Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
by Ed Garvey
Something has gone wrong in this country and it is difficult to figure out how and when we got so far off track. We have always been the model to the world with our egalitarian ethic and our can-do attitude. Together, we won World War II, we rebuilt Western Europe, and we built the finest public education system in the world.
We believed in a middle class society, which honored work more than wealth and where every kid had a chance to run for president or rise from a position in the mailroom to head the corporation. We enjoyed paying taxes as our ante to the democracy game. Our tax dollars made us participants in the goal of improving the commonwealth.
We didn't have so many material things but we helped our neighbors. Older citizens with children grown and out of the house voted in favor of new schools because we all believed that each generation of Americans should be better than the last.
When it came to war, a young man's choices were to be drafted or enlist. One thing for sure. If our country went to war, we were all part of the war effort. And those who didn't go into the Army sacrificed in other ways. It was a total effort.
Today our government is in the fog of war in Iraq, threatens Iran, is bogged down in Afghanistan and appears ready to jump into Saudi Arabia in a heartbeat. The government is involved, the people are not. Oh, for certain the families of military members and those brave soldiers who have died or been permanently injured are involved. But the rest of us watch as if engaged in a made-for-TV series. "Gunmen seize 50 people," or "Suicide bomb attacks kill 21, injure 60" and we are not fazed. And our leaders remain silent or assure us "liberty will prevail."
Tax breaks dominate legislative efforts in Washington, not finding ways to pay for the occupation. Lobbyists don't get a lump in their throats when the national anthem is played nor, I suspect, do they watch the nightly news on PBS for the honor roll of the dead. No, they are sending members of Congress on junkets, giving ringside tickets to boxing matches, providing jobs for relatives.
Pay for the war effort? Demand competitive bidding on our contracts? Enact a war profiteering tax? C'mon, folks. We are busy making millions so our clients can make billions so we can buy some more elections. My son or daughter go to Iraq? Are you kidding? Let the National Guard and poor Americans do that we have more important things on our plate.
Like what? Well, we got our answer on Saturday during the president's weekly radio address. We don't have to pay for the occupation or haul Halliburton to court. No, we will solve our problems if we amend the Constitution of the United States to ban gay marriage. I am not making this up, as you know. This would almost be funny but it is not.
If the gap between the rich and the rest of us grows beyond belief, blame the gays. If 46 million Americans face premature death because they don't have health insurance, ban gay marriage. If more and more marriages end in divorce, blame the gays. If we can't find bin Laden, focus on gay partnerships. If our schools are out of money, our university is raising tuition, and special needs kids can go to the back of the bus blame the gays.
Looking for a leader to bring our country home,
reunite the red, white and blue before it turns to stone.
Lookin' for somebody young enough to take it on,
clean up the corruption and make the country strong.
America has a leader but he's not in the house,
he's walkin' here among us and we've got to seek him out.
Neil Young wrote those words and sings them in his new anti-Iraq war CD, "Living With War." As we look around, Young's words haunt. We should be looking for "somebody young enough to take it on" and we should, ourselves, be ready to lead. Or if not lead then demand honest answers from those who seek our support.
Where have all the leaders gone (our version of "Where have all the flowers gone?")? Think of an issue and ask, who is taking the lead? Can we join or are we condemned to ride on a cruise boat down River Styx and watch the suffering?
It is time to awaken the Congress. It is time to inform Democrats who want to be president to talk to us, not just their big contributors.
It is time to get back on track. What did Neil Young sing?
Published on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 by the Madison Capital Times (Wisconsin) |
