Mad
It has been over eight years since the world trade center towers were attached by Muslim extremists. Our lives would be changed forever. The victims extended beyond those in the towers, in the four aircraft, those offering support in the months after the disaster and countless families from all over the country. Thousands of innocent people died that day and today many still suffer the psychological and physical effects of those attacks. Our decade has largely been defined by what took place that day.
We depend on our government for among other things protection and defense. What has been done in the eight years to insure that an attack of this magnitude never takes place again? What has really changed with regards to public safety in this country during the past six years? Have those who are responsible for the attacks of September 11 really been brought to justice? Has our government done what it is supposed to do by protecting us against threats both foreign and domestic?
We got the answer to that question last week when a young Nigerian man 23 years of age tried to detonate his underpants which had PETN explosives sewn into them. He would have been successful in doing so had it not been for the quick response of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft.
In response to the attacks of September 11, the US Government established the Department of Homeland Security. Billions of dollars have been spent to secure our borders and make us safe, but the same problem existed on December 25, 2009. Our government, for some yet unexplained reason was unable to connect the dots even though yet again all the warning signs were available to us to thwart this attach.
So what has changed since the towers were brought down? To our credit it would appear that we are better about coordinating interagency communication. Thankfully there has been no disaster in the US anywhere approaching the scale of what took place in 2001 to test that claim. Yet we have been told that should a disaster take place we are now better prepared than we were. This contention was apparently proven false last week. Perhaps our most visible sign of change since 911 has been that air travel is now more difficult and will likely become more so. In this day of political correctness 70 year old ladies are being searched along with those who obviously fit a profile more along the lines of those who wish to hurt us. In the most egregious example of creating a two tier have/have-not hierarchy, private companies had set up camp at some of our busiest airports and created a pre-screening process that allows those who pay a fee to whisk through security lines faster than those who do not fly regularly or do not have the means to pay that extra fee. Thankfully the system has been dismantled and the company is now out of business. All this while innocent citizens of the US with the “wrong name” are placed on a no-fly list and are unable to board a plane.
So how close are we to putting the genie back in the bottle? $250 million was budgeted during the last year of the Bush administration to capture Al Qaeda’s leaders. Though at times during the past ten years we have had the opportunity to capture several in the leadership ranks, today we cannot say exactly where Osama Bin Laden resides. What is being said is that Al Qaeda has regrouped and is working back up to full strength. Yemen is the latest country to harbor and train these terrorist. The two who assisted in training the underwear bomber of the past week were said to have been released from Guantanamo Bay and “rehabilitated” by the Saudis. The Taliban, the government harboring Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001has again gained strength and persecuting women in Afghanistan and is claiming responsibility for kidnappings and killings and have regained control of remote areas of that country. We wait anxiously to see if 18 months and 30,000 troops will make a difference in that largely ungoverned country. When asked why we cannot search Pakistan for Al Qaeda operatives and perhaps Bin Laden himself, we are told that there are complexities in doing so even though we know those who are harboring Bin Laden (and growing opium bound for the US as heroin) are located there.
Our government points to no terrorist attack taking place on US soil as success of our war on terrorism. But attacks on the European continent and Britain show that our neighbors and allies that gains are negligible. In this country freedoms granted and taken for granted for over 200 years have been diluted under the guise of the “Patriot Act.” While goods and services move more freely than ever between the borders of Mexico and Canada and the United States, citizens are now required for the first time to possess passports to travel legally to each of those two countries. Countless other civil liberties have been watered down including the government ‘s warrantless wiretaps and ability to know which books you check out from the library.
The citizens of the United States need to remember that our constitutional republic was founded on a government for and by the people. It is our responsibility to demand from those that we place into office that they work on issues that really matter to our country and our allies. Does it really matter if those who are homosexual want to marry? Or does it matter that thousands are never the victims of an unprovoked attack on US soil ever again? Does it really matter if someone burns the US flag? Or does it matter that we have no long-term energy policy that allows us to no longer rely on those who hate us and are empowered to fund wars against us by the very dollars that we provide them?
