Nothing turns an aggressive driver into a cautious one more than being a participant or immediate observer in a serious auto crash. The result is an instantaneous, if temporary, behavior modification.
A similar phenomenon exists in the political sphere. The public opinion pendulum swings between pessimism and optimism and we vote for candidates who reflect the current mood. None of them can change conditions enough in the short term and second thoughts, buyers remorse, takes over. We want to
throw out the rascals we just elected. So it is with the current congress. Under
the pressure of the tea party radicals a large group of freshmen, inexperiened and poorly informed, were elected. They immediately took control of the budgeting process, with complete stalemate as result. Now polls show the peeople who elected them have buyers remorse---a post accident behavior
change. We must hope the change is long lasting---enough to get our financial house in order; Get a managable budget passed, one that does not obliterate
the entire social program of the nation.
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7 comments:
Sorry, but blogspot is again shutting me down before I can respond!
Sorry, but blagspot is again shutting me down before I can respond.
"Under
the pressure of the tea party radicals a large group of freshmen, inexperiened and poorly informed, were elected. "
writes Marty.
The assertions in that statement are questionable.
Jacques
America's budgetary woes are gigantic and will not be resolved as long as elected officials refuse to honor the needs/desires of their constituencies but that is not new information. Congressional representatives have almost always favored their own agendas rather than their constituent members.
The "rubber meets the road" problem for them will be the way they deal with our foreign policy issues which, thus far, has not been an appealing area of interest for them. With little or no gross national product, this country has almost no "clout" on the world stage. Correcting domestic economic situations requires alternate sources of income such as sale of armament, food and real estate but all those choice are now history.
When the U.S. lobbied then agreed to enter Libya with other European forces to support the rebels our choice was clear; either come in with the most effective weaponry or simply allow Gaddafi to define what terms he preferred. We chose the latter and now we are being chastised by the Libyan people for being too aggressive (killing one of Muammar's sons). When will we ever learn? There is no "middle ground" when dealing with feudal societies.
Will we again send millions to such despots to keep them quiet? Will we change our tactics again just to mollify world opinion?
Come on, America! Choose your destiny and stick to that decision right or wrong.
Our international involvements will always cost us far more than anything we do for ourselves. Even in a failing domestic economy there is great potential for a turn around if we invest in our international ambitions more appropriately.
Marty passed away on 5/11 but his influence on all of our lives lives on because of his continuous passion for information and perception.
Please, respond to this comment with your email address if you would like to stay connected with this type of conversation.
I cannot take over Marty's account however, if I can capture your email address I commit to keep this kind of stimulating conversation alive even if Marty cannot participate.
Jerry
Even though Marty cannot moderate this blog any longer Blogger permits any registered user to post comments.
Let's keep the dialog alive until we find another forum.
All are welcome to join our Aging forum, http://mybrc.com/f, which is predominately for issues of gerontology however, I will gloadly establish another forum for the free exchange of socio-political commentary if there appears to be strong enough interest.
Jerry
Yes I am interested. Place me on the list
Jacques
Maxxjac@aol.com
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