Back to Greatness

The economy here in the US isn't what it used to be.  Depending on where you are in the great pecking order, you may be out of a job, or you may be earning the same amount as you have been for the last three years, while your expenses have grown, or you may be one of the lucky sorts who are still on the rise.  Regardless of where you fall, though, the signs are there for anyone who wants to see them.  The value of the dollar is falling, the federal deficit is so large, most of us can't truly envision what numbers on that scale even mean, and unemployment is lingering at dangerously high levels.

Everybody knows this, and it seems like everybody even has their own ideas about how to fix it.  "Tax the rich!" some say, "They can afford it!"  Others call for the dismantling of government programs, rallying together with cries of "Smaller Government, Less Taxes!"  Unfortunately, most of these ideas aren't going address the real issues that we face.  America once led the world in industry, technology, and finance.  Now, we struggle to keep pace, clinging to our old position of leadership like a horror movie victim being dragged through a doorway, watching it slip from our grasp.

So, what happened?  What went wrong?  Well, a great many things, over a rather long period of time.  But one big change happened in our society, along the way.  America became great because the people made it great.  The citizens of this country didn't wait for someone to come along and fix things.  If they saw something that needed doing, they did it.  They took pride in their town, their state, their nation, and strove to make it better, as individuals.  They didn't walk by a hungry man on the street, and think "Someone should help him out.", they bought him a meal, or helped him find a job to provide a steady income. 

Today, everyone seems to think the government should be solving these problems.  And, at least in part, it has to be that way.  Nobody but the government can reduce the national debt.  Nobody but the government can bring our brave men and women home from foreign wars.  But the attitudes of the average citizen need to change, as well.  We need to stop asking Washington to fix everything, and just get up and fix it.  We have, as a nation, forgotten how to become great, because we've been there for so long, the journey is forgotten.  Like an apex predator faced with the introduction of a competing predator, we've lost our skills in competing, because we've been devoid of real competition for so long.  We need to stop complaining about our schools, and get involved in making them better ourselves.

That includes the way our government is run, as well.  We need to hold our elected leaders to account for what they have done during their term, whether it's the local town council and their failure to fix the roads, or a member of the Senate who, despite claiming to be opposed to having our troops in Iraq, continues to vote to authorized funding to keep them there.

America can be great again, as it once was, but only if we choose to make it great, each one of us.