Every generation is defined by the world they live in and how the people respond to the situations they are put in. We have seen “The Greatest Generation” and “Generation Me” but I would like to propose a new name for the current generation - “Generation Scared”. No time in history has our leaders lead and reacted out of fear like they are doing today, especially since 9/11/2001.
Throughout history American leaders have taken a stand, from Kennedy staring down the Soviets and the threat of nuclear war to Reagan showing compete weakness in foreign policy when it came to Iraq and Lebanon. Until 10 years ago America only used it military as a last resort and only when provoked, it was never used as a first strike to prevent something that might have happened. After 9/11/01 things changed dramatically and we went from a country of strong leaders to a country lead by chicken hawks.
When we first invaded Iraq George Bush Sr. knew that if we took out Hussein it would lead to nothing but trouble and it would cost millions of dollars and thousands of lives after a civil war broke out. He was a credible leader because when the country called for him to serve he put on a uniform and fought, unlike the leaders of today who all used their power and money to avoid military service and where more concerned about getting rich off America then defending her.
Before he left office President Bill Clinton used missile strikes to try and kill Osama Bin Laden, as soon as he did the republican party attacked him for his action. The same party who a year later would blame him not going harder after Bin Laden. After the attacks on the world trade center allegedly by Osama Bin Laden the Taliban offered to turn him over for trial but was rebuked by George Bush Jr. who had his mind set on going to war. Like the other leaders in his party President Bush, Vice President Cheney and many others all avoided military service when they where called to serve, now they where acting like military heroes.
For the next 8 years they used the power of fear to strip away peoples civil rights, win an election by using the “terror alert” system in a corrupt way to scare up support and worst of all the invade another country without anyone questioning their motives. They invaded Iraq based on lies and mistruths that Iraq not only had nukes and would use them but they where involved in 9/11. Now the leaders who where to afraid to fight in the military where now all of a sudden war heroes who where on the front line of protecting America, in most circles these people are called chicken hawks.
We are hearing the same things today about Iran that we heard in 2002 about Iraq and the republicans are beating the drum of war again. This time we have a whole new class of chicken hawks leading the parade with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich and like the last republican administration not only has any of these men served his country but no one in their immediate family has put their lives on the line. They want to use fear tactics and scare the American people into fighting their wars but don’t believe in the cause enough to risk their own lives or the lives of the people they love.
Worst of all for the first time in history war is an afterthought, it’s not bad enough that these chickens want to send other peoples children to fight and die their wars but they won’t even ask their rich and powerful friends to make any sacrifices. They want to keep cutting taxes for corporations and the richest Americans at the same time they want to build up the army and start more wars, the money has to come from somewhere and they want it to be paid by poor people, seniors and the disabled making sacrifices. They can get away with this by playing the fear card and scaring the American people who don’t know any better, if you want the fear card to stop working then either bring back the draft or pass a 20% war tax. The minute politicians or their rich friends have to choose between protecting their money or protecting America the fear card will stop working as they will choose to protect their money every time.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
The big conservative health care lie
I keep hearing republicans and conservatives say that no one in America is denied needed health care, that is a flat out lie and if we had a real media they could call them out on it. Yes it’s true that the emergency room can not turn you away and that they have to treat you but it’s also true that by the time you get to the emergency room it’s usually to late. If you don’t have insurance most people can not afford to go to the doctor when they first realize that something may be wrong and they only go to the emergency room after it’s to late. This way of doing things costs Americans billions extra each year and would easily be fixed if every American had the means to see a doctor when they first suspected something was wrong.
An example of how universal care would save money
Patient a doesn’t feel well but puts off going to the doctor because they have children to feed and a home to pay for. After a while they feel even worse and finally decide to go to the emergency room where they are diagnosed with cancer. Now they have to have the cancer removed and go through treatment to try and save their lives. This will result in a long hospital stay and if they waited to long and are terminal it could lead to an extended stay and months on life sustaining meds and machines. Since they don’t have insurance and the hospital will not absorb these costs they are passed on to people with insurance raising their costs.
IF this person had insurance they could have visited the doctor early and been diagnosed at an early stage and their care would have been a lot cheaper and more importantly their children would still have a parent. This quick care would have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for this one patient alone and lowered costs to everyone else.
