One thing from my list of 20 good things a depression would bring is that we'd as a people have passion and commitment towards a great many things again...we wouldn't suffer from the wholesale pussification that plagues us today:
- When 3,000+ people die in a terrorist attack we'd do something more than just buy new cars at 0% interest and stick American flags on the antennas.
- We'd find the wherewithal to have stormed the Pentagon already, demanding wars end.
- To that end, we'd have found the collective balls to have prevented our $2 trillion Wars Of The Indulgent to begin with.
- We'd have already forced California to make the hard decisions to have prevented wholesale financial Armageddon.
- My Elk Grove would take the hint and realize how goddamn idiotic it is to base your economy exclusively on perpetual sprawl, ever more retail, and ever more sales of cars. So would about 97% of all other American cities.
We aren't going to get any of that. Instead we sorta moan a little about trillions spent on bank bailouts to get them to lend while they remain tightfisted about lending. We whimper a little about an upcoming healthcare plan that isn't about health but a plan to spend $600 billion ensuring that costs remain on their upward arc to keep particular interests vested while not solving the problem. We will lastly wipe away our collective solitary tear that falls due to our upcoming cap-and-trade program that will by no means have the teeth to make any substantial reduction in GHGs while a handful of interests remain vested.
In all cases, there will be a few winners, and a whole lot of losers. It is your responsibility to choose what side you want to be on. Don't think you'll just watch from the sidelines -- you're on the gridiron, too, motherfucker.
In that regard, I am happy that my mother will be an active player, a small step toward someday reigniting our passion and commitment we once had as a people. In all cases I think we can only become stronger regardless of your position.
1 comment:
i just hope the "active players" will start engaging in some actual dialogue. these town hall forums have become little more than socially acceptable venues for yelling at people in public. no one on either side of these stages around the country is either presenting a cohesive argument for their position or listening to what the other side might be trying to say. we're all frustrated, we all want to scream and yell. but progress requires more than that. effective civic activity is more than a polarizing, incendiary rant in an elementary school multipurpose room. we're capable of more than this. we can bring thoughtful questions from all sides, and do more than pretend to listen to the responses.
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