Whenever I hear politicians speak, I think about my Uncle Joe, and what he would think. We all have an Uncle Joe, a life long truck driver, or Aunt Liz in our lives, with brilliant common sense and who see easily through bullshit. As well as President Obama spoke tonight, I fear his words are falling on deaf ears, for as the commentators said, not one proposal he laid out tonight will be worked on by either party tomorrow. And, God bless Sen. Ernst from Iowa for drawing the short straw to give the rebuttal, but it was so full of platitudes and empty phrases, it made me wish a regular Joe citizen could give the response. It would keep things a lot more real. Weve got VERY serious problems within our democracy right now at the Federal level including toothless regulators (SEC, FCC), a political system and entire city of Washington DC bathing in money, where reforms go to waste faster than they can be implemented, and a generation coming of age with the prospect of inheriting a country in much worse shape (as measured by fiscal health and debt, levels of inequality, quality of education, health care, the environment, and trust in government) than any other. What gives me hope is that in the grassroots of America, from Detroit to rural Northern California to Jackson, Mississippi, Americans are indeed reinventing themselves, their organizations and their lives from scratch. Uncle Joe has teetered on the verge of losing faith in the American Dream for some years now. Until reforms, innovative approaches to these problems, and leadership rise up in America, these speeches might as well be put on repeat. As Uncle Joe says, Weve forgotten who the boss is in America. The citizen is the boss. Its time for a new generation to step up and lead. Just some random thoughts - curious to hear yours.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 03:54:57 +0000