That Was The Week That Was

Deborah Venable

06/22/03

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to stomach the weekly news and the commentary on that news, folks. For those of us who feel even a modicum of responsibility to keep ourselves plugged in to the “pulse of the nation” so that we may intelligently comment on it, sometimes it is more than we can stand to get through a full week. This was one such week.

The dichotomy of headline stories went from Hillary’s new book to the worsening situation in the Middle East, with ample time to cover the bickering over tax cuts and new welfare legislation misnamed “tax cut” to be paid out to people with children – whether or not they have paid taxes. Oh, and let’s certainly not forget the move to pay social security benefits to illegal aliens. Have mercy! Where has my America gone?

Our guys are still coming under fire and dying in Iraq every week, but all their fellow countrymen can seem to do is argue over the integrity of the Commander-in-chief that sent them there – as if he is shooting each and every one of them. I must say that he is not doing such a hot job of winning friends and influencing his constituents on some domestic issues, such as placating the Mexican government with America’s Social Security coffers, and other such obvious appeals to the socialists among us. But, as I said, our guys are still dying in Iraq. Also American credibility is being tested in the court of world opinion every single day. Do we really need to be fighting among ourselves about the motives or morality of a president who has less than two years to serve before the opportunity to dethrone him will come around? I think not, folks. If he is not already undergoing an impeachment proceeding, then he will not be able to do us as much harm as our own inattention to everything else in the world could result in if we don’t begin to straighten up and act like American individualists instead of wimpy collectivists.

On the tax issue - if anyone wonders why the tax code in this country is becoming more oppressive and complicated with each passing session of Congress, they most certainly are not paying attention. Marveling at how a budgetary “surplus” becomes a record-breaking “deficit” almost overnight should signal an ignorance born of apathy – not the suddenly enlightened indignant rage at those presently in control that we are currently seeing. Here is a fact to chew on – budget surpluses and deficits do not drive the actions of government – not in the same way that individuals react to those things. Government’s funding comes from taxing the governed people, indiscriminately and for whatever reason, as much as it can possibly get away with. Government does not “work hard” for this money and it does not work toward any fairness in taxation and benefits. It is the politician’s job to convince you otherwise. I daresay the politician has done his job remarkably well because generally speaking the majority of the people continue to support the god awful tax code, don’t they? It would do us all well to remember that if our ancestors had been willing to knuckle under to the punishing taxes we now pay, we would all still be bowing down to the royalty of England and the world would be a very different place. Same game, different power - this one we grew ourselves.

On the growing world-wide terrorism concerns – the whining about the rights of this regime or that regime scattered throughout the globe is deafening, but the real terrorists are not taking their marching orders from these in place governments. That is precisely what makes them so dangerous. The homegrown variety is especially dangerous at this particular time, even though that danger is largely ignored under the guise of protecting various rights. This is where it gets real complicated. In a country that has already endured a devastating terrorist attack, (ours) you would think we would have learned something about ignoring the oddly out of place actions of people from foreign cultures. Instead, we continue to make exceptions to the point of having national news coverage of the burka driver in Florida for example. That was a no-brainer from the get go, but we have endured an overabundance of ridiculous debate over this woman’s “rights” to cover her face for an I.D. picture. Huh???? I do not care what cultural or religious drum she is marching to, that is idiotic. And while we are on this particular subject, America is supposed to be an open society. Open societies should not tolerate the masking of identities facially or otherwise. If I am a bank teller, for instance, and someone comes up to my window with a face mask on, I must assume he or she is there to rob the bank – right? Now, how long do you think it will take for us to be sufficiently desensitized, via the burka rights gang, to lose that obvious edge? More importantly, if we are supposed to accept this masking as commonplace, how much easier will it be for attacks to be made utilizing this cultural dress? I can hear the stumbling attempt to collect descriptive information about perpetrators of crimes now, can’t you? “Well, I couldn’t really tell what he looked like, or even if it was a he or a she, because he was all covered up head to toe in one of those mid eastern garbs.” Uh huh. Anyway, we have already been sufficiently reprimanded about “profiling” so golly gee what do we expect?

About the political name calling and obvious purely political ploys to elevate party interests over the good of the country – As long as politicians have as their number one priority that of getting reelected or making sure that members of their own party are elected, the business of the government will not get done in the people’s best interest. This is painfully obvious to anyone paying attention. Career politicians cannot run a free and just government of, by and for the people. I actually heard someone with conservative stripes say last week that a housewife would be unqualified for the presidency. Excuse me? Now, he was speaking specifically about Hillary Clinton, but that doesn’t change the meaning of the words. The Constitution does not say anything about needing a law degree, millions of dollars or a successful business to become president. Citizenship and having reached the ripe old age of thirty-five years come to mind as the requirements I believe. This idea that certain folks would not be “qualified” for elected office is ludicrous in a free and self-governing society. The age requirement for the various offices is fine – maturity is certainly a plus even though age doesn’t always insure it, but anything else smacks of an aristocracy that we are supposed to be above in this country. Party politics has reached an all time low on the scale of credibility and morality, and we taxpayers are expected to continue the funding for a government that no longer values individuals but embraces any collective that offers the most money or the largest share of the vote. Whether or not we can move beyond this will determine whether this nation will survive.

That was the week that was and probably will be again until enough individuals are fed up and chart a new course towards a more traditional goal of sanity.

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