I’ve tried hard to resist the urge to write one of these, as I’ve recently seen so many others share their opinions under this same title. Unfortunately, none of those articles really resonated with me and so here I go. Before I start, let me say that I possess absolutely no credentials that should cause anyone to accept my opinion above their own; I’m simply appealing to what I consider to be “common sense”, which assumes that there is such a thing. Instead of trying to weave together an epic speech (which would undoubtedly take more time than I have to spend on this), I’m just going to throw out some bullets, which are the literary equivalent of a sound bite.
• Finger pointing and rhetoric aren’t going to solve the issues that face our nation. While the politicians continue to offer simple solutions to complex problems, we as a country are wasting precious time and resources on programs that have no hope of improving things in the long term. If the problems were that easy to resolve, someone else would have already taken care of them. The issues are layered and interwoven; how you address one will affect the others. For instance, adopting tougher environmental standards in the US, will affect the ability of American companies to compete in a global marketplace (where other countries may have no such standards). That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, but it does mean that we must undertake such changes with a clear understanding of the overall impact and a plan to handle the consequences Solving these problems will be much more like solving a “Rubik’s Cube” than winning a game of Tic-Tac-Toe.
• Health Care reform is not the most pressing issue facing our nation. The “Health Care Crisis” as it has been dubbed in political circles has been a highly effective tool used to distract the people from the most pressing issues of the day. The truth is that even uninsured people in America have some access to health care and while their situation does warrant attention, America’s economic crisis threatens to impact a far greater number of people. The collapse of the”Consumer Based Economy” constitutes much more than a simple cyclic downturn that will eventually work itself out. The government (& the media) seems to think that if they can just convince the American people that the economy is on the way back up, that we’ll somehow spend our way to economic recovery. This of course ignores the obvious, which is that people without jobs or homes, are in no position to borrow or spend money. Until America finds a way to legitimately improve its position in the global marketplace, our economy is going to struggle.
• Merely creating “jobs” isn’t going to fix the problem. Another word game that is played in political circles centers on the idea of creating jobs. First of all, it’s not merely jobs that people need. They need careers or vocations. Car loans are normally four to five years, mortgages are twenty to thirty years, paying for college can be even worse; so funding some highway project, that employees me to wave a flag for six months, doesn’t exactly meet my long term needs. History would indicate that the government isn’t the entity that is best suited for job creation; so maybe the “job creation” initiatives need to be more focused on getting American industry back on its feet and competitive in the world marketplace. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.
• Bi-partisanship is destroying our government process. At the end of the last administration, it was clear that the Republicans had failed to chart a course for this country that inspired confidence in the majority of Americans. After a year of the Democrat’s “super majority”, it’s clear that they have no such course either. I sense that most Americans are growing sick of both of these parties and that they are tired of choosing between the lesser of evils. I believe that the majority of Americans don’t agree with either the far left or the far right; and that they’re weary of being limited to those two options. If the mid-term elections go as predicted, we’re simply headed back to the same gridlock we’ve faced for almost two decades. Though a third party might help, three completely new parties would be even better.
• The members of Congress seem to have lost sight of the fact that they’re supposed to be representing the people and not working for the President. Nothing has demonstrated this more clearly than the health care reform debate. Despite the fact that the polls and the feedback from the “Town Hall Meetings” overwhelmingly suggest that the majority of Americans have some serious reservations about the proposed bills, Congress has doggedly pursued the passage of them in order to please the president. It now appears that the American people are poised to remind their government officials who they work for, when the next election cycle comes around.
• This isn’t the Health Care Reform the American people asked for. The problem is that too many American’s can’t afford the high price of Health Insurance and/or medical treatment. A solution that does nothing to regulate those skyrocketing costs, that takes away benefits from people who already have them, that places more financial burden on already struggling employers and that puts the government more in control of our day to day lives, is no solution at all. A real solution is going to take more time, cooperation and innovation than that.
• There is no place for a “Czar” in a democratic government. Our government was built upon a system of checks and balances, which were put in place to avoid any one person from circumventing the system. Slowly, but intently, we are now creating ways to bypass those checks and balances. History tells us that we will eventually rue the day that we allowed such a thing to happen.
I could go on, but I won’t. In the final analysis, I’m tired of politicians who seem eager to assign blame for our problems, but who don’t seem to have any innovative ideas about how to fix them; and who seem unwilling to work constructively with anyone of a differing point of view. Our government officials were supposed to be “public servants”, but over the last few decades they’ve managed to become more like trust fund babies, who we’ll be supporting for the rest of their lives. The “American Dream” began as a dream of having the opportunity to prosper; but over time it has eroded into some vague notion that we are somehow entitled to be prosperous, simply because we are American’s. I believe that unless something changes soon, we will once again be dreaming of the opportunity to prosper. (Bryan Corbin)
AMEN!!!!!!
Thank you!! TRUTH IS TRUTH!! we need to get this on bill o’reilly’s talking points!!! lol!! excellent Bryan!!