As much as we want to deny it, 911 demonstrated the US is no longer an outpost and geographically immune to attack. We need to work more closely with our allies. While the US may lead, we cannot afford to go it alone. Muslim extremists view their jihad against the infidels as world-wide. Our plan to combat this enemy needs to be worldwide and in cooperation with those who have shown over the years to be our unwavering friends. Our politicians need to tackle the difficult issues and stop distracting us and themselves with divisive and diversionary rhetoric and party politics. Today, there is no head of Homeland Security for the simple reason that republicans think that the nominated candidate for the position is pro-union. As a result they have held up his nomination. Among the first lessons of American Revolution, our founding fathers said that if we do not hang together, we will most assuredly all hang separately. That sentiment has never been truer than it is today.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Out of Touch
Those who represent us seem to be out of touch. Not all, but most. Recently I heard one of them on the radio talking about services and taxes. He said that the people want their schools funded and their roads fixed. But they are not willing to pay for any of this. If it is said on the radio, it must be true.
I guess you can fool some of the people some of the time.
Back in 1984, nearly a quarter century ago the people of California voted for the California state lottery. The slogan to pass this initiative was “our schools win too.” The ballot measure was sold to voters and residents that a percentage of the lottery money would fund schools. Well, that is exactly what happened. But what they did not tell us was that right after implemented the pre-lottery funding for California schools would be cut to offset the new source of funding from the new lottery. The long-term net addition to schools funding was essentially zero and a new self-sustaining bureaucracy was created. The lottery that was supposed to be a win for our schools was not.
The voters in the State of California have been voting for propositions to increase funding for highways in this state. I have lost count of how many ballot measures we have actually voted for to save our highways, our infrastructure and our schools. The voters have continuously voted for an extra quarter penny for sales tax, or a parcel tax, gas tax or a bond measure. We have been voting for nearly twenty years. During that time we it was determined that these funds that were supposed to be destined for roads, bridge repair, low classroom sizes or something very specific only to see those fund end up in the state’s general fund. It got so ridiculous that voters even needed to vote on a ballot measure that said that when voters vote for better roads or better schools or better something , that those funds cannot be diverted to the general fund. This, even though the funds were voted on to handle a specific problem or item in the first place. The biggest joke is that the same political action committee (the road construction lobby) that shills for better roads every election begins anew after every election for additional road funding. Their latest pitch is for a “private public partnership.” Translated: Toll roads. So after nearly 20 years of funding requests and the most recent a bond measure that mortgaged our children’s future to save crumbling infrastructure, they want toll roads which will require us to pay for the roads that we voted to pay for in the first place.
In my town they recently completed an addition to city hall after it was remodeled and expanded 20 years earlier. There were no real issues with the old city hall although it may have been slightly dated and a little small to handle the bloated bureaucracy that it was designed to handle when it was last refurbished. No public vote. Nothing more than the city council public hearings that no one knew about or had time to attend funding its expansion. A few years later it became apparent that the city’s library, across the street from city hall, needed replacement. Originally built in the late 1950’s it was long obvious that the small, dingy, and out-of-date facility needed to be rebuilt. The city next to ours with about 1/3 the population of our town had already made plans to replace their library. This city does not have a formal city hall and you would be hard pressed to find their offices. Our city had asked our voters to approve in one vote a sales tax increase and in another parcel tax to fund the library. Fed up with their hands always out for more funding, the citizens of our city voted the ballot measure down both times. Finally, the city realizing that the voters were fed up decided to build a scaled down version of the library. The new library finally broke ground and is being built about five years after the city hall had been completed. Moral of the story: If you want to build the Taj Mahal of a city hall with little or no public feedback and fill it with additional employees, no problem. But a new facility that will benefit the entire community requires years of votes and your dollars in the form of a parcel tax to get it done.
