America the Pitiful

I am really getting tired of the sniping political ads on TV. I get annoyed by them every election year, but this particular election cycle, I am finding the ads more intolerable than ever. I don't know if it is because the GOP is behaving as though they had no part in taking this country down the wrong road, or because the Democrats are putting so much distance between themselves and the current administration. Probably both. I usually vote Republican because their agenda mostly matches my own, but the people in office now and in the past have so abused their privilege that they are just as much to blame for the country's ills as those now in power. Like the old fable about the ant and the grasshopper, they have been grasshoppers that played all summer long when they should have been gathering ahead for the long cruel winter. There are few "ants" at the helm these days and those that are gathering are feathering their own personal nests rather than saving for America's rainy day.

It's definitely storming in my neck of the woods. I have rarely been so hard-pressed as I am these days. Like many parents and grandparents these days, we are trying to help our grown children get back on their feet. Our bills are exceeding our resources every single month. Kind of like our country's bills are exceeding our resources. Our country's indebtedness is killing our independence, and no one wants to take responsibility for it. In fact. everyone is running away from the responsibility. The time for running away is over. I would love to hear a candidate make an ad saying "I have learned from my mistakes. I was busy feathering my own nest along with everyone else in government, but now I am going to do my best to get rid of earmarks, and to achieve tort reform, and give value to the American people who put their trust in me by giving me their votes". Wouldn't that be awesome?

Incumbents are going to be leaving in record numbers this election. Everywhere I go, I hear people say that they are going to vote against every incumbent representative. It's a backlash to punish whoever already holds office, but in many ways it is a misdirected action. It really isn't always the players that are the problem. Sometimes it's the game. In the U.S. government, it is the game that needs to be changed up. Our government hasn't always been run the way it is now. People became complacent when it came to being the watchdogs of their government. Furthermore, the American people became like spoiled children feeling entitled to getting more out of the government than we put in. Our constitution doesn't entitle us to be freeloaders. Sadly, some people die because of inadequate health care. But people also die with the best care money can buy. As tough as it is, we need to get back to a place where if we can't buy it, we can't get it. That is going to be the only thing that will make people grab hold of their bootstraps and pull. No politician is going to tell you that when they want your vote.

I can't wait until this election cycle is over, but I know that it is going to be a short time before it all starts again heading into the presidential election in 2012. It didn't really feel like we had a break since the last presidential election. But I know what I am looking for in a President. I want someone honest who will take responsibility for whatever he does or says. I want him to tell me the truth without the spin on it. I want someone who doesn't just pay lip service to the problems we have, but really works at being a problem-solver. I want someone who isn't afraid to look at the way the government can be changed to meet the needs of America in crisis. I want someone whose agenda isn't a hidden one. Does such a man or woman exist in America today that can be elected? I don't know, but I will be watching to see. Even if I have to listen to their campaign ads with a clothespin on my nose!