Here WE Are Again.... the aftermath of yet another midterm election. Mandate or NO Mandate... Cut Taxes & Reduce the Deficit or is it Cut Spending & Reduce the Debt.
The interesting thing to me is that even when all that prosperity was going on in the 1990's, the neighborhoods where I am familiar still experienced financial cuts, reduction, deficits, debt and very little spending. Having said all of that, the glass has always looked half empty.
Being the eternal optimist that I am, I look to always provide education on individual empowerment as well as accountability as the jump off point.
A couple of months ago I participated with America Speaks [ http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Federal-Budget-Options-Workbook-062510B.pdf http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/AmericaSpeaks-Testimony-June-30-2010.pdf ] to address authentic options on how to make the tough choices on what on the ground in my neighborhood policy impact actions needed to be implemented. What I saw after that experience was ... in my opinion were counter-productive statements that led to confusing rhetoric. I mention this because we all need to focus on how this thing is really accomplished.
I encourage everyone to look over the above documents that I have included for your reading pleasure. I thought it was going to be very hard to understand but I was pleasantly surprised and educated. And just know ... if there is something that you do not understand ... that is where calling our elected officials come in to explain and/or find out the answer for you if they do not understand. My father told me on many occasions..... "He who asks the question maybe fool for the moment, but he who never asks the question is fool forever more". So you all can thank my dad for encouraging me to ask all the questions that you all have witness me "asking".
Very interesting..... From AmericaSpeaks:
ReplyDelete"...Above and beyond anything else, the messages that participants said they wanted to send to leaders at the end of the day focused on the process rather than the content of the discussion. Among the most common sentiments from table groups were:
• “Can you be elected officials first and politicians second? Our table balanced the budgetin less than an hour.”
• “Abandon the failed politics of partisanship.” “You can’t demonize each other and expect us to trust you.”
• “Please find the political will to use this input as if it were coming from a powerful
lobbying group – because we are!”
• “Listen to the people and not special interests.”
• “We need to deal with these issues now!”
89% of participants in the 19 sites said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the tone and quality of political discussion in our country today....."
I wish I could be an "eternal optimist". With elected officials like Eric Cant-vote-yes from our own 7th district, we are only going to have more acrimonious political diatribe and, I fear, NOTHING will be done. He will never be an "elected official first" and always be a REPUBLICAN politician.
I must sadly disagree the WE THE PEOPLE have become almost meaningless nowadays. 25% of the people, and I suspect the are mainly FOX NEWS viewers, belief our President in a Muslim. No, we have long become a government of the big corporations, by the big corporations and for the big corporations.
If you don't believe me, please check out the movie INSIDE JOB running at the Westhampton, I think through Thanksgiving.
Stan