The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance... Cicero, 55 BC
Okay... What's wrong with this picture? We bomb a place, then we rebuild it. I get that. Global savvy. We're the good guys, the men in white hats. We only want to hurt the bad guys and we want the world to know we won't allow the private sector to suffer. BUT... The U.S. was most recently "attacked" by Hurricane Ike. Is our government going in to rebuild the places that were devastated? Hell, no. We've had so many instances of cataclysmic proportions... hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, floods... yet the people of this country receive very little help from the Powers That Be. In fact, we're expected to jump through a battalion of fiery hoops for the least bit of aid. We have "loaned" (I put that in quotes because the money still hasn't come back) billions, maybe even trillions, of dollars to other countries... Mexico comes to mind immediately... But can't even provide a basic infrastructure in a timely manner to help our OWN nation?
I remember after Camille, the Seabees and the National Guard were awesome. After Katrina, the Seabees came, but they didn't seem to stay for very long... and they're a CONSTRUCTION battalion! Hello??? I know for a fact that wasn't any choice of theirs. So, why? Our government manages to send them all over the world to build or rebuild. We need them here!
It's an inarguable fact that (as I've stated in another post) an individual, a society, a nation cannot possibly help another if they themselves are weak. Cicero even knew that in 55 bc. We are weak right now. Our country is financially unstable and the people are frightened. Natural disasters have hit harder and more frequently than we've ever experienced before. Americans are suffering. Yet still we reach our hands out in offering to the world at large. Great sentiment for the world at large, not so much for those on the home front.
Politicians are making more money than was ever intended by the "Fathers of our Country" (the original intention was that funds would be provided to substitute any wages lost while fulfilling the duties of their offices, nothing more). And they keep voting for increases in their own pay! I'm certain that the private sector would love to choose their own pay scale. We have committees and subcommittees that drain money continuously. Many of these serve no purpose. Some were never intended to but were created by crooked politicians grasping funds for their own agendas. The dam of our country's finances has more holes in it than a block of Swiss cheese. No wonder we're so royally screwed.
So... Here we are, coming up on a new Presidential election. I'm not terribly impressed with our selection, but there ya go. One scares the shit out of me. The other? I just don't know if he's what we need. However, what we REALLY need to look at long and hard is our Congressional candidates. Congress is the true arbiter of events and spending in this nation of ours.
We spend so much time and money wrapped up in what these men and women do in their private lives or what their personalities are like. Listen carefully, people, none of that MATTERS! Instead, we need to look at what they stand for, their political records, who has who's hand in their pocket. I've heard Gene Taylor is an ass. Don't know, don't care. He's done so much for the Coast. Has my vote. Hell, maybe assdom is a requirement to get things accomplished. It would make sense to me! We don't own the private lives of these people. Get that straight. I doubt any of us could hold up under the same microscope. In the end, all that matters is what they can do for the State and the Nation at large.
Another thing that needs to change is that there are too many people that are waiting for handouts rather than rolling up their own sleeves. What a sad representation of our populace. Obviously, we have a problem in that this behavior has been encouraged. After the storm, we saw so many people pulling together and getting things done. People were helping people. Then there was this other slice of humanity that just sat back moaning and groaning. They're still sitting there three years later. Someone bitch-slap them... Please? This country was built by the strong and the daring. This "gimme" attitude is downright embarrassing. Yet, there are others struggling so hard, fighting to get within sight of the American Dream... and there is no help forthcoming.
Funds need to be diverted from useless or overseas projects and funneled into serious aide for the single parent or non-traditional student trying to get a college degree (believe me, the requirements for grants are way too limited). Perhaps there could be government insurance simply entitled "natural disaster" and there wouldn't be any debate over wind vs. flood. Let government rebuilding and financial relief start at home in our own country. Let's find a way to restructure healthcare, help for the elderly, to quit making it so hard for those with disabilities to obtain what they need, and take a good hard look at who's getting welfare (not those that want "gimmes" or are spitting out unwanted children left and right). There HAS to be a way to make things right.
This Nation is no longer the great Nation it once was. But we CAN be. We're hurting and there's no end in sight. Pride is no longer a common sentiment. We need to fix that and we can by getting involved. Quit blaming everyone and their siblings and get off of your ass... Vote! Write to your representatives! Hell, work in a soup kitchen! Something! Anything! You may not agree with me but I'm sure you can find a way to make a difference.
Our Nation needs us all.
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