Politicians are now asking for more taxes from their constituents while those very constituents have difficulty with day to day expenses. When will it stop? We are about 225 years into the founding of our country. As citizens we pay at least 50% of our incomes in taxes after sales tax, state income tax, Federal income tax, social security tax, licenses, tolls and fees . That plus all the school fundraisers and cars washes for sporting equipment that are funded as part of a normal education in other parts of the country. Embarrassing. Critics of our low taxes say other countries pay more. Well, other countries were not built on the foundation of innovation and the ability to get ahead while keeping most of what you make. Other countries also have more to show their citizens for the high taxes they pay. Better care for the elderly, health insurance, a decent education and quality public transportation systems are just a few examples of what other countries get for their tax dollars.
In the last ten years in this country we have seen a stock boom that brought prosperity through sales tax, capital gains tax and income tax. We have experienced a building boom throughout the nation that had not been seen since the end of World War II. These events reaped hundreds of billions if not trillions of tax dollars into state and Federal coffers. Still our politicians cannot fix our roads, cannot fund our schools to decent levels and continue to ask us for more. They spend irresponsibly and vote to appoint commissions to give themselves raises. Funding for programs are not granted on need or merit but rather by those lobbyists who wield the most power and have the most influence. We have forgotten about what is right and what is needed. This became apparent when our politicians, who are supposed to represent us, say that is we that are out of touch.
Those who represent us seem to be out of touch. Not all, but most. Recently I heard one of them on the radio talking about services and taxes. He said that the people want their schools funded and their roads fixed. But they are not willing to pay for any of this. If it is said on the radio, it must be true.
I guess you can fool some of the people some of the time.
Back in 1984, nearly a quarter century ago the people of California voted for the California state lottery. The slogan to pass this initiative was “our schools win too.” The ballot measure was sold to voters and residents that a percentage of the lottery money would fund schools. Well, that is exactly what happened. But what they did not tell us was that right after implemented the pre-lottery funding for California schools would be cut to offset the new source of funding from the new lottery. The long-term net addition to schools funding was essentially zero and a new self-sustaining bureaucracy was created. The lottery that was supposed to be a win for our schools was not.
The voters in the State of California have been voting for propositions to increase funding for highways in this state. I have lost count of how many ballot measures we have actually voted for to save our highways, our infrastructure and our schools. The voters have continuously voted for an extra quarter penny for sales tax, or a parcel tax, gas tax or a bond measure. We have been voting for nearly twenty years. During that time we it was determined that these funds that were supposed to be destined for roads, bridge repair, low classroom sizes or something very specific only to see those fund end up in the state’s general fund. It got so ridiculous that voters even needed to vote on a ballot measure that said that when voters vote for better roads or better schools or better something , that those funds cannot be diverted to the general fund. This, even though the funds were voted on to handle a specific problem or item in the first place. The biggest joke is that the same political action committee (the road construction lobby) that shills for better roads every election begins anew after every election for additional road funding. Their latest pitch is for a “private public partnership.” Translated: Toll roads. So after nearly 20 years of funding requests and the most recent a bond measure that mortgaged our children’s future to save crumbling infrastructure, they want toll roads which will require us to pay for the roads that we voted to pay for in the first place.
In my town they recently completed an addition to city hall after it was remodeled and expanded 20 years earlier. There were no real issues with the old city hall although it may have been slightly dated and a little small to handle the bloated bureaucracy that it was designed to handle when it was last refurbished. No public vote. Nothing more than the city council public hearings that no one knew about or had time to attend funding its expansion. A few years later it became apparent that the city’s library, across the street from city hall, needed replacement. Originally built in the late 1950’s it was long obvious that the small, dingy, and out-of-date facility needed to be rebuilt. The city next to ours with about 1/3 the population of our town had already made plans to replace their library. This city does not have a formal city hall and you would be hard pressed to find their offices. Our city had asked our voters to approve in one vote a sales tax increase and in another parcel tax to fund the library. Fed up with their hands always out for more funding, the citizens of our city voted the ballot measure down both times. Finally, the city realizing that the voters were fed up decided to build a scaled down version of the library. The new library finally broke ground and is being built about five years after the city hall had been completed. Moral of the story: If you want to build the Taj Mahal of a city hall with little or no public feedback and fill it with additional employees, no problem. But a new facility that will benefit the entire community requires years of votes and your dollars in the form of a parcel tax to get it done.
