Life has always implied a struggle, and never are any of us struggling more than now. I often wonder, as a Baby Boomer, just how it -- and quite suddenly -- seemed to go from a peaceful and giving world to one filled with wars, a major recession, loss of jobs, and most of all -- the selling off, piece by piece of America. As little as ten years ago the economy was booming, jobs were there for the taking depending on your qualifications, and the middle-class was one filled with work, pleasure, vacations, and gathering of friends. Now it is filled with anxiety and apprehension of the not only the present, but the future as well. Will the wars ever end? Will gas prices ever drop? Will we be forced to continue in what is now a land of greed and impossible prices forever?
Probably.
Though aware that whoever is the next president, it will take years for the most intelligent of them to straighten out the current crisis, as the presidential campaigns began I wanted to hear these words from one person running for the highest office in the land: "As an American, my concerns are for Americans -- not illegal aliens, not outsourcing of jobs, not a continuation of an impossible medical insurance program. This is America, and my concerns are for them, and them alone. The illegal aliens can be stopped, and the ones that are here sent home; medical protection will be available at affordable cost for every American; Americans will hold the jobs in this country, and only the Americans -- and English is the languae of America. Learn to speak it, and well, before applying to be a citizen. Companies, large and small, will be required to hire Americans only, and those who do not will find themselves in a most regrettable situation. Outsourcing will come to a stop, and once again decent salaries will be paid. We will become once again the major super-power, we will once again be respected by other nations. Our children will not remain 39th in education among the world, and college will be affordable."
I didn't hear these words from any of the candidates. They are too politically concerned with getting votes to trouble themselves with the concerns of the American people alone. They are evasive about medical insurance, bringing our jobs home from overseas, and have a strange sense of conscienous when it comes to protecting illegal aliens. One even professes that schools will teach Spanish as well as English, a program that was tried before and came to a disasterous end. One talks of his military experience, which seems to him the only qualification necessary to run the USA. Sorry. I respect his devotion to our country, but millions have fought in wars, and are no more qualified to be President than any other soldier. One claims he can to this, he can do that, but he has little experience in politics. I don't hold his lack of military experience against him -- fighting in a war does not a good politician make. But experience, particularly for this upcoming election is vital. This is not just another presidental race -- we have never been in such a deficit, we have an alarming high rate of unemployment, we are fronting two wars, and gas prices have made the cost of living so high, that even the comfortably middle-class are struggling.
America has been raped by greed of its own major companies, and continues to be so. CEOs receive enormous salaries, while the employees struggle for survival. Every empire in the world from the beginning of time has fallen, and always it was due to greed and moral corruption. But moral corruption, and every person's perception of it, is for another blog.
It seems as though there is, forgive the expression, something of a conspiracy in America now, and that is a distinct and determined effort to separate us into two class: the very, very rich, and everyone else -- the very, very poor. I hope I'm wrong. I pray I'm wrong. But I do watch the news, I do pay $84 to fill my car with gas, I buy groceries that have increased as much as 80% from just two months ago. And our leaders seem to have no answers. I don't think they understand the question. They are all quite wealthy, so how can they know what it is like to live from paycheck to paycheck, if you're fortunate enough to get one? When is the last time they shopped for groceries or clothes for a family on a budget, uncertain if their job of even 20 or more years was stable?
Even the economic experts are not encouraging in their predictions for the future. So who do we vote for. I'm afraid we can't win regardless of the two choices have.
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