The World As I Know It

I am more disgusted with government than I have ever been and that is saying a lot.

I have listened to the Sec'y of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, Jr. explain why we need to bail out the financial industry, and I support that strategy, with conditions. But, I have also heard him say that there will be no constraints on earnings for CEOs. They will be free to evidence poor performance and still receive millions in compensation. Hearing that I am left to wonder how that can make sense to anyone.

Paulson is right when he says we don't have a lot of time to figure this out. But, I wonder why he and the rest of the Republicans kept telling us everything was okay, this past year. Don't worry about the price of oil, don't worry about the downward slide of the market, don't worry about the mortgage markets, it'll all be fine. Don't worry, be happy?

I predict that if we maintain the status quo (the conservative dog-eat-dog-I-got-mine-tough-shit-if-you-didn't-get-any policies of the past 30 years), those who made millions off of the predatory lending practices (inclusive of credit card debt) and extraordinary gas profits (another cause of our current state) will likely continue to prosper while the average American will see her taxes increase enormously while her standard of living plummets.

The concentration of wealth in this country has been squeezing the middle class and poor for so long that I think most people believe this is how it should be. And, as long as we could be kept happy, with that new house and new car and new debt, we were willing to go along. Well, that is our shame. But, who bears/bares the shame for laying the table full of nothing but dessert and pretending it's a nutritious meal? Yes, we ate the eclairs but veggies were never really an option when the government made all its decisions based on protecting and advancing the interests of the wealthy.

Today, there is a lot of outrage and, on the part of the financial leaders who have robbed us for so long, a huge sense of fear. Save us, they cry, or Life as we know it will fall apart. They are asking the American people to share the burden of their folly.

THEY WANT YOU AND I TO SHARE THE BURDEN!!

But these same people cried foul when asked to create programs that would share wealth with the poor or the middle class; they believed we should cut back on funding education, public hospitals and social programs. Now, they want us to share? And I know that we will, because we are so afraid that the little we have will become far less if we don't.

I believe that more than any other mental construct, this is our national shame. Not that we serve our self-interest but, that we so narrowly define our self-interest. We have never really believed that we are deeply interconnected. Even though we attend church services and drop our dollars into the collection plate, we still don't believe. Like Cain, we ask "Am I my brother's keeper?" And shamefully we believe the answer to be no.

In what has been known as the greatest nation on earth we are willing to throw our homeless in jail to get them off the street rather than pay additional taxes to support changing their lives positively and for the long term. We look at our failing neighbor and assume he or she is solely responsible for their lot in Life; unwilling to make the societal changes needed to fundamentally change his/her condition. In this time of crisis, many of us are willing to vote an inexperienced and unqualified woman into office rather than tackle the real and difficult problems of women in poverty (Information on women in poverty).

Our national shame is that we are willing to be coldhearted, calloused and even violent when it comes to anyone we consider to be outside our circle. We saw it shortly after 911 (and continue to see it) when anyone looking remotely like a Muslim was subject to attack. We see it when the subject of welfare mothers is raised (and I am not in favor of long term or generational subsistence policies). The entire world saw it when the global climate change realities (created by consumption patterns that kept the middle class feeling falsely secure and made the rich much richer) hit the poor of New Orleans.

Here, in my town, we have a large group of people on the north side who want to separate from the rest of the city and create a new one. Their reasoning is that they shouldn't have to fund public schools, hospitals or other infrastructure for the poor. Why should we have to pay taxes to support a school system when our kids go to private school, or pay for hospital services for people who can't afford them, they ask. Why, indeed.

The why, in my mind is obvious. Because we are all connected, one mass of humanity struggling to survive on a damaged planet. You cannot ignore the needs and realities of your brothers and sisters and expect to have a healthy family. It is simply not possible.

But, until we can answer Cain's question positively and resoundingly; until we can stand for the least of us as quickly as we will jump to bailout the financial elite, we will continue to bear the consequences of our narrowly defined self-interest.

I know many of my fellow US citizens are thinking seriously about how to vote in this election. There has been talk of elitism and a disconnect from the everyday man and woman on the part of Senator Obama. I'd like to ask you to consider the following:

The challenges we face are far too complex to be managed by an everyday guy or gal. This is the time when you want the smartest, the most level-headed, the least prone to snap decisions, the most thoughtful leader you can find. Now is the time to move away from the legacy of fear and narrow self-interest within which we have been spinning. Now is the time for each of us and all of us to change, deeply; to reconsider our knee-jerk responses to crises and conflict, to move away from the panic button and be thoughtful about our approach to the future.

What we have done in the past 30 years has brought us to this time. Let's face it squarely with strength of heart and truth.

I'm voting for Barack Obama in November because the world as I know it is in trouble and I don't trust the creators of that trouble to help me find my way out.

I am voting for Barack Obama because I believe he can help us become better than we have been.

I am voting for Barack Obama because the answer always shows itself and it seems clear that Obama is part of the answer.

Take good care, one and all...