Politicians are now asking for more taxes from their constituents while those very constituents have difficulty with day to day expenses. When will it stop? We are about 225 years into the founding of our country. As citizens we pay at least 50% of our incomes in taxes after sales tax, state income tax, Federal income tax, social security tax, licenses, tolls and fees . That plus all the school fundraisers and cars washes for sporting equipment that are funded as part of a normal education in other parts of the country. Embarrassing. Critics of our low taxes say other countries pay more. Well, other countries were not built on the foundation of innovation and the ability to get ahead while keeping most of what you make. Other countries also have more to show their citizens for the high taxes they pay. Better care for the elderly, health insurance, a decent education and quality public transportation systems are just a few examples of what other countries get for their tax dollars.
In the last ten years in this country we have seen a stock boom that brought prosperity through sales tax, capital gains tax and income tax. We have experienced a building boom throughout the nation that had not been seen since the end of World War II. These events reaped hundreds of billions if not trillions of tax dollars into state and Federal coffers. Still our politicians cannot fix our roads, cannot fund our schools to decent levels and continue to ask us for more. They spend irresponsibly and vote to appoint commissions to give themselves raises. Funding for programs are not granted on need or merit but rather by those lobbyists who wield the most power and have the most influence. We have forgotten about what is right and what is needed. This became apparent when our politicians, who are supposed to represent us, say that is we that are out of touch.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Where Do You Stand?
Are you a Republican or a democrat?
As we enter the next decade, it’s vital that you think about where you stand and what you are for.
Perhaps we are not in as bad a shape as country or a culture as we were a year ago. But, depending on who you are, where you live and if you still have a job, make no mistake, we still live in trying times. Today our economy is in a fragile state. Has it failed? No. But few are singing “Happy Days are Here Again.”
So who will best lead us out of this? The conservatives or the liberals? The republications or the democrats?
Let’s start with the democrats or as the republicans like to say, “Liberals.” Their philosophy has been that the blue collar worker in our country needs a fair shake. That is why so many of the unions often endorse a democratic candidate. They have been dedicated to making sure that the working class has a fair wage for a fair day’s work. As a voting bloc, democrats seem to represent those who are not at the upper end of the economic spectrum. In a bygone era, it could be said that the democrats wanted higher taxes and more regulation in order to even out inequities between the rich and the poor; the worker and the business owner; the haves and the have nots. They have been portrayed as wild taxers of the wealthy and spenders of tax payer dollars with wild abandon.
The republications or “right wingers” have had a reputation as the party of the wealthy. Often large business owners and entrepreneurs were thought to be republicans. While there are exceptions, if you make a lot of money, you are a republican. Republicans were traditionally for less regulation and the ability to get the most productivity out of the working class and that meant getting the most out of the worker. As a group they were against the unions. Traditionally the republicans were for less regulation, more competition and a market driven economy where the fittest survived. In a bygone era the republicans wanted smaller government, less government interference and lower taxes that in theory would translate into more investment and a stronger economy. Their basic economic philosophy was grounded in a theory that if economic incentives were given to large companies and wealthy business owners, a trickledown effect would take place lifting all, the poor and the middle class as well as themselves into economic prosperity.