IF this person survives they will need to take meds the rest of their lives and will have to choose between having their drugs filled or putting food on the table. If they choose the latter they will go without meds and end up back in the hospital on the dime of people with insurance. They will also probably lose their home and their family will have to file for bankruptcy to get out of the debt of hospital bills they can not pay.
Yes the hospital has to treat you if you go in but that doesn’t help with preventive care or the meds you will need after you leave the hospital and you will probably just end up right back in there. Every uninsured person who seeks help at the hospital is more money added to your insurance policy. The facts prove that survival rates are higher in countries with universal healthcare, life expectancy is longer and they spend a lot less on healthcare (with many countries spending less then half of what we do in America).
All the facts prove that universal healthcare is cheaper and more effective so why don’t we have it here in the United States? That’s an easy answer - the insurance companies spend billions each year buying politicians, running misleading advertisement and flat out lying to the American people. With over 40,000 people dying each year because of either lack of insurance or health company decision how can we call ourselves a civilized society? Would we allow a terrorist organization to pull a 9/11 every month if they donated enough money to political campaigns because that’s what health insurance companies do.
I’m all for capitalism and the free market but not when it comes to human lives, there are some things more important then money. I’m not a religious person but the bible I read didn’t have a god who decided who lived and dies by how much money they had. If one person dies because they had to choose feeding their children over getting the help they needed we are no better then a 3rd world country and have no right calling ourselves a superpower or a shining light on a hill.
An example of how universal care would save money
Patient a doesn’t feel well but puts off going to the doctor because they have children to feed and a home to pay for. After a while they feel even worse and finally decide to go to the emergency room where they are diagnosed with cancer. Now they have to have the cancer removed and go through treatment to try and save their lives. This will result in a long hospital stay and if they waited to long and are terminal it could lead to an extended stay and months on life sustaining meds and machines. Since they don’t have insurance and the hospital will not absorb these costs they are passed on to people with insurance raising their costs.
IF this person had insurance they could have visited the doctor early and been diagnosed at an early stage and their care would have been a lot cheaper and more importantly their children would still have a parent. This quick care would have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for this one patient alone and lowered costs to everyone else.
IF this person survives they will need to take meds the rest of their lives and will have to choose between having their drugs filled or putting food on the table. If they choose the latter they will go without meds and end up back in the hospital on the dime of people with insurance. They will also probably lose their home and their family will have to file for bankruptcy to get out of the debt of hospital bills they can not pay.
Yes the hospital has to treat you if you go in but that doesn’t help with preventive care or the meds you will need after you leave the hospital and you will probably just end up right back in there. Every uninsured person who seeks help at the hospital is more money added to your insurance policy. The facts prove that survival rates are higher in countries with universal healthcare, life expectancy is longer and they spend a lot less on healthcare (with many countries spending less then half of what we do in America).
All the facts prove that universal healthcare is cheaper and more effective so why don’t we have it here in the United States? That’s an easy answer - the insurance companies spend billions each year buying politicians, running misleading advertisement and flat out lying to the American people. With over 40,000 people dying each year because of either lack of insurance or health company decision how can we call ourselves a civilized society? Would we allow a terrorist organization to pull a 9/11 every month if they donated enough money to political campaigns because that’s what health insurance companies do.
I’m all for capitalism and the free market but not when it comes to human lives, there are some things more important then money. I’m not a religious person but the bible I read didn’t have a god who decided who lived and dies by how much money they had. If one person dies because they had to choose feeding their children over getting the help they needed we are no better then a 3rd world country and have no right calling ourselves a superpower or a shining light on a hill.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
My Pledge for Politicians to sign
After seeing some of the insane pledges politicians sign I have decided to create my own. Will any politician agree to it? I’m guess not because while they want everyone else to sacrifice they aren’t willing to.
If Elected to political office I will
1. Represent the people of my district not my party - I will vote the way the people who put me in office think I should and not how the party wants me to.
2. Understand that I am elected to represent the people of my district and not to lead them. I am there to serve at their will and to not tell them how they should think or believe and will not force my values or beliefs on them.
3. Will not ask anyone else to sacrifice any more then I expect of myself. I will not demand that any government worker take a pay or benefits cut without first taking one myself.
