First of all, no president is going to ‘fix’ everything. That is not his job. The president carries out the laws that are passed by the Congress. He might propose issues to be addressed, but constitutionally it is up to Congress to propose bills, hold hearings, carry out investigations, and then make the laws. It is then the president’s job to make sure those laws are enforced. It is the job of the Amreican people to make sure that Congress and the president are doing their jobs with the power of the vote. For a long time the American electorate has not been doing IT’S job. Most of us pay closer attention to how much celebutants are eating and kid games played by grown men than what our government is doing.
Since 1980, the biggest problem we have faced in this country has faced has been the rampant runaway debt, both national and personal in this country. When we elected a president who addressed that issue and was beginning to make a difference, all we cared about was his personal life, who he was sleeping with and why he let his wife speak her mind. Then we promptly elect a man who promised to do the opposite. At least on that point he was honest, instead of screwing groupies, he screwed the entire population.
Since 1968, we have twice reelected proven liars to the presidency. We refuse to elect candidates who tell us unpleasant truths. In the final analysis the only way all our problems will be solved is if the majority of Americans as individuals and as a group take responsibility for those problems.
The first thing is stop allowing ourselves be manipulated by fear. We have allowed our current administration take us into a war with patent lies about threats against our security, meanwhile we are ineffective in addressing the threat of international terrorists. Even worse we have allowed our constitutional rights be taken away because of fear.
The second thing is stop letting ourselves be ruled by greed. The only way this country will remain a first class nation is if we are all in this together. If 25% of us do not have the necessities of jobs, health care, education and decent shelter then it doesn’t matter how much cheap crap we can buy from Asia through Walmart. The current housing crisis is the product of greed, ignorance and the failure to hold the financial industry accountable.
The third thing is to start paying attention to what is important to the country not our individual religious beliefs. Thirty years ago, it became obvious that reliance on fossil fuels was not going to be feasible in the long run. Instead of seeking alternatives we increased our dependence. We could have developed a wide range of alternative resources in three decades so that today we would have been energy independent. Instead a significant number of us vote based on what a candidate says about birth control or who sleeps with who.
So the question is not who is going to fix things but who will encourage, facilitate and lead US to fix things.
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| asked August 15th, 2008
| 138 responses
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