We are on the threshold of what is guaranteed to be a
memorable election year. And that
doesn't necessarily mean a good thing.
At stake are political clout, parochial agendas, and fragile egos…oh
yeah, there's also that American way-of-life thing, foreign commitment, and
domestic responsibilities. Although many
parallels can be drawn between the Mayan calendar's 2012 and the American
Political Year 2012, there are probably greater consequences associated with
the American political year than the end of the Mayan calendar.
As the United States stands in the doorway of 2012 it’s a
country polarized almost beyond recognition in red and blue. Okay, so maybe that's an understatement on my
part. Each passing day of hope for
common sense and compromise on the part of civic and political leadership is
giving way to the bombast and self-aggrandizement of distinct party agendas…and
NEVER the twain should meet. Just listen
to ideologues and party leaders on any given day and on any given issue. There is a hatred there that dips its toes
comfortably into the pool of bigotry. It
doesn’t matter what the issue is there is always a political slant--either
negative or positive--and none of which is moving this country in a positive
direction.
This all concerns me…okay, it scares me. The daily political reality defines this
nation as red or blue, but what happened to red, white, and blue? Did we have a "Red Dawn" event that
I missed? How did we allow our social
growth and development to slip back to the color hatred and ignorance similar
of a few generations ago?
Where have these attitudes and standing up for "what's
right" gotten us? For the past year
Congress as a governing body has been leadership ineffective--little or nothing
has been accomplished. Although, I must
admit, they have become quite good at finger pointing. But it does become quite tiring to hear blame
placed on the President for issues that Congress has the ability to
correct. This isn't a dictatorship, so
why does the Congressional finger pointing keep trying to give him that
ability? And as for the President, I
really appreciate efforts to help veterans and their families, but the
administration probably has a lot more in common with Jimmy Carter than the Reagan
years he likes to quote from in recent speeches.
Currently, unemployment is being sustained at levels that
are keeping our economic growth floundering on the world market. Education of our youth has been dumbed down
due to cost cutting strategies that large numbers of IT positions go unfilled
because many of our citizens are not trained and qualified to handle the
job. Consequently, this leads to
out-sourcing the positions out to international markets with populations
trained and educated to meet the technological advances. And the list of issues goes on and on--as
does the finger pointing.
Not much longer can the American people accept or ignore
what is going on with our leaders. Like
with any family there has to be the ability and acceptance of give and take to
be successful. Hard lining like what we
are experiencing is dysfunctional. Putting
the progress of a nation in the backseat to a polarized political agenda is reckless
and irresponsible. And in the mean time
these stances continue to drive the train into 2012. Hopefully, common sense will prevail and the
realization will set in that it's not red, not blue, but red, white, and blue
that will be the road for our nation's success.
