Lifting the National Mood
The news that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden punctuates a decade of seeming futility for our country. Prompted by bin Laden's terrorism, we plunged into two wars in which progress has come slowly if at all. We have had a decade of near zero job growth accompanied by ballooning budget deficits. Yet, with our president beset with deficits, joblessness and two wars, we found ourselves debating the bizarre assertion that he wasn't actually a citizen. Meanwhile Congress is having a serious discussion of whether our national government should make good on its debt obligations.
We can hope that the success in finding and killing bin Laden will help break the stifling can’t-do atmosphere that has descended on Washington and the country.
Growing up, I imagined the 21st century to be a time of possibility and progress, not of dread and discouragement. I imagined a time when we would use science to travel into space, build beautiful new cities and clean up our environment. Maybe now, with the man who launched the 9/11 attack now buried at sea, we can begin to lift our sights and get back to building our future.
We can hope that the success in finding and killing bin Laden will help break the stifling can’t-do atmosphere that has descended on Washington and the country.
Growing up, I imagined the 21st century to be a time of possibility and progress, not of dread and discouragement. I imagined a time when we would use science to travel into space, build beautiful new cities and clean up our environment. Maybe now, with the man who launched the 9/11 attack now buried at sea, we can begin to lift our sights and get back to building our future.
posted by Tom Noyes at 5:10 PM
1 Comments:
We've been here before....
From 1870 through 1905. The same wandering in the wilderness took place.
Real issues not addressed, fluff issues given priority...( However to our benefit... that time period did give us American football, baseball, and basketball, so I can't knock it too hard.)
The same thing happened after Wilson turned over the White House and we roared through the twenties, tearing down reforms that had been carefully constructed, building nothing in their place.
In fact, the trend during which we grew up during, where government actually solves problems by working together, is an anomaly from the norm. Not knowing otherwise, we grew up assuming that was how things always were and should be.
The sole reason for that burst of American productivity, is that the Republican Party, because of their own philosophy, had become a laughing stock because of the Great Depression that their policies caused...
As long as those who lived through the Depression were a majority, there was no way a Republican could gain office....
"We need to deregulate Wall Street, end entitlements like Social Security, and end all social programs." We need get rid of laws regulating how much a bank needs to keep in reserves."
Most voters who actually lived through the crash of '29 and the following decade, would say: "Ummm, No, I don't think so..."
Bottom line, until there are no Republicans, or other "Party of the Wealthy", your dream of a nation working together to solve problems, won't happen.
i wish it wasn't true, but after decades of wishing, and a review of the historical record mentioned above, I'm afraid the conclusion is: it undoubtedly, is.
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