DB Reese
For a great long while now my friends and family have had to endure the rantings and ravings of a “madman”, namely me. Wow, what a way to start! I have, since instilled at a young age, been a follower of politics. Do I have the insights and wisdom of all the political pundents? NO! Do I want that- the pundency? NO! Why then embark on a journey that will surely be met with angst and dispair? Great question and I wish that I had the answer.
This is what I know-
Some people get it and some people don’t. Those who do seldom help the ones that do not. Not in this time in our history anyway. In the era of instant gratification forward thinking, or dare I say vision, is all but lost to the “got to have it right now” crowd. The ”what have you done for me today?” crowd. We have gotten complacent, fat, and lazy. Not you or me of course, but everybody else. Isn’t that the way it goes? It’s always someone else, it’s never us.
We have to be accountable for the way that our country has turned out in say the last 25 to 30 years. Some would say 40, others 50 or 60. Me- I’m sticking to what I know. Just from the time growing up(which is always the case isn’t it?) I have seen so much change. We’ve got a good grasp of technology, we haven’t mastered it, but we know where it is going to take us if we let it. But, technology alone doesn’t mean that we have advanced as a people, it just means we learned how to use our thumbs. We have CHANGED our common sense too. It’s lost somewhere out there over the rainbow of lost dreams and Voltiare’s lost city of gold. Wandering through the desert, running from one mirage to the next.
Somewhere along the way in our advancement we decided that we would let loose the steering wheel. Depress the accelerator to the floor and hope for the best. The steering wheel is congress, the accelerator is the budget. Sure we vote, right? We do our duty, right? It is way passed time that we reevaluate just exactly where we see ourselves not just in the immediate future, but for the futures of the kids and grandkids yet to come, as cliche’ as that sounds.
Checks and balances. Yin and yang. Men and women. Hot and cold. It seems that we always have to have a tug of war with things. Yesterday congress decided to pass through it’s supposed intellectual doors two shoty bills aimed at rolling back the tax cuts from President Bush, while increasing taxes on the nation. Oh but the government needs the money. Forget about your $4.00 a gallon for gas to get to work, or to pick the kids up from school, or to go to the store. Forget about if you want to do something as meaningless as say go grab a bite at the local fatburger joint. You’re selfish! Other people need their money, and you have it in your wallet. Or at least you did.
This is where it starts. It starts with the money, always, always, always follow the money. Fiscal responsibility means more than just cutting back on pork barrell spending, ear marks, and 500 million dollars campaigns for a job that pays a fraction of that. Fiscal responsibility should also mean being able to give back to those whom you have taken so much.
So as these candidates trounce one another through out the country preaching to the masses of change, let us all take the opportunity to once again grab hold of the steering and ease up on the gas. We will still get to where we need to be, and we might just save some money at the pump in the process.
Ok, there’s more to come, there always is. I would love to hear from you, on this topic or any others.
And as always- peace. May you never know it as a monkey clawing it’s way out of your butt. D.B. Reese