But into the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century to the present day something changed. The republicans realizing that the democrats held the executive branch would need the votes from outside their core constituency to reclaim what had been theirs for the better part of the previous two decades. They could not win future elections by simply appealing to the traditional ideology of the Republican Party. They continued to court the socially conservative religious right which began to move toward their party in the early 1980’s. This arrangement meant that the party had to denounce certain moral issues such as the right by women to have an abortion or for couples of the same gender to marry. This arrangement began to erode the traditional conservative philosophy of government interference in the worst way. Not only were republicans now advocating government interference, they were advocating the interference of a human right, and the basic freedoms guaranteed from the very time our country was born and in some examples affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The trickledown theory of economics has always been controversial. It starts by priming the economic pump from the top down. Whether or not the benefits really make it to the working classes is up for debate to this day. But at the turn of the century as the administration changed from democrat to republican and from one of the greatest boom periods to the economy we have today a strange thing happened. As that economic pump was being primed, technology, new laws and a lack of regulation and oversight allowed many of those large companies to send jobs off shore. Rather than allowing success and prosperity to trickle down, large companies sent jobs away. Unlike downturns previously, factories were being moved overseas where labor was plentiful and cheap and workers here were being asked to help pack factories up and close them down. White collar workers somewhat immune to previous downturns due to the skilled nature of their work were being asked to train their replacements that were educated but cheaper to employ in other countries. The profits and re-investment in our industry and our economy were being sent overseas with no apologies from big business. In some cases it has been just the opposite. Some companies which started and flourished in this country proclaimed that they no longer called themselves American companies but rather “global companies” with no national identity. In perhaps the most shameless example, one very a large corporation and defense contractor that received billions of dollars in no bid contracts from the US Government after the invasion of Iraq and whose headquarters was in Texas employing our former vice president as its former CEO has moved its headquarters to the United Arab Emirates.
Factories in manufacturing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana lay idol. The lucky now work for retailers such as Wal Mart with wages far below what they were making just a few years ago and receive little or no benefits. The unlucky have lost everything. The Republican Party, which controlled the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch from 2001 to 2006 did nothing to stop or even slow down this process. In a matter of fact in some cases incentives continue to flow to these companies.
Do you put your country first? Or is it country club first? Somehow if you oppose this winner take all attitude toward our economy and advocate toward a simple living wage you are not a true American. Today’s opposition likes to brand the democrats today as socialists for suggesting that the pendulum has swung too far to the right. We have a record deficit and owe foreign investors and governments hundreds of billions dollars. At the end of the Clinton administration the budget was balanced and there was no deficit. This deficit has been run up by the republicans, the party of less spending. Yet they continue to offer no way to stem the tide of red ink. If we operated our own households this way we would be called wildly irresponsible and would be destined to fail in obscurity. Yet to advocate for a method to pay for this deficit so that our children and grand children are not saddled with this debt makes you a tax and spend liberal.
But are you a patriot? If you oppose a war that was started and fought under false pretenses, has killed over 5,000 and maimed countless others you are unpatriotic. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were started by a republican administration that pledged not to nation build. After the election that administration had advocated that there was no middle ground. “You are either with us or against us.” But make no mistake. The wealthy are not fighting this war. The bottom line is that the republicans would have you believe that it’s unpatriotic to question any decision made in “the country’s best interest.” Do not take lightly newly advocated laws or regulations that restrict your rights under the guise of fighting terrorism. If you give up your rights and freedoms hard fought after 225 years then the terrorists really have won. If you somehow speak out or oppose with fact and logic you are somehow branded an elitist.
