Six Observations

Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair


SIX OBSERVATIONS



Has it seemed to you lately that someone has hit “cruise control” and the world is just driving down the cosmic highway without paying much attention to the “warning signs” that alert us to slippery pavement, curves ahead, uneven roads, road- side rest stops, or even “dead ends?”

It seems that way to me.

We used to look for a balance of power in the Middle East. This was accomplished through successive Democrat and Republican presidents refusing to permit the State of Israel to be pushed around while trying to find a common ground with the other nations of that area by trading, diplomacy and mutual agreement on common goals.

Now I read that our government is planning to rebuke Israel at the United Nations. I read about our abandoning long time allies. I read about applauding the birth of democratic movements in countries historically so far removed from democracy of any kind that it boggles the mind to even contemplate such a thing could be believed.

What is the bottom line?

We might all have different answers to that. But here are mine.

1. By abandoning Hosni Mubarak we sent a signal to any leader who has considered us a “friend” that our friendship is nothing solid.
2. By supporting Hosni Mubarak we told the young idealists in Egypt that the US just pays lip service to freedoms.

(Since we are viewed throughout the world as having done both of these things, everyone is now angry with us. If we keep practicing this kind of diplomacy and international relations it will be more than our economic future that will be dim.)

3. The Jewish lobby in America has always been engaged and strong. Ever since the Holocaust American Jews have properly valued the importance of engagement in politics and in providing support to those in national office who will protect the State of Israel. What can a president be thinking when the headlines suggest that he is backing away from those assurances, or at least rethinking them, and that long term kinship with the young country that was put down in the middle of her historic enemies might be on the table for revision.

4. We are seriously cutting our efforts to explore space. Since it was a program that provided pride to America, enabled us to better understand the future possibilities of space travel and potential life on other planets, and was our nation’s answer to continuing the noble history of the wonderfully brave men we study from the age of exploration, as well as all the other heroes of our history books who set out to explore and conquer the unknown, what exactly does this step back say about America?


5. Our national argument is today over the subject of health care. Specifically, it is over a Bill that was passed by the previous Congress when all the major reputable opinion polls indicated the people did not want what the Bill was to provide. Today, the Congress is deeply divided over specific items of the Bill. The earlier passage is in jeopardy and so attention, time and money continues to be given to an issue we thought had been resolved. Not a very good business or “PR” practice.


6. We needed stimulus money so badly that the Congress stayed into session late into the night to pass the Bill. Years later much of the money has not been distributed, let alone spent, and the expected “outcomes” of applying the stimulus are still being sought. A fiasco? Who is held responsible?


My goal is to encourage people to think about these things.

Reasonable people can arrive at different evaluations about most issues. These six seem to me to suggest we are not doing very well as a nation at the moment and we must continue to look for, to demand, better leadership in Washington, and to make the same demands of people who want us to elect them to whatever office they seek.

We as citizens need to set the standard much higher for those who wish to represent us. Are your elected officials adequately representing your views?

If not, there is a remedy.

Create your own list of observations and then visit it regularly throughout the coming weeks. Keep abreast of decisions that are being taken on your behalf. When you next go to the polls on Election Day you will feel that your support of, or objection to, the candidate is based in factual information about tangible decisions taken or proposed to be on your behalf.