Will it take a crisis of cataclysmic proportions to shake us from our lofty ideological perches to unite Americans again? Long gone is the patriotism of World War II; and, to lesser degrees, the citizens' willingness to enter the First Gulf War and the initial reaction when the World Trade Centers were taken down by terrorists.
Now, the nation is divided, and many of us have slipped into the use of hateful rhetoric while standing behind political banners.
Out-of-control spending is but one of the over-indulgences of the current crowd in Washington.
Only a year after electing a new president, who ran on a platform of hope with a promise of change, we seem to be drifting further and further from the America we once knew and believed in.
It started with the stimulus package, which many thought was a political payoff rather than a means for creating more jobs.
Whatever happened to all those shovel-ready projects we heard so much about when the now nearly trillion dollar budget was first appropriated? This spending budget came right after the previous administration doled out three-quarters of a trillion in TARP monies.
Then cap and trade slid through the House and waits for the Senate to take it up.
This could result in giving the government enormous powers to control energy use and tax businesses and individuals while potentially eliminating jobs for many Americans.
There's talk of a value added tax (VAT), which is a national sales tax on top of sate and local sales taxes, elimination of previous tax cuts, a war tax and other schemes to extract money from those earning it so the government can use the funds "for the greater good.
" This has many hard-working Americans and pre-boomers (also known as the "New Seniors") living on our hard-earned savings wondering what's happening here and if the ship of state has sprung a leak and is about to sink.
Probably the biggest concern to us is health care reform.
We knew costs for insurance coverage was increasing at an alarming annual rate and wanted our representatives in Washington to address this problem.
We wanted more people to have coverage, realizing that some of these costs would have to be absorbed by the tax payers, but we didn't want the government to take over health care.
And we certainly didn't think Medicare would be cut by $500 million and at the same time try to lower the age requirements for participating in this program as well as provide coverage for some 30 million uninsured people.
To accomplish this it will be necessary to reduce the quality of health care for pre-boomers and those older than we are, suggesting actual rationing is in the near future.
Not only can we expect added costs and/or less care, our children and grandchildren will be saddled with higher taxes for the rest of their lives.
It's time to let our voices be heard and try to restore a sense of sanity and a modicum of responsibility to the legislative process.
We must demand that elected representatives are accountable to the people who voted them in and not the leadership of a political party.
Now, the nation is divided, and many of us have slipped into the use of hateful rhetoric while standing behind political banners.
Out-of-control spending is but one of the over-indulgences of the current crowd in Washington.
Only a year after electing a new president, who ran on a platform of hope with a promise of change, we seem to be drifting further and further from the America we once knew and believed in.
It started with the stimulus package, which many thought was a political payoff rather than a means for creating more jobs.
Whatever happened to all those shovel-ready projects we heard so much about when the now nearly trillion dollar budget was first appropriated? This spending budget came right after the previous administration doled out three-quarters of a trillion in TARP monies.
Then cap and trade slid through the House and waits for the Senate to take it up.
This could result in giving the government enormous powers to control energy use and tax businesses and individuals while potentially eliminating jobs for many Americans.
There's talk of a value added tax (VAT), which is a national sales tax on top of sate and local sales taxes, elimination of previous tax cuts, a war tax and other schemes to extract money from those earning it so the government can use the funds "for the greater good.
" This has many hard-working Americans and pre-boomers (also known as the "New Seniors") living on our hard-earned savings wondering what's happening here and if the ship of state has sprung a leak and is about to sink.
Probably the biggest concern to us is health care reform.
We knew costs for insurance coverage was increasing at an alarming annual rate and wanted our representatives in Washington to address this problem.
We wanted more people to have coverage, realizing that some of these costs would have to be absorbed by the tax payers, but we didn't want the government to take over health care.
And we certainly didn't think Medicare would be cut by $500 million and at the same time try to lower the age requirements for participating in this program as well as provide coverage for some 30 million uninsured people.
To accomplish this it will be necessary to reduce the quality of health care for pre-boomers and those older than we are, suggesting actual rationing is in the near future.
Not only can we expect added costs and/or less care, our children and grandchildren will be saddled with higher taxes for the rest of their lives.
It's time to let our voices be heard and try to restore a sense of sanity and a modicum of responsibility to the legislative process.
We must demand that elected representatives are accountable to the people who voted them in and not the leadership of a political party.
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