"The Earth isn't something we inherit from our parents, it's something we borrow from our grandchildren." Indian Proverb
In the course of events leading up to this November's election, it's easy to become confused about what matters most to you. Immigration, National Security, taxes, and the war are all important issues. Nafta, health care and Social Security have to rate up there too. For some people Guns or abortion are the make or break issues. Whatever the issue you hold most closely to your heart, let me make a plea to all of you to join me on one main creed; To make this country an even better place for the people who come after us. It seems such a humble request from our own children. To give them a world free of the burden of our debts.
As it stands right now, (mark; 3/4/08 at 4:40 pm) the United States of America's National Debt stands at $9,364,260,316,034. And it's growing. That's $30,848 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.. Now, I know that a lot of you are saying, "Well, so what? they can just push the debt forward to their children and then their children." Well, here's the problem. Of all the money that we give to the Government, 11% of it goes directly towards just the interest on all that debt. As it gets bigger, it eats a bigger part of our paycheck. The worst thing about our children's situation is that there will be even fewer people to pay that interest. As the "Baby Boomer" generation ages more and more, pressure will be put on our young people to pay more and more.
Adding to that, the age of pensions is almost past. Corporations have long ago given up that idea in favor of IRA's or nothing at all. The fact is, a lot of Americans are ill prepared for their golden years The solution for a lot of these aging Americans seems to be filing for the default retirement plan; Social Security.This creates an even worse problem for our already embattled Social Security system. Without some input of money it's mathematically impossible for it to continue without cutting benefits. Since there is and should be a limit on how far back we can cut our support of the elderly, that only leaves more taxes on our children. Slowly their check shrinks on our debts.
But money isn't the only burden we could give our children. The environment they will live in is also directly impacted by how we handle our stewardship. Global Warming is looking more and more like a reality and we should deeply consider if we are in fact part of the problem. Even if we're not we should still work towards polluting less. We produce far too many toxic chemicals and we don't do a great job of cleaning them up. We have to learn to live within nature, with as little impact as possible. The dirt beneath our children's feet is polluted with dioxin and PCB's. The air is filling with hydrocarbons. And it doesn't have to be like that. If we use our resources wisely we can learn to use greener methods and leave our children with a world that's at least as pure as when we got it.
In this upcoming election, I'm pledging to keep one thing above my own selfish desires; To vote for whoever I honestly feel will make his or her best effort to give my children that world. A world that is as clean as they could make it, as safe as they could make it, and as free as they could possibly leave it. We should leave them with none of our debt or have them suffer the anguish of our mistakes. I know there's a lot of different ways people believe our country could be better and a lot of different answers as to how to go about it. But as a starting point I need a leader who can make one unmovable promise to win my vote; That they will do their best to leave America a better place on their last day than it was on their first, for all our children, and their children. H.C.
9 comments:
that is a most excellent point of view in terms of choosing a candidate. i'm not sure any of the viable candidates serve that end but it would be nice to find one who did.
i must say though i recently read about how denmark decided to become entirely independent of foreign oil and they have successfully done so to the extent that they now export energy. granted it's a fairly homogenous nation of only 5 million compared to our diverse country of 350 million....but it is a remarkable accomplishment nonetheless. gives me pause.
thank you also for the kind words about my little space. :)
As far as my economic future goes, I'm relying entirely on my G/f's father's inheritance, that is once he starts becoming incontinent, & I end up shipping him off to some home/dungeon. ;)
Seriously though, considering how many Americans walk around claiming to be patriotic, you'd think our nation's environment wouldn't even be an issue nowadays. Hm, but then again, I suppose that patriotism, to many, only refers to which side you choose in a war, not the condition of the environment that current and/or future generations of AMERICANS have to bare.
-n
Hey Lime,
I agree, None of the candidates are addressing the hardest questions we will eventually have to deal with. As far as Denmark; I think there is definately reason to pause. Our enegy dependence is causing all sorts of problems. From high oil prices to the War it affecting nearly all our policies. Brazil is another government that has an interesting way of dealing with their energy problems. They have nationalized their oil fields and then they bid-out the running of the rigs and refinery. This creates competition for the right to extract oil and the Brazilian people are the benefactors. They also use a lot of ethanol in their vehicles which further shrinks their reliance on oil. There have been some great advances lately in the processing of garbage and farm waste into ethanol that the U.S. should get soundly behind. In the future we should strive towards a cleaner solution,fuel cells or hydrogen, but changing the fuel in away that existing vehicles can use is the only quick solution.
@Lime 2,
Yer welcome.
Hey Nic,
Dude, that is the worst retirement plan I've ever heard. I suggest a "Plan B".
On your other subject; I agree patriotism is more than waving a flag or supporting the war, it's a commitment to the betterment (<-real word?) of the country as a whole. I think a better word than "Patriots" for all of us, is "Stewards". it reminds us that we are only holding our nation and our earth for someone else.
that's interesting about brazil. i hadn't heard that. i have some reservations about ethanol when corn is the main source for it. i've been reading about how it is tilting the economic scale for farmers and messing with food supply in bad ways and also reducing crop diversity. i do think producing ethanol from farm waste and garbage is a great idea though...two birds with one stone and all....things aren't going to landfills AND they are producing fuel...how can that be a bad thing? biodiesel is another thing that seems like a good alternative too...converting used oil from restaurants into fuel. developed in the pacific northwest, i hear it's pretty popular out there.
(1) betterment = a real word. So, congrats, you're not Bush.
(2) Not to steal your thunder, but I've been saying this all along. With our national debt getting dangerously close to the $10 trillion mark, it's horribly obvious that the feds haven't learned a single lesson about living within their means. What they haven't realized yet is that abandoning certain projects (i.e. Iraq) because of financial instability is NOT the same as abandoning it because of principle. Ron Paul, for instance, suggested that he wasn't entirely against the war. We just can't afford it. In that case, I just so happen to diametrically opposed to the war anyway. But seeing the pricetag (both in lives and $$$) makes my blood boil. On top of that, it's pretty insulting (and presumptous) for us to assume that our children/granchildren would be willing to accept the cost of what WE DO TODAY.
But this crisis is not just something that will hit us down the road. We're being hurt by it today. Domestic priorities like employment, education, law enforcement, health care, and just about every other social program is being shortchanged. We've essentially allowed the government to max out their credit cards; and with ZERO accountability.
Troubling times are ahead. For sure.
Hey Dre,
1) One thing that has been nice about Bush...he makes me seem articulate :)
2) I don't really have any thunder. The Debt has always been a concern of mine. The war is another issue. What's changed for me is that I feel we can now make a good case that we've done our best to correct the situation that we created. But that's over now, we no longer have the troops or the money to continue.
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