4. not except government insurance program for myself or my family till every person I represent in my district has health care coverage themselves.
5. Not give any government money to any company that has been convicted of a felony or been accused of fraud or abuse of taxpayer money. I also will not give any money to government contracts that pay their mercenaries more then an American Soldier makes.
6. Vote to send anyone I represents child to die in a war that I am not willing to sacrifice myself or my own children for. If the reason for war is so important then every American must have skin in the game.
7. Hold myself to higher standards and will freely give any information about my voting record, spending or who I have meetings with to the people of my district and will hide no information.
8. Not demand anything of the public that I won’t do myself, if it is the best interest to drug test people before giving them welfare I to shall be available for random drug tests before receiving my pay.
9. Not spread falsehoods about the other party just to make myself or my party look better. If I get caught lying I will publicly apologize
10. Hold myself to high standards and if I do anything to bring attention to myself , family or district will immediately resign.
If Elected to political office I will
1. Represent the people of my district not my party - I will vote the way the people who put me in office think I should and not how the party wants me to.
2. Understand that I am elected to represent the people of my district and not to lead them. I am there to serve at their will and to not tell them how they should think or believe and will not force my values or beliefs on them.
3. Will not ask anyone else to sacrifice any more then I expect of myself. I will not demand that any government worker take a pay or benefits cut without first taking one myself.
4. not except government insurance program for myself or my family till every person I represent in my district has health care coverage themselves.
5. Not give any government money to any company that has been convicted of a felony or been accused of fraud or abuse of taxpayer money. I also will not give any money to government contracts that pay their mercenaries more then an American Soldier makes.
6. Vote to send anyone I represents child to die in a war that I am not willing to sacrifice myself or my own children for. If the reason for war is so important then every American must have skin in the game.
7. Hold myself to higher standards and will freely give any information about my voting record, spending or who I have meetings with to the people of my district and will hide no information.
8. Not demand anything of the public that I won’t do myself, if it is the best interest to drug test people before giving them welfare I to shall be available for random drug tests before receiving my pay.
9. Not spread falsehoods about the other party just to make myself or my party look better. If I get caught lying I will publicly apologize
10. Hold myself to high standards and if I do anything to bring attention to myself , family or district will immediately resign.
My Pledge for Politicians to sign
After seeing some of the insane pledges politicians sign I have decided to create my own. Will any politician agree to it? I’m guess not because while they want everyone else to sacrifice they aren’t willing to.
If Elected to political office I will
1. Represent the people of my district not my party - I will vote the way the people who put me in office think I should and not how the party wants me to.
2. Understand that I am elected to represent the people of my district and not to lead them. I am there to serve at their will and to not tell them how they should think or believe and will not force my values or beliefs on them.
3. Will not ask anyone else to sacrifice any more then I expect of myself. I will not demand that any government worker take a pay or benefits cut without first taking one myself.
4. not except government insurance program for myself or my family till every person I represent in my district has health care coverage themselves.
5. Not give any government money to any company that has been convicted of a felony or been accused of fraud or abuse of taxpayer money. I also will not give any money to government contracts that pay their mercenaries more then an American Soldier makes.
6. Vote to send anyone I represents child to die in a war that I am not willing to sacrifice myself or my own children for. If the reason for war is so important then every American must have skin in the game.
7. Hold myself to higher standards and will freely give any information about my voting record, spending or who I have meetings with to the people of my district and will hide no information.
8. Not demand anything of the public that I won’t do myself, if it is the best interest to drug test people before giving them welfare I to shall be available for random drug tests before receiving my pay.
9. Not spread falsehoods about the other party just to make myself or my party look better. If I get caught lying I will publicly apologize
10. Hold myself to high standards and if I do anything to bring attention to myself , family or district will immediately resign.
If Elected to political office I will
1. Represent the people of my district not my party - I will vote the way the people who put me in office think I should and not how the party wants me to.
2. Understand that I am elected to represent the people of my district and not to lead them. I am there to serve at their will and to not tell them how they should think or believe and will not force my values or beliefs on them.
3. Will not ask anyone else to sacrifice any more then I expect of myself. I will not demand that any government worker take a pay or benefits cut without first taking one myself.
4. not except government insurance program for myself or my family till every person I represent in my district has health care coverage themselves.
