The Perversion of Our Government.  It is now obvious to anyone who has been paying attention that we have a Charlatan in the White House and Drama Queens in Congress.  At a time in our nation’s being when leadership is dearly needed, there is none.  At a time when our nation should be turning to its founding principles, it is devolving towards social and cultural dependency.  At a time when our two political parties should be laying out fundamental agendas that are clear and concise, they engage in childish games of one-upsmanship and adolescent behavior.

Let’s start with President Glitz who, faced with a unique opportunity to meet a crisis armed with good will from the public and a semi-mandate from re-election, chooses instead to remain in perpetual campaign mode and continue governing through his selected media outlets.  Has any elected official ever done a better job of squandering an opportunity to make real changes?

Then we have John Boehner who gets partial credit for at least passing actual legislation and sending it over the Senate, but apparently only has sufficient principles in those areas strategically selected to retain his Speaker’s role.  He appears to be the classic example of the old saying …“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything”.

Then of course there is the one I consider the most culpable in the devolution of governmental function and that would be Harry Reid.  In spite of holding the most powerful legislative position in our country for an extended period of time, he seems determined to insure that no action of substance comes out of the Senate.  Failing to meet the bare minimum fiscal responsibilities assigned to his body, he continues to refine the parody of himself and fall deeper into senseless buffoonery.

When did we get to the point where the Senate does nothing, the House passes bills that appeal pretty much only to their regimented base, and the President plies his rhetorical style of administration by issuing ultimatums or populist pap and then, when crunch time arrives, heads out to the links?  Can we not get back to doing the people’s business in a statesman-like fashion and focusing on what the primary responsibilities of our government are?  My friends, hope is fading rapidly.

My wish for you this holiday season is a Christmas moment, like…..

·        On a long, hot summer day at sundown when the sun sinks in the west and that first cool breeze comes snaking through the trees like wisps of smoke…

·        Like when a child who has been tearing around like a tornado inexplicably becomes very quiet, lays their head against you, and says “I Love You”…

·        Like at the tail end of a long and trying day, week, or even month when you have been battle-tested and when looking back over what was accomplished, you can smile and say silently to yourself “Well Done”…

·        Like when you watch a sentimental Hallmark movie with the ever-expected happy ending and even though you know it’s corny as all get out, your eyes well up, confirming that you do, in fact, still have a heart and retain the ability to feel something real…

·        Perhaps you realize while sharing a meal, or a drink, or just a quiet moment with friends or family how very lucky you are to have these people in your life.  And if you can’t be with someone, your memories of them bring them there with you, if just for a brief time…

·        Or that day in the Kentucky fall when you see the ripened crops of the west, or the rolling hills of the north, or the beautiful mountains of the east and you realize how lucky you are to be living here…

·        Or you see someone in the world who is just trying to get by, just looking for a warm place or a bite to eat, and you are here with a job and a paycheck…

·        You might be putting hay out for the cattle, or just walking to the car in a parking lot, or maybe just stop on the parkway beyond the city lights, and you gaze on the heavens and the stars are scattered like diamonds on black velvet and they go on forever and forever, and you feel so very small…

·        Somewhere in your day you see someone do something out of the ordinary…open a door, pick up a paper, help with a coat, hold a package for a moment, give up their place in line, open a car door, put a dollar or two in the bucket or plate, speak kindly to a stranger, yield in traffic, and you realize there is some good left in most people and they have not forgotten how to use it…

·        Or you have survived a sufficient number of years in the business so that they put you out to pasture and you have time to enjoy some of the things you passed by earlier in your life and… you have time to write stuff like this…

And most of all….on Christmas Eve, when all the hustle and bustle has ceased, the house is quiet and dark, all those Christmas smells like evergreen, cookies, and wrapping paper are still in the air, and everyone but you is settled in for the big day to come…you reflect on things and realize how very blessed you are to have this life, your loves, your things, and….moments like these. 

A very sincere Merry Christmas to you and yours.

The Ghost of Christmas Future???   For this holiday season, when one’s hope for the world and the potential goodness in mankind is met with the least resistance, I am left with an empty feeling and disillusionment. I have just celebrated half of my family Christmas and my clan is fully blessed with life, love, and possessions.  For my young adults, young families, and children full of innocence, I see in their faces the promise of a wonderful world to come.  However, I cannot escape the nagging worry in the back of my mind that this country went down a rabbit hole early last month and the prospects of escape are frighteningly daunting.

I am certainly not the man I should be in a religious sense, but even I of diminished moral character can sense the erosion of simple values and ethics in our nation.  We have allowed our elections to become contests of wit, wile, and deceit; with the victor oftentimes not the best candidate, just the sharpest.  And this devolution of our founder’s principles has gone on for a sufficiently long period of time that now these victors openly embrace this strategy and have no compunction whatsoever about openly celebrating their skullduggery.  We, the voting public, have been, and are being, played for fools and have become pawns in a game of “shape the message”, rather than the recipients of serious debate and ideas.

With our nation facing perhaps the most serious financial challenge since the great depression, our President’s last three budget proposals have failed to garner even a single vote from his own party.  Our duly elected Senators have failed to pass a budget in over two years.  And how do we react to these performances?  We extend their contracts, of course.  We gladly fulfill the role of the fool who is told nonsense for the truth and then expected to actually become the fool. 

I fear for our nation.  I fear for my children and grandchildren.  I fear for the principles of self-reliance and accountability.  I fear for our future.

Fiscal Cliff Observations.  You know, when I was a kid, we got a big thrill about standing at the top of a cliff and peering over the side; looking at the bottom, flirting with vertigo, and seeing who might get the closest to the edge.  As I got older, I became more wary of the edge.  Not sure why this happened.  It might be because I have come to realize that older bones take longer to heal.  It might be because the bravado of getting closest to edge has lost it value.  But I think the real reason is because I realized that I have a lot more to lose now if I were to slip over the edge.  We would all like to think that our Government would have grasped that same concept, but it appears they are still motivated mainly by those initial adolescent incentives.

I truly believe that among the many bipartisan failures of our Government over the last couple of decades, the most damning is the failure to do their jobs and let…government…work.  Whether we agree with them ideologically or not, credit must be given to the House for their record on passing legislation over the last four years.  The Senate on the hand has failed abysmally to function as a legislative body.  Even though I feel the President shares a good deal of the blame for this breakdown in primary function by failing to provide effective and practical leadership, I will confine my indictments to the legislative bodies.  It can be argued that the President’s proper role is post-passage and is therefore dependent on the performance of Congress. 

I have to think that the majority of Americans who care about such things would strongly embrace a return to a legislative process that was envisioned by our nation’s founders.  A very simple process where the House writes and passes legislation, the Senate then considers that document and either agrees or passes its own version.  In the case of two different bills, we go to conference and then back to each body for confirmation of the grand compromise.  The President then has his opportunity to veto and see just how broad and deep the support is or he can play his role of chief administrator and simply implement the new legislation.  My, what a wonderful system…House members elected every two years to insure they remain in touch with the people and pass legislation that is timely and relevant; a Senate where seasoned legislators can thoroughly vet the bill from the House and attempt to perfect the document; and an opportunity for the President to rarely use that veto power to test the validity of principle.  Why aren’t we doing this?