81 percent of respondents said they believed "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track."What exactly does that mean? What track were we on before? What track are we on now? If we are on the wrong track, how do we fix it? What does the right track look like? And how do you get 300 million people to get on the same track and go in the same direction anyways?
Those questions do not seem to have appeared in the poll. I think part of the answer was right there staring us in the face of the article itself though.
The problem is, that will require a second admission. They say the first step to finding a solution is admitting a problem. You might think that having over 80% of people saying things were wrong counted as an admission. Well, if it was, it only got us half way there.
The problem is, we won't admit that we're the problem. My stomach turned when I read the other responses to the survey.
Pop quiz: whose fault is it when you buy something you can't afford?
Pop answer: the government's fault!
There it is in a nutshell. We think the problem is that the country has gone off on the wrong track. The real problem is that we won't admit that we're the ones driving the train.
So you want a new President who's going to fix this mess, huh? I do too. But you know what? It doesn't make a difference who we elect if we're not willing to admit that we're part of the problem and are willing to be part of the solution.
You want to know why we're on the wrong track? It 's because we're a bunch of lazy, self-indulgent, intolerant, bickering, adult-adolescent fools who think we're entitled to everything and owe no one anything.
Maybe it's just human nature. Back when people were more religiously minded, it was "God's fault" when things went wrong. Now that we are more secular, it's simply "the Government's fault" when things go wrong.
Here's my challenge, to you and to myself. The next time you're tempted to complain about a problem, instead of finding someone else to blame, try finding a solution instead. It will be more work, but it just might be worth it.
4 comments:
Here, here! Totally agree!!!!
Ang
Haha. But try telling that to people. It doesn't get you elected, does it?
Those are good points and that was a pretty awesome (and rather un-Steve like and pleasing so . . . I'd like to see some more of that) rant in there about us be overindulgent and thinking we are entitled to everything . . . but some stuff is still the government's fault. It is the governments fault that gas is over $3 a gallon (at least because they aren't doing jack to lower it). It is their fault that we are STILL in a war in Iraq. It is their fault that our resources are so taxed due to Iraq that we cannot help the people of Darfur. A big step to admitting that we are part of the problem is not only recognizing that Americans need to stop using a credit card for everything, but to admit that you made a mistake if you voted for Bush twice and haven't spoken out about this stuff being wrong. I'll give you a get out of jail free card for round one but by round two . . . that was just a big error.
Those are good points and that was a pretty awesome (and rather un-Steve like and pleasing so . . . I'd like to see some more of that) rant in there about us be overindulgent and thinking we are entitled to everything . . . but some stuff is still the government's fault. It is the governments fault that gas is over $3 a gallon (at least because they aren't doing jack to lower it). It is their fault that we are STILL in a war in Iraq. It is their fault that our resources are so taxed due to Iraq that we cannot help the people of Darfur. A big step to admitting that we are part of the problem is not only recognizing that Americans need to stop using a credit card for everything, but to admit that you made a mistake if you voted for Bush twice and haven't spoken out about this stuff being wrong. I'll give you a get out of jail free card for round one but by round two . . . that was just a big error.
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