5. Not give any government money to any company that has been convicted of a felony or been accused of fraud or abuse of taxpayer money. I also will not give any money to government contracts that pay their mercenaries more then an American Soldier makes.
6. Vote to send anyone I represents child to die in a war that I am not willing to sacrifice myself or my own children for. If the reason for war is so important then every American must have skin in the game.
7. Hold myself to higher standards and will freely give any information about my voting record, spending or who I have meetings with to the people of my district and will hide no information.
8. Not demand anything of the public that I won’t do myself, if it is the best interest to drug test people before giving them welfare I to shall be available for random drug tests before receiving my pay.
9. Not spread falsehoods about the other party just to make myself or my party look better. If I get caught lying I will publicly apologize
10. Hold myself to high standards and if I do anything to bring attention to myself , family or district will immediately resign.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Time to disband the military?
This will probably cost me many, many twitter followers and get me some hate comments but I have never posted my thoughts or comments in hopes of making people happy. If I go from 2000 to 20 twitter followers and all I’m left with are porn bots and spam I will keep speaking my mind even thought it is rambling and all over the place I think my point comes across.
We spend almost a trillion dollars a year on military and I ask why, there are no real threats in the world to America that can be fought with a large military but as we have seen it can be used in evil ways. If any right win nuts read this they will say I’m calling our military evil and disrespecting our troops, but truth is I have the utmost respect for men and women in uniform it’s the assholes who give them orders that I have a problem with.
I keep hearing that the military keeps us safe and we can sleep better at night knowing they are out there, truth is I sleep just fine and still would if we didn’t have a trillion dollar military. At one time it was true that the military kept us safe and was used for good in the world especially during World War 1 and 2 but in the last 30 years they have done more harm then good.
The people in charge of the military have made bad decisions that have harmed America in more ways then any terrorist could going back to the Reagan years. After Hussein gassed and killed his own people the world wanted him out of power and that was the time that we could have got involved to help the people of Iraq and there are other parts of the world where genocide has taken place and we have just sit back and watched.
Ron Paul gets a lot of crap from the right wing for saying that Bin Laden and 9/11 was partially our fault but he is dead on. We have been butting into the middle east for many years and at one time, before we turned our back on him, Bin Laden was our ally. He and his group where armed and trained in the 80’s to defeat the soviets but after the war was over Reagan and the congress refused to help him and left him out to dry.
If Reagan had used the military to remove Hussein from power and continued to aid Osama Bin Laden we would not be in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. Today we see thousands of people including women and children get slaughtered in Syria and just sit by and watch while we spent millions in Libya to aid their people.
Instead of spending trillions on military to be at the beck and call of politicians, who most themselves never served or even have immediate family who will serve we should just have a military reserve. There is no serious threat of any country trying to invade America and if someone wants to strap on a bomb and blow up a building having a huge army won’t stop them.
We could protect the country for 1/10th of what we are spending now but until people realize that military spending is NOT defense spending things will never change. If we only had a reserve then they would only be part time soldiers until called upon and only to be called upon to defend America and not to be the world police. If an when we use them it should be for an important reason meaning that before congress votes or the president agrees to get the military involved they must be willing to either go themselves or send an immediate family member. If we still had the draft or instituted a 25% war tax then we would not be in Afghanistan or have never been in Iraq, if you ask every American to sacrifice then we will only get involved if it’s in our own best interest and not for oil or to solve an old family dispute.
So YES I respect the current men and women in uniform but I have no respect for the politicians who decide how to use them and are willing to throw thousands of lives away just to look tough. We beat the greatest army in the world with a bunch of farmers and businessmen and won the cold war without even firing a shot. Imagine the children we could feed or the poor people we could give healthcare to with the trillions we spend on the military.
Would I pick up a gun to defend this country if someone invaded? Hell Yes. Would I join the military and do the dirty work of these corrupt asshole politicians who use the army as a pissing contest to show how much of a tough guy they are? Hell No
We spend almost a trillion dollars a year on military and I ask why, there are no real threats in the world to America that can be fought with a large military but as we have seen it can be used in evil ways. If any right win nuts read this they will say I’m calling our military evil and disrespecting our troops, but truth is I have the utmost respect for men and women in uniform it’s the assholes who give them orders that I have a problem with.
