The Question:

Simply put the question we Americans must ask ourselves is are we better off or worse off today than we were in 2001 when George Bush took office. If you worked for Enron or had a 401k plan or have lost your health coverage or cannot longer afford to pay the monthly premiums perhaps the answer is no. If on the other hand you are a former executive of a large bank or credit card company or even an auto company or airline executive the answer may be yes.

For the average middle class American in almost every instance are now making less real disposable income after adjustments are made for inflation. Last night I heard again how the working American was better off now than in 2001. Folks it simply is not the case. The salary levels have increased at the margin. Inflation has eroded any gains. In 2001 America was at peace and now we find ourselves at war in two countries where it seems the population at large opposes our intervention. Did we learn nothing from View Nam is the question that continues to run through my mind like a broken record?

Do we need to fill the mall in Washington DC with black granite walls inscribed with the names of Americans who died in vain? I for one would vote that we cut the defense department budget by 1/3 and fund the Department of Health and Human Services with those dollars. The benefits will flow quickly to the American people. And while it might not solve the unemployment problem caused by American capitalists and business leaders selling their plants lock stock and barrel to mainland China or to subcontractors in cheap labor markets it might prevent many Americans from going bankrupt due to medical costs in their retirement years.

I fear this proposal will not take effect and America will once again become so tangled up in irrational discussions and lies that finding a solution becomes difficult to imposable. This has happened before in the years 1856 to 1860 when the congress and the American people became hopelessly deadlocked over the issue of slavery. Indeed the issue of civil rights for black Americans was not resolved by the American Civil War. The issue was finally resolved in 1964 (some 100 years later) by Lyndon Baines Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. Do we need to wait so long and expend lives and treasure so thoughtlessly? That is the second question that all of this cacophony of dissention has caused me to ask myself.

I sincerely hope that Teddy Kennedy was right when he said “... the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. ...”