Jul 01 2008
RamblerHow Resilient Are Americans Anyway?
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America’s resilience is under assault. A sense of powerlessness is chipping away at the Americans’ historic conviction that our destiny can always be commanded with sheer determination and will.
There is a sense of helplessness prevailing in our spirit. It is even reflected in the current presidential election. Each contender is offering their spin on a sense of order — and don’t forget hope as well.
Republican John McCain is promising an experienced hand for this frightening time. Democrat Barack Obama is promising bright and shiny change.
Americans are getting more and more discouraged by the continuous attack of dispiriting things. The American spirit ingrained in all of us is conditioned to expect things to get better…but so far that hasn’t happened.
Case-in-Point:
- Floods are engulfing Midwestern river towns.
- Food is becoming scarce and expensive because of increased consumption in growing countries such as China and India and rising fuel costs.
- Fuel prices are skyrocketing creating financial burdens for many, many Americans.
- People living in Washington, D.C. and surrounding suburbs repeatedly lose power for extended periods of time due to mere thunderstorms.
- In California people are warned to use less water due to the unrelenting drought.
- Need a vacation? The weak US dollar has made traveling abroad out of reach financially for many people.
- Want to just kick back and watch a good show? A writers’ strike halted your favorite TV show production for half a season.
- Your hardcopy newspaper delivered to your doorstep may soon be a relic of the past in this Internet age.
- You can’t even count on escaping into the world of sports anymore. Baseball’s Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are accused of enhancing their accomplishments with drugs.
- Basketball referees are accused of cheating.
- There’s also the annual Tour de France coming up again and there is sure to be something corrupt about the Summer Olympics, too.
- Wildfires are blazing out of control again in California.
There have been times of comparable hardship for America. The economic woes of the 70s, the Iran hostage crisis, The Cold War, the Korean and Vietnam wars, the Depression of the 30s…and more.
All of these periods of hardship were followed by optimistic periods where the American people were blessed to have their confidence restored. Will this happen again?
It’s important to note that each of these periods was followed by a change in the party controlling the White House. This is obviously what is fueling much of what we are witnessing in the presidential election.
This is the 21st century, right? We must have the evolved knowledge and intellect and technology necessary to fix these problems…right?
Perhaps…maybe this is the purpose of the 21st century — a big and necessary reorganization of things long taken for granted.
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2 responses so far
This was well-put. Very insightful. Hopefully we will bounce back. I don’t doubt that we will. I can’t see any president willing to guide us in the near future as Lincoln and Reagan did. We can always hope though. Better times are coming.
You’re spot-on, as long as there are better times to look to we can manage. However this is the harsh reality, petrol is extremely expensive, combine that with the complaints about airfare. The airline industry has been on a decreasing service quality slope, since it started it’s trend of allowing anyone to fly 20 years ago. Flying used to be a premium, which was earned by people, they dressed up for it, but now it has become casual. Much like everything else in the economy, combine this with an entitlement attitude, and ignorant presidential candidates, and I’m afraid we’re all in for at least another 4 years or so of this.