Nobody's Perfect

Not since the day of Christ, has anyone had the hubris to claim a perfect record on anything. After all, to error is to be human. Where we have a problem is where a President, who relies on advisers, claims to be making the best decisions for the nation. No one, after seven years of examples, can suggest that President Bush has had the mental dexterity to fathom the more complicated issues. He can't even manage the complexities of his own language. Where we have a problem is when unseen agendas and hidden motives of behind the scenes manipulators affect the direction of American politics. (Whew) The President's closest adviser, presumably Vice President Dick Cheney, clearly has his own agenda on foreign-policy. Dick has a huge stake in Halliburton and Halliburton has a huge stake in Iraq. So where do we find ourselves? We find ourselves lead by a completely corrupt company with no regard for the truth, or American troop welfare, or honest accounting. This company dictates American foreign-policy through the office of the Vice President of the United States of America.

I hate being a sucker. I hate falling victim to the fast card shuffle. Therefore, I try to pay close attention. I read between the lines. I read everything I can get my hands on. From Playboy to Scientific American, from National Geographic to Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, I try to ascertain the truth. And the truth I have discovered stinks. I have no hidden agenda. I am living well (not that well is comfortable mind you) below the poverty level. The poverty level is so far above my income I could live on a year of poverty for three years. But I refuse to call a crook a hero, or a thief a public servant. I call a spade a spade.

I see no solution to our problems offered in the coming election. We need to find a solution within ourselves. This country has one of the proudest traditions of any on this planet. We have built a country free from persecution. We have built a nation of equal rights. We have built the land of opportunity like no other. But we are being lied to and misled by slick tongued orators. Our hopes are exploited; our good nature and willingness to cooperate and contribute are taken advantage of. As a result, we are falling behind. Other nations of vastly greater numbers are graduating college-level students annually in numbers greater than our entire population. Our better paying jobs are either leaving this country for cheaper labor elsewhere (which generally means everywhere), or are being supplied by foreign nationals granted work visas to fill the education gap between our graduates and the job requirements they fail to fulfill.

So, someone asks, what do you suggest? Since I am no liar, I'll tell you there is no one answer. But I have decided there is a window of opportunity. The window, for baby boomers at least, was suggested by one of my favorite bands of the 1970s. The Moody Blues. The window lies in recognizing that fear is just a lack of understanding. Fear can't kill you. Fear is irrational, overrated, and as an instrument of foreign-policy hopelessly abused. The people in these far-off lands we say are our enemies have the same hopes and aspirations for their children as we have. They have the same sense of justice and honor. Perhaps they have different customs. So what. Perhaps they even worship different gods. So what. They are people with lives and hopes and dreams like people everywhere. We are all the same under our skin. We need to get over ourselves.

Amen