum of ambiguous rhetoric to persuade those hoping for change to ignore the disastrous consequences of America fractured by economic envy and Americans shackled by the entitlement of self-doubt.

But the staggering cost of decades of collectivism and the incalculable cost of another four years of Mr. Obama’s policies can no longer be ignored. With just a few days remaining before the election, it’s time to end the entrancement; it’s time for Americans to ask: forward to what and fairness according to whom?

Fairness according to those in the now famous 47% who work hard and proudly live by JFK’s “ask not” creed or to those who shamelessly work the systems of dependency and only ask for more? Fairness according to those who buy their cell phones or to those who boast that they do not? Fairness according to those who are concerned about their grandchildren’s share of the 16 trillion dollar national debt or to those who only care about getting their fair-share now? Fairness according to those who argue that showing a photo ID in order to participate in the selection of the leader of the free world is too troublesome or to the young GIs who must show an ID to buy a pack of cigarettes or a six-pack of beer? Fairness according to the political realists who are called racists or to the race-baiting demagogues who truly are? Fairness according to persecuted Christians and Jews or hyper-sensitive Muslims?

And forward to higher taxes and lower median family incomes? Forward to 50 million Americans on food stamps and 30 million permanently unemployed? Forward to more lectures about economic patriotism from one who bows to foreign leaders? Forward to $ 6.00 a gallon gas and rolling brown-outs? Forward to rationed health care, bureaucratic death panels, and metal detectors at hospital doors? Forward to more dead Ambassadors, more flexibility for Putin, and less support for Israel? Forward to dramatic defense spending cuts and a national security policy based less on the blue-steel deterrents of our military and more on the powder-blue appeasement of the U. N.? Forward to more executive orders and an even more diminished U.S. Constitution? Forward to more international apologies, economic excuses, and rounds of recreational golf?

In 1980 the question “are you better off” swept Ronald Reagan into office and put America on a path to unprecedented growth and prosperity. This fall Mr. Romney has been asking the same question in expectation of similar results, but considering the current state of both domestic and global affairs a more appropriate query would be: Is America better off?

Any quick and reasonable look would suggest that America is not. A deep and thorough analysis would confirm that America is standing one step away from the abyss of failure; one election away from an inevitable economic, cultural, and constitutional collapse.

In the upcoming election the choice is clear: America can stumble forward to its demise with Mr. Obama or Americans can step up with Mr. Romney.

Step up and insist on a principled leader over a pandering politician with his binder full of clichés. Step up and demand a strong national defense and energy independence. Step up and support the resurrection of a limited constitutional government and an expanding free enterprise system. Step up and reaffirm the personal value of self-respect and self-reliance and the national value of a culture united around both. Step up and reestablish the sovereignty of the God given rights, talents, and initiatives of the individual over the allocated privileges and centralized planning of the state. Step up and reestablish the exceptionalism of Reagan’s Shining City. Step up and stop Mr. Obama’s fundamental transformation of America.

Indeed, this Nov. 6th, Americans regardless of their percentage of circumstance can proudly step up with Mr. Romney and Pay Forward… America’s Greatness. It would only be Fair.