A House Divided…

When it comes to religion and politics… even the home front is affected.

Last night, the Democratic National Convention came to an end with (the)POTUS accepting the nomination for a second term… nothing new or unexpected here. I listened to most of the speech from afar, for there were other issues that needed attention at the same time. I am not a professional speaker, although there were several years my income depended on my ability to do so and convince others of my ideas. There were some thoughts that came to mind while I listened to the man speaking…

The speaker was somewhat subdued; unusual for this particular speaker. There were no specific details, but far too many “independent and third party expert” references, none specific. Therefore… credibility is an issue. No major promises made; perhaps fear this would bring up other promises made that went unfulfilled… References (made by both the President and the VP) to remarks made by “That Other Guy” which were not fully factual (as confirmed by NPR’s and USA’s own fact checkers this morning) or taken entirely out of context. All in all, a less than expected performance from someone who has heretofore been a stellar and moving speaker.

Just a few days ago a mail came in from a good friend and it contained several charts of statistics, some of them covering over 100 years of government activity. They included looks at job trends, social spending (mostly welfare over the last 30 years), business acumen in government circles, experience, Gov’t debt, etc. Of some of these I, and those of my generation, have living memories for we lived through some of the more radical changes in our country during the last century (Excluding the two WW, but not Viet-Nam, for this became a watershed socio-cultural issue). Yet, what these stats show is a definite negative trend within the last 5 years and, especially, the last 3.  In fact some of the numbers are, quite frankly, alarming.

Do we raise a question mark about the performance of this government? It is not only our right to do so if we so choose to, but our given duty. We must question any leader (regardless of affiliation) whose actions we believe are taking our country down the wrong path. Understand please… this does not mean that we should scream only because we disagree with the ideology, for each one has its merits and should have its opportunity to create, but we must raise a flag when we see that our environment and living conditions are diminishing and this is a direct result of decisions made at government levels.

We have major social issues at hand, none of which has easy solutions. A most pressing (and growing) one is the issue of “illegal” folk (mostly, but not all Hispanic) who come to try and make a decent living for themselves and families, but do so without following the adequate due process. Recently, the President signed a Dream Act Mandate which will, if it goes into actual effect, allow children (themselves undocumented) of parents without documents to stay and go to school. All well and good for there are many brilliant minds in this group but, in my humble opinion, this was nothing but a political ploy to gain votes in an unexpectedly tight race. When discussing this with a Hispanic Minister whose congregation includes a high number of Latinos without documents, his comment was: “This is a potentially explosive issue… we may end up with thousands of young men and women whose parents may be deported along the way… what will we do then… how will they be supported?”

Is change needed in several fronts? Most definitely so. However, is this the right way to make this (or any other) change happen? I can say I don’t know but, I don’t honestly think so… when something so impacting and important is done on the spur of a needy moment, the long term consequences tend to, in a  high percentile,  negative results. Usually of related issues, such as those the Minister raised. Should we not do anything then? No… this is not the message. But when we act and that action potentially impacts the lives of millions, then we have to act on a way determined by reality, process and potential good and bad. Not by emotion or political need.

As the convention came to an end last night, there was somewhat of a silence at home. My wife is in favor of the current government (mostly spurred by the personality involved) and I am not… mostly spurred by the lack of positive results (with the corresponding increase in negative results) of this mandate.  It can be said (and vehemently it has… over and over) that this mandate started with a difficult legacy to handle. Yes, it did. No one expected a turn around in 90 days, perhaps not even in 4 years.

However, we did expect a definite movement into the right direction(s) in important areas and I look and try to find this, but cannot see any at all. Just excuses, unwarranted additional expenses and a “blamefest” and, no, not everything that goes wrong can always be blamed on the “other guys”. Responsibility begins and ends with the top guy. Regardless of party affiliation, for a decision so important as a vote is not (or should not be) about personality, party or ideology. It should be all about what is best for the country and its future for, as the country goes, so will those of us who live here.

Having said all this, it is important to add that whoever wins the election will have my support, as a citizen of this great country, to try and get things going in the right direction… but will also have my comments if otherwise. That is also an integral part of supporting my country and its system.

So, we do not discuss politics at home… well and good, for there are already too many areas of discussion to be tended….

Be Well … Be Back!!!

Final Notes:

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