I keep hearing that the military keeps us safe and we can sleep better at night knowing they are out there, truth is I sleep just fine and still would if we didn’t have a trillion dollar military. At one time it was true that the military kept us safe and was used for good in the world especially during World War 1 and 2 but in the last 30 years they have done more harm then good.
The people in charge of the military have made bad decisions that have harmed America in more ways then any terrorist could going back to the Reagan years. After Hussein gassed and killed his own people the world wanted him out of power and that was the time that we could have got involved to help the people of Iraq and there are other parts of the world where genocide has taken place and we have just sit back and watched.
Ron Paul gets a lot of crap from the right wing for saying that Bin Laden and 9/11 was partially our fault but he is dead on. We have been butting into the middle east for many years and at one time, before we turned our back on him, Bin Laden was our ally. He and his group where armed and trained in the 80’s to defeat the soviets but after the war was over Reagan and the congress refused to help him and left him out to dry.
If Reagan had used the military to remove Hussein from power and continued to aid Osama Bin Laden we would not be in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. Today we see thousands of people including women and children get slaughtered in Syria and just sit by and watch while we spent millions in Libya to aid their people.
Instead of spending trillions on military to be at the beck and call of politicians, who most themselves never served or even have immediate family who will serve we should just have a military reserve. There is no serious threat of any country trying to invade America and if someone wants to strap on a bomb and blow up a building having a huge army won’t stop them.
We could protect the country for 1/10th of what we are spending now but until people realize that military spending is NOT defense spending things will never change. If we only had a reserve then they would only be part time soldiers until called upon and only to be called upon to defend America and not to be the world police. If an when we use them it should be for an important reason meaning that before congress votes or the president agrees to get the military involved they must be willing to either go themselves or send an immediate family member. If we still had the draft or instituted a 25% war tax then we would not be in Afghanistan or have never been in Iraq, if you ask every American to sacrifice then we will only get involved if it’s in our own best interest and not for oil or to solve an old family dispute.
So YES I respect the current men and women in uniform but I have no respect for the politicians who decide how to use them and are willing to throw thousands of lives away just to look tough. We beat the greatest army in the world with a bunch of farmers and businessmen and won the cold war without even firing a shot. Imagine the children we could feed or the poor people we could give healthcare to with the trillions we spend on the military.
Would I pick up a gun to defend this country if someone invaded? Hell Yes. Would I join the military and do the dirty work of these corrupt asshole politicians who use the army as a pissing contest to show how much of a tough guy they are? Hell No
Friday, February 24, 2012
How Reaganomics changed America
It has been 30 years since the election of what could be the worst president in American history, we are finally starting to see the results of his policies and they are even worse then we could have imagined. In 1980 we went from electing a president to electing a puppet of corporations and Wall Street, one who was weak on foreign policy and weaker on domestic policy.
Before the Wall Street puppet came to town it was common to have one parent stay home with the children and you could live on a one income household. Reagan cut the taxes for the wealthiest Americans in half and began to run of the largest debt increase in history and doubled the debt ran up by ever president before him combined. The price of everything started to increase at record paces while wages stayed flat or decreased for the majority of American. The days of having one parent working and living a decent life where over and now you where lucky to get buy with both parents working leading to the latchkey generation.
No longer would there be family vacations or a parent to stay home and help their kids with homework or encourage them to go outside and play. The new American dream would now being happy to just have food on the table and the ability to take your kid to the doctor if something was wrong. The only thing that trickled down from Reaganomics was Poverty and hunger.
The children who where left home are now grown up and starting to become parents, to them it is common for both parents to work and no one to take care of the children. They grew up in a generation where they where left at home or if their parents both had good jobs they where raised by babysitters, it seems second nature to them to plop their child in front of a TV or video game.
When I was younger (grew up in the 80’s) it was common for neighborhood kids to get together outside and play but as I got older it was less and less common. Today you almost never see a group of kids outside playing hide and seek or war. Looking back I now know that I grew up poor but didn’t know it at the time because my parents would sacrifice things they needed for us children and we never saw them worry about how to pay the next bill or put food on the table.
