What to write, what to write...

There's so much going on right now that it's difficult for me to focus on one subject to write about today. Some days my To Do List or how I'm going to do some quilting this afternoon seem so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day that America was in trouble. Raised by parents who suffered through the Great Depression but never talked about it. Raised in a time in the USA when children could roam the streets safely, that the presidency was equated to Camelot, when respecting politicians was easy to do because it was deserved, when America belonged to the middle class working man... It's difficult to see it all disappear like this. It's easy to point fingers at Bush, but seriously, aren't we all to blame? We not only allow our politicians to be shifty and underhanded, but we make jokes about them doing so. Could David Letterman have a Top 10 list every night without politicians to poke fun at? Where's our outrage? Where's the American Spirit that says we won't stand for politicians treating us or our country this way? We ARE the descendants of those who participated in the Boston Tea Party, the American Revolution... Why are we LETTING this happen to our country? Americans have become so complacent that it's embarrassing. We allow our politicians rule us, as opposed to the day when we ruled (via votes) them. We allow the media to tell us who has already won the election (why bother voting when it's already been decided?!)-- when the truth is, it's not decided until WE vote. My generation grew up to believe that voting for the President was the most important vote we'd place -- when in actuality it's now the House and the Senate that apparently hold all the power and where our focus needs to be in time of voting. There was a show on the History Channel for awhile called LA Ports (or something like that). It was simply a "reality" show about the LA Port Authority moving cargo ships in and out of the port safely. Not terribly interesting television, but one comment made by a crane operator at the port has stuck with me. His crane took box cars (the kind that you see on the highway on the back of semi-trucks) off boats the size of four football fields, that came in from China. There were quite literally thousands of these boxcars on each boat, and the stream of boats seemed endless. His comment was (paraphrased) "All these containers are full of goods produced in China. Our [America's] greatest export is air -- because we send them all back empty." I don't know where I'm going with this. I just -- I'm frustrated, as I'm sure many Americans are. But am I frustrated ENOUGH? When will we Americans be frustrated ENOUGH to do something about this? Where is our Boston Tea Party? Where is our "I'm mad and I'm not going to take it any more!" moment? If I hear the word "Change" one more time regarding the candidates for the upcoming election, I swear I'll throw up. There's no change there. Sure, one can spend more (of your) money this way and the other can spend more money that way. One wants money to go to helping corporations succeed so it comes to us via paychecks, while the other wants money to come directly to us (though it comes to us via taxes which comes to us via paychecks). As my son would say, "It's all money out of the same bucket. It doesn't matter which side of the bucket the water is on -- it's the same bucket." There's no change coming. Obama had some good ideas, but you can't possibly think tax payers can foot the bill for this $700 billion bail-out AND implement the changes he's promising. And let's not forget, the House and the Senate are going to have to approve his ideas (he always forgets to mention that)! I'm sorry, but I enjoy being able to buy groceries and gas for my car. He is going to have to make compromises on all those promises he made or we're just going to be in worse economic trouble than we are now. McCain? I can't say I like the man much. I don't think he has anything new to offer us. Obama is too full of himself and McCain is too complacent. Neither is offering the serious change this country needs. I'm not so sure America can wait four more years for the next election in hopes that someone offering some viable and extreme new ideas comes to the forefront. I don't know what the answer is. I just hate seeing Americans waving the banner of CHANGE when it just isn't feasible that change is going to happen -- until AMERICANS make it happen! And the only way to do that is to sweep the House and the Senate and get some new blood in there with some new ideas and some new enthusiasm for America. I'll admit, I'm an Isolationist at heart. I remember learning about it in the 5th grade and here I am (mumblemumble) years later, still thinking it's a good idea. Put America FIRST. Put Americans FIRST. No foreign aid until we get American fixed and back on it's feet. American jobs back in America. Ramp up our industries and manufacturing. Ramp up our own oil production. Put up some walls and tell the world "Sorry, we're closed" for a few years. No money OUT until every child in America has food, shelter, a safe home, a chance for a decent education. No money OUT until every senior citizen can afford medication, health care, shelter. No illegal immigrants coming in to take jobs away from Americans who need to work. No jobs going overseas causing our manufacturing and industry facilities to close down and our middle class to be put out of work. Every American working. Every child educated and ready to join that work force. Every item on our store shelves put there by the hard work of Americans and, in turn, purchased with their paychecks. Now THAT's change.