The NY Times in Sorting Out the Election does its best to assert that American voters really didn't repudiate TeamObama's policies. They revert to the tired mantra that the economic malaise is really Bush's fault and the Republicans' failure to cooperate with TeamObama since his election is the real problem.
I read it differently. While TeamObama may get the blame, Congress is where the problem lies. After all, when all is said and done, it is Congress that appropriates money and approves budgets and earmarks that now result in our borrowing 42 cents of every federal dollar spent. Congress is a bigger problem than TeamObama and Congress has been in Democrat hands since 2007.
In the mid-term elections, Congress was repudiated by voters who replaced many incumbents. However, control of the House by the Republicans will not enable them to govern. The situation now is a recipe for more gridlock and sparring for the run-up to the 2012 elections. Please, politicians, let's work for the good of the country instead.
Americans deserve more from our Congress than bickering, massive deficits, earmarks and government bloat. Serious work on major issues to prevent the obvious demise of the United States would be in order. Thankfully, the Tea Party folks are raising a loud voice to stop the slide and turned out votes attempting to change direction.
Changing direction in a fiscally sane fashion is what's needed to restore the confidence of Americans. TeamObama's policies lead us further down the road to debt and demise. Can Republicans and Tea Party folks turn the ship of state? Not without a massive overhaul of the culture of dependency that pervades too much of America.
Government as the great savior and redistributor of the nation's wealth is a fable. A vibrant private sector confidently investing and creating jobs is what we need.
1 comment:
The problem I have with the "culture of dependency" and falacy of gov't as the "great savior" arguments is that it seems to ignore the segment of society where self reliance is simply too far a reach. Those people need a voice and I too often hear in the rhetoric of self reliance a a deaf ear.
Here's the (abbreviated and true) story of "T" as an example: (It is a bit graphic, if it you think it is inappropriate for your site please do not post it. It is true).
It was “T’s" turn to tell her life story last night.
She began: “My mother was 15 and living in a foster home when I was born…” The mother then ran away from home leaving T behind. When T was 8 years old her foster mother died of Lou Gherigs disease. There were older foster children in the home, one of whom molested T. Soon enough T started smoking marijuana, eventually as much as 30 blunts a day, then moved onto ecstasy and then smoking crack. At 16 she had her first of 3 kids, a son (she smoked crack every day of her first pregnancy).
When the first child was two years old T got into a fight with another woman in her neighborhood and ended up stabbing her 6 times. She fled the state to Atlanta (without her son who was sent to foster care (he is 14 now and still in foster care). She lived in Atlanta for 6 years after which she came back to NY and was picked up by the cops on the old stabbing charge. She did a year and half in prison (her only clean time) but when she got out her crack use was worse than before.
To support her habit she "hustled" (sold drugs and prostitution ("at first hustling is fun - 50 dollars for five minutes but soon it gets disgusting - those are some smelly dicks"). At this point in the telling of her story she looked over to me and the patient I was sitting next to in our circle (also a white male) and she said: "How you white boys doin over there, can you handle this shit?"
She had two more kids (both are also in foster care, although amazingly enough T's original birth mother reappeared on the scene and was given custody of the two younger kids). T is now in rehab trying to get and stay sober.
I can tell you this; T is smart, funny, kind, sensitive, hurt and lonely. All of her possessions fit into one shopping bag. Some people say that it's the bad people who end up in Hell and the good ones in Heaven. I think, just maybe, it’s exactly the opposite.
Post a Comment