Today because of deregulation started under Reagan and continued on through the last 30 years things have gotten even worse, the wealth gap is larger then any time in history and families are struggling to get by more now then any time in history. Parents can no longer afford to send their kids to college if they are lucky enough to graduate high school. The republicans like to blame all this on President Barack Obama even though they have run the country for 20 of the last 30 years and it is their “trickle down economics” that believe if you deregulate and allow Wall street to run free that they will get rich and share the wealth with everyone else.
At a time when their policies have lead to record poverty and over 40,000 people a year are dying because they can not afford health insurance the party of Reagan wants to take away those safety nets and gut programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps and other programs that help the most needy among us. Their policies have decimated the middle class and put people into poverty and now they want to just completely destroy that class also. Now they want poor people who can not even afford to feed their children or buy medicine they need to survive to pay more in taxes.
Reagans policies destroyed this country and the traditional family now the republican party want to put the final nail in the coffin. They give Ronald credit for bringing down the soviet union but the truth is he did more to destroy America then he ever did to defeat the soviets. It seems each generation has got more entitled and I’m afraid to see what the future looks like especially if the republicans get their wish gain power since their policies favor the rich and powerful over Women, Children, the environment and seniors. One day they will learn that when the rich has all the money they can make all the high tech things they want but if no one can afford to buy them it won’t matter and when people revolt and stop waiting in line for the new I-phone and have their kids go out and play instead of buying the newest video games then and only then will the rich take notice and start to fear the working class and realize that Reaganomics has ended..
Before the Wall Street puppet came to town it was common to have one parent stay home with the children and you could live on a one income household. Reagan cut the taxes for the wealthiest Americans in half and began to run of the largest debt increase in history and doubled the debt ran up by ever president before him combined. The price of everything started to increase at record paces while wages stayed flat or decreased for the majority of American. The days of having one parent working and living a decent life where over and now you where lucky to get buy with both parents working leading to the latchkey generation.
No longer would there be family vacations or a parent to stay home and help their kids with homework or encourage them to go outside and play. The new American dream would now being happy to just have food on the table and the ability to take your kid to the doctor if something was wrong. The only thing that trickled down from Reaganomics was Poverty and hunger.
The children who where left home are now grown up and starting to become parents, to them it is common for both parents to work and no one to take care of the children. They grew up in a generation where they where left at home or if their parents both had good jobs they where raised by babysitters, it seems second nature to them to plop their child in front of a TV or video game.
When I was younger (grew up in the 80’s) it was common for neighborhood kids to get together outside and play but as I got older it was less and less common. Today you almost never see a group of kids outside playing hide and seek or war. Looking back I now know that I grew up poor but didn’t know it at the time because my parents would sacrifice things they needed for us children and we never saw them worry about how to pay the next bill or put food on the table.
Today because of deregulation started under Reagan and continued on through the last 30 years things have gotten even worse, the wealth gap is larger then any time in history and families are struggling to get by more now then any time in history. Parents can no longer afford to send their kids to college if they are lucky enough to graduate high school. The republicans like to blame all this on President Barack Obama even though they have run the country for 20 of the last 30 years and it is their “trickle down economics” that believe if you deregulate and allow Wall street to run free that they will get rich and share the wealth with everyone else.
At a time when their policies have lead to record poverty and over 40,000 people a year are dying because they can not afford health insurance the party of Reagan wants to take away those safety nets and gut programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps and other programs that help the most needy among us. Their policies have decimated the middle class and put people into poverty and now they want to just completely destroy that class also. Now they want poor people who can not even afford to feed their children or buy medicine they need to survive to pay more in taxes.
Reagans policies destroyed this country and the traditional family now the republican party want to put the final nail in the coffin. They give Ronald credit for bringing down the soviet union but the truth is he did more to destroy America then he ever did to defeat the soviets. It seems each generation has got more entitled and I’m afraid to see what the future looks like especially if the republicans get their wish gain power since their policies favor the rich and powerful over Women, Children, the environment and seniors. One day they will learn that when the rich has all the money they can make all the high tech things they want but if no one can afford to buy them it won’t matter and when people revolt and stop waiting in line for the new I-phone and have their kids go out and play instead of buying the newest video games then and only then will the rich take notice and start to fear the working class and realize that Reaganomics has ended..
