Awtry comments on sorry leadership

This is a sad time for America. For those with some years under their belt, you may remember a stunning television ad that featured a Native American, who after seeing his country littered with garbage, stood tall and proud while a tear slowly ran down his weathered cheek.
This is exactly how I feel this morning. As corny as it sounds, when I see the American flag snapping in the brisk autumn winds, and think of the hundreds of thousands who sacrificed for everything that flag stands for, I feel like crying.
Our democracy, our political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who elect people to represent them, is sick. Over the past several weeks we have seen our economy go from unstable to on life support. This is not the fault of the American people, the vast majority who day after day show up to work, trying to do what’s best for their family and what’s right for this country.
No, this is the fault of the U.S. Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Treasury. Toss in insatiable and ever increasing corporate greed, and we find ourselves in a desperate situation. And who can help us, as if we had to ask? It’s us. It’s always us, the real Americans. That’s who Congress turns to when they themselves need bailed out.
They come to us when they need contributions. They come to us when they need our vote. They come to us when they need more taxes. They come to us when they have our country neck deep in debt. The rest of the time they spend with lobbyists, bureaucrats and others just like them, trying their best to get the first position at the feeding trough. It’s a crying shame.
Their approval rating is at a historic low and for good reason. They have lost their way and are staggering drunk on the spirits emanating from too much power, while the American people are left to deal with the hangover. It’s a crying shame, and we need to take the power back.
It’s not like the American people don’t understand risk. Do you think it was a risk to declare to England that we would no longer obey their laws? Do you think it was a risk when Americans loaded their families into wagons and tackled the two thousand miles of the Oregon Trail? Do think there was risk when Abe Lincoln stood by high ideals and went to war with his own country?
Tell those brave Americans who are still with us it wasn’t worth the risk to defeat Germany and Japan in WWII.
And why? Because we believed in the American way of life. We believed a free people could elect representatives that would ensure we always had the opportunity to earn a better life. We believed if we worked hard and obeyed the laws of the land the pursuit of happiness would be ours forever.
But now, the nation is sick. Congress has failed the American people. They accepted huge campaign donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Was this so the CEOs could cook the books with some assurance congressional leaders would look the other way? Did they actually think that no-down-payment loans and interest-only mortgages would somehow magically get paid off? If so, it’s easy to understand why we are ever increasingly losing faith in our leaders. That is a crying shame.
So now they want us to believe they can clean up their mess. Is it a good idea to put the foxes in charge of repairing the hen house? Our representatives are scrambling around the chicken coop trying their best to glue all the broken eggs back together, and they want us to think they are saving us. That is a crying shame.
Folks, our country is sick and if you love her like I do, then you realize that only we can heal her. We must put an end to this madness in Washington, and our representatives must hear us this time. I urge everyone reading this to take a moment, grab a pen and paper, or call your representative’s offices, or fire off an e-mail. Tell them how much you care about our country and how you are disappointed with their incompetence.
Whether you agree or disagree with the $700 billion dollar bailout doesn’t matter. They are going to do it anyway. For the record, I don’t agree. I believe we are simply buying time before the big crash. I hope I am wrong, but unless the career politicians are ready and willing to return their focus to the American people and fiscal conservatism instead of party politics, power and greed, I see nothing really changing in Washington.
Please contact them, for what does matter most is they will know we are watching their every move. They will know this is the last time they can pile their failures onto the backs of the working families of this country.
Let them hear us. And if they choose to ignore us, well, that too would be a crying shame.
Contact — greg.awtry@yorknewstimes.com