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Cookies Offer Lesson in Selfish Politics
January 03rd 09:45:29 AM
S4 has been passing out cookie jars to members of Congress that support reform. Now an attorney in Cincinnati extends the metaphor, writing in the Cincinnati Enquirer:
"The other day, my young son asked 'Dad, where are my cookies?' He started to sob. I could see the disappointment in his eyes. So, I pulled him close with a reassuring hug, apologized, and explained that I threw them out because I thought they were just crumbs. I thought he wouldn't notice.
Crumbs, indeed, but to him, it was all he had. It was what he looked forward to enjoying. He exclaimed that he was mad at me. I completely understood.
In the moments thereafter, I thought in my 'grown-up' view of the world: 'Son, if you are mad at me for this, just wait until you find out what my generation has set in place for you and your generation.'
Among the things that you should and will be mad at us about is that we have allowed our elected representatives to spend on indulgences rather than the basics that good government should provide and to overspend for our generation's whims without concerning ourselves for you and your generation...
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You will be mad at us because we have:
Built up a federal yearly budget deficit that strangles our budgetary flexibility.
Let the pressing needs of entitlement reform sit on a shelf ignored.
Saddled your generation and those beyond it with a national debt that creates a deficit on everyone's shoulders of nearly $30,000 per person.
Raised the standard of living of everyone else in the world in the name of a catchy global "rising tide" without realizing that the tide ebbs somewhere else (here in the United States) and therefore lowers your future standard of living.
Allowed our government to deteriorate into decision-making based upon what is good for factious party allegiances rather than what is good policy for generations.
Allowed perversely applied labels to define our politics wherein the ideas behind the labels are repugnant to the tenets that have historically defined the labels.
Let our politics be hijacked by a culture of division that creates outward hostilities to our fellow men and is contrary to the claims that we are a tolerant society mindful of the Judeo-Christian ethics that set our country's principles.
Placed the control of the purposes of our government in the hands of a few who demonstrate repeatedly that their aim is not for our or your generation, but for their self-enrichment, self-gratification and appeasement of their benefactors.
Son, I am sorry, and in the future I will be more careful when I place my determinations on your cookies. I will see your bits and pieces as more than just crumbs. I know you are mad at me and I am sorry for throwing away your cookies. But now I am also mad at myself and what I have allowed to happen. Please forgive me.
But now, let's go get a few more cookies, and we will leave even the smallest crumbs for you - if someone else doesn't get to them first.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf
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