Monday, February 20, 2012
I'm the problem
One day in 2004 I was sitting around on my massage chair watching my 60 inch television and it hit me, I am what is wrong with America today. I don’t know exactly when but we have gone from a country of hard working men and women who where happy just getting by to a possession society where we had to have the newest and biggest toys.
My parents never cared what they had, all they cared about was that myself and my brothers had cloths on our backs and food on the table. Our big expense was a family vacation once a year to Sea World or another amusement park, we got things we wanted but on special days like our birthday or Christmas. Both my parents worked 40 hours a week and for a while my mother had a second job, our best memories aren’t when they bought us things but when we spent time together as a family.
Since that day in 04 I have scaled back my life, living within my means and not going out and buying things I really don’t need. Our phone was out for a few days and with my father being disabled and the closest payphone over a mile away I broke down and finally got a cell phone. When my giant television went I broke down and bought another one and yes it is a big screen but in my defense my “job” is staying awake and taking care of my father between 7pm and 8am so I watch a lot of shows. I am still using a VCR to record shows and haven’t invested in any other recording devises even though tapes are almost impossible to find anymore and when I went into a store looking for some the girl working thought I was crazy.
When you walk down the street and see a couple hundred people standing in a food line looking for what might be their first and only good meal in a couple days then you see a couple thousand people standing in line waiting to be the first person to put down 500.00 for an I-Phone it really makes you wonder about priorities. When you consider yourself poor because you don’t have the newest phone or the hottest video game maybe you should think about the people who are really hurting, the ones who have lost their home and are living in their car or on the street.
I’m not saying having a roof over your head or a refrigerator to keep your food cold makes you rich but maybe we should be a little more thankful for the things we do have and remember that there are people in this country who are not even blessed with these. America is the richest nation on earth and to have children going without food or healthcare is a disgrace and for people to fight for their “right” for lower taxes and trying to take away safety nets for the poorest and oldest among us is a disgrace. I’m not rich but would be more then happy to pay a few more dollars and give up the newest gadget if it means a child would get to live longer or a grandparent can get the medicine they need.
I don’t have a million dollars in the bank but I do have a roof over my head and my family to me that is worth more then any amount of money can buy. It took me over 25 years to realize that but I’ve never been happier then I am now, even without the hottest toys or newest car. As long as I have people who love and care about me I will always be rich.
My parents never cared what they had, all they cared about was that myself and my brothers had cloths on our backs and food on the table. Our big expense was a family vacation once a year to Sea World or another amusement park, we got things we wanted but on special days like our birthday or Christmas. Both my parents worked 40 hours a week and for a while my mother had a second job, our best memories aren’t when they bought us things but when we spent time together as a family.
Since that day in 04 I have scaled back my life, living within my means and not going out and buying things I really don’t need. Our phone was out for a few days and with my father being disabled and the closest payphone over a mile away I broke down and finally got a cell phone. When my giant television went I broke down and bought another one and yes it is a big screen but in my defense my “job” is staying awake and taking care of my father between 7pm and 8am so I watch a lot of shows. I am still using a VCR to record shows and haven’t invested in any other recording devises even though tapes are almost impossible to find anymore and when I went into a store looking for some the girl working thought I was crazy.
When you walk down the street and see a couple hundred people standing in a food line looking for what might be their first and only good meal in a couple days then you see a couple thousand people standing in line waiting to be the first person to put down 500.00 for an I-Phone it really makes you wonder about priorities. When you consider yourself poor because you don’t have the newest phone or the hottest video game maybe you should think about the people who are really hurting, the ones who have lost their home and are living in their car or on the street.
I’m not saying having a roof over your head or a refrigerator to keep your food cold makes you rich but maybe we should be a little more thankful for the things we do have and remember that there are people in this country who are not even blessed with these. America is the richest nation on earth and to have children going without food or healthcare is a disgrace and for people to fight for their “right” for lower taxes and trying to take away safety nets for the poorest and oldest among us is a disgrace. I’m not rich but would be more then happy to pay a few more dollars and give up the newest gadget if it means a child would get to live longer or a grandparent can get the medicine they need.
I don’t have a million dollars in the bank but I do have a roof over my head and my family to me that is worth more then any amount of money can buy. It took me over 25 years to realize that but I’ve never been happier then I am now, even without the hottest toys or newest car. As long as I have people who love and care about me I will always be rich.
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