Teddy Roosevelt said it best:
“This country will not be a
permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably
good place for all of us to live in.”
I doubt anything human is permanent,
but the sentiment of aiming for excellence is a good thing. One thing very
basic in the American experiment is and always has been equality of
opportunity. Good basic living in a fair, open and good land.
Michelle Obama echoes that position
with this:
“Regardless of who we are, we
share this vision: hard work should pay off, responsibility should be rewarded,
and everyone in this country should get a fair shot but play by the same
rules.”
Decency. Fairness. Equality.
Goodness. Works for me!
Of course there is discord among
us, evil bumping around in the dark corners of our society. We label it with
different words and meanings but most of us know those are only games.
Influence peddling; politicking. Manipulation. Yep. We are good at that sort of
thing. Comes with the freedom territory I guess.
I like Maya Angelou. Perhaps you
know of her? A poet of sterling qualities. A past Poet Laureate of the United States .
A towering intellect and philosopher. A black woman of enormous talent, now
aging but still a creative genius. She has said:
“Hate has caused a lot of
problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
Perhaps it takes a woman to see
that, recognize it. Or perhaps it is being an African-American that makes it more
easily seen. Whatever, Maya Angelou gets it. If we sense hate we should be on
the alert to discount the rhetoric. No better time than during a political
season of campaigns.
We need honesty and facts. We need
to work together and solve problems. But first we need to rid ourselves of
hate. Then allow our logic to select the most important problems to work on.
Don’t let hateful speech identify the wrong issues to work on. Some are not
problems at all; merely someone’s opinion, and often off the mark as well!
Rocky found this on the Internet,
anonymous of course(!):
“Policies for a Responsible
Budget:
1. End
the wars and cut bloated military spending
2. Close
corporate loopholes: no offshore havens
3. End
Bush tax cuts and add millionaires+ brackets
4. Scrap
the wage cap on Social Security
5. Stimulate
the economy and invest in the future (education, green energy and
infrastructure)
6. Medicare-for-All:
improve the risk pool
7. Get
big money out of politics”
Think about those points. Every one
of them has been fought by the republican congress. Each proposal by Obama and
democrat leaders has been blocked in congress. The very items that would bring
the economy back to life and on a continuous basis. Each of these has the vast
support of working economists, those who understand how the economy works. Without
ideological warping.
And each of the above points is the
exact opposite of the Paul Ryan budget plan he has tried to champion in
congress. The exact opposite. Telling us up is down and right is wrong.
We could work through the details
in each of the seven policies for a responsible budget. We could clearly prove
why each works. And that the opposite of each would make the economy worse. Too
bad because in the meantime we waste time because ideologues play games.
Remember it is our joint future
that is being wasted and damaged. That’s what this presidential election is all
about in November. Inequality versus equality. Fairness versus special
interests. Wealth versus poverty.
I wish we could skip through this
ugliness and get to the part where we get down to work and achievement. We are
so hungry for both.
I’d like to close with the
following quote:
“A
negative thinker sees a difficulty in every opportunity;
A
positive thinker sees an opportunity in every difficulty.
I
wish you an optimistic Life!” (from
Spenter.com)
August 14, 2012
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