As appearing in the K-O Times and other Times Community Newspapers
It’s no secret to readers or listeners who spend any
time at all sifting through my thoughts; I know it’s time for a change at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue. And it can’t come soon enough.
As all of us watch the polls, interviews, pundits, news
reports and listen to water cooler chat we get at least a fairly decent
sampling of where the lines are drawn this year. To be honest, those who don’t
follow politics much, and even some who do, have had it up to here with the back
and forth this election cycle.
My ride has been much like a roller coaster through
the primaries, and now the general sweepstakes. I have reservations, but I have
always had hope that Americans would rush in at the eleventh hour and realize
what’s at stake and do the right thing. But I’m feeling more and more like any
arguments against Robin Hood may be falling on deaf ears.
Yes, I said Robin Hood. While President Obama isn’t
the infamous “criminal” woodsman of Sherwood Forest in green tights, robbing from
the rich to give to the poor, that message certainly has to ring clear to all
of us who’ve suffered through the campaign rhetoric these oh so many months.
But this isn’t Nottinghamshire and “Robin” doesn’t
carry a bow and arrows but rather a Blackberry. And the reality is the problems
faced by the poor can really only be solved long-term BY the rich.
Government wasn’t intended to, and has shown it can’t
fix the private sector economy. It can offer patchwork fixes that are band-aid
at best. And that’s where this “Robin” trades his bow for a quick snake oil
salesman’s pitch. Give more “stolen” trinkets to the peasants, and they’ll
follow you anywhere. Problem is, the peasants don’t realize the trinket supply
is limited; and made in China.
In the past, the majority of Americans were brought
up with a strong work ethic, by parents and grandparents who’d rather work
three jobs than take “charity” from anywhere, including government. But I
believe we’ve crossed the line in our country where the majority has grown up,
at least to some degree, nursing at the breast of Uncle Sam to survive and
being told not to worry, “we’ll take care of you” by liberal leaders.
While the reality is that’s a short fix that, if implemented
long term will bankrupt all of America, all the recipients can see is the short
term remedy that allows them live a reasonably comfortable life for
contributing nothing in return.
How do you argue with “something for nothing” to
folks raised to that mantra? This nation
truly has divided right down the middle; those who create and those who
consume. Our schools, teachers, parents, business leaders and many in this
generation have allowed that division to grow and it could just be out of
control.
How do you teach values and
work ethic unless it’s learned by example from a very young age? So my fear is
we’re fighting against the guy with the bow and arrow in the green tights and
the Sheriff of Nottingham might not arrive in the nick of time to save us from
our own greed and laziness. I pray I’m wrong; for all of us!
