The President We Deserve
You get into your 40’s and being liked by your fellow man lacks luster. So here it goes. I love Barack Obama. What’s there not to like? The man is handsome, well-spoken, loves his wife, has two beautiful little girls, is self-made, has a great compelling life story, and no matter what surfaces about him, he handles himself with such grace and impeccable oratory skills that we want to believe. We need to believe.
We can have it all. Why shouldn’t we? Barack Obama tells us we should be able to have it all. Most of us, we are repeatedly told, are hard working Americans with excellent judgment who have struggled all our lives and cannot seem to get ahead. The American Dream is snatched from our grip by conniving corporations who oppress us; rich people who look down on us; a boss who exploits us; a government who spends our hard earned money in unnecessary wars and tax breaks to the rich.
Please, Barack, make it all go away now.
As we are lifted into Nirvana by the passionate eloquence and ultra-cool demeanor of our President-in-waiting, we cannot wait to cash in on all the new rights that are coming our way. Healthcare insurance, which is amendment 11 on our Bill of Rights, will finally be provided and paid for by the government. They say there are 50 million Americans without healthcare insurance today – I wonder how many of these 50 million have a car, a flat-panel T.V, a cell phone, an iPod and the latest version of Grand Theft Auto. You see, I believe that if we have a choice between what we “must” have and what we really need/should have, we will choose the former.
The federal government can and must take care of our inalienable rights. It’s in the constitution, isn’t it? The government, meaning, people who can afford it. Those 1% who carry 99% of our constituents. So go ahead, roll back those “tax cuts for the rich” – how else can we afford universal healthcare, extended unemployment benefits, checks in the mail for us and our children, subsidized housing, etc. etc, etc.
But please make sure that while the rich are paying more money, they also continue to create good high paying jobs for the rest of us. Tax any investment capital heavily, offer no relief in capital improvement expenditures, make sure we penalize businesses small and large for trying to find cheaper labor overseas, close any foreign markets that may buy our products and eliminate any and all loopholes that will stimulate business growth, because that may also make the rich richer – and that’s no good.
This election is indeed historic, but for more reasons than the obvious ones noticeable by all. Our country is at a crossroad between personal responsibility and the “feel good” mentality we have been slipping into for decades.
You do not incur credit card debt if you cannot afford it; you do not have children until you are ready to take care of them; you do not buy a house beyond your means just because someone is willing to give you a big loan; you do not spend more than you make; you do not expect the government to bail you out of your bad decisions.
I do not blame all who have fallen onto hard times. But I do feel that we have bought a bill of goods that is unsustainable. Advertising everywhere for the latest “must haves” and access to easy credit make us all hostage to a way of life that will eventually catch up to us. And then we call for “Change”, “Yes We Can”, “Hope”, and the endless litany of pretty words that lift us. The last thing we need right now is a good spanking from the leaders who prey on our need for more stuff for less effort.
That, indeed, would be change.
President Barack Obama is where we have been headed since, I believe, we threw our bras out the window, among other things. It is certainly a defining moment in our country’s history. We deserve nothing less than an inspiring leader who has a promise for each of us! Yes, we can have it all. And I want it NOW!
June 9th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
To tell you the truth I think this is therapy for me too. I can’t be depressed when I read the hilarious things you write! I am so beside myself right now, and laughing my butt off! WOW! you never cease to impress me with your use of words! I don’t know how but you seemed to of done it again! GO GERI GO!
June 9th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
“to of done it again?” Really?
Yup, that is my future Northwestern grad ….
June 28th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Tom … of all that was written, you highlight an “error”? There must be something that you can write that is deeper. (must always stick up for Geri!)
Ok – I agree that we overspend and don’t prioritize our purchases (thank you credit cards). All you have to do is look at the mortgage crisis to see the impact of the “I want it now/credit society” combined with personal seller profit without any industry regulation. However, I could argue that our societial lack of personal economic decision making is exactly why we should have national healthcare. If individuals don’t know how to prioritize purchases, then maybe someone else needs to do it for them. I believe healthcare is a right in a civilized society not a privilege. What type of society do you think we’ll have when more people do not have healthcare than have it? Even if you think we should continue with our personal pay healthcare system, what about all the loopholes? When I went to the emergency room for an allergic reaction, it cost $2,000 to receive an IV of benadryll (Tom/spelling?). I was told it was so expensive because so many people without healthcare go to the emergency room for everyday care because emergency rooms cannot turn someone away due to affordability. Don’t you think a lot of the people who aren’t honest have found a way to get healthcare coverage without paying? Who do you think is paying for them? Don’t you think we already have a form of national healthcare? However, do you know who is really being hurt by this? Honest middle income Americans who don’t have healthcare but who do take personal responsibility and do not “work” the system. How did we get here? We went from a society where we didn’t have much healthcare readily available to us (medical advances/mobility/communication systems etc) to a society where science has dramatically increased quantity of life beyond quality. So now we have to make moral decisions as to when to shorten quantity. Who has the right to shorten the quantity? During the industrial age, we decided that it would be a good idea to shift the medical cost responsibility to industry. This worked when most people worked in industry and stayed there for their whole life. Now we no longer work at one large company our whole life. We can no longer spread the cost of medical insurance across a large number of diversed aged people who all work at that same company. Companies can no longer take a long range view for profits. They’re being driven by stock market prices that are increasingly short-term in nature because the stock owners are not vested in the long-term only in tomorrow’s stock price. Employees are no longer long-term investments but bottom line expenses. When companies can’t reduce the employee numbers any longer, they reduce their costs by shifting company expenses to the employees. … So we’re no longer in the industrial age. We’re no longer a country of long standing corporate employees. So should we still have personal healthcare coverage tied to employers? Seems that we currently do … kind of/in theory. Seems it currently isn’t working. Is this really the fault of personal overspending? I don’t think so.
I will end this with the wonderfully upbeat long winded reply with another wonderful national ticking timebomb. Boomer and beyond retirement savings. Now that we’ve cut the industry tie for retirement savings (bye bye pensions). How many people do you think have realized that their parents retirement which was funded by their parent’s company pension will not be there for them? If people can’t stop their short-sighted impulse spending to pay for their current healthcare needs, how can they be expected to stop their short-sighted impulse spending to pay for their way off in the future retirement needs? How many elections before the main topic is nationalized retirement income? How long before desperate boomers (etc) start to want to legalize euthanasia (hello inheritance – remember quanity vs quality)? Where is this all heading?
Thankfully, I still have great faith in the American economy and American ingenuity and adaptability. I don’t know where we’re heading or when we’ll be there but I still believe we’ll figure it out.
Tom – have a field day with this one.
June 29th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I don’t know you but I love you already! Come by for dinner any time:)
November 17th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Thank you Tom for getting to the grammar before me. My kids call me the Grammar Queen, but I don’t care. Why, you ask? I have my childrens’ friends speaking correclty in less than 5 visits. If I don’t correct them, Carla or Gabo will. It brings a tear to my eyes every time I see the Grammar prince and princess in action.
I miss you guys!! BTW, Felipe is enjoying the blog as well.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I won’t add to the above because I feel the same as Geri, WHAT!!!!!????? IT finally happened, but it’s too late. I’m glad that I chose health insurance as a priority when I was diagnosed with breast cancer but I’m stilled pissed I can’t afford a plasma TV for my bedroom. Felipe is sad about our “old” TV and finds little consolation in my new hooters.
Love ya!