Remember what you were doing around, say, January 3rd? That New Year's resolution to lose all that weight? How many of us have given up on that resolution yet? It's a yearly ritual. Well it turns out we are not so different from our politician friends! All those resolutions to change the way Washington works, cut out the fat in our budget, set us on a path towards prosperity? Sure there have been a few changes, but are we really on a different path than we were a few years ago? Or will we stick with it for a while and start getting fat again?
The fact is, we need substantial changes and not just enough to please the constituents. We are driving our country and our economy off a cliff, and all we get is a different radio station. The rhetoric changes, but remember that we are still in debt, we still can't fund our entitlement programs, and partisanship in our nation's capital is worse than ever. Our debt problems do not go away with the sweep of a pen by this super committee. And our problems don't get fixed when we refuse to take on the entitlements that are weighing us down.
It was no surprise that we found ourselves in these dire straits. Like that delicious cake on your birthday, the ice cream when your boyfriend breaks up with you, or the beers after a hard day's work, it feels good when we get to eat what we want. We like when our politicians bring home the pork to us, and we don't like to think about how much we need that spending diet. Well it's time to suck it up and put our country on a diet that really works. We need some leadership in Washington, and it's gonna take a serious fitness trainer to whip us into shape.
Ronald Reagan was famous for asking "are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" Well I ask you the same thing: how much has really changed? Not just these 4 years, but the years and decades before us. Did we simply shed a few pounds and gain it back, or did we make the necessary attitude changes? Things won't fix themselves on their own. We can't magically create more workers to support our retiring seniors. We need to change the culture that says entitlements will be there no matter what. We can't magically wish away the debt (though wouldn't that be nice?), we need to take serious measures to get ourselves under control. America has an obesity problem through and through. It's time to shape up America, and make sure our politicians do too.
The fact is, we need substantial changes and not just enough to please the constituents. We are driving our country and our economy off a cliff, and all we get is a different radio station. The rhetoric changes, but remember that we are still in debt, we still can't fund our entitlement programs, and partisanship in our nation's capital is worse than ever. Our debt problems do not go away with the sweep of a pen by this super committee. And our problems don't get fixed when we refuse to take on the entitlements that are weighing us down.
It was no surprise that we found ourselves in these dire straits. Like that delicious cake on your birthday, the ice cream when your boyfriend breaks up with you, or the beers after a hard day's work, it feels good when we get to eat what we want. We like when our politicians bring home the pork to us, and we don't like to think about how much we need that spending diet. Well it's time to suck it up and put our country on a diet that really works. We need some leadership in Washington, and it's gonna take a serious fitness trainer to whip us into shape.
Ronald Reagan was famous for asking "are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" Well I ask you the same thing: how much has really changed? Not just these 4 years, but the years and decades before us. Did we simply shed a few pounds and gain it back, or did we make the necessary attitude changes? Things won't fix themselves on their own. We can't magically create more workers to support our retiring seniors. We need to change the culture that says entitlements will be there no matter what. We can't magically wish away the debt (though wouldn't that be nice?), we need to take serious measures to get ourselves under control. America has an obesity problem through and through. It's time to shape up America, and make sure our politicians do too.
Andre P. Audette is author of the blog No Politics As Usual - Challenging partisanship, calling out corruption, and confronting "politics as usual." Read it online at http://www.andrepierreaudette.com/
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