The Haves and Have Nots
I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to various parts of the world. Having been to numerous countries, it does not matter how rich or how poor the country is, I always have come back home with the realization that we are one of the few countries in the world that has a large middle-class, and we live very well according to world standards.
Most countries have the very wealthy and the very poor, with a few middle-class people making up the difference. The USA is a beacon in the darkness to what life can be, and that is why we are both blessed and in danger of being cursed. We are blessed to have so much. Our standard of living is far above most of the world. Where else do you see overweight homeless people and they have cell phones?
Our country is at a crossroad. We have some tough decisions to make that will either make or break us as a country. If we make the wrong choices, our children and our children’s children will see a very different future than the one we currently face.
What has to change?
- We have to get the debt of this country in order. That goes for government spending as well as personal debt. It is out of control and throwing more money at the debt is radically opposed to Economics 101. You can’t spend your way out of debt.
- We have to take responsibility for our actions. Here again, it starts at the top with our President, Congressmen, and Supreme Court who make and enforce the laws. Too many laws are put in place that are short-sided and do not take into account long term ramifications. The “pork-barrel” spending and greasing the palms of special interests has to stop. We have to take personal responsibility as well to elect people that have our interests as a people as a priority rather than electing career politicians who merely seek to get re-elected.
- Put the Congressmen, President, and Supreme Court under the same laws that we all have. If they had to live with Obama-care, would it change? Most likely it would. If they did not have life-time benefits, would they treat our Social Security differently? Most likely they would. This probably will never happen unfortunately, because the people making the laws do not want to lose their power, prestige, and lifestyle.
If we do not change and choose to instead continue down the road of self-indulgent leadership, we will find our children and children’s children being in one of two camps….the haves, or the have-nots. I hope it does not come to that. Time to wake up and smell the coffee, people. We have some important decisions to make that will change the future of generations to come…not just our own generation. I pray we make the right decisions.
Shalom!
Dan Skognes