In rolling out his Economic Recovery Advisory Board today, President Obama rightfully called for an end to the partisan bickering that has made government inept since before Bill Clinton came to town. But how quickly he forgets that until just a few weeks ago, he was a big part of the problem. His voting record in the Senate was among the most partisan of the Democrats -- even worse than Harry Reid's and Hillary Clinton's (according to the Washington Post's voting records for the 110th Congress). When moderate Democrats and Republicans came together to find a meeting place for agreement on troubling issues, Sen. Obama was never in the room.
But back to his speech today: "It is time to pass an Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to get our economy moving again. This is not some abstract debate. It is an urgent and growing crisis that can only be fully understood through the unseen stories that lie underneath each and every one of those lost jobs. Somewhere in America, a small business has shut its doors; a family has said goodbye to their home; a young parent has lost their livelihood, and doesn’t know what’s going to take its place.
"These Americans are counting on us," Obama told Congress.
Perhaps that's the problem. Instead of counting on government to take care of our every problem, we should be relying on ourselves. Had our forefathers counted on government to take care of them, we'd still be part of England, we'd be huddled on the Eastern Seaboard and our national anthem would be "God Save the Queen."
Life isn't easy right now. But times have been tougher for our country and for many of us individually. It wasn't that many years ago that I was a single mom taking care of two kids on $17,000 a year. I lived in a trailer, chopped my own firewood, got up to stoke the fire a couple times a night because I couldn't afford for the furnace to kick on and came up with a lot of fun, free entertainment so my kids wouldn't realize what they were doing without. Recognizing I would never get ahead if I stayed put, I gave up the "security" of that job and my family support system to move with my kids across the country so I could go back to school. Relying on ourselves and God, we survived in student family housing on my 20-hour-a-week, minimum-wage student workstudy and what I could save from my school loan. In all that time, I didn't take any government aid -- no free lunches for the kids, no state health insurance, no food stamps, no welfare.
Had I counted on government, I'd still be back in Idaho living in a trailer, chopping my own firewood and scratching to make ends meet on poverty wages.
I freely admit I was blessed in that I had only to look to my mother for an example. The mother of three, she was widowed and homeless on her 30th birthday. Mom lived on faith in God -- not welfare. The sacrifices she made and the strength she exhibited helped me stand on my own two feet when I needed to.
America was built by generations of people who looked inward and upward to overcome adversity. If, in these difficult economic times, we trade our self-reliance for Washington-reliance, what role models will our children have when they need the strength to struggle through a crisis?
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I have been on unemployment once for an extended period....worse feeling of personal self-worth that I've ever experienced. I am afraid those feelings of inadequacy aren’t known to the majority of today’s youngsters. It’s a different time. They have a different concept and value of life. Too many of them extend their hands….waiting for government to ‘take care of them’.
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up in Louisiana….I have a theory about it. I call it Huey Long syndrome.
As Governor, he sponsored many reforms that endeared him to the rural poor. An ardent enemy of corporate interests, he championed the "little man" against the rich and privileged. As Governor in the early 1930’s, the “Kingfish” enabled a Louisiana Senior Citizens a monthly stipend as one of the major cornerstones of his “Share the Wealth program.”
Introducing other major reforms, including free textbooks and free night courses for adult learning, Long also launched a program to build a school within walking distance of every child in the state. Moreover, the Democratic governor improved the state’s infrastructure. When Long came to office the state had less than 350 miles of paved roads; during his tenure he paved 3000 miles of roads using money from a tax on gas. He supported the building of 111 bridges, a new airport in New Orleans, and a medical school at Louisiana State University (LSU). During his time in office, Long increased the taxes of large business in the state, especially the oil companies.
Later in his career as US Senator, The Kingfish wanted the US government to confiscate the wealth of the nation's rich and privileged. He called his program Share Our Wealth. It called upon the federal government to guarantee every family in the nation an annual income of $5,000, so they could have the necessities of life, including a home, a job, a radio and an automobile. He also proposed limiting private fortunes to $50 million, legacies to $5 million, and annual incomes to $1 million. Everyone over age 60 would receive an old-age pension. His slogan was "Every Man A King."
I know that this so-called syndrome would only have its main affects on people of Louisiana, but it DID change a modicum of society. Today, I see it in the rural areas of neighboring states of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, mostly among the less affluent and minimally educated.
I wonder how it got spread regionally like it did? I go back to the roots of society and put the responsibility back on parenting (or the lack of parenting). Having grown up in a household where only my father was the provider and mom was there every afternoon when we got home, I know I was fortunate. However, I know of too many cases where latch-key kids went home to an empty house and waited for both parents to get home who today, are successful, responsible parents with now-adult kids who possess the same morals, levels of responsibility and accountability.
Where does the responsibility for those who didn’t get brought up that way fall?
--Posted for Carl