Notes of
Concern…
…Jackson Blair
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like
Christmas----NOT !
Tis the season to be jolly-NOT
Ever since the excitement of the presidential election I
have experienced a full case of ennui!
We have a new president and our government is embarking on
four very important years in the history of the Republic. Yet every time I turn
on the television I am bombarded with stories about the “fiscal cliff.”
Without preparing a vast treatise on exactly what the
government means when it tells us we are rapidly driving over a cliff, let me
just say that I cannot find one good outcome down the road amongst the
possibilities that face us.
Should we fail to drive over this cliff, it will probably be
because the government does what it does best: procrastinate, delay, and
diffuse (confuse?).
They love the drama of running right up to a deadline and
then saving us from tragedy. It makes for good sound bites, great headlines,
and material for later biography writing.
1. The Democrats would like to solve the problem by raising
taxes and keeping entitlement programs.
2. The Republicans would like to solve the problem by
eliminating or reducing entitlement programs without raising taxes.
3. The People simply want them to work together and
compromise in the interests of the nation. We want them to grow up. We would
like to see some adults in the room.
Chance of #1 above: zero
Chance of #2 above: zip
Chance of #3 above: nil
I do not think any of the politicians will let the nation go
over the cliff. I think what they will do is gerrymander some sort of deal
satisfactory to neither the Democrats, Republicans or the People that will,
essentially, stick some future Congress with the problem.
Now here is where the proverbial cheese really does bind.
We enable them to do this.
We keep sending them back, each election, to continue to act
like entitled nobles.
The fault lays with We the People.
So I am not in the Christmas spirit.
I refuse to do any “fa-la-la-ing.”
I am going to concentrate on a long period of
“bah-humbugging” and I encourage anyone who does not like it just to call me
Scrooge McBlair.
And if I am in a government vehicle that goes over a “cliff”
and my taxes go up and everyone and their sister gets government handouts from
now until the end of time, I am checking into a government owned and operated
“home” where they can take care of me at the public expense and I expect it to
be at the level to which I aspire.
So keep an eye out for that government vehicle speeding
rapidly toward the cliff.
It will be easily recognizable as it will certainly be the
largest SUV tax money can buy, getting about 3 miles per gallon, and it will be
outfitted with every device known to Detroit.
It will be black with American flags, stars and official
looking insignia all over. It will also be bullet proof, fireproof, hurricane
proof, but not fool proof. It will have a minimum of five antennas so as to
provide an outward show of importance.
I am beginning to understand more and more about those
historical times that sent people into their streets screaming “power to the
people.”
Now in my heart of hearts I know the celebration of
Christmas has nothing to do with governments anywhere. And I know that in the
end I will surrender to the traditions of the season.
But I also know my government is not making it easy for me
to enjoy the holiday and that it promises to make the new year anything but
happy.
