Playing Chicken With Our Economy

Playing chicken with our economic security is probably not the best or surest method of problem solving in a national crisis, nor is it a particularly exemplary model of leadership. Frankly, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and leads me to wonder if there is anyone out there not disillusioned with the political process yet. I’m sure there are a few idealists left, but there numbers are surely dwindling as representatives on both sides of the aisle prove obstinate in their unwillingness to budge on the issue and break the current partisan quagmire.

Democrats and Republicans alike seem more concerned with spewing out vitriol and hyperbolic rhetoric to gain headlines and improve their poll numbers than rolling up their sleeves and doing what is necessary to solve the financial debacle. The whole sorry drama bespeaks the weakened state of the American political experiment and its increasingly apparent fragility.

Mudslinging has always been a national pastime since the foundation of our great republic, but there always arose high-minded individuals of sterling integrity who were willing to set aside their self-interest for the greater good of the nation; those halcyon days seem to have fallen into the dustbin of history and oblivion. Perhaps the character of our people, the sinew of our strength, the fiber of our morality, the heart of our virtue, and the light of prudence that sustained us for countless generations has finally given out.

I hope and pray that a Washington, or a Lincoln, or a Wilson, or a FDR, or a Reagan will step forward to lead our people once again to the greatness that is our historical legacy and mantle. I hope and pray that we may once again be a city upon a hill to which the whole world turns with hope for a better future. May God bless America for many years to come! Amen.