Who are the elitists? If celebrities speak out, they are the “Hollywood Elite.” If the media reports they are the “Media Elite.” If the educated speak out they are the “Liberal Elite.” Guess what: Both sides, the left and the right have Ivy League graduates vying for and wanting to run this country. In our most recent national election, on one side there was a candidate who doesn’t know how many houses he owned and whose wife is worth $100 million. On the other side the candidate and his wife graduated from Harvard, the most prestigious school in our country. Our previous president graduated from Yale, an Ivy League school also listed as one of the top colleges in the country. If this sounds like you then you too are among the elite. If you are like the rest of us, then be happy that “elitists” run or want to run our country. Take some comfort that even these smart people can screw things up too and at the end of the day we are pretty much all alike. The fact is that both sides, the left and the right need intelligent, well educated people working for them and us. Running a country is not an exact science. So by accusing a group of being elite really means that you are just trying to distract the rest of us from your own shortcomings.
Don’t be fooled or distracted. We are all lucky to have a constitutionally mandated ability to voice an opinion. Just understand that because you are paid to do so does not make you an expert. You probably just look better on television than most of us do. So just think. We all have the ability to reason. God probably is not interested in a country or a political ideology? After all God has been around a lot longer than America or our system of democracy. But if you do believe in God, or not, you have been given a brain. Use it. Every man woman and child has been born with one. Reason with it. Don’t let someone else make important decisions for you. Make the best choice for what you believe will better this country, your community and your family.
As we enter the next decade, it’s vital that you think about where you stand and what you are for.
Perhaps we are not in as bad a shape as country or a culture as we were a year ago. But, depending on who you are, where you live and if you still have a job, make no mistake, we still live in trying times. Today our economy is in a fragile state. Has it failed? No. But few are singing “Happy Days are Here Again.”
So who will best lead us out of this? The conservatives or the liberals? The republications or the democrats?
Let’s start with the democrats or as the republicans like to say, “Liberals.” Their philosophy has been that the blue collar worker in our country needs a fair shake. That is why so many of the unions often endorse a democratic candidate. They have been dedicated to making sure that the working class has a fair wage for a fair day’s work. As a voting bloc, democrats seem to represent those who are not at the upper end of the economic spectrum. In a bygone era, it could be said that the democrats wanted higher taxes and more regulation in order to even out inequities between the rich and the poor; the worker and the business owner; the haves and the have nots. They have been portrayed as wild taxers of the wealthy and spenders of tax payer dollars with wild abandon.
The republications or “right wingers” have had a reputation as the party of the wealthy. Often large business owners and entrepreneurs were thought to be republicans. While there are exceptions, if you make a lot of money, you are a republican. Republicans were traditionally for less regulation and the ability to get the most productivity out of the working class and that meant getting the most out of the worker. As a group they were against the unions. Traditionally the republicans were for less regulation, more competition and a market driven economy where the fittest survived. In a bygone era the republicans wanted smaller government, less government interference and lower taxes that in theory would translate into more investment and a stronger economy. Their basic economic philosophy was grounded in a theory that if economic incentives were given to large companies and wealthy business owners, a trickledown effect would take place lifting all, the poor and the middle class as well as themselves into economic prosperity.
But into the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century to the present day something changed. The republicans realizing that the democrats held the executive branch would need the votes from outside their core constituency to reclaim what had been theirs for the better part of the previous two decades. They could not win future elections by simply appealing to the traditional ideology of the Republican Party. They continued to court the socially conservative religious right which began to move toward their party in the early 1980’s. This arrangement meant that the party had to denounce certain moral issues such as the right by women to have an abortion or for couples of the same gender to marry. This arrangement began to erode the traditional conservative philosophy of government interference in the worst way. Not only were republicans now advocating government interference, they were advocating the interference of a human right, and the basic freedoms guaranteed from the very time our country was born and in some examples affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The trickledown theory of economics has always been controversial. It starts by priming the economic pump from the top down. Whether or not the benefits really make it to the working classes is up for debate to this day. But at the turn of the century as the administration changed from democrat to republican and from one of the greatest boom periods to the economy we have today a strange thing happened. As that economic pump was being primed, technology, new laws and a lack of regulation and oversight allowed many of those large companies to send jobs off shore. Rather than allowing success and prosperity to trickle down, large companies sent jobs away. Unlike downturns previously, factories were being moved overseas where labor was plentiful and cheap and workers here were being asked to help pack factories up and close them down. White collar workers somewhat immune to previous downturns due to the skilled nature of their work were being asked to train their replacements that were educated but cheaper to employ in other countries. The profits and re-investment in our industry and our economy were being sent overseas with no apologies from big business. In some cases it has been just the opposite. Some companies which started and flourished in this country proclaimed that they no longer called themselves American companies but rather “global companies” with no national identity. In perhaps the most shameless example, one very a large corporation and defense contractor that received billions of dollars in no bid contracts from the US Government after the invasion of Iraq and whose headquarters was in Texas employing our former vice president as its former CEO has moved its headquarters to the United Arab Emirates.
