THE SONIC BOOMER
The United States of America needs an overhaul.
This is never more evident than in an election year, when candidates of every stripe are trying to blame all kinds of things on their opponents in order to make themselves look good. Problems we never knew existed are now exposed, and the blame is laid, from the tiniest municipality, all the way up to Washington, D.C.
I consider myself an average American. As such, I look around at the mere size of our country and its abundance of natural resources and think, “Wow. We’re lucky. We have everything we need here. Good jobs, explorers and Founding Fathers.”
But, also as an average American, I realize there’s a lot I don’t know about the governing of our country. I usually hone in on things that impact me, myself and I. At election time, when I look up from my comfortable burrow to see what all the shouting is about, I wonder how we made such a mess of it all.
I think back to my youth, when all we had to worry about was Cuba (whom we had provoked) and Russia (who wasn’t speaking to us), and it seems like bliss.
Nationally, there were race riots, and nothing much has changed there. Once we’ve intermingled enough so that everyone’s sort of a tan color, things will settle down.
Drugs are an escalating problem. They lure people in with a happy feeling, then leave them angry, lazy and/or delusional, feelings that used to be reserved for one’s two-week vacation.
Social services are another problem. Where is the U.S. of A supposed to get all this money? Right now, it’s coming from Social Security. But shouldn’t it be coming from Health & Human Services?
Speaking of health, it’s hard for me to believe that we are able to receive information from Mars (and who cares?), but we haven’t found cures for some of these diseases yet. I’ve been to enough fundraisers to see the money that concerned Americans pour into research and, to my mind, the medical advances are not commensurate with that total. Is Big Pharma truly on our side?
Lobbyists. Don’t get me started, I realize that lobbyists are the natural outcropping of a capitalistic society, but we need to draw the line on how much money can buy. Is it truly “whatever can be bought,” or can there be a modicum of integrity involved?
Lawyers are working diligently to make sure every American’s rights are realized, resulting in over-regulation across the board. But what are you going to do? Even LBGTQ has added a plus to their acronym to avoid including the entire alphabet. People are different, but their rights need to be the same.
Speaking of pride, that’s the one thing we need to fix first. All this country really needs is to get our pride back. Then comes loyalty, a willingness to work for change and some smarts.
And you know where to find those things — you’ve seen their signs everywhere. It’s not going to kill any of us to pop out of our burrow and vote.
Yes, please make time to vote. That’s all I’m saying.
