In 2012, We Must Ask Ourselves: 'Are We Better Off?'

A friend writes as follows:
Are we better off than when the new CEO we elected took office? 
No blaming the guy who came before him. No blaming those pesky people who seem to have a different philosophy. Take the labels away. 
Are we better off? 
I speak to lot of business owners who are just hanging on. Many of them are skipping paychecks so they can pay their employees and even with that, they've had to cut the employee salaries. 
Are we better off? 
We hired a new guy in 2008 to fix what we thought was wrong and are we better off? 
Yeah, I know Bin Laden is dead and Obama took credit - so let's not go there. Is this country better off? Yes or No? 
And on one of the paramount issues of the day, this friend adds:
I'm not sure when birth control became a woman's right. 
At one time I thought abortion was OK. And then one day I heard the staggering number of lives that had been ended through abortion. I actually cried. I couldn't stop thinking about the teachers, artists and just plain great human beings we had killed in the name of women's rights. Who knows, maybe we ended the life of the person who could actually find a cure for breast cancer. 
Obama actually fought for ending the life of a baby that had survived an abortion. He said in an interview that his daughters should not have to pay for the rest of their lives for "a mistake." 
I just heard a woman talk about reproductive justice - I asked her for whom - she changed the subject. 
I was extremely liberal when I graduated college in the 60s. Then I realized what extreme liberalism was doing to this country. I'm not an extreme anything anymore. Kind of in the middle but I wonder why people can't see through the rhetoric that comes out of politician's mouths. 
We need stop listening to pretty words and actually look at what they do. Regarding our "right" to contraceptives, one politician said "it saves lives." Really? Well, dental floss saves more lives. It's a proven medical fact that flossing every day prevents plaque build up in the arteries. I floss every day. I should be entitled to free dental floss if it's all about saving lives and a healthier America.