Thanks to the arrogant, hapless Bushies, we are the nation that bellows “Mission Accomplished!” and then gets bogged down in a hopeless, ever-worsening quagmire. We are the nation that suffers a catastrophic loss of an entire region due to hurricane damage, and then flounders helplessly as millions of our fellow citizens give up hope. We are the nation that blusters that its “unacceptable for “evil-doers” to develop nuclear weapons, and then watches helplessly as they go right ahead anyway.
It’s something I’ve noticed quite a lot over the past several years, the way people in power consistently make excuses as to why that power can’t be put to use benefitting Americans. Health care’s too complicated to fix. Education’s too expensive. A decent space program’s too big and also who cares. The Gulf Coast seems beyond us. And it’s like letting the dishes pile up in your sink, so that you spend more time avoiding the dishes than you would if you just sucked it up and did them.
If we devoted half the energy we spend telling each other why problems can’t get fixed to actually fixing those problems, we might really get something done around here.
A.