America's Pre-Existing Condition: Fear

I turned on my television this morning to CNN thinking that the unthinkable has happened again. Once more the life of a US President and its citizens was potentially in danger. A United States Coast Guard boat was on the Potomac River preventing a boat from entering a security zone near the Pentagon and that shots were fired, where President Obama was commemorating the events of 9/11. This was later proven to be more conjecture, simple overreaction, and another rush to bring "breaking news." Shots were NOT fired for those who were wondering.

Before this story my thoughts were to take the day off and maybe follow up on "Joe the Liar" but he, the entire debate on health care reform, the Obama Presidency, the war in Afghanistan, the economy, and the news media all have a common bond. During and since 9/11 we have allowed our fear to consume our nation and make decisions based on fear and reaction. Town hall outbursts, birthers, tea parties, and the all the naysayers of progress have used and are using these elements of fear to keep the status quo.

If no network journalist, radio personality, political commentator or analyst says what needs to be said, I will: the "fear card" has been used to try (and mostly succeed) to stop most of what is and has been proposed on the subject of the economy, health care, and just about everything else. This usually happens usually in this order. Ideas are usually misconstrued, taken out of context, and made into something else. Misinformation usually and eventually turns into fear and once people become afraid we act (and react) from that fear. For a long, long time either from television news to the previous administration and those in between from both parties, this fear was used to allow things like the Patriot Act to pass and be renewed, to allow torture, to go to war with the wrong country, to prejudge an entire group of people based on their religion for the actions of a few, and an excuse for the rest of us to dumb down in the name of being safe.

Last year, the fear of the economy, the financial crisis and the mortgage meltdown cause another quick reaction. Under duress we (you and I) bailed out the banks who still have not done all they could to help average Americans with the foreclosure market. A bank even had the nerve to foreclose on a house and insert one of its executives into it-and live in it! Really, here's the link to it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/11/wells-fargo-exec-in-charg_n_283031.html
They are still those who say that Wall Street is still working out of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

This fear is eight years in the making and maybe this is why there was a Representative shouting out to the President during Congressional Addresses, or why town hall meetings are becoming hostile, or why there are suddenly Tea Parties for those concerned about government spending. Maybe it is our fear that is erupting coupled with the many false alarms that our national media delivers to us for the sake of "breaking news." Thanks a lot CNN for adding fuel to the fire!!!

Finally to so many of those whose lives were changed eight years ago and the rest of use who watched in horror, I ask that we remember and honor those who we lost but we no longer fear the past and more importantly fear our future.

Saying "Liar" in a Crowded Captial: The Conjecture Continues

I have been gone for a while tired and drained of writing about the frustration the terrible news of the world and the state of how things are. From murder suicides happening across the country, a 18 year kidnapping in California where the victim bore the children of the (alleged) kidnapper, school shootings, the War in Afghanistan, and all of the negative news; what has risen to the top of my outrage list is one man, Representative Joe Wilson (Joe the Liar) of South Carolina calling the President of the United States a liar on the floor of the United States Capital, making a major address to the Congress and to our nation.

I am not sure if the American public has been "dumb-downed" by episodes of Jerry Springer or Maury Povich to find this type of disrespect acceptable. I don't know if it was just me but I couldn't tell the congressional town hall meetings and these tea parties apart from scripted daytime television. Did Rep. Wilson of South Carolina misread his invitation or daily agenda yesterday and though he was going to a town hall meeting where heckling the United States President was permissible.

What has happened to this country, we can't even disagree anymore amicably. Health care is a moral issue. No one should have to make the choice of who lives or dies based on money. I have always found it interest on what we choose to spend money on and what not. I remember learning in economics the principle of "Needs vs. Wants" in high school. We spend money on wars and prisons but not enough on schools and believe the price of health care is too much. I wonder if the House and Senate didn't have their public option-yes that's right each member of Congress has publicly funded health care for all 535 of them (included the one who cried "liar" in a crowded theater (the US Capital) -how quickly this would pass.

An Outraged Thought:

Finally, addressing those "outraged" people who did attend and support the tea parties, the town halls antics, and those who thought that the President was going to corrupt the youth and school students please, please, don't say you are outraged, because you bring total disrespect to the words and its meaning. I ask that you speak to what you know of which is stupidity, absurdity, and conjecture.