Every day I hear about all the latest nonsense out of Washington, New York and Hollywood and think, “How will we ever fix all this stuff?” And I read the price on the gas pump and listen to Camera Girl’s lament over the cost of chicken or vegetables or pumpernickel bagels and I think, “How the hell are we supposed to keep up with this inflation?”
Then I think, “But the story’s not over yet.” I remember when I was just twenty-three in 1980 and Camera Girl and I were living in our first apartment. We were poor as church mice and Jimmy Carter had managed to get mortgages up to 18% and inflation was at 13% and even the incredibly cheap company that I was working for in my first job gave us a once in a lifetime bonus just to keep us all from starving to death. And back then plenty of people were saying that the good days for America were over and we had to accept that prosperity was over. And I thought, “How are going to do this?”
But people rejected that defeatism and when Reagan took over things got better; eventually, a lot better. And slowly over time we got a few breaks and we managed to live happily ever after (we hope!) And so, there were kids and grandkids and maybe I’m starting to hear the first signs that another generation will be in the offing. And what else is there to hope for anyway?
Sure, Joe Biden has decided to follow the Barack Obama playbook and destroy America. I think they may have overplayed their hand. They have done such a truly awful job of running the country that even their supposedly bought and paid for constituencies are screaming over the results. It seems to me that it’s only a matter of time before most everyone is going to demand someone competent put a stop to the destruction and drastically change course.
And until that time, I think it’s my job to lend whatever and however much support I can to those currently paying the bills for those who can’t yet. And that most definitely includes moral support. We’re all liable to shout about the doom and gloom that we see all around us. Well, sure. That’s what I do every day. But remember that the young have to keep going after we’re gone, so make sure that the things you say are actionable in a positive way. Saying it’s all over or things will never be as good as they were is just defeatism. We don’t know that. Lots of people have smartened up in the last ten years and a lot of the old traps that we fell in before won’t work anymore. The days of the neo-cons sounding the charge for us to sign up for the next forever war are over for most of us.
There are signs here and there that leaders are beginning to provide some hope for Americans in several areas of the country. If any of them are at all smart they’ll begin to coordinate their actions and try to build up a movement. That’s what we should see beginning to happen and in very small ways I think I can see some of that happening.
So, I’m not asking for unbridled exuberance over the immediate future. We are sunk in a morass of debt and hog tied by administrative policy that strips us of our constitutional rights but I don’t believe that the situation is hopeless. The story isn’t over yet. Be part of the solution. Try to keep that in mind.