Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Not anti-Bush, or anti-America... just anti-waste.
I have had a busy week when it comes to mental issues… I am back to school, and my schedule is pretty compact this semester. I am already lost in my Physiology class. Also, I was able to attend church this Sunday, and the sermon had me very worked up. I am trying very hard not to blog about it, but let’s just say I was a little upset, not so much by the topic or the conclusion made, but by the poor presentation and research that was done. This is a huge pet peeve with me, and when it is coupled with a sermon relating to science, we have the perfect conditions for a Carl meltdown. Plus, I am a little taxed by the ice and snow that we are experiencing in Iowa... I hate the cold (that is no secret), but I also hate driving in this stuff. I am a poor driver as it is, and ice sort of throws a nasty variable in the mix. Just today I spun out coming down my hill, my car spun completely around. Luckily, no other cars were present, and I did not hit anything. By the time I get to school, the adreneline was wearing off, and I was feeling tired already. Whew.
There. Now the diary portion of my blog is done for the day. Let’s talk about what I want to talk about. I am very disappointed in something that is happening in Washington DC right now… namely, the spending of $40 million dollars for President Bush’s Inauguration.
It’s not that I feel like it is a waste of my tax dollars… that is a cliché and easy argument to make about anything. The truth is that a lot of the money for the celebration is being donated by special interest groups.
I’m not angry that special interest groups are donating the money. It is dirty politics, but it is the way that world seems to work. No matter how offensive the process is to my sense of humanistic government, I just can’t make myself feel outrage over it.
So what makes me angry? At a time when employment is low, soldiers are at war, California is flooded, and Thailand is devastated by the tsunami tragedy, it amazes me that there are $40 million dollars available to throw what amounts to a three day party for America’s elite.
Bush’s first inauguration also cost $40 million, and Clinton’s two added up to over $50 million. I don’t know how much you pay attention to financial states and true “value” on a global scale, but $130 million dollars translates to a lot of life changing power.
The waste of this money is just a reflection of a greater problem, beyond a Republican and Democrat thing, and maybe greater than just an American thing. It is a lack of stewardship with the resources that are available. It is a mis-valuation of services and positions. And it is a total lack of true compassion for those who are worse-off than the majority of us.
Just this week, to add frosting to my argument, the NY Mets agreed to pay a 20-something baseball player $119 million dollars for less than ten years of “work.” Meanwhile, there are many businesses that are laying off hundreds of employees due to a “bad economy.” I don’t think that a business has the right to succeed in America, but I feel very bad for those folks who labor very hard for poor pay who are suddenly without income. At the same time, the CEO’s of their company are embarrassingly wealthy and find the will to okay checks to the GOP to buy streamers, prime rib, and Champaign to celebrate Bush’s election.
The world is full of disparity between haves and have-nots, and it will always be this way. Christians maintain that Jesus was the embodiment of compassion and stewardship, yet even He stated that the poor “will be with you always.” But I find myself more aligned with the philosophical fabric that greater men, Gandhi and Kurosawa, were made of when then lamented the lack of human compassion, and the prevalence of greed over giving that is epidemic in the world’s inhabitants.
So, the solution? I have none to offer. I guess it is up to each of us to do the best “good” we can with what little each of us are blessed with, because we sure as hell can’t rely on those in the upper echelon to act similarly. Shame on those who waste millions on glad-handing and entertainment when every ten dollars can provide food and water for those ravaged by tragedy.
Horns up.
There. Now the diary portion of my blog is done for the day. Let’s talk about what I want to talk about. I am very disappointed in something that is happening in Washington DC right now… namely, the spending of $40 million dollars for President Bush’s Inauguration.
It’s not that I feel like it is a waste of my tax dollars… that is a cliché and easy argument to make about anything. The truth is that a lot of the money for the celebration is being donated by special interest groups.
I’m not angry that special interest groups are donating the money. It is dirty politics, but it is the way that world seems to work. No matter how offensive the process is to my sense of humanistic government, I just can’t make myself feel outrage over it.
So what makes me angry? At a time when employment is low, soldiers are at war, California is flooded, and Thailand is devastated by the tsunami tragedy, it amazes me that there are $40 million dollars available to throw what amounts to a three day party for America’s elite.
Bush’s first inauguration also cost $40 million, and Clinton’s two added up to over $50 million. I don’t know how much you pay attention to financial states and true “value” on a global scale, but $130 million dollars translates to a lot of life changing power.
The waste of this money is just a reflection of a greater problem, beyond a Republican and Democrat thing, and maybe greater than just an American thing. It is a lack of stewardship with the resources that are available. It is a mis-valuation of services and positions. And it is a total lack of true compassion for those who are worse-off than the majority of us.
Just this week, to add frosting to my argument, the NY Mets agreed to pay a 20-something baseball player $119 million dollars for less than ten years of “work.” Meanwhile, there are many businesses that are laying off hundreds of employees due to a “bad economy.” I don’t think that a business has the right to succeed in America, but I feel very bad for those folks who labor very hard for poor pay who are suddenly without income. At the same time, the CEO’s of their company are embarrassingly wealthy and find the will to okay checks to the GOP to buy streamers, prime rib, and Champaign to celebrate Bush’s election.
The world is full of disparity between haves and have-nots, and it will always be this way. Christians maintain that Jesus was the embodiment of compassion and stewardship, yet even He stated that the poor “will be with you always.” But I find myself more aligned with the philosophical fabric that greater men, Gandhi and Kurosawa, were made of when then lamented the lack of human compassion, and the prevalence of greed over giving that is epidemic in the world’s inhabitants.
So, the solution? I have none to offer. I guess it is up to each of us to do the best “good” we can with what little each of us are blessed with, because we sure as hell can’t rely on those in the upper echelon to act similarly. Shame on those who waste millions on glad-handing and entertainment when every ten dollars can provide food and water for those ravaged by tragedy.
Horns up.
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