Factories in manufacturing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana lay idol. The lucky now work for retailers such as Wal Mart with wages far below what they were making just a few years ago and receive little or no benefits. The unlucky have lost everything. The Republican Party, which controlled the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch from 2001 to 2006 did nothing to stop or even slow down this process. In a matter of fact in some cases incentives continue to flow to these companies.
Do you put your country first? Or is it country club first? Somehow if you oppose this winner take all attitude toward our economy and advocate toward a simple living wage you are not a true American. Today’s opposition likes to brand the democrats today as socialists for suggesting that the pendulum has swung too far to the right. We have a record deficit and owe foreign investors and governments hundreds of billions dollars. At the end of the Clinton administration the budget was balanced and there was no deficit. This deficit has been run up by the republicans, the party of less spending. Yet they continue to offer no way to stem the tide of red ink. If we operated our own households this way we would be called wildly irresponsible and would be destined to fail in obscurity. Yet to advocate for a method to pay for this deficit so that our children and grand children are not saddled with this debt makes you a tax and spend liberal.
But are you a patriot? If you oppose a war that was started and fought under false pretenses, has killed over 5,000 and maimed countless others you are unpatriotic. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were started by a republican administration that pledged not to nation build. After the election that administration had advocated that there was no middle ground. “You are either with us or against us.” But make no mistake. The wealthy are not fighting this war. The bottom line is that the republicans would have you believe that it’s unpatriotic to question any decision made in “the country’s best interest.” Do not take lightly newly advocated laws or regulations that restrict your rights under the guise of fighting terrorism. If you give up your rights and freedoms hard fought after 225 years then the terrorists really have won. If you somehow speak out or oppose with fact and logic you are somehow branded an elitist.
Who are the elitists? If celebrities speak out, they are the “Hollywood Elite.” If the media reports they are the “Media Elite.” If the educated speak out they are the “Liberal Elite.” Guess what: Both sides, the left and the right have Ivy League graduates vying for and wanting to run this country. In our most recent national election, on one side there was a candidate who doesn’t know how many houses he owned and whose wife is worth $100 million. On the other side the candidate and his wife graduated from Harvard, the most prestigious school in our country. Our previous president graduated from Yale, an Ivy League school also listed as one of the top colleges in the country. If this sounds like you then you too are among the elite. If you are like the rest of us, then be happy that “elitists” run or want to run our country. Take some comfort that even these smart people can screw things up too and at the end of the day we are pretty much all alike. The fact is that both sides, the left and the right need intelligent, well educated people working for them and us. Running a country is not an exact science. So by accusing a group of being elite really means that you are just trying to distract the rest of us from your own shortcomings.
Don’t be fooled or distracted. We are all lucky to have a constitutionally mandated ability to voice an opinion. Just understand that because you are paid to do so does not make you an expert. You probably just look better on television than most of us do. So just think. We all have the ability to reason. God probably is not interested in a country or a political ideology? After all God has been around a lot longer than America or our system of democracy. But if you do believe in God, or not, you have been given a brain. Use it. Every man woman and child has been born with one. Reason with it. Don’t let someone else make important decisions for you. Make the best choice for what you believe will better this country, your community and your family.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)