It has been over two months since I last put something on this blog. I wish that I could blame my life and my schedule for my lack of posts, but I can’t. These two months really been a struggle for me to determine when I should write and what I should write about. On the one hand, I could go on a somewhat theological tangent. That would be interesting to me, but I’m not sure anyone else would enjoy it. On the other hand, I could be like so many other people and rail on about the current state of affairs in this country. But even with that topic, there are so many possibilities. One thing that seems to hinder me is: by the time I finally figure out how I feel and what my true position is about a particular topic or issue (not sure if it’s paralysis by analysis, or truly trying to wade through the nuances), it’s well after the swell of emotion and discussion of that issue, and anything I put together comes off as ‘Johnny come lately’. But, now I feel called to comment on our current mess dealing with the economy. So: late, early, or on time, here goes nothing (or something, we’ll see when I’m done). I will be up front and state that I do have a personal stake in this situation, and I am trying to keep the personal out of this post as much as possible. It is ultimately very difficult, so if I fail at being impartial, you at least know why.
As I write this, America seems to be on a road similar to what I mentioned with Hostess. Both sides (and please look it up. One side may have proposed this madness, but both sides latched on and agreed to it) signed a sort of ‘mutual suicide pact’ for the American economy. The ‘sequester’ as it has come to be known, was supposed to be something both sides wanted to avoid at all costs. What we have seen is that this was the case, until both parties saw the opportunity to gain a political advantage. Now, both side are alternately trying to tell themselves this isn’t as bad as they said, or it is that bad and they’re blaming the other party for the mess. In the meantime, the rest of the country gets to find out in an ‘up close and personal’ fashion what these arbitrary cuts will mean to both personal and federal/state/local economies (unintended consequences, anyone?)
I looked through all this and I have come to the following (somewhat disturbing) conclusion. This marks (to me and I may be wrong) the first time the politicians and/or government have OVERTLY done something, either through omission or commission, not in the best interest of the country. It’s finally gotten to the point where scoring political points with their supporters is more important than the good of the country, and they don’t care whether people know it or not.
I believe this is something we as a country and a society need to ponder. Now, I will say this is not a ‘throw the bums out’ type of general grumpy comment. This is more of a ‘wow, have we really gotten/sunk to this point?’ kind of concerned response. We as a country need to take a serious look at where things are going politically and thoughtfully consider whether or not we like it. If we don’t, then we need to use the legitimate tools at our disposal to make it known we don’t like where things are and are going. We also need to start trying to change who we have in government. Let me state clearly right now, I don’t advocate overthrow or revolution. I don’t think it’s necessary.
There, I’ve said my piece. Now, I’m going to stand back and see what the future holds.
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