Because we have to live with tomorrow

I have five kids from a blended marriage. They're all really good kids. My mom is still alive. I have one sister. I drive down the road and I see more cars with "for sale" signs on their windows. I see folks charging their groceries and know intuitively these are not signs of a strong economy. Like every other working and middle class family, I'm wondering if we'll be able to do better than we are currently. I know in my gut there's something wrong and at the end of every thought I think "is my family going to be okay?" I know why. It's the damn war and the damn tax cuts for the wealthy and the damn politicians who won't step up and say it like it is. They won't end the war or provide us with national healthcare or better paths to higher education. They won't admit they and those we trusted before them really hosed up.

What spooks me more than the government driven fear of Iran (that much of the public has so easily swallowed - just like we were suckered about Iraq), is that we're not learning any history lessons about how we really pissed off mostly Islamic people in the middle east with some really stupid, self-serving policies for over the last half century. There are always consequences when you screw up. You deal with it as honorably as you know how. That's leadership. Brute force is escaping blame. It is the gutless way to deal with conflict. It's like being the big bully on the playground and then not understanding why somebody cracked you in the head thirty years later for being such an ass and still wanting payback.

I'd rather suffer some humility and know that my family was well cared for and had promise for a brighter future than being lead by mostly idiots who might make our present (and eroding) quality of life even worse; especially for my kids who'll all be grown up within the next ten years. Sometimes I wonder who else reading this blog is wondering who is going to be our leader and take us in a better direction; not liars promising and not delivering. I don't think our nation has too many more lies left in her to take. I know I can't take much more.