I've seen this picture on a few blogs that I enjoy. One is Crainium (yes it's spelled wrong, but that's how they have it). The other is Grey Matter. This is Susan Isaacs' site, she's a Christian author living in Southern Cali (and she's really funny).There is a small paragraph at the end that may be a bit hard to read so here's what it says,
You probably thought it was smart to by a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod us into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: we spend a shitload of money on lobbyists. So now you're out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru. Maybe next time you'll buy American like a real man. Either way, we're cool.
It sure feels like that doesn't it? It seems everyone is crying for the government to "bail" them out. What ever happened to using your head and figuring out creative ways to solve problems?
Susan also mentions a quote from Alexis DeToqueville, "America is great because it is good. Once she ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." After that Susan asked a question that got me thinking, here is what she asked, "when did you first have that rude awakening that America was no longer good?"
Sort of a slap in the face kind of question isn't it. I think it is a good one to ask. The only way this country is going to be great again is if the people who live in it start acknowledging the fact that this country isn't great anymore. I though about it for some time and my conclusion is this. For me, this country hasn't been great since September 12, 2001. I feel this country has never recovered for the attack. I know there are people out there that don't what to hear that, but that is the problem, you can't fix something by not acknowledging it first. We can't go around putting band aids on things and covering up the problems just because we don't want to deal with them. FRANKLY I THINK IT'S A LOAD OF CRAP!
Here is the biggest problem with this country (in my opinion). This country doesn't have a budget problem. The budgets are there, and have been for a long time. This country can put together a budget faster than a humming bird flaps its wings. The problem is, this country has a spending addiction. The country wants to spend more money so they make a budget to accommodate. The root of this problem is that there is no money to back that budget because it was spent on something else, which is why the country has to create and spend this new budget to begin with. But their fix to the problem is to go print more money. Which is why the money in my wallet isn't worth the pile of crap the government is feeding us.
This is why I think this country will never be like it was before 9/11. I'm not saying it was fantastic before, I'm just saying it went into the crapper after the attacks and will never be any better (unless they fix the spending problems and that will probably never happen).
Sorry for the depressing post but I thought it needed to be said. I don't care if it makes anybody made it's just the truth. So, to quote The Guy From Boston, "I got the ball to say what your thinking!"
Enjoy the holidays every body Marry Christmas and Happy New Year... oops, sorry, best wishes for the Winter Solstice Holiday and a new calender year.
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5 comments:
Hi
Thanks for the link. The reason I misspell cranium is because 'crainium' is a play on my family name.
Best Regards -
Hey Erik, thanks for reading my blog and for the shout-out! I've been thinking a lot about it, where we as a country went wrong. I was listening to Martin Marty on the radio show "Speaking of Faith," the episode "finding faith in uncertain times," and he mentioned greed. Greed is inherent in human nature; Americans aren't the only ones guilty of greed. Every individual, social group and nation has its own strengths and weaknesses. And God blessed us, Americans do give a lot to charity. But we spend a lot too. I think every country in its heyday did the same. But I think we've gotten addicted to stuff. Things. Big cars and iPhones, and it's so easy to forget what really matters. And maybe something good that can come out of a downturn or a Depression is a renovation and renewal of faith and virtue and goodness. My husband and I had been re-reading Philip Yancey's book "The Jesus I never Knew" and he had a lot of sobering, humbling things in there. He was talking about the Chinese church under persecution. They were completely disentangled from political power or sway, and they flourished. Not that I want that kind of persecution! As Yancey put it, and I’ll paraphrase; he'd much rather live in a country where everyone is civil and polite and where you can say prayers in the public square ... but if those things go, if we experience persecution, our faith should not be based on fair-weather or approval. I DON’T want to lose those basic freedoms. But we sure have had it easy; how many of us have had to forgive, the way the Rwandans or the South Africans or other places where there are HUGE things to forgive? I don’t think I want to endure that kind of madness and evil in order to practice big forgiveness. But I do hope that smaller inconveniences or difficulties will remind us what really matters. Merry Christmas and may God bless you!
To JdJ: No problem, I really enjoy reading all of the cool stuff that you post, thanks for the comment.
Susan: I couldn't agree more. I think one of the reasons we have so much greed (needing that big car and iPhone) is because they may everything so convenient. The more convenient everything get, the greedy and lazy we (as a nation) will become.
If you haven't yet seen it, watch Louis CK on Conan O'Brien: "Everything's amazing, nobody's happy." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbIGbZ6gq_Y
Brilliant!
Susan, I have seen that video. As a matter fact, I first watched it on your blog. I even wrote a small blip